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Shirley Clelland
Personal information
Nationality	England
Born	24 February 1951 (age 73); Harrow

Shirley Anne Clelland (born 24 February 1951) is a former combined events athlete who competed for England. She won the pentathlon silver medal at the 1969 Women's Amateur Athletic Association Championships and recorded three top-7 finishes at the 1970 Commonwealth Games and World University Games.

Personal life

Clelland was born an only child on 24 February 1951 in Kenton, London.^[2]^[3] Her father Ken Clelland was also her regional athletics coach, though she was later trained by Amateur Athletic Association of England coach Roger Beevers. She lived in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England and was described as having a quiet personality.^[3]

Clelland studied physical education at Dartford College.^[3] Her long jump role model was Mary Rand.^[3]

After her career as an athlete, Clelland became a schoolteacher. In 1974, she was appointed as the team manager for the Leicestershire and Rutland AAA athletics team, leading the team to moderate success.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Athletics career

As a youth athlete, Clelland was considered one of the greatest ever all-around athletes from Leicestershire in "many a long year".^[3]^[8]^[9] She initially began as a sprinter but found success in the long jump.^[10] She competed at international meetings in Ireland, France, and White City, London, and won a gold medal at the 1969 All England School's Championships, jumping 19 ft 41⁄2 in (5.9 m).^[11]^[3] She would later post a best of 20 ft 21⁄4 in (6.15 m) in the long jump.^[3]

She later specialized in the women's pentathlon and was a member of the Leicester Coritanian Athletics Club.^[3] Clelland set a long jump record at the Leicestershire County Championships that would last over 10 years, jumping farther than 5.80 m.^[12] At the 1969 and 1970 Midlands Women's Amateur Athletic Association Championships (WAAA), Clelland won the pentathlon silver medal, only finishing behind Olympian Sue Scott in 1970.^[13]^[3]

Clelland earned her cap to represent England in the pentathlon at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games by beating out Susan Haywood for the third team berth.^[14] With a personal best of 4460 points, her selection made her the first woman from Loughborough to ever represent her country internationally in athletics.^[15]

With a final score of 4458 points, she finished 7th overall.^[16]^[17]^[18] Clelland also finished 7th in the pentathlon at the 1970 World University Games, scoring 4451 points.^[19] She also participated on the British 4 × 100 m relay team there, finishing 6th.

At the end of 1970, Clelland sustained a serious injury at the site of the World University Games in Turin, Italy. The injury prevented her from competing in pentathlons for two years. In September 1972, she returned to win 3 individual events at the final Midland Women's Division league match, and soon after she posted a 3441-point pentathlon score.^[20]^[21]

References

^ "Chris Monk Sets New Record Despite Injury". Leicester Mercury. 24 February 1969. p. 21. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ Shirley Clelland at Tilastopaja (registration required)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "BRILLIANT FUTURE FOR SHIRLEY BEGAN 'AS A BIT OF FUN'". Leicester Chronicle. 29 May 1970. p. 28. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
^ "SHIRLEY IS TEAM MANAGER". Leicester Mercury. 9 August 1974. p. 56. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "BOY TRIO SPEARHEAD WAY INTO NEW ERA FOR COUNTY". Leicester Mercury. 14 July 1975. p. 26. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "Theresa shows javelin skill". Leicester Mercury. 19 May 1975. p. 38. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "'Remarkable' season for Coritanian". Leicester Mercury. 20 March 1974. p. 38. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "LOUGHBORO' GIRL CHOSEN FOR ENGLAND". Leicester Mercury. 11 July 1966. p. 17. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "Clelland and Tancred beat the weather". Leicester Mercury. 27 April 1970. p. 26. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "Shirley Clelland Wins Long Jump". Leicester Mercury. 11 July 1969. p. 36. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "County Long Jump Champion Second". Leicester Mercury. 28 June 1967. p. 22. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "DUO ACHIEVE QUALIFYING TARGETS". Leicester Mercury. 15 May 1980. p. 46. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "Shirley second in Midland pentathlon". Leicester Mercury. 18 May 1970. p. 36. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "PENTATHLON WIN FOR SHIRLEY CLELLAND". Leicester Mercury. 24 August 1970. p. 22. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "Golden girl Shirley is the first". Evening Post. 30 June 1970. p. 16. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "1970 Athletes". Team England.
^ "Edinburgh, 1970 Team". Team England.
^ "Athletes and results". Commonwealth Games Federation.
^ "Athletics recap for meeting #12980085". Tilastopaja.
^ "Three firsts for Clelland". Leicester Mercury. 6 September 1971. p. 21. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
^ "New record for Alison Bonsor". Leicester Mercury. 14 September 1972. p. 34. Retrieved 5 November 2024.