Being a member of any club often/usually involves more than just running, There are committees to be sat on which involve members dealing with correspondence, handling all the financial affairs such as membership fees, paying money out for renting accommodation, etc, then there are teams to be selected (if it is a sports club), pitches to be marked out, teams to be selected and so on and so on. These tasks all fall on the shoulders of willing club members who are often still competitors themselves. There are committees at club, county, national levels as well as all the ad hoc committees that are formed. Many competitors do not take on any of the responsibilities away from the arena. That cannot be said of Brian.
The page above is from the 1995 SAF Handbook. It was at the time when Scottish athletics was being reorganised. Before the mid-90’s the sport was run by six governing bodies – Scottish Amateur Athletic Association, Scottish Women’s Amateur Association, Scottish Cross-Country Association, Scottish Women’s Cross-Country Association, Scottish Schools Association and the Scottish Hill Runners Association – and it was decided that they should all come under the single, more professional Scottish Athletics Federation. This Federation would have the differing aspects of the sport looked after by ‘Commissions’ dealing with Track & Field, Cross-Country and Road, Hill Runners, etc.
Brian was there at the start as we can see above. How did that come about? He tells us: “Apart from other Clydesdales I knew at that time only one other hill runner – Denis Bell – whom I had met at a Ben Lomond race after learning his name from a mutual business contact. Much to my surprise, at the AGM of the Scottish Hill Runners Association a lack of volunteers induced Denis to propose me as Minute Secretary, and I found myself duly elected! As a rookie I struggled without prior knowledge of people, events, organisations and the general terminology but was helpfully overseen by Robin Morris, the President. The SHRA eventually gained Scottish Athletics Association recognition, and I found myself somehow designated as Finance Officer of SHRA (not Treasurer, who dealt with annual subscriptions). Apart from attending SAF committee meetings in Perth with Elspeth Scott my only responsibility was at the International Hill Race in Edinburgh where I had the unenviable task of collecting dues from each of the participating countries.”
From the highest level of administration in the domestic scene, Brian was also prepared to help out where needed. The old Scottish athletics maxim of “You do what your club needs you to do” was maybe exemplified by him here in particular. We have mentioned the ‘Come and Try’ days in which he was involved and word is that the Kilpatricks Hill Race started soon thereafter. Brian stepped in when needed read what he has to say about it below:
“I don’t know the origins of the Kilpatricks Hill Race, but at my first running in it various club members were involved in organising it. Then a lack of willingness to carry on led me to take on the job myself. I devised an improved route, promoted the event at races, personally marked out the course, and arranged parking, changing, toilet and bar facilities at the Old Kilpatrick Bowling Club. Fortunately I had enough helpers to marshal the route and the finish then presented prizes. The next morning I would retrieve all the flags and deliver small gifts to the local farmer’s wife over whose ground we had run. I did this for a few years and was very glad when Christine Menhennet took over.”
In his comments elsewhere on Brian and their shared hill racing experiencing, Denis Bell comments on the assistance he had been given by Brian. To this he says: I may well have helped Denis by showing how to present the financial account for some races he organised. In other words, without being an official member of an organising committee or a representative of the runners, he willingly helped where he was asked or where he thought he could be of some use. And again: I may have helped Denis with the Dumgoyne Hill Race – a challenge between Clydesdale and Westerlands, but as he he was a member of neither club, I think it most unlikely.. You would have to check with him”