Pat Kippax

Quarter-miler Pat Kippax was a member of the south-London club Cambridge Harriers for many years and became president and an honorary life member. She was originally a sprinter and won the English Schools senior 220 yards title and was the senior 100 yards Kent women´s champion at the age of 17. Kippax reached the 1964 WAAA 440 yards final, won by Ann Packer, and was selected as the third member of the GB 400 metres Olympic squad, with Packer and [Joy Grieveson(). It was the first time the women´s 400 had been contested at the Olympics and Kippax just missed out on a place in the final by 2/10ths of a second.

Kippax helped Cambridge Harriers win the 1966 National ladies Cross-country team title. That same year, she married fellow quarter-miler Joe Stocking and later married Kenneth Davidson. Having studied at the Brighton Technical College, Kippax became a schoolteacher. Following her death in 2009, the Cambridge Club organised the annual Pat Kippax Memorial 400 metres women´s race at their July open meeting in her memory, with a special prize going to any runner beating Kippax´s Tokyo time of 54.4.

Personal Best: 400 – 54.4 (1964).