Tim Hutchings by Tony Miller
Crawley’s first true male star was Tim Hutchings who represented his country in all the major Championships with real distinction. But it took him a while to appreciate just how good he was.
In the early ’70s Tim’s parents moved out of London and down to the Sussex countryside. His mother got a job as a secretary at a local private school (Worth Abbey) and he and his elder brother were able to get a great education there. Tim was very good at rugby and cricket, and athletics was just something he did in the summer when they needed someone to run for the school. He was also able to win cross country races just on his rugby fitness. When he was 15, his friend and Crawley AC member Neil Leach started dragging him out for some runs and he put in three or four months of really good training.
In July 1975, a few weeks after winning the Sussex Youths title at Withdean, he ran 4:01.8 for 1500m at the English Schools Championships and came second to Eamonn Martin, the last British man to win the London Marathon. That qualified him to run for England in the Schools Home International. So he got a taste for athletics that summer, but he then dropped back to rugby and cricket and didn’t really pursue running for a couple years.
Even so, on limited preparation, he still made the English Schools senior finals for the next 2 years, showing just how much untapped talent there was.
In 1977, at the age of 18, he got back into the sport and ran 3:45.73 for 1500m and ranked number 2 Junior in the UK. He took a year out before going to Loughborough University and went at it hell-for-leather. Having won the Sussex Junior Cross Country, AAA indoor 1500m and Southern 3000m titles and gained two indoor international vests, Tim ran in the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada as a teenager and was 10th at 1500m. He ran a 3:57.83 mile that summer and 3:40.57 for 1500m.
But Tim never really moved on while at college, he was often ill or injured. And for each of the next three years it was the same story, getting what he could out of each summer with very limited background.
But in ’82 things started to click again and he won the UK 1500m title following a successful training and racing sojourn in New Zealand. He got back into the GB team for the match and against Belgium and East Germany and revised all his PB’s.
Moving up to 5000m he ran marvellously well to place 4th and smash his personal best with 13:11.50 at the 1984 Olympics. To this day, only 4 Brits have ever finished higher in an Olympic 5000m and it took him to 2nd on the UK All-Time list and 10th on the World All-Time list.
In 1986 Tim took bronze medals at both Commonwealth Games and European Championships, after 14th and 7th respectively at those events in 1982. He was also 7th in the World 5000m in 1987.
That 1986 Commonwealth 5000m in Edinburgh was a particular success for Sussex and it could have been even better. Halfway through the race, Tim put in a 60 secs lap and broke away from the field. He stayed away almost until the bell when he was reeled in by 3 athletes. Tim pushed on again at the bell, only for Steve Ovett to kick past to victory and Jack Buckner claimed 2nd close home to make it an English 1-2-3.
At those same Games, Sharon McPeake, who Tim was to marry a year later won the high jump silver medal for Northern Ireland with her best ever jump of 1.90m.
Switching back to 1985, this was a proud year for Crawley AC as they made their debut in the British League and Tim played his part in making it a successful one. He ran in 3 of the 4 meetings including the final one at their home track where his 800/1500 double helped to clinch the title and promotion to Division 4.
In 1989 Tim moved up distances again, to 10,000m at which he was second in the AAAs and European Cup; he also improved his five-year-old 3000m best to 7:43.03. In 1990, he ran in his 4th Commonwealth Games, this time in the 10,000m. He was also selected but withdrew from the European Championships team and injuries prevented him from further successes.
He had perhaps his greatest successes at cross-country, with 2nd places in the World Championships in 1984 and 1989. And it took great athletes to beat him. In 1984 it was Carlos Lopes of Portugal who went on to win the Olympic Marathon a few months later and 1989 it was the great John Ngugi of Kenya, the Olympic 5000m champion. Tim also scored wins in the National XC in 1983 and 1986. 
At the age of 30, soon after he had finished 2nd in the 1989 World XC, he picked up a hamstring injury that just would not go. Just over a year later, he had an operation that did not work. 10 months later he had another op to clear up the damage of the previous op. By this time, he had not been running or training hard for more than 2 years. He was married, and looking to start a family. So, effectively his career was prematurely ended by injury, before he had time to fully explore his potential at the longer distances.
Tim now works as a consultant and television commentator, mostly for Eurosport. Indeed, since retiring as a professional distance runner, Tim’s voice has become one of the most familiar in the world of Athletics & Distance Running. He has commentated on every one of the IAAF World Championships since 1991, the last seven summer Olympic Games and hundreds of track meetings and road races in the last three decades.
Variously and while commentating, Tim has also been a consultant to Reebok UK (1991-2003), International Coordinator at the London Marathon (1992-2005), and Head of UK Sales at The Active Network (2001-2005).
In 2007, Tim founded The Grounded Events Company in order to organise the Brighton Marathon each April (always 1-2 weeks before the London Marathon); after ten editions (2010-2019), the event is now the UK’s second biggest marathon (after London), has been televised several times and staged its 10th anniversary race on 14th April 2019. This event continues to grow, attracting almost 20,000 entries each year, while raising millions for the local Brighton economy and for over 250 charity partners.