We are all devastated at the sad news of the passing of Tony Nixon. \nAndy’s tribute to his friend follows:-<\/p>\n
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Quite simply Tony was the nicest, kindest, most continually cheerful person I have ever met.<\/div>\n
A hugely warranted life member of Ilford AC and immensely\u00a0popular club President in 2003\/04.<\/div>\n
I pretty much spoke to Tony every couple of weeks for the\u00a0last 50 years and not once did he ever fail to grill me on how everything at the club was going, who was racing well and and doing what and wanting to support whenever possible.<\/div>\n
He didn’t\u00a0get off to the best start in life being a premature, small and rather sickly child. But he always had huge determination and despite periods in a special open air school to improve his well being\u00a0he excelled at\u00a0sports. Being too small to compete at his first love of football he turned to running. Tony joined Ilford AC in 1962 and under the guidance of his lifelong coach and friend, Alec Tiffin, he had early successes and was part of the club youth team winning the Essex xc in 1965.<\/div>\n
I first met Tony when I joined Ilford in 1966 but he was way out of my league to train with at that time plus he was then away at University.<\/div>\n
Unfortunately during what should have been his peak years in his 20’s Tony was unable to train at the intensity or put in the miles needed to fulfill his immense\u00a0running potential, with periods of unexplained tiredness. Unquestionably\u00a0if his physical condition had allowed he would have achieved international selection. It was not until 1979 he was diagnosed with Coeliac disease (severe gluten intolerance) and with a change of diet he was transformed. He still didn’t\u00a0do much mileage though !<\/div>\n
Despite the health issues Tony still performed to distinction, albeit infrequently, winning the prestigious Reynolds Garrett “continental cross country” event in Southampton in 1973 (where he and Pat moved to that year). Typical of Tony he thought it was a 3 lap race only to discover once he had sprinted over the line to win there was another lap to go and he had to do it all over again !<\/div>\n
Then in 1974 he won the coveted Essex Senior 1500m (3:53.0). He always said his proudest moments were winning this title, then mentoring me to win the same event two years later and then again coaching his son Robert to the win in 2008.<\/div>\n
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Tony was a consummate\u00a0race competitor but his personal best times really do not reflect his enormous talent. He was a beautifully fluid steeplechaser and had great success as junior, winning\u00a0the inter counties 2,000m s\/c champs in 1966 and posting a time of 5:54.2 – which still stands as a club record today ! 3:51.0 for 1500m whilst running 4:09 for a mile as a senior.<\/div>\n
He raced “sparingly” on the road (his least favourite surface), but really enjoyed cross country, winning the club 10m xc champs three times in a row and achieved his best placing of 5th in the Essex xc in 1974 (14th in ’75, 14th in ’76, 11th in ’77, 28th in ’78).<\/div>\n
Tony was away from Ilford for 9 years from 1973 and competed for Southampton & Eastleigh, where of course he was hugely popular, but still remained second claim to his beloved Ilford and returned regularly to compete for us in many Essex road relays and county xc champs.<\/div>\n
Returning to Essex (well actually 100m across the border in Stratford St Mary, Suffolk) in 1984 Tony continued to enjoy scenic training runs around the local Stour\u00a0river Countryside, of which I was fortunate enough to join him on many occasions. Tony instigated and organised the “legendary” Constable Country 5 mile fun run. Believe me it was no fun as due to Tony’s status in the running community he assembled some terrifically talented athletes and the first hill was a killer.<\/div>\n
He continued running and racing as a veteran and had some excellent races and County Champs wins as a 60 year old. But what happened once he turned 70 was amazing. A purple patch of outstanding performances with a series of 5k road times that were not just the fastest in the UK but in the world plus a 1500m track time of 5:10 which put him 2nd in the world rankings. He put it down to 40 lengths\u00a0of swimming two or three times a week as his running mileage was still only 20 a week at best !<\/div>\n
As he did in his 20’s and 30’s Tony was an awesome gutsy competitor, with the ability to go through the pain barrier and often racing himself\u00a0to complete exhaustion. Then regularly not being able to run for days and sometimes weeks after.<\/div>\n
I remember doing a 5 mile Stratford St Mary training run with\u00a0Tony about 10 years ago and having to stop and jog back for him every mile or so. Then just a couple of weeks later we were racing the Essex 10k at Wix and he serenely\u00a0sailed past me after a couple of miles and disappeared\u00a0off into the distance !<\/div>\n
A remarkable\u00a0athlete.<\/div>\n
A wonderful friend.<\/div>\n
And a truly lovely human being.<\/div>\n
Although being a lifelong West Ham fan he did have the odd eccentricity.<\/div>\n
Will be massively missed by me, all at Ilford AC and it goes without saying his beloved wife of 51 years Pat (whom he met at the club in the mid ’60’s) boys Robert and Paul, the grandchildren and surviving brothers.<\/div>\n
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