Vale Ronda Margaret Jenkins OAM: The Heart of Brunswick

Some people join a club. Some people help build one. And, very occasionally, someone becomes so woven into its fabric that it is difficult to imagine the club without them.

For Brunswick Athletic Club, that person was Ronda Jenkins.

Ronda wasn't simply a long-serving member, administrator, coach or former athlete. For more than half a century, she was the constant at the heart of Brunswick.

She was the person who remembered. The person who organised. The person who encouraged. The person who quietly made sure things happened, usually without seeking any recognition for herself.

And for generations of Brunswick athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers, she was simply Ronda. The familiar face who was always there.

Her passing on 1 April 2026, aged 82, left an enormous hole in our club.

The heart of Brunswick

Ronda joined her beloved Brunswick Athletic Club in 1968.

In 1971, she took on her first official club role as a delegate to the Victorian Women's Amateur Athletic Association State Council. She became Brunswick's Treasurer in 1972 and, in 1977, its Secretary.

What followed was an extraordinary lifetime of service.

For more than 50 years, Ronda became the thread connecting different generations of Brunswick Athletic Club.

Committee members came and went. Coaches came and went. Thousands of athletes pulled on a Brunswick singlet, competed, grew older and moved through different stages of their lives.

Ronda remained.

She kept the records. She preserved the photographs and stories. She organised anniversaries and celebrations. She knew the history of the club because, increasingly, she was part of that history.

Her meticulous documentation helped ensure that Brunswick's history wasn't lost as one generation handed the club to the next.

But reducing Ronda's contribution to administration would miss what made her so special.

She cared about people.

To many she became part mentor, part coach and part mother figure. She had an extraordinary ability to make people feel welcome and supported.

She noticed people. She encouraged them. And often, with a conversation or a gentle nudge in the right direction, she changed the course of someone's involvement in athletics.

Those moments created ripples she could never have fully measured.

An athlete she encouraged might become a coach. That coach might introduce another child to athletics. That child might compete for Brunswick, volunteer, coach someone else or simply carry a lifelong love of our sport.

Some of us at Brunswick can trace our own athletics journey directly back to Ronda. And when we look at the athletes we've subsequently coached, encouraged or brought into the sport, we can see just how far those ripples have travelled.

That is Ronda's legacy. It isn't contained in a trophy cabinet or a record book. It is carried by people.

A remarkable athlete in her own right

It would also be very Ronda to spend so much time helping everyone else that you could know her for years without quite appreciating what an exceptional athlete she had been herself.

Ronda was a seriously talented sprinter.

She began her athletics journey with the Victorian Railways Institute Women's Club before joining Brunswick in 1968, competing during an extraordinary period for Australian women's sprinting.

Ronda competed at six Australian Championships.

At her first national championships, aged 20, she anchored Victoria to gold in the 440 yards relay alongside Commonwealth relay champion Glennys Beasley and future Olympic medallists Pam Ryan and Judy Pollock.

Across her six national championships, Ronda collected an extraordinary four national relay gold medals and two silvers.

Her final national relay gold came in 1968, with Pam Ryan leading off and a young Raelene Boyle bringing the team home.

Individually, Ronda's best national result was fifth over 100 metres in 1967. At Victorian Championships she won silver over 100 metres in 1969 and bronze over 100 yards in 1966.

At her fastest, Ronda ran to within one tenth of a second of the world record for 100 yards.

She stepped away from national competition in 1970 but continued competing at state championships until 1983.

It was a remarkable athletics career in its own right.

Yet Ronda rarely made herself the story.

There was always somebody else to help.

From athlete to servant of the sport

When Ronda's years at the highest level of competition began winding down, she didn't really leave athletics at all.

She simply changed lanes.

Administration, officiating, team management, coaching, records, competitions and club life became the next chapters of an involvement in the sport that ultimately spanned more than six decades.

At state level, Ronda served as Honorary Treasurer of the Victorian Women's Amateur Athletic Association and later became a board member of Athletics Victoria following the merger of the men's and women's associations.

She was a long-serving Victorian selector, a trustee of the Torch Club and a Victorian Team Manager from 1975.

And while her administrative contribution became enormous, it is important that Brunswick remembers something else about Ronda:

She was also a coach.

It was another role she loved, particularly at club level, and another way in which her knowledge and encouragement were passed from one generation of athletes to the next.

The woman who kept the records

Perhaps no role better demonstrates Ronda's extraordinary commitment than her stewardship of athletics records.

She remained the long-term State Records Officer for Athletics Victoria and National Records Officer for Australian Athletics right up until her passing, carefully monitoring changes to rules and specifications and checking the details required for records to be officially recognised.

And there is one final detail that captures Ronda better than almost anything we could write.

In February 2026, only weeks before she passed away, Ronda wheeled her trolley bag into the Australian Athletics office.

Inside were the meticulously maintained records and documents she had spent decades caring for.

Even then, she was making sure everything was in order. Making sure the history was protected. Making sure the next person had what they needed.

Still Ronda.

Behind countless Australian Championships

For approximately 30 years, Ronda served as Competition Secretary and Administration Manager at national championships.

She would prepare the paperwork, oversee competition administration and painstakingly check results for errors and discrepancies.

But there was another side to Ronda's room at national championships.

Officials quickly learned there was usually a very good reason to drop by.

Alongside Ronda and the group affectionately known as “her Ladies” were often a full lolly jar and Tupperware containers containing slices and other treats.

Work was being done, records were being checked, knitting and crocheting might be underway for fundraising efforts, and people were being looked after.

Even at the highest levels of the sport, Ronda somehow made athletics feel like family.

From Brunswick to the world's biggest stages

Ronda's contribution eventually extended far beyond Brunswick and Victorian athletics.

She played roles in almost every major international athletics event staged in Australia during her era.

Think about that for a moment.

The woman generations of Brunswick athletes knew simply as Ronda, the person sorting club records, helping athletes and keeping things ticking over, was also trusted to help administer some of the biggest athletics competitions on the planet.

Her expertise was extraordinary. Her ego never matched it.

A lifetime of achievement and service

No list could completely capture Ronda's contribution, but it is important that Brunswick permanently records some of the honours and milestones that marked her remarkable life.

More than five decades of service

Major recognition

The Medal of the Order of Australia recognised something those closest to Ronda already understood.

Her contribution extended far beyond a single club, competition or organisation.

It was a lifetime of service.

Beyond the track

Athletics wasn't the only community fortunate enough to experience Ronda's generosity.

She also gave countless hours to Epworth Hospital and the Epworth Foundation, supporting patients, staff and fundraising activities.

From 2000, she served as Secretary of Friends of Epworth.

Even at athletics competitions, Ronda and “her Ladies” could often be found knitting or crocheting items to help raise funds for the Foundation.

Again, there was a common thread.

Ronda gave.

Her time. Her knowledge. Her energy. Her care.

Usually without asking for anything in return.

Our Ronda

All of those achievements matter.

The medals matter. The Olympic and Commonwealth Games appointments matter. The OAM matters. The Life Memberships matter. The decades spent safeguarding Australian athletics records matter.

And Brunswick is enormously proud of every one of them.

But for those fortunate enough to know Ronda, they still don't quite explain why she was so loved.

For us, the memories are often much smaller.

And somehow much bigger.

The conversations. The paperwork. The stories. The encouragement. The familiar smile. That cheeky laugh. The knowledge that if something needed doing, Ronda probably already knew about it.

She gave Brunswick something that cannot simply be replaced by appointing another person to a committee position.

She gave the club continuity.

She gave it memory.

She gave it care.

For more than half a century, Ronda was part of the glue that held Brunswick Athletic Club together.

There are people involved in Brunswick today because of Ronda.

There are coaches who first found athletics because of Ronda, and athletes those coaches have subsequently brought into our sport.

There are friendships, careers, opportunities and memories that can ultimately trace a line back to her.

That is an extraordinary thing to leave behind.

Perhaps the greatest tribute we can give Ronda is to continue what she spent so much of her life doing: welcoming people into athletics, looking after one another, preserving the history of our club and leaving Brunswick a little stronger for the people who come next.

Ronda gave us more than five decades of herself.

Now it falls to all of us to carry a little of her forward.

Thank you, Ronda.

For every athlete you encouraged.
For every job nobody saw you do.
For every record you meticulously checked.
For every piece of Brunswick history you protected.
For every lolly, slice and conversation.
For every person you made feel that they belonged.

And for being, for so many years, the heart of our club.

You will forever be part of Brunswick Athletic Club.

Rest easy, Ronda.

Ronda Margaret Jenkins OAM
28 October 1943 – 1 April 2026
Life Member, Brunswick Athletic Club

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Historical acknowledgement

Brunswick Athletic Club gratefully acknowledges the work of athletics historian Brian Roe, whose tribute to Ronda published by Australian Athletics on 2 April 2026 provided important historical details used in compiling this record of Ronda's extraordinary athletics career and service.

We encourage members of the Brunswick and wider athletics community to also read Australian Athletics' tribute, “Vale Ronda Margaret Jenkins OAM (28 October 1943 to 1 April 2026)”.