Ray Smedley

Ray Smedley (actually Raymond John Smedley; born September 3, 1951 in Sutton Coldfield ) is a former British middle and long distance runner .

At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, he reached the semi-finals over 1500 m .

In 1974 he was at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Gothenburg fifth over 3000 m . At the Cross Country World Championships in Monza , he finished seventh and won silver with the English team. In the summer he was eliminated from the European Athletics Championships in Rome over 1500 m in the preliminary run.

In 1975 he was seventh again at the Cross Country World Championships in Rabat and won another silver medal with the English team.

At the European Indoor Championships he won bronze over 3000 m in 1976 in Munich and was sixth in San Sebastián in 1977 .

In 1981 he won the Cleveland County Marathon in 2:23:07 hours. The following year, he improved to seventh in the English Marathon Championships to 2:16:05 h and was fourth in the Great North Run . At the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, he finished eleventh for England in 2:15:50 hours.

In 1983 he finished 24th in the London Marathon and came second in the Great North Run.

In 1974, 1976 and 1977 he was English indoor champion over 3000 m.

Personal bests

• 1500 m: 3: 38.52 min, July 15, 1972, London
  • Hall: 3: 42.8 min, February 17, 1973, Cosford
• 1 mile : 3: 57.7 min, April 27, 1974, Philadelphia
• 3000 m: 7: 49.72 min, July 9, 1978, Gateshead
  • Hall: 7: 54.43 min, March 10, 1974, Gothenburg
• 5000 m : 13: 35.0 min, May 23, 1976, Kiev
• 10,000 m : 28: 24.15 min, August 29, 1975, London
• Half marathon : 1:04:29 h, June 27, 1982, South Shields
• Marathon: 2:14:45 h, April 17, 1983, London

Web links

• Athlete portrait at The Power of Ten
• Ray Smedley in the database of TOPS in athletics (English)
• Athlete portrait at the ARRS
• Ray Smedley in the database of trackfield.brinkster.net (English)
• Ray Smedley in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )