Alan Turing winning a club three miles title, a 13-year-old Tessa Sanderson clearing 1.40m and a teenage Jeffrey Archer sprinting for Somerset – our archive reveals the earliest mentions of some very famous names.

Every famous career starts somewhere and for a remarkable number of athletics greats that somewhere was a modest result tucked away in the pages of Athletics Weekly.

Our archive contains every issue of the magazine from 1945 to the present day, which makes it possible to trace those beginnings. Our former editor, the late Mel Watman, tracked down the first time that some of the sport’s best-known names – and a few who became famous in entirely different fields – appeared in AW. We are delighted to share his findings.

Some highlights:

• The four-minute mile team: Roger Bannister, Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway, the trio behind the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954, all made their AW debuts within 17 months of each other, between December 1946 and May 1948. Gordon Pirie joined them in April 1948, aged 17.
• Stars in the making: Tessa Sanderson was just 13 when she first appeared, in June 1969, while Steve Ovett and Seb Coe were both 14. Coe’s first mention was for winning a cross-country race rather than anything on the track.
• Not all winners: Mary Rand, Mary Peters and Ann Packer, three future Olympic champions, appeared in 1955 and 1957 as teenagers finishing second, third and fourth respectively. None of them were winning at the time.
• Not just athletes: Alan Turing, the wartime codebreaker and computing pioneer, was a serious club runner who went on to finish fifth in the 1947 AAA marathon in 2:46:03. Jeffrey Archer, Norris McWhirter, David Coleman and the controversial promoter Andy Norman also feature.

Here is the list in full. The dates are issue dates and the ages are those of the athlete at the time.

The future champions and record-breakers

Roger Bannister – December 1946, aged 17
Second in both the mile and three miles at the Oxford University Freshmen’s Sports, in races won in 4:52 and 15:58. Later: world mile record of 3:59.4.

Gordon Pirie – April 1948, aged 17
Tenth in the National Youths Cross Country. Later: second in the 1956 Olympic 5000m, with world records including 7:52.7 for 3000m and 13:36.8 for 5000m in 1956, and 28:19.4 for six miles in 1953.

Chris Brasher – May 1948, aged 19
Fourth in the Oxford v Cambridge three miles, won in 15:03. Later: 1956 Olympic steeplechase champion.

Chris Chataway – May 1948, aged 17
Third in the London Athletic Club Schools Meeting mile, won in 4:35.2. Later: world records including 13:23.2 for three miles in 1955 and 13:51.6 for 5000m in 1954.

Carole Quinton – July 7, 1951, aged 14
Won the Women’s Amateur Athletic Association junior girls’ 60 yards in 8.0 and 100y in 12.5. Later: second in the 1960 Olympic 80m hurdles.

Mary Bignal, later Rand – August 6, 1955, aged 15
Second in the English Schools under-17 long jump with 5.31m. Later: 1964 Olympic long jump champion with a world record 6.76m, and second in the pentathlon.

Mary Peters – August 27, 1955, aged 16
Third in the Northern Ireland pentathlon championship with 2253 points, won by Thelma Hopkins with 3723. Later: 1972 Olympic pentathlon champion with a world record 4801.

Ann Packer – August 3, 1957, aged 15
Fourth in the English Schools under-17 150 yards in 18.0. Later: 1964 Olympic 800m champion in a world record 2:01.1, and second in the 400m.

Other noteworthy names

Alan Turing – September 1946, aged 34
Won the Walton AC three miles championship in 15:37.8. The December 1946 issue noted: “The scientist, Dr A.M.Turing, who is largely responsible for the development of the so-called ‘Electric Brain Machine’ is the well-known Walton AC distance runner.” He went on to finish 69th in the 1947 National Cross Country Championships and fifth in that year’s AAA marathon in 2:46:03, in a race won by Jack Holden in 2:33:21 from Tom Richards in 2:36:07.

Norris McWhirter – June 1947, aged 21
Second in the Universities Athletic Union 100 yards, won by John Wilkinson in 10.2. Went on to record PBs of 10.7 for 100m and 21.7 for 220 yards before achieving greater fame with the Guinness Book of Records.

David Coleman – March 15, 1952, aged 25
Finished 89th in the National Cross Country as fifth scorer for third-placed Manchester A&CC. Later: the legendary BBC television commentator on athletics, football and more.

Jeffrey Archer – June 22, 1957, aged 17
Second in the Somerset Youths 100 yards, won in 10.5. Ran 9.8 for 100 yards in 1964 and 21.5 for 220 yards in 1966. Became a Conservative MP at 29 and a best-selling author.

Andy Norman – July 11, 1959, aged 15
Won the Suffolk Youths 100 yards in 11.1 and 220 yards in 24.4. Ran 1:55.7 for 880 yards in 1962. Later: controversial promotions officer for the British Athletic Federation from 1984 to 1994.

Future Olympic champions – more to come

We are still searching the archive for the first mentions of other Olympic champions. So far:

Lynn Davies – July 1, 1961, aged 19
Won the Welsh triple jump with 14.61m and was second in the long jump with 7.14m. Later: 1964 Olympic long jump champion.

David Hemery – July 21, 1962, aged 17
Won the Midland junior 120 yards hurdles in 15.4 and was third in the 200 yards hurdles in 24.2. Later: 1968 Olympic 400m hurdles champion.

Tessa Sanderson – June 28, 1969, aged 13
Second in the Staffordshire Schools junior girls’ high jump with 1.40m. Later: 1984 Olympic javelin champion.

Steve Ovett – May 9, 1970, aged 14
Won the inter-club boys’ 800m in 2:07.0. Later: 1980 Olympic 800m champion.

Allan Wells – July 11, 1970, aged 18
Won the Scottish junior triple jump with 12.95m. Later: 1980 Olympic 100m champion.

Seb Coe – March 13, 1971, aged 14
Won the Yorkshire Colts cross country. Later: Olympic 1500m champion in 1980 and 1984.

Daley Thompson – July 13, 1974, aged 15
Won the Sussex Schools intermediate 200m in 22.4. Later: Olympic decathlon champion in 1980 and 1984.

Every issue of AW since 1945 is waiting to be explored at athleticsweekly.com/archives. If you spot any other famous names in there, let us know.