Donna HARTLEY

Dubbed the 'golden girl' by the British media, the blonde-haired Donna Hartley established herself as a significant force in British athletics at both the 200m and 400m during the latter half of the 1970s. Competing under her maiden name of Murray, Donna won the 200m at the 1972 national WAAA championships while still a teenager. In 1974, she moved up to the 400m, finishing second in the WAAA championships in June, and setting a new UK record of 51.77sec at Stockholm on 30 July. Unfortunately, she was unable to carry that form into the European Championships in September where she was eliminated in her heat. On 12 July 1975 Donna lowered her UK 400m record to a lifetime best of 51.28secwhen finishing second in a European Cup semi-final in Sofia. Donna was a tireless competitor for Great Britain in the many international matches that were contested during her career, which included a win in the 400m at the Great Britain v Soviet Union match in London (Crystal Palace) on 25 August 1975 .

Although she found difficulty in the early part of her career in reaching finals at major international championships, she fared much better as relay runner. She ran the anchor leg on the Great Britain 4 x 400m relay team which finished 7th at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, and was a member of a composite European team which won a silver medal at the 1977 World Cup. Donna finally achieved international glory when she won the 400m at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, and also anchored the English 4 x 400m relay team to the gold medal in a Games record time.

In her final year of serious competition, Donna anchored Great Britain to a bronze medal in the 4 x 400m relay at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. She ran the second-fastest leg of the finalists, taking the baton in 7th place but working her way past three other runners to finish in third place.   (Ron Casey)