Oympic boxer Tony Jeffries races a tram at Beamish

Apr 7 2009 by Neil Mckay, The Journal

OLYMPIC boxer Tony Jeffries followed in the footsteps of his grandfather Mel Bryce yesterday – by racing a Sunderland Corporation tram.

Tony won the race against the 109-year-old tram at Beamish Museum in County Durham – beating it by about 10 metres on the 1,500 metre course from the museum entrance to the town street.

But the 24-year-old bronze medal winner from Sunderland said he feared the tram, driven by former miner Stuart Jennings from Murton, County Durham, would catch him up.

Stuart, who worked as an underground locomotive driver before being made redundant when Westoe Colliery, South Shields, closed in 1993, after which he became a tram driver at Beamish, said: “I reckon the tram would have beaten Tony over a straight course, but the bends slowed me considerably.”

Tony, a bronze medal winner who is training for his first professional fight in his home city on May 2, said: “My grandad Mel Bryce told me him and his mates used to run alongside trams in Sunderland when he was a young lad. They used to see if they could outsprint them. It is strange to think that he may have raced against this very tram! I could sense it was catching up to me at one stage along the course and I was going flat out. But it had to slow down round the bend.”

The tram challenge was organised to officially launch Durham’s first Outdoor and Active Week. Twelve free or subsidised events are taking place from April 13 to 16. Melanie Sensicle, chief executive of County Durham Tourism Partnership, said: “Outdoor and Active Week is our way of highlighting how our beautiful landscapes, countryside, parks and gardens offer year-round opportunities to get outdoors, burn calories and enjoy time with friends and family.”

Activities include free mountain bike hire, guided walks and new sports.