Former athletes have paid tribute to their inspirational coach Eileen Kear MBE.
She was founder of Radley Ladies Athletic Club, qualified club coach, official, team manager for Oxford City, Oxford County, Radley Athletic Club and the Thames Valley Youth Games in 2005, president of Oxfordshire AA and lifetime President to Radley AC.
Mrs Kear, who founded Radley Athletic Club in 1972, died aged 89 in October.
READ MORE: Obituary: Eileen Kear's exceptional life in athletics
Now four runners she inspired, Jenny MacDonald, Karen Ive, Karen Beasley and Debra Edgecombe have paid tribute to her.
Mrs MacDonald now helps to run Wicked Chocolate, a shop in Oxford's Covered Market.
They wrote:
"In 1977 Eileen invited four young athletes to try out for the 4x100m relay team. This team consisted of Jenny Wallington (14) Karen May (14), Karen Rist (13) and Debra Warner (14). Being selected for this relay team changed our lives forever.
Every Monday and Wednesday at Radley College track, relay practice would be held after our normal training sessions had finished.
We learnt about baton changing, measuring tintacks for our acceleration marks and most importantly, trust and belief in each other and the team. All of this was instilled in us by Eileen.
As the season progressed, the relay team went from strength to strength. What a summer 1977 became - in July we went to the Southern Counties Championships at Crystal Palace which for all of us was an amazing venue to compete at.
It was the home of British athletics at the time and as young teenage girls we felt like superstars seeing our names up on the big screen.
In the heats we were beaten by Middlesex Ladies with them recording championship record of 49.3. We knew they were going to be extremely hard to beat in the final, they had Joanne Gardener the 100m champion on the final leg and we had to achieve a personal best time if we were to beat them.
We had practised and practised and had worked so hard.
We had to be baton change perfect as every 1/100th of a second had to count. We ran the race of our lives and were baton change perfect.
Eileen gave us this inner strength she made us believe in ourselves as she had complete faith in us and she told us - you can win. And we did it.
The joy on everyone’s faces and the elation we felt will remain with us forever. We were all on the same page, none of us were after individual glory or needed individual accolade, it was purely a team effort.
The photograph which was taken that day was enlarged, framed and placed on Eileen and Charles' mantel shelf for the rest of their lives.
It was a remarkable achievement for a small village club team and it created an amazing legacy for the future of the club.
That year we won many relay titles, including the prestigious Bracknell relays. We also went onto win the Southern Counties title again in 1979 with a new club record which we believe we still hold today of 48.72.
Suddenly, everyone wanted to be part of the relay squad at Radley. Our Monday and Wednesday practice sessions became so popular with athletes from all events wanting to join in.
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Further relay titles were won in future years by different combinations of athletes, all started by Eileen’s commitment, coaching skills and dedication to her athletes.
Eileen’s passion has altered the lives of thousands of girls and women in Oxfordshire, and for that we are eternally grateful.
This moment in time was pivotal in all our lives. We all went on to compete at national level and Debra Warner and Karen Rist both competed for the Great Britain Team at international level.
Karen May became a PE teacher and was team manager for Berkshire County Schools where she coached the relay squads. Jenny was the driving force in arranging a very special reunion in March of this year for the four of us with Eileen and Jill. We had a wonderful evening together, sharing laughter and memories and all had the opportunity to thank Eileen for the amazing impact that she had had on our lives.
We were the first team to have raced to national success under guidance and coaching from Eileen but there are thousands of other athletes from across the 51 years of Radley AC who would also have their own successes and stories to tell. We are all so grateful to Eileen and the wonderful legacy that she leaves."
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