The 1980

UK Athletics Championships The UK Athletics Championships was an annual national championship in track and field for the United Kingdom, organised by the British Athletics Federation. The event incorporated the 1980 Olympic trials for the British Olympic team. The venue f ...

was the national championship in outdoor

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

for the United Kingdom held at

Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macrosc ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Three events were contested separately at

Meadowbank Stadium Meadowbank Stadium (officially the Meadowbank Sports Centre) is a multi-purpose sports facility located in the Meadowbank area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Built on the site of the earlier New Meadowbank and Old Meadowbank sports venues, it was ori ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

– the women's

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

and men's

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

and

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

. This set of events served as the British Olympic Team Trials for the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

. Two new events were contested for the first time: a men's 10,000 metres track walk and a women's 5000 metres track walk. It was the fourth edition of the competition limited to British athletes only, launched as an alternative to the

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the officia ...

, which was open to foreign competitors. However, due to the fact that the calibre of national competition remained greater at the AAA event, the UK Championships this year were not considered the principal national championship event by some statisticians, such as the

National Union of Track Statisticians National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(NUTS). Many of the athletes below also competed at the 1980 AAA Championships.UK Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
NUTS. Retrieved 2018-02-25. Women's

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

Meg Ritchie Margaret "Meg" Elizabeth Stone (née Ritchie, born 6 July 1952) is a retired Scottish discus thrower and Shot putter. She reached the Olympic finals at discus in Moscow 1980 (9th) and Los Angeles 1984 (5th). She also won the 1982 Commonwealth ...

took a record fourth consecutive UK title. David Ottley won a third straight title in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

. Five other athletes defended their 1979 titles:

Gary Oakes Gary James Oakes (born 21 September 1958 in Kentish Town, Camden, London) is a male British retired athlete who mainly competed in the men's 400 metre hurdles. Athletics career Oakes competed for Great Britain at the 1980 Summer Olympics held i ...

in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

, Heather Hunte in the women's 100 m,

Christina Boxer Christina Tracy Boxer-Cahill (born 25 March 1957) is a retired female middle distance athlete from England. She represented Great Britain at three Olympic Games, in Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988 and trained at Aldershot, Farnh ...

in the women's 800 m,

Shirley Strong Shirley Elaine Strong (née Strong, born 18 November 1958) is a British former athlete who competed mainly in the 100 metres hurdles. In this event, she won a silver medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, a gold medal at the 1982 Comm ...

in the women's

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten Hurdling, hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first h ...

and Angela Littlewood in the women's

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

. Two athletes achieved a championship double:

Cameron Sharp Robert Cameron Sharp (born 3 June 1958) is a Scottish former sprint (running), sprinter. In 1978 he won a gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Games in Edmonton in the 4 × 100 m relay alongside David Jenkins (athlete), David ...

edged out Drew McMaster in both the men's

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

, and

David Moorcroft David Robert Moorcroft (born 10 April 1953) is a former middle-distance and long-distance runner from England, and former world record holder for 5,000 metres. His athletic career spanned the late-1970s and 1980s. He subsequently served as ...

claimed a 1500/5000 m double. At the 1980 Moscow Olympics, one participant at the UK trials won an individual medal – hurdles champion Gary Oakes took Olympic bronze.Olympic Games (Men)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-03-06. The four women who took the top three in the short sprints (Hunte,

Kathy Smallwood Kathryn Jane Cook (née Smallwood; born 3 May 1960) is a former elite athlete, specialising in sprint and sprint relays. She is one of the most successful female sprinters in British athletics history. She is three-times an Olympic bronze meda ...

Beverley Goddard Beverley Lanita Callender (née Goddard, born 28 August 1956) is an English former track and field sprinter. She competed for Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Montreal 1976, Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984, winning bronze medals in the 4 x ...

, and

Sonia Lannaman Sonia May Lannaman (born 24 March 1956) is a British former athlete, who competed mainly in the 100 metres. She won the Commonwealth Games 100 metres title in Edmonton 1978 and won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay at the 19 ...

) combined to win an Olympic bronze in the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individu ...

, and the top three in the women's

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

(

Linsey Macdonald Linsey Macdonald (born 14 February 1964) is a former Scottish sprinter from Dunfermline, Fife, who specialised in the 400 metres. She was nicknamed "The Fife Flyer" during her career. Inspired by competitors like Mary Peters she started in ...

Joslyn Hoyte-Smith Joslyn Yvonne Hoyte-Smith (born 16 December 1954 in Barbados) is a British former 400 metres athlete. Joslyn grew up in Leeds and attended Matthew Murray High School between 1966 and 1973. Athletics career Hoyte-Smith competed in the 1980 Summ ...

and Michelle Probert) joined

Donna Hartley Donna Hartley-Wass MBE, born Donna-Marie Louise Murray and formerly known as Donna Hartley (1 May 1955 – 7 June 2013), was a British athlete. Career Hartley was born in Southampton, England in 1955. She was a south of England sprint cha ...

to take the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

Olympic bronze.Olympic Games (Women)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-03-06.

Allan Wells Allan Wipper Wells (born 3 May 1952) is a Scottish former track and field sprinter who became the 100 metres Olympic champion at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. Within a fortnight of that, he also took on and beat America's best sprinter ...

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...

Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and set 5 world records for 1500 metres and the ...

and

Daley Thompson Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, (born 30 July 1958), better known as Daley Thompson, is a British former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four tim ...

made the 1980 Olympic podium, but were not present at this national event.

Medal summary

Men

Women

References

{{British championships in athletics UK Athletics Championships UK Outdoor Championships Athletics Outdoor Sports competitions in Edinburgh Sports competitions in London Athletics competitions in England