1978 UK Athletics Championships below also competed at the 1978 AAA Championships. Sonia Lannaman defended her 100 metres/200 metres sprint double from 1977. Allan Wells took his first sprint double on the men's side and Jane Colebrook managed a double in the 400 metres and 800 metres. Athletes to retain their titles from 1977 included Lannaman, sprint hurdlers Berwyn Price and Sharon Colyear, Geoff Capes (men's shot put), Meg Ritchie (women's discus) and Tessa Sanderson (women's javelin). The main international track and field competition for the United Kingdom that year was the 1978 European Athletics Championships. Two athletes at the UK event won individual
Derek Sanderson professional sports history. The Philadelphia Blazers of the rival league World Hockey Association signed Sanderson to a $2.6 million contract, making him the highest-paid athlete in the world at the time. His time with the Blazers was disastrous, as, plagued with injuries, Sanderson appeared in only eight games, recording six points. The Blazers management team had had enough and at the end of the season, Sanderson was paid $1 million to return to the Bruins. After being kicked off the Blazers' roster, Sanderson played with the Bruins for two seasons, in which he suited up for only 54 games out