Whatever happens in the future there is no doubt that Worthing & District Harrier, Debbie Woolgar, will hold a unique record amongst Sussex athletes as the county's first medal centurion. If you do not know what Debbie did, know she did everything, and she did it all well.
One of the most successful events as far as British women are concerned, is the pentathlon/heptathlon where Mary Peters, Denise Lewis and Jessica Ennis all won Olympic golds, and Mary Rand a silver medal. Whilst Katarina Johnson-Thompson is the reigning World Champion.
Debbie has a fine record and made several international appearances at either England or UK level and at several Southern and National Championships.
Deborah (Debbie) Caroline was born to Malcolm and Nancy Woolgar on 10th March 1965 and went to Durrington High 
School and then Worthing Sixth Form College. Competing in multi-events was always likely, as Debbie's father, Malcolm, was a decathlete and encouraged her at an early age, to run, jump and throw and to join the Harriers.
Her first athletic success came at county level. She said: "I think the Sussex Schools events I participated in were just for the throws as they hadn't started doing the multi-events when I was in education! In 1979 at Withdean I won the discus, because Karen Allday, who also competed for West Sussex South Area and was the daughter of international Suzanne Allday (who has featured early in this series) had opted to do the shot. My first English Schools was in Nottingham and I think I came 8th in the shot.
"In 1980 at Crawley, I won the Sussex Schools shot. The English Schools was in Knowsley Liverpool. It poured with rain and I came 9th. In 1980 I had glandular fever, so I won the Sussex Schools shot but didn't go to the English Schools at Yeovil as I was out of action for most of the season. In 1982 I won the Sussex Schools shot and came 7th in the English Schools at Birmingham. In 1983 I won the Sussex Schools shot and came 2nd in my final English Schools at Plymouth".
In 1979, Debbie won her first Sussex County title when she took the U15 Pentathlon crown, and from then until 2005, she won scores of Sussex gold medals.
From 1985 to 1993 she made seven appearances in the WAAA Heptathlon championships winning the bronze medal in 1987, and in 1989, 1990 and 1991 she just missed the medals finishing in fourth place. While from 1987 to 1993 she made ten international appearances including competing as a Guest in the Irish and Austrian Championships finishing second and fourth respectively, in 1987.
At the High Class Combined event International at Brescia in Italy in 1989, Debbie was squeezed into seventh place but scored 5380 which remained the Sussex record until 2018. But she had recorded 5434 points in the WAAA champs in 1990 when placing fourth, which was ruled to be windy but is still the second-highest score by a Sussex athlete.
Over 30 plus years, Debbie was always at the top of her event. Her annual appearances at the Sussex Championships were balanced by her regular support of the WDH at league matches during the track season.
"When I left college, I started a full-time job as a receptionist at an optician, but I hated the 9–5 hours, so moved into leisure. I was initially a lifeguard at Worthing Aquarena, then at The Prince Regent in Brighton," Debbie said.
"In 1986 I got a great job in the brand new health spa when The Grand Hotel in Brighton reopened after its 1984 bombing. It was amazing to meet various celebrity guests and politicians that came. Then in 1990, I was part of the team that opened Dragons Health Club in Hove. I loved it! The founder, John Treharne, was a brilliant businessman who later created The Gym Group.
"My manager, Carolyn Dando, enabled me to train and take part in competitions abroad, sometimes at a moment's notice. Peter Winn was the Gym Manager, so I trained in his group, which included Tony Finnemore and Ray Key, and he helped me get my 800m time down, which was much appreciated.
"I became club manager of Dragons Health Club, Gatwick, in 2000, took on the same role at LA Fitness East Grinstead in 2006, before moving back to manage LA Fitness Gatwick in 2009. In 2012 I became club manager of The Gym Group Crawley and then went full circle returning to my old club in Hove for Sports Direct in 2014.
“I always loved the leisure industry and have also regularly taught Body Pump and Body Combat classes for the last 20 years, which I thoroughly enjoy. This kept me ticking over fitness-wise, when I stopped competing, though that's all come to a halt now, which is a shame!".
It is hard to imagine anyone winning more than one hundred County Gold medals, but that is just what Debbie did, and these are listed:
1979 U15 Pentathlon 1
1980 U17 Shot – Discus - Pentathlon 3 4
1981 U17 Shot – Discus – Pent. 3 7
1982 SW Shot – Discus – Heptathlon 3 10
1983 SW Shot – Discus – Hept. 3 13
1984 SW Shot – Hept. 2 15
1985 SW Shot – Hept. 2 17
1986 SW Shot – Discus – 100mH – Hept. 4 21
1987 SW Shot – Discus – 100mH – 400mH – Hept. 5 26
1988 SW Shot -100mH – 400mh – LJ – Hept. 5 31
1989 SW Shot – Discus – 100mH – Hept. 4 35
1990 SW Shot – 100mH 2 37
1991 SW Shot – Discus – 100mH - HJ - LJ– Hept. 6 43
1992 SW Shot – Discus – 100mH –400mH - LJ– Hept. 6 49
1993 SW Shot - Discus – 100mH – LJ– Hept. 5 54
1994 SW Shot – Discus – Hept. 3 57
1995 SW Shot – Discus – 100mH – TJ – Hept. 5 62
1996 SW Shot – Discus – 100mH – 400mH - TJ – Hept. 6 68
1997 SW Shot – Discus – 100mH – 400mH – LJ – Jav – Hept. 7 75
1998 SW Shot – Discus – Javelin 3 78
1999 SW Shot – Discus - 2 80
2000 SW Shot – Discus – Javelin 3 83
To celebrate her total of 75 gold medals, the County Association commissioned a statuette of her and presented it to Debbie at the 1998 Championships.
2001 SW Shot – Discus 2 85
2002 SW Shot – Discus – LJ 3 88
2002 W35 100mH – 400mH – HJ - LJ - Shot – Discus – Jav 7 95
2003 SW Beaten by Claire Smithson in Shot
2003 W35 High Jump – Shot – Discus – Javelin 4 99
2004 SW Shot 1 100
2005 SW Shot 1 101
2011 SW Shot 1 102
Debbie eventually won 102 individual Gold medals. Twenty-six of these plus two M35 titles came in the shot put and 19 plus one M35 title in the discus. Debbie found that she could not get to Club training sessions and competitions whilst working away from home, and gradually retired. Her last victory came in 2011 when she won the shot and dedicated it to her father Malcolm, who had died earlier in the year.
"I thoroughly enjoyed competing in multi-events. Peter Byrne coached me from 1988 until 2005, and he pushed me to get to the highest level I could achieve. However, my father was my inspiration. He was always there to support me from an early age and became an official at Worthing Harriers. He loved the Club, the people he met in athletics and the Southern League Matches, which were always an enjoyable family affair".
Debbie is still firmly positioned on the Sussex All-time lists where she is; third in the shot with 14.18m (1989), 10th in the discus list with 40.92m (1991), eighth in the 100m hurdles clocking 14.38s in 1989, 10th in the 400m hurdles with 63.6s (1993), 11th in the long jump with 5.81m (1986), 11th in the triple jump -11.43m (1994), and third in the heptathlon with 5380 in 1989. 
She also recorded a 12.9s 100m, 26.16s - 200m, 63.15s 400m, 2:19.91s 800m, high jumped 1.69m and threw the hammer 27.39m.
After more than thirty years competing for Worthing & District Harriers and Sussex she must be the most photographed Sussex Sportswoman of all time and, ten years on, she is still much missed at the County Championships and League matches.