Harry Payne (athlete)

Harry William Payne (5 September 1892 – 5 July 1969) was a British long-distance runner who competed in the marathon at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam and was a two-time national champion.^[1] He was born in Bedfordshire.

Athletics

On 26 May 1928, Payne debuted at the marathon distance and posted a fourth-place finish at the Polytechnic Marathon (2:54:50.8). Six weeks later on 6 July 1928, he won the Amateur Athletic Association's marathon championship in only his second marathon.^[2] His performance of 2:34:34 set on the Polytechnic Marathon course was a new British record.^[2] The following month, an injured Payne finished 13th in marathon at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam (2:42:29).

At the 1929 AAA championships, Payne's 2:30:57.6 mark would earn him a second consecutive title and recapture the British marathon record from Sam Ferris – a mark that would stand for 22 years.^{[nb 1]}In 2024, this mark was indicated by World Athletics as a world record.^[5] With this performance, Payne was ranked first in the marathon for 1929.^[6]^[7]

He competed in the marathon at the 1930 British Empire Games for England.^[8]

Personal life

He was a clerk at the time of the 1930 Games and lived in Woodford Green.^[9]

Notes

^ The International Association of Athletics Federations does not indicate that Payne's mark was a world best performance;^[3] however, it does appear as such in a similar list compiled by the Association of Road Racing Statisticians.^[4]

References

^ "British Athletics Championships 1919-1939". Gbrathletics.com. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
^ ^a ^b Martin, David E.; Roger W. H. Gynn (May 2000). The Olympic Marathon. Human Kinetics Publishers. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-88011-969-6.
^ "12th IAAF World Championships In Athletics: IAAF Statistics Handbook. Berlin 2009" (PDF). Monte Carlo: IAAF Media & Public Relations Department. 2009. p. 565. Retrieved 14 May 2010.
^ "World Best Progressions- Road". Arrs.net. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
^ "Progression of World Athletics Records - Marathon pp. 398-399". World Athletics. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
^ "World Marathon Rankings for 1929". Arrs.net. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
^ "Yearly Rankings- Marathon". Arrs.net. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
^ "English athletes". Commonwealth Games Federation. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
^ "UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 2 Sep 1930 Southampton". Ancestry.co.uk.

Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Harry Payne". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.