The club was established in 1879. The first Olympian was
Charlie Davenport but he did not start the marathon. During the 1960s the club produced three Olympic marathon runners
Basil Heatley,
Brian Kilby and
Bill Adcocks. In 1978
David Moorcroft won Commonwealth Games gold and he repeated the feat four years later. More recently the club has had several athletes compete in
World Masters Athletics competitions, notable sprinters Brian Darby and Stewart Marshall have both won World Relay Titles representing GB as Masters athletes, at the recent
World Masters Athletics Championships. == Olympians ==