Frank Salvat

We recently heard that a previous member of our club passed away. Frank Salvat joined Finchley Harriers as a teenager and  quickly became one of the clubs best runners and greatest  characters. He was a AAA champion at 3 miles and became an  International in 1960 running for Great Britain v France at The White City in  the 5000m. Footage of Frank in action in the AAA at White City can be seen on the Pathe news website here

Later that year he represented GB in The Rome  Olympics also in the 5000m. However he did not qualify for the final,suffering as all  the GB team did for arriving in Rome only shortly before the games, and having  insufficient time to become acclimatized to the very hot  conditions.

Frank was a leading member of the Finchley team  right up to the time he decided to join Portsmouth A.C. where he linked up with  several other top runners like Bruce Tulloh,to give Portsmouth their most  successful period in their history.

But his athletic acheivements are only half the  story,as he was a larger than life character and the many great stories  surrounding him will be told for many years,certainly as long as I am  alive..

Alan Chidley