# 1880 AAA Championships

The 1880 AAA Championships was an outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA), held on Saturday 3 July at Lillie Bridge Grounds, London, England. It was the first championships organised by the AAA, and it replaced championships held by the Amateur Athletic Club since 1866. Representatives of the Amateur Athletic Club handed over to the new association the challenge cups that had been competed for at their championship for presentation at the new competition. The prizes were presented by Lady Jersey, wife of the Earl of Jersey.
The fourteen events on the programme were for men only, with heats and finals all held on the same day, with the exception of the 10 miles race, which was held on the following Thursday, 7 July, at the same venue. The track was one-third of a mile (586 yards 2 feet) in circumference with one long straight and three bends. There were no heats in the field events, some of which had only two or three competitors. It was customary at the time for race winners only to have their performances recorded, therefore, in the tables below other competitors are shown with the distance each man was behind the man in front. Field event performances are shown in feet and inches as they were originally measured, with a conversion to metric measurement in parentheses. Conversions have been obtained using the International Metric Conversion Tables published by the International Amateur Athletics Federation in 1970.
It had rained heavily during the morning and by three o'clock, when the first event was due to start, the track was waterlogged and the grass, where the hurdles were set up, was slippery. For the one mile there were only two entries, but Samuel Holman (London AC) did not start and Walter George (Moseley Harriers) ran alone in the outside lane to avoid the water. The times for his three laps were as follows: 1:21.4, 2:54.0 (1:32.6), 4:28.0 (1:34.0).
There were two heats in the 440 yards, with the first two in each heat qualifying for the final. In heat two there was a dead heat for second place and all three were advanced to the final. The winner of the final was Montague Shearman, the honorary secretary of the organising committee.
William Hough (Cambridge Un. AC) had won the 3 miles at the Cambridge Sports and set a new meet record of 15:01 1/5 in the match against Oxford University and was thought to be the favourite to win the 4 miles. There were eight starters, only five of whom finished the race. James Concannon (Widnes AC), the winner of the steeplechase, led for the first lap, but was soon overtaken and dropped out after one mile. The lead was taken over by P. H. Stenning (London AC) who took them through the first mile (3 laps) in 4:56 with Hough in second place and Walter George (Moseley H.), who had started quite slowly, moved up into fourth place. Hough and Stenning then alternated the lead as George moved up into third place. Stenning led at two miles (10:22) but shortly after George took the lead and Stenning dropped out leaving Hough in second place. A. H. Davis (Blackheath H.) was eighty yards away in third and close behind him was A. S. Suffell (Clapton Beagles). At three miles, passed in 15:39, George was slightly ahead of Hough, who then dashed into the lead and tried to open up a gap, but George caught him within a lap and Hough stopped by the pavilion and retired leaving George a long way ahead of Davis and Suffell. They finished in that order with W. Johnson almost a whole lap behind.
William Winthrop's performance in the shot put was a world amateur record. He held the record for one year until it was beaten in this championship in 1881, and he remains the only Englishman ever to hold the world record in this event.

## Results

| Event | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
| 100 yards | William Page Phillips | Charles Langton Lockton | Herbert M. Massey |
| 440 yards | Montague Shearman | William Page Phillips | Thomas A. Lynch |
| 880 yards | Samuel King Holman | John Draper Sadler | A. S. Paterson |
| 1 mile | Walter George | n/a | n/a |
| 4 miles | Walter George | A. H. Davies | William Suffell |
| 10 miles | Charles Henry Mason | William Snook | Percy Haines Stenning |
| steeplechase | James Concannon | Charles O'Malley | Robert Seymour Benson |
| 120yd hurdles | George Patrick Charles Lawrence | Samuel Palmer | Francis Cleaver |
| 7 miles walk | George Phillip Beckley | T. A. Murphy | James Alfred Squires |
| high jump | John Whitehill Parsons | Francis Henry Augustus Bell | Robert Thomas |
| pole jump | Edward Aubrey Strachan | Frederic William Darby Robinson | George Callow |
| long jump | Charles Langton Lockton | John Whitehill Parsons | Herbert M. Massey |
| shot put | William Young Winthrop | n/a | n/a |
| hammer throw | Walter Lawrence | William Young Winthrop | n/a |

## Event summary

100 yards :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | William Page Phillips | London Athletic Club | 10 1/5 sec. |
| 2. | Charles Langton Lockton | London AC | 1/2 yard |
| 3. | Herbert M. Massey | London AC/United Hospitals AC | inches |
| 4. | J. B. Williamson | Glasgow Academicals | |
| 5. | James John Milroy Cowie | London AC | |
Notes: no heats, 5 competitors only
440 yards :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | Montague Shearman | Oxford University AC | 52 1/5sec. |
| 2. | William Page Phillips | London AC | 4 yd |
| 3. | Thomas A. Lynch | Ireland | 2 1/2 yd |
| 4. | Henry Rawlins Ball | London AC | |
| 5. | Sidney Herbert Baker | London AC | |
Notes: 2 heats, Lynch 51 3/5sec.; Phillips 51 sec.
880 yards :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | Samuel King Holman | London AC | 2:00 2/5 |
| 2. | John Draper Sadler | London AC | 6 1/2 yards |
| 3. | A. Paterson | Edinburgh University AC | |
| 4. | R. W. Whalley | Widnes AC | |
1 mile :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | Walter George | Moseley Harriers | 4:28 3/5 |
Notes: only one competitor
4 miles :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | Walter George | Moseley H. | 20:45 4/5 |
| 2. | A. H. Davies | Blackheath Harriers | 21:15 |
| 3. | W. S. Suffell | Clapton Beagles | 21:56 |
| 4. | S. G. Johnson | Lees Football Club | 22:20 |
| 5. | W. H. C. Andrews | ex-Strollers HC |
Notes: only 5 finished
10 miles :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | Charles Henry Mason | Thames Hare and Hounds | 56:07 |
| 2. | William Snook | Pengwern Rowing C., Shrewsbury | 56:18 1/2 |
| 3. | Percy Haines Stenning | London AC/Thames Hare & Hounds | 56:24 1/2 |
| 4. | W. S. Suffell | Clapton Beagles | 57:13 1/5 |
Steeplechase :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | James Concannon | Widnes FC | 10:26 |
| 2. | C. L. O'Malley | Ireland | 45 yd |
| 3. | Robert Seymour Benson | Royal School of Mines | 20 yd |
Notes: Distance was 1 mile 1,440 yards (2,912 metres)
120 yards hurdles :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | George Patrick Charles Lawrence | Oxford Un. AC | 16 2/5sec. |
| 2. | Samuel Palmer | Cambridge University AC | 3/4-1 yard |
| 3. | F. F. Cleaver | Notts Forest FC | 4-5 yards |
Notes: 2 heats
High Jump :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | John Whitehill Parsons | Edinburgh Un. AC | 5ft 9 3/4in (1.77m) |
| 2. | Francis Henry Augustus Bell | Dulwich College | 5ft 7in (1.70m) |
| 3. | R. E. Thomas | Liverpool Gymnasium | 5ft 6in (1.67m) |
Notes: only 3 competitors
Pole jump :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | Edward Aubrey Strachan | 108th Regiment | 10ft 4in (3.15m) |
| 2. | Frederic William Darby Robinson | Beccles Athletic Club | 10ft 1in (3.07m) |
| 3. | George Callow | Peterborough Cricket Club | 9ft 3in (2.82m) |
Notes: only 3 competitors
Long Jump :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | Charles Langton Lockton | London AC | 22ft 2in (6.75m) |
| 2. | John Whitehill Parsons | Edinburgh Un. AC | 21ft 1 1/2in (6.44m) |
| 3. | Herbert M. Massey | London AC/United Hospitals AC | 21ft 0in (6.40m) |
| 4. | F. W. Fellowes | Burton FC | |
| 5. | George Patrick Charles Lawrence | Oxford Un. AC | |
Notes: only 5 competitors
Shot Put :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | William Young Winthrop | Cambridge Un. AC/London AC | 37ft 3in (11.35m) |
Notes: only 1 competitor
Hammer :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | Walter Lawrence | Oxford Un. AC/London AC | 96ft 0in (29.26m) |
| 2. | William Young Winthrop | London AC | 74ft 2in (22.60m) |
Notes: only 2 competitors
7 miles walk :
| Pos | Athlete | Club | Time /Dist |
| 1. | George Phillip Beckley | London AC | 56:40 |
| 2. | T. A. Murphy | Highgate Harriers | 56:57 |
| 3. | James Alfred Squires | London AC | 58:29 |
Notes: only 4 finishers. Harry Webster (Stoke AC) finished first in 53:50 but was disqualified.