Julie Longden

Julie was married to Bruce for almost 19 years, but relocated to South Africa after his death, and now lives in Paarl in the Western Cape.

She has been involved in sports administration, management and coaching for most of her life, and is a qualified UKA Level 4 Performance Coach. She has been an Authorised IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) Athletes’ Representative, has worked at Paarl Girls’ High School, as a coach/mentor and LTAD (Long Term Athlete Development) organiser, Bloemhof Girls’ High School in Stellenbosch as athletics organiser, coach and hockey/netball conditioning coach, and now at Paarl Gimnasium, as an athletics coach and hockey conditioning coach.

Alison Longden

Alison is the eldest daughter of Bruce, and lives in Geneva, Switzerland.
Her own interest in athletics was fuelled by her Dad’s enthusiasm for coaching, and the athletes he personally coached.

She is delighted to be involved with the Foundation and to assist in continuing his work in a different way.

David Rice

Dave is married to Eileen. They have two sons and live in Hertford.

He has been involved in coaching, since the early 80’s, achieving numerous levels of coaching awards in sprints & hurdles, and combined events, under the old British Amateur Athletic Board (BAAB)/British Athletics Federation (BAF), and is now a Level 4 UK:A Performance Coach.

In 1992, whilst National Coach (North of the Thames Region), Bruce appointed Dave his Performance Manager and together they developed one of the strongest coach education regions in the UK. Dave continued as Coaching Administrator for the South of England (SEAA) – 19 counties – after the demise of BAF in 1999/2000, eventually chairing the SEAA Coaching Committee, until the formation of UK:A.

He continued to co-ordinate, and arrange, coaching courses, workshops, etc, during the early years of UK:A. He has also been team manager for various teams including England (East Region) UK School Games and London North Lions. East of England Combined Events Co-ordinator/Coach for Rover Initiative, and East of England Region.

Throughout this time he has continued to coach his own group of successful athletes, helping them to achieve honors at all levels.

Norman Groves

Norman is married to Pauline, and they live in Hatfield Heath.

They two have two children, Esme’ and Dominic, and between them have produced four wonderful grandchildren.  Many years ago his two Godchildren came into their lives permanently, and they have given them three more ‘grandchildren’, so all in all he and Pauline feel that they are blessed.

Before Norman retired he was Finance Director for the family electrical company.

He likes to keep himself fit, plays table tennis twice a week and walks most days. He likes watching all sports, particularly cricket and foot ball. His other great love is travelling with Pauline and they enjoy planning where their next trip will be.

Since retiring, apart from being the treasurer of the Bruce Longden Foundation he is treasurer of his local Probus group and the Hatfield Heath Magazine Magazine.

Sally Gunnell OBE

Sally Gunnell OBE; the Essex Girl who captured the hearts of a nation. She remains the only woman ever to hold four major track titles concurrently – Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth, and was coached by Bruce throughout her career.

Following her retirement from international athletics, Sally developed a new career as a television presenter and inspirational speaker. She has written four books on fitness, health, self-fulfilment, and wellbeing. She is married to Jon and is mum to three sons; Finley, Luca and Marley.

Sally’s rise to the pinnacle of her sport was hard won. She blew the chance to be World Champion in 1991, stormed back to win Olympic Gold in 1992 and defied incredible odds to become World Champion in 1993, setting a new World Record in the process.

Sally’s injuries eventually forced her retirement from elite sport, but she continued to remain in the public eye, thanks to her TV career. She worked for the BBC through the late Nineties and early Noughties, covering athletics events from around the world.

Her passion for health and wellbeing was a key component of her athletics success. She took her knowledge and experience in to the printed word, writing four influential books on the subject.

Today, she mixes keynote speaking and running corporate wellbeing programmes. She is also a high-profile supporter of healthy and active family initiatives in the UK.

Jon Bigg

• Level 3 UKA coach
• Level 1 British triathlon coach.
• Certified Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
• British Athletics coach

Jon has used his own personal running experiences along with experience gained from working along side Olympic Champion and wife Sally Gunnell to build and effective and world renowned coaching philosophy. Through out Jons 20 years of coaching he has coached numerous athletes to the top level of the sport combining his ability to understand the individual needs of each athlete and the science behind building an effecting training plan.