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Heather Joy Armitage (later Young, then McClelland; born 17 March 1933) is a retired British sprinter and British record holder for the 100 yards.[3]

Heather Armitage
Betty Cuthbert, Marlene Mathews, Heather Armitage, 1956 Olympics.jpg
Armitage (right) at the 1956 Olympics
Personal information
Born17 March 1933 (1933-03-17) (age 86)
Colombo, Ceylon
Height171 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Weight64 kg (141 lb)
ClubLongwood Harriers, Huddersfield
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)100 m – 11.6 (1956)
200 – 23.79y (1958)[1][2]


Sporting careerEdit

Armitage won her first major title representing Yorkshire in the all England schools 100 yards in 1951 aged 18.[4] She competed in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics in the 100 m, 200 m and 4×100 m events and won two medals in the relay. Her best individual achievement was sixth place in the 100 m in 1956.[1] In 1958, she won three medals at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff[1] including as the anchor in the English 4 × 110 yards relay team alongside Madeleine Weston, June Paul and anchor Dorothy Hyman that won the gold medal and set a new world record of 45.37 seconds in the process.[5]

Later that year Armitage took 100 m gold at the 1958 European Championships in Athletics in Stockholm, thereby becoming the first British woman to win an individual European track title. As of August 2017, she still hold the official British Record for the 100 yards.[3]

Personal lifeEdit

In the 1950s she married Frank Young, a fellow teacher, and competed as Heather Young. They had a daughter Alison, but later divorced, with Armitage marrying the former association football player John McClelland.

Post athletic careerEdit

She retired from competitions in 1960 and devoted herself to teaching, mostly on religious topics.[6]


  1. ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill. "Heather Armitage". Olympics at Sports Reference LLC.
  2. ^ "Heather Young (née Armitage".
  3. ^ a b
  4. ^ "Heather Armitage - Penistone Grammar School's Olympic Medallist". Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  5. ^ "UK Athletics". Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  6. ^ Greensill, Martin (May 2007). "An early heroine in a golden age for British women's athletics". Track Stats. NUTS.

External linksEdit