Colwyn Bay Athletic Club was founded in the early 1970’s, the two main protagonists being Arthur Bebbington and Eileen Haskins MBE.
Arthur specialised in Middle and Long distance running while Eileen specialised in Sprinting, and, with the recruitment later of one or two Field event coaches, formed the nucleus of what was, and still is today, a very successful club.
Arthur involved his whole family, and with their support, they took on nearly all of the duties involved in establishing the everyday running of an athletic club.
Initially as you can imagine this was an immense task with so few involved.
Arthur had the vision and determination to succeed. He started with just a handful of athletes, selected personally, mainly after visiting school sports days, and began to grow the club to be one of the most successful in Wales.
In those early days the arena was composed of a cinder track.
Arthur was to ensure he had close links with Colwyn Borough Council and in 1989 he had secured the approval to have the track upgraded to an 8 lane all weather synthetic surface which, although revamped since then, is the same surface you see today.
Arthur had been successful in attracting the famous Lynn Davies for the opening ceremony.
Lynn Davies, long jumper, nicknamed "Lynn The Leap" is the only Welsh Athlete to ever win an Olympic Gold in a Track & Field event to date.
Lynn Davies was awarded the MBE and later the CBE (June 2006).
A plaque can be seen, commemorating the celebration of the opening of our track at the entrance to the stadium.
Arthurs retirement in 2002 was to leave a legacy of one of the most established, respected and hugely successful clubs within Welsh Athletics.
He was an inspirational character creating an environment of "Fun to Fulfillment" our UKA motto today.
The design of the club’s colours orange and black with the seahorse logo were carried over many years with distinction by hundreds of successful athletes.
Our colours remain the same today of course and we are determined to ensure the success and hard work that Arthur epitomised is not lost in the present, nor future custodians of our beloved club.