We are sorry to have to report on the passing of John Spells, a former prominent member of Elswick Harriers who passed away on December 18th.John moved away from the North East some years ago however, while he was a member of our club he proved himself to be a talented runner who featured highly in the very successful Elswick veteran’s teams during the 1980s and 1990s.John’s achievements included (among many others):
- Elswick’s 3rd counter in the 1985 Geordie run half marathon in a time of 71 minutes and 28 seconds
- 3rd V40 in the Sunderland to Westoe 5 mile race in June 1986, with a time of 28 minutes 23 seconds
- 3rd Elswick counter in the British veterans 10 mile road championship in Oswestry in August 1987 where he helped the club team of Harry Matthews, Keith Chadfield and Colin Bolton collect national silver team medals. His time was a creditable 55 minutes and 11 seconds.
Notably, John was a regular team counter in the Royal Signals Road Relay Championships and he produced a fine performance in the 1987 event where he handed over to Colin Bolton.We send our sincere condolences to John’s family at this sad time.We understand his funeral will take place on 14th January, 10.15am at the West Road Crematorium.