Author: The Author

Bobby in the Edinburgh to Glasgow

Bobby Young is a fixture on the Scottish athletics scene.   He seems to have been here for ever but only took the sport up in his mid thirties – later than most of us – and proved to have a natural aptitude for it.   He also thinks about the sport a lot and has been giving advice and trading theories on training for some years now but he is first and foremost a competitor.   If we look at his career in the sport we might learn a bit about him.  His most recent exploits have already been added to the website on the ‘Three Amigos’ page.   I first met Bobby in either 1980 or 1981.   I was coaching two very good first or second year senior men in Robert McWatt and George Carlin: Robert had run in the World Cross-Country Championships in 1978 and George should have made that team but had given blood on the Tuesday before.   I was going out to do the first three miles with them before turning and returning to the Baths and this guy joined in as we left the Bruce Street Baths.   The pace was quite brisk but the guy kept running comfortably and chatting away.   The first mile went by and he was still there, and the second and  I was struggling before the relief of the three mile marker came up but Bobby (for he it was) was still running very comfortably so I left them to get on with it!   I’ve taken an interest in his career ever since.   Some runners – especially those coming late to the sport – are awkward and stiff with a stride length like advanced rigor mortis but Bobby isn’t at all in that category.   He is a smooth runner and always looks comfortable.   But first, before we go on to the profile proper, Bobby has filled in the questionnaire for us and we will start there.

Name:   Robert Young

Club:   Clydesdale Harriers

Date of Birth:  4 November 1943

Occupation: Retired teacher

How did you get into the sport initially?  A work colleague was part of a group of recreational runners led by David Andrews of Springburn Harriers. They ran five mile loop of Pollok Park on Saturday mornings. In December 1979 I joined them some Saturdays. Probably averaging less than 5 miles a week for a year. In early 1982 we decided to enter the 1982 London Marathon so more regular Saturday mornings were follow by a 15 miler. Finishing in 3:03 followed by 2:47 at first Glasgow Marathon that year and serious running was off and running.

Personal Bests?

Track:   1500m in 4:20.5 Vets Champs 

              3000m in 9:22.5 British Vets Kelvin Hall 1994 age 50

              5000m in 15:54 League meeting Crownpoint. 

             10000m in 33:26

Road:   10k in 32:59.

             10 miles in 52:21 

            Half Marathon in 72:27 Kirkintilloch 1990

            Marathon in 2:36:15 Lochaber 1989 

Has any individual or group had a marked effect on either your attitude to the sport or your performances?   SVHC has been a great incentive to compete and improve.   This led to British Masters competition and and eventually to World Masters events.

What do you consider your best ever performance/s as a runner?  

World Championships Gateshead 1999  Gold British Team XC and Marathon (with Individual Bronze). Fourth 5000m and seventh 10,000m.

World Championship Brisbane 2001 Gold British team XC and Marathon Bronze, fourth 5000m and Bronze 10,000m

Winning M60 Gold in Dublin at British and Irish International XC after 18 consecutive years of competition.  

And your worst?   I tend to forget those immediately!

What do you do apart from running to relax?   Travel when possible, hill walking (lots before running got started), a bit of golf (my 15 – 25 sport).

What has running brought you that you would not have wanted to miss?   Meeting a great bunch of men and women.   Unlike some sports, runners are nice people to have as friends

What goals do you have that are still unachieved?  Winning International Cross-Country again.   (NB: 2018 Swansea Won second Individual Gold !!)

Can you give details of your training?

Since starting in 1980, over 3 decades training went through several phases.

During M40 period racing over 50 races a year, training was fairly normal. About 50-70 odd miles a week:  Tuesday and Thursday hard run with Harriers, race Saturday and long run (16ml) on Sunday. Races were from 1500m, 3000m and 5000m and 10,000m track, 10k, 10 milers, Half marathon and Marathon (3-5 a year). Most PB’s set during this period. Except the 3000m indoor which was set at age 50 in British Masters in Kelvin Hall in 1994 at 9:22.5. 

Although running distances up to marathon, weekly mileage never went above 50-70 miles. Beyond this fatigue or injury was a possibility. Marathon training would be about 12 weeks building up to long runs 20-22 miles. Very important run was a marathon pace run, building up to 15 miles at 6 min miles. This meant that first 15 miles of the marathon was fairly routine and only 11 miles of real effort.

For shorter races on track and road, Tuesday and Thursday were speed sessions. One was maybe 12x400m in 70-72 with 30sec recovery. The other maybe 10x 1000m in 3:00-3:10 with 60 sec recovery. A race on Sat and longer run maybe 16 miles on Sunday. That left 3 easier days. 

Do you have any thoughts on current training and/or racing theories that you would care to pass on?   eg.  Big miles or low mileage?   Steady running or always hard?   To stretch or not to stretch? 

Funnily enough I never stretched at all and never really suffered an injury as eighteen consecutive International Cross-Country appearances would indicate. Eight visits to physio/chiro in all that time. But good warmup and strides very important. With increasing age the length of adequate warmup increases significantly ( 3-4  miles of running)

As he says above, Bobby took up running for the first time in December 1979 when he was thirty six with some friends and work colleagues.   A five mile run at 9:00 am in Pollock Park on Saturdays turned into a twice yearly handicap race and Dinner.   He had a go at several races including the Springburn Cup, Round Cumbrae and the Glasgow University Race over the next two years before there was a group decision to run in the second London Marathon and the first Glasgow Marathon – both in 1982.   These resulted in times of 3:03 and 2:46 after which training became more regular.

He got up to 60/70 miles a week with a couple of speed sessions and the regular long Sunday run became standard practice.  Bobby joined Clydesdale Harriers and ran a couple of dozen marathons and recorded 2:37:18 in Glasgow in 1986.   His lifetime best for the marathon came at Lochaber in 1990 when at the age of 46 he ran 2:36:15.   He regularly ran 10K’s in 33 minutes, 5K’s in 16 minutes, 10 miles in 54 minutes and half marathons in 72 minutes testified to the quality of his running at this point.    Regardless of his age, Bobby was more than holding his own in open senior competition.   He competed more than most and on all surfaces.

On the road, his first Edinburgh to Glasgow relay was in 1986 when he ran the third stage.   As a newcomer to the sport in the early 80’s he was in a Clydesdale team that had many very good runners – Phil Dolan, Douglas Gemmell, George Carlin, Derek Halpin (an under rated runner), Bobby and Jim Shields and youngsters like James Austin would have made it hard for anyone new to the sport to break into the team but when his chance came in ’86, Bobby was in there.   He stayed in the team until  mid 90’s running in ’87 (7th stage), ’88 (8th), ’89 (7th), ’90 (7th) and ’91 (7th).   At this point, young runners such as Des Roache, Ewan Calvert, Grant Graham, Ewan Calvert, Allan Adams, James Austin and company kept him out.   His running continued to improve and he was in the team again in 1998 (7th), 2001 (7th) and the last ever in 2002 (7th) when the race ceased to be.  Bobby would have been in the 2000 team but John Hanratty and himself were in Ireland with the Scottish vets team that weekend.  ’86 was also his first run for the club in the 6 stage road relays when he turned out on the fourth stage (the second long leg) – a race he would appear in many times over the following decades.   His marathon race record is in the table below.

NB: This list is not exclusive, there were also runs at Inverclyde, Loch Rannoch and others!

As a distance runner in Scotland he ran of course in all the championship cross-country races at county, district and national level becoming a valuable, consistent and dependable member of the team.  His cross-country record for the club is in Table 2 below.   Bobby was also a  member of the excellent club track and field team of the late 80’s and 90’s turning out in 5000m and 10000m for the club all over Scotland.  It is however as a superb veteran runner that Bobby is best known around Scotland, indeed all over the UK.    His notable track performances include the following:

1987:   10000m   Wishaw   pb 33:26

1990:   Scottish indoor champs 1500m  Gold    4:25   +   3000m Gold   9:24

Scottish masters T & F 1500m  Gold  4:27   +   5000m  Gold   16:00.8

1994:   Scottish indoor champs   1500m  Gold   4:29   +   3000m  Gold   9:31

Scottish masters T & F 800m  Gold  2:16   +   1500m  Gold  4:36   +   5000m  Gold  16:26

British Masters indoor 3000m  Gold  9:22.5  pb

1989:   Scottish masters  1500m  Gold  4:21   +   5000m  Gold   16:18

2004:   Scottish indoor champs   1500m  Gold  4:57   +   3000m  Gold   10:24

Scottish masters T&F  1500m  Silver   5:01   +   3000m  Gold   10:24

British masters T & F 1500m  Gold  4:54   +   5000m  Gold   17:39   +   10000m  Gold   37:40

In 1988 he took part in the first ever British Veterans International at Wrexham where he won the bronze at M45 – Pete Cartwright had also been invited.   Bobby then ran in the British Vets International for 18 consecutive years until 2005 when he won gold in the M60 category.    On the World Veterans stage, he competed in 1999 at Gateshead in the World Vets Track and Field Championships winning team gold in Cross Country and Marathon in which he also won the individual bronze.   Then in 2001 he went off to Brisbane in 2001 for the World Veterans Track and Field Championship winning team gold in cross country, team bronze in the marathon and individual bronze in the 10000 metres.

And that is one of Bobby’s biggest virtues as an athlete – he is very competitive and goes looking for good competition.   Among all these races, which ones does Bobby himself rate most highly?    We asked him for his career highlights and they can be found at this link.

The table below  shows his record in Scottish Championships which is summarised in the first 10 rows and successes further afield follow.

Bobby has run in 23 Cross Country International races out of a possible 27.   The breakdown of this remarkable record is as follows

All of the above gave Bobby a total of 7 individual medals (1 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze0 and 19 team medals (2 gold, 12 silver and 5 bronze).   Since the above table was constructed, he has run in Dublin in 2022 when he was 79th and the team of Normal Baillie (75th), Bobby, Peter Cartwright (80th) and Jim Scobie (80th) won the silver medals.    Then in 2023 in Glasgow’s Tollcross Park, he he was 80th and won the Gold, Peter Cartwright in 81st won silver and Jim Scobie (83rd) won bronze to take the M80 Team championship.

With Bob Rosborough before a track league 10000m at Crown Point

2. A Closer Look At Bobby’s Scottish National Cross Country Championship Record

• indicates race missed through injury or illness.  

To that remarkable list, we can now add the following.   It is clear that the word ‘retired’ above has no real meaning for him.

2015. Gold.    Kilmarnock.     71

2016  Silver.  Forres.              72

2017. Gold     Dundee.           73

2018.   5th.     Kilmarnock.     74

2019.   Gold.   Hawick            75

2020.  Gold.    Johnstone.      76

21 Medals

Total Championship Medals: 8 Gold   4 Silver    9 Bronze  

We said that he was an insatiable competitor – check out Power of Ten where he has 260 races listed!   They range from 1500 metres to marathon, they cover indoor racing and out, venues ranging from Glasgow to Australia and on all surfaces (boards, road, country and hills.)   They cover the period 2000 to the end of 2014, like all these athlete profiles the list is not comprehensive and furthermore it  doesn’t include club championships or races.   The races listed for 2014 in the extract below are listed for interest: there are 41 in total and I make it twenty five first places.   Check the actual extract below.   Go to Power of 10 for the full list.

Is that not impressive?   What does it tell me?   It tells me that we have here a man who really and truly enjoys his sport.   Very popular with other runners, Bobby is a runner’s runner whose enthusiasm has never dimmed..

IN NOVEMBER 2018, BOBBY WON THE M75 GOLD MEDAL IN THE BRITISH AND IRISH MASTERS INTERNATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY, leading his team to bronze medals. Here is a brief contribution from the man himself.

Bobby heading for M75 gold at Swansea 2018

A Good Result: SWANSEA 2018

The race was on the side of a ‘mountain’. 1k straight down and 1k straight up. Last 200m steep climb to high point and 200m steep down to start/finish.
Ran first lap to be told “Welshman 50m ahead”. Didn’t see him till got to steep climb on second lap and pulled him in. On long downhill he opened 30m. Eased up to him over gradual climb and made contact at bottom of steep 200m. Bombed up the hill and tore down steep 200m to finish!
Took about 20s advantage on the hill!
Turned out he was Emyr Davies. Old foe!

he has run in Dublin in 2022 when he was 79th and the team of Normal Baillie (75th), Bobby, Peter Cartwright (80th) and Jim Scobie (80th) won the silver medals.    Then in 2023 in Glasgow’s Tollcross Park, he he was 80th and won the Gold, Peter Cartwright in 81st won silver and Jim Scobie (83rd) won bronze to take the M80 Team championship.

That was my 27th British and Irish XC contest out of 31.
25th team medal: 2 Gold 14 Silver and 9 Bronze.
8th individual medal: 2 gold 3 silver and 3 bronze.

2019 Liverpool, Aintree.

Team Silver.  Individual Silver

He also ran in Dublin in 2022 when he was 79th and the team of Normal Baillie (75th), Bobby, Peter Cartwright (80th) and Jim Scobie (80th) won the silver medals.   

Then in 2023 in Glasgow’s Tollcross Park, he he was 80th and won the Gold, Peter Cartwright in 81st won silver and Jim Scobie (83rd) won bronze to take the M80 Team championship.

28th Silver Team medal  2G. 15S  96

10th Silver.  Individual     3G. 5S  3G 

Training 2018
Mileage 40-50 per week
80% comfortably steady 20% Quality (Intervals/hills/race)
Mon 5-6 miles steady
Tue 6 miles session e.g. 12 x 400m or 6 x 800m
Wed 5-6 miles easy
Thu 6 miles session
Fri 5-6 miles easy
Sat 5-6 miles Race or Parkrun
Sun 10-16 miles longer steady run
Phases
Stamina, then Strength, then Speed (Arthur Lydiard)
A Pyramid beginning with Stamina, acquired by concentrating on maximum steady mileage and only one session per week. The broader the base (aerobic threshold) the higher the peak.
Strength involves Tuesday/Thursday on hills (for about 4 weeks).
And finally Speed with 2 interval sessions and a race or parkrun (for 6-8 weeks).
Monday/Wednesday/Friday can be shorter or omitted if recovery is needed.

By Bobby Young

Thanks, Bobby.   It is interesting to the rest of us that Bobby’s methods as well as producing success at a variety of events over a range of surfaces is one that does not lead to many injuries.   He has seldom been out of action, certainly not for any extended period.   If you want proof, just look at his most recent performances in Scottish Championships as an M75.  Four races, three distances, three surfaces, no injuries.

To bring the record up to date, we have Bobby’s championship performances in 2023 as an M75.   

This website – scottishdistancerunninghistory.scot – already includes profiles of many successful Senior runners who also went on to perform well after turning 40 (up to the M90 category, in some illustrious cases). The role of names is impressive: amongst the men, Dunky Wright, John Emmet Farrell, Gordon Porteous, David Morrison, Donald McNab Robertson, Andy Forbes, Andy Brown, Bill Stoddart, Alastair Wood, John Linaker, Dick Hodelet, Donald Macgregor, Bill Scally, Donald Ritchie, Dave Clark, Colin Youngson, Fraser Clyne, William Sichel, Colin Donnelly, Tommy Murray and Robert Quinn; and the women include Christine Price, Trudi Thomson, Lynn Harding, Liz McColgan, Angela Mudge and Hayley Haining.

However other successful Veteran runners (or Masters, as they are termed nowadays) deserve to be included, if the relevant information can be obtained. A likely list might include: Willie Marshall, Bill McBrinn, Hugh Gibson, Hugh Rankin, Brian Scobie, Allan Adams, David Fairweather, Bobby Young, Archie Duncan, Archie Jenkins, George Sim, Ian Stewart and Iain Campbell. Plus Sandra Branney and Fiona Matheson, amongst others, including Janette Stevenson, Pete Cartwright, Anne Docherty, George Mitchell, Robert Marshall, Sue Ridley, Sonia Armitage, Jane Waterhouse, Andy McLinden, Laura Mahady, Brian Gardner and Neil Thin. Hopefully, others will be profiled in due course.

In recent years, older runners have formed the bulk of road race and cross country fields, as well as producing fast track times. It will be good to create a composite picture of this important branch of our wonderful sport.

[ Sonia Armitage ] [ Pete Cartwright ] [ Doug Cowie ]  [ Anne Docherty ] [ Brian Gardner ] [ Betty Gilchrist ] [Ian Leggett] [ Laura Mahady ] [ Robert Marshall ] [ George Mitchell ] [ Charlie McAlinden ] [ Bill McBrinn ] [ Andy McLinden ] [ Sue Ridley ] [ Janette Stevenson ] [ Neil Thin ] [Chris Upson] [ Jane Waterhouse ]

Walter Ross was a wonderful man – friendly, gentle and a real enthusiast for the sport of athletics, in particular distance running.   The articles and obituaries below will testify to that in better words than I can muster but I was fortunate enough to have met him many times and hear him speak in public at dinners and  prize givings.   I remember him speaking at a Clydesdale Harriers Presentation when he was guest of honour in the early 1970’s and, commenting on the novel concept of ‘fun-running’ as proselytised by Brendan Foster, saying “… but when was running not fun?”    I first saw him, as distinct from meeting him, when I turned up for my first ever county championships at the Brock Baths in Dumbarton.   As we lined up on the Common for the start of the race, I saw this chap trotting across to the starting line with a young woman running beside him.   Younger than he was, and taller than he was, it was Dale Greig whose marathon career he whole heartedly supported, indeed when she went to run in the Isle of Wight Marathon, she stayed with Walter’s brother.    An excellent athlete on the track, over the country and on the road, a distinguished official and capable administrator, she worked with Walter on the ‘Scots Athlete’ magazine which he founded.   He also sold Hirvi running shoes from his offices in Glasgow and like many another I went up the stairs to the top floor to get these prized shoes with their spikes, which were made of copper (?), and which didn’t last long.   Athletes travelled up from England on occasion to buy their own from him.   When the veteran harrier movement started up, he was the man who really provided the impetus to get the movement off the ground and keep the movement going until its impetus and sheer momentum kept it going.   However, we should look at his life in athletics and I reproduce the articles from his obituary and accompanying  articles in the SVHC Newsletter of August 1993.

TIME FOR OUR LAST GOODBYE TO WALTER

The Man Who Got the SVHC Up And Running

This issue of the club newsletter has to record the sad news that no one wanted to hear, the death on Friday, April 23rd, of the SVHC founder-member, benefactor and honorary president, Walter Ross.   Walter was 74, and was spending some days in a Glasgow hospital for angina and other tests when an early morning heart-attack claimed his life.  His death leaves a gap that his family, friends, colleagues and fellow runners will find impossible to fill.   The reminiscences and tributes in this newsletter are only one small indication of the affection Walter was held in, wherever he travelled.

But there are no black borders around this page.     Even at Walter’s funeral, when his brother Norman was addressing those who had congregated to say goodbye, Norman said: “Walter was a very happy person who enjoyed a good laugh, so if you feel like smiling or laughing, by all means do so!”   Norman himself made every one smile as he stood up at the lectern, in front of the packed crematorium pews, and said it was only after the funeral arrangements had been made  that the family learned of Walter’s wish for there to be no religious ceremony and only the minimum of people attending.   Said Norman: “It just shows that in death as in life we don’t always get what we want!” But after the ceremony, one vet’s wife put it this way: “Even if there were hundreds there, maybe Walter did get his wish, because we were all his family.”

Then there was a double page spread of ‘Marvellous Memories’ under the comment: On these two pages are some of the memories left to his friends by Walter Ross the runner.   But Walter, of course, was a man of many other parts.   A brother to Norman, Bill, Henry and Isabel.   A devoted 24-hours-a-day husband to Winnie, who’s now living in a residential home.   A printer and publisher unlike any other business man, whose qualities were so ideally complimented by partner Dale Greig.   Walter was once a footballer, later a ballroom dancing enthusiast.   Once a Sunday School teacher, later a humanist and always an optimist, this was the man who one day in 1970 had the ‘marvellous’ idea of forming the SVHC . . .

First, SVHC President Danny Wilmoth’s tribute to Walter.

Now for the memories.   First, Jack MacLean tells how it all began, then Dale Greig talks about his enthusiasm and Emmet Farrell just talks about his friend.

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information on Walter, either in print or on the internet.    We know that he joined Garscube Harriers in the 1930’s and was a keen runner although not a speedy one.   He never made the scoring six in the National Cross-Country Championship or the Edinburgh to Glasgow team but he was always there for the inter-club events. David Fairweather points out that Walter ran in the Ben Nevis race in 1970 finishing in a time of2:21:52.    He ran mainly in road races but we know that he won the Scottish Over 50’s cross country championship in 1973 (7 seconds in front of Gordon Porteous) having finished third the year before. He was third again in 1974.  Then in 1979 he won the M60 bronze behind his friend Emmet Farrell and James Youngson of Aberdeen.

These are some races/years that stand out as important to me in the 2,400 plus races I have competed in over the years, not always major competitions, but events that tickle my own motivations.

1968:   Scottish Schools 440 yards, second to David Jenkins.    Scottish Youths 440 yards, second, caught on the line in the same time as Norman Gregor

1979:   First of my four wins in the Northumberland Coastal Run gaining me local .notoriety’.   The race was declared the most scenic in the UK two years ago and I was event organiser for over 20 years.

1983:   First Edinburgh to Glasgow team medal (bronze).

1984:   Bronze medal in the North of England 3000m steeplechase.   Ran my personal best of 9:02.95 for the 3000m steeplechase guesting in the England v Sain v Sweden International at Gateshead.

            Scottish Six Stage Road Relay, Edinburgh AC first team, first club major team medal.

1987:   Won the North East Counties track 10,000m championship in 30:42.5, running the second 5000m in 15:03.

1993:    First British Masters medal, runner-up in the M40 3000m at Cosford (8:45.2).   Third in the Scottish Masters cross-country championships, runner-up 6 times, 3rd place 4 times.

1997:   Scottish Masters Indoor 3000m record 8:49.9.   British Masters Indoor 3000m, first, 8:49.2.   European Masters Indoor 3000m, third, 8:49.01

           British Masters Track 5000m/10,000m first/first

           British Masters Cross-Country International, Scotland v England v Wales v N Ireland v Eire, third M45 in Ballymena.

           Team gold with Morpeth arriers in the North Eastern Championships, first win in 15 years, I was also in the 1982 team.

1998:   am Scottish Vets Indoor 3000m  first     pm   Scottish Vets CrossCountry second.

            British Masters Cross-Country, Croydon, third

            June, first selected to represent British Masters in the annual Interland Athletics match, GB v France v Belgium v Holland.   Selected three times

1999:   British Masters Road Relay Championships, Sutton Coldfield, first Ron Hill Cambuslang.

2002:   British Masters Road Relay Championships, Sutton Coldfield, overall fastest M50 leg (probably best road performance), Ron Hill Cambuslang third

            European Masters Track 10000m, Potsdam, silver medal.

2003:   Northern Senior 12 Man Road Relay Championships, first team Morpeth Harriers, (Leg eight), team gold at age 51 after so many attempts in the race.

2005:   Ran 16:40.51 in the World Masters in San Sebastian, reckon this was the last decent time I have achieved, although age graded might indicate otherwise.   Silver team medal with Morpeth in the North East Counties (Northumberland, Durham, Cleveland) individual/team medals in four decades – 1970s, 80s, 90s, 00s.

2007:   Second team gold for Scotland in the Masters Cross-Country International in Belfast.

***

A.   All Time Personal Bests

400m:          52.5 seconds

800m:          1:55.5

1500m:         3:51.35

3000m:         8:17.6

5000m:         14:29.3

10,000:        30:42.5

Marathon:   2:29:28 (London, 1982) Decided I am not a marathon runner).

3000m Steeplechase:   9:02.95

B.   Masters Personal Bests

1500m:          4:13.72

3000m:          8:45.2

5000m:          15:21

10000m         32:26.41

C.   Scottish Medals     94

Gold:          43

Silver:         38

Bronze:       13

D.   British Medals     48

Gold:          11

Silver:         22

Bronze:       13

E.   World Masters Medals     3

Gold           1

Bronze        2

F.   European Masters Medals     9

Silver          4

Bronze        5

Masters International Appearances

Competed for Scotland 18 times

Two Individual bronze medals

Two team golds, ten placed team medals

Plus numerous Scottish West and East District and North East England medals

Scottish Masters Records

M40 Indoor 3000m   8:49.9

M45 Indoor 3000m   8:58.34

M50 Outdoor 5000m 16:19.02

Archie still has 2 years to go as an M55, ran in 30 countries, hopingto add another 4 by the end of the summer, not chasing Ron Hill!   Do not intend packing in but for the dreaded injuries.

January 2010.

I first really met David Morrison when I was convener of the SAAA Decathlon Championship at Coatbridge in the mid-70’s.   When setting up the organising committee I was strongly advised to ask him to be the Field Events Referee.   He had the advantage of living just along the road at Airdrie but that was not why he was recommended: he was a very good, experienced official with a personality that enabled him to get on well with the athletes as well as with the other officials.   He filled the same post when I convened the next two decathlons at Grangemouth and then again in Coatbridge.   We will comeback to his officiating but it is as a veteran runner that we will start the profile of this remarkable man.

David was born in Hamilton, his father a miner, on 19th December 1913 and left school at 14.   He owned a newsagent’s and later a hardware store in the Alexandra Parade in Glasgow.   He held other jobs – a production engineer and locksmith who helped the police out when they had difficulty getting into safes.   When David joined Shettleston Harriers in 1933 he thought he was a long jumper but soon discovered that he most enjoyed running.     The Shettleston Harriers official centenary history – ‘One Hundred Years of Shettleston Harriers: An East End Odyssey – says: ‘In 1933 19 year old Davie Morrison lived in Shettleston Road and was a member of the Physical Culture Club in Fenella Street.   Two of his pals at the club. Jimmy Allan and John Broadfoot, were in the Harriers and it was they who persuaded him to sign on at Gartocher Road.’  

 One of the Shettleston seniors at the time was Jimmy Flockhart who was the 1937 international cross-country champion and he proved a real inspiration to young David.   His first National medal was won in the 1936 National Novice Championships over the Hamilton Racecourse trail.   Unfortunately he lost the medal in the tram on the way home: he may have lost the medal, but he didn’t lose the pride in the achievement of leading the team home in 14th place.   A year later he made the club team for the National Championship which won silver.  After this race, Jimmy Flockhart gave him one of his own gold medals saying that he had run poorly and that the David’s team medal should have been for first place not second.   That was his last national medal until he started running as a veteran athlete.

In 1955 he went to work in Kuwait as a radio engineer and became fluent in Arabic.    While there he won the Al Madi Magwa road race when the temperature was over 100 degrees.   He gave up competing for 19 years only coming back as a runner in 1974 at the age of 61.   That was the start of a long international career that took him all over the world and won him many medals at championships from national to world level.   Just how good was he as a veteran?   I was given a booklet of World  Masters Track & Field Records from 1990, produced in America, which gave the world record for every age in every event.   Only two Scots appeared and David was there no fewer than six times.    They are in the table below.   (Note: The listed times for 3 and 6 miles are the actual times for 5000m and 10000m and should be noted as about 30 and 60 seconds faster respectively.)

Jim Alder leading Don McGregor on the final lap in the 1970 Marathon Championship and Games Trial Race

I remember the Scottish Marathon Club in two distinct phases with a blank in between – the gap was probably due to the 70’s being mainly taken up with (a) running 3000 miles plus every year; (b) family duties with two children arriving on the scene, and (c) working for money becoming fairly important in my life.   The Jimmy Scott phase was a key factor in my development as a runner and there was a social aspect to it as well.    The same guys came to most races, you knew pretty well everybody you saw running down the street and met friends from all over Scotland at the races.   The Marathon Club Presentation every year was attended by a Clydesdale group of David and Evelyn Bowman, John and Janice Wright, Ian and Cathie Leggett and Ian and Helen Donald as well as by many good friends from other clubs.

Suddenly the scene had changed and there were hundreds – at times thousands running in road races – by the end of the 70’s instead of the dozens that I had grown up with.   The cost of race entries had gone up as well from a shilling (5 new pence) to upwards of £5 but you got a free medal or T shirt at the end of the race.   Not much of an inducement for an increase of £4:19:00 in entry fee.   The medal meant less than  nothing – if a couple of thousand people got one it signified little, if the same medal went to all finishers regardless of whether they ran 2:40, 3:40 or 4:40 it signified little (different medals for those inside particular times might have been an inducement to fork out and increased entry fee that was 100 times what we were used to paying.   The T shirts were almost always cheap and not long lasting with usually an execrable design on the front and if you were unlucky on the back as well.   The running boom had a lot of good points – look how the sandards of marathon running shot up with the increased number of runners and the increased number of marathon races in Scotland – but the introduction of hugely inflated prices in return for cheap merchandise were not among them!   Another grouse of mine was that where beforehand runners passing in the street would greet each other, that was not now the case.   You would pass a young man or woman jogging along, say hello and be completely blanked in return.    Having got that off my chest……………

The SMC was just as good and came under new management in the 1970’s.    John Softley of the West of Scotland Harriers who had become a top class ultra distance runner,  became Secretary and Alistair McFarlane was elected Club Captain.    There was a fine mix of the old and the new which ensured that the flame of the SMC was kept alight, its traditions were respected and at the same time there was a freshening of new ideas to meet the needs of the new era in athletics.    One of these was the introduction of the SMC Magazine in the 80’s with a wide range of contributors from all over the country edited by Alistair with his wife Hazel doing a lot of the typing.    I asked Alistair about his involvement in the club and his reply was as follows: “I joined the SMC in the mid 70’s at the instigation of Bill Ramage and before I knew it I was on the Committee.   When I think about it I’ve always been involved in administration, I was on the committee at St Modan’s as a youngster, then held all sorts of positions at Springburn.   I was athletics convener/organiser for BT in Scotland and was chairman of the Scottish Civil Service Athletics Association and now I’m involved with the vets.  

Anyway, when I joined the SMC, Jimmy Geddes was the President and members of the Committee included Gordon Porteous, George Pickering, Willie Drysdale, Bob Donald, Roddy Devon, Joe Bruce, David Bowman and Jack Mclean.   I became club captain a year or two later   and Doug Gunstone joined the Committee and became Treasurer.   Other Committee members through the 80’s included Hugh Barrow, Alex Johnstone, Evan Cameron, Rod Stone, Campbell Joss and Adrian Stott.   At some point Gavin McKirdy became Secretary.    I started the magazine in 1982 and it was great fun.   I remember you doing many articles and you were in good company!   Donald McGregor, Jim Dingwall, Don Ritchie, Rod Stone  – and Rod Stone’s wife Janice also wrote one on the trials of being a runner’s wife.   Not too many people contributed articles voluntarily but I don’t recall anyone refusing to do something for me.    I remember Donald McGregor always responded well to my requests for material but always requested a subject on which to write.    One of my favourites was the Profile section where I would ask people to complete a questionnaire on their training, achievements, disappointments, etc – not just the stars but the ordinary club runners also.   In 1978 we held a Buffet/Social Gathering at Huntershill after the Springburn 12 where Donald and Jim Dingwall gave interesting and amusing talks about their careers and Jim had just returned from the Commonwealth Games marathon.

When the running boom got under way Hugh Barrow, who was Leisure and Recreation Officer for Strathkelvin District Council, managed to get the Council involved  in supporting a mass participation event locally.   I remember us meeting locally with Jimmy Hotchkiss who was the Leisure and Recreation Convener on the Strathkelvin Council in the Gallery pub in Lenzie to lay plans for the event.   What was originally the Springburn 12 became the Luddon Half Marathon, one of the most popular races around at the time, attracting several thousand runners including some of the top distance running talent in Scotland.”  

It was clearly doing well as a club and seemed to be filling a genuine need.   However there were a lot of marathons held in Scotland – maybe too many – but they were all well supported.   In 1983 there were fourteen marathons held in Scotland:   Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, SAAA Championships, Inverclyde, Lochaber, Black Isle, Caithness, Moray, Loch Rannoch, Scottish Veterans (in Glasgow), Galloway and Motherwell.   Four were north of the Great Glen, three were just to the south of the Caledonian Canal, six in the Central Belt and only one in the Borders (but then they had easy access to the North of England.   So what happened to the SMC?   If we go back to Alistair he says in reply to this question: “The SMC was formed ‘to foster marathon running’ and I suppose that it died because there was no longer such a  need for it given that in the 80’s everyone was running marathons.   However now it’s a different story and I suppose that you could argue that there is again a need for such an organisation.”   Typical understatement from Alistair when he says ‘I suppose you could argue that there is again a need for such an organisation.’   No Scotsman ran inside 2:30 for the distance inside Scotland last year, only one did so the year before! 

David Bowman, former President of the SMC, with Jim Alder after the 1970 Games Marathon

The motto – or ‘mission statement’ if you like! – of the SMC was simply ‘to foster marathon running in Scotland’.    And right well it did it.    So what happened to it?    Alistair thinks that with all the marathons in the 80’s, there was no apparent need for it and it just withered away.    It would be interesting to speak to one of the members of the last ever SMC Committee to find out exactly what happened.   If there is one lesson to be learned from history it is that no situation lasts for ever.   Ozymandias of Egypt, anyone?   Things tend to go in cycles.   What is fashionable today will  be out of fashion tomorrow and back into fashion the day after that.

What is the situation today?   As far as the marathon in Scotland is concerned, it is dire.   Extremely dire – the huge promise shown by Andrew Lemoncello disguises a situation that the hierarchy at scottishathetics does not wish to acknowledge.   I should qualify that as we have a new hierarchy and there will probably be changes made which I hope, but I’m not holding my breath, will include the marathon.     If we go back to the 1980’s what is the picture?    It is maybe necessary to ask ourselves whether it is fair to compare ourselves to the best period ever in Scottish Marathon running history – and my response is to say, if we want to be the best we can be, then we must compare ourselves to the best that we have been.    Would it be fairer to compare the current standards with those prevailing in 1946 immediately after the War with rationing still in force, athletics clothing in short supply and few races on the calendar?   Of course not.   If we want to be the best we can be then we compare ourselves with the best that we have been!   In 1982 there were 81 runners inside Scotland running 2:30 or faster and most were done in Scotland with 22 performances inside 2:20.   In 1983 there were 122 Scots inside 2:39 for the event and 29 performances inside 2:21.  Fraser Clyne ran 22 marathons inside 2:20, the Don ran 24 (and that includes after his 45th birthday!) and Colin Youngson with many sub 2:20’s to his credit says that it was a constant quest in marathons to get under that time.   And now there are none!   If these men were gold dust in the 80’s …………. is there such a thing as platinum dust to evaluate their worth in the twenty first century?      Even if we accept the argument that these figures are too high to use as a target, the let’s go back to the 60’s.   In 1966 there were six men inside 2:30, in 1967 there were five inside 2:20 and a further six on 2:30 or quicker and in 1968 there were three inside 2:20 and and another three on 2:22 or quicker.    Last year (ie 2008) there was a Scotsman from Tipton who ran 2:19 in Florence and he was the only Scot inside 2:20!    There were 6 (SIX) inside 2:30 if we count him in.   The fastest time run by a Scot in Scotland last year was 2:29:57!   There were only 19 inside 2:40 anywhere in the world.   And that was not an atypical year = the previous year NO  Scot ran inside 2:30 inside Scotland and the year before that only one did.   All the spin from the Gyle doesn’t alter that fact.   A few years ago Peter McGregor asked at a Conference whether any Scot would make the Commonwealth Games qualifying standard and was met first of all with a patronising silence and a dirty look, then he was told that six Scots including Glen Stewart, Allan Adams, Simon Pride and others would get the time.    Well, none of them did.    And even if any of them had, it would indicate only that one or two men had run a quickish time not that the event was well in Scotland or that there was any one who could lace the running shoes for Allister Hutton, Fergus Murray, Donald McGregor, John Graham, Jim Alder or any of their contemporaries.  The event is sick in Scotland just now and the Gyle doesn’t seem to have a plan to resurrect the corp.   There is a need for a clear plan for the event and the old SMC would have filled the bill very nicely!

What could a new marathon club – or scottishathletics marathon sub-committee – do?    Well in the first place they would be responsible for the one event, responsible only to themselves and would all be enthusiasts.   I sympathise with the current endurance coach who is responsible for all events from 800 to marathon, both men and women plus race walking and steeplechase plus marathon plus adherence to guidelines and an unsympathetic hierarchy whose aim is medals rather than the event – they would rather have a medal in the Commonwealth Games than 20 men inside 2:20!   They would start from the old motto of fostering marathon running in Scotland but adapting the means to that end to the twenty first century.   .On the first page of their book “A Hardy Breed”, Fraser Clyne and Colin Youngson make the point that it was only through the work of the SMC that the Scottish Marathon Championship was started at all and further that it was through their efforts that it was included in the SAAA Championships.   Both were significant – by having a championship, they gave the runners a target and gave them status equal to other athletic events.   By having it held in the national championship meeting they gave it a place on the national stage – parity of esteem with other events.   Contrast that with today’s situation where the event is hired out to whatever marathon makes the highest bid, on a course not necessarily geared to fast running and in a field that makes the national championship of Scotland a sideshow!   Nice warm words but what would the targets be?

1.   More people running, or preferably racing, the distance.    I do not mean jogging for charity and I would not include any male who runs outside three hours five minutes as a marathon runner.   If 3:05 was the second class standard in the 50’s and 60’s marathon club then that’s a good enough place to start since we are in about the pre-war situation for the event.    Count the times and not the bodies to decide whether it is a good race.   Accept too that there might well be no automatic need to close a road for a marathon race!   {the mass marathon movement could take care of itself and should be encouraged but although some runners might make the transition to real marathons, they would not be regarded as athletics events.}

2.   The entry fee for a marathon race should be kept as low as possible to enable people to run.

3.   Make the Scottish Marathon Championship as fast a race as possible, not by limiting the field but by selecting a course that is flat enough and sheltered enough to make such times likely.    And make it clear on the entry form that the officials will knock off after three and a half hours!

4.   The SMC fought long and hard to get the championship included in the national championships and succeeded.    It would be appropriate for those charged with resurrecting the event in Scotland to do their damnedest to get it restored.    That would give it prestige and a focal point.    The attitude just now is that if we have to have a marathon championship let’s just do it somewhere that gets us money and never mind the welfare of the event.   After all Track Meetings these days have to be fast and slick with noisy muzak and uninformed commentary with the National Championship having, just having, to be the slickest, jazziest, noisiest and most swingin’ of them all!   Slow moving marathon runners coming in at intervals and slogging round the track would take away from the championships as a showpiece!    Were the new committee to be indeed a scottishathletics committee then they might know the right people to get it done

5.   Reward good performances with invitations to other races in other parts of the country or even in Europe.

6.   Make it easier for folk to step up a distance by really trying to get races at all the intermediate distances that seem to have fallen by the board.

Any other suggestions for improvement???   I’ve a very open mind.

I spent some time trying to find out why the SMC was disbanded and Alistair McFarlane suggested that the need for it had gone with the numbers competing and even just running on the roads in the 80’s but he wasn’t completely sure about it.   I contacted John Softley who was the SMC Secretary after the death of Jimmy Scott in 1977 and I quote his reply exactly.   He does not have much in the way of papers, etc but the following is his recollection of events.

“I think it was basically the sharp decline in membership in the late 80’s when there wasn’t the same interest in marathon running (except for the LONDON as there had previously been in the early/mid 80’s.   By 1990 we no longer organised the Scottish Marathon Championships – one of our aims in forming the club.   In fact we were only organising the Jimmy Scott road race.   The police had advised us against holding the race from the traditional Clydebank-Helensburgh route.   We thus held race at Strathclyde Park (15 miles) and from Lochinch round Pollok Park (Half Marathon) but latter race only attracted 12 – 14 starters!    Our races were basic ‘club’ events and didn’t supply medals, goody bags, T shirts, etcwhich probably explains why we were not better supported.   We therefore took the sad step of winding up the club.   Interest was fading and membership was down.   I agree that marathon running is in a poor way in Scotland with only 100 – 120 running sub 3 hours now.

“Whether there would be interest in restarting the SMC?   I don’t know.   Next time I see former committee members Alistair, Bob Donald, Campbell Joss, etc, I will mention it to them.”

Comments on the possibility of restarting the club or the need for a new SMC equivalent organisation are elsewhere on the site but my first comment is that if there wasn’t the same interest in marathon running in the late 80’s and if fields in club races were small, wasn’t that enough reason to keep going?

“Undoubtedly, the SAAA Marathon was started because of pressure from the Scottish Marathon Club.”

‘A Hardy Race’ by Clyne and Youngson

Result:   1.   D McNab Robertson   2:45:39; 2.   D Wright   2:46:00; 3.   A Burnside   2:54:15.

There are separate articles about the careers of Robertson and Wright in the ‘Marathon Stars’ section of the website.

The article below appeared in the June 1985 edition of the SMC magazine and is another example of how the club capitalised on events to have its name and Scottish Marathon running generally to gain valuable publicity and, incidentally, to strengthen the bonds of friendship within the club.    The article was written by Bob Donald of Garscube Harriers who also provided the illustrations.  Incidentally Bob told me that to start with the crosses would not light at the top, so they ended up turning them up the other way and lighting the ‘wrong’ end.   Hence the positions in the photograph below!

Leaving Edinburgh Castle

Bob had a letter in the next SMC Magazine as follows:

Dear Alistair, Further to my article in the June 1985 edition of the magazine on the Fiery Cross Relay, I have come across a copy of the ‘Scots Athlete’ dated Oct/Nov 1947 in which there was an article on the same subject by team manager W Carmichael.   This article ended by listing the distances covered by each runner and gave each runner’s club so I am now able to complete the blanks in my article:

Yours sincerely

R Donald

The Arrival in London – Led by Duncan McLeod Wright!

(and the crosses are the right way up!)