Welcome to Harlow Athletic Club
Harlow Athletic Club is a thriving all-inclusive athletics club based at Mark Hall Sports Centre. Home to a number of Paralympic and Olympic athletes, as well as the Southern Mens’ League 2012 champions, we welcome new members of all abilities.Whether you’re a newcomer, youngster, veteran, or finely tuned athlete Harlow Athletic Club is the perfect place for you to improve your athletic ability or to just keep fit in a friendly, sociable environment.”
Our History
“Harlow AC has a rich history, dating back to its founding in 1963. The club originally had a cinder track located where Sainsbury’s stands today. Cecil Smith was our first director of coaching, and Harlow Council played a crucial role in funding the track, showing their commitment to supporting the community’s sporting needs.
The cinder track was uniquely built from ashes donated by the local people of Harlow from their fires. Our ground staff, coaches, parents, and committee members were incredibly supportive, and we received minor sponsorship from local businesses.
Over time, the original track was upgraded from cinder to an all-weather surface. This included modernizing the high jump and pole vault areas from sandpit landings to mats and introducing safety cages for throws.
We also hosted an annual international selection race for marathon runners, developed by Tom Brady. The old arena was a bustling venue for Essex schools and club championships, and we even shared the space with Harlow FC.
Harlow AC has always been a successful club with a deep pool of talent. We’ve hosted county and national level competitions, and some of our competitors still hold club records, despite changes in implement specifications and hurdle rules.
Our club has produced county champions, regional champions, English schools champions, international medalists, Olympians, and Paralympians. We’ve continued to produce champions, including an English Schools champion and international medalist, a European U23 gold medalist, a medal-winning, world-ranked wheelchair athlete, a Special Olympic medalist, several regional champions, and many county champions.
Today, our track is located next to Mark Hall School, continuing our legacy of excellence and community spirit.”
Wheelchair Racing
Harlow Wheelchair Racing Squad was founded by Paralympian Richard Chiassaro over 10 years ago and has grown each year since. We currently have 35 members of all ages and disabilities, our youngest is 6 years old!
Richard placed 4th in the 400m at Rio 2016 Paralympics and was on the podium once again in 2017 when he claimed 200m bronze in front of a home crowd at the World Championships in London. He competed at Tokyo in 2020 and in August 2024, was appointed as England Athletics National Wheelchair Racing Development Coach, to coach at Paris 2024 Paralympics. This role will be instrumental in guiding the next generation of wheelchair racers towards the Paralympic Games in LA in 2028
However, Richard has a strong desire to coach aspiring young athletes and alongside coaching the Harlow Whelchair Squad he also travels to schools across Essex to motivate and inspire future athletes.
