The London Olympics of 1908 saw 28 club members representing the UK and Wyndham Halswelle winning gold in the 400 metres by a controversial walkover.
Also running for Britain at the Antwerp Olympics were R A Lindsay and Guy Butler in the winning 4 x 400 metre relay team.
Pre–World War II Olympic success continued with Frederick Wolff leading Britain’s 4 x 400 metres relay team to gold in Berlin in 1936, Brian McCabe reaching the 800 metres final and John Powell reaching the semi-final .
Four years later, John Disley won bronze in the 3000 metre steeplechase in Helsinki in 1952 and later became synonymous with the London Marathon.
Javelin thrower Richard (Dick) Miller[2] from Northern Ireland and hurdler Jack Parker also represented Great Britain at the 1952 summer olympics.
Jack Parker along with fellow hurdler Harry Kane competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne in the 110 metre and 400 meter hurdles respectively.
The early meetings featured events such as cricket ball throwing, bicycle races and, in winter, regular “Assault at Arms” evenings which included fencing and boxing.
players not turning up and some of the Wanderers playing for the opposition to make the sides equal; the posts also did not have the regulation tape and the L.A.C.
[13] The old stand it had used there was demolished and the new construction used spoil from excavating the tube lines of the London underground in order to level the land.
[14] In 1954 the club moved again to Hurlingham Park stadium, which had been opened by Roger Bannister four months after he had broken the four-minute mile barrier.
The club moved its base yet again in 1966 to Crystal Palace, then returned to Hurlingham in 1972 and later used Motspur Park, one of the locations in the film, “Chariots of Fire”.
LAC President Sir Arthur Gold appeared in the film’s depiction of the memorial service for Harold Abrahams.
The President, Richard Solomons, was in the chair and speakers included Lord Puttnam, producer of the Oscar-winning film “Chariots of Fire”, who was the guest of honour, the sports historian Philip Barker, and Vice-President, Dr John Disley.
The LAC archives reside, with other track and field memorabilia of national importance,[17] in the library of the National Union of Track Statisticians (NUTS) at Orchard Park High School, South Croydon, where they may be viewed by prior appointment with the NUTS librarian.