The present club was formed in April 1964. when it was part of the West Hill Boys Club. In December 1966 it was decided that athletics in the town would be served better by renaming the group as Hastings Athletic Club. The Club started the Hastings New Zealand Namesake Trophy meeting which was the first club meeting held on the then newly opened (cinder) track at William Parker School, and this has been promoted by the club ever since. In March 1969, the Boxley Trophy Road Race, using a six mile course, was run in Alexandra Park. In 1970, a Youth/Boys race was started, and in 1971 a Colts 2 mile race was introduced. In July 1969, the club staged a Ladies open meeting to encourage the ladies section of the club to improve on their previous seasons best performances. In the same year, Hastings AC joined the Division 4 (SE) of the Southern League, and by coincidence Metric distances were also introduced on the track in this year. In May 1971 the club started the Town Race, a cross country event for non specialist runners, while in August the Men's team won the Sussex Inter Club trophy for the first time. The men followed this up the next year by winning the Barker Trophy, the McCaffrey Trophy, and once again the Sussex Inter Club Trophy. Quite a year for the men. 1 April 1973, the club was saddened by the loss of Alan Pimm aged only 25. Alan had been a real worker for the club both on and off the track. In 1973 the men's team repeated the success of the previous year by winning again a hatrick of trophies. During the next years the club really started to grow and by 1977 the Mens Cross Country section was winning Bronze Medals in the County championships, finishing third in the Sussex League and competing in the National Championships for the first time. During 1978, Hastings won the Boxley Trophy, and ladies races were included for the first time. It was also the first year that the ladies team competed in the Southern Women's League. In October, the club organised the 1066 Sea Front Races as part of the 'Hastings Day'. This year the club was awarded the Elca Hiller Shield by the Sports Council. In 1983, Derek Stevens became the club's first international athlete. He ran a marvellous Marathon that year in America, recording a time of 2 hours 12 minutes 41 seconds for the race, which still remains* a club record. From 1987 -1990. the club went through a difficult period both financially and physically. . During 1988, John Barker was awarded the Elca Hillier Shield for his contribution to Hastings AC both on and off the track. This was a richly deserved award to a man who gave so many hours of hard work to the club, which incidentally. he still does today. Thanks, John! In 1992, both the mens teams in the Southern League were promoted. This saw a reawakening of the interest in the club as a whole and was due in no small way to the effort that is being made to encourage the youth of the town to get involved with our club and to take up the sport of athletics. During 1994, the club recorded more success, when both teams in the Men's Southern League were promoted. A Veterans team entered the league for the first time and did very well, as did the youth who are coming through to the first team squad in number. Sadly the year was not all good news. as we lost the services of our President Mr Bill Eves, who died in November. He had been a great servant to the club and to sport in general. He will be missed by us all. PLEASE NOTE: RANKINGS HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM TRANSCRIBED ARCHIVE COPIES AND MAY NOT (YET) AGREE WITH THE CLUB'S OFFICIAL RANKINGS. Any queries, information or pictures please to Mark Burgess webmaster@hastingsathleticclub.co.uk