Heather Joy Armitage (later Young, then McClelland; born 17 March 1933) is a British retired sprinter and British record holder for the 100 yards.^[3]

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Heather Armitage

Armitage at the 1956 Olympics
Personal information
Born	(1933-03-17) 17 March 1933 (age 91) Colombo, British Ceylon
Height	171 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	64 kg (141 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	Sprint
Club	Longwood Harriers, Huddersfield
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	100 m – 11.6 (1956) 200 – 23.79y (1958)[1][2]
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Great Britain Olympic Games 1956 Melbourne 4×100 m relay 1952 Helsinki 4×100 m relay European Championships 1958 Stockholm 100 m Representing  England Commonwealth Games 1954 Vancouver 4×110 yd relay 1958 Cardiff 4×110 yd relay 1958 Cardiff 100 yd 1958 Cardiff 220 yd

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Armitage won her first major title representing Yorkshire in the all England schools 100 yards in 1951 aged 18.^[4] She competed in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics in the 100 m, 200 m and 4×100 m events and won two medals in the relay. Her best individual achievement was sixth place in the 100 m in 1956.^[1] In 1958, she won three medals at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff^[1] including as the anchor in the English 4 × 110 yards relay team alongside Madeleine Weston, June Paul and anchor Dorothy Hyman that won the gold medal and set a new world record of 45.37 seconds in the process.^[5]

Later that year Armitage took 100 m gold at the 1958 European Championships in Athletics in Stockholm, thereby becoming the first British woman to win an individual European track title. As of August 2017, she still hold the official British Record for the 100 yards.^[3]

In the 1950s she married Frank Young, a fellow teacher, and competed as Heather Young. They later divorced, with Armitage marrying the former association football player John McClelland with whom she has a daughter, Alison.

She retired from competitions in 1960 and devoted herself to teaching, mostly on religious topics.^[6]