Author: The Author

Lachie Stewart – the most famous athlete to wear the read and white hoops.

The Vale of Leven AAC was established right after the Second War and it was not long before the red and white hoops were recognised all over Scotland.   Their officials were very good and it was the infant Vale club which was the main instigator of the Dunbartonshire Amateur Athletic Association with letters being sent out to all the other clubs in the County – Clydesdale Harriers, Dumbarton AAC and Garscube Harriers and the Association was born.    In the 1950’s they produced runners such as Alec McDougall  who ran in the Commonwealth Games as well as in the International Cross-Country, Pat Moy twice an internationalist in the ICCU Championships, Walter Lennie who won the West District and was a noted track runner before he moved to England and Willie Gallagher.   Since this section is about the men who qualified as members of the Fast pack, we will look at the men individually but the club record bears looking at first.   They seemed to be able to get their best men out on the Roads more often than over the country so we will start with the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay over the 1949 to 1963 period.   They dropped out of the race in 1964 so it is quite a discrete time span.

The star beside Pat Moy’s time in 1955 indicates that he had the fastest time on the stage, The three stars each represent a missing runner in 1963.   Hughie McErlean in 1963 arrived at the changeover to find that his man (Alec McDougall) was not there and Hughie ended up running over the next stage and the club was disqualified.   The good news is that the new club won the most meritorious medals in their first run in the event, the first post-war race, in April 1949.    All in all it is a quite remarkable record of consistent high performance at a time when the sport was thriving and from a team in a very limited centre of population and with no drawing power for athletes in surrounding clubs.

Over the country their successes were more spasmodic, largely because they seemed to find it more difficult to get the top team out.    Between season 1949-50 and season 1960-61 they only finished a complete team in the National Championships once.   This was despite having several outstanding men in the club at the time.   The complete team was in ’49/’50 when Willie Gallagher was thirteenth leading the team into eighth place.   Thereafter the record was – 1950/51: no runners but Alec McDougall was fifth in the Junior National;   ’51/’52: No team or runners;   ’52/’53: No team or runners;   ’53/’54 No team but F Lacey was an individual   and Willie Gallagher ran for Shettleston finishing eleventh but was not a counting runner for their team;   ’54/’55: No team but Jimmy Garvie was ninety fifth;   ’55/’56: an incomplete team but Pat Moy was seventh and Alec McDougall twelfth with Hugh Garvie and Jimmy Garvie in 62nd and 71st;   ’56/’57: another incomplete team with Moy in fifth, McDougall in ninth, Jim Garvie 51st, Ian Young 83rd and Hugh Garvie 112th;      ’57/’58: Moy tenth, McDougall eleventh;   ’58/’59: McDougall twenty fifth, Jimmy Garvie 55th and Willie Gallagher 61st; ’59/’60: Moy 24th, H Garvie 125th, and in 1960/61, only Alex MacKay and Hughie McErlean ran and both finished outside the first 100.

For a club with their manpower and talent it is a quite shocking record and must have been very frustrating for the club officials who saw the performances on the roads and on the track as well as in local  relays for the rest of the winter.   If we just look at their first year (founded in 1945) there was a notice in the ‘Scots Athlete’ in June saying that they were training at Millburn Park Alexandria and looking for entries to their open meeting.   Then in October the club was sixth in the McAndrew Relay and had a notable mention in the magazine and in November, Emmet Farrell, previewing the Scottish Novice Championship had this to say: “I am sure of one thing – that the Vale of Leven Harriers will not be far away when the team places are reckoned up.   They have a very enthusiastic bunch out at the “Vale” and they have the benefits of the coaching of Maryhill’s Archie Peters, himself resident in the “Vale”.   The irrepressible Archie has certainly done a good job of work out there by instilling enthusiasm and pacing his protégés.”  

When it came to the event itself on 23rd November in a mucky Pollok Estate in Glasgow, the report read: ” In the team race, Vale of Leven very wisely had their counting four runners running as a unit and they well deserved victory with the low count of 51 points beating eastern rivals Edinburgh Southern Harriers by 17 points.”    The runners and their positions were Getty 11, Cole 12, Campbell 13 and Gallagher 15.    On the facing page was a special article about the club.

CLUB FORMED 1945  –  TEAM CHAMPIONS 1946

Yes –  the Vale of Leven AAC, winners of the National Novice Team Championship at Pollok Estate on 23rd November 1946 – was only formed in 1945.   And Bellahouston Harriers can make another claim of service tio the sport, for their well-known member from the “Vale” Jimmy Gardner, was the prime mover of the formation of the Vale of Leven AAC, which was officially started on 5th September 1945 at a meeting held in the pavilion at Millburn Park, ground of the Vale of Leven FC.   The remarkable jump to the forefront in just one year was accomplished with enthusiastic perseverance of the team, with the encouragement of their hard-working secretary, Willie Stevenson, and the experience and sound training methods of their coach and Maryhill Harrier Archie Peters.

Archie took the boys out from Levenvale School on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and the pack covered distances varying between three and five miles.   Emphasis was placed on steady pacing and anything in the nature of racing each other was ‘taboo’.   Fast starts were indulged in at appropriate times with a gradual building up of pace over the rest of the distance.   The training trails can be claimed as the most beautiful in the world, for their training runs are long ‘The Bonnie, Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond’, and on Saturday afternoons for their cross-country runs they traverse the hills that overlook the picturesque Rob Roy country around Drymen.   Their club novice championship was won by Alex Campbell but he was only ten yards ahead of J Getty another ten yards ahead of Willie Gallagher third.   The last mentioned by the way is a brother of ‘Skeets’ Gallagher of boxing fame.

The National Novice Championship was a great occasion for the “Vale” boys.   What an example of team running they gave!   J Getty managed to lead the team home finishing eleventh.   H Coll who was fourth in their club race finished twelfth and A Campbell and W Gallagher thirteenth and fifteenth respectively giving them the low total of 51 points.   There could have been no more popular success and the club members were overwhelmed with hand-shakes.   The reception by other Harrier clubs and the interest shown by the “Vale” public was, in the words of Willie Stevenson, “Sportsmanship of the very best.”

Prominent people of Vale of Leven district have a keen interest in the club’s activities and it will be recalled that Sir Ian Colquhoun, Bart, DSO, of Luss, formally opened their sports meeting at Millburn Park last July.   Mr Hugh Craig JP is Honorary President f the club and, amongst other benefactors, are Miss Millar-Weir who presented a silver cup for the club cross-country championship, and Mr E Hofstedder, a Swiss consul and resident of Balloch, who has given a trophy for the club novice championship.

The Vale of Leven officials are expecting a big increase in club membership.   Their club has done much to foster athletics in the “Vale” .   Their winning team is an inspiration to local youth.

Just to add a bit to the story of the founding of the Vale of Leven, Willie Gallagher, of whom much more later, says “I first took an interest in running when I was sixteen.   Track running.   No running club then.   I contacted two old runners, Jimmy Gardner and Willie Stevenson to get the Vale of Leven AAC started.”   And there’s the story, Willie was a track runner without a club, he approached men he knew had been runners and the club was born.

In January 1947 the club were seventh in the Midlands District Championship with their first runner home being seventeenth, and then in the National, there was no team at all.   Came November and there was no team in the McAndrew Relay and in the National Novice Championships they were sixth with Walter Lennie, their best performer over the winter, second finisher but their close packing of the year before was not in evidence with placings being 2, 27, 52 and 68.   They were eighth in the District Relay on 6th December with, Walter Lennie eighth fastest.   In the District Junior Championships on 7th February the club was eighth again with the top runners being Lennie in second and F Lacey in fourteenth.   In the Youths race that afternoon, Alec McDougall was seventh.   Came the National – and there was no team from the Vale of Leven although there were three finishers in the Senior team – F Lacey was seventieth, T Wilson just outside the first hundred in 101st and M Connell 146th.    Alec McDougall was 73rd in the Youths race.

In the McAndrew Relay on 3rd October, the Vale had three teams out with the A team of W Gallagher (16:32, A Campbell (16:51, GF Lacey (17:24) and W Lennie (16:02) finishing fifth, the B team 22nd and the C Team 41st.   Lennie had the third fastest time of the day.   In the National Novice on 20th November the team was sixth with the runners being A McDougall 14th, W Crowe 46th, D Macpherson 49th, M Connell 88th plus J McNabb 85th, E Murphy 113rd and runners in 162nd and 212th.   Into December and on the fourth, the team was fifth in the Midland Relay with Lacey 16:25, H Coll 15:32, W Gallagher 15:21 and W Lennie 15:17.   They had a B Team out which finished twentieth.   On the 5th February in the Midland 7 Miles Junior Championships, the team was eleventh.  Willie Gallagher led the team home with a good fourth place only half a minute behind the fastest man who was the remarkale John Joe Barry.   Other Vale runners were T Wilson 67th, D Macpherson 75th, A Campbell 76th, W Crowe 86th, H Murray 129th.   It had been a very good winter by any reasonable standards but when the National came along – no team from the Vale was on the starting line.   Willie Gallagher ran and finished eighteenth, Jim Gardner was 118th and M Connell 129th.    The first of the post-war Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays was held in April and the team was eight with F Lacey running the first stage and finishing fourth before A Campbell dropped back to seventh on the second stage.   D Macpherson lost another place on the third stage and M Campbell another two on the fourth.   Alec McDougall had a very good run – third fastest of the day – to bring the team up to eighth and that was held by W Gallagher, W Crowe and T Wilson.

The best run by a Vale of Leven runner in summer 1949 was Walter Lennie’s second in the mile at the SAAA Championships at Hampden.   In the preview of the cross-country season in the ‘Scots Athlete’ Emmet Farrell singled out W Gallagher as a bright young man and bracketed his chances with those of Bickerton, Tracey and Kidd.   There were two teams out in the McAndrew on 1st October and the first team (Macpherson 16:47, Gallagher 16:37, Crowe 17:07 and McDougall 16:35) was eighth with the B team of Wilson, Coll, Campbell and McNabb thirty ninth.   On the 15th in the Dunbartonshire 10 miles relay championship the team won from Clydesdale Harriers.   Macpherson ran first and was timed at 13:16 before Willie Gallagher took them into first place with 12:38.   This position was held by Alec McDougall in 13:03 and Walter Lennie in 12 minutes exactly – “the most brilliant running was reserved for the last leg” said the Scots Athlete.   On 2nd November the second Edinburgh to Glasgow was held and the team improved to sixth by the finish.   D Macpherson was sixth on the first stage, Alex McDougall on the second handed over in seventh to A Campbell who picked up to fifth with the third fastest time of the day.   J Malcolm held fifth. and did H Coll, Willie Gallagher (third fastest on Six) and F Lacey with Willie Crowe being shunted back to sixth on the last stage.   On 15th December 1949, in the Midlands Relay the club was third with very good running all round – D Macpherson (15:08), Willie Gallagher pulling the team from ninth to second with a time of 14:30, Alec McDougall dropping back with 15:01 and then Walter Lennie coming back up to third with 15:10.   Lennie was second fastest equal with Tommy Tracey (Springburn) and Gallagher was equal fifth with Jim Ellis (VPAAC) and Clark Wallace (Shettleston.   Into 1950 and on 4th February, in the Midlands Championship Vale of Leven provided the winning runner in Walter Lennie with Willie Gallagher eighth and the team was fourth.   This time they did put a team forward in the National and it finished eighth with Willie Gallagher eighth individual.

Make no mistake about it, the Vale had talent aplenty as we will see when we look at the individuals in the club.   We can start with Alec McDougall, Pat Moy, Willie Gallagher and Walter Lennie.   In reverse order we’ll do Lennie first

Walter Lennie winning the Midland District Championship in February 1950

He had been second in 1948

Walter Lennie was probably one of the best runners in Scotland never to have run in the Edinburgh to Glasgow or Senior National Cross-Country championship.   He was a stand-out in short relays, a first-rate track runner and good enough over six and seven miles to win gold and silver in the Midlands Championships.   If we trace his career through the ‘Scots Athlete’ magazine we can start with the District Relays on 6th December 1947 when the the team was fifth and he himself was eighth fastest over the course.   It should be noted right at the start that this was a time when the standard in Scotland was very high and there was tremendous strength in depth across the country.   Victoria Park, Shettleston Bellahouston and Springburn were probably the best teams in the country although possibly Edinburgh Southern Harriers could justifiably be a bit irked about being left out of the top four.

We can start with the Novice Championship on 22nd November 1948 at Pollok Estate in Glasgow.   The report read: “There were over 200 starters.   When the “field” came into view approaching half distance, only D Jackson of the “fancies” was “in the hunt”, and then he seemed to falter badly and had to retire, as Garry did also with leg injury.   A group of four, all running sweetly were out in front with C Forbes (Victoria Park) leading, followed by W Brown (Edinburgh Southern) and D McLachlin (Springburn) whilst J Duffy (Garscube) seemed to be content in fourth position.   With a timed effort, Duffy forced the issue with just over a mile to go and his company could not respond.   But W Lennie (Vale of Leven) who had been closing up gave chase.   Over the last mile, Lennie gradually closed in a ten yard gap, and about 200 yards from the tape actually passed Duffy.  In an uphill gradient to the finish Duffy rallied and his strong finish was too much for the weakened but gallant Lennie.”    The result was 1.   J Duffy   26:34;   2.   W Lennie   26:44;   3.   W Brown   26:50;   4.   C Forbes 27:22.

 In the Midland Championships proper on 7th February 1948, on a day of heavy rain and strong winds, Lennie was second to Bobby Boyd of Clydesdale.   The report in the ‘Scots Athlete’ of February 1948 read as follows:  “With 13 teams and 10 individuals, the 3 laps providing an excellent spectacle for the onlookers.   White and Boyd (Clydesdale) with Craig (Shettleston) led the field for the first lap, and on the second circuit being completed Craig was endeavouring to shake off the longer striding Boyd, followed by Kidd (Garscube), Lennie (Vale of Leven) and White (Clydesdale) leading a group close behind, and it was most striking  how Garscube and Maryhill team members were “packing” well up and their finishing places given later are a perfect illustration of team work “par excellence”.    At the finish Boyd, striding strongly through the tape, proved a worthy winner, and young Lennie with a fast burst got in front of Craig.   These three are surely a promising trio for future honours.”   Result:   1.   Boyd   39:33;   2.   Lennie:   3.   Craig;   4.   A Kidd (Garscube).   Following these two races, Emmet Farrell in the March 1948 ‘Scots Athlete’ commented as follows,  ” The small but neatly built Lennie is perhaps the most colourful newcomer of the season and looks one of the greatest prospects.   Improving each time out, no one knows his full capabilities and even at the present moment he is within striking distance of international class.   He looks like becoming a Scottish champion in the near future.”   He did not run in the National  in 1948 unfortunately.

In season 1948/’49, The Vale of Leven was fifth in the McAndrew Relay and Lennie was third fastest over the course.   For a young and relatively inexperienced runner to be right in among the stars of the day such as Emmet Farrell, Andy Forbes and all the top men from the other clubs was quite an achievement.   On 4th December 1948 were fifth again and Lennie was again among the fastest times with his 15:17 for the two and a half mile trail.   The following summer in the SAAA Championships at Hampden Park he was second in the Mile showing a clean pair of heels to more very good men on a totally different surface.   He had in nine months shown ability over country, on the road and on the track.

Into season 1949/’50 where Lennie missed the McAndrew Relay on 5th October but on 15th October in the first ever Dunbartonshire Relay Championship he had a wonderful run on the last stage.   Willie Gallagher took the club into first on the second stage and the club was overtaken by George White (Clydesdale) on the third before Walter Lennie regained first spot.   ‘The Scots Athlete’ report on the race remarked that “The most brilliant running was reserved for the last leg.   And it was the 20 years old county mile champion W Lennie (Vale of Leven) who showed it.   Taking the lead early on he left class men Bobby Boyd (Clydesdale) and Alex Kidd (Garscube) as if they were novices and was over half a minute faster than the next best.”    The Midland Relays were held on 5th December and the young Vale of Leven club was third running their usual line-up of Macpherson (9th), Gallagher (an excellent run to bring the team up to second), Alec McDougall who dropped a few places and Lennie who picked back up to third.   He had the equal second fastest time of the day with Tommy Tracey of Springburn.   In 1950 he achieved possibly his best ever cross-country win when he took first place in the Midlands Championship which led Emmet Farrell to heap praise on him for the Junior National Cross-Country Championship with a fulsome write-up of “the brilliant Lennie”   The article in full reads as follows.   “Walter Lennie Hot Favourite For New Junior Title.   In line with England, the NCCU of Scotland has instituted this new championship for Juniors (18 – 21).   Among the contenders will be some runners fit to take their place in Senior company as they have amply demonstrated this season.   Particularly in this category are Walter Lennie (Vale of Leven), W Williamson (Greenock Glenpark) and Gilbert Adamson (West Kilbride) who, I make bold to say would if they were in the Senior Championship. be in the running for international honours.    The brilliant Lennie, sound in stamina, devastating in finishing powers and a stylist to boot, is the form horse to win the title.     Adamson, not so stylish, but perhaps more rugged in his make up is a real cross-country type and should at least be a worthy contender.”   Adamson’s time was 37:17 against Lennie’s 37:59.

However in the National itself Lennie finished second with what some regarded as a disappointing run.   Emmet Farrell had this to say:  “Adamson Runs Away With Title.   Gilbert Adamson of West Kilbride created something of a surprise by the runaway nature of his win over favourite Walter Lennie in the Junior Championship with that grand youngster GL Walker of Edinburgh University a close third.   The Vale of Leven boy did not appear to be in the form he was in at the recent Midland Championship, nevertheless Adamson was running so strongly and confidently that he looked as if he could have given most of the fancied seniors a spot of trouble.”   He did go on however in April to win the first ever post-war Inter-Counties Cross-Championship.   However one of the interesting features of 1949 for me was the absence of Lennie from either of the two Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays held that year and this was to be a feature of his time in the sport North of the Border – a seeming reluctance to turn out in the longer road races.

In the May 1950 issue of the ‘Scots Athlete’, Emmet Farrell in looking ahead to the SAAA Championships Walter Lennie in the Mile as a contender for championship honours.  Whether he just didn’t run, or whether he ran and was out of the first four, he certainly didn’t make any mark in the event at all, nor although he was eligible did he turn out in the Scottish Junior track championships.   Came winter 1950/’51 started with no team from the Vale in the McAndrew relay and there was no Walter Lennie in the teams that finished second and third behind Garscube in the Dunbartonshire event, nor was he in evidence in the Midland District Relay on 4th October. either.    Nor was he in the Inter-Counties which he had won the previous December, the Dunbartonshire championship, the Nigel Barge, the Midlands or the National.    Where had he gone?   The answer came in the July 1951 issue in the reports of the Scottish Senior Championships at Hampden on 23rd and 24th June.    Emmet Farrell commented “The surprise of the Championship was the failure of holder Frank Sinclair (Greenock Wellpark) to come through his heat of the mile.   “Lack of training,” in his own words was the reason.   Diminutive Walter Lennie (Vale of Leven) now resident in Colchester showed his best piece of running to date.   He was in grand form and after finally shaking off Tom Stevenson, the young CC Internationalist club mate of Sinclair, he went out on his own to win easily in 4 mins 22.7 secs, the fastest championship time in the post-war period.”   Result:   1.   W Lennie (Colchester)   4:22.7;   2.   T Stevenson 4:25;   3.   J Stirling (VPAAC)   4:26.6.    The November 1951 issue of the ‘Scots Magazine’ he was rated the top Scottish miler of the year on the strength of the win in the SAAA and as a member of Vale of Leven AAC but in the rankings where he again came second with his championship winning time he was listed as Colchester Harriers.

Walter Lennie was a very good athlete indeed.   We started this profile in November 1948 and in that time he had won a first and second in the SAAA Mile, won the first post-war inter-counties cross-country championship, had a first and second in the Midlands Championship, a second in the National Novice and a second in the National Junior cross-country.   All that plus a host of excellent short relay performances.   There is little doubt that he could have been one of the best ever Scottish distance runners had he not gone south.        

Willie Gallagher was the team manager’s dream athlete.   He ran – and ran well – in everything: he ran in county relays and championships, in District relays and championships, he ran in the National Championships and in the Edinburgh to Glasgow and he ran on the track, on the roads and even in the Ben Nevis hill race.   And he never seemed to miss big chunks of time because he was injured either.   He was very unfortunate not to have been selected for the Scottish cross-country team just missing out twice when he was ninth.   Part of that problem of course was the shortage of international fixtures in the post-war period when there was really only one fixture and another reason was the very high quality of all of the athletes around at the time.   We should however have a look at his career to get an indication of how good he was.    If we take the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay as a measure of his consistency and ability over a period we get the following table.

 *  Did Not Run     ** No details available

In the Edinburgh to Glasgow the toughest two stages are the second of six miles and the sixth of seven miles. He ran both twice and had a net gain of 10 places. In fact it should be noted that he did not lose a place in any of the E – G’s he ran, a quite remarkable record. One rule that most clubs observed was that when you found a stage that particularly suited a runner, you kept him on it and his six runs on Stage Seven tell their own story: two second fastest times, one third and one fourth. His best run in this event was certainly the Stage Two in 1950 when he picked up no fewer than seven places amongst the very best runners in the race and recorded second fastest time of the day. His ability on the roads was not in doubt. If you need any more evidence, then the picture above, taken from the October/November issue of the ‘Scots Athlete’ in which there is a glowing tribute to Willie Gallagher – the five races were the Largs 13 miles, Shotts, Helensburgh 14 miles, Milngavie 10 Miles and fastest time in the Vale’s own sports over 14 miles. More about this article below.

One of the difficulties in profiling a runner’s career is the restriction imposed by the information available. The individual races above are not covered in the text of the ‘Scots Athlete’ for instance, and there are times when the first runner for a club is given but thereafter there are only positions gained by the club with no names attached eg on 22nd November 1947 in the National Novice the team result was printed as “W Lennie 2, 27, 52, 68”. So with these limitations in mind, and the 1946 results above, the information we have is as follows.

The Vale of Leven had three teams forward in the McAndrew Relay on 3rd October 1948 with the first team consisting of Willie Gallagher (16:32), Andrew Campbell (16:51), F Lacey (17:24) and W Lennie (16:02) fifth. Two months later in the Midlands Relay the club was again fifth with the running order Lacey (16:05), H Coll (15:32), Gallagher (15:21) and Lennie (15:17). After the New Year, on 5th February, in the Midlands 7 Miles Championships, Willie Gallagher was fourth finisher only 32 seconds behind the prodigiously talented John-Joe Barry. The team was eleventh with Gallagher, T Wilson 67th, D Macpherson 75th, A Campbell 76th, W Crowe 86th and A Murray 129th. All good results but there was no team in the National although Willie Gallagher had a very good run against the best that Scotland had to offer in finishing eighteenth supported by W Gardner (118th) and M Connell (129th). In May ’49 there was the first post-war Edinburgh to Glasgow and the Vale of Leven team won the medals for the most meritorious unplaced performance. These medals were as highly prized by most clubs as a medal in any of th other winter championships. The decision was not taken lightly and all steps were taken to avoid bias: the commiittee taking the decision in this race was composed of E Riley, J Binks, (News of the World), DG Wilson (former international athlete and sports reporter), A MacFie, AF Neilson, J Gilbert, G Dallas, D McSwein, DM Wright, W Carmichael and the race referee JC Scott. These were all noted officials – Dunky Wright needs no testimonial, Duncan McSwein was a top official in the SAAA for decades, George Dallas was the man responsible for the resurgence of Maryhill Harriers after the war, a respected track official and holder at different times of the top positions in the sport. So the award had to be merited to get past such a scrutiny. Willie played his part in running possibly the toughest stage of them all, the long Stage Six which started at the Forestfield Inn and went steadily downhill through Caldercruix, Plains, Clarkston, Airdrie with the changeover at the War memorial on the western outskirts of Airdrie. Alec McDougall on the fifth stage had the third fastest time when pulling the club up to eighth and Willie consolidated this position. Into the summer and there are no reports of him racing over the summer of 1949 although such a prolific racer must have compete in many and done well because in the ‘Scots Athlete’ preview of the winter season 1949/’50 he was given special mention as a “bright young man” by Emmet Farrell in his running commentary.

The traditional first race of the winter, the McAndrew Relays, was on 1st October and Willie Gallagher ran the second stage for the Vale team that finished eighth. The team in running order was D Macpherson (16:47), Willie Gallagher (16:37), W Crowe (17:07) and Alec MacDougall (16:35). The fastest runner in the B Team was T Wilson in 17:49 so it was the best team available on the day. Two weeks later and it was the Dunbartonshire county 10 miles cross-country relay championship and the Vale team, with Gallagher, McDougall and lennie running won by almost a minute from Clydesdale Harriers. Lying second after the first stage, the Vale had Gallagher second and the report says, “The county road champion Willie Gallagher (Vale of Leven) was in fine fettle and passed the 1947 National Youths Mile Champion Bobby Smith (Garscube) to give his club the lead.” George White (Clydesdale) pushed the Vale (MacDougall) back into second before Lennie took them to the front again. Gallagher had third fastest time of the day with only three runners being inside thirteen minutes. The Edinburgh to Glasgow was on 21st November and it was to hold this ‘third weekend in November’ slot for the remainder of its existence. Again Willie Gallagher was on the sixth stage and held his place (fifth) with the fifth fastest time of the day. In Emmet Farrell’s preview of the Scottish National in the December 1949 ‘Scots Athlete’, he says in one sentence – “Versatile Bob Climie (Bellahouston Harriers), Clark Wallace (Shettleston), J Ellis (Victoria Park) a great little fighter, sturdy Willie Gallagher (Vale of Leven) are others who if they produce the same form over the longer stretch could quite easily make the grade.” Make the grade is interpreted as ‘get into the Scottish team for the international.’ There only was the one international every year and only eight men were selected for it, so it was really difficult to win a ‘jersey’. Willie was mentioned several times as a contender but was unlucky not to do quite enough to gain selection. On 5th December ’49, the District Relay Championships were held at Coatbridge with 37 teams starting. The Vale of Leven was third and picked up the bronze medals to go with the Novices championship golds in 1946 and the most meritorious medals in the Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1949. On this occasion they had D Macpherson on the first stage (15:08), Gallagher on the second stage (14:30), MacDougall (15:01) on three and Lennie (14:10) on four. The report by Eddie Taylor commented on the second stage “As often happens in relays, the second lap saw a change with Shettleston through Clark Wallace taking the lead followed by Vale of Leven, W Gallagher taking his team from 9th to second place.” The fastest times for the day are of interest: Fastest: A Forbes (Victoria Park) 14:09; 2= T Tracey (Springburn) and W Lennie (Vale of Leven) 14:10; 4. B Bickerton (Shettleston) 14:20; 5, 6 and 7: C Wallace, W Gallagher and J Ellis 14:30. The quality behind Gallagher that day was high and included such as Emmet Farrell, George Craig, Alex Kidd and many others. Eddie Taylor’s comment was “This was a grand showing by the Vale lads.” Behind them were Maryhill, Bellahouston and Springburn Harriers. In the February issue, Emmet Farrell picked his own first eight for the National Cross-Country Championship and then listed the chief dangers to the first eight to be Ben Bickerton (Shettleston), Tom Tracey (Springburn), Frank Sinclair (Wellpark and Blaydon), JE Farrell (Maryhill), W Gallagher (Vale of Leven), RF Wilby (Edinburgh University), T McNeish (Irvine YMCA), Alex Kidd (Garscube), Alex Gibson (Hamilton) and Clark Wallace (Shettleston). A long list but every one a quality athlete. In the meantime, before the National, the Midland District Championships were held at Motherwell on 4th February over seven miles. Won by Walter Lennie, in 42:22, Willie Gallagher was eighth in 43:07. Only 45 seconds back and less than 300 yards (maybe 250) behind the winner and ahead of several runners whom Emmet was predicting as first eight finishers in the big one. The team was an agonising fourth with 179 points to Victoria Park’s 162 in third. In the National itself, Willie Gallagher was thirteenth and the club eighth.

Now back to the picture at the head of this profile. In the magazine in question there was an article entitled “Ranking Our Road Runners”. I found it particularly interesting in that the magazine had a serious bias towards endurance events but the road running scene was not covered all that well. Results of the principal road running fixtures – if they were less than say 20 miles – were not covered. So the feature immediately captured the interest. After detailing the achievements of the top three (Harry Howard, CD Robertson and JE Farrell) the fourth place was occupied by Willie Gallagher. The relevant paragraph reads. “Being younger in years and experience than the aforementioned campaigners, Willie Gallagher (Vale of Leven) seemed most promising. He took a spotlight with four straight wins (Largs 13 miles, Shotts, Helensburgh 14 miles and Milngavie 10 miles) and fastest time in the open handicap at his own club’s sports (14 miles). In the Milngavie race he had a neck-and-neck struggle with the coming young J Millar (Dundee Thistle). Despite these meritorious wins he tended to be shaded when competing against our top three though he had a victory over Harry Howard at Largs on the week following the Shettleston man’s Scottish triumph and a week previous to his memorable British race.” The top ten were H Howard, C Robertson, JE Farrell, W Gallagher, A Arbuckle (Monkland Harriers), J Lindsay (Bellahouston), H Haughie (Springburn), T McGinley (Garscube), P Taylor, J Paterson. A quite remarkable group!

Winter 1950/’51 started with the McAndrew Relay the Vale team was ninth with Gallagher’s 16:25 their fastest time not far behind the eight fastest in the race of 16:12 by Eddie Bannon (Shettleston. In the District Championships at Stepps, he was again his team’s fastest man with 1148 which was seventh fastest of the day and the team finished fifth. On 16th December the Second Annual Inter-Counties Championship was held over 6 miles at Stirling and was won by Ben Bickerton running for Lanarkshire in 35:34 from Shettleston team-mates Clark Wallace (36:08) and Eddie Bannon (36:04) with Willie Gallagher leading the Dunbartonshire contingent home in fourth place. That was the order in the team race too – Lanarkshire comfortable winners from Dunbartonshire. Then on 6th January the Dunbartonshire Championships were held at Dumbarton and Willie Gallagher ran out the winner in 37:31 from team-mate Alec MacDougall in 37:39 and Alex Kidd (Garscube) in 37:52 – 13 seconds between first and third! Vale of Leven were second to Garscube whose counters were 3, 4, 5 and 6. It is a pity that the race was held on the same day as the Nigel Barge race at Maryhill where A Forbes, T Tracey and JE Farrell were the one, two and three. On 3rd February the Midland District Championships were held at Millerston and Willie had a good run to finish sixth ahead of such as Bickerton, Ellis, Wallace, Kidd and many other top class athletes. Again Willie was mentioned by Emmet Farrell in his National preview as being a ‘possible’ for the international team, and he goes on to say, “Chic Forbes, Clark Wallace, Willie Gallagher and Alex Kidd are all enthusiastic and ambitious young athletes, conscientious to a degree and one or more may come near. If they are ever to break through they must surely do so now or in the reasonably near future.”. Whether the words of Emmet Farrell were an encouragement, only Willie knows but in the National at Hamilton on 3rd March, he finished ninth – and usually only eight were selected to do duty for their country. The first ten were: 1. A Forbes 50:08; 2. T Tracey 50:13; 3. CD Robertson 51:24; 4. JE Farrell 51:35; 5. A Kidd 51:47; 6. J Ellis 51:48; 7. A Gibson 51:56; 8. J Stevenson (Springburn) 52:02; 9. W Gallagher 52:05; 10: G King (Wellpark) 52:19. Two of Emmet’s nominees in the first nine isn’t bad and after the race he had this to say, “marathon prospect Willie Gallagher’s ninth place revealed consistency.” The ninth place ensured that he was a reserve for the Scottish team for the international.

The 1951/’52 season’s McAndrew Relay saw the Vale of Leven down in nineteenth with Willie Gallagher their fastest with 16:44, a time which did not bother the fast times calculations too much. In the Dunbartonshire relays on 20th October at Westerton, The Vale of Leven were third behind Clydesdale and Garscube and Willie Gallagher had third fastest time when on the last leg. Times were – fastest G White (Clydesdale) 16:08; J Duffy (Garscube) 16:12; W Gallagher (V of Leven) 16:14. There was no Vale team out though in the Midland Relay at Stepps on 3rd November. On the 17th in the Edinburgh to Glasgow he ran the second stage for the club gaining three places in the process. He did not however run in either the Inter-Counties or in the Nigel Barge at Maryhill. The Midland championships were held at Lenzie on 2nd February and there was no complete team from the Vale of Leven although Willie did his usual sterling job to finish seventh – with his only team mate J McNabb in 108th place. No doubt this helped Emmet Farrell to say in his preview that he could name six possibles for the international team but ‘the following’ could scrap it out among themselves for the remaining few places: no prizes for guessing that among ‘the possibles’ was Willie Gallagher. There was no Vale team in action at the National and the magazine gives no results for individuals. At any event he wasn’t in the first twelve.

Willie was not mentioned at all all summer, not even in the fairly extended preview for the marathon but when the McAndrew relay came along on 4th October he was there for his club. This time the Bale finished thirteenth and Willie only missed being third fastest club runner by one solitary second. On 1st November in the Midland Relays, the club finished fourteenth and Willie Gallagher was undoubtedly their quickest runner over the course and not all that far behind the fastest half dozen on the day. In the Edinburgh to Glasgow, he brought the team from nineteenth to seventeenth with the third fastest time of the day: this is a very hard feat to accomplish in that you are well away from the men who will normally turn in the fast times and you can’t see the opposition while there is every chance that they can see each other! A very good run and better than it looks. In the Inter-Counties on 13th December, he was almost back to his best with a good fourth place, only half a minute behind the winner. Skipping the Midlands championship, he was again tipped to be in the scramble for international selection along with Clark Wallace, Ian Binnie, the Stevenson brothers and another three or four. Came the National on 28th February and he was thirteenth but in a Shettleston Harriers vest. Confirmation that it was indeed the same W Gallagher seemed to come from the fact that, although his was the second Shettleston vest across the finishing line, he was not a counting runner. But strangely enough there is no mention anywhere of him having switched clubs.

His name did not appear at all in the ‘Scots Athlete’ until the report on the National in 1954 when it said: “Congratulations and commiserations are due Willie Gallagher of Shettleston for a grand position which just failed to gain recognition. Better luck next time, Willie!” It also commented on the fine running of Forres McKenzie of Inverness. When we look at the actual results, we find that Forres McKenzie, running for Shettleston Harriers, was fifth and Willie Gallagher running for the same club was eleventh, 38 seconds in front of Emmet Farrell. Neither man was counted in the official results with winning team Shettleston having Bannon 1st, McGhee 7th, Wallace 16th, Eadie 17th, Fox 24th and More 25th. When a runner changed clubs he had to serve a period of time before he could run as a team member for his new club. At one point it was 14 months, at another it was 9 months and at others it was at the discretion of the SCCU Rules and Records Committee. Willie had now run as a non-scorer in two Nationals for Shettleston so his time was pretty well up.

In summer 1954, Willie Gallagher was very busy. He won the Vale of Leven 14 miles easily on 8th May, finished third in the Ben Nevis race behind Brian Kearney and Eddie Campbell and won the Milngavie 10 Miles on 14th August. But the big event was when he started in the SAAA Marathon Championship which went from the Cloch Lighthouse at Gourock to Ibrox Park where the Glasgow Highland Games were being held. There was an entry of 30 runners and the holder, J Duffy from Hadleigh was there along with Joe McGhee, Emmet Farrell, George King and other experienced men. The report of the race read:

“The day was dry, the weather warm, but there was a very stiff headwind which over a very open course was a decided handicap. The Provost of Gourock got the runners off to a very fast start. At four miles, Duffy led with W Jackson, Royal Navy, H Lawrence, Teviotdale Harriers, and Joe McGhee, Shettleston H, in attendance. The time at 5 miles was 27:11 with Duffy, Lawrence, McGhee and G King, Greenock Wellpark, all together. Then came W Gallagher, Shettleston, in 27:29, then a bunch including G Porteous and JE Farrell, both Maryhill H, and AH Fleming, Cambuslang H, in 28:37. It was easy to see that this was going to be a fast race and after the five miles check and the run through Greenock and Port Glagsow, the rot set in for quite a few and there were changes.

At 10 miles, Lawrence and McGhee led in 56:27, with Duffy and King together in 56:53. Next was Gallagher in 57:58, then followed Farrell, Fleming and E Campbell, St Mary’s, in 58:06, still good running with such a head wind. Then came the climb out of Port Glasgow with Lawrence still in front and looking very fit with Joe McGhee taking all the shelter he could from the wind. Duffy was now dropped with Gallagher and King labouring behind. Farrell and Fleming further back were running very easily togther. In the long stiff climb out from Langbank a change came over the race. Although Lawrence was leading and still pattering away, McGhee was holding him easily. King dropped Duffy but Gallagher taking a chance, passed King and at 15 miles, Lawrence and McGhee clocked 1:24:21 which was excellent time with Gallagher at 1:1:25:15 but not looking very happy. King clocked 1:25:45 and here Duffy dropped to a walk and then passed the 15 mile mark in 1:26:51. Then that hardy annual Farrell looking exceedingly strong and fit with Fleming in 1:28:50.

Joe McGhee after the long climb up from Langbank decided to take the lead – for the first time. As soon as he pushed ahead, Lawrence decided that he had had enough and at once stopped. He said he had felt sick and had no food sincxe breakfast. McGhee with one glance behind him to see what was going on, pushed ahead and covered – alone the next 5 miles in 30:36, which was amazing on his own, and a strong head wind with which to contend. He could have been forgiven had he taken a rest at this period. The holder of the title, Duffy, retired just after 15 miles, he had been struggling for quite a while. At 20 miles McGhee clocked 1:55:57 with a clear lead of over three quarters of a mile. Gallagher came up at 1:58:13 and said he wished to retire but was persuaded to continue. King came up in 1:58:39 with Farrell running very easy in 2:01:16.

Within a mile Gallagher retired and yet McGhee pushed on as if there was a pack at his back and ran in to win the race in the record time of 2:35:22.”

There were only seven finishers from the 30 starters in a race known as being one of the toughest in the championship series. The first three were J McGhee, RAF & Shettleston, 2:35:22; JE Farrell, Maryhill Harriers, 2:43:08; GC King, Greenock Wellpark, 2:47:04. No more was reported of his activities for the remainder of the summer but he was back in good form for the 1954/’55 cross-country season.

It is a fair question at this point to ask for more information about Gallagher as a road runner. He realised fairly early on that road running was his forte and decided to improve his standard of running by training harder and he got up to 100 miles per week. This in itself is interesting because there is the question of who was the first man in the country to run 100 miles per week. It was fashionable for a time in the 1960’s, ’70 s and 80’s to aim for 100 miles a week but there are reports that Donald MacNab Robertson ran 100 miles a week in the late 1940’s but Willie can’t be far behind that. In any case he did the miles come rain, hail or snow and became probably the fastest road runner in Scotland over 12 to 16 miles. He could slowly but surely feel the power increasing in his body. The scalps he lifted over his favoured distances included Harry Howard, Charlie Robertson, JE Farrell and Joe McGhee. As for the 10 miles at Milngavie, Ian Binnie was too late for the start and Gallagher is sure it wasn’t accidental. After Joe McGhee won the Empire Games Marathon in Vancouver, they raced head to head at Stirling and Gallagher won by a distance. It was a time of course when they used to look for hard courses – marathon men were either heroes or fools, maybe both. The hilly Isle of Wight marathon was fearsome and the Scottish Marathon was twice held down the Boulevard from Westerlands to Strathleven Estate and back. This makes comparison of times with the present day when they search out fast fast trails difficult but Gallagher ran the first twelve miles of the Anniesland to Alexandria fifteen, organised by the Scottish Marathon Club, in 59 minutes exactly: in the London Olympic Marathon, the leader came through twelve miles in 59:06. His pedigree as a road runner was never in doubt.*

In October 1954, the traditional opener, the McAndrew Relay Willie was in the Shettleston second team that finished fourth. The first team won and the runners were, Bannon (15:36), Turnbull (15:59), Wallace (16:00) and McGhee (15:30), the runners in Willie’s team were Cloudsley (16:04), Gallagher (16:13), McFarlane (16:18) and Wotherspoon (16:27). It would seem that the selectors got it right. In the Midlands Relay on 6th September at Stepps, the Shettleston A team won with the B team in third this time. First team times – Wallace (17:00), Eadie (16:51), McGhee (16:40) and Bannon (16:10), and the B team were Gallagher (17:24), Everett (16:56), Cloudsley (17:11) and Fox (17:18). Again the selectors seemed to have got it right (well, apart from Graham Everett!) and Gallagher was establishing himself as one of the top half dozen on both road and country. (It is interesting to note that W Lennie ran for the Vale of Leven in the relay but was only third fastest behind P Moy and A McDougall) In the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay in November he was eligible to run for Shettleston and turned out on the seventh stage where he had the second fastest time of the day behind Donald Henson of the winning Victoria Park. Willie took over in second and handed over in second. He was however absent from the Midland District Championship at Lenzie on 5th January and the National Championship on 25th February, 1955. Nor was there any report in the magazine of any outing over the summer.

In the McAndrew Relay on 1st October there was no sign of Gallagher in any of the five Shettleston teams forward in the event, and it was the same story in the Lanarkshire Relays on the fifteenth of the month. Then at the start of November, in the Midland Relays at Stepps, the Vale of Leven team finished eighth with a team of R Campbell (14:51), P Moy (14:10), W Gallagher (15:03) and A McDougall (15:03). He was back where he had started with the Vale. In the Edinburgh to Glasgow he was not far from his best when he held the sixth place given to him by Alec McDougall with fourth fastest time of the day. The club won the most meritorious medals that day and Gallagher had won two sets of medals in two years; he had also two sets of ‘most meritorious medals’ since he had collected one in the first relay in 1949. In the Midland District Championships in Lenzie on 28th January, Gallagher was 31st and his club sixth equal with Garscube Harriers. H missed the National as did several other Vale runners and an incomplete team finished with four runners led by Pat Moy in seventh and Alec McDougall in twelfth.

His first appearance in the 1956/’57 season was in the Dunbartonshire Relays where the Vale was first with a team of RA Steel, A McDougall, P Moy and W Gallagher, defeating Garscube by 12 seconds. He also ran in the Midland Relays at Stepps where he ran third in the very good Vale team that finished fifth – J Garvey (15:29), A McDougall (14:25), P Moy (13:47) and W Gallagher (14:52), Moy was second fastest on the day. In the Edinburgh to Glasgow, the club picked up to fourth that year with Willie again on the seventh stage where he maintained fourth place with second fastest time overall. Another excellent run. As in the previous year, Gallagher failed to run in the National at Hamilton where Moy and McDougall were fifth and ninth.

Unfortunately, this is where the ‘Scots Athlete’ ceased publication so the information for the remainder of Willie Gallagher’s athletic career will be limited by the absence of detailed reports. . In season 1958/’59, in the Midlands Relays, a very good Vale of Leven team was fifth with Robert Campbell (a very good young runner indeed, in 13:54, Alec McDougall in 13:22, Willie Gallagher in 13:59 and Pat Moy, who was really flying at this point, in 12:48. Moy had second fastest time, three seconds slower than Andy Brown and twelve seconds up on Bill Kerr of Victoria Park. The club was eighth in the Edinburgh to Glasgow but the team details are not known. There were several Vale men in the National that year but unfortunately no club team out in the senior race. The runners were Alec McDougall 25th, Jimmy Garvie 55th, Willie Gallagher 61st and H Garvie 117th. In the 1959 Edinburgh to Glasgow there was a solid enough Vale team forward that finished eighth with Willie again on the seventh stage where he was eighth fastest in keeping the club in eighth, and in the National the club only had three runners forward. There was a team out in the Midlands Relays for 1960/61 but the Gallagher running was B for Billy and not W for Willie! It was nevertheless ninth. Nor was Willie out in the Edinburgh to Glasgow later that month when the club was seventh. There was again no team in 1961’s National, Alex McKay and Hugh McErlean being the only men racing in the red and white hoops. In the Midlands Relays there was almost a whole new generation of young Vale men forward in the A Team – Ian Haddow, Pat Moy, Fraser Watson and Lachie Stewart and Pat Moy was the slowest man in the team.

The old order was yielding to the new and it was confirmed in Willie’s case in the Balloch to Clydebank 12+ miles in 1962. He had won many races over the trail but, having missed the 1961 event (1. C O’Boyle, Clydesdale, 66:19, 2. D Spencer, Garscube, 72:52, 3. H McErlean 76:43) he turned out in the race on 14th April 1962 where he was third in 72:03 behind Alec MacDougall (69:53) and George White of Clydesdale (71:19). he says, “I won very easily most years, eventually the end has to come. My last race was when I was 37 years of age. I led to the cobbles at Clydebank when my legs seized up and I just struggled to the end. I never competed again after this.”

Now, in the twenty first century, 37 is not regarded as too old in road running terms although there are many reasons for stopping racing. Many of the top men do not have a serious career in veteran athletics, maybe having worked so hard for a long career they just feel they don’t want to go on, maybe they have absolute standards of excellence that makes them not want to go on and run slower than they once did. Whatever the reason, Willie Gallagher had a wonderful career in anybody’s terms.

Start in Cardiff, 1958

I did my National Service from 1956 to October 1958.   1958 was the year that Alec MacDougall was second in the SAAA Marathon Championship and ran in the Empire Games in Cardiff.    Some athletes are stars immediately they appear on the scene, other have a talent that comes to light after an apprenticeship in the sport.   Alec’s career has already been outlined above and in 1956 he was second in the Dunblane Highland Games 14 miles behind Harry Fenion and one place ahead of his club mate Pat Moy.

I’ll start this profile in 1957.   Alec MacDougall had been in the sport for many years before he became an overnight success.    Unlike Willie or Walter, however, Alec and Pat Moy did get Scottish vests: Alec’s was in 1957 when the Vale actually had two runners in the Scottish team for the International.   Alec had been fourth in the National Cross-Country Championship as a Junior in 1951 and as a senior worked his way up from 74th (1954), 69th (’55) and 12th (’56) to 9th (’57).   It was good enough to win him selection for the Scottish team in the International.   It was held over a racecourse at Waregem in Belgium with thirty six natural and artificial barriers to negotiate including a 14 foot stream which had to be jumped.   Alec was fifty third and a counting runner for the team.   The Vale had two runners in the race and the other, Pat Moy, was the first counter for the Scottish team.   It is however as a road runner that Alec will be best remembered and he was considerably good.   The Commonwealth Games were to be held in Cardiff in 1958 and like all Scottish road runners he had set his sights on selection.   In 1957, in a terrific duel with Cyril O’Boyle of Clydesdale Harriers he took 3 minutes 05 seconds off the course record with his time of 63:48 for the 12 miles+ course and finished only one second ahead of O’Boyle.   He also won the Brechin 12 and lost narrowly to Harry Fenion in the Edinburgh to North Berwick.

Came 1958 and in May he was second in the Edinburgh to North Berwick 22.6 miles road race to Hugo Fox of Shettleston in 2:06:10 to Fox’s 2:05:55 with Harry Fenion third in 2:08:03.    The actual marathon trial was described by ‘Athletics Weekly’ as follows: “Blazing sunshine proved a severe trial to the marathon runners and the winner was Fox (Shett.) who finished some 400 yards ahead of MacDougall in 2hr 31m 23s, with the holder Fenion, third.     There are other stories attached to this race.   In ‘A Hardy Race’, Fraser Clyne and Colin Youngson say “Hugo Fox had the experience in 1958 of arriving in the lead during the marathon championship at the six-foot spiked gate at the north end of the old Meadowbank track, to find that the park-keeper had not opened it.   Undeterred, Hugo climbed over without impaling himself and trotted on to the track to claim his title in a finishing time of 2:31:22.   The gate was unlocked in time for the second-placed runner, (Alec MacDougall Vale of Leven) to enter with less difficulty and complete the course in 2:32:35.   Harry Fenion was third in 2:36:05.   The three medallists went on to compete in unbearably hot conditions in the Cardiff Commonwealth Games Marathon.   Only Alec MacDougall reached the finish.”  

The Empire Games were held between 18th and 26th July in Cardiff with 25 starters and only 21 finishers.      Alex Wilson sent me a copy of the ‘Athletics Weekly’ report on the race by that great English marathon runner, Sam Ferris, which is reproduced here

“The Empire Marathon was a triumph of organisation on the Thursday of Games Week at Cardiff, yet no marathon has ever been run under greater difficulties.   Indeed it would be safe to assume that the organising committee were entitled to suffer severe headaches for most of the three hours during which the race was in progress, and they are to be congratulated for surviving a strict test of their merit.   The day is rapidly approaching when a closed circuit may have to be considered for top-line marathons and drastic measures taken to give the competitors unpolluted air which is as necessary to a finely tuned human body in a test of this sort.   But for stern control and the rigid discipline of Police Liaison Officer Mr HF Keene, the 25 starters may well have been severely hindered   around a not too easy course which extended ten miles along the main Cardiff-Newport Road and returned along a second-class road running parallel to the outward course.   The main road could cope with the heavy volumes of traffic whilst police control kept the extended convoy of vehicles in rear of the main body of competitors, but on the by-road it was a difficult situation when the field became spread-eagled and the spectators and followers were as determined as the runners themselves.

Course and starters in Cardiff

The temperature was just over 70 degrees – hot enough but not unbearably hot when encountering a stiffish breeze after the turn at 11 miles.   It was 2:40 pm when the field swept out of the stadium into the equally packed streets towards the first sharp gradient of 1 in 18 at 4 miles where no one had tried to make a break.   A mile later it would have been difficult to name a purposeful leader when 15 passed in a matter of a few seconds, but for record purposes, Kemball, Davies, Wild and Barnard were bracketed at 26:50.    Let me add that all those who finished in the first 15 were less than 10 seconds away.   Two miles later found a breaking-up process about to begin and Davies – no doubt inspired by the “Welcome in the Hillside” – forged ahead and took Power with him to clock 53:48 at 10 miles.   Barnard was nearby, so was young Peter Wilkinson and MacDougall inside 54 minutes.   Then came Keily, Dickson, Franklyn, Kirkup and Sum all inside 56 minutes.   The Welsh leader was forced to ease considerably with an attach of apparent cramp and, by 15 miles, had dropped to ninth place.  

Meanwhile Power had held the pace and reached 15 miles in 1:20:03 with Barnard only 10 seconds away – a distance which scarcely altered throughout the remainder of the race.   Kirkup and Dickson were with Barnard at this point while Wilkinson came along with Sum 7 seconds later.   Kemball and MacDougall, now half a minute away and equal distance ahead of Davies and Keily.   But it wasn’t the Arthur we know and for the moment we thought that “The House of Keily” had sent the wrong boy!   Our heartfelt sympathy goes to Arthur who for no accountable reason struck one of these days which do happen to a fellow once in a lifetime.   Indeed our sentiments are equally sincere towards the two Scottish boys – Fox and Fenion – and the Northern Ireland representative – Dawson – who had to retire in the later stages of the race.  

The “26000 volt Power-unit” was now heading towards Cardiff with the same determination that won him the 6 miles title.   This 29-year-old bank officer never looked like faltering as he passed 20 miles in 1:47:49, Barnard was 14 seconds down here with Wilkinson, looking in great fettle, clocking 1:48:38.   Then came Sum, 17 seconds ahead of Kirkup, who had suffered an uncomfortable spell in spite of his 1:49:09 at this point.   Dickson had to be content with 1:49:47, while MacDougall shook us all with 1:50:30, just ten yards ahead of Kemball, who was not showing the form which had won him the AAA title yet happy he was well placed nevertheless.   Next came Davies and Franklyn around 1:52:30 – a minute ahead of Kiely – and how those two Welsh boys responded to the cheers from the tightly packed pavements.   They were simply lifted into the 2:30 orbit by Welsh enthusiasm.   The remainder of the story I leave you to glean from the final times, but would ask you to bear in mind that the old Games record was 2:30:49 by Coleman (S.A.) in 1938 and you can assess the ability of Dave Power and indeed the other 7 who also beat the record.”

First eight:   1.   Dave Power (Australia)   2:22:45.6;   2.   Jackie Barnard (SA)   2:22:57.4;   3.   Peter Wilkinson (Eng)   2:24:42;   4.   Eddie Kirkup (Eng)   2:27:31.2;   5.   Gordon Dickson (Canada)   2:28:42.2;   6.   Colin Kemball (Eng)   2:29:17.2;   7.   Alec MacDougall (Scotland)   2:29:57.2;   8.   K Sum (Kenya)   2:30:49.2.   They were followed by Rhys Davies and Ron Franklyn (Wales), John Russell (Australia), Arthur Keily (Eng), Martinus Wild (SA), Ray Puckett (NZ.   21 finishers in total.

It was a very competitive run by Alec to finish seventh in such company and beat the existing Games record with his time of 2:29:58.  Alex Wilson pointed out that he was the first Scot to break 2:30 in a major international competition.  This was clearly Alec’s finest athletic performance although he went on running for another five or six years including three Edinburgh to Glasgow relays but he was never ever as good as that very high peak.

He came back home and less than two weeks later, showing amazing powers of recovery, won the Strathallan Meeting 22 miles in 1:56:33 from Jackie Foster of Edinburgh Southern who ran 1:57:16.   He finished the season with a victory in the Springburn 12 Miles race, one of the four counting races (the others were the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16, the Strathallan 20 and the SAAA Marathon,  towards the Scottish Marathon Club Championship.   In September that year he was second to Andy Brown in the Shotts 14 miles road race.  The SMC championship was no competition that year and to top off a marvellous year he was presented with the Donald Robertson Trophy as the Scottish Road Runner of the year.

Alec’s last competitive year was 1962 when he won the Balloch to Clydebank race in 69:53.   There were sundry other races such as the Dirrans Sports 13 but this was his only first place that year.   A top class runner on road and country with that spectacular 1958 year which was better than anything produced by others who are maybe better remembered than he is.

1956 Ben Nevis: Pat Moy (first), Stan Horn (Garscube, second) and Eddie Campbell (Lochaber, third).

Picture from Alex Wilson

Pat Moy had a quite outstanding – but far too short (only about 10 years) – career in athletics.   His career has been largely covered by what has been written in the early stages of the club and by results quoted in Willie Gallagher’s section but we really should look at some of the high spots of his running career.

His first Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay was in 1954 and it is worth looking at it fairly closely.   The basic figures are as follows.

No details of team order available, he probably did run and probably on the second.    This was the year that there was no runner waiting for Hughie McErlean at the changeover at Forestfield so no team finished.   He may have been scheduled for seven or eight.   Note that in total he gained a total of 22 places that we know of (there may have been more in 1958) and only dropped two.   The gain of ten places in 1956 on Two is amazing but it is usually felt that his best bet was in 1955 when the team won the most meritorious medals.   As a record of competitiveness is is notable – even in 1962, on the unfashionable seventh stage, down the field, he ran the fifth fastest time of the day.

On the country he was even better with the high spots being the three international vests gained in 1956 ,and 1957.   He was a counter in every one of them and led the team home in 1957.    The official history of the SCCU says of the three races: (1956),“Scotland showed welcome improvement in the 1956 international race at Belfast, finishing fourth of eight teams, beating Belgium by one point and Spain by7 points.   John McLaren (12th) and Pat Moy (14th) were both within a minute of the winner, Alain Mimoun (France) who went on to win the Olympic marathon later that year.”    (1957’s course is described above at the start of Alec MacDougall’s section):   “The best performances came from Pat Moy, 28th, John McLaren , 35th, with Bannon 37.”  

Away from the international scene he ran in everything – he ran on the hills and he ran on the roads.   In 1955 he was second in the Goat Fell race in Arran and seventh on the Ben Nevis on 3rd October.   In 1956 he raced a great deal between June and September.   He was second in Goat Fell, second in the Dundee 12, second to Joe McGhee in the Aberfeldy 13, son the Bute Highland Gaes 18 Miles on Rothesay ahead of Harry Fenion, won the Ben Nevis by three minutes and was third in the Dunblane Highland Games 14 behind Joe McGhee and Alec MacDougall.   The photograph above shows him after winning the Ben Nevis race in 1956 in 1:45:55 from Stan Horn (Garscube) in 1:48:59 with local man Eddie Campbell third.   This time stood until 1962 when Peter Hall (Barrow) bettered it by eleven seconds.   He also, in 1956, led the first six to break the two hour barrier.   He ran in long distance road races such as the Edinburgh to North Berwick in 1958 where he was fifth in the race reported above in which Harry Fenion defeated Alec MacDougall, Hugo Fox with Gordon Eadie fourth in 2:12:54 – Moy’s time was 2:15:22 and he defeated several well-known road runners.  In 1958 he was fifth of 38 finishers in the 16+ miles Clydebank to Helensburgh with Harry Fenion winning from Andy Brown and Alec MacDougall.   He also finally won the Goat Fell race by almost seven minutes from Eddie Campbell of Lochaber which must be one of his best ever victories.   He was second to Hugo Fox in the Aberfeldy 13 and in September was third in the Ben race (in 1:50:53) followed by fifth in a six mile cross-country race at Penrith in a match between a combined Oxford/Cambridge team v Northern Counties v SMC.   Pat was the first Scot.   In 1959 he was third in the Balloch to Clydebank behind the winner, Alec MacDougall and followed this with a victory in the Brechin 12 and then finished second in Goatfell.   Pat also ran on track from time to time but the only National medal he ever won was second place in the SAAA 6 Miles behind Andy Brown in 1958 – 31:10.2 to Brown’s 29:47.6.

He was clearly another very talented individual from this still young club.    The area of the Vale of Leven, Bonhill and Balloch went on producing many very good athletes but unfortunately for the Vale the club folded up before the end of the 20th century and this local outlet for the talent was not available for them.    It would be a pity if the runners were forgotten because the club was no more.

Alastair Walker following Doug Bain in the East District League

Teviotdale Harriers is the third oldest cross-country club in Scotland having been formed in 1889, not long after Clydesdale Harriers (1885) and Maryhill Harriers (1888).   However frm the 1960’s there was a tendency for the best Border runners to join Edinburgh Southern Harriers and have more success in the Scottish and British Athletics Leagues.   Two Teviotdale runners who did this were Craig Douglas (ESH from 1969) and Ian Elliot (from (1972).   In this website’s Fast Pack entry for ESH there are brief descriptions of the success of Craig and Ian with the city club.   Then Ian Elliot returned to his original club and Teviotdale Harriers began to achieve greater success in cross-country, road relays and veteran competitions.

In the 1986 Edinburgh to Glasgow relay they started off inconspicuously in seventeenth position but by the finish had improved to ninth which won the medals for the most meritorious performance.   Apart from Ian Elliot, in that team several athletes were prominent who were to play a major part in Teviotdale’s success for the years to come.   Brian Emmerson, Alastair Walker, Rob Hall, Andy Fair and the man who was to be the best of them all, Dave Cavers.

The foundation of Teviotdale’s success during the next few years seems to have been a clos-knit group of cross-country runners who often trained together and usually took part in the East District Cross-Country League races which developed stamina and team spirit.   In the Edinburgh to Glasgow, Teviotdale’s record from 1986 to 1995 was 9th, 8th, 8th, 5th, 5th, 3rd, 6th, 11th, 8th and 9th.   This was an admirably consistent sequence.   Other good runners who contributed included Keith Logan, Michael Bryson, Davie Barr, Nick Maltman, Brian Law, Colin Nichol, Alan Reid and Bill Knox.   There were several especially good performances by Teviotdale Harriers in this great race.   Brian Emmerson was second on Stage one in 1987, Alastair Walker fastest on Stage Five in 1986, Keith Logan fastest on One in 1989, Andy Fair fastest on Five in 1991 and Dave Cavers second fastest on Six in 1993, only twelve seconds slower than the great John Robson.   The team that won the well-deserved bronze medals in 1991 included Emmerson, Walker, Logan, Davie Barr, Fair, Cavers, Elliot and Hall.   Had it not been for the Stage Eight record-holder, Cambuslang’s Andy Beattie, the Borders men would have stayed second instead of missing out by only 14 seconds.

In the East District Cross-Country League, Andy Fair recorded one victory and Dave Cavers at least ten!   Teviotdale Harriers won this League on three occasions, breaking the Edinburgh monopoly.   They also won the East District Championship team trophy in 1991 and won six silver medals and one bronze in the East District cross-country relays.

In the Senior National Cross-Country Championship, Teviotdale finished fourth team in 1986, fifth in 1987, ninth in 1988, second in 1989, seventh in 1990, third in both 1991 and 1992 and fourth in 1993.   Once again this proves how consistently good the Harriers were at this time.   Highest positions, apart from Dave Cavers, were Brian Emmerson 23rd, Alastair Walker 7th, Ian Elliot 14th (in 1991, the same year, he won the Scottish Veterans title), Rob Hall 27th, Keith Logan 35th and Andy Fair 23rd.   Silver or bronze medallists included these athletes plus Davie Barr, Brian Law and Michael Bryson.

Perhaps the greatest team triumph took place on 28th October 1989 when Teviotdale Harriers won the Scottish Cross-Country Relays at Inverness.   Keith Logan, Rob Hall, Alastair Walker and Dave Walker won the gold medals.   Teviotdale enjoyed a purple patch in the Scottish Veterans Cross-Country Championships, with team silver in 1990, gold in 1991, silver in 1992, gold in both 1993 and 1994 and bronze in 1995 and 1996.   Ian Elliot and Brian Emmerson were the main runners, but Jim Knox, Andrew Shankie, Robbie Rae and Nick Maltman also contributed to these successes.

After a very successful career with ESH, when he returned to Teviotdale, Ian Elliot won two M40 Scottish Veteran Cross-Country titles in 1991 and 1992.

Brian Emmerson kept improving after he turned forty.  In 1989 he was third M40 in the British Veterans Cross-Country Championship at Sunderland, close behind GB International Andy Holden and Aberdeen’s Colin Youngson.   In 1990 he won bronze in the Scottish Vets Cross-Country.   However his finest running was in the next age-group.   Brian won the Scottish Veterans M45 title in 1994, 1995 (second in the race behind M40 Brian Kirkwood) and 1997.   In 1995 he also ran in the National Senior, finishing an outstanding 51st at the age of 46.   What could he have achieved if he had taken the sport seriously in his twenties?

Alastair Walker won the most valuable award in Scottish athletics when he finished first in the 1990 Shettleston Harriers Six Miles Cross-Country James Flockhart memorial Trophy which is held in honour of the 1937 ICCU International Cross-Country Champion.

Rob Hall won the 1987 Dumfries Half Marathon and the Bo’ness 10K.   He ran for Scotland twice in the Home Countries Marathon International which at the time was part of the Aberdeen Marathon.   Rob was third in 1987 (in front of two Englishmen, the other two Scots and all three Welshmen) and fifth in 1989.

Nick Maltman was sixth in the Scottish Veterans Cross-Country in both 1996 and 1998 and ran for Scotland in the annual Five Nations Veterans International.   In 1996 he tried hill-running and was first M40 in the Grasmere Gallop.

Dave Cavers was a most remarkable cross-country runner, who also completed one very good marathon.   His ten victories in teh East District Cross-Country League have already been mentioned, as well as his many contributions to Teviotdale’s best team performances.   In addition he was East District Cross-Country champion six times between 1992 and 2001.   However it is Dave’s record in the Senior National that is most amazing in its high quality and consistency.   Between 1989 and 2001 he was second, fourth twice, fifth twice, seventh, eighth twice, ninth, tenth twice, twelfth and fourteenth.   If only Scotland had not been excluded from competing as a separate nation in the IAAF World Cross-Country!   Dave’s silver medal in 1999 was won at Beach Park, Irvine, when he was defeated by Bobby Quinn but finished in front of Tommy Murray, Phil Mowbray and Tom Hanlon.   When he was fourth in 2000, the three in front were also very high quality GB Internationals – Quinn, Murray and Glen Stewart.

In 1998 Dave Cavers surprised many when he entered the Rotterdam International Marathon and recorded the fastest time by a Scot for several years – 2:16:06.   He was selected to compete for Scotland at that year’s Commonwealth Games.   Unfortunately this took place in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, which proved extremely hot, humid and totally unsuitable conditions for long distance running.   Dave Cavers was also unlucky to contract a virus and did not finish the race.   However by November 1998 he had recovered in time to win the Derwentwater ten miles road race in Kendal.   Dave Cavers continued to run cross-country until 2008 before retiring after an outstanding career.

Ian Harris (2nd), Eddie Sinclair (1st) and Tom O’Reilly (3rd) after the Spean Bridge to Fort William

I arrived at the Scottish Under 20 Championships at Meadowbank in the mid-80’s and was greeted by Andy Currie (Alistair’s father) who pointed at a runner on the podium, then at Eddie Sinclair of Springburn saying, “That’s his 50th Scottish Champion!”    Eddie had himself been a very good athlete throughout the 1950s and into the 1960’s.   He was not alone in Springburn at the time with the various teams performing well in all age groups and several; International vests coming their way.     He is pictured above with his good friend, rival and club mate Tom O’Reilly.   We can’t really comment on the one without giving equal treatment to the other.   Tom had been a runner for Springburn from 1952 when as a Junior runner he was forty ninth in the National and he would go on representing the club in major competitions right up until 1977 while Eddie was younger, not appearing in results sheets until 1954 when as a Youth he finished fourth in the National Cross-Country Championships at Hamilton where his team finished second.    Eddie’s racing career was much shorter because he turned professional in 1962, ruling himself out of all competition that mattered.   He returned with a vengeance after only a few years in the new capacity of coach and right well he filled the vacancy.   Their talents were similar – Tom’s best for the Mile was 4:23.8 (1959), Eddie’s was 4:23.6 (1960), Tom specialised in the Steeplechase and won a national title with a pb of 9:12.2, Eddie specialised in the Three Miles and won a National title with 14:05.0.   Both represented their country and both won races the length and breadth of the land – the photograph shows how far they would travel in the days when most travel to races was by public transport. In terms of serving the club as an athlete though, Tom was clearly the man.  In the prestigious Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay Tom ran in 20 over a period stretching from 1952 (experiencing stages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, ie every single one!) but Eddie only ran in five altogether.   Tom had many very good races in the event but his best might well be one of his last: in 1969 he ran on the last stage and pulled in only one place but his time was the second fastest of the day for that stage.   A very good track runner, he won no fewer than four SAAA championship medals: he won the title in 1959 and picked up bronze in each of 1960, ’61 and ’63.    It is a source if debate in Scotland about who was the first ti specialise in the ‘chase but Tom must have as good a claim as any.   There were not many such events around in the 50’s or even the 60’s other than the championships: very little if any real league competition and certainly no open steeplechases that I can recall but he raced it every chance he got and set the first recorded Scottish Native record of 9:12.2 on 25th June 1960 at Meadowbank – it stood for five years until Lachie Stewart broke it on 12th August 1965.

Tom was one of the most popular and friendly men in the sport and loved the Scottish highlands: he went north as often as was practical gathering sprigs of heather wherever he went for his own heather garden at home.   He was also a very good singer who sang Gaelic songs at gatherings or on buses returning from meetings.     He went on to have a notable career as a veteran athlete travelling again in search of competition.  For instance, as an M70 vet in 2004 he won the Coatbridge 5K in 22:27, the Christmas Handicap 5 Miles in 35:44, the Scottish Veterans Walter Ross 10K at Lochinch in 45:04, the Scottish Veterans Glasgow 800 10K in 48:23 and the Alistair McInnes Memorial 5 Miles in 35:31.   The sport would be even happier than it is were there more men like the talented TP O’Reilly who has just (September 2012) just turned 80!

Eddie’e career as an amateur athlete was short lived.   After coming the ranks as a Youth and a Junior, his senior career lasted just three years – but it was meteoric.   On the track he had best times of  9:06 for Two miles, 14:05 for Three Miles and 9:27 for the 3000m steeplechase.     He won the SAAA Three Miles in 1960 and in the same year he was sixth in the National and was selected for the Scottish team for the International Championship.    As a Youth he had been fourth and sixteenth in the National and as a Junior in 1957 he was eighteenth.   As a Senior it was 6th/36th/15th.    In the Edinburgh to Glasgow, his first run was in 1957 when he was on Stage Seven and moved the club from eight to fifth with second quickest time of the day.   We know he ran the same stage the following year but no details are available about his performance.   In 1959 he was sixth on Stage One and in 1960 – his own personal annus mirabilis – he took over in fifth place on Stage Two after Tom O’Reilly had run well on One, and moved through to second with the third fastest time of the day.   His last run in the E-G was in 1961, again on Stage Two when he took over on Stage Two in eighteenth and held that position – by the time Tom came to run on the last stage the club had climbed to fourteenth and that was where he kept it.   He ran as a pro after that for a while but crept back into amateur athletics soon after.   I recall running in an inter-club fixture at Mountblow Recreation Ground in Clydebank at this time and lining up for the Three Miles, I thought I would win it.  Going to the front at the start we came alongside the railway line at the start of the home straight when I realised there was somebody on my shoulder.   I plugged on and he stayed there, I picked up the pace and he stayed there; I moved out and slowed and he stayed there – at the start of the last lap, this wee figure in a yellow vest moved out, passed me moved off and then turned off the track and disappeared into the tunnel under the railway line!   It was Eddie, and I think we lapped every other runner in the race.

Photo from “Whatever the Weather”

Unfortunately turning professional ended his athletics career as a runner.   He created a new role for himself in Scottish athletics by starting to coach the young endurance runners at his club.   That he was very effective, is a bit of an understatement.   What did his guys have that the others didn’t?   You have to understand age group athletics in Scotland at the time.   If we take the Under 17 age-group, the runners started fast, had a wee sleep in the third quarter of the race, and then had a brisk finish.    Eddie’s guys did not have the ‘wee sleep’.   They started fast and continued fast until the finish.   He had many very good runners – Graham Williamson maybe being the very best with Adrian Callan not far behind.   But one of the first groups he had was really outstanding.   In the early/mid 60’s he had a quartet of Eddie Knox. Duncan Middleton, Harry Gorman and Ian Young which made his reputation.    Knox won the International Cross-Country Championship, Middleton was one of the best 880 yards runners in the United Kingdom, Gorman was a very good middle distance runner  who was unfortunate not to get a SAAA title and after leaving school, Ian Young was a member of the really great Edinburgh University team.

In 1964, the ‘Athletics Weekly when reviewing the National Cross Country Championships said, “The Youths event was, as expected, a fight between the Springburn runners E Knox and AD Middleton, with Knox the winner by almost 40 yards thus reversing the Midland District result when Middleton won and Knox was only third.”   The following year Middleton moved up to the Junior ranks and finished twenty fifth to be the second Springburn runner but “Eddie Knox of Springburn simply ran away with the Youths event to record his second successive victory in this race.”    Behind him  were Colin Martin (3), M McMahon (7), A Johnston (12), and R Heron (15).   His reward was selection for the international junior cross-country championship where he finished fifth to be first Scot across the line.   In 1966 a new name appeared in the frame: Springburn was second to Victoria Park and their counting runners were Eddie Knox (second), Harry Gorman (ninth),   Duncan Middleton (thirteenth) and Davie Tees (eighteenth).    Davie was a very good runner but his career was not a long one but he ran well in many events, mainly cross-country for Springburn.  Again Eddie made the team for the international and he went two better to be third and lead the team home.  “Eddie Knox showed his ability in the Junior race when finishing third, just five seconds behind the silver medal position, with the Scots team continuing their good record when finishing third of eight countries behind England and Belgium,”   said Colin Shields in his centenary history of the SCCU.    In the Junior Championship in 1967, Eddie Knox won and Harry Gorman was sixth with no other club runner in the first thirty and the team well out of the placings.   AW described the race briefly as follows: The Junior event was a keen duel between Eddie Knox and Alistair Blamire with Knox just getting home by about 4 yards.”   Eddie made the team for the international for the third consecutive year and not only led the squad home but won the race.    Result

That was quite a list of top men to defeat: Brooks Mileson was a contemporary of both Seb Coe and Steve Ovett and won the bronze medal in the English Junior championship, Moxsom was an established English international for man years and a sub:2.20 marathon man, Tony Simmons ran in both Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games as well as setting a world record for the half-marathon, and Ron McAndrew was a top ranked steeplechaser.

No mention of Middleton either in the National of 1967 or 1968 but he may well have been prioritising indoor events.   Eddie was second the following year to John Myatt losing by just 60 yards.   The second Springburn runner that year was George Jarvie in sixth with Alan Beaney twelfth and Alan Picken twenty seventh for second team. . One of the interesting things that year was the victory in the Youths event of Ian Picken of Springburn – the next generation was coming off the production line – the Beaney brothers, the Picken brothers and the Lunn brothers were to be key players for the club for several years to come.    George Jarvie was another very good runner – not unlike Knox in appearance he won many, many races as a young athlete but his career just seemed to stop at about University time.

In 1969, Eddie was up to Senior Man level and his first run in the event resulted in sixteenth place.   Alan Beaney was in second place in the Junior race behind Norman Morrison.   Middleton seems to have given up cross-country running by this point and we will probably see why when we turn to track running.   In the 1970 National Harry Gorman was back in the picture – Eddie was twentieth in the race with Harry twenty third.   By now Mike Bradley had left Paisley Harriers and joined Springburn and his ninth place helped Springburn to sixth team with Tom O’Reilly in 100th as their last counter.   In ’71 Eddie Knox was twenty sixth (Bradley was sixteenth), Harry Gorman was fifty third, the team was fifth.   Eddie Knox revealed some of his real ability in 1972 when he finished tenth and in front of Colin Martin, Tommy Patterson, Donald Ritchie, Sam Downie and Norman Morrison.

The other big ranking event over the winter was the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight man relay with only the top twenty clubs in Scotland invited to compete.   The standard was high. and their club were regulars in the event.   The first of the four to run in the event was Ian Young who turned out in 1963 race on the fourth stage where he held fourteenth place in the team that finished twelfth.  He moved on to Edinburgh University where he became part of their legendary endurance running team and turned out in four relays – all with distinction.   In 1964 his team was second and he had fastest time on the last stage; in 1966 he ran on the fifth stage when the team won and he was second fastest by only one second – 26:23 to Alastair Johnston’s 26:22; in 1967, again on the fifth he was again second fastest and again by one second – his 28:04 being one second slower than Taylor of Aberdeen and in 1968 he again ran the fifth leg and had the fastest time of the day with Edinburgh University finishing seventh.   None of them were in the next race but Knox and Middleton were in the 1965 race (team position ninth) with Eddie Knox moving the club through from thirteenth to sixth on the second stage with second fastest time of the day.   Middleton ran on the exposed fifth stage where he picked up one place from ninth to eighth with the fifth fastest time of the day.   Before they were finished, Harry Gorman and Eddie Knox would run in eleven races each and Middleton would run in two.    His second was in 1966when he ran eighth on the first stage, Gorman held seventh on the third and Knox would move from tenth to ninth on the fifth stage.   Knox would run on the second, fourth, sixth and seventh legs while Gorman would do the second, third, fourth, fifth and eighth.   The team’s best performance was to be a very creditable fourth in 1971 and the ironic thing is that in the two years when Springburn Harriers won the medals for the most meritorious performance, in 1980 and 1985, neither Knox nor Gorman were in the team.   virtually ever presents as a double act, from 1966 to 1976, there were gaps in their appearances with Harry coming back in the ’80’s to run in 1981, ’82, ’83 and ’86, while Eddie returned to duty in 1979.   Very seldom did either drop a place and foften enough they picked up bodies for their club on the various stages covered.

If we come back to the track scenario, the highest achiever had to be Duncan Middleton.   Duncan (4/07/1946) first appeared in the senior ranking lists in 1966 when he was fifth in the 880 yards behind the big four of Grant, Douglas, McLean and Hodelet with a season’s best of 1:51.3.   He was also ranked in the Mile with 4:18.0 which placed him twenty fifth.   In 1967 he was in the 440 yards (49.9 for eighth), 880 yards (1:1:48.6 for first) and Mile (4:12.7 for eighteenth).    But the big events for him that year were victory in the SAAA 880 yards outdoor, and in the AAA’s indoor 880 yards.   Simon Pearson, writing in ‘Scottish Athletics, 1968’ said This was again an outstanding event in 1967 in Scottish athletics, and the national title race proved particularly exciting with a high standard of performance.   Duncan Middleton, the 1967 AAA’s Indoor winner and record-holder, showed fine judgment and pace to hold off the strongly fancied Mike McLean and establish a new Championship best of 1:50.2.   The stylish and intelligent Springburn runner had a successful season and excelled himself later in the AAA final in returning his best time of 1:48.6 for fifth place in a strong field.”   The first British title for any of the squad and probably for Eddie Sinclair as well.   In 1968 he was third in the same event – gold and bronze at GB level is not too bad!   1968 was a difficult year for him and his best time for the 880 yards was 1:52.2 which placed him fourth in the rankings.   The following season Duncan won the Inter-Counties 880 yards in 1:54.9 from Colin Martin and Ian Hathorn but it was not as good as the year before.  John Keddie says of him in the official Centenary history of the SAAA , “Duncan Middleton was very different in build to Graeme Grant.   The latter was powerfully built (5’11.5″/178 lbs) whereas Middleton was more slightly built, and even fragile looking, by comparison.   He was nevertheless a fine half-miler whose running career was all too brief as he had only one outstanding season – 1967.   As a junior he had shown moderate ability, but in 1966 had run a 1:51.3 half-mile.   No one then would have predicted his 1967 success.   Early in the year he had brilliantly won the AAA Indoor title (1:51.5) and on 9th February set an indoor record of 1:50.8.   The summer season saw him confirm this outstanding form, firstly by taking the SAAA title from the strongly fancied Mike McLean with the new National record time of 1:50.2, then on 15th July at the White City he had a brilliant run in the AAA 880, gaining fifth place in a time of 1:48.6.   Only two Britons finished ahead of him: John Boulter who won in 1:47.2 and Mike Varah, fourth in 1:48.2.   Middleton competed again in 1968 but was a shadow of what he had been in 1967 and he never again was to regain such form.”   The National title was won by Mike McLean in 1:51.6 from Dick Hodelet and Craig Douglas and Pearson said: £There was not nearly as much excitement in this event as in the previous season, and Duncan Middleton’s decline and eclipse in major races was a disappointment.”   He was not to appear in the ranking lists again and it is known that he emigrated to Australia but it is not clear when.    However John MacKay sent the following interview with Duncan – just click on it for the full size version.   It first appeared in AW.

Eddie Knox  (9/5/47) had a fairly long career on the track being ranked every year from 1964 to 1972.     These are in the table below (and note his age at the time of performance):

As an Under-17, Eddie had won the SAAA Youth mile in 4:19.7 in 1964 and the junior Mile n 1966 in 4:18.4.   His 13:48.4 for the Three Miles at Meadowbank in June  was noted as a British Junior Record.   This record was removed by Ian Stewart the following year 13:39.8 but it was nevertheless a fairly successful season for Eddie Knox – first in the West District Championship ahead of Alex Brown and Pat Maclagan in 13:54.0 and third in the SAAA in 14:14.0 behind Lachie Stewart and Ian Young In 1969 he appeared in several ranking lists including the One Mile (4:16.8 for twenty first) and Two Miles (9:09.4 for nineteenth) in addition to those above.   In 1969 he was second in the West District 1500m in 4:02.4 and his 500m time above was recorded when running third at Peffermill in Edinburgh.

Harry Gorman (8/12/46) was the least heralded of the four whose mini-profiles are here but he was a very good athlete who was may unlucky not to win more in terms of individual honours.   He competed well on all surfaces – road, track and country – and went on to be a key figure in Springburn Harriers.   He also appears in the Scottish rankings for many years over the period in  question with best times of 3:53.1 for 1500m, 4:16.7 for 1 Mile, 8:33, 8:28.2 for 3000m, 9:02.4 for Two Miles, 14:46.6 for 5000m and 13:54.2 for 3 Miles.   He turned out in all the Two Mile team races at the various sports meetings and highland games around the country, in inter-club fixtures of which there were many, championships and open meetings of all sorts.   In 1971 he won the West District 1500m in 4:01.2.

Ian Young is perhaps better known for his running in the green of Edinburgh University than the dark blue of Springburn  but he was always referred to in the annual Scottish Athletics Yearbooks as  Ian Young (Springburn/EU).   When I moved to Lenzie in 1966, the club pack used to meet on a Sunday at Ian’s father’s Foundry in Kirkimtilloch’s East Side for the long run.  He had a good pedigree with the Harriers.   In 1961 Duncan Middleton was the first Springburn runner home in the Boys National when he finished in sixth with Ian not far away in eleventh.   In 1962, Ian was twelfth in the Youths race and in 1964 he was seventh in the Junior race to be the second club runner behind Ian McIntosh in eighth. Ian had best times on the track of 9:20.0 for the Two Miles and 14:01.6 for Three Miles and his sole trophy as a senior was second in the SAAA Three Miles in 1967.    It was unfortunate for Springburn that he did his best running for the University and then after University he stopped altogether to concentrate on his business interests in Kirkintilloch where he became a well known and respected businessman.

Colin Youngson has done a profile of Colin Falconer who ran with the Springburn team in the early 70’s although he had not come through the Eddie Sinclair squad as the others had done.   He writes:

“Colin Falconer was a talented young runner who enjoyed a brief but successful career.   His main club was Springburn Harriers but he also competed for Coventry Godiva Harriers.   In 1969 he finished fifth in the Scottish National Youths Cross-Country and then that summer as a Junior he topped the Scottish rankings in the 5000m and the yearbook commented “His performance in this event compared well with many seniors and he showed ample courage and aggression in his track appearances.”

However his main strength did seem to be cross-country.   In 1970 he achieved a rare feat for a Scot – victory in the English National Youths (Under 17) Cross-Country Championship at Blackpool.   Previously he had won the Scottish Midland Junior and the Scottish National Junior (Under 20) titles.   Colin finished the winter season in real style with an outstanding fifth place (and first Scot) in the ICCU Junior Championships in Vichy, France.   The Scottish Junior team was fourth, only three points behind the bronze medallists, Italy.

Then, having moved south to Coventry, he improved his track bests in 1970 to 8:35.8 (3000m) and 14:44.4 (5000m) which were both leading times in the Scottish Junior ranking lists.    Perhaps injury prevented further improvement in 1971, although Colin ran Stage One of the E-G when Springburn finished a thoroughly respectable fourth.   There are no statistics for him in 1972 but Colin Falconer returned with a bang in 1973 by securing fifth place in the Scottish Senior National after a close battle for the bronze medal with Lachie Stewart and Norman Morrison.   The race report comments approvingly about this valiant display by the ‘diminutive’ Falconer.   Colin was part of the Scottish Senior team in the inaugural IAAF World Cross-Country Championships which took place on Waregem Racecourse, outside Ghent, Belgium.   He finished 115th.   Colin went on to run well for Coventry Godiva in the AAA 12 stage road relay at Derby and his English club obtained bronze medals.   Then he reduced his track times to 8:23 (3000m) and 14:31.6 (5000m), following that by recording the fastest time on Stage Two of the 1973 E-G when Springburn ended up seventh.

In 1974, having finished sixth in the Scottish National, in the World Cross-Country in Monza, Italy, Colin improved considerably on his previous performance to forty seventh (fourth Scottish counter behind Jim Brown fourth, Ronnie MacDonald thirty first and Andy McKean forty sixth.)    The Scottish team finished a respectable seventh out of fifteen competing nations.   Colin ran Stage Two again in the 1974 E-G when Springburn were fifth.   He could only manage thirty first in the 1975 National and seems to have retired after that.    However he could certainly look back on some very good racing achievements.”

In his book, “Whatever the Weather”, the official history of teh SCCU, Colin Shields reports after the National Championships of 1974: “Edinburgh AC won the Senior team title from Edinburgh Southern and Aberdeen. … However the other four championship team titles were won by Springburn Harriers in an unprecedented display of team strength to confirm the display whn they ‘swept the board’ in the Midland District Championship.   The coaching, encouragement and attention of Jack Crawford and Eddie Sinclair, together with the close liaison between Springburn Harriers and local schools such as Lenzie Academy finally paid off the well-deserved dividends.   Stewart Gillespie six led the Junior team to victory over Glasgow University, Graham Crawford, four, was the first home for the Youths team which beat Shettleston; Ian Murray took the Senior Boys individual title eith Springburn defeating Edinburgh AC and Graham Williamson, three, just two seconds behind Jim Egan (Larkhall YMCA) led his team to victory over Victoria Park AAC.”

 Brian Carty in the Six Stage Relay, 1986

Between 1949 and 1961 Shettleston Harriers won five team golds, six team silvers and one team bronze, and then between 1968 and 1978 they won five team golds, one team silver and two team bronzes in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay.   We have already looked at many of the top men in the club on other pages of this website – Graham Everett, Joe McGhee, Eddie Bannon, Paul Bannon, Lachie Stewart, Norman Morrison, Lawrie Spence, Alistair Blamire, Nat Muir and Dick Wedlock among others.   It is time to look at others of the club’s fast pack that made these triumphs happen.   The profiles on this page will be brief and are meant to indicate the quality of athlete who was vital to the club triumphs in which the stars had all the limelight.   Many names have been virtually forgotten and some are more easily recollected but I’m going to start with one of the former – Ben Bickerton.   Many of us remember seeing the credit below pictures in the ‘Scots Athlete’ which read  Photo by Ben Bickerton.    But there was more to him than that.

Ben Bickerton ran for Shettleston between 1943 when he joined the club and 1952 when he stopped running.   He returned as a veteran in the 1970’s and won more titles but we will come to that.   Joining the club in 1943, he won the unofficial Scottish Youth’s Cross Country Championship in 1944 before going on National Service to Aldershot with the Royal Artillery.   While there he won the Southern Command Mile Championship and then came second in the British Army Mile championships.   He came out of the Army and in 1949 won the SAAA Two Miles Steeplechase Championship and a year later won the SAAA Six Miles title.      He ran in five Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays and came away with two gold and three silvers – not bad.   The two golds were in 1949 when he ran the fourth stage in the April race and in November he had the fastest stage time on the seventh leg.   In 1951, ’52 and ’53 he covered the seventh, first and eighth legs in teams that finished second.   He ran in the London to Brighton 12 man relay twice – on the first stage in 1951 when the club was eleventh, and on the fourth in 1952 when they were seventeenth.   He only ran the National twice – in 1950 when he was fourth and second counter in the winning team, and 1951 when he was seventh and first counter in the third placed team.   He also had first and second team medals in the Midlands Championships and a first, second and third team medals set in the Midlands relays; he had first and second individual medals in the Lanarkshire Championships and won the Shettleston club championship in season 1950-51.

In 1952, he is reported in the club’s centenary history as feeling that he was becoming “stale” and so he gave up running to concentrate on his career as a photographer – which explains why the pictures in the SA were so good!   He made a come-back as a veteran in the M50 class in the 1970’s and finished twenty seventh (1973), covered the seventh, first and eighth legs in teams that finished second.   He ran in the London to Brighton 12 man relay twice – on the first stage in 1951 when the club was eleventh, and on the fourth in 1952 when they were seventeenth.   He only ran the National twice – in 1950 when he was fourth and second counter in the winning team, and 1951 when he was seventh and first counter in the third placed team.   He also had first and second team medals in the Midlands Championships and a first, second and third team medals set in the Midlands relays; he had first and second individual medals in the Lanarkshire Championships and won the Shettleston club championship in season 1950-51.

In 1952, he is reported in the club’s centenary history as feeling that he was becoming “stale” and so he gave up running to concentrate on his career as a photographer – which explains why the pictures in the SA were so good!   He made a come-back as a veteran in the M50 class in the 1970’s and finished twenty seventh (1973), fourteenth (1974), twenty third (1975), eighteenth (1976) and twenty fourth (1977) in the Vets National Cross-Country.

Henry Summerhill, a tall, easy-to-recognise runner with his spectacles and head to one side running action, is an interesting athlete.   He spanned the two groups noted above and ran with the best of both generations of stars, earning his place with them both.  He turned up at the club’s Christmas Handicap in 1955 as Eddie Summerhill’s wee brother and went on to out-do Eddie as a runner.   He was spoken of above as ‘spanning the generations’; for proof we only have to look at his record in the Edinburgh to Glasgow where he ran 15 time including a streak of fourteen right off the reel.

15 runs; Six gold, One silver; Three fastest times on stage.

Over the country, he was the same reliable, hard working, club runner but it was 1962 before he broke into the top team and finished twelfth and second counter (behind Joe McGhee) in the winning team.   In 1963 he was first counter when he was tenth in a team that was fifth; in 1965, he was first counter when he finished seventeenth in the fourth placed team; in in 1966 he again led the team home (twenty sixth) into fourth; in 1967 the order was Summerhill 19th, Wedlock 21st … with the team again fourth; 1968, Henry was twenty seventh, third counter and the team was fifth; 1969, he was twenty third, third counter in the second placed squad; 1970, he was twenty first, fourth counter in the third placed team; 1971 he was sixteenth in the winning team;   1972, twenty fourth and the team won again; 1973, fifty seventh and last counter in the silver medal team;    1974, nineteenth in the fourth placed team;   1975, twenty fifth in the third team and in 1976, Henry was fortieth and the team third.   Thirteen races, three golds, two silvers, three bronzes.   Not a bad haul.   And then there was the quota of District and County awards.   And the four London to Brighton relays.   And being in the winning team in the first Allan Scally relay, and in the winning team in the third Scally Relay.   Oh yes, and he was club champion five times!   Henry Summerhill was a very valuable member of several Shettleston teams.

On the track Henry raced in many team and open races and was ranked eleven times over seven years in the 60’s with best times of 9:20 (2 Miles), 14:29.0 (3 Miles) and 30:38.0  (6 Miles) with a third place in the SAAA Six Miles in 1962, but it is as a cross-country and road runner that he will be remembered by most of us.

Clark Wallace is another who will not easily be recalled by most on the present day endurance running scene, but he was an easily recognisable, good natured, hard running competitor at every distance up to the marathon and a key member of many club teams for a long period.   Off the track he was a tireless worker for the club too.   He had one international vest – in 1953 when he was thirty third finisher and a counting runner for the Scottish team.    He joined the club after the War at the same time as Willie Laing and both were to play big parts in the development of the post-war club.   Clark was a big heavy built man, not at all your typical distance runner, but if we look first at his results in the National Cross Country Championships, we will see how wrong first impressions can be.

Sixteen Races; Seven Gold, One Silver, Four Bronze

In the same period he turned out in seventeen District Championships and won seven gold, three silver and six bronze medals.   In the Lanarkshire Championships it was five gold, one silver and one bronze.    And we haven’t even started on the relays.   He was equally at home on the road and he competed in nineteen Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays.   He ran in both 1949 races on the first stage and both times set fastest time for the stage, in 1950 he was fastest man on the fourth stage and in 1955 was again fastest on the fourth stage.   In total he amassed six gold team medals, seven silver and one bronze to add to his cross-country collection.   As a result of these he was an indispensable part of the London-Brighton team (the first two Scottish teams were invited to the National London to Brighton) and he took part in no fewer than eleven of these.   Always at home on the roads he was third in the SAAA Marathon Championships from Westerlands in 1963 – a day that Alastair Wood said was too warm for such a race.

On the track, he was second in the SAAA Two Miles Steeplechase in 1954, third in the 3000m steeplechase in 1955 and second in 1956 and 1958.   He was to be seen in all the summer races – championships, open meetings and highland gatherings running as an individual on the track or out on the road and also in Two and Three Mile Team races.

Men like Clark are worth their weight in gold to any club and he had a wonderful career in the sport although, if he had one regret, it must have been not winning his own club championship.

Hugh Mitchell came to running, like many of his generation, from cycling.    The club’s centenary history says that he joined the club at the age of 28 to get fit while recovering from an injury sustained while cycling.  Hugh’s talent for distance running would soon become apparent, though as he said himself’ he always got left in the sprint at the finish.   On the other hand he  also said that distance didn’t bother him, he forgot about time when he was running.   He ran in road and cross country races including the E-G and the National but it was when he finished second to Alastair Wood in the SAAA marathon in 1964 that he started to get recognition at national level.   He was runner-up again in 1969, this time to Bill Stoddart, in 2:31:20.   He ran a high weekly mileage, often as much as 200 miles in a week, and this set him up for ultras such as the Two Bridges, the Edinburgh to Glasgow 44 and the Liverpool to Blackpool 48.   He finished fourth twice in the London to Brighton.     After his first ultra, the Isle of Man 40, in which he finished second, 34 seconds behind John Tarrant, the Ghost Runner, the press report said : “The biggest cheer went to Scot Hugh Mitchell from Glasgow who made the Army man fight all the way over the savage climb of The Mountain.  ‘I just  couldn’t catch him,’ said Hugh afterwards, ‘I got a bad patch of cramp up top, but it’s not a bad performance for a novice, is it?'”

The history continues, “Four years later, Hugh returned to the island to win the race in 4 hrs 12 mins 07 secs.   He ran the 44 mile race from Edinburgh to Glasgow  six times setting a new record in 1968 of 4 hrs 39 mins 55 secs. “   His ultra running ability was famous as was his weekly training load.      His marathon pb was 2:26:11 and he was ranked in the marathon every year from 1963 to 1967, with one exception.   He also ran a Six Miles in 31: 42.4.

He ran in many under distance races such as the Dirrans 13 miles and the Springburn 12 Miles.    In fact I first made his acquaintance at a Springburn 12 when we both arrived outside the Springburn Harriers clubhouse and we had to sit on the ground, leaning against the wall, for 20-25 minutes in the sun waiting for the building to be opened.    He is a very friendly chap, easy to get on with but a hard racer.    He ran in four Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays and won a gold in his very first race.   In 1959, on the third stage, he took over first and preserved the lead with equal fourth fastest time; in 1962, the team was fifth but Hugh maintained third place on the third stage;   in 1964, he pulled the team from seventh to sixth on the fourth stage;   and in 1966  he dropped from sixth to seventh on the fifth stage.   In the National, he was in the team  five times between 1958 and 1968.   It was bronze in 1958 and gold in 1959 but no more medals despite several good runs in the event.   Hugh was a consistent and consistently good club member who specialised at distances much greater than most of his team mates with enormous success.

Bill Scally   came into the sport at a time when men in every club followed the mantra ‘You do what your club needs you to do.’    Bill exemplified that with his service to Shettleston Harriers as a committee man, team manager and all round supporter going beyond reasonable expectations.   However in this brief profile, we will deal with his running.   Unless anything to the contrary is said, the medals mentioned will all be team awards.  On the country, he ran as a Youth in the National championship in 1959 (bronze) and 1960 (gold), as a Junior he ran in the 1961 and 1962 Nationals and as a Senior he ran in the championships in 1964, ’65, ’66, ’67, ’68, ’69 (silver), ’71 (gold).   He returned when the club needed him in 1982, ’83 and ’84.   As a veteran, he ran in 1982 (gold), ’83 (bronze), ’84 (gold – team was Lachie Stewart second, Bill third and Brian Carty fourth), ’85 (gold), ’86, ’88, ’90.   He picked up the individual bronze in ’82, ’84 and ’85.   Internationally as a vet, he was second in the World M50 25Km in 1992, and in the European championships was third in the M45 25Km in 1988 and won the M50 half-marathon in 1995.    36 years of running in major cross-country championships.   In the District Championships, he ran in nine between 1963 and 1964 winning two gold, two silver and two bronze medals.   When the club called again in 1980, he ran in the 1980, ’83, ’84, ’86 and ’87.   In the Lanarkshire Championships he picked up two gold and three silver medals.   His only regret must be that he never won the club championship but, being the clubman he is, he would be pleased that the club standard was so high at the time.

He was also no mean road runner.   Apart from most of the road races around the country, Bill ran in nine Edinburgh to Glasgow races between 1963 and 1974 winning two gold medals and two silvers.  When the club needed him again, he ran in 1980 (eighth), ’81 (second), ’82 (sixth), ’83 (second), ’84 (fifth – son Brian ran on the third stage and the team won the most meritorious medals), ’85 (fifth), ’86 (eighth).   He ran on stages two, four, five, six, seven and eight.   As a result of the club’s running in the Edinburgh to Glasgow, the invitation was forthcoming to turn out a team in the London to Brighton Relay and Bill ran in it in 1961 and 1962.   The name Scally is a famous one in Shettleston Harriers and across Scotland.   Bill’s father Allan was a very good runner and an even better coach and when the club started the four man Allan Scally Relay over a longer distance per stage than the early winter relays in 1061 it was inevitable that it be named after Allan Scally.   It was therefore quite fitting that Bill ran in the very first race in the winning Shettleston team, where he was third fastest.    He was also in the team in 1962 which also won the event.    In the more traditional road relay of the McAndrew which traditionally starts the winter season, he was part of winning teams in 1967, ’68, ’70 and ’71.   It’s another remarkable record of success over a fairly lengthy period – even making the club four was harder than some races!   He even tried his hand successfully at the marathon with a pb of 2:24:05 run in London in 1984.

Bill was also a track runner of some ability.   He had pb’s of 31:33.2 for Six Miles, 8:44.2 for Two Miles, 14:40.7 for 5000m, 31:11.0 for 10000m and 9:45.2 for the 3000m steeplechase.   He was even known to turn out in track league fixtures when team manager to fill a gap.   Bill is the kind of club man that any team in the country would give its eye teeth for!

I asked his friend Tony McCall, a member of Garscube Harriers at the time, who had trained with Shettleston Harriers for a while, for some comments about Bill and his reply involved several athletes mentioned on this page so I will quote it in full.   “I first met Bill when I moved to Garrowhill and Shettleston were kind enough to let me train with them .   This was in the early 70’s.   Bill took me on longer steadier runs to begin with; showed me the longer runs around the area – Blantyre, Westburn, Tannochside, Coatbridge, Lenzie and even towards Kirkie.   As I got fitter the runs got faster.   Henry Summerhill was with us on a lot of those runs, eventually longish fast bursts were a feature particularly towards the last few miles.   Of course they were both superior runners to me and I always got blown away but I was happy.     Also we would have fartlek sessions around the clubhouse grounds at Barrachnie when there were plenty of guys around.   Another session we did was a paarlauf around Mountblow and it was approximately a mile to the lap: it was very competitive.   Henry was a very tough competitor and it was not unknown for some of his guys to give up because of his relentless pace.  

From my own point of view the emphasis was on mileage primarily with faster pace introduced as I got fitter: that was always Bill’s way.   Bill kept an eye on the runners, looking for tiredness and flagging.   His favourite expression to me was “How are you feeling?”   Funny he always said that when I was obviously tired!  

As you know, Bill went on to have a very successful career as a vet, I would say that he was very single-minded.   He set out his goals and trained accordingly.   What he did with me and some others was always based on mileage.   The more miles the better.   We never went near a track, speedwork was always done on the road.    Some really hard runs took place from start to finish, especially with Bill and Henry.   I couldn’t live with them.   Then into the equation came Hughie Mitchell.   Bill turned to Hughie to help him prepare for his marathon career.   As you know Hughie was virtually an ultra distance man.   One of the sessions they did was over the old Shettleston marathon trail.   I wasn’t with them, it was just Bill and Hughie.   I was in the clubhouse when they came back in and it was obvious that a huge effort had been put in by both.  

Bill was meticulous in his preparation.   Once he had a schedule made up, he carried it out and most of the time he did it alone.   For example I had gone down to Hamilton Road for a pint or two one Saturday night and there was Bill coming up from Blantyre flat out: he must have run from his home in Dennistoun.   This was around 10 o’clock on a Saturday night!   To sum up: clear thinker, schedule put together, let’s get on with it.   And he took a lot of advice from Hughie.   Of course he always came on training nights for runs with the boys, but the rest of the week he would pile in the miles.   London was a great example of everything coming together for him.   Hughie Mitchell and Ben Bickerton would come out with us, mainly Ben who could show the youngsters a thing or two.”

Tom Malone   came from Coatbridge and joined Shettleston at the age of 15.   He was club and Lanarkshire Youth champion in 1956 and club novice champion in 1959.   In the National Championships he was twenty sixth in the Youths Championship in 1956 when his team finished fifth and fourth in 1957 to be part of the winning team.   As a Junior he was twenty ninth in 1958 and ninth in 1959.   He was a member of two winning Senior teams in 1961 (he was twenty third) and 1962 (thirteenth).   He ran in four E-G relays between 1958 and 1965 winning two golds and one silver, and was also part of two winning teams in the McAndrew relay in 1959 and 1960.  Because of the club’s good performances in the E-G, they were regularly invited down to the London to BRighton and he raced in four – 1959, ’60, ’61 and ’62.   On the track he had best times of 14:36.6 for Three Miles and 30:28.6 for the Six Miles – both times run in 1961.   He emigrated to South Africa where he joined the Germiston City Sports Club  and started running in ultra races with great success.   Having won the Korkie Marathon 33 miles from Pretoria to Germiston in 1966 in record time and then, one month later, went on to the Comrades Marathon which he won in 6:14:07.   In 1967 he was second by one second after a dramatic race in which he collapsed less than 75 yards from the tape by a spasm which laid him low when attempting to sprint for the tape; he got up and made for the line but was passed almost literally on the line after 55 miles of hard racing.   That was the second of ten attempts but it was to be several years before he had another run in it.

Tom Patterson   was a member of the club right from his days as a Senior Boy.   He won many team medals in the National cross-country championships at all age groups before turning out for the Senior team.   As a Senior Boy he was twenty eighth in 1964 and twentieth in 1965, being in the winning team each time.  As a Youth in 1966 he finished thirteenth and again was in the winning team and then as a Junior in 1968 (ninth) and 1969 (eighth) he won two more gold team medals.   It was to be 1971 before he was a counting runner in the Senior age group but he them won gold in 1971 and 1972 (twelfth on both occasions) and silver in 1973.   There were also two more team victories in the District Cross-Country championships to be added.   On the road he ran in five E-G Relays and won four gold and one silver medal.   In 1963 he turned in the fastest time n the third leg to be in the winning team, in ’64 he again ran third and pulled the club from sixth to fourth to see it finish second, in 1970 he again ran the fastest time on the third stage and was part of the winning team, just as he was in 1972 when he was seventh on the first leg.

Brian Carty, pictured above,  does not feature significantly in the National or Edinburgh to Glasgow results but was a very good athlete and club member nevertheless.   Hugh Mitchell and a group of his workmates used to go out running at lunchtime from the British Leyland factory at Bathgate: Brian Carty was one of the others.   It didn’t take Hugh long to see that the man was a talented distance runner.   Brian ran his first marathon in Glasgow in 1982 at the age of 39 and clocked 2:40 – but his name is not in the results sheet because he ran under the name of one of his workmates!    By the spring of 1983 he was a Shettleston Harrier and that year he was fourth in the Jimmy Scott race, third in the Motherwell Marathon in 2:32:57, fourth in the SAAA Marathon in 2:33:45, before finishing his season with 2::26:15 for fifth place in the Inverclyde Marathon in August.   The high spot of his career however had to be on 1st June, 1986 when he won the SAAA Marathon championship.   During that summer he had been fourth in the Clydebank half-marathon, second in the Monklands half-marathon and did a lifetime best performance of 68:37 in Livingston.     Now aged 42, he was surprised by his victory in the SAAA event.   He had entered the Edinburgh Marathon, which incorporated the championship,  to keep his friend Robert Birt company but at the start of the race, Robert told him just to go off on his own.   Brian did and won in 2:23:46.  He is quoted in the club’s centenary history “One Hundred Years of Shettleston Harriers” as follows.  “Totally unexpected.   After passing Donald Macgregor at 17 miles I realised I was in a strong position but it was only at 21 miles when I was told by someone following the race on a bicycle that I only had to keep to my pace that I realised that I would win”.

Colin Youngson and Fraser Clyne in their excellent book “A Hardy Race” which chronicles the Scottish Marathon Championship 1946 – 20000 covers the winning marathon in some detail.   “This race was to be the battle of the veterans – Donald Macgregor, the favourite, and Brian Carty of Shettleston Harriers.   The latter, a steadily improving, strong looking man, had finished second in the Scottish Veterans cross-country championships although he much preferred road racing.   Brian remembers that he was wary of going too fast too soon, on a hilly course, so he stayed with the second pack some distance behind the group of six leaders.   As far as he could see, Donald Macgregor was playing ‘cat and mouse’ with them.   Eventually Donald went off into a clear lead until Brian came through and caught him at Cramond (17 Miles).   Carty’s coach, Hugh Mitchell had advised him, ‘When you catch someone up, talk to them – it shows you’re fresh.’   So Brian asked how Donald was feeling and shortly afterwards began to draw away.   He finished very strongly indeed although Donald faded.      ……     Brian’s training was not unlike Hugh Mitchell’s twenty years previously.   Overcoming initial reluctance he gradually built up to a very strenuous regime indeed.   On weekdays he might run thrice:   Twelve or fourteen miles to work at British Leyland, four miles of fartlek at lunchtime and another ten to twelve miles home.   He remembers many hard sessions in the Bathgate hills.   In total he might run 120 or even 150 miles per week.   So his 1986 triumph was hard-earned indeed.”

The big miles are corroborated in an email I received from Graham MacIndoe when I was actually writing about Brian.  He  says, “Hugh Mitchell and Brian Carty worked at British Leyland where my dad also worked.   I remember my dad telling me how Brian used to run 8 – 10 miles a day to the factory, then be jogging on the spot waiting for the lunchtime bell so he could get in a run and then at the end of the day he’d run back to Blackburn via the Bathgate hills.   Sometimes on Sundays he’d run through Livingston and Broxburn up to Linlithgow, wind his way through the Bathgate hills to Armadale and then back to Blackburn.  It must have been 20+ miles, easy.   I went with him and a couple of others a few times and it was relentless – used to take me days to recover and I didn’t do the whole distance.    My dad got Hugh to give me a training schedule when I was about 19.   It had so many miles on it I thought it was a joke.   I was at that time trying to break 32 minutes for 10K on the road on about 45 – 50 miles per week.   He had me on 100 mpw for starters.   I got to the 80’s but kept getting injured.   He was still running fairly recently my dad said”    Corroboration of the huge distances involved – corroboration of his recent running would also be of interest! 

One of the first anti-official stories I ever heard on coming into the sport was by one of Scottish sport’s most respected officials, David M Bowman of Clydesdale Harriers.    It was of the days when athletes achieving a particular time in their event were awarded a standard badge, whether they were medallists or not and the standard time for the marathon was marked by a starting pistol being fired into the air.    It was about Tommy Rewcastle of Plebeian Harriers who finished the SAAA Marathon Championships in three hours and one second when the standard was three hours – the starting pistol was fired almost in his face as he crossed the finishing line one second outside the standard.    David was always a runners’ man and a marathon runner himself but he was really incensed about this more than ten years after the event.   Justifiably so in my opinion.    I was told the story in about 1960 or 1961 when I was starting to get selected for the E-G and Plebeian Harriers were on their last legs by then – the last appearance in the E-G was in 1957 and although some individuals turned out on the national cross-country championship into the very early 60’s, it folded about that time.    James Neilson, the founder and driving force had died towards the end of 1948 and the tribute to him will be printed below.   Percy Cerutty said that only the forgotten are dead, so how is it that a really first rate club such as Plebeian Harriers is forgotten?    And how is it that a club from south of Glasgow had such a name?    Two questions ask themselves – was the club as good as it seems,   and  when did  it appear on the stage?

First, it was undoubtedly a very good club.   It was at its redoubtable strongest in the 1930’s and it overlapped the War.   We could maybe start by looking at the statistics.

THE EDINBURGH TO GLASGOW RELAY

If we have a look at the National cross-country results, starting in season 1925/’26 we have the following.

The club did of course provide several international athletes, the most prolific of whom was WJ Gunn who represented Scotland in 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932 and 1936.   M Rayne with one run in 1930 and SK Tombe with three (1928, 1933 and 1934) were the others.   I have shown enough above to indicate that the Plebeian Harriers was one of Scotland’s top clubs with many really first class runners in their ranks.   Other than Alex Armstrong, I can’t see any who were members of other clubs prior to their debut for them, and Maxwell Rayne was a first year Junior when he was tenth in the National in 1927-28.

The Scottish team at the 1933 ICCU Championships at Caerleon, Wales.   SK Tombe (Plebeians) is third from the left.

Others are H McIntosh, J Givin, J Suttie-Smith, J Flockhart, WD Slidders, W Hinde, R Gatons and RR Sutherland in black jersey.  Seated: J Wilson.

Second behind England, Colin Shields says that this was the most successful Scottish team in international history

Photograph from ‘Whatever the Weather’

The photograph at the top of the page comes from a tribute to James Neilson published in the ‘Scots Athlete’ in the December 1948 issue of the magazine and it is reproduced in full here.

James Neilson: A Tribute.

Never could that much abused word ‘sportsman’ more literally or truthfully describe anyone than the genial, warm-hearted Jimmy Neilson, whose sudden death at his Netherlee home recently saddened a huge circle of friends in this and many other sports, for he was all that we mean when we speak of the perfect sportsman.   Generous in victory and cheerful in defeat, he made friends quickly and kept their esteem always.   His sage advice on athletics and there were few so shrewd advisers, was unstintingly given, but I think the secret of his success and popularity was the whole-hearted enthusiasm he threw into everything that took his interest.  

From his youth he was vitally interested in sport, and he competed successfully as a Bellahouston Harrier, but it was with Plebeian Harriers, the club he founded, that his name became synonymous.   And Jimmy really WAS Plebeian Harriers.   Starting off with a bunch of young lads, he fired them with his own infectious zest, inspired in those around him a grand team spirit, so that Plebeian swiftly advanced to become one of our leading clubs and to win all the main honours in cross-country.   Reward for the diligence of the young club’s pioneers working under Jimmy’s organising influence, came when the club won title after title, and particularly when racing for youths became general, for to catch them young was always his theory, one which he had to defend against many critics.  

Under his guidance, Plebeian won

the Novice team title,

the individual title three times,

Western District junior championship,

Midlands District junior championship,

and individual title and

tied with Dundee Thistle Harriers for the National championship in 1934

But it was in relay racing that the “Plebs” made their biggest hit.   They won the Western Relay and were four times successful in the Midlands relay, while their special training and Jimmy’s shrewd, carefully studied tactics made them supreme – against, man for man, more renowned teams – in the early Edinburgh to Glasgow relays.   Successes in this race probably gave Jimmy Neilson a bigger kick than any other, for “Plebs” although they kept on winning were never the form selection.  

As a legislator he was equally forthright and hard working.   He was an Hon. Vice-President of the National Cross-Country Union.   Aye, Scottish athletics is much the poorer by his passing.   So many of us have lost a loyal affectionate friend.

Now we have a partial answer to the query about their origins: James Neilson was the founder, or one of the founders, although he is given sole credit in the article above.   But when did they start up?  Although they continued well after the War, their best days were clearly before 1939.    They had been producing good young athletes with teams in Junior races so there is no telling what they might have achieved without the six year break in activities.    They trained south of the Clyde and the last runner of note that graced their colours was Alec Small who eventually moved to Victoria Park in 1958 after Plebeian Harrers finished twentieth in 1957 and dropped out of the race.    He trained for a while in Renfrew at the King George V Playing Fields with Alastair Johnston and Albert Smith of Victoria Park and Alastair had this to say: “I knew Alec back in the early 60’s – he and his pal Harry Carson were introduced to my older brother and myself by a friend who used to run for Renfrew YMCA.   They had just left Plebeian Harriers and joined Victoria Park.    We all used to train at Renfrew’s KGV Playing Fields when not at Scotstoun, and it helped us a lot in getting started.   I think that the Plebeians, or what was left of them trained at the KGV playing fields.”

After the war they kept on competing and turning out in the traditional road and country races but the results were not as good as before the war.   They continued to slide down the team results sheet and by January 1955 they were twenty third in the McAndrew Relay.   In November 1958 they were a lowly tenth in the South Western District Cross Country Relay at Paisley.    They did produce some very good runners and there were two in particular worth looking at in detail.   Their two best athletes after the War seemed to be Alex Smith and then Alec Small.    Smith first appears in the records as a Youth in 1946-47 when he was thirty first and second scoring runner in the Plebeians third placed team.   Two years later he was twenty second in the team that was third in the Junior championships and as a senior man he was thirty eighth in 50-51, and fourteenth in 51-52.

Alec Small appears as a Junior in the 1952-53 championships when he finished seventeenth before turning out as a senior the following year.   He was forty fourth in 1953-54, missed two years before turning out for Victoria Park in 1956-57 and placing tenth, in 1957-58 where he was thirtieth and 1959-60 when he was away back in 122nd which was his last appearance in the National.

It was a bit different on the roads in the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay.    Alex Smith’s first showing was in November 1949 when he was third fastest on the third stage and kept the club in thirteenth position.    He was equal sixth fastest with Alex Breckenridge in 1950 when coming from nineteenth to thirteenth on the second stage.   His first fastest stage time was in 1951 on the second stage when he brought his club from fourth to second although it would eventually finish fourth.      1952 was the first time the two Alex’s would be in the same team.   Alex Smith was on the second stage where he brought the team from fifteenth to seventh with the fastest time of the day, and Alec Small was on the sixth stage where he dropped from seventh to eleventh.    A year later they ran first and second in the team that finished thirteenth – Small was fourth on the first stage and then Smith dropped down to ninth on the second.   In 1954, Smith was again on Two where he was eighth fastest and brought the team from fifteenth to tenth, while Small was on Six again and with a very poor time, was good enough to stay in fourteenth.   No Alex Smith in 1955 meant that Alec Small was on the second stage and he came from thirteenth to ninth with the seventh fastest time.   In 1956, with ninth time on Stage Two, he came from twentieth to fifteenth in the seventh fastest time.   In 1957, when the club finished twentieth, he was not there and the following year Plebeian Harriers were out of the event for good and Alec was running for Victoria Park.   He ran for Victoria Park for a couple of years but eventually emigrated to Canada.

Plebeian carried on but the last result in the SCCU Championships where they are mentioned is that for 1963 when only two men ran – and they finished 134th and 136th.   So we now have approximate dates and as part of the search for the origins, I went to Colin Shields’s book “Whatever the Weather: the official history of the SCCU”.   He says, “the sport grew in popularity after the War with new clubs constantly being admitted to the Union.   These included Dumbarton AAC, Eglinton H, Plebeian H, Mauchline H, Canon ASC, Selkirk H and Beith H. …… One application caused such controversy that it was referred for consideration to the AGM.   This was from the Socialist Harrier and Athletic Club and was, after a great deal of discussion, rejected by 19 votes to 14 with the justification that the proposed name and the red flag on their vest was objectionable.”   One of the theories being  floated by some of us was that the club had sprung from the Worker’s Educational Association, or the Trades Union movement following the English example of setting up Cycling Clubs, Swimming Clubs and even a ‘London Plebeian Harriers’.   The latter seemed a promising lead but it would seem that the truth is simpler – it was set up in Glasgow and Renfrew by experienced Scots.   The name is still a bit of a mystery – we know of the Roman Patricians and Plebeians of course but if anyone why the name was chosen it would be interesting.

Motherwell  YMCA was always a good club and produced many fine athletes over the years and decades.   The most famous ‘sons of Motherwell’ would probably be the Brown.   Father Andrew was considerably good after the war and his two sons Andrew and Alex both won championships and ran for Scotland.   Andrew (AH Brown as opposed to A Brown and AP Brown)  is perhaps the best known and was captain of the Scottish \international Cross-Country team for several years.   I have already covered Andrew and his team mate John Linaker elsewhere on this site and may well make Bert McKay the subject of a profile in his own right if I can get all the info that I need: ideally contact with Bert would be the thing.   However, for a spell in the 1960’s they reigned supreme in Scotland, winning road and cross relays and championships with most of their men winning international vests.   The term ‘supporting cast’ doesn’t really do guys like that justice but in terms of winning medals they were never as well known as the Browns, McKays and Linakers, so on this page I’ll mention some of those runners: Davie Simpson, John Poulton, Bert McKay, Willie Marshall and maybe more.   Colin Shields in his “Whatever the Weather” says on p 208, “Motherwell’s victory in 1964 was achieved with with the addition of Ian McCafferty and Dick Wedlock to their already strong team.   They helped Alex and Andy Brown, Bert McKay, Willie Marshall, David Simpson and John Poulton to victory …”       

I said above  ‘a spell in the 60’s’  and meant just that.   The team won medals in everything until 1966 and then in 1967 they had dropped to sixteenth.   Why was that?   The answer is simply that in 1967 Law and District AAC was formed  and there was an exodus from Motherwell – Andy and Alex Brown, Ian McCafferty and some others left with the result that the only real survivors in Motherwell were Bert McKay and Willie Marshall.   Some seemed to disappear – David Simpson and Johnny Poulton are two that spring to mind.   But let’s start here with David Simpson.

DAVID SIMPSON was a quiet and friendly man.   He was of medium height and wore leather heels on his running shoes that clicked and clacked as he ran – they often distracted other runners.   He came from Shotts.   By the time that Motherwell started their remarkable run of success in the 60’s he was a regular member of the squad and would get his only Scottish Cross-Country vest in 1962.   It should be noted however that at that time there was only the one real international cross-country fixture and only eight men were picked annually, so if it were a good year for runners with many men at a high level, or if you were injured, then you had had it.   I knew him best as a road runner.   Like the rest here, I’ll start the story with the Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1960.   The team was fourth and David ran the second stage, taking over from Bert McKay on the first.   He held his eight place on this, the toughest stage in the race.   In ’61 he was on the fourth leg and had the second fastest time with the team finishing third.   ’62 saw him back on the second stage in the first winning MYMCA team.   In 1963 Motherwell won again and David contributed by having the fastest time of the day on the fifth stage where he would represent the club three times in four years.   A year later and he had the fastest time of the day on the fifth stage for the second consecutive year and again the team won.   Motherwell tended at that time to keep men on the same stage for several years but in 1965 the switched several and not always with the happiest of results but David did his bit with the fastest time on the third stage in the team that finished second to Edinburgh University.   In 1966, he was back on the fifth stage in the team that was third.   Then the run of success stopped for reasons noted above.   It was a shame.   David had run in six races in the 60’s, turned in three fastest stage times and had one second fastest, and come away with 3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals.

David was an excellent road runner with victories at several road races around Scotland – at one time the Gourock 14 miles seemed destined to be won by Motherwell men: David had at least two wins as did Andy Brown.    He was almost ever present in their top relay teams in 1962 and 1963 with the regular quartet being Bert McKay, David Simpson, Alex Brown and Andy Brown who usually ran in that order.   When John Linaker arrived on the scene David dropped from the top four for a while but, make no mistake, he was still a very good runner.

The team was not quite as good on the country but David ran well.  In 1959 he ran as a Junior for Shotts and finished fourteenth In 1961 however he finished eleventh in the Senior race to be third counter in Motherwell’s team that failed to close in six runners.   In 1962 he moved up to ninth to be third counter in the team that was fifth and in 1964 he was eleventh in the bronze medal winning squad.   In 1965 he was thirteenth and in 1966 he had slipped down to fiftieth: both times the team was fifth and out of the medals.   On the track he had several rankings between 1960 and 1971.   It should be remembered that at that time track running was almost all on cinders and that shoe technology was not as advanced as it is now.   As for the marathon, hard trails were sought out: the Isle of Man was notoriously hard and the course from Westerlands in Glasgow was ferocious with several very testing hills.   In 1960, David was ranked seventeenth with 31:34.2, in ’61 he was thirteenth with 30:55.0 and in 1963 he was twenty second with 31:12.6.   In the marathon he was eighth in 1965 with 2:40.01.

David Simpson (51) at Dirrans Sports, Kilwinning, in 1963

53: Hugh Mitchell; 52 Pat McAtier; 138 Charlie McAlinden followed by Bobby Calderwood and Brian McAusland.

If you had a picture in mind of a perfect running machine, WILLIE MARSHALL with his glasses and characteristic running action was not the one.   But any team in the country would have been glad to have him: he consistently ran well and was a really valuable team member who was picked at times when more fashionable runners were not.   In 1960 he ran the fifth stage of the E-G and pulled the team up from seventh to fifth.   In 1961 when they won the bronze, he picked up from fifth to fourth on the same stage in the fourth fastest time of the day and in 1962 on the third, he pulled in no fewer than five places when he went from eleventh to sixth in the second fastest time in the team that won.   In 1963, still on third, he was second fastest and moved from fifth to third in the winning team.   ’64 still on the third, he maintained third place on the third stage for the winning team.   In 1965 he was back to the fifth stage and again went home with gold.   Switched back to three in 1966, in the team that finished third.   Then the team disintegrated.   He was as you might expect a regular member of the cross country squad and although the results available for 1963 and 1964 are incomplete we have enough to show that he was a hard working member of the team.   In 1951 he was one  hundred and first when the team finished fifth but although he picked up 22 places to seventy ninth the following year, he was a non-counter in the team that was fourth.   In 1961 he was eighty sixth but Motherwell failed to finish a team that year.   In 1962 he was fiftieth and the team was again fifth – although the results for 1964 are incomplete we know that Motherwell was third team and can reasonably assume that Willie picked up a bronze medal.   In 1965 he was sixty third and in 1966, sixty fifth.   An ever present in the National Championships.   Like many of the MYMCA runners however, better on the road than the country.

Willie was a very good runner who ran in many good teams and often enough stepped into the gap when some more illustrious runner was unavailable.   This was often at short notice as when, in 1966 Ian McCafferty just failed to show up for the McAndrew Relay – Willie was asked to step in and he did, running the first stage for the team that finished third; he turned oiut again the following week in the Lanarkshires and in the YMCA Championships with Bert McKay and the two Brown brothers.   The minute McCafferty was back, Willie was happy to drop back to second team duty.

Where many endurance men ran down on their feet and stood up at the end of the race, JOHN POULTON always ran tall with his chest out and head to the one side.   His appearance was always immaculate – some runners are downright scruffy, and most are unremarkable from the point of view of their turnout but John always looked good and always looked just the same.   Never apprehensive, never over confident, if the opposition was looking for confidence by looking at him before the race, they got no comfort at all.   A regular in the Motherwell team from the late 1950’s until their demise in 1966, he had a good record in Scottish athletics.   In the Edinburgh to Glasgow He ran the seventh stage in 1960 with the team fourth, the eighth in 1961 and, with the foursth fastest time of the day, assisted the club to third place medals.   He was not in the team in 1963 but in 1964 he was third fastest on the eighth stage in the winning team and in 1965 when the team was second John was on the third stage.   Back to the eighth stage in 1966, he pulled through from fourth to third and a medal winning place.   Two golds, two silvers and two bronze medals in six runs in the 1960’s is good running.   His country running was not as good or as frequent – he missed the National Championships on a couple of occasions and finished further down the field than might have been expected but in all the road events – E-G, Scally, McAndrew, GU Road Race, etc – he pulled his weight as a good clubman.    John only appeared once in Scottish track rankings and that was in 1959 when his time in the 6 miles was 31:16.4 which ranked him twelfth.   John also ran in several of the Two Mile track teams and indeed won several medals himself in the West District Championships.   He was a very valuable clubman and the teams that did so much in the 1960’s could not have done it without him.

John handing the baton to Bailie D Docherty in 1964

A Monkland Harriers Group (1970):

Back Row: Jim Minnis, Ronnie McDonald, Neilson Hare,   ?   , Jim Geddes, John McGleish, Peter Preston, Jim Brown, Willie Drysdale,   ?   , Tommy Callaghan, Andy Arbuckle, Willie McBrinn

Front Row: Robert Geddes, Joe Small, (seven unknown), Frank Gribben, Tony Rezcek.

Monkland Harriers was one of Scotland’s oldest running clubs, having been an offshoot of Clydesdale Harriers, and had provided many Scottish Internationalists up into the 1920’s including Olympian Sam Stevenson and Scottish Internationalist Matthew Forrester.   Club Colours were a black vest with a white sash and their stamping ground was the Coatbridge area of North Lanarkshire and the club was doing very well indeed at the period Joe is talking about.   In my role as last of the dinosaurs, I felt that it was a pity that they lost their identity when the Clyde Valley amalgamation took place and they were swept up with Motherwell, L & L, Airdrie and a couple of other clubs.   The new club was undoubtedly successful and Tom Callaghan talks about it  here .

Joe writes:

“Having looked in detail at the stars of our sport, we’ve decided it was time to give a mention to some of the lesser lights, not the big names but those runners who provided the essential back up in team races, relays as well as competing to a good standard in their own right.   I’ll concentrate on the men I trained and raced with over the years with both Monkland Harriers and Clyde Valley AAC.  

I first joined Monkland Harriers around 1967, aged 13.   The club was just coming out of a period in the doldrums.   By organising the local schools races membership had picked up and a significant number of talented athletes were signed up.   The club was predominantly road/cross-country with a few sprinters and throwers.   The secretary was that weel-kent face Willie Drysdale, still active I believe with Law & District.   The “trainer” was Andy Arbuckle best known for applying a freezing cold sponge in the face as you crossed the finish line!   With Jim Brown and Ronnie McDonald competing in the senior ranks for the first time, the usual four man team consisted of these two together with Willie Drysdale and Eddie Devlin.  

Eddie was one of many excellent runners to come out of St Patrick’s High School in Coatbridge.   To name a few, Eddie, Ronnie McDonald, Martin McMahon, Paul Bannon, Mark Watt, Frank Gribben, Jim Burns, Neil Agnew and myself!   I’ll use principally the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay as a measure of the progress of the club over the years.   With eight runners in a team, it gives a good overall view of the state of the club.   

In 1971 the club was invited to compete in the E-G  (or News of the World as it was then called) relay for the first time in a number of years and the names of those who competed in that event give an indication of the standard of runners at that time.   Together with Drysdale, Brown, McDonald and Devlin, the remaining four were a young Peter Preston, later to join Cambuslang, Tommy Callaghan, who coached both Jim and Ronnie, policeman Neil Hare and John McGleish.   They performed well achieveing a commendable ninth place.   Also in this season, the club won the National Junior Cross Country title with Jim Brown (1st), Ronnie McDonald (3rd) backed up by Peter Preston and Danny Nee.   At this point it’s worth looking at the record of two men in particular in the E-G.   Over the years Monkland and Clyde Valley competed in the race on 14 occasions.   Both Jim Brown and Eddie Devlin had a 100% record, running in all 14 occasions, with two wins, one second and three third place finishes.   Eddie was an excellent all round athlete, encompassing everything from a fast 800m of around 1:54 up to a 2:25 marathon, but he seemed always to peak for the E-G.  

The 1972/73 season saw the first appearance of Ian Gilmour as a senior, but in spite of his good run on the Second Stage of the E-G, the club dropped one place to tenth.   Other newcomers that year were myself, (the first of 10 appearances in the race) and Willie Devlin (brother of Eddie, a very strong forceful  runner, who turned out for the club in big races, even after moving south for employment reasons.   Not a newcomer, but in the team was Willie McBrinn, a veteran even then, but with many age group records to come in the years ahead.   As I write, I understand he is still looking for a world marathon record for an 80 year old, in spite of recent serious ill health.   When you went out for a training run with Willie, you knew you were in for a seriously hard run.    At some point in the proceedings, he would throw in a fast mile or two to stir things up.

The junior squad repeated the National win, again with Brown, McDonald and Preston from the previous year, with myself making up the four man team.

The next year saw six of the previous year’s eight back in place.   Peter Preston had left to join Cambuslang.   In came Tommy Callaghan, his first appearance since 1966.   In addition to coaching and competing, Tommy was also active on the committee of the club, as were a number of runners at that time.   Another new face was John Davidson, an Anglo-Scot who had signed on after a good performance in the National.   He only ran a few races before disappearing from the scene.   These changes saw an improved performance as the team finished in eighth place and won the Most Meritorious Performance.

This was the end of an era, the prominent black vest with the white sash disappeared, as Monkland Harriers amalgamated with four other local clubs to form the new Clyde Valley AAC.”

There are several very well known names in there – and I probably raced all of them at one time or another.   I remember Eddie Devlin as a very good runner indeed but a bit erratic – at times he did not do himself justice.   Tommy (TBP) Callaghan was someone I raced fairly frequently – a slight figure who always paced his races well and often came through at the end of an event.   Peter Preston was never as good as Eddie or Joe himself, he was a regular club runner though and as such the kind of athlete most clubs like to have around.   Willie Drysdale is indeed still running for Law & District AAC and is to be seen at all the major and veterans events over the winter and on the roads in summer.   Willie used to finish down the field in most races until he started training with John Anderson and the result was a massive improvement – I believe that John even had him doing weight training.   From being a middle of the field runner, Willie started to figure in the first 10% of the field and even took third place in the West District 6 Miles championship at a time when the event was taken seriously.   When I taught for a short period in Glasgow and trained at lunchtime from the Strathclyde University gym at lunchtime, Willie was an ever present and his call of “C’mon boys, screw the nut!” as we went along Alexandra Parade to the park and golf course was frequently heard.   Mind you, I still don’t really know what it means …………….

Willie McBrinn I first saw in action when David Bowman was trying to talk me into doing the marathon and we went through to follow the Falkirk to Meadowbank marathon in the early 60’s.   The favourite Ian Harris dropped out and I think Gordon Eadie won but Willie finished second after a very steady race with no sign of weakness anywhere despite the heat on the day.   We became friends and took part in many of the same road races.   He was a great competitor and well liked by everybody in the sport.  But Joe has left out a man who won medals in both E-G and National championships – namely, himself!   Joe was a good runner for Monklands and then Clyde Valley running at least ten times in the Road Relay and winning three bronze and one gold team medal in a Clyde Valley team that was one of trhe most difficult in the country to be selected for!   I look forward to any comments on his own running in the story of the Clyde Valley supporting cast!

Guys like these shouldn’t be forgotten – thanks Joe for reminding us.   Copies of the club membership cards are available from this link .

Monkland Harriers’ Willie Russell at the left in the top row.

Leslie Watson

Maryhill Ladies Athletic Club will almost certainly be the only women’s club to be included in the ‘Fast Pack’ page.   It was a brand new club that came from nowhere to be British Women’s Cross-Country champions in less than five years.   With brand new coaches who were inexperienced at this level of athletics and good but not outstanding runners they are worthy of comparison with any club, male or female.   It is unfortunate that there has been so little written about the women’s scene in Scotland and no standard reference work and any further information received would be more than welcome. 

Maryhill Ladies Athletic Club appeared quite suddenly on the athletics scene in Scotland.    It was at a time when there were several very good women’s clubs in and around Glasgow.   There were Maryhill Harriers Ladies, Bellahouston Harriers Ladies, Springburn Ladies, Clydesdale Harriers and several others but although they all had very good athletes no one club was big enough to challenge on the British stage.   John Anderson was a member and coach at Maryhill Harriers Ladies which, despite its name, really had no connection with Maryhill Harriers and it was run by Tom Williamson and his wife.  In 1961 Tom decided to set up a club that united all the best women athletes in the area which would be good across al disciplines and able to challenge the very best.  The decision upset all the clubs from whom the new club’s members came but at Maryhill after he left there was some confusion about what to do next and John Anderson was asked to re-organise the club.   Despite having no real first-hand experience of athletics or proper coaching, he agreed to do so.   The new club was set up with the name of Maryhill Ladies AAC.  How did the club become so successful?   More about that question at the end but back in 1961 John set about recruiting coaches for the club, started to read all he could about the various disciplines and got the ball rolling.   They had to have some goals – the first was to be the best club in Scotland after three years, the second to be the best club in Britain after five.

John is keen to give credit to two club members in particular who were, in his words, ‘central to all that followed’.   They were Marlyon Page (nee Black) and Gill McDonald (nee Stead).   Marlyon was a good club athlete with best times for 220y, 440y and 880y of 26.6, 61.0 and 2:20.2, and Gill had bests of 28.0 (220y), 13.5 (80mH), 3457 points (Pentathlon), 9.89m (Shot), 31.19m (Javelin), 5.18 (Long Jump).   Gill was second in the SWAAA javelin in 1961, and 3rd in the long jump in 1960, while Marlyon’s best 880y time saw her fourth in Scotland in 1961.   They were invaluable in league competitions but they were at least as valuable in the club’s organisation filling all the important posts, keeping everyone up to date, getting forms in on time and so on.   John is quite clear about that.

Despite the best efforts of Tom Williamson and his colleagues at Western LAC and other clubs in Scotland, the first target was reached quite easily.   They unearthed and developed many outstanding athletes – Leslie Watson, Mary Campbell, Moira Kerr, Avril Beattie, Chris Salmond and many, many more.    For the endurance runners, the two big years had to be the winning of the British Championships in 1965 and 1966.   The intention had been to run the British Championships in 1964 and then have a real go the following year.   The story had begun in season 1961-’62 when the new club won the SWCCU Championship.   On 3rd February 1962 they provided the first three in the women’s handicap race at Kilmarnock with G Buchanan first in 19:45, M Crawford 19:52 and C Kelly 20:03 – very close to each other in times considering that they were not running together, thanks to the handicap.   A ‘fast pack’ indeed.   A week later in the Women’s cross-country championship at Springburn, Dale Greig won from Georgena Buchanan (Maryhill) – “Maryhill with Miss M Crawford fifth and Miss L Watson sixth as their counting runners won with 11 points.   Teviotdale was second with 42 points.”    In 1963 the story was the same but different.   The individual title was not theirs but the team race was.  Georgena Buchanan who had been their first counter the year before won this time – but in the colours of Western AAC.   Maryhill’s counters were Miss M Crawford in third, Miss I Inwood in fourth and Miss C Kelly in fifth.   Better packing you would find it hard to get.    In the SWCCU Championships on 14th March 1964, the Maryhill team won the championship with “Miss Crawford 3, Miss L Watson 4 and Miss I Inwood 6“.   This made it three-in-a-row for the club in Scotland

It had been decided that, in line with sound common sense and athletics principles, that before going to the British Championships, they would take a team down to England to check out the lay of the land, to give the runners a feel for the event and make their presence as a team known.   The rules allowed eight to run and four to count but the club hadn’t that strength in depth at that point in their development, so they had the bare minimum of four runners and all had to finish.   The four were Margaret Crawford, Leslie Watson, Isabel Inwood and Marlyon Page and they set off on the journey south.   After they crossed the border, there was a snow storm, it was impossible to continue and they decided to park the minivan at the side of the road.   John thought he’d ‘be a great hero‘ and sleep under the van giving the girls the comfort of the interior.   Under he went with his sleeping-bag but unfortunately, or perhaps inevitably, he couldn’t sleep and in the middle of the night he was so cold that he knocked on the door and asked if he could come in.  There was no problem with that, far from pyjamas and nighties the girls had coats on – in fact the suggestion was made that perhaps they had 47 layers of clothing on!   They eventually dozed off for a bit and in the morning the van was stuck in the snow so Leslie and Cathie jogged off looking for a village or somewhere that they could get help.   They came back with a farmer and a tractor!   The van was thawed out, the tractor got them back on the road and they headed off south for the championships, still very cold.   It was then that John saw a queue and realised that it was for the cinema.   “OK, girls.   We’re going to the pictures!”     “But we can’t, we’re racing this afternoon!”    “You’re not going to the pictures to see the film.   There will be heaters along every wall inside.”   So John paid for them all to go to the cinema.   Eventually, thoroughly warmed, they made their way in the van to the venue and ran in the race where John had given them instructions to run as a team so that they would be seen and known in future.   Leslie however, not usually the first finisher for the club finished well up the field in approximately tenth position with the others further down the field finishing as a trio.   Leslie apologised to John for not doing what she was told!   Apparently she had slipped at the first gate and when she got up, couldn’t see the others so just raced as hard as she could to try to catch them up!   However, in the British Championships the team race was won by Bury and Radcliffe AC with 51 points from London Olympiades on 70 and Mitcham with 86 points.   Very close – but it would be less close in the following two years!

This was all leading up to a marvellous two years.   In 1965 and 1966 Maryhill Ladies Athletic Club did something that no Scottish club had done before and none have done since when they won the British Women’s Cross-Country Championship.

 In 1964-’65 the season started with races organised by Tannahill Harriers in Giffnock: in the handicap race, Margaret Crawford won from clubmate Marlyon Page.   In the club own open event at Nether Pollock on 12th December, Isabel Inwood (running for Glasgow Police) won from Cathie Kelly with Dale Greig third.  On December 19th, in the Scottish Women’s Christmas Handicap races at Garscadden, Cathie Kelly had second fastest time behind Georgena Buchanan of Western LAC.   On 9th January in the Scottish Women’s Cross-Country Union Senior race from the Maryhill LAC headquarters Cathie Kelly was again second to Georgena Buchanan.  More races are being reported now in the run-up to the Scottish Championships and on 16th January in the Greenock Rankin Park ballot team relay at Greenock,, the fastest time was by Georgena Buchanan (9:09), second fastest was I Inwood (9:14), fourth C Kelly, fifth L Watson (9:33) and fifth M Crawford (9:55).   The Ballot team format involves all the individual entries being seeded into three piles according to the ability of the runners and one drawn from each pile to make a team.  The intention is to have mixed teams so that runners whose club teams are not doing so well or who do not have teams, have the opportunity to pick up a prize.   There is no doubt that had it been a club relay, Maryhill would have won.   On January 23rd, Maryhill LAC held their women’s winter open races were held at Nether Pollock with the result that G Buchanan won in 23:23, C Kelly was second in 24:12 with L Watson third in 24:27.   On 6th February, the Kilmarnock cross-country handicap races with the two fastest times run by members of Maryhill – M Crawford being first and C Kelly second.   The next race was the big one – the SWCCU championships.   In the Scottish championships, the team had four runners in the first six, Watson, Kelly, Crawford and Inwood, and one of the other two was a former Maryhill LAC runner – the winner, Georgena Buchanan.   They won by 11 points to 30 for Greenock Wellpark.      Two weeks later they raced at Fernieside in a Glasgow v Rest of Scotland match and their runners finished fourth and fifth (Watson and Crawford).   The British championship was on 13th March, 1965, and the ‘Glasgow Herald’ headline shouted out British Title Victory For Maryhill Harriers’   (they meant Maryhill Ladies AC, of course).   The report read: “Maryhill Harriers ladies team had a splendid victory in the in the English cross-country championships over a heavy course (three and three-quarter miles) on Saturday at Birmingham.   When their four counting runners finished in the first 27 places.   Miss L Watson was fifteenth, Miss C Kelly twentieth, Miss C Campbell twenty sixth and I Inwood twenty seventh which gave the club an unassailable total of 88 points.  

The winter 1965 – ’66 was similar in that there was a slow build up over the winter with a gradual increase in number of races and improvement in standard of running.   On 8th January in a race organised by Western from North Kelvinside School Leslie Watson and Cathie Kelly tied for first place.   On 15th January in open senior race at Nether Pollock, Dale Greig won from Cathie Kelly.   Then at Greenock a week later, in the ballot relay, Cathie Kelly set a record for the course with Lesley Watson third fastest and Margaret Crawford sixth.   At Fauldhouse on 23rd January, Kelly won from Doreen King (Bellahouston), who was having a marvellous season, by only four seconds.  On 7th February in a handicap race at Kilmarnock Cathie Kelly won from R Kelly (Wellpark Harriers) by seven seconds.   Cathie Kelly was clearly in top form leading in to the Scottish Cross Country Championships.   However the headline read:

 “Scottish Title For Miss Watson: strong finishing run”. And the text read: “Miss L Watson (Maryhill) won the Scottish women’s cross-country title on Saturday at Bellshill.     She covered the three and a half miles in 24:54 beating Miss D Greig (Tannahill), winner of the title three times, by 30 yards with Miss M Crawford (Maryhill) third, a long way back.    Snow covered the course to a depth of six inches in places which made the footing unsafe.   At half-distance Miss Greig and Miss Watson were together, well ahead of the field.   After two and a half miles, Miss Watson running with more determination than usual, broke clear and opened up a 20 yard lead.   Over the final half-mile Miss Greig reduced the margin and looked like catching up but Miss Watson, sensing the danger, produced a remarkable turn of speed.   Maryhill won the team race for the fifth successive year, this time with the record total of nine points.”   In the Glasgow v The Rest match, Cathie Kelly won with Lesley Watson fifth.   The English championships were on 12th March and the report was much more restrained, pride of athletics place in the ‘Herald’ being given to the Scottish Schools Championships.  Under the headline of Maryhill’s Team Retain Title”  the two short paragraphs read: Maryhill Ladies with 90 points retained the British Women’s Cross-Country Championships on Saturday at Oxhey, Hertfordshire.   The two leading performers of the team were Miss L Watson the Scottish champion who did well to finish tenth and Miss M Campbell (domiciled in Birmingham) in fourteenth position.   Miss C Kelly and Miss M Crawford were twentieth and forty sixth respectively.”   To date, February 2013, no other Scottish women’s club has won the British title.

A summary of the team’s domestic cross-country performances over the early years is below but unfortunately not all details are known.    The ‘Glasgow Herald’ archives are a great source of information for track results for men, but not quite as good for women’s events but for women’s cross-country it is not even as good as that with many races being unreported or reported in minimal detail.  What is below is what can be gleaned from Ron Morrison’s site at www.salroadrunningandcrosscountrymedalists.co.ukin the archive section.   No doubt the AW is better but they don’t have online archives.   It can be seen however that the Maryhill LAC team dominated these championships with three first individual places, a second and four third places.

* Western LAC  24 points, Maryhill LAC 25 points

** Dundee Hawkhill Harriers 32 points, Maryhill LAC 33

In season 1966-’67, in the club’s open races at Nether Pollock resulted in second and third for Cathie Kelly and Leslie Watson in early December, and Cathie was third the following week at Clydebank.   On 9th January 1967, there were no Maryhill runners in the first three of the Scottish women’s championships at Linn Park, but on 21st January, in their own race at Pollock, second (E McPherson) and third (C Kelly) places came to the club.   Into February and the business end of the season and in the cross-country handicap at Kilmarnock E McPherson was second to Dale Greig.   On February 11th at Fauldhouse, the SWCCU held their combined Senior/Intermediate trial fr the international team and the winner was Mrs M Campbell-Speedman – a Maryhill LAC runner attending Dunfermline College of Physical Education.   On 25th February the English Women’s Cross-Country Championships were held in Blackburn, Lancashire and Cathie Kelly was first home for the club.   The ‘Herald’ report read: : “Miss P Davies (Selsonia) won the senior two and a half miles title for the third year in succession. …. She beat Miss J Smith (Barnet) by 40 yards with Miss A Smith (Mitcham) third.   …  First home for Scotland was Miss C Kelly (Maryhill) in twentieth place in 23:40.   The other Scots finished as follows:   22.  D Greig (Tannahill)  23:45, 24 Miss L Watson (Maryhill) 23:50,  31 M Purdon (Bellahouston) 24:09, 36 M Campbell Speedman (24:17), 58 M Crawford (Maryhill) 26:17 and E MacPherson (Maryhill) 28:04.” No individual polace was given for MacPherson.   In the team race, Maryhill LAC was placed sixth.   The very next week they were in action again in the SWCCU Championships at Bellahouston.   “Miss Watson Retains Senior Title.   Miss L Watson (Maryhill) retained her senior four miles title on Saturday at Bellahouston Park.   She beat Miss D Greig (Tannahill) by 50 yards in 27:53 with Miss C Kelly (Maryhill) in third place. ”   Mary Campbell-Speedman was sixth finisher but as a student at DCPE she was not eligible foe the club team but seventh place also went to Maryhill although the name was not given in the ‘Herald’ report.

Winter 1967-’68 started with the race at Clydebank on 9th December where Lesley Watson beat Dale Greig with and M McGregor (Maryhill) in third.   In the Greenock Ballot Team Relay the only Maryhill runner in the first three was third placed E MacPherson.   In the handicap race held at Kilmarnock on 3rd February, Margaret Purdon (Maryhill, the former Bellahouston Harrier)) had fastest time of the day.  On 17th February in the East v West Women’;s cross-country, Doreen King (Western) won from Margaret Purdon (Maryhill) who was just ahead of Cathie Kelly with both being given the same time of 26:10.  On 26th February, the report on the English cross-country championship ran to a mere twelve lines and only three Scots were named – Dale Greig, Margaret McSherry and Doreen King.   In the SWAAA Championships on 9th March the team result was reported as follows:   “To those with only a passing knowledge of strength the victory of Western AAC in the team race came as a surprise.   Maryhill Harriers, winners of the British team title three years ago, had swept the boards in the previous six years but this time had one point too many in their total for three counting runners.   For Western Mrs A Lusk, who as Miss A Drummond took the individual title in 1954, 55 and 56, was second counting athlete in ninth place.   Mrs G Craig’s thirteenth position gave them a total of 24 points.”   Western’s first counter had been Doreen King in second.   Maryhill counters had been Leslie Watson in sixth, Margaret Purdon in seventh and Cathie Kelly in eighth.

1968-’69 was the season when they took their Scottish title back again.   On 25th January Mary Speedman (below), she seems to have dropped the ‘Campbell’ as far as the sportswriters were concerned, won a Three Miles race at Dunfermline organised by DCPE from Dale Greig by only two seconds.  There were no Maryhill Women in the first three at Linn Park in March when Georgena Craig beat team mate Doreen King to make it a Western 1-2.    On 15th February at Clydebank Mary Speedman won the Scottish women’s championship from Margaret McSherry of Cambridge by inches: both were given the same time of 2:52.   The ‘Herald’ said that it was neck and neck until the last 80 yards when Miss Speedman managed to edge out her rival by the narrowest of margins.   Maryhill with their first three runners in first, third and seventh places took the team title with 13 points to Western’s 39 and Edinburgh Southern Harriers on 42 and in fourth was the Maryhill B Team with runners placed 18th, 20th and 25th.   This was the last time that this team won the SWCCU Championships although they were second in the following two years (see the table above).

Some team!   They ran well, they won events individually and especially as a team and the question has to be how did they train?   John Anderson and his coaches read all there was to read but they did not have the background in road and cross-country running that almost all of the existing men’s clubs had, so there were no pack runs such as you read about on other pages here.   They trained on the track at Blairdardie at Knightswood on Tuesday and Thursday.   It was quite a good venue in that it was a very big red blaes area with the track laid out but with a very big perimeter.   Twice a week there and long runs at Pollock estate on the Sunday.   In addition they followed the schedules that John had worked out for them and these involved road running.    Several names appear in most of the teams above but when a girl is absent from the team it doesn’t mean that they were not running and backing up the team that did win.   That they were good over the country is beyond dispute but how were they on the track?   Let’s look at them in alphabetical order as they appear in the track rankings of the 1960’s.

Margaret Crawford seems to have been an out-and-out distance runner and appeared only in the Mile rankings – in 1962 she ran 5:59.8 to be tenth in the country and in 1964 she had improved to 5:48.8 which also ranked her as tenth.   Margaret won four team golds as well as three individual bronzes in the Scottish Championships.   Margaret came from Blairdardie and after three third places in the SWCCU Championships plus two gold medals from the British Championships disappeared from the scene.   She married a man from Greece and went to live there.

Isabel Inwood with a 1945 birthdate was relatively young but was ranked thirteen times between 1961 and 1966 at 440y, 880 y and the Mile.   Her best times were 59.2 (1963, ranked fourth in Scotland), 2:14.0 (1964, 2nd) and 5:20.4 (1964 1st).   She also had a good record in the championships – in 1964 she was second in both 880 yards and Mile, in 1962 third in the 880 yards and again third in the 880 yards in 1963.   There were also a number of District wins and good competitive races in such events as the East v West fixture.

Catherine Kelly was two years older than Isabel and she too specialised in the 880 yards and one mile.  I can’t find a ranking for her at the shorter distances although she did run in handicap sprints at highland gatherings at such as Gourock and Strathallan.   Her best times were 2:22.8 for the 880 yards in 1966, ranked tenth,  and 5:14.6 for the Mile in 1965 when she was ranked second.    Her consistency over the longer distance was notable, she was ranked fifth in 1961, fifth in 1962, ninth in 1963, eighth in 1964, second in 1965, third in 1966 and third in 1967.   It is also noted above that on the country four consecutive medal winning teams and had an individual bronze.

Mary Campbell was another young athlete with a 1945 date of birth.  From 1962 to 1966 she was very much a sprinter with times of 11.3 for the 100 yards, 25.3 for the 220 yards, 60.9 for 440 yards and with few races at 880 yards her best for this period was 2:12.6.   After that spell she ran mainly 440y/400m, 800m and 1500m with best times of 59.9y/56.7m,  2:06.8m and 4:27.7m.   She went on to win the SWAAA 800m twice and competed in the Commonwealth Games on the track.

Lesley Watson was a key member of these teams and went on to become one the country’s best ever marathon runners – she is profiled on the website here – and her place in this very good Maryhill team cannot be overestimated.

Marlyon Page (DoB 1939) was described by John Anderson as a ‘key player’ in the early days.  Her contribution to the club’s success is clearly very highly rated by him.   When the Williamsons moved off she was a teacher and in her early Twenties which meant that she was a bit older than most of the girls there at the time.   She became the General Secretary while carrying on with her own running career.   She can be found in the ranking lists as Marlyon Black and has bests of 26.6 for 220y, 61.0 for 440 yards and 2:20 for 880 yards.

Maryhill Ladies Athletic Club had come a long way in ten years on the road and over the country in winter – possibly even further in track and field but this profile is all about their wonderful fast pack of endurance runners.    The question posed at the top however remains to be answered.   How was it that this team from a club only five or six years old managed to do what no Scottish women’s team had done before or has done since?   Namely, win the British cross-country championship, and more than that, do it twice?   When I put it John, he said that the club had a whole new fresh approach to athletics.   Not many had much experience at all of the sport or running a club.   The first thing he did was contact all his PE teacher friends to send athletes along and/or come themselves to help as coaches.   Any parents who came with their daughters were used.   They were asked if they could coach, or if not could they help in other ways.   It was done on a massive scale.   Two of the most important people to be attracted to the new outfit were

Madge Carruthers, a teacher at Westbourne School in the West End of Glasgow.   She became a very good coach and official and her daughter Lindy Carruthers was one of the top multi-eventers in the country.   and

Jimmy Campbell who had been many things in his time including professional footballer followed his daughter Mary into the club and became one of Scotland’s finest sprint coaches.   His daughter of course, was Mary Campbell-Speedman.

Jimmy Campbell

Team spirit was of course incredibly high – it had to be to do what they did as a club.   Moira Kerr was one of the country’s best ever shot putters/discus throwers and competed in the 1966 Empire Games as a shot putter but she ran in the club second team that was second in the cross-country championships!    Throwers and distance running don’t usually go together but they did that day.   A final note: as an indication that the club did well on the track as well as on the country, I took the Scottish statistical yearbook rankings for 1967 – selected at random from the 60’s lists that I have – and note their top performances across the board.

100 yards:   Three in the top nine, five in the top seventeen;     220 yards:   three in the top five, six in the top eighteen;   440 yards:   four in the top fourteen;   880 yards:  five in the top thirteen;  Mile:   thee in the top five;   80M Hurdles:  three in the top five, five in the top twelve;   100M Hurdles:  Two in the only four ranked;   High Jump:   one ranked at number three;   Long Jump:   three ranked in the top eight;   Shot Putt:   four in the top fifteen;   Discus:   two in the top four;   Javelin:   six in the top eighteen;   Pentathlon:   three in the top ten;   4 x 110 yards relay:  Ranked first (48.5) with a Scottish National Record.    The performances were listed in this fashion to illustrate that they did not achieve success with two throwers, three sprinters and a couple of milers.   The club actually did produce a lot of very good athletes of their own: I recognise only one of the athletes listed above as coming from another club rather than being ‘hand reared at home’!

Robin in the Edinburgh University 10

Robin Thomas was a talented runner who went on to be President of the SCCU and a national figure in the sport.   However that is rarely mentioned when his name comes up in conversation and he is possibly better known as the spirit behind the Hunters Bog Trotters team.   Such is their respect for him that in the 2011 Run and Become Open 2 Mile Race there were runners called Steve Robin Thomas Cairns, Robin Simon Thomas, Robin Ellis Thomas McKechnie, Robin Ivor Thomas Normand,Robin Eilidh Thomas Wardlaw, Robin Andrew Thomas McKechnie,  Robin Deborah Thomas MacDonald, Michelle Robin Thomas Jeffrey and many others.   Is it a new twist on “I’m Spartacus” or an Edinburgh version of “We’re a’ Jock Tamson’s bairns”?   His friend Colin Youngson wrote this profile of the man and his career with considerable assistance from Robin himself.

Robin’s wide circle of friends and less-impressed acquaintances may consider him an endearing oddball or indeed quite outrageous but he himself claims “Not unpredictably, I would suggest that I am a “character” rather than an eccentric. Assessment of eccentricity depends upon how broad a spectrum of personalities one has met in life and to what extent one is a prisoner of conventional, unadventurous, unimaginative thinking…… i.e. Tory (metaphorically, if not literally) thinking!” In the phrasing of that suggestion, the co-founder and mainstay of Hunter’s Bogtrotters (undoubtedly the most zany and unusual Scottish running club) reveals humour, originality and a concern for longwinded verbal precision. Much of the following profile will be in his own idiosyncratic and entertaining words, since he has had the impudence, nay the temerity to criticise mine as lacking accuracy!

Robin H. C. Thomas states the following. “I was born and bred in Swansea, living there between April 1955 and August ’66. Then I became a White Settler in Edinburgh, where I lived until September 1969, before moving to Penicuik for six years. Home was a mile and a half away from (and three hundred feet lower than) Howgate. I have nostalgic memories of various Penicuik 10ks in the 1990s, seeing brown-vested runners each in turn veering out of the race and pulling across the road for a Panic Pint in the Howgate Inn (those were the days when one’s legs were still frisky enough to catch (some) people again afterwards!)

Primary education was at various schools in Swansea; with Secondary Education at George Heriot’s in Edinburgh. I started running for school cross country and athletic clubs in 1968 (eventually becoming Captain and Vice-Captain thereof respectively).

In January 1972 I suffered a mountaineering accident, in Glendoll. I was unconscious for ten days, but lived to tell the tale after spending three months in hospital. Said accident left me totally deaf in my right ear.

I matriculated as a Fresher at Edinburgh University in 1972, being instantly given the nickname of “YP” by the then EUH&H Secretary Jim Dingwall (later an outstanding Scottish and British International) when I turned up for my first Wednesday afternoon’s fartlek. At the time I was still 17 years of age and living in Penicuik and Jim cried, “Ah, you’ll have to be YP!” (YP being a group of adolescent residents of Peni, prone to killing evenings together on the streets, occasionally with a canister of aerosol paint for graffiti).”   Sunday runs, unsurprisingly, were important in improving the stamina of nearly all Edinburgh distance athletes. Robin says “the Sunday training group from the Bruntisfield flat of Martin Craven (“The Crab”) went into the Pentlands, past four reservoirs (Torduff, Clubbiedean, Harlaw and Threipmuir) or sometimes seven reservoirs [aforementioned four plus Loganlea, Glencorse and Bonaly]. It was run at an amicable pace for all – often with fast runners looping back for wreckage. It was only in the mid to late 70s when Colin Youngson and Sandy Keith lived in Edinburgh that it became a burn-up along the Water of Leith valley to Balerno and back, using the formerly railway trackbed now Water of Leith walkway!” (In retrospect, I must admit partial culpability, although after Balerno, as real marathon preparation, we did occasionally come back through the reservoirs and finish with yet another lap of the Meadows to make the distance up to 25 gruelling miles.)

Robin made an impact in the November 1974 Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay when he was tenth fastest on Stage Two, only 14 seconds slower than Willie Sheridan, the future founder of Westerlands AC. Robin insist there is no such person – only ‘Bill Sheridan’ – but during 1971-73 I used to be in Victoria Park AC with young Willie and that is how they referred to him in Glasgow, so there, pedant!   Robin represented EU in the E to G in six successive races from 1974 to 1979. One highlight was in 1977 when he was sixth fastest on the prestigious Stage Six. The following year EU finished eleventh, after Robin had gained two places on Six. Then in 1979 he tackled Stage Seven, gained three places and was second-fastest by one second to future marathon star Lindsay Robertson of EAC.

At this juncture, Robin interjected the following. “Your version tends to concentrate on racing, rather than simply on running! For me, running is an end in itself and also a means to an end (weekly racing)”.

When I was in my 20s and 30s, I tended to do Long Slow Distance and little or no speedwork. I am wary of the “no gain without pain” philosophy – in longer term it can lead to injury, disenchantment, disillusionment, becoming burnt out and retiring from the sport. How many runners, coached in their younger years, continue racing in older years. PNFA!

Runners, whatever their ability, should apply themselves wholeheartedly to the sport. Massive improvement is achievable by all, by consistent and prudent (maybe hard – which includes mere mileage – but not manic) training.

Other thoughts. 1) Racing: I have scorn for those who only race when fit; 2) Attitude: my philosophy is what can one contribute to the sport, rather what one can get out of it.”

In the 1975 Junior National CC, Robin finished 33^rd but was part of the EU team that secured bronze medals. In 1976 he improved to 12^th, only one second behind Graham Laing, another future marathon star.

In the 1978 Senior National CC, Robin finished a respectable 63^rd which he dismisses as “dross”, mentioning that his “training was inconsistent in the later 70s and early 80s, due to having to work to support myself – night shift a speciality – while also being a (part-time) student.)” He represented EU three times in the Scottish CC Relay, and his team achieved 5^th place in 1975 and 6^th in 1978.

On the track, Robin recorded 32.47.4 in the 1976 East District 10,000m but must have reached half way in 15 minutes, since the eventual winner Colin Youngson remembers having to try very hard to drop him! In 1977 Robin improved to 31.30.4, which ranked 20^th in Scotland. That year he was second to Ian Orton in the Scottish Universities 5000m; and third in the British Universities 10,000m at Belfast. Robin’s 5000m personal best was 14.47. (The Scotstats profile refers to him only as “Rod/Ron? Thomas”, such is Robin’s modesty and generally low profile ……..) He says “I did increasingly little track running in my later years at Uni, partly because I found long distance track running less than hedonistic. Track 10k is utterly dire compared with the 10k cross country (especially ‘real’ cross country!), road and hill-running. Also the speed work involved for track grew increasingly unpalatable as I grew older – preferring addiction to the narcotic of mileage.”

He showed considerable promise in road running. “In 1983 I did 2.25 in the Belfast City Marathon (having led most of the way, before being destroyed by the Big Guns who had been loitering not far behind, waiting to pounce in their own shoot-out/burn-up). This was my first actual marathon. I also ran 2.25 winning the International Silk Marathon in Cheshire – which I mistakenly thought would be flat, like the Sandbach event. The Silk race proved to be from Macclesfield and was anything but flat!” Robin also won the Edinburgh to North Berwick 21.8 miler twice, in 1984 and 1985, the latter in the good time of 1.57.24.

His LSD training background helped in longer races. In the 1977 Two Bridges 36 miles he finished 9^th in 3.40.04 (recording his very first marathon time of 2.37.18 en route) and the race report states that he “won the handicap with a great run in his debut at the distance against a classy field”. Robin says “I was pleased to reach 30 miles inside three hours but then blew it! I had been catching a Royal Navy runner (name known but withheld) who’d been getting all manner of assistance from his mate in an M.G. Midget (which I thought a trifle unsporting). You’ll know how it is in ultras – patience! It can take about an hour to gain a quarter of a mile. But I caught the guy at 30 miles and was feeling okay – so I put in a burst going over the Forth Road Bridge (the Forth Bridge being for trains only) and stormed past him. Only to discover that it was a Pyrrhic victory – my legs were now wrecked, I slumped to 7 minute miles and he plodded past and away.”

Then in 1984 he was seventh in the gruelling Edinburgh to Glasgow 50 mile race, recording 5.51.53, having lost momentum after a pit-stop in Airdrie Fire Station. “I was also ‘bonking’ (i.e. low blood sugar) for 35 miles! There was no energy drink available but I did manage to grab a packet of Dextrosol – which made me feel great for all of two miles! Would have liked to have beaten 5.50. Ye Gods! My appetite and post-race thirst were utterly insatiable!”

“Lairig Ghru 28. I’m no hill-runner (shockingly bad at racing downhill) but did this event in the mid-80s, doing okay until the boulder field (wet from light rain) where I was simply unable to remain on my feet, falling umpteen times, while nimble chancers danced through without a slip.

Loch Tay 35. A late 1970s undulating training run from Firbush, looping right round Loch Tay. The ‘roadie’ who accompanied me on a pushbike (a certain Ian Orton) ended up with legs/quads more knackered than me due to the switchback trail.

My running and racing in recent decades has been plagued by recurrent injury to upper and lower parts of Achilles tendons (mainly lower calf/soleus). Occasional escapes from jail allow limited training (at funereal pace) before yet another relapse….. The sole important thing these days is being able to continue “running” – nine minute miles a price worth paying if it keeps the legs uncrocked! Appetite (greed!) and thirst, however, remain undiminished!”

Having been on school cross country and athletics committees from 1970 and EUH&H committees from 1973 onwards, Robin Thomas certainly had skills as an organiser. He was in charge of the Edinburgh University 10 miler, which involved two severely undulating laps of King’s Buildings and Braid Hills Drive. “Utilitarian prizes” were preferred to the usual unwanted coffee sets – members of the third team to finish that year each won sixteen Mars Bars!

Robin (the Race Secretary/Organiser) now denies that he ever produced a proper programme for this event. “Gestetner/Banda sheets and notices – yes! Hand-written/printed notices and comments in the Hare & Hounds logbook – certainly!” However I possess a yellowing copy of the typed up and stapled 1980 programme for the EU 10 (which cost me five new pence) and intend to quote from this. It proclaimed “the Edinburgh University Hare & Hounds 10-mile road race (8.87 Scots miles, since a Scots mile is approximately a furlong further than an English mile) has grown to become the SCCU’s biggest and most prestigious 10-mile road race. It now attracts Olympic and Commonwealth Games stars, British Internationalists, Scottish Internationalists, English Internationalists, SUSF and BUSF representatives and droves of runners of lesser ability.” (On reflection, if Don Macgregor and Fergus Murray had turned up, along with a good runner from Newcastle and a jogger or two, all of the above categories would be covered.)

Robin’s comments continued “Slugs (i.e. people who are not members of EUH&H) are invited to take part. Top prizes will be awarded to first Slug and to the first team of Slugs. As indicated above, all members of the Hare and Hounds, not being slugs, do not qualify for these prizes (we also reserve the right to disqualify EU Athletic Club and Orienteering Club runners, so that genuine fat slugs can take part and win). So, stub out your Capstan Full Strength, drain your pint of Export, and look out a pair of training shoes. You could win our Star Prizes – a keg of Export and half an ounce. Spectators will also enjoy the pie-eating contest and a refreshment session after the race.” (In 1980 I was one of the first team home (ESH). Prizes awarded to various finishers included Martini, four cans of beer, a homebrew kit and a jockstrap!)

Proof of the success of Robin’s eccentric marketing strategy came in 1981, when the fastest two runners in Scotland travelled over from the West to battle their way to a new record. Nat Muir (48.37) narrowly defeated Jim Brown (48.48) and secured the winner’s bottle of ten-year old malt whisky! However Robin comments as follows. “I would suggest that my marketing strategy was more unusual, novel, thoughtful, pragmatic, utilitarian, imaginative (and other such adjectives) as opposed to eccentric. Eccentricity depends on the proportion of boring grey conventionalists one has had the misfortune to meet in life. Bear in mind, too, that student clubs don’t have the financial means for spending much on prizes but can make prizes memorable/valued by using other parameters. As for the bottle of malt – the Hare & Hounds are a student club. They’re too young to have discovered the joys of malt! And student club funds are obviously very limited” etc ad nauseam. What a tease the man is! I know for certain that Nat and Jim turned up to joust for such a thoroughly acceptable prize, rather than the tin medals and reject tea-sets they were likely to ‘win’ in ‘normal’ events  during that era.

Other major athletic endeavours for Robin Thomas included walking the Pennine Way in1976 and vast beer tours of the best pubs in Europe, USA and Peru. A real test of determination was ‘The Triple Hundred’ when he managed to run 100 miles and drink 100 pints in 100 hours. This took place on the Isle of Man in 1978. No less an athlete/drinker than World CC Champion Dave Bedford (who trained about 30 miles per day in his pomp but could only drink a wimpish 10 pints daily) was keen to offer his congratulations. Nowadays, Robin is aware that this was a dangerous venture and does “not want some youngster getting injured/knocked down trying to emulate me. Rules were: 100 consecutive hours; no runs of less than 3 miles; no lager – must be real ale – no soft drinks or shandy. And no honking!

Among less notorious events in which I have had the pleasure of taking part are the Trinity College “Gallon Ten” and the Phoenix 14.

The former was 10 x 1 mile (each two laps of the central Dublin campus) with 9×1 pint (an “Irish Gallon”) of Guinness in between in the cricket pavilion. The event eventually became something of a distraction to the cricket players in the simultaneous Dublin Uni v NUU match! I finished second in the Gallon Ten, behind Glasgow Uni’s Alistair Hunter (aka Bunter).

The latter involved the Northumberland Coastal Run (at one time, through sponsorship, known as the Phoenix 14) – a superb point-to-point beween Beadnell and Alnmouth. One year – many, many years ago – a group of Trotters were joined by a similarly-minded group of Westerlands runners in doing the race, but stopping for a pint in each of the half dozen (or so) splendid hostelries in or near villages en route.”

“I graduated in 1976 after a four-year M.A. Honours course. Student years continued thereafter mainly on a part-time basis (financed by night shift work). My reasoning was that not only would this add assorted academic courses to my CV, but I could continue running for “The Hairies” and the financial support then available from the Sports Union (for entries, travel, accommodation etc) was greater than fees for a course. Then there was the prolongation of the craic! I left EU in 1981 and spent my student swansong doing teacher-training at Queens University, Belfast. A very enjoyable year – also a reminder from my Swansea days of the cancer of a west coast climate (prolonged hours/days of light rainfall).”

In August 1980, along with Bill Blair, Ian Orton and Conrad White, formed a new club – Hunters’ Bog Trotters, which started out with ex-EU runners, but expanded to a wide range of like-minded individuals. An article he wrote in Scotland’s Runner magazine in February 1992 states “Our declared aim was combating elitism. HBT realised that a tasteful shade of bog brown was the obvious choice of club colour. A fine non-elitist colour, it was felt. Hunters’ Bog is a large area of (former) bog lying between Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park, where many training runs were – and remain – centred. The word Trotters was chosen partly due to the terrain in Hunters’ Bog, partly because in Victorian times there had been a local running club (Edinburgh Harriers) known as the Bogtrotters, and partly because (to quote a founder member) “We do no athletics and harry no one, so calling ourselves athletic club or harriers would be both incorrect and pointless.”

“From the outset the HBT viewpoint has been that all Trotters are equal and the wellbeing of the D team no less important than the A team Both the elite and AND the also-rans/the hacks/the wreckage/the debris/the real runners are equally important to the wellbeing of a club. It’s all too easy to pay little attention to the running proletariat of the club (which is where potential for mass improvement lies) and ask after/focus on the A team and the good runners.

That emphasis on morale and club spirit is felt to be very important in this running club as it is believed an individual’s commitment to the sport will be stronger as a consequence. Also, it is felt that getting a lot of enjoyment and laughs out of life (and running), and placing major emphasis on the social life of the club (generally involving a great deal of real ale), is in no way inconsistent with being a dedicated runner.”

Robin comments further on the above: “The original newspaper article was published in the Edinburgh Evening News at the formation of the club. It was written by Sandy Sutherland and was headlined “New Edinburgh club – but not for the elite!” Three founding principles of HBT – apart from anti-elitism (metamorphosed over the years into non-elitism!) – NO God-Squad; NO Tories; and NO lager drinkers! This is to demonstrate from the outset that humour, morale, irreverence and banter are all-important to HBT. “

Nicknames abound amongst the Trotters: for example Stumpy, JamBo, Egg, Pieman, Nixon, Wah-Wah, Zoot, Phat Phil, Big D, Gash, Twiggy, McPosh, Daft Bob and Wallachie. “Wallachie is pronounce Vallachie – the Polish guys who arrested and detained us near their border in Bohemia couldn’t pronounce the “W” let alone “Wallace”.

Over the last 34 years, Robin has soldiered on valiantly as legendary club secretary/organiser and there is plenty of evidence that HBT remain true to the original ethos.

Almost incidentally the Trotters became Senior National CC team champions three times.  In addition many classy runners have chosen to compete for the club and also represent Scotland and GB, especially in hill-running. Robin emphasises that HBT women, like the men, have become one of the numerically biggest and strongest cross country etc clubs in Scotland, having been National CC Champions in 2010 and medallists on many occasions. In addition they have won the National Trail Running Championships and the UK Hill/Fell Running Championships. “Whether races are held in Scotland, England or Wales, they keep winning! But we have plenty of other women Trotters supporting the great brown movement. Traditional Trotter women who, like Traditional Trotter men, enjoy the course for longer than the elitists. HBT women (likewise men) have consistently had the most finishers in Senior National CC in recent years.”

HBT continue to organise the Hunters Bog Trot, the Black Rock Race and the Grudge Match (a bi-annual mismatch against the ‘hated’ Westerlands club). “The Great Trotter Relay is held every year, since it is a massively popular event. Starts in Hunters Bog on the Thursday evening and finishes at some distant spot (Derby? Inverness?) around Sunday teatime (with major support throughout for and by a traditional domestic industry with high economic multiplier).” (Could this be some form of healthy energising beverage? Ed.) “Basically, when there are forty or fifty Trotters participating, there simply aren’t enough stages in the day – there has to be doubling up, quadrupling up, sextupling up (or whatever).

The “Golden Trotter” award (shield and vest) is awarded to the Trotter (preferably not an impressively talented leading light), whose contribution to the club over the last year – racing or otherwise – is seen to be the worthiest Trotter.”

 Robin continues to work hard as an official. From rebel ‘poacher’ to gamekeeper! He started as a representative for EU and later HBT in the East District Committee, graduated to the SCCU committee and became the very last SCCU President in season 1992-1993. “I work as a club committee member in particular, but also on SARR&CCC East District Committee, Ed to NB Road Race and assorted other committees. Until recently I have been President of Vice on SARR&CCC.

“Rebel ‘poacher’? Neither I nor HBT have poached anybody? Very many Trotters are ex-students. Many others only started club competition after joining HBT. Those people who have defected from other clubs have done so because they wanted to.”

Robin Thomas’s running and organising career continues. He is an extremely effective and universally well-liked ‘character’ – a PFGM. “I’m now a dilapidated, post-middle-aged wreck but have been able to swallow any remaining vanity and resign myself to a race pace once seen as slow training pace (7.30s). All that matters at the end of the day is just being able to get out for a few miles!” (At long last, I find myself in total agreement. Ed.)

Several of YP’s associates have contributed anecdotes, accurate or otherwise.

Dave Wahwah Taylor remembers that “when Robin won the International Silk Marathon at Macclesfield, it was during the impecunious days of HBT (before all the plutocrats joined the club). Prizes won by members became the property of the club, and YP as a little disappointed with the suitability of his winnings for the forthcoming Xmas Raffle (especially after 42+km of endeavour) and penned the lines of that well-kent blues number ‘The Macclesfield Silk Tie Blues’!”

Ron Morrison adds “I recall Robin’s tradition of having a pint on the way out of Haddington in the 5 miler and doing the same on the way back. One year in the early 1980s, he and Bill Sheridan ran 8 alternate legs (4 each) of the Laggan Valley relay to finish 5^th team. Robin was President of the SCCU for one week only. He was elected at the AGM in 1992 with a remit of voting for the establishment of the SAF one week later (when the SCCU disbanded). Quite fitting really that it should be Robin. I also remember him eating a fish supper just before the start of the Cupar 5. Indeed he let the start go until he finished the fish supper.”

Ron sent a second email on the topic. “What did ‘YP’ mean? ‘Young Pretender’ was one interpretation I heard! When I was trying to write a definition of a Club in order to set up the new SAF in the early 90s, I floated the idea that a Club was one that had a Constitution and its members paid fees to the Club. Robin told me that this would not do as HBT had tried that and given it up as the treasurer had gone to the pub with the subs and drunk the lot with the members who were present.”

Ian Kiltie emailed many tales. “Robin’s trip with the Guv’nor to see the 1974 European Championships in Rome. Robin went AWOL at Heathrow and missed the flight, which gave Jim a couple of solo days visiting Rome’s churches while Robin renegotiated the flights. The Boston Marathon with Iain Wallace: Robin ended up running the last (first) five miles to the start, against the flow of runners who had already started – ever the purist, he never thought of just joining in.”

“The night Robin met Daley Thompson. Robin had to head off to his holiday toilet cleaning job, but Ian Orton and I were treated to hearing the young Daley (this was ’78) singing “She stood on the bridge at midnight ….” Since Robin had introduced the future Olympic gold medallist to his (Robin’s) infamous songbook.”

“The time that Frank Dick read Robin’s training diary. “What is THAT word? Look, there it is again!”

“The time the fire brigade had to axe their way into his Dreghorn flat because he had left tinned haggis cooking and the neighbours spotted the smoke.”

“Belfast stories. On one of his first nights at Queens, Robin fell in with some types who (naturally for that part of the world) asked which team he supported. Robin, aware of the subtext, replied ‘Meadowbank Thistle’. “No, What TEAM do you support?” Robin had to rely on his knowledge of Irish accents to save the day.”

“Also from the Belfast Days, the Red Bill story. Robin had gone to some left-wing political meetings in Belfast and had been asking probing questions on the state of the plans for the revolution. The Belfast Socialists had become suspicious and desired finding out more about this peculiar Welshman from Edinburgh before kneecapping him as a suspected special branch agent. So they put a call into the Scottish HQ of the Workers Party. It just so happened that Bill Gray was there when the revolutionary speaking from Belfast on the phone asked around “Does anyone know a Robin Thomas?” Bill replied “The Robin Thomas I know is just a daft runner from Edinburgh.” Once again, he lived to see another day.”

“We were also in Belfast the day Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977. Robin spent the afternoon watching the tennis and getting through a case of Guinness. However he had the BUSF 10,000m in the evening and some were taken aback by his preparations. It was very humid and the Guinness must have helped with his hydration because with 9900m gone he was placed 3^rd. Then, with just the straight to go, he stopped – he may have had a digestive malfunction, but the momentum was gone and he was overtaken, as he jogged in over the last 100m.”

“The time on his travels (can’t remember whether it was Oz, NZ or USA) when he entered some big mass participation race and discovered in the newspaper next day that he had been given the prize for the first woman (the organisers had him down as Robyn Thomas)!”

“Robin’s provisional driving licence (luckily the world didn’t see anything come of that) where on the Mr/Miss/Mrs/Dr/Other box on the application form, Robin had written Professor – so there was a 17-year-old with a provisional driving licence for Prof. Robin Thomas.”

I can add one more. In the Spring of 1978, before some championship race or other, I was in the dressing room when I was pleased to see my good friend Robin enter. His was a double mission: a) to sell ‘red men’ (i.e. cans of McEwan’s Export) to thirsty athletes; and b) to raise money for charity. He explained, in his verbose, apparently sincere and idiosyncratic manner that he was committed very soon to a sponsored event which would entail running many miles in a brief number of days and also imbibing a great deal of real ale. I was in a quandary. Part of me wished to help YP avoid bankruptcy but part of me did not wish him to endanger his health. Decision time: I agreed to sponsor him for a certain amount. “Good man,” he replied, gratefully, “If you can pay up right now, I would appreciate your generosity, because I actually succeeded in this task three weeks ago.” That Charitable Challenge was, of course, The Triple Hundred!

Ian Kiltie supplies the final anecdote. “I only saw the late, great International athlete/beer drinker Andy Holden (of Tipton Harriers) come second-best at drinking once…. At my fortieth birthday (2 decades ago!) I held a 4×1 mile relay with a pint to be downed after each leg. We ended up with two of running’s greatest beer drinkers coming in side-by-side on the last leg – Andy Holden and Robin Thomas! Andy was so confident of beating Robin on the pint that his tactic was going to be to wait until Robin had to gasp for air and then neck it in one, so he paused – bad mistake! Robin tells me that he had spent the last couple of hundred metres of his run trying to hyperventilate, so he wouldn’t need to take any gulps of air, and promptly downed his pint in one, very fast. Andy was impressed. That was one of the few occasions he was beaten on a pint.”

And there this saga has to end. We seem to have finished on humorous boozy tales but make no mistake, Robin “YP” Thomas has given an incredible amount to his chosen sport of running (indeed to Scottish Athletics) as well as entertaining (for several decades) so many of his fortunate friends.

Robin Thomas

Hunters’ Bog Trotters take their name from the area of Holyrood Park in Edinburgh known as Hunters Bog, and the club was originally formed from former students of Edinburgh University.   The rather whimsical club name encapsulates a lot of the spirit of the club – namely that the sport is not taken too seriously.   It has since spread and has an Aberdeen branch as well as the original Edinburgh base.   By a possibly happy coincidence the HBT acronym also stands for Home Brew Talk (an actual website)!   Some indications of their light hearted approach – they were to my knowledge the first Scottish club to wear war-paint on their faces after the ‘Braveheart’ film took the country by storm – other clubs and runners do it now but it is a bit passé by now, they also listed their teams in a relay not the A team, the B team, etc but their first quartet was the H team, second was the B team and the third squad was the T Team!    Ironically at one point they were one of the few clubs to offer serious to the Racing Club from Edinburgh whose raison d’être was to raise the standard of Scottish by forming a winning team: winning was the real and only goal of the club.   Two opposites in opposition to each other.   Racing Club is defunct, the Trotters trot on.   However that may be, Colin Youngson has written the following very good profile of the club.

*

The Trotters origin and philosophy has been described in the profile of one of its fastest athletes, Phil Mowbray (see Elite Endurance).   For several years after the club was formed it concentrated on a form of running which emphasised adventure and real ale drinking.   Whereas its companion club, Westerlands CCC, took part in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay as early as 1978, HBT did not participate until 1984 when it may have finished twentieth but defeated Westerlands (in that club’s last appearance in the competition).   The Trotters who featured in this debut performance included the founder, Robin Thomas (pictured above), along with Stuart Gibson, Dave Taylor and Bill Blair.   In 1985 (twentieth again) Ian ‘Nixon’ Marshall featured along with ex-ESH gold medallist Craig Hunter.   By 1989, with the advent of Par O’Kane, the brown vested army had improved marginally to nineteenth.

A hint of future success came in 1990 when HBT won the most meritorious medals after surging up the field to eighth.   Stuart Gibson started well in seventh place, then Edinburgh University’s Adam Eyre-Walker (who was to finish third in the 1991 Scottish Senior Cross-Country Championship) and Colin Farquharson maintained that place, Pat O’Kane gained one and passed on to Craig Hunter, Simon Axon (see Fast Pack, Aberdeen AAC), R Elliot and ex-EAC runner Archie Jenkins.

After a couple of less successful attempts at the E-G, and strengthened by new Trotters Rob Herries, Hayden Lorimer (future Scottish hill-running champion), Steve Wright and Robert Brown, HBT were eighth again in 1993 and sixth in 1994.   They improved again in 1995 with Phil equal fastest on Six.   1996 supplied the first E-G medal for Hunters Big Trotters when they were third.   Archie Jenkins, Jeff Pyrah, Colin Farquharson, M Thomson and Ian Harkness moved upo to seventh, and then Phil Mowbray (fastest on Six), W Grant (fastest on Seven) and Pat O’Keefe (second fastest on Eight finished strongly.

HBT were sixth in 1997 (with Donald Naylor third fastest on Two and Pat O’Keefe fastest on Six), eighth in 1998 (Phil Mowbray best on Six), and in 1999 were again third.   Farquharson, Naylor, Lorimer, Harkness, Alistair Hart, Mowbray (fastest on Six), Dave Wright and Gary Brown were the bronze medallists.   After a fourth place in 2000 (Ian Harkness fastest on Five, Phil Mowbray on Seven), the Trotters finished second in 2001, agonisingly close to winning the Edinburgh to Glasgow.   Alistair Hart was first on Stage One and Stevie Cairns fastest on Two, Dave Wright passed on to John Heapo who was fastest on Four as was Ian Harkness on Five.   At the start of Stage Six Phil Mowbray’s lead was only ten seconds and after a tremendous battle with fellow GB International Glen Stewart (Mizuno Racing Club) he ended up one second behind.   Don Naylor ran the fastest on Stage Seven to reclaim first, but Hayden Lorimer wass outpaced by Davie Ross of Mizuno and ended up only fifteen seconds down.   Still – a fantastic performance – HBT were more than seven minutes clear of Shettleston in third.   The final E-G in 2001 produced fourth place for the Trotters, despite fastest times for Ian Harkness on Five and Phil Mowbray on Seven.

However, as the club’s name suggests, Trotters tend to specialise in tougher underfoot conditions, although they did finish second in the 2004 Scottish Six-Stage Road Relay (with Cairns,Mowbray, Billy Minto, Hart, Dave Wright and Ray Ward).   In 2005 HBT won the Scottish Cross-Country Relay Championships (Cairns, Hart, Naylor, Mowbray) and two years later came third in the same event (Murray Strain) Ward, Hart and Cairns).

The greatest triumphs for Hunters Bog Trotters certainly came in the Scottish National Senior Cross-Country Championships with victories in 2001, 2005 and 2007, as well as bronze medals in 2002 and 2009.   Gold medallists were Don Naylor, Steve Cairns, Phil Mowbray, John Heap, Ian Harkness, Alistair Hart, Ward and Strain.   Bronze medallists were Dave Wright, Gary Brown, James McMullan and Craig McBurney.

The highest individual places achieved by HBT athletes in the Nationals included Philo Mowbray second, Don Naylor second, Steve Cairns fourth, John Heap sixth, Ian Harkness twelfth, Alistair Hart fifth, Ray Ward eleventh, Murray Stain fifth and James McMullan fourth.   Now for some extra information about some prominent Trotters (although none of them would dare to boast since that would lead to expulsion from HBT!)

Colin Farquharson first ran the Edinburgh to Glasgow for Clyde Valley in 1977 (see Fast Pack: Clyde Valley) and won Scottish team titles with them before injuries began to hinder his running.   He ran for Aberdeen AAC in the 1985 Edinburgh to Glasgow but the Aberdeen branch of the HBT was formed and Colin, a free spirit, was a natural to join that club.   As has been mentioned above, he wore the brown vest with distinction and contributed to medal-winning performances as well as social highlights.   He ran the very last E-G in 2002 – 26 events after his first appearance.   In 2001, when HBT won the National for the first time, Colin was seventh man home for the club (and they would still have won the title if he had been their last counter), it was only right that the triumphant team photo showed Colin Farquharson holding the trophy.

Donald Naylor, from Swansea, continues to have a very impressive career.   His track bests include 3:46.9 (1500m), 13:58 (5000m) and 8:37.35 (3000m steeplechase).   Apart from his cross-country feats, Don is a GB INternational steeplechaser and competed for Wales in the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester where he finished sixth in the steeplechase.   In 2004 he won the New Zealand Championship in that event, and also the Inter-Counties 5000m.   At the age of forty in 2012 he still managed to finish twenty second in the Scottish National Cross-Country.

Gary Brown who had track bests of 1:47.15 (800m) and 3:42.66 (1500m) represnted Scotland in the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria.

Alistair Hart became Scottish 5000m champion in 2000.

Ian Harkness is the course record holder for the famous Black Rock 5.   He has completed the Two Breweries hill race and was part of the HBT team that triumphed in the 2002 Isle of Man Easter Festival of Running (and fast pint drinking).

David Wright won the Isle of Harris Half Marathon in 2004 and the Stornoway Half Marathon in 2010.

Stevie Cairns from Northern Ireland and Annadale Striders, continues to race voraciously.   He was Northern Ireland steeplechase champion and the Scottish Cross-Country champion in 2004 over the 4K distance.   Stevie has also won the Scottish Police  cross-country championships and the UK Police steeplechase and 5000m.   Since becoming a veteran he has run very well in the annual British and Irish Cross-Country International where he frequently spends time socialising with the Scots (as well as the Northern Irish of course).

Ray Ward ran 1500m in 3:50.   After his track career he turned to the roads and has won the Newtonmore 10, the Edinburgh to North Berwick 20 and the two island half marathons, in Harris and Coll.

James McMullen is a GB International hill-runner and in 2011 became Commonwealth Mountain Running Champion.

Craig McBurney from Morpeth is coached by the great Jim Alder.   He finished second M40 in the 2009 Scottish Masters Cross-Country and has taken part in the annual British and Irish International.

Murray Strain the current club captain, is obviously talented and versatile and continues to improve.   Like many Trotters he previously ran for Edinburgh University.   His first sport was Orienteering and he ran twice in the World Championships.   Murray has won the British Elite Sprint Distance Championship.   He is a prominent 10K road runner and in 2012 won the Great Scottish Run at that distance.   In 2011 he became the Scottish Hill-Running champion and has competed internationally for Scotland.   In 2012 Murray Strain won the Snowdon International, and ran well in the gruelling Jungfrau Marathon, and the Sierre Zinal.

A recent recruit for Hunters Bog Trotters is Joe Symonds who in 2012 finished ninth in the Scottish National Cross-Country and went on to win the British Mountain Championships (Short Category).   He is of course a GB International hill runner.

The Hunters Bog Trotters saga continues!

*

There are lots of very interesting and talented athletes in the Trotters Roll of Honour.   The range of abilities that have come together in the club is very wide indeed – outstanding track runners who have competed with distinction at many major Games in events as far apart as the relative sprint of the 800m and the technicalities of the steeplechase., very good hill runners who have run for Britain as well as for Scotland, Orienteers and road runners aplenty.   What has drawn them to Hunters Bog Trotters?   Probably the mix of the sport itself, the club philosophy that ‘losing isn’t the end of the world’ and good company.   Of course, success helps, whatever they might say.   The whole thing, started by the man at the top of the page, Robin Thomas who was at one time President of the SCCU.    In your more philosophical moments, as a runner, you could do worse than raise a glass to Robin!

 Robin Thomas