The Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) trophies are a wealth of information about the history the sport. Some of the great names of athletics appear on the trophies, and the stories of the sponsors of each event gives an insight into how athletics has developed over the years.
The oldest trophies in the collection are the Men’s 7 Miles Walking Challenge Cup, the Prince Hassan Pacha 100 Yards Challenge Cup, the Earl of Jersey 4 Miles Running Challenge Cup, the Kenelm Digby Quarter Mile Challenge Cup, the P.M. Thornton Half Mile Challenge Cup, the Viscount Southwell Champions Challenge Cup for Hurdles, and the C.B. Lawes One Mile Challenge Cup. These trophies were all originally presented by the Amateur Athletic Club (AAC), precursor to the AAA, and give an idea of which events were included in early athletics programmes.
Many of the newer trophies are for women’s events, reflecting the developments in women’s athletics throughout the twentieth century. The most recent are the Rose Gillis Trophy for women’s pole vault and the Mary Aims Memorial Trophy for women’s hammer, both events first being added to the AAA programme in 1993.
Not all trophies are created equal, at least not in terms of size. The largest in the collection is the C.W.F. Pearce Trophy for men’s javelin, acquired by the AAAs in memory of Claude W.F. Pearce, AAA Hon. Treasurer from 1938, who was taken fatally ill at a AAA Committee meeting in 1947. The bronze trophy depicting a javelin thrower, complete with detachable javelin, has been won by many notable names including world record breakers Jorma Kinnunen of Finland, Miklos Nemeth of Hungary and Steve Backley of Great Britain. It stands almost a meter tall and takes two people to lift. At the other end of the scale, the John Shearman Hop, Step and Jump Cup stand only a few inches tall but holds the names of many important athletes, most notably perhaps in recent years Britain’s Jonathan Edwards. The trophy was presented to the AAAs in 1937 by John Shearman, a member of the London Athletic Club and a rugby player with Wasps.
Some trophies have changed designation over the years, either as the events themselves change, the or as events beyond athletics influence the sport. One example of this is The Lady Bailey Challenge Cup which has had an eventful life. From 1923 – 1970 it was awarded to the winner of the WAAA 880 yard/800m competition, however after the death of 800m runner Lillian Board in 1970 at the age of just 22 the Lillian Board Trophy for 800m was created in her memory. The Lady Bailey Challenge Cup was reallocated to the women’s the 3000m, an event which had been introduced to the women’s programme in 1968, and from 2010 it has been awarded to the winner of the women’s 3000m steeplechase.
To find out more about the WAAA and AAA trophies visit The Athletics Museum online.