1983 UK Athletics Championships

The 1983 UK Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for the United Kingdom held at Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh. It was the second time the event was held in the Scottish city, following on from the 1978 UK Athletics Championships. The women's 5000 metres race walk was restored to the programme after an absence at the 1982 event.

1983 UK Athletics Championships
Host city	Edinburgh, Scotland
Venue	Meadowbank Stadium
Level	Senior
Type	Outdoor
← 1982 1984 → UK Athletics Championships

It was the seventh edition of the competition limited to British athletes only, launched as an alternative to the AAA Championships, which was open to foreign competitors. However, due to the fact that the calibre of national competition remained greater at the AAA event, the UK Championships this year were not considered the principal national championship event by some statisticians, such as the National Union of Track Statisticians (NUTS). Many of the athletes below also competed at the 1983 AAA Championships.^[1][2]

Three athletes, Steve Barry (men's racewalk), Martin Girvan (men's hammer throw) and Fatima Whitbread (women's javelin throw) took their third straight UK titles. Aston Moore defended his men's triple jump title, as did women's long jumper Beverly Kinch and hurdler Susan Morley. Kathy Smallwood-Cook and Buster Watson achieved short sprint doubles and Venissa Head won both the women's shot put and discus throw.^[1]

The main international track and field competition for the United Kingdom that year was the inaugural 1983 World Championships in Athletics. Women's UK champions Fatima Whitbread and Kathy Smallwood-Cook went on to reach the world podium.^[3]

Medal summary

Men

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Buster Watson	10.43	Drew McMaster	10.49	Linford Christie	10.60
200 metres	Buster Watson	20.88	Todd Bennett	21.02	Donovan Reid	21.40
400 metres	Alan Slack	46.67	Kriss Akabusi	46.85	Steve Heard	46.98
800 metres	Peter Elliott	1:45.5	Rob Harrison	1:46.6	Steve Caldwell	1:47.0
1500 metres	John Gladwin	3:45.09	Geoff Turnbull	3:45.69	Ian Archibald	3:45.95
5000 metres	Nat Muir	13:35.21	Dick Callan	13:36.89	Steve Harris	13:37.31
10,000 metres	Steve Binns	28:02.42	Lawrie Spence	28:11.85	Gerry Helme	28:13.04
110 m hurdles	Nigel Walker	14.48	Lloyd Cowan	14.62	Gary Myles	14.69
400 m hurdles	Phil Beattie	51.05	Stan Devine	51.16	Wilbert Greaves	51.39
3000 metres steeplechase	David Lewis	8:29.72	Keith Irvine	8:41.37	Peter Barratt	8:41.45
10,000 m walk	Steve Barry	41:14.38	Ian McCombie	42:24.61	Martin Rush	43:42.75
High jump	Mark Lakey	2.10 m	Rupert Charles	2.05 m	Alex Kruger	2.05 m
Pole vault	Keith Stock	5.30 m	Jeff Gutteridge	5.30 m	Billy Davey	4.80 m
Long jump	Derrick Brown	7.21 m	John Scott	7.19 m	Denis Costello	7.16 m
Triple jump	Aston Moore	16.40 m	John Herbert	16.36w m	Eric McCalla	15.64w m
Shot put	Nick Tabor	17.20 m	Billy Cole	17.05 m	Ian Lindley	16.47 m
Discus throw	Pete Tancred	55.22 m	Paul Mardle	54.86 m	Peter Gordon	54.36 m
Hammer throw	Martin Girvan	72.38 m	Chris Black	71.80 m	Dave Smith	69.20 m
Javelin throw	Peter Yates	80.84 m	Marcus Humphries	72.78 m	Mick Hill	69.94 m

Women

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 metres	Kathy Smallwood-Cook	11.33	Kaye Jeffrey	11.51	Shirley Thomas	11.59
200 metres	Kathy Smallwood-Cook	23.08	Sandra Whittaker	23.51	Kaye Jeffrey	23.55
400 metres	Joslyn Hoyte-Smith	53.02	Sian Morris	53.27	Alison Reid	53.47
800 metres	Shireen Bailey	2:01.36	Lorraine Baker	2:01.71	Jane Finch	2:02.14
1500 metres	Kathy Carter	4:16.03	Katie Fairbrass	4:16.10	Ruth Smeeth	4:17.30
3000 metres	Wendy Sly	8:56.28	Christine Benning	8:56.99	Yvonne Murray	9:04.14
5000 metres	Yvonne Murray	15:52.55	Paula Fudge	15:54.13	Julie Asgill	16:38.03
100 m hurdles	Shirley Strong	13.15	Pat Rollo	13.51	Sharon Danville	13.66
400 m hurdles	Susan Morley	56.67	Gladys Taylor	57.51	Verona Elder	58.05
5000 m walk	Irene Bateman	23:42.2	Jill Barrett	24:08.4	Ginney Birch	24:18.6
High jump	Gillian Evans	1.87 m	Janet Boyle	1.80 m	Ann-Marie Cording	1.75 m
Long jump	Beverly Kinch	6.42 m	Joyce Oladapo	6.40 m	Carol Earlington	6.16 m
Shot put	Venissa Head	17.69 m	Caroline Savory	14.69 m	Myrtle Augee	14.63 m
Discus throw	Venissa Head	60.62 m	Lynda Whiteley	52.60 m	Julia Avis	51.40 m
Javelin throw	Fatima Whitbread	62.14 m	Tessa Sanderson	61.44 m	Sharon Gibson	55.42 m

References

1. UK Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
2. AAA WAAA and National Championships Medalists. NUTS. Retrieved 2018-02-25.
3. IAAF World Championships in Athletics. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 2018-03-09.