Joyce Esther Smith MBE (née Byatt, born 26 October 1937)[1] is a British former long-distance runner.
She broke the world record in the 3000 metres in 1971 and is a three-time medallist at the International/World Cross Country Championships, including winning in 1972.
[2] In 1965, she told Athletics Weekly that she intended to continue competing "for two more years at the most" and stopped running competitively in 1968.
In 1978, she retired from track running after setting a new world record for 3000 m in the age group W40 of 9:11.2 minutes, which was broken 27 years later,[6] and ran her first marathon in 1979, beating the previous British record held by Rosemary Cox by nine minutes and seventeen seconds in a time of 2:41:37.
[10] In the 1984 New Year Honours, Smith was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to athletics.