Running Through My Life

Autobiography of the late Ron Jones (1934–2021), one of the all-time greats of Welsh athletics. He had an incredible sporting career, firstly as an international sprint runner, and then, on retirement, as the first-ever chief executive of an English football league club. Raised in Aberaman, south Wales, during his outstanding and lengthy athletics career he set 28 Welsh sprint records, won 12 Welsh titles, was Europe’s best sprinter in 1963, competed in a record four Commonwealth Games and was captain of the British athletics team at the Mexico Olympic Games in 1968. His second sporting career was just as glittering: he went on to become the first Chief Executive of Queens Park Rangers (1976–80) and then the Managing Director of Cardiff City FC (1980–88). He was director of SportsAid Cymru Wales, was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame in 2013, and in 2018 he opened the Ron Jones Athletics Stadium in Aberdare. Ron gives an account of his travels worldwide as a runner, and also of his friendships with other athletes – in particular with Lillian Board (1948–70), the golden girl of British athletics who died so tragically young, and those actors and musicians he entertained while a football executive at Queens Park Rangers.