Author: The Author

February 1956: The Wellpark team that was second in the National at Hamilton:   Back Row:   J Cairns, B Aitken, S Aitken, D McGivern, C Aitken, S Brown.

Front Row:   G King (21st), B Stoddart (33rd), J Stevenson (4th), D McConnachie (43rd), T Stevenson (3rd) and P McKay (51st)

Greenock had three running clubs when I took up the sport – Greenock Glenpark Harriers, Greenock Wellpark Harriers and a women’s club called Greenock Rankin Park Harriers.    All were well established clubs at that point and all were successful clubs.  The oldest of teh three was Wellpark (1891) with Glenpark being in 1895 so there was clearly a love of the sport in an area that could support three athletics clubs and that had been going for so many generations.  The top men in Wellpark that I was aware of right from the start were the brothers Tom and John Stevenson and George King.   George was a very good road runner and a medallist in the marathon while Tom and John Stevenson and team mate Frank Sinclair all won Scottish Cross-Country vests – Tom won six, John and Frank four each.   All three were in the Scottish cross-country team at the world championships in 1953.  Bill Stoddart who was as exceptional in his own way as any Scottish runner at any time is also part of this band although his true exceptionality was not to become clear for some time, he has his own profile on the website  here  .  Others of note included Frank Whitley and Junior McHenery who died in October 2011.  Junior had been a member of the teams in the 1950’s and early 60’s and had been third in the SCCU junior cross-country championships.   If we go through the exploits of the club in the 50’s and early 60’s the quality of the club at the time and of the runners will be eminently clear.   Remember that at this time Victoria Park AAC, Shettleston Harriers, Bellahouston Harriers and Edinburgh Southern Harriers were all top class outfits as shown by their running in British competition as well as Scottish, and remember too that Wellpark was facing competition within Greenock itself from Glenpark Harriers.   There was no team from Wellpark in the classic Edinburgh to Glasgow road relay race until 1955 when they finished seventh.   A notable achievement for a first ever run in the event and would surely have won the medals for the most meritorious performance had it not been for the even more outstanding run by Vale of Leven Harriers.    They followed this with second place in the Scottish Cross Country Championships just four months later when Tom and John Stevenson were third and fourth.

Frank Sinclair finishing second in the National in 1948

But we should go back to the immediate post war years to make a proper start.    In season 1946-47 Frank Sinclair of Wellpark was fourth in the senior national – only five seconds behind Emmet Farrell in third and 29 seconds behind Andy Forbes in first place.   This gained him selection for the International race in Paris on 30th March where Jim Flockhart in seventh led the team into fifth place and Frank finished in twenty eighth to be counter for the team.   Emmet, writing in the ‘Scots Athlete’ preview of the SAAA Championships that year said: “An ‘Open’ Mile:   A new title holder is certain for this event.   Jack Corfield, the holder, being back in England.   J Stuart (Shettleston), Geo Lamont (Victoria Park) and F Sinclair (Greenock Wellpark) all have excellent chances as has J Buchan (St Andrews).  There is no word at the moment of of James Fleming (Motherwell), at present overseas, but if able to compete I should be prepared to see him win.      Stuart is going great guns at the moment and as this ambitious young man trains to schedule as far as business permits,  he should be there at the ‘death’.   George Lamont, last year’s runner-up, ran a good race in the AAA mile championship last year and cannot be left out of the reckoning.    But, in what should be a very open and exciting race, I am prepared to find Frank Sinclair hitting the tape first.  “   The brief report on the race itself said that the favourite had been Sinclair, and the result was a win for the Greenock man in 4:27 by eight yards from Lamont.   He was subsequently named a a possible Scottish contender for a place in the 1948 Olympic Games team – ‘though possibly not in the Mile.’  There was a triangular contest in Edinburgh between Scotland, England and Ireland and Sinclair ran in the mile where he was third behind the two Englishmen but only 15 yards from the winner.

A profile of Frank Sinclair in the ‘Scots Athlete’ of March 1947 by Roy Robinson (Photoflash No 3) said:

“In 27 year old Frank Sinclair, Greenock Wellpark have developed one of the most colourful runners of the present decade.   Finishing fourth in the Scottish cross-country championships with the underfoot conditions not to his liking, was a meritable performance, and as a member of Scotland’s team in the international cross-country race on March 30th, he is capable of running an outstanding race over a course which will be more suitable to him.   Frank has a long raking stride, with a free, easy action which catches the eye whenever racing.   His all round versatility is demonstrated by his distinctive running over all distances from 880 yards to ten miles.

In spite of his success at cross-country running, I would like to see Frank concentrating on middle-distance track racing events, preferably the half-mile, in which I think his potentialities have scarcely been touched.   His 1:58.1 sec half mile at Glasgow Police Sports last July was a pointer in this direction.   His best track performances last season were in the 880 and One Mile contests at Westerlands where he represented the Western District of the SAAA against a University select.   Few who were there will readily forget the ease with which he ran away from his field in both these events.   By concentrating in his training in the 88-0 yards event, he could, I feeel certain, get down to 1 min 46 sec and probably 1 min 54 sec and have his name set in the list of SAAA champions.”

1947-48 saw the first appearances of Tom and John Stevenson and George King in the officials results with Tom in the senior ranks and John as a Youth.   After a poor winter in terms of team results, the National results for the club were encouraging at least.   Frank Sinclair was second in the senior race and George Dallas, writing in the ‘Scots Athlete’ had this to say about his finish: Sinclair in a great duel with Craig (Shettleston) just managed to pip his rival on the post, and this must be regarded as a splendid result for one who is particularly good from the half mile upwards.”   Sinclair was only 13 seconds and 70 yards behind winner Emmet Farrell who had last won the title in 1938 – exactly ten years earlier.   Sinclair was selected for the International at Reading on 3rd April where he finished 53rd.    In the Youths race, won by Harry Fenion of Lochwinnoch, John Stevenson was placed fourth, just 33 seconds back and only 10 seconds behind the third runner.

In the SAAA Championships in June at Hampden Park, Sinclair was second to Fleming of Motherwell who clocked 4:27.8.   In the triangular international between Scotland, England & Wales and Ireland at Fallowfield in Manchester on 17th July, Sinclair was third in the 1500 metres behind JJ Barry of Ireland and DG Wilson of England with the race won in 4:57.8.

Into season 1948-49 and although the club was not evident in the results of the McAndrew Relay at the start of October, they won the South Western Relay from rivals Glenpark Harriers by 45 seconds.   The names that were to make the club famous in the 1950’s were coming together – George King was second on the first stage just one second adrift of Irvine with Glenpark out of the first three.   R Beaton of Wellpark dropped back as Glenpark swept into the lead on the second stageThen John Stevenson with the fastest lap of the day so far, handed his brother a six second lead over Glenpark.   On the last leg    “Though being chased by the young but unproved runner W Williamson (Glenpark) and the experienced internationalist , West Kilbride ‘flyer’ Jimmy Reid, Wellpark’s youth, T Stevenson, carried his colours well and actually returned the fastest time of the day (11:57).”   Three Wellpark me were in the seven fastest times.   In the preview of the National in 1949, Emmet Farrel said –“Frank Sinclair is trying with the idea of having a real crack at the mile in the coming track season, yet at the same time he would like to make the team for Dublin.   Thus it is somewhat difficult to estimate his chances without knowing his present state of fitness and his intentions.   Nevertheless I feel bound to put him on a short leet.   Ayr Racecourse is made to measure for him and his easy loping stride and fast finish are a danger to the very best; and after all he was runner-up last year.”   On 5th February at Kilmarnock, Tom Stevenson was second to McNab of Irvine YMCA in the South Western District Junior Championship.   The team was seventh with George King second counter in eventh place followed by T Thomson, J Sinclair, David Anderson (who woukld become a useful marathon runner) and D Beaton.   Although the team failed to close in at the National, Tom Stevenson finished fifth prompting Emmet Farrel to say, “Other features included the superb running of novices Tom McNeish of Irvine YMCA and Tom Stevenson of Greenock Wellpark.   …. Tom Stevenson’s feat of finishing fifth is perhaps even more surprising (than that of McNeish) as the limelight was less focussed on him than on McNeish.   Despite his tender years and slender build he ran with the aplomb of a veteran on this course which blighted the hopes of so many and tripped with fairy-like precision over the glaur.”   Incidentally the course over which he was so effusive earlier was a different story in the country around the racecourse was laced with barbed wire fences and a burn which had to be crossed three times was in spate and everyone was soaked every time across: virtually all of the runners ended the day with scrapes. cuts or other wounds! Young brother John meanwhile, ran superbly well to be second in the Youths Championship behind G Adamson of West Kilbride.  Tom was selected for the international and finished fifty third.

Team for 1949 international: Alec Nangle, Motherwell, Team Manager.   Andy Forbes, Jim Fleming, Emmet Farrell, George Craig,TOM STEVENSON, Tom McNeish;

Front: Jim Flockhart, Jimmy Reid, Bobby Reid

Very little was heard of Greenock Wellpark Harriers during summer 1949, but they were out in the McAndrew Relay at the start of October that year when the team finished tenth.   The runners were George King (16:44), R Beaton (17:55), John Stevenson (16:31) and Tom Stevenson (16:12).   Not being involved in the Edinburgh to Glasgow, their last relay was the South Western District at West Kilbride on 5th November where they finished tenth after having won it the year before.   The only two of that team were R Beaton on the first stage and Tom Stevenson on the last leg.   Tom was second fastest with 13:42 to Gilbert  Adamson’s 13:30.   There was an even poorer turnout from the club in the South Western 7 miles championship at Paisley on 4th February when only Tom Stevenson and R Beaton turned out and they finished sixth. and twenty first.   The question of where Frank Sinclair had gone was answered in Emmet Farrell’s preview of the National in 1950 when he listed F Sinclair of Blaydon and Greenock Wellpark.   He was living in England and representing his English team south of the border.   He also said that the previous year he did not even regard the ‘Greenock boy’ (Tom Stevenson) a threat in the National but he ran a really good race to finish fifth and make his selection certain.   He said:  “Tom Stevenson  –  A ‘Jack-in-the-Box’.    Tom Stevenson (Greenock Wellpark) has just returned from the Army and though an international is still in the Junior class.   He was a big surprise at last year’s National at Ayr.   On a day that put paid to the chances of many favoured candidates, this slightly-built frail looking youth ran like a veteran to earn fifth place.   Just when he is most overlooked he keeps popping up to make the critics sit up and take notice.”   Tom opted to run in the Junior race but could only finish seventh in a race won by Adamson from Lennie of the Vale of Leven.   There was no Wellpark team in the Senior race but …. the second finisher was Frank Sinclair, billed as Blaydon & Wellpark.   Emmet’s report commented that “… Bobby Reid of Birchfield H. the winner dictated the pace of the race and a right merry one it was.   Perhaps that is the reason why so many runners felt the pace so early in the race.   A very fit Frank Sinclair loped along in close proximity and after a grad race was only 15 yards behind at the finish.”   ‘The result and times were – 1.   R Reid (50:22), 2.   F Sinclair (50:25); 3.   T Tracey (50:31); 4. JE Farrell (50:36).   This gained Frank selection for the international in Boitsfort, Brussels and he was forty sixth to be the fourth Scot to finish.      The outstanding form continued and in the SAAA Championsips at Hampden in June, the report reading “former holder Frank Sinclair outclassed his field in the mile and former junior champion Eddie Bannon had a good and exciting last lap to be runner-up.”   The winning time was 4:23 with Bannon credited with 4:29.2.   Frank followed this with another run in the triangular international at the White City in August and he was again first Scot when he was third behind the two English runners in a time of 3:56.8 for 1500m.

The club again failed to get its best team out in the McAndrew Relay with their quartet of King, Lobban, Walker and Tom Stevenson finishing twenty first.   They had a much better four out in the South Western District Relay where they finished third behind West Kilbride and Irvine YMCA.   Team: T Walker (15:20); G King (14:12), T Stevenson (14:18), F Sinclair (14:12)   Sinclair had third fastest time.    In his preview of the 1951 National, Emmet Farrell said ” a fit Frank Sinclair should be a certainty for international selection, in fact a contender for individual honours.  But the mile champion does not at the moment of writing appear to be so fit as last year and unless he bridges the gap to a large extent he will be hard placed to gain a place.”   However, it’s possible that Frank felt the same as Emmet because he was not a participant in the National.   Come to that, none of the Wellpark seniors were on duty that day.   It still surprises me to see how many able athletes of the early 1950s missed the National – it is obvious with many clubs such as Vale of Leven that their top men avoided the cross-country championship of Scotland.   It is the more surprising when you see that they were indeed good class runners over the country: in the South Western District Championships on 3rd February, Tom Stevenson was second in 34:22, just six seconds behind the winner.   The club was third behind Glenpark (2nd) and Irvine YMCA (1st).   The runners that day were T Stevenson (2), F Sinclair (4), G King (5), P McLaughlin ((22), R Beaton (35) and W Campbell (42).   When it came to summer 1951, Emmet Farrell was quite confident that, if fit, was still his choice for the Mile.   However the report the next month carried the news that Frank had not got through his Heat!   When asked he apparently said that it was down to “lack of training.”    However all was not lost for the Wellpark supporters – Tom Stevenson was second in 4:25 to Walter Lennie who had come up from Colchester for the event.   Emmet’s ranking list for the year had John Stevenson ranked at number five in his top ten over the Mile although he was in fact the third ranked Scot on time.

In the South Western District Cross-Country Relay at Ayr on 3rd November 1951, Wellpark was fifth of twelve clubs taking part with Tom Stevenson having the second fastest time just 9 seconds behind Alex Smith of Plebeian Harriers.   The times recorded tell a story – G King 14:08, P McLaughlin 14:31, R Beaton 15:57 and Stevenson 13:26.   Two and a half minutes between fastest and slowest team members.      Into 1952 and the Nigel Barge Road Race on 5th January where Tom Stevenson was fourth behind Forbes, Binnie and Tracey (27 seconds behind the winner) leading the team of himself, brother John (9th) and George King (54th) into sixth of 17 teams.   This prompted Emmet Farrell to comment “Another Singlet for Tom Stevenson?   Three yeras ago when still a junior young Tom Stevenson of Greenock Wellpark represented Scotland at cross-country.   Now just out of the junior ranks he has been showing grand form this season and this recent performance seems to suggest that he will be a live contender for international honours again in this his first season as a senior.”   The next race thereafter was the South Western District Championships where Tom Stevenson won by over a minute from Harry Kennedy of Glenpark with George King third.    The team did not figure in the top six clubs.    Emmet’s forecast this time was for Tom to be fifth and for George King  to be a contender.   He was exactly right as far as Tom was concerned – fifth and a place in the team.   But no GWH team in the race at all.   He raced in the international and finished forty fifth.   The only Wellpark Harrier running in the SAAA Championships was Tom and he failed to make the final but did get inside the standard time of 4:30.   The actual time of 4:26 ranked him seventh in Scotland.

At the start of season 1952-53 there was no Wellpark or Glenpark team at all in the McAndrew Relay at Scotstoun but on 18th October at Kilbarchan, Wellpark was second to Bellahouston – only 12 seconds down.    The team of George King (15:03), David Anderson (16:15), T Stevenson (14:22) and J Stevenson (14:22) provided the first two times of the day.   Looking forward to the National of 1953, Emmet Farrell as usual named his top six but added that he did not feel as confident as usual “the chief reason being the presence of Ian Binnie and the brothers Stevenson who have the ability if in the mood to upset the applecart.”   He also noted them as possibles for the international team.   In the South Western District Championship at West Kilbride on 31st January the club went one better than the year before.   at the end of the first lap, A Napier, Paisley, had a lead of ten yards over T Stevenson with J Stevenson following close behind.   When runners came into view again T Stevenson had taken the lead and crossed the line 100 yards ahead of his younger brother John with A Napier a further 15 yards behind..   The race ended in a tie between Wellpark and Irvine YMCA with a score of 102 points but the new rule gave Wellpark victory. “   The new rule stated that in the event of a tie, then the scoring would be done as though only the teams involved were competing. disregarding all other runners.   The Wellpark team consisted of Tom and John Stevenson (1 and 2), F Sinclair (6th), G King (7th), P McLaughlin (36th), R Beaton 50th,   with D McSwein a non-scoring runner.    Almost the same squad turned out in the National with great results.    The team was fourth and three men were selected for the Scottish team in the international!   John Stevenson  was third (behind Bannon and Forbes), Tom was fourth and Frank Sinclair won his fourth international vest in seventh place.    The other team counters were George King (25th), R Beaton (88th) and Duncan McSwein (92nd).   In the race itself, held in Vincennes, the two brothers had an unfortunate experience.   John suffered from sunstroke and had a badly blistered foot which led to him dropping out while Tom in his third international, was also unhappy in the heatwave conditions.  “Sinclair slogged with me well behind for most of the race then in the last lap went off like a 2-miler.   Sinclair has the speed to be a very good cross-country runner if he would train for stamina and overcome his psychological fear of the early and middle stages of the race,”  said Emmet who had himself run in the race – Frank was 52nd and Emmet 59th.    This was Frank’s fourth and last international cross-country race.

Both brothers were written up as track prospects but by 16th June only John was in the rankings with a 4:25.6 Mile time placing him seventh, and 14:51,3 for the Three Miles which also placed him seventh.   Neither however featured at any distance in the National Championships.   At the Glasgow Rangers Sports on 1st August John won the Handicap Two Miles off 150 from Len Eyre and Ian Binnie.

The first real winter relay for the club in season 1953-54 was the South Western District event and they emerged triumphant at Kilmarnock on a day of torrential rain which made conditions very arduous.   George King ran first and came in in ninth place, 200 yards behind the leader in 17:10.  Frank Sinclair had a job to do and ‘he was using his long graceful stride of his to some purpose and with superb judgment brought Wellpark from ninth t a second position only 25 yards behind Beith’   John Stevenson, Wellpark’s second internationalist handed over a 120 yards lead to brother Tom (quoted as number three Scotland runner).    I quote what happened next: it seemed to be all over bar the shouting but the tenacity of young Ian Harris, the 18 year old Beith boy, was good to see and when Tom injured himself at a fence the lead was rapidly cut down.   Stevenson hung on however to record a victory of fifty yards for Wellpark.  “   The day’s fastest times were from Frank Sinclair (16:00) and John Stevenson (16:16).     John was second to Ian Binnie in the Nigel Barge Road Race at New Year.    Emmet Farrell’s forecast for the National in 1954 he nominated John Stevenson – and as the man who could upset things if Bannon was below par.   Tom he had down as one of those battling for the minor places.   But first there was the matter of the South Western District Championships to be held in Beith.   The report reads as follows,  “This developed into another of those individual races dominated by the Stevenson brothers but on this occasion Tom the holder had to give way to young brother John who ran superbly throughout despite the treacherous underfoot conditions to win by over 150 yards from an admittedly much fresher older brother.”    The team was well down on the year before, finishing fourth.   The runners were John and Tom Stevenson (1st and 2nd), George King 7th, David Anderson (40th), R Beaton (41st), Duncan McSwein Jnr (47th) with RL McSwein being a non-scoring runner in 54th place.       When it came to the national, there were two Wellpark men in the first eight – John Stevenson in sixth and Tom in eighth and the team finished in ninth place with George KIng 31st,David Anderson 116th, R Beaton 120th and Duncan McSwein 133rd.   As expected John and Tom Stevenson earned selection but made rather heavy weather of it.   Possibly the rather heavy conditions and lifeless nature of the turf handicapped them more than some of the others.   John Stevenson in particular has the devastating speed of the miler but does not relish the heavy going.”      In the international itself, John was 8th and Tom was 54th and a non-scoring member of the team.

In the SAAA Championships at Hampden on 25th/26th June, Tom was fifth in the Three Miles in 14:42.7 while John was seventh in the same race in 14:54.1.   The ranking lists published the day before the Championships took place indicated that John had run a mile in 4:22.9 (second fastest in Scotland) at Renfrew on 21st June, Two Miles in 9:12.9 (second) at Meadowbank on 19th June and Three Miles in 14:5.2 (second) at Ibrox on 12th June..   These were still his best times at the end of the summer, the only change being that his mile ranking went down to seventh.  He remained the second quickest Two and Three Miler in the country behind Ian Binnie.

 In the South Western Championships on 29th January John Stevenson retained his title in what was described as convincing style from Lapsley of West Kilbride with brother Tom back in fourth place.   George King was fifth and they won the team race by 40 points from Paisley Harriers.   The remaining team members were D McConnachie 10th, J Cairns 12th and P McLaughlin 23rd.   Non-counters were C Aitken 30th, W Aitken 34th, T Carr 38th and R Beaton 44th.   Emmet’s top six for the 1955 National included John Stevenson at number five and again Tom Stevenson was reckoned to be a contender for one of the minor places.   Well, he was nearly right.   John was indeed second – but to Henson of Victoria Park rather than to Bannon of Shettleston – but brother Tom was fifth in 50:10 – forty seconds behind the winner and 34 behind his brother.   The club team was fourth with the other runners being George King 24th, C Aithken 56th, J Cairns 63rd and W Stoddart 72nd and last counter.   Two brothers in the Scottish team again, this time for the International in San Sebastian.   Tom was 57th and John 60th – neither being a scoring runner.   It was Tom’s fifth and John’s third appearance in the event and they had one more run in it each – in 1956.

George King leading the Scottish Marathon from Joe McGhee, EddieKirkup (Rotherham) and Hugo Fox.

I’ve no idea who put the ink numbers on the picture but they indicate the finishing positions.

We have not really done justice to George King yet:  he had never appeared in track rankings or up the field in track championships but he was a useful cross-country who eventually found his niche in athletics in the most difficult of all standard distances – the 26+  miles of the marathon.   It was in summer 1954 that he made his debut in the event.   The SAAA event that year was held from the Cloch Lighthouse in Gourock to Ibrox and George was third in 2:47:04.    It was described in Colin Youngson and Fraser Clyne’s book ‘A Hardy Race’ as follows.   “Joe McGhee’s fitness just kept on improving, and he took part in the Scottish Marathon Championship on 29th May, 1954, over a new course from the Cloch Lighthouse, Gourock to Ibrox Park, where the Glasgow Highland Games were being held.   The time at five miles, after a fast start, was 27:11, with John Duffy, the holder, McGhee, Hamilton Lawrence of Teviotdale Harriers and George King of Wellpark all together.   Also taking part were Willie Gallagher of Shettleston, John Emmet Farell, Gordon Porteous and Eddie Campbell (St Mary’s), the famous Ben Nevis runner – but due to the warm day and very stiff headwind, only Farrell finished.   Lawrence broke away, taking McGhee in his slipstream.   After 15 miles and the long climb up from Langbank, Joe took the lead and Lawrence dropped out saying he felt sick and had eaten nothing since breakfast.   Not surprisingly, since he had not been given a chance of qualification, Duffy stopped too.   Yet McGhee pushed on covering the next five windy miles 30:36 – good going on his own.   While many participants were forced to drop out, Joe ran on as if closely pursued and won in the excellent championship record of 2:35:22.   Forty five year old Emmet Farrell finished strongly in 2:43:08 with a tired George King, who had run the entire second half on his own, just holding off N Neilson (Springburn Harriers) by five seconds in 2:47:04.”  That was George’s marathon debut and the bronze medal was a just reward.   It clearly whetted his appetite because he ran again in 1955 and went one better and he was second in 2:34:30 behind Joe McGhee (2:25:50) and in front of Hugo Fox (Shettleston).   In between the two races had come the Empire Marathon in Vancouver where Joe won in what turned out to be controversial circumstances.    Back to ‘A Hardy Race’

“By the time the Scottish marathon came round again, on 25th June, 1955, over the Falkirk to Edinburgh course, Joe McGhee was fitter than ever, ready to show that he was a worthy Empire Games champion, as well as supreme in Scotland.   Emmet Farrell, himself sixth in 2:48:44, wrote that, ‘Joe McGhee’s record breaking 2:25:50 was easily the feat of the SAAA championships and puts him into world class and an extra glitter on to his British Empire gold medal.   Conditions were excellent but the course is by no means an easy one, and this enhances the performances of George King (Greenock Wellpark Harriers) whose time of 2:34:30 beat the previous best ever in Scotland and that of Hugo Fox with a 2:37:35.

George King had made his marathon debut the previous year, winning bronze despite a light training schedule of three days a week totalling 23 miles!   Like most others at the time, he wore Green Flash tennis shoes, which were extremely heavy (especially when wet) but gave little protection.   From March 1955, however, he increased his training load dramatically to over 80 miles per week!   (Monday 14; Tuesday 5 + 10; Thursday 5 + 12 fartlek; Saturday 20; Sunday 15.)   Not surprisingly he felt strong in the 1955 Championship!   Later that year George won a one hour race at the famous Ibrox Sports covering 10 miles 1625 yards.   Then he finished third in the Edinburgh Highland Games marathon to Eddie Kirkup of Rotherham and Jackie Mekler from South Africa.”   This was not George’s last marathon by any means and he went on to win another SAAA medal and run well in road races all round Scotland.

At the start of season 1955-56, Wellpark won the South Western District Relay Championship on 5th November by over two minutes from Paisley Harriers.   George ran first and handed over a fifty yard  lead to Danny McConnachie who increased the lead to about one hundred and sixty yards.    John Stevenson increased the lead to three hundred yards and Tom Stevenson was approximately six hundred and fifty yards in front by the finish.   Tom (16:19) and John (16:35) Stevenson had the fastest two laps of the day but an interesting feature of the first stage was that Wellpark’s second team was third, courtesy of W Stoddart (17:33).   Stoddart had an identical time to McConnachie in the A Team for whom J Cairns had a faster time than two of the A team with his 17:11.   A very good six in action there and the real relay – the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight man relay – was looming later in the month; and Wellpark were in the race for the first time.    How would the new boys fare?

W Stoddart ran on the important first stage – a poor run here would see the club too far back to do any damage but he ran a solid race to be twelfth.   Tom Stevenson next on the ferociously difficult second leg against big guns from every other club – and he pulled up to fourth place with fourth fastest stage time – eight valuable places.   J McGregor on the short third stage dropped a bit to seventh but most clubs put their weak man on this leg.   George King ran on the fourth stage – another difficult one and maintained seventh with the sixth fastest stage time. On to the fifth leg and Danny McConnachie also held on to seventh place with eighth fastest time.   The long and hard sixth stage was next with the best of the best in action – John Stevenson was the man and at the end of the stage they were still in seventh with fourth fastest time.   He ran 34:16, just behind Alec McDougall of the Vale of Leven in 34:17, and one place in front of Adrian Jackson on    34:18!  On the seventh stage, J Cairns held seventh with the fifth fastest time of the afternoon, and on the last leg C Aitken brought the team home in seventh with sixth quickest time.    In many, if not most years, a team finishing seventh in their first run in the event would have won the medals for the most meritorious unplaced performance in the race but this time, the Vale of Leven won them after finishing a very good fifth.   Nevertheless there was satisfaction in the performance and in the fact that they had six men in the first ten on their stages.

Andy Forbes leading John (111) and Tom Stevenson in the National of 1953

they finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in that order.

The next big team race before the National was the South Western District Championship, held on 28th January at Beith.   The individual race was won by Tom Stevenson (37:02) from John Stevenson (37:39) with Ian Harris of Beith third in 38:14.   The team race was won by Wellpark with Tom and John 1st and 2nd, George King fifth, Bill Stoddart twelfth, C Aitken fifteenth and Danny McConnachie sixteenth, and the margin was 64 points – 51 to 115.  Add in that the club’s Youth team was also first with A Cairns (2), I Ross (7) and J Melville (13) and it was clear that the entire club was in good shape.   Emmet Farrell in his preview of the National estimated that John would be fifth and Tom seventh.   He was nearly right in that they were both in the first seven all right but wrong in that they were further up than he thought.   Bannon won in 46:55, Andy Brown was second in 47:06 with Tom Stevenson third in 47:30 and John fourth in 47:42.   How did the team do?   Well they did better than Emmet had forecast as well by finishing second!   The wonderful team members who achieved the feat were – Tom and John in third and fourth, George King 21st, Bill Stoddart33rd, Danny McConnachie 43rd and P McKay 51st.   Non Scoring runners included C Aitken, J Cairns, D McSwein, S Brown and W Aitken.   The Stevensons continued the spirit of togetherness into the International where they  finished 38th (John) and 39th (Tom) and counted as scoring members of the fourth placed Scottish team.

George King started the summer by finishing second to Harry Fenion of Bellahouston Harriers in the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16 miles road race but when it came to the SAAA marathon championship he had to retire with a knee injury at half distance.   The following tale is told in ‘A Hardy Breed’.   “George King relates that in July 1956 he travelled with Joe McGhee to the British Marathon Championship in Birkenhead.   Joe arranged for a taxi, sponsored by ‘The Daily Record’, to drive them round the course the evening before the race – but torrential rain, thunder and lightning forced them to abandon that plan.   Race day was very hot and sunny.   Both Scots felt good but the temperature continued to rise.   Joe had to retire and George too was suffering from dehydration.   He passed a young boy carrying a jar of water and asked him for a drink.   The boy refused as it had taken him all afternoon to catch the minnows he was taking home in the jar!   Poor George retired at half distance.”

It had been a wonderful period for the club with Frank Sinclair (4), John Stevenson (4) and Tom Stevenson (6) gaining fourteen cross-country international medals between them, Frank winning tow SAAA Mile titles plus a couple of minor place medals plus four runs for Scotland in the annual triangular match, plus George’s Marvellous Marathons and all the District and individual titles.

*

The first run in the Edinburgh to Glasgow held out promise of good things to come but up to 1960 they were bedevilled by the lack of a first ten place on the first stage.   When they finally got up to fourth in 1960 and in with a chance of the Most Meritorious Medals they went to Aberdeen who were in their first race for some time.  Wellpark were most unlucky in the Most Meritorious Medal stakes -the following year they were seventh and the medals went to Dundee Hawkhill in 16th!  The basic E-G Statistics for the period to 1960 are in the table.

Frank Whitley was another top class athlete who eventually moved to London where he ran for Thames Valley Harriers and came back up to run in major races for the Wellpark.   He had best times, ranked every year from 1962 to 1970,of 4:14.0 for the Mile (1969), 9:05.6 for Two Miles (1968), 14:09.9 for Three Miles (1968), 29:47.0 for Six Miles (1968), 14:25.6 for 5000m (1969), 30:24.6 for 10000m (1969) and 2:46:06 for the marathon (1969).

Back to season 1956-57 though and the season started with the relays as usual.   The club won the South Western District Relays with an almost brand new team – no Stevensons or Sinclairs therein!   Junior McHenry ran the first stage in 14:04, P McConnachie and D McConnachie on second and third legs in exactly the same time of 14:12 and George King was timed at 13:41 for the last leg to seen the team win by over a minute from Paisley.      The B Team of Cairns, Stoddart, Tom Stevenson and C Aitken was seventh with Cairns the fastest man in 14:20.   Equal fastest laps were A Small of Plebeian Harriers and George King.   The Edinburgh to Glasgow was held later that month, the result and runners are in the table above.   In the District Championships, for the first time in many years there was no Wellpark runner in the first six in the race.  They won the team race with C Aitken 9th, H McHenry 12th, R McConnachie 14th, I Ross 16th, G King 17th and J Stevenson 54th.   Non scoring runners included J McGregor and D McConnachie.   In the 1957 National, the top placed runner in the club team which finished ninth was P McConnachie who was thirty second with George King sixty fifth, C Aitken seventy first, T McKay eighty first, R McSwein 129th and S Brown 130th.   D McSwein and C Aitken were non-scorers.   H McHenry was sixteenth in the Junior Race.

George King was still competing with distinction on the roads and when he ran in the Scottish Marathon on 22nd June from New Meadowbank it turned out to be even faster than that of two years earlier – Harry Fenion winning in 2:25:44 to break McGhee’s record by six seconds.   Hugo Fox of Shettleston was second in 2:28:57 with George winning his third medal in four championships with 2:37:20.   Although both district championships were won yet again, there were no Wellpark men in the international.

Into season 1957-58 and the club won the South Western District Relay in November before tackling their third Edinburgh to Glasgow.   After Aitken’s seventeenth place on the first stage it was a straight slog through the field with six of the remaining seven runners picking up a place and the other maintaining his position.    After five consecutive victories, the club failed to retain the District Cross Country Championship in February 1958 with the honour going to Irvine YMCA.   Beith was second and Wellpark third.   In the National that year George King led the team home in 34th place with J McGregor (66), C Aitken (80),  P McKay (94), F Whitley (121) and W Stoddart (130) the other counting runners.   Some consolation was gained from the third place in the Junior Championships of H McHenry behind John Wright of Clydesdale and George Govan of Shettleston.

Although the club continued to run well in 1958-59 and 1959-60 the best days of that excellent group of runners has passed.   The high spot of 1958-59 was Tom Stevenson winning the South Western District title for the fourth time – if that total is added to the two won by John the brothers had won six championships in eight years and the club also won the championship six times in eight years!   In the relays, there had been five consecutive victories and of course there were the second place medals in the national championships.   There have been many very good runners since then – Frank Whitley and Bill Stoddart to name but two – but the club as a unit was not as successful as during this period.

I had very interesting conversations with John Stevenson and Hugh Docherty.   Hugh first: he joined the club in season 1949-50 and has held every position of note on the club committee as well as having run in the club colours for many years.   He gave me a lot of information, some of which is included above, summarised here.   Given the lack of any coverage of Wellpark’s men, other than George King, over the summer seasons, I first asked him where they trained and what the athletes ran in at that time of year and the he gave some information about individual athletes.

“They ran mainly in track races but there was no track in Greenock at the time and they had to travel to the King George V Playing Fields in Renfrew if they wanted  or needed to train on a cinder, measured running track.   John Stevenson was allowed to train at Greenock Morton FC’s ground at Cappielow but there was no specific facility there.   There was an old derelict railway station opposite the present Ravenscraig where they used to do sprints and then of course there was the Battery Park.   It was good grass but not measured in any way at all.    When a cinder track was finally laid at Ravenscraig they thought it was Paradise but it really wasn’t that good a facility and not looked after properly at all.   

John and Tom ran mainly on the track.  Tommy did not have a lot of speed but he could hit his own top pace and hold it for a long time.   At one time he ran in a Two Mile race and was well clear after the first mile and on schedule for the Scottish Two Mile record.    But he slowed and ran in winning the event by a distance.   When Hugh asked him about it several years later he replied that the track was very dusty and you were kicking up dust with every step – it got into your eyes, your mouth, your nostrils and when he saw how far he was in front he decided just to go for the win.     John was basically faster and actually raced at the White City in London in a race won by Chris Brasher and John dead-heated with Freddie Green who had shared the World Three Mile Record of 13:33.2 with Chris Chataway.    They ran in most major sports meetings such as the Rangers Sports and Glasgow Police Sports Meetings at Ibrox in Glasgow.  

Frank Whitley was a damn good runner!   He was good at everything but he did not like the country, however after Tom and John got on to him about it, he ran in most events and ran well.   He moved to England and even went to New Zealand later on.   In 1968 he came up for the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay and said that he was not too fit, and in consequence they gave him the third stage (the shortest in the race) where he ended up running the second fastest time of the day.   His 22:00 minutes moved the club from twelfth to seventh and was only 5 seconds slower than T Coyle of Edinburgh Southern but 27 seconds faster than Tommy Patterson of Shettleston who was third fastest.  

When Frank Sinclair moved South and ran for Blaydon Harriers for a bit, it was because of his work as a draughtsman and not for the usual reason at the time of two years National Service.   Hugh told me of a meeting at Dalmellington in Ayrshire when he was a Youth and he saw Frank surrounded by a group of youngsters in the changing room.   He took them outside and when he came back in and was talking and laughing with Tommy he said that they had wanted his autograph.   To the other Wellpark runners he was just a club member, but to others like these boys he was an accomplished athlete and must have been something of a hero for them to want his signature!

Peter Connachie was the younger of the two brothers – he ‘had the heart of a lion’ and never ever gave up until he really had to – exemplified in a ten or twelve mile race against Andy Brown when he matched him stride for stride almost the entire distance, only falling away at the very end.   Danny  was also a very good runner and another who went to England for work.   He kept running there but when he returned Peter, who was on the Committee, said that he was running well and fit, so they selected him for the A team for the next race where he did not run well.   His own comment afterwards was that he was fit but not race fit as he had thought he was.  

John Cairns was another good man who did not get the coverage he deserved.   In 1956 for instance he was one of the men who put the second team in the District Relays ahead of the first squad at the start of the event where Wellpark had first and third place medals.  

One of Hugh’s complaints was that the runners, at least at the start of the 50’s, failed to  support the club in the National Championships as they should have done.   At one point they ran mob-handed in the Nigel Barge but failed to materialise for the National Championship of Scotland.   This was put right later on.   (It is fair to point out though that this was not only a Wellpark Problem: other clubs were just as guilty as they were of not turning out their runners on the country at Hamilton.   You only have to read the website club profiles of,  for instance, Vale of Leven to see that.).

That is a distillation of what Hugh told me but some is in the body of the text and there is more that might be added soon.

John is a very interesting character in that he was a top notch cross-country runner who really should have been a track runner.   Everyone said so but, not having a track to train on or a coach of any sort, he never really gave it his full attention.   He usually ran in the Renfrewshire Championships at Moorcroft Park in Paisley or in the Three Miles at King George V Playing Fields track and in Two Mile Team Races which were a staple feature of the many Highland Gatherings or Sports Meetings.   I spoke to him on the telephone and  the following deals mainly with the only year that he ran properly on the track, 1954. “He was invited to run in a Great Britain team in Tourcoing in Northern France in 1954 but the other British runner failed to materialise so John was the sole GB representative in the 3000m.   He knew it was less than eight laps, nobody he asked could tell him, he lost count of the laps so when some runners broke away from the field and then he heard the bell, he knew it was the last lap and gave chase knowing full well that you couldn’t give these runners a start over that distance.   he finished fourth and Jack Crump, GB athletics supremo of the time, was pleased enough with that.   When I asked John about his selection he said that it had come about after running in an Invitation Three Miles race at Hampden at half-time in a Scotland v England international fixture.  The favoured runner was John Disley, better known as a steeple-chaser, and also in the field was Tommy Tracey of Springburn.   It was his third race of the week.   The Cross-Country International (!) had been the previous Saturday, then there was a mile at Ibrox the day before and then this Invitation Three Miles Race.   It was a very windy day and John was actually leading going into the last lap, ahead of Disley, Tracey and the rest.   He led into the wind down the back straight but the effort told on him and Disley passed at the end of the back straight and went on to win.   It was after Crump saw this race that the invitation to Tourcoing came about.   He must have impressed JC because there were a couple more races South of the Border against top class opposition.  There was a Three Miles at the White City where he thought the first few laps were a bit of a doddle, then the race started and ended with the fastest last mile in a Three Miles event for sometime – he was down the field a bit but among some very good men indeed.     He was also invited into another mile (possibly the Emsley Carr or its predecessor where he ran 4:10 and dead-heated with Freddie Green who shared the world Three Miles record with Chris Chataway a few weeks later.   The time was good as was the 4:10.5 at Ibrox later that summer.   A short limit Mile Handicap was held to help Len Eyre (England) and Ian Binnie (Scotland) get a good fast time for the distance.   Off 50 yards, he was again in front going into the last lap and although Eyre passed him in the back straight, John came back at him to win.   Although he was never coached, he was introduced to the Victoria Park coach at Ibrox after a race and they had an interesting chat that might, earlier in his career, have made a difference.  

When we spoke about other members of the club he said that Peter and Danny Connachie were both very good runners and Peter should have won the club championship over the country -there was always somebody else who was too good on the day.   George King, for all his marathon running, was the same on the road and only won the club 5 miles road championship once.   The man he spoke of most however was Bill Stoddart.   He had never met anyone who trained like him for volume and mileage covered in training.   Nobody else was so intent on winning races and he often did three training sessions in a day.      He was very impressed by Bill and said that he had never met a more determined person.    John answered the questionnaire – the questions were set for him and his replies are among the best that we have received because they illustrate several things: what the average Scottish club was like at the time, in his comments on the internationals he probably speaks for many Scots at the time who did not produce their ‘normal’ running abroad, and so on.  

Name:   John Stevenson

Club:   Greenock Wellpark Harriers

Date of Birth:   12th July 1931

Occupation:   Banker

How did you get involved in the sport?   I was a member of the 15th Boys Brigade Company in Greenock and our gymnastics instructor, a Mr JJ Lobban, who was a member of Wellpark introduced me to the sport

Has any individual or group had a marked influence on your attitude or individual performance? Sadly the answer is no.   There was no one to guide or advise me or my brother and training consisted of four haphazard sessions per week.

What exactly did you get out of the sport?   I enjoyed the “pack” runs with the rest of the boys over the hills and moors, appreciating the lovely countryside which exists in this area.

What do you consider to be your best ever performance or performances?   I created a record for the club 5 Mile Road Race in 1953.   My time of 24 minutes 25 seconds stood for over 40 years and was never beaten.   The course was changed a number of years ago because the volume of traffic was too heavy to ensure the safety of the runners.   Although the old course was billed as five miles it was in fact longer than that.   An accurate measurement of the course was made in the 1990’s which calculated the distance at 5 miles 120 yards but even that distance is less than when the record was set for the following reason: a number of years after the record was set, improvements were made to the road which involved taking away four large and winding bends and straightening the road.   It was an out and return course so in effect there were eight bends to be taken nto account.  I have calculated in what I believe to be a conservative basis that the additional distance is in excess of 5 miles added around 40 seconds to my time.   Strangely this was the only race that I entered really determined to win.   The club had won the Renfrewshire 4 x 2.5 miles cross-country relay earlier that year and Frank Sinclair recorded the fastest lap beating both Tommy’s time and mine.   I was intent on winning the club’s 5 miles road race and from the gun I went into the lead and demolished both Tommy and Frank.   I did 24:25, Tommy’s time was 25:19 and Frank’s 26:13.   Frank ran precisely the same time that he recorded when setting the record in the 1940’s, which was subsequently broken by Tommy and then by me.

… Your Worst?   Although Tommy is now dead, and that still grieves me greatly, I will answer the question for both of us.   I am referring to the International Cross-Country Championships.   Neither of us ran a good race in any of these events, not even when we were a counting member of the team.   I have deliberated on why this should have been and I believe the answer is quite simple.   We were both jaded when the event came round and the reason for that is also simple.    The club was absolutely dependent on our performances because for a long time the club did not have any depth in numbers.   This meant that we both had to be as fit as possible at the beginning of the cross-country season at the end of September and continue that level of fitness through the various races until the Scottish Cross-Country Championship in February.   This was a tall order bearing in mind that our training sessions were too few and our schedule inadequate for the task we faced.   We had always managed to perform well enough in the Scottish Championships but after that it was a complete collapse.   Perhaps if we had had a shorter period at trying to maintain peak fitness, this would have been to our benefit, but it was a non-starter as at heart we were committed team players.

What ambitions did you have that were unfulfilled?   Perhaps this area is my greatest failing as for some unexplainable reason I did not have any ambitions.   In my later years I have come to regret this and I have often wondered how far I would have gone with proper application.   In 1953 when I ran 3 miles in 14:05, this time was approximately 34 seconds outside the world record at that time.   Would it have been possible to get nearer to the world’s best time with a coach,a running track on which to train and to have trained in a proper fashion?

hat did you do away from running to relax?   I enjoy ballroom dancing; lots of holidays with my wife in this country and abroad; I like quizzes on TV such as Mastermind, University Challenge and Eggheads: cannot stand any which involve pop music or celebrity culture.

What did running bring you that you would not have wanted to miss?   Made lasting friends; learned the importance of being a team player; I like being reasonably fit and I am sufficiently conceited to think that I am in better shape than most of my contemporaries.

Can you give some idea of your training?   Four sessions per week:   Weekly mileage around 30 miles.

Miscellaneous Information:

Although I ran cross-country, my style was not suited to that discipline.   I only ran once in a Scottish Track Championship race, in the 3 miles and I was slightly unwell on the day.   It was the slowest 3 miles I ran that year (1954) by a long way.

I ran in track races only when the club entered a team or when I received an invitation to compete in a special event.    I append some of the races in which I competed
*   I was Renfrewshire Youth Half-Mile Track Champion, and Renfrewshire Youth Cross-Country Champion;

Renfrewshire Mile Champion and record holder on a number of occasions (three or four times)

*   Renfrewshire 3 Mile champion and record holder;

*   Renfrewshire Senior Cross-Country Champion;

*   South-Western District Senior Cross-Country Champion;

*   Scottish Cross-Country Internationalist (4 times);

*   Represented SAAA in Mile at White City in 1954;

*   Ran in Invitation Mile at the White City in 1954: this might have been the Emsley Carr Mile or its fore-runner;

*British representative at an International 3000m event at Tourcoing in northern France in 1954.

As I said, John’s replies are very informative for the present day athlete but were to some extent typical of the time.   Very few clubs at the time had a coach which is not a situation that pertains in the twenty first century (although the coaching can be of a very variable standard!), and the pack runs of which he speaks so fondly are almost entirely a thing of the past as had been lamented in many of the profiles on this website already.      His reasons for the poor runs in the international I suspect have wider reference than simply for Tom and himself: there are frequent references to men having disappointing runs in the international in Emmet Farrell’s columns in the ‘Scots Athlete’ magazine and in Colin Shields’s exxcellent centenary history of the SCCU, ‘Whatever the Weather.’   John has provided an insight into his own career first and foremost but the light shed on the wider Scottish scene is also valuable.

Back to The Fast pack

Dick Hodelet

Inter-Club fixtures were a big part of the scene when I first came into athletics: and it’s a part that I am sorry to have seen disappear from the calendar.  There are many more road races in the twenty first century than there were in the mid-twentieth but my own opinion is that while almost all of the races we ran in then were meaningful events, too many at present are just ‘more of the same’.    The number of 10K’s on the programme now is far too many to make any sense and any permit system worthy of the name would surely weed some of them out.    I would gladly see some space left in the programme for the inter-clubs to be reinstated.  The programme at that time included several inter-club runs, ie one or more clubs visiting another with the host club providing the accommodation, the trail and hospitality afterwards.   The hospitality invariably included burnt sausage rolls and home-made cakes, often Empire Biscuits.   Our own club shared an inter-club with Garscube Harriers at the Victoria Park HQ at Milngavie the week before the National every year and we hosted them at another time of the year; we also had annual fixtures with Springburn and Vale of Leven.   One of our favourites however was the one with Glenpark at Greenock.   There was the exotic trip across the Clyde on the Erskine Ferry, the drive down through Fort Matilda and Port Glasgow to Greenock and it was always well attended with four or five carloads at least making the journey.   Then there was the trail – starting through the streets of Greenock from the Orangefield Pavilion, up over the Lyle Hill with the Free French Memorial Cross of Lorraine at its high point before the batter back down the hill and back to Orangefield.   Every club had its own unique selling point – Glenpark had nice wee tables for four complete with tablecloths and you could sit like civilised people and have your sausage roll, sandwiches and Empire Biscuit in comfort.   We often had track competitions with then too at the old Ravenscraig track.   On one occasion it was a three-way with Wellpark also running.   Glenpark was always a good club which at that time was producing a lot of very good middle distance runners – cross-country international victors and medallists, and even Olympians among them.   In the International Cross-Country Championship, for instance,

James Wilson won the ICCU race at Belvoir Park, Belfast in 1920;

George CL Wallach was second at Chesham Park, England in 1914, and

third in 1911 at Caerleon Racecourse, Wales in 1911.

Wilson also won the bronze medal in the 10000m in the Antwerp Olympics in 1920.

This club profile concentrates on the period immediately after the Way when they were genuine competition for the very best clubs of the time and indeed won medals in the Edinburgh to Glasgow – not easy when we know already how good Victoria Park, Shettleston and Bellahouston were not to mention Wellpark, Springburn, Clydesdale and Edinburgh Southern were.

The club had been successful before the war and had won the ‘most meritorious medals’ in the last pre-war race in 1939 when they were seventh behind Maryhill, Bellahouston, Shettleston, Plebeian, Garscube and Dundee Thistle Harriers with a team that included Alex McLean on the long  leg and J Wilson on the second stage.    Alex Maclean, who won so much in the colours of Bellahouston Harriers after the war had started out as a Glenpark Harrier and won the club cross-country championship six times, and also won the Renfrewshire 7 miles cross-country championship and track 3 miles title.   He also won the British Territorial Army championship in 1939 and resolved to retire when the war started.   He was talked into coming back into the sport by none other than Sydney Wooderson in 1942.   It was a big loss when he joined Bellahouston on his return to Civvy Street.

The war interrupted many careers and deprived many clubs the pleasure of seeing a good squad mature the way it would have liked.   At the start of the 1946-47 season, there was no sign of Glenpark in either the Dundee Kingsway Relay or the McAndrew Relay at Scotstoun either but there were signs of promise in the newly established Clydesdale Harriers Youth Race in November 1946 when W Williamson finished third after ‘a real dust-up’ with T Millar of Kilbarchan for second place.   Further down the field was D Kennedy who was fifteenth and a member of the winning Ballot Team.   The first real test for the seniors however was in the South Western District Relays where there were three teams from Greenock forward – Glenpark, Wellpark and the now defunct Auchmountain Harriers.    The race resulted in a victory for West Kilbride from Auchmountain and Wellpark with Glenpark finishing fifth of the 18 teams in the race.   In the South Western Championships however, the team was third behind Auchmountain and West Kilbride with their top man, William Mclean being second and W Williamson finishing third.   Other counting runners were J McNab 13, J Blackwood 19, J McCall 20 and R Delussy 23.   When it came to the National Championships at Hamilton in March however, Glenpark in seventh place was easily the first of the teams from the South Western District to finish – the runners were D Turner 30, T Mearns 44, W McLean 53, J McNab 71, B Leitch 74, and C Berry 75.

Into winter 1947-48 and, like Wellpark and Auchmountain, Glenpark did not run in the McAndrew Relays at Scotstoun but did put forward a team in the Renfrewshire Relay on 8th November in Paisley and, taking the lead at the end of the third lap they went on to win with W Williamson running a good last lap in 16:41.   The report concluded Glenpark, a fine balanced team by their times, Turner 16:46, Armstrong 16:52, W McLean 16:40 and W Williamson, 16:41, deserved their victory for their concentrated effort.”   McLean and Williamson were fourth and fifth fastest times.   For the record second and third were Bellahouston B (2nd) and Bellahouston A (3rd) with Alex Mclean being third fastest time.  In the National Novice Championship at Pollok on 22nd November and they finished seventh – again the first South Western team by a distance, West Kilbride being fifteenth.   Top club runner was W Armstrong in fifth.   In the same issue of the ‘Scots Athlete’ Emmet Farrell said that the main feature of the South  Western Relays was the title changing hands and going to Glenpark.   In the race itself (held at Beith in December),    The report read that the trail was very heavy, ‘taking in two ploughs’.   At the end of the first lap, Adamson of West Kilbride led veteran D Turner of Glenpark but on the second stage W Armstrong moved into the lead.   W McLean handed over a 70 yard lead to young W Williamson who had some job to hold off Internationalist J Reid of West Kilbride.   He managed it however to see his team win by 10 yards – the runners and times were Turner 14:53,  Armstrong 14:52, McLean 14:39 and Williamson 14:31.   They also had first B team home, they finished ninth of fifteen teams forward.      Williamson was second fastest of the day behind Reid.   This all led Emmet Farrell to say, “In the South West District Junior Championship, I fancy Greenock Glenpark to win the championship held by the other Greenock club, Auchmountain Harriers who of course suffer the usual depletion of a winning team rising to Senior status.    For individual honours, the issue appears open but W McLean of Glenpark Harriers and J Fisher of Ayr, 2nd and 3rd last year, both appear to be sound chances as should W Williamson of Glenpark.”   The forecast wasn’t too far out – Fisher won by 10 seconds from Williamson with  McLean third.   And Glenpark won the team title with 62 points to Doon Harriers’ 131.   The team was W Williamson, W McLean, W Elder 10, J Armstrong 14 D Morrison 15 and B Leitch 18.    Willie Elder would of course go on to be a tremendous club servant filling the difficult position of secretary for many, years before his early death.        In the National Championships they were in the top ten, just when the club was led home by W McLean in fifth place with other counters being D Turner 17, W Elder 81, B Leitch 82, D Berry 90 and W Fullerton 97.   In the Youths Race they were sixth with the runners being J Armstrong 6, S Williamson 24, J Aitchison 42 and H Beaton 48.   In his annual review of the year, Emmet Farrell opined that W Williamson had the ability to match and maybe even outdo some of the established stars and mentioned his beating of all the Bellahouston strs in the South estern championship.   W McLean made the Scottish team for the interational for the first and only time that year and finished forty ninth.

Glenpark sent a not one, but three teams to the Victoria Park Road Relay on 3rd October, 1948, with the first team finishing eighth.   The men were W McLean 16:26, : W Elder 17:02,S Williamson 17:07 and W Williamson 16:29.    On 20th November, the team was eleventh , led home by S Williamson in 18th place of the 251 starters.  Then in the South Western Relay in December, an interesting race saw them lose their title to local rivals Wellpark by 45 seconds.   There were twenty teams forward for the trail from Wellpark HQ which consisted of one and a half miles country with half a mile road at the start and again at the finish.   Not in the first three at the end of the first lap, Glenpark took the lead on the second thanks to H Beaton.   John Stevenson took the lead on the third stage and handed over a six second advantage to brother Tom.    The chase by W Williamson proved futile though and Tom Stevenson came home a comfortable winner with the fastest time of the day,   Williamson was third fastest and the Glenpark team and times was S Williamson 12:38, H Beaton 12:55, W McLean 12:51 and W Williamson 12:10.    Showing strength in depth they had the first second team (8th) and were the only club with three teams out (C Team was sixteenth out of twenty).    This was fairly significant in that the first post-war Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay was to be held in April 1949.  In his preview of the National Championships Emmet Farrell named W Williamson and W McLean among those who should run prominently.    The club had not done well in the South Western Championships, finishing only ninth but few of their top me were out in the race, S Williamson leading the club home in twentieth place.   It was a bit different in the National although the finishing place was also ninth.   The men in the team were W Williamson 13, J Grant 35, W McLean 43, W Elder 86, C Berry 102 and B Leitch 106.   Strangely enough, S Williamson was 13th in the Youths race with H Beaton 42, JK Aitchison 71 and and W Cooper 77.   But the big relay was still to come – the first post-war Edinburgh to Glasgow was held on  23rd April 1949.

First off for Glenpark was W McLean and they could not have had a better start – he was second, four seconds behind Shettleston and four seconds in front of Victoria Park with the next club 49 seconds back.   J Grant ran the second stage – and he held on to second place with the third fastest time of the day while VPAAC dropped back to fourth.   The third stage was covered for the club by B Leitch who dropped to fourth, thanks to first class runs from the Garscube and VP runners who moved into second and third.   H Beaton dropped back to sixth and then Willie Elder dropped another place to seventh.   Top gun W Williamson ran the long sixth stage for the club and brought them back up to fourth with second fastest time of the day behind George Craig of Shettleston and 25 second faster than Alex Mclean running for Bellahouston on the same stage.    S Williamson held the place with the second fastest run on Seven and on the last leg D Turner kept fourth with third quickest on the stage.   The award for the most meritorious unplaced performance of the race went to Vale Of Leven AAC in eighth place in their first run in the event, having been founded only three years previously.   There were many good scalps taken that day – Edinburgh Southern, Maryhill and others – and the club had had four outstanding runs, on stages one, two, six and seven with a very good one on eight.

In the Edinburgh to Glasgow in November that year, there was no W McLean – but there was an A McLean but no A McLean in the Bellahouston Harriers team sheet.   Alex had returned to Glenpark.   However the team in November was a bit different from that of April.   S Williamson ran the first stage this time and finished fifth and was followed by W Williamson on the tough second leg who moved up to thrid with the third fastest time of the day.   B Leitch on the third stage had the second quickest run of the day to keep a hold on third place before J Grant dropped back to fourth.   H Beaton on five and A McLean (second fastest on Six) held the place as did I Sinclair and D Farren on the last two stages for the club to finish fourth again.   The most meritorious medals this time went to Edinburgh University in fifth place.   That was November, but how about the rest of the 1949-50 season?

It started with a very good third place in the Victoria Park Relays at Scotstoun,The team of W Elder 16:50, A Mclean 16:03, S Williamson 16:32 and W Williamson 16:20 was remarkably even paced and Alex Mclean was fifth fastest of the day.   On to the South Western District Relays where the A team was second and the B team sixth.   The A team was H Beaton 14:27, S Williamson 14:16, A Mclean 13:50 and W Williamson 13:56 and W Williamson was fifth fastest time.   The B team were all in the 14:40’s.   On 2nd January there was a new race run – the Helensburgh to Clydebank which would transform itself into the Clydebank to Helensburgh by the next running but it was run in January 1950 and was won by Alex McLean in 95:03 – an excellent time for the largely uphill course and run in January!   A month later – 5th February, Glenpark won the South Western District Championships with Alex Mclean taking second place in 46:22, just one second ahead of Willie Williamson in third.   The team was McLean, W Williamson, A Williamson 7, J Grant 10, H Beaton 12, W Elder 13.   Emmet was quite clear in his forecast for the National championship that Alex Mclean would be in the team for the international.  It was not to be however – there was no finishing team from Glenpark and Mclean was down in sixteenth position, with W Elder 97, B Leitch 112, C Berry  132 and T Mearns 138.

Despite the good result a year earlier, there was no Glenpark team in the 1950 Victoria Park Relay at the start of October but on the 28th of the month they ran a team in the Renfrewshire Relay where they finished third behind Bellahouston and Wellpark Harriers, Their team was S Williamson 14:25, A McLean 14:32, J Grant 14:43 and W Williamson 14:16.   W Williamson was third fastest on the day.   On 4th November they were fourth in the South Western District Relay with the same quartet running in times of 14:34, 14:45, 14:31 and 14:27.   The Edinburgh to Glasgow was held on 18th November and was to prove very significant for the Greenock club.   S Williamson had a good Stage One to cross the line in fifth place only 30 seconds down on the leader, F Bradley of Monkland and one place behind Ian Binnie.   J Grant on the second stage had a very good run to pull the club up to first place, 45 seconds ahead of Shettleston and in the fastest time of the stage by 29 seconds.   J Osborne on the third stage managed to hold on to first place but the lead was cut to 12 seconds by J Smart of Edinburgh Southern.   On to the fourth stage where W Williamson had a poor run for him and dropped to fourth place and Willie McLean ran well enough but could only hold on to fourth place before handing over to Alex McLean on the long 7 miles downhill leg who pulled in one place with fourth quickest time on the stage.   Willie Elder dropped down to fourth before W Armstrong overtook Edinburgh Southern to clinch the third place medals.   To win a medal of any colour in the Edinburgh to Glasgow was always a tremendous feat but at that point in the history of Scottish endurance running, it was a wonderful performance.   After finishing fourth and fourth, third was a just reward for their efforts.

 In the South Western District Championships on 3rd February 1951, the team was second after a great example of team packing – their first runner was 10th and their last scoring man was 17th!   The heroes were C Fitzharris 10, J Grant 11, W McLean 14, H Beaton 15, A McLean 16 and J Armstrong 17.   The race was won by Irvine YMCA and Wellpark Harriers were third.   After the great team results of the winter, the National was a bit of a disappointment: the team was tenth and the first counter was Alex Mclean in 25th with Willie Mclean in 44th, W Williamson 63rd, D Farren 85th, C Berry 96th and T Mearns 97th.

Cross-Country season 1951-52 started with the McAndrew Relay on 6th October when their squad was seventh and runners were S Williamson in 16:23, A Mclean in 16:20, J Osborne in 17:06 and W Armstrong in 16:42.   On 27th October in the South Western Relays, the club was second to Irvine YMCA by seven seconds.   The team was I Osborne in 14:19, W Armstrong in 13:34, J Grant 14:15 and S Williamson in 13:59.   The Edinburgh to Glasgow was held this time on 19th November and the club sent out S Williamson to do duty for them on the first stage.   He finished sixth, one place and seven seconds ahead of Ben Bickerton of Shettleston Harriers and 70 seconds down on the first man.   The baton was passed to J Grant who moved up one place with fourth fastest time of the day.   He  was followed by H Beaton who dropped all the way from fifth to tenth.   The long climb back up the field was started by W Armstrong on the next leg who moved up to eighth with fourth fastest time and then W McLean took the club up two more places to sixth before Alex McLean dropped back down to seventh on the ferocious competition of the sixth stage.   Two stages to go and H Coll held on to seventh before J Osborne moved up one place to sixth n the last stage.   But for the third stage, the team could have been among the medals again.   In the Renfrewshire Championships in Pollok Park on 9th January 1952, the team was second to Bellahouston with Alex Mclean leading them home in fifth place.   The remainder of the team was J Osborne 9, J Armstrong 14, H Coll 15, S Williamson 19 and J Grant 20.   There was no senior team in the Nationals in 1952 but the Junior team of I Osborne 12, S Williamson 20, W Muir 56 and W Soutar 62 was tenth and there was one runner in the Youths race – J Gillon was sixth.

This section of the website is called The Fast Pack and this particular group of Glenpark Harriers had no star – unless it was Alex Mclean who was arguably past his peak when he returned – and the results obtained were the result of teamwork.   It was teamwork which led to their two fourth places in the Edinburgh to Glasgow and to the club taking bronze in the event in an age when the standard was remarkably high in Scotland.   Well worth a place in any fast pack!

The club history as presented at the club centenary dinner in 1992 can be found   at this link

Back Row: Ray Baillie in the middle and Nick Rogers second from the left

Second Row: Tor Denstad,  Terry Kerwin,  Craig Sharp, Brian Scobie, Willie Diverty, Brian Kennedy

Front Row: Allan Faulds, Calum Laing, Dick Hartley and Cameron Shepherd

It is unusual for any University team to make it to the top in team competition for many reasons.   First there is the regular turnover of students as they arrive and graduate.   There was a time when the ‘chronic’ was a feature in every university – the student who went on either doing degree after degree and never working for a living, but these days are gone.   Second a habit seems to be developing, or have developed for students, after graduation, moving to another establishment for their PhD and increasingly they are leaving the country.   Third we have a situation where many, if not most, students continue to represent their clubs while studying rather than temporarily transfer allegiance to the University team.    Rumour has it that Bobby Calderwood of VPAAC was one of the very first to keep on racing for his club team during his student days, and certainly when Glasgow University won the ScotUnis eight times in succession in the 80’s several prominent members only ran for them in Scottish or British University competition while competing against them for the rest of the year.    It is therefore  not all that common for any University squad to reach the heights.

When we talk of good University teams the immediate point of reference is the great Edinburgh University runners who won the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay three times in the late 60’s and were running well right into the 70’s.   But before their heyday, the Glasgow University team was hailed as the best ever Scottish University team.   Several very good runners just happened to appear at the same time, to prefer to run for GUAC or GU Hares and Hounds and to enjoy each other’s company.    The names fondly remembered by those who saw them come easily to mind: in alphabetical order they were Ray Baillie, Jim Bogan, Tor Denstad, Allan Faulds, Douglas Gifford, Calum Laing, Nick Rogers, Cameron Shepherd,  Brian Scobie, and several others.   Allan Faulds will be profiled on the ‘Elite Endurance’ page of this website and it would maybe be appropriate to look at some of the other members of this group first before taking the team as a whole.   By the way, if anyone has more names for the photograph above, would they let me know?

Calum Laing was undoubtedly the top endurance runner for his brief time at University and it is a real pity that he did not carry on with his career after graduation.   He was a son of the manse from Ross-shire who appeared in the 1960 National Cross Country Championship as one of only two seniors entered by Inverness Harriers when he finished down the field in sixty second place.   In two short years he moved up to third place when representing Glasgow and leading the team (Laing 3, Gifford 27, Hartley 38,  Rodgers 67, Denstad 123 and Campbell 146) to third place.   The quality of this run can be seen from the names of the first eight finishers – Jim Alder, Andy Brown, Calum Laing, Steve Taylor, Alastair Wood, Bertie Irving, John McLaren and John Linaker.   His reward was a run in the International Cross-Country Championship where he was a scoring runner in thirty seventh position.   The country was his real forte and in 1963 he again made the team for the International Championship and was again a counting runner, finishing in sixty third place.   In the National in 1964 he was eighth, his second best placing, and the team was fourth.   An inspiration, he had several very good runs in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Race.  In 1960 he raced the second stage and picked up from twelfth to fourth for the team that was to pick up the bronze medals.   A year later he again ran the second stage and pulled the team from fifteenth to twelfth on this very difficult leg with second quickest run of the day but the following year, 1962, he ran even better bringing the team from fourth to first with the fastest time for the leg.

1962 was to be his best year on the track with four personal best times which are noted below.   That for the Six Miles was set when winning the SAAA championship, (he had already won the West District Six Miles) and the Three Miles time was set when he was third in the District championships, he was also third in the National Three miles.   So – two first places and two third places.   Many of his team-mates and rivals thought that he could have been an Olympian but unfortunately he had a short career before leaving University.

When his University days were over he ran for Victoria Park.   Nationally he ran in two Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays and one National winning medals in two out of the three.  In the E-G in 1965 he ran on the fifth stage for the team which was third, turning in the second fastest time.   In 1968 he ran in the last stage, taking over fourth and holding it to the finish.   In the National in 1966, he was thirty second in the team that took silver.

In his official history of the SCCU, “Whatever the Weather”, Colin Shields says in his review of the 1962 Cross-Country Championship, ’24 year old agricultural student Calum Laing, a son of the manse from the North of Scotland studying at Glasgow University, was the best distance runner produced by any Scottish university to date.’ 

UAU team (in front) and the SUCC team at Durham, 1960:   Jim Bogan on the left in the back row, Don Macgregor third from left.

Picture from Don Macgregor’s “Running My Life”

Jim Bogan stayed as part of the University faculty after he graduated and became “one of Britain’s leading figures in veterinary medicine.”     A member of Victoria Park AAC (as indeed was Calum Laing) he was a steeplechaser during the track season and when Lachie Stewart set the SAAA 3000m steeplechase title, Jim was one of the early pacemakers.   The steeplechase was to prove his best event and he was ranked among the top men in the event almost every year in which he competed seriously with a best of 9:40.4 in 1966.   His best Mile time was 4:18.2 and for Three Miles he is credited with 14:55.0 in 1960.

In 1960 Jim in thirteenth place led the University Junior team to third place in the National Cross-Country Championship.   He was followed home by Hunter (16), Gifford (27) and Hartley (28).   He joined some of the men who would make up the really good team of later years and which was second in the Scottish Junior Cross-Country Championships in 1961.   Douglas Gifford (9), Bogan (13), Baillie (22) and Shepherd (23) were the counting runners.   In his third year in the Junior age group he was in the team which won the Junior championship giving him the complete set of gold, silver and bronze for the National team race.    The runners that day were Allan Faulds (4), Jim Bogan (5), Cameron Shepherd (16) and Ray Baillie (23).

In the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay in 1959 he was ninth on the first stage for the team that finished thirteenth.   In 1960, he ran on the first stage for the team that was placed third – he was twelfth on the first stage before Calum Laing brought the University up to fourth, from which position the others worked their way up to third.    In 1961 he was fourth fastest on the third stage, bringing the team from twelfth to sixth – six places was really something in the E-G.     When the University team was third in the Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1962, Jim Bogan ran on the third stage again and although dropping one place it was from first to second after Calum Laing’s fastest time on Stage Two, so there was no disgrace in that!      In 1963 he ran the last stage and picked up one place from seventh to sixth with again the fourth fastest of the afternoon.   By 1964, many of the top men had moved on but Jim was still there, running the last stage he maintained fifteenth position.   No fair weather runner he was out for the team again in 1966 running the very difficult second stage and held on to seventeenth place.    By 1967 the team had slumped to nineteenth and Jim ran the seventh stage picking up from twentieth to nineteenth.   That was to be his last run in the race.

He stayed on as a member of the staff of the University and became President of the University Hares & Hounds.   In that capacity he was responsible for many innovations – the key one being the University Road Race every year in November.   He stayed as a member of Victoria Park too as a recreational runner and it came as a shock to us all when he died following a road accident while on holiday in Grenoble in July 1988.   An excellent athlete, he was very easy to get on with and was popular with all athletes regardless of club or generation.    He was a runner first and foremost and runners always know their own.

Douglas Gifford was a very good athlete who, like many University athletes of the period, just seemed to stop competitive running when his student days were over.   A key member of this excellent team, he excelled in student matches and championships, and showed great ability in open competition.    In the National Championships, Douglas appears in the 1959 Glasgow University team when his twenty fifth place headed the four counting men to fifth place.   In 1960 he was twenty seventh and third scoring runner in the Junior team that finished third and one year later his ninth place led the team to silver in the National championship.   Unfortunately he was a year out of  sync with Jim Bogan and moved up to the senior ranks and by so doing missed the gold Junior medals of the following year.    Nevertheless he was twenty seventh in his first Senior National behind Calum Laing’s third place.   The team was eighth.   Unfortunately, despite all his good running, he was not a member of the team that was placed fourth in 1964.   He continued to run for the University from time to time but by 1966 the team had broken up – Calum Laing was running for Victoria Park in the National , Allan Faulds for Stirling and Dick Hodelet for Greenock Glenpark Harriers while Douglas was fiftieth running in the University colours.

His record in the E-G covers the same period.   In 1959, in his first run in the event, he was on the second stage – seldom a good idea for a first run in that event – and did well to limit the drop to four places.   In 1960, he was given a job which might even have been slightly more difficult – taking over in fourth place on the sixth stage surrounded by top class athletes.   He kept the position and the team was third at the end of the race.   In 1960 he was again on the Stage Six and held the sixth place that he had been given by Dick Hartley.   1962 brought him another bronze medal.   This time he was on the fourth stage and ran the third fastest time on the stage to hand over in second place for the team which eventually finished third.   In 1964, the team lost several members and in the E-G Glasgow University finished fifteenth with Douglas back on the sixth stage.

In the picture below he is seen leading the 1960 Scottish Universities Championships which he won with Glasgow winning the team race.   It is described in Don Macgregor’s autobiography “Running My Life”, from which the photograph was taken, as follows:   “Our hopes of recording an historic victory in the Scottish Universities Championships the next Saturday, February 6th, were high.   The four teams lined up outside St Salvator’s Tower in North Street.   Archie Strachan and Willie Diverty, Glasgow’s “manager” and Scottish ‘Athletics Weekly’ correspondent, watched as Professor Dickie, dressed in his usual broad-brimmed black hat, black coat and suit, dropped his hankie and we were off.   It was quite sunny and much drier underfoot than the week before.   The individual and team struggle was intense along the Kinkell Braes, over to the A917 Crail Road, and up the big hill with its ‘plough’.   St Andrews were 12 points ahead with 2 miles to go as we plummeted down from Lochend farm track over the stubble fields with the whole magnificent vista of the city and its towers laid out before us.  

Alas for our hopes!   The Glasgow middle counters gradually moved up the field.   The two best Glasgow runners, Douglas Gifford and Jim Bogan, and I had broken away from the rest quite early on.   We stayed together through the streets of the new town and were still together going up Dyers Brae into narrow Abbey Street – widened ten years later – and over South Street into South Castle Street.   It was only over the last 300 yards that Gifford and Bogan were able to break away from me to take the first two places for Glasgow with five seconds covering the first three.   David Jeffrey followed me home in 4th.   Glasgow also took the team medals, but there were only 7 points in it.”

The extract is interesting for several reasons, the first being that the race was started by dropping a hankie.   This was very common practice in road and cross country races with the old joke being about the difficulty of hearing the recall hankie in the event fo a false start.   Second is the fact that it was a single lap trail – nowadays the ease of spectating plays a part and it is much more usual to have a course of two, three or even four laps.   The Glasgow University home course was also one single, big, challenging lap which started at Garscadden Playing Fields went up on to the Great Western Road Boulevard past the Drumchapel Road entrance and then over the hilly fields of Braidfield and Langfaulds Farms before making its way back down the Boulevard.    The officials started the race and their watches, repaired to the clubhouse for tea and elegant conversation coming back out when they estimated the first runner would appear.   What is not different is the ferocity of the battle for individual and team victory.

Winner Doug Gifford in the SUCC Championships leading at three miles up to Crail Road.

Jim Bogan was second

The coming together of the team can maybe best be seen by following the fortunes of the Edinburgh to Glasgow squad.   The first significant group was in the relay of November 1959 when Jim Bogan ran a fairly steady first leg to hand over in ninth place to Doug Gifford.   Being new to the event and against top quality opposition he dropped to thirteenth, a position kept by Dick Hartley on teh short Stage Three.   S Hunter brought them up to tenth before S Kerr and Nick Rogers dropped to thirteenth leaving Tor Denstad and J Gray to bring the team home in that position.   Six of the names that would bring success to the Hares and Hounds are there.   1960 saw them win their first medals in the event.   Jim Bogan again led off but was slightly lower than the previous year with twelfth place before new boy Laing brought them up to fourth with the second fastest stage of the day.   His example was followed by Rogers who was second fastest on Stage Three catching another place.   Hunter had third fastest but dropped a place on the fourth.   Gray (seventh fastest) held it, as did Gifford on the sixth stage (fifth fastest), before Hartley brought them up to third, a position held by Denstad on the final stage.   1961 wasn’t quite so good with the team crossing the finish line in eighth.   Ray Baillie had a poor first stage handing over in fifteenth, although when I say ‘poor’ you should bear in mind that it was the top twenty teams in Scotland and he was against their chosen first runners.   Everything is relative!    Calum again had a good second stage and turned in the second fastest  time again to hand the baton over to Jim Bogan in sixth.    Jim ran the fourth fastest of the stage to move up to sixth, Dick Hartley maintained it as did Cameron Shepher who had the third fastest fifth stage that year.   Doug Gifford kept it on the hard and long Stage Six before Norman McPhail dropped to seventh and then Tor Denstad lost one more place to eighth.   Two additions and some team shuffling by the selectors brought the team into medal winning contention again in 1962.   This time Dick Hartley started the ball rolling with fourth on the first stage before Calum Laing moved into first with the fastest outing on Stage Two.   Jim Bogan dropped one place but from first at the end of a close fought second, that’s no disgrace – he again had fourth fastest time of the day.   Dougie Gifford ran the third quickest fourth stage to hold second before Ray Bailllie dropped one to third.   This was held all the way to the finish by Allan Faulds (fourth fastest), Cameron Shepherd (second fastest and Brian Scobie on the last leg.   That was the last of the really good teams and many of them graduated and moved on and the following year the squad had dropped to fifteenth in the race.

As noted above, the Junior team went from third to second to first in the National with Bogan, Hunter, Hartley, Gifford, Faulds, Shepherd and Baillie moving through.   As Seniors they never seemed to reach the same heights.   In 1962, Laing (third), Gifford (27th), Hartley (38th), Rodgers (67th), Denstad (123rd) and Campbell (146th) were eighth and in ’63 they failed to finish a team behind Laing, Rodgers, Hartley and Gray.    1964 was probably their best team in the senior event – Laing was eighth, Faulds fourteenth, Kerwin forty second, Shepherd forty third, Hodelet fifty seventh and Hartley sixty first – behind ESH, Aberdeen and Motherwell and ahead of Shettleston.   The following year they were ninth, Ray Baillie in twenty sixth was the first finisher, Cameron Shepherd forty third ……………….. and the results thereafter have big gaps so that the rest of the team is not available and the fourth place of the year before was the best the seniors were to achieve.

GUAC, Appleton Trophy Winners, 1961

Allan Faulds provided some of the results from the Scottish Universities Cross-Country Championships between 1962 and 1964 and they are actually quite impressive.

• 1962:   1st  Calum Laing;   2nd  Doug Gifford;   3rd  J Bogan;   7th Cameron Shepherd;   8th  Allan Faulds;   13th Dick Hartley.    Points total was 34 points which won the team race from Edinburgh on 45 points, St Andrews on 115 points and Aberdeen 139 points.
• 1963:   1st   Calum Laing;   8th  Allan Faulds;   10th  Brian Scobie;    14th  Tor Denstad;   15th  Cameron Shepherd;   17th  Ray Baillie.   Points total of 65 put them second behind Edinburgh’s 53 with St Andrews on 96 and Aberdeen on 103.
• 1964:   2nd   Calum Laing;   5th Allan Faulds;   6th    Brian Scobie;    11th    Terry Kerwin;  12th  Cameron Shepherd;   13th  Jim Bogan.   The total of 49 points gave them a comfortable victory over Edinburgh (71) with Aberdeen third (83), St Andrews 4th (110) and the Royal College of Science and Technology (later to become Strathclyde University) fifth with 189 points.

That it was a very good team, there is no doubt.    Times and marks for some of those not covered so far include:   Dick Hodelet (only ranked times for 1963 and 1964 are included since he was back with Greenock Glenpark Harriers by 1995) – 880 in 1963 of 1:54.2; in 1962 he had times of 10.2 (100 yards, ranked 16th), 49.9 (440 yards, 10th) and 1:52.6 (880 yards, 2nd);    Brian Scobie  1964, 880 yards in 1:55.6; 1965, 880 yards in 1:54.5.   Ray Baillie 1961, 1 Mile in 4:26; ’62, 1 Mile in 4:17, 1963, Three Miles in 14:41;   JB Gray  1959, Three Miles in 14:45.

Terry Mitchell leading Peter Faulds (FVH) and Graham Laing (AAAC)

East District League, December 1985

Fife AC is one of the more enterprising clubs in Scotland with a whole host of races organised around the County – names like the Strathmiglo Straddle, The Gauldry Gallop are well known to athletes from around the country.   They have teams in all the leagues in the country as well as travelling south of the border for competition.   A comparatively young club they are however best known for the quality of runners who represent them.   The names will appear in the following profile by Colin Youngson who has run with and against almost all of them.

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A few of the very good athletes who ran for Fife AC have been profiled already on this website.   Donald Macgregor, Terry Mitchell and Paul Kenney.   We have also added Andrew Lemoncello (who was coacjed by Ron Morrison) to this group.   The new club had gained momentum after Donald Macgregor left Edinburgh Southern Harriers in 1975.   Fife won the most meritorious medals in the 1976 Edinburgh to Glasgow (sixth place) and for the next thirteen years had a few top ten performances, including another sixth in 1982.   Although Fife AC has always had excellent team spirit, (as is obvious if you read ‘Relay’, the club magazine) a certain lack of top end speed limited success in the Edinburgh to Glasgow.   Donald Macgregor whose finiest performance was seventh in the Munich Olympic Marathon, and who was a world veteran champion (over 10000m and the marathon) was influential in encouraging his clubmates to try longer distances, and five of them emulated him by winning the City of Dundee Marathon: Murray McNaught, Terry Mitchell, Sam Graves, Stuart Asher and Hugh MacKay.   Of these, Hugh was definitely fast on the track with times of 1:62.20 (800m) and 3:48.3 (1500m).   Terry was a very strong international runner.   Alan McIntosh (East District steeplechase champion in 1976 and 1977) was second fastest on Stage Three in 1978 and Stuart Asher was fastest on Three in 1984.

Yet Fife’s best years were to be from the decade from the mid-1990’s and apart from Lemoncello, their most talented runner was Daniel Leggate, a;though he had several especially good team-mates, including Sandy Moss (who won the 1996 Inverness Half Marathon).   in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay, after a year out of the race, Fife finished twelfth in 1995, despite a good start by Terry Mitchell.   There was a definite improvement in 1996 when they were nonth and Daniel Leggate made his debit on Stage Two moving up three places to sixth with a time less than thirty seconds slower than his fastest opponent.   Sandy Moss also gained three positions on Stage Three but that was the high point.

In 1997 Fife may have ended up fifth but in fact were only one good runner short of the medals.   Moss and Leggate were once again amongst the strongest performers.   Sandy moving up three on Stage Five with the second fastest time, and Daniel gaining one more on Stage Six, fifth fastest.   Finally in 1998, Fife AC gained deserved bronze medals.   This time they got the team order absolutely right.   John Cunningham did very well to come in second on Stage One.   After 1997 Scottish National Youth Junior Cross-Country Champion Jon Stewart (based in Halifax), Kevin McCue and Owen Greene slid back a little to sixth at the end of Stage Four, Terry Mitchell, Daniel Leggate  (narrowly second- fastest to Phil Mowbray on Six) and Hugh MacKay each gained one place and Sandy Moss did very well to fight off Cambuslang and secure third.   There after it was seventh in 199 and fifth in 2000 (with Cunningham second on Stage One and Leggate third fastest on Six).   The final two versions of the E-G tended towards Chaos due to the ill-advised option of a complex and badly marshalled off-road route.   In 2001, Fife were penalised two minutes due to “an unintentional cutting of the course on leg 7” and were deemed to have finished seventh.   This seems harsh since Ala Milligan (a Scottish hill-running international) who ran that stage, was one of their best athletes and his time, minus two minutes, seemed to be what he would normally have run.   Without the penalty they would have finished fourth.   The final E-G in 2002 produced another farce.   Fife were in ninth position when Daniel Leggate took the baton on Stage Six.   Somehow he and three other runners went off course.   He was forced to run for at least an extra fifteen minutes and handed over in sixteenth.   His club was later to be declared non-counting.

Daniel Leggate won a gold medal as the first individual in  the 1995 National Junior Cross-Country.   In this championship, between this year and 2004 Fife AC wone one team gold medal, four silver medals and two bronze medals.   In 1996 future Fife athlete Alan MiIlligan (running for FMC Carnegie Harriers) was Junior Champion.    Daniel’s best performances in the Senior National were   fifth in 2000, eleventh in 2001 and third in 2003.   Sandy Moss (third in the 1998 East District Cross-Country) was seventeenth in 1997 and thirteenth on 2000.   Alan MiIlligan finished tenth in 2000.   Owen Greene (another British International hill-runner) was seventh on 2002.   Fife AC won two team bronze awards – in 2000 (Leggate, Milligan, Moss, Cunningham, David Adam and Adrian Davis_ and 2003 (Lemoncello third, Andrew Liston twelfth, Greene, Leggate, Christopher Russell and Adrian Davis.   They won silver medals in the Scottish Six Stage Road Relay in 2000 with Scott Taylor, Terry Mitchell, Alan Milligan, Daniel Leggate, Owen Greene and John Cunningham.

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Colin’s club profile finishes there and he does well to highlight the shambles of the final two Edinburgh – Glasgow Relays – there is a school of thought that they should not be recognised as proper E – G’s since they were not on the road and there were too many catastrophes (major and minor) in each of them.   I knew several of the Fife runners – Sandy Moss was coached at one time by Frank Horwill, founder of the British Milers Club and who called him Alex Moss.   He also trained frequently with our group when he was at University in Glasgow and was indeed a talented distance runner.   John ‘Cowboy’ Cunningham was a real tough guy who had quite a lot of ability and was a very good steeplechaser who was at one time on the very verge of international selection.   They were indeed worthy members of any fast pack.

Peter Faulds, en route to winning the  Cramond 5 Miles, 1984

There are profiles of two very good runners who represented Falkirk Victoria Harriers on the track, on the road and over the country already covered on the website – namely Jim Dingwall and Willie Day.   But it is self evident that any club needs more than one or two stars to make up a team – especially a six-man team plus reserves or an eight-man squad as was needed for the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay.   When the two men already mentioned were the top men the club was blessed with a fast pack of top-quality runners, several of whom were unlucky to be running at a time when the sport in Scotland was fortunate enough to have a host of excellent athletes.   Peter Faulds, in the picture above by Graham MacIndoe, who took all the photographs on the page, was just one of them.   Colin Youngson has written about these men who were known and respected across the country in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

Falkirk Victoria Harriers finished eighteenth in the 1974 Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay.   One year after, they were seventh.   How to explain the difference?   Jim Dingwall!    He had been working at Grangemouth and living in Falkirk but still running for Edinburgh AC.   However he was sick of coming second in the E-G and when thirteenth place in the 1975 National Cross-Country made him only seventh man home and a non-counter due to EAC’s illustrious winning team, he decided to switch to FVH and join his training mate Willie Day (a Junior Cross-Country International back in 1967 in a quest to overcome the big city monopoly.   One previous Falkirk star had been Sam Downie, who won the Senior East District title in 1972.   As is mentioned in his Marathon Stars profile (click on the link above) Jim was charismatic and thoughtful as well as a brilliant runner and his arrival led to increased success for his new club.   In both 1976 and 1977 Jim, Willie, John McGarva and Ian Brown won bronze medals in the Scottish Cross-Country Relay.  This quartet won another bronze in the 1976 Edinburgh to Glasgow with the assistance of Mike Logue, Willie Sharp, R Adam and B Morton.   Their next success was in 1979: another relay bronze with Davie Lothian replacing Ian Brown.

In the Six-Stage Road Relay it was bronze in 1980, silver in 1982 and, much later, bronze in 1993.   The Senior National brought bronze in 1984 and silver in 1985.   However, Falkirk’s greatest days were in the E-G: two glorious wins in 1984 and 1990, plus third place in 1985 and second in 1992 and 1993.   In 1984, Donald Bain gave his club an excellent start with second place on Stage One.   Gordon Mitchell, Ian Johnston and John McGarva fought hard but slipped back a little, before Derek Easton moved up to fourth with the second fastest time on Stage Five and the inimitable JD raced into first position on Stage Six (also with the second fastest time behind Nat Muir).   John Pentecost and Stuart Easton extended the lead to a comfortable 96 seconds in front of Cambuslang.    Falkirk Victoria celebrated (Jim, Willie and John were dedicated real ale fans) and there could not have been more popular winners.

In 1990, only Johnston and Pentecost remained of the 1984 gold medallists, but both starred in a most dramatic race.   Robert Cameron finished the first leg in eighth place before the talented John Sherban zoomed into the lead with the fastest time on Stage Two.   Peter Faulds kept in front and Ian Johnston moved further away with the fastest time on Stage Four.   However, holders Dundee Hawkhill Harriers and Caledon Park Harriers moved closer on Five, although Donald Bain kept the lead.   Gary Grindlay was second equal at the end of the long Stage Six, before Mike McQuaid finished Seven only four seconds behind Dundee.   Former infant terrible John Pentecost kept a very mature head and battled right to the end against Richie Barrie.   They were the two fastest men on Stage Eight but John managed tosqueeze home by four seconds!

Now for some very brief sketches of notable Falkirk runners, Jim Dingwall and Willie Day have already been profiled.

John Pentecost

John McGarva was a talented extrovert who trained hard despite being rather injury-prone.   He ran the steeplechase in 9:13.8 but his speciality was cross-country (tenth in the 1979 Senior National).   In the four National team competitions, John won four bronze, two silver and one gold.   He was a great team man who went on to create a micro-brewery (trystbrewery.co.uk) which is still very successful, especially in the production of bottle-conditioned beers with a fantastic range of flavours.   Thoroughly recommended!

Ian Brown won the East District Junior Cross-Country Championship twice, in 1977 and 1978.   he also ran the World Junior Cross-Country twice and was first Scot home (seventeenth) in Glasgow 1978.   After winning three bronze medals with FBVH during an inconsistent career, he eventually joined Racing Club Edinburgh and was in two winning E-G teams in 1992 and 1993.

Mike Logue was a tough guy to train with and ran a 2:27 marathon.   One of his finest runs was on the hilly Stage Three in the 1976 E-G, when he kept the lead and was only twelve seconds slower than the great Lachie Stewart.   His team won bronze; and he obtained another similar medal in the 1980 Six-Stager.   Mike, who had previously run the E-G with Victoria Park AAC was a confident fashionable fellow who also smoked small cigars!

Dave Lothian, who became a successful coach, was cheerful and sociable.   He won a Scottish Schoolboys 800m title and bronze medals in the Six-Stage Relay and teh Cross-Country Relay.

Ian Johnston ran well in the E-G, winning gold medals in 1984 and 1990, plus silver in 1993 when he was only five seconds off fastest on Stage Four.

Stuart Easton was a Scottish track international who specialised in the 1500m.   He won a Scottish title indoors and two bronze medals outdoors, with a pb of 3:45.8.   Eventually he produced a 2:23 marathon.   He ensured FVH’s first major triumph by running strongly on the last leg of the 1984 E-G.   Nowadays he is a very fast veteran cyclist and triathlon competitor.

Derek Easton, Stuart’s younger brother, represented Falkirk Victoria more frequently.   He won two Scottish 2000m steeplechase titles in the Scottish Schoolboys Championships.   As a senior he ran the steeplechase in 9:11.7 and a marathon in 2:26.   In 1984 on Stage Four of the E-G he moved up three places and provided the momentum to win gold.   In addition, he won bronze in the 1985 E-G and silver in the 1982 Six-Stager.   In recent years, Derek has been a very successful coach.

Gordon Mitchell was a very talented young runner, who was part of Falkirk’s winning team in the 1979 Scottish Cross-Country Relay Championship for Young Athletes.   He was fourth in the 1980 National Youths Cross-Country and second in 1981.   Then he was second once more in the 1982 National Junior after which he represented Scotland in the World Junior Championships.   His best Senior National placing was twelfth in 1985.   On the track he ran 3000m in 8:20.07 and 5000m in 14:18.37.   For FVH in the E-G, he won gold in 1984 and bronze in 1985, as well as silver in the 1982 Six-Stager, bronze in the 1984 National and silver in 1985.

Gary Grindlay

Gary Grindlay was in the Falkirk team that finished third in the 1985 E-G.   After running for Edinburgh Southern Harriers for a while (winning silver in 1988) he returned to FVH in 1989 and was fastest on Stage Eight.   He helped to win gold in 1990 and another silver in 1992, when he was second fastest on Four.   Another silver was obtained in 1993 and Gary led the way by winning Stage One.   He also won a bronze in the 1993 Six-Stager.

Peter Faulds was a very useful, tough runner, who showed talent as a Youth.   In the Senior ranks, he won E-G bronze in 1985 (finishing third on Stage One) and gold in 1990 (second fastest on Stage Three).   He was fastest on Stage Three when his club ended up fourth in 1991.   In addition he won silver in the 1982 Six-Stager and two team medals in the National Cross-Country – bronze in 1984 and silver in 1985.   He finished an excellent seventh individual in the 1990 National.

Donald Bain was fastest on Stage Seven in the 1983 E-G.   He was twenty second (and first finisher from Falkirk Victoria) in the 1984 National Cross-Country when his team won bronze medals.   Donald was third counter in the Vics outfit that won silver in the 1985 National.   He won E-G gold, in 1990 when he was second fastest on Stage One.   Another silver was gained in the 1992 E-G.

John Pentecost was in the Falkirk team that won a bronze medal in the 1984 National Cross-Country.   That summer he ran a fast steeplechase in 9:06.5 and then won team gold in the E-G when he was second fastest and extended the lead on Stage Seven.   John was in the team that finished second in the 1985 National Cross-Country.    In 1990 he was fastest on Stage Eight of the E-G when his finishing sprint won gold medals for his team.

John Sherban, an English International runner, was controversial but undeniably talented.   He was fastest on Stage Two when FVH won the 1990 E-G, fastest on Stage Six when silver was gained in 1992, featured in the team that finished second in 1993 and was fastest on Stage Three in 1994.   On the track he won the Scottish 5000m title (representing England) in 1991, recorded a very rapid 13:46.4 in 1994, was somehow selected for the Scottish Commonwealth Games team for Victoria but was injured and did not start in the 5000m or finish in the 10000m.

Mike McQuaid .   ran eleven consecutive Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays for FVH between 1990 and 2000.   He won team gold in 1990, silver in 1992 and silver in 1993.   In addition he gained a bronze medal in the 1993 Six-Stager.   Mike has gone on to be a successful veteran athlete on road and country and in 2011 represented Scotland in the annual  British and Irish Masters Cross-Country International.

Other Falkirk medal winners included: Willie Sharp (a consistently good club standard runner, 51 minute 10 miler), Jim Evans (SAAA Medallist, 8:57 3000 steeplechaser), Rab Cameron (Scottish Schools, Scottish U20 internationalist), Kenny Rankin (14:19 for 5000m), Steve Binns (English internationalist), Frank Harper (SAAA medallist, 2:18 marathon), Gordon Crawford (International steeplechaser), D McMillan. W Grieve, A Murray and R Jones.

Donald Bain

Following on from Colin’s record of Falkirk Victoria Harriers achievements it could be noted just how many of their runners mentioned above became coaches in the club.    Willie Day took up coaching and worked with some very good field events athletes of both genders, Willie Sharp was a steeplechase coach who became Scottish National coach for the event and also coached runners such as Ian Johnston, Derek Easton was and is a very successful coach of endurance runners coaching such as Morag McLarty and Alistair Hay to Scottish championships and Games selections, Dave Lothian was not only a coach but also a senior figure in Scottish Schools Athletic Association and they were not the only ones who served their club in that capacity.   When he was at college in Glasgow Davie Lothian ran for Shettleston Harriers in the Track League as indeed did Stuart Easton and, for a shorter period, Derek Easton.  

As Colin says, their victory in the Edinburgh to Glasgow was very popular.   Their runners were seen all over Scotland in the same events as everyone else – Willie Day and Willie Sharp for instance ran in all the major road races – the Gourock 14, the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16, the Strathallan 20 and so on; others like Ian Johnston and Rab Cameron were members of the British Milers Club and performed at a consistently high level and they were all fairly gregarious characters.   A good club, a popular club and one that thoroughly deserved its successes.

First let’s get the terminology right: in Glasgow the students cross-country team is called the Hares and Hounds, in Edinburgh they only have one hare – so it’s Hare and Hounds.   Both answer however to the name of The Haries!    The following series of profiles was written by Colin Youngson who knew them all well when he was teaching and living in Edinburgh and his admiration for the team is boundless.   

Edinburgh University Hare and Hounds nurtured so many fine athletes, many of whom have been profiled here under ‘Marathon Stars’ or ‘Elite Athletes’ or ‘The Chasers’.   Consider this impressive list: Martin Craven, Donald Macgregor, Fergus Murray, Alex and Jim Wight, Alistair Blamire, Gareth Bryan-Jones, Andy McKean, Jim Dingwall and Phil Mowbray.   But what about the supporting cast: very good runners who contributed to great success in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay or the Scottish National Cross-Country Championships?   EU H&H were usually the best long distance running team in Scotland from 1965 to 1968.   They won the E-G from 1965 to 1967 and the National Senior from 1966 to 1968.   The potential was clear in 1963 when they won the Scottish Junior cross-country title with a team including Chris Elson and Roger Young.   Frank Gamwell was part of the outfit which won again in 1964; and the students made it a hat-trick when Roger Young took part again, along with Ian Young.   Willie Allan was one of the 1965 E to G record breakers; and Ian Hathorn was in the 1966 E to G triumph.    These seven athletes will be profiled briefly.

Roger Young  won two Scottish Junior Cross-Country team golds, and in 1965 finished second individual, defeated only by the immensely talented Ian McCafferty.   In the E-G he was in the team which finished second in 1964, and was second fastest on Stage Eight in 1965 when EU won and broke the course record.   Roger achieved eighth place (second team counter behind Fergus Murray) in the 1966 National.  On the track he ran 14:20.6 for three miles.

Chris Elson   won a Scottish Junior Cross-Country gold in 1963, finishing seventh individual.   In the Senior National he obtained team bronze in 1965 and gold in 1967.   In the E-G Chris won silver in 1964, when he was second fastest on Stage Five.   When EU triumphed in 1965, he was the second fastest again this time on Stage Four, behind only Andy Brown’s fantastic stage record.   Then in both 1966 and 1967, Chris was fastest on Stage Eight in the winning team.   He broke the stage record in 1966.   On the track, he seems to have concentrated on the mile with a best time of 4:10.9.

Frank Gamwell   was thirteenth in the 1964 Scottish Junior Cross-Country when his team won the title.   In 1966 he was one of the victorious Edinburgh University runners in the Senior National.   Previously he won silver in the 1964 E-G and then gold in 1965 when he was fastest on Stage Five.   As a summer athlete, Frank ran nearly everything:   one mile (4:19), two (9:13.4), three (14:17.8) and six miles 29:33.0), steeplechase (9:35.4) and eventually the marathon (2:35:14).

Ian Young   also ran for Springburn Harriers.   He was a counter for Scotland in the ICCU Junior Championships in both 1964, when he finished twenty second, and in 1965, when he was seventeenth.   In the 1965 Scottish Junior he had achieved sixth place.   As a Senior he was fifteenth in 1967 when EU won team gold.   In the E-G Ian was fastest on Stage Eight when EU won the silver in 1964.   Then in 1966, winning team gold, he was second fastest on Stage Five, only one second slower than Alastair Johnston’s record (for Victoria Park)    Ian’s team won again in 1967, when once more he was second-fastest on Stage Five, one second slower than Aberdeen’s Steve Taylor.   In 1968, although EU could manage only seventh, Ian was easily fastest on Stage  Five when he broke the record.   As a track athlete, Ian Young had many fierce battles with Alistair Blamire over three miles.   Ian’s best time was 14:01.6 and he won a silver medal in the 1967 AAA Championships.

Willie Allan   won Senior National team golds in 1967, with EU, and in 1969 with Edinburgh Southern Harriers.   He ran Stage Three in the famous 1965 record-breaking Edinburgh University E-G team.   For several seasons Willie was a good steeplechaser with a best of 9:13.   Nowadays, relatively speaking, he is running better than ever, winning British cross-country and road titles in the over-60 age-groups.

Ian Hathorn’s finishing sprint for nineteenth place proved vital in the Senior National in 1968.   He ended up one place in front Aberdeen’s Joe Clare and EU won the team title by a single point.   Ian could cover 880 yards in 1:54 while Joe was a 2:18 marathon runner.   In the E-G, Ian’s best run was in the EU team that won in 1966 when he broke the record on Stage Three.       He also won gold in 1967.

After University, many Edinburgh University graduates joined either ESH (Craven, Macgregor, Murray, Blamire, Bryan-Jones) or EAC (Alex and Jim Wight, McKean, Dingwall).   But who were among the most prominent team mates for these stars and others such as Southern’s Allister Hutton and John Robson and EAC’s Jim Alder, Adrian Weatherhead, Doug Gunstone, Jim Dingwall, Sandy Keith and Lindsay Robertson?

Colin Hume winning the SAAA Steeplechase in 1985

Colin Youngson has written this section about his old club of which he has fond memories and lasting affection.   It is suggested that this selection of good athletes is read in conjunction with those of Edinburgh University and Edinburgh Athletics Club.   Colin writes:

For Edinburgh Southern Harriers the Fast Pack includes: George Brown, Kenny Ballantyne, Craig Douglas, Ian Elliott and Colin Hume (although other good team men were Alex Robertson, Craig Hunter, Colin McIntyre, Ian Steel, George Mathieson, Alan Robson, Calum Henderson, John Gladwin, Neil Thin and Gary Grindlay).

George Brown was a real ESH stalwart.   In the Senior National he first won a team medal (bronze) in 1961.   Over the next decade, a succession of consistent performances brought him a total of nine medals:   two gold (1964 when he was twelfth finisher, and 1970), five silver and two bronze.   In the E-G he featured in ESH teams that won gold (1973), silver (1962, 1963) and bronze (1964, 1971).   On the track, George ran a mile in 4:12.7, and three miles in 14:24.   Much later, in 1979, 1980 and 1983, ESH obtained team gold in the Scottish Veterans Cross-Country championships and George Brown, predictably, was one of their counters.

Kenny Ballantyne   enjoyed an illustrious career and inspired many club mates.   It is good to have an opportunity to profile him, if only briefly.   In the Scottish Junior National cross-country, he won team silver in 1961 and followed that in the Senior National with team gold (1964, 1965 and 1969), silver (1967 when he finished ninth, and 1971) and bronze (1966 and 1968).   Kenny was also very effective in the E-G.   His first team medal in the event was in 1961 when ESH finished second with Kenny recording the fastest time for Stage Eight in which he broke the record.   His team was again second in 1963 and third in 1964.   In 1966, Kenny was fastest on the prestigious Stage Two, in front of Hugh Barrow, Andy Brown and Alastair Wood.   There was another bronze in 1968 and finally the longed for gold medal in 1969.   In 1970 ESH were squeezed into second but Kenny was fastest on Stage Eight.   A final bronze followed in 1971.

Kenny was even more successful on the track, representing Scotland every year from 1961 to 1966.   His best distance was One Mile/1500m and at Motspur Park in 1965 he raced a mile in 4:01.1 which at that time made him the fastest home Scot.   In 1964 he won the SAAA title at that distance, and in addition gained one silver and three bronze medals in the event.   Other pb’s included 1:53.2 (880 yards), 8:51.0 (Two Miles) and 14:05.3 (Three Miles).

Craig Douglas   was a very fine athlete – a real battler – who originally ran for Teviotdale Harriers, but ESH always had a close link with Borders athletes.   On the country, Craig ran for Scotland in the ICCU Junior Championship in 1969 (twenty first after second place in the Scottish Junior, with Teviotdale third team) and 1963 (an excellent tenth).   In both these years he won the East District Junior Cross-Country title.   Actually in 1963 he won the East Senior title as well!   He seems to have concentrated on the track for a few years after that but was part of the ESH teams that won gold (1969 and 1970) and silver (1971 and 1975).   In the E-G, Craig ran for Teviotdale from 1961 to 1966, often going very fast but without gaining any team medals.   However he struck gold in 1969 as soon as he switched clubs to ESH, recording the fastest time on Stage Seven.   In 1970, Craig ‘won’ the first stage although ESH eventually finished second after a thrilling battle with Shettleston.   They were third in 1971 despite Craig’s fastest time on Stage Five, and third once more in 1972.   However it was gold for Craig’s team in both 1973 and 1974 (when he was fastest on Stage Three)

Craig Douglas won the SAAA 880 yards title in 1963 and the 1500m in both 1969 and 1971.   He represented Scotland on the track in six separate years between 1963 and 1971.   Personal best times included: 1:49.9 (880 yards), 4:01.8 (Mile), 3:46.3 (1500m) and 14:36.2 (5000m)

Ian Elliot   was another Teviotdale Harrier, an elegant athlete who later switched allegiance to ESH.    In 1966 he showed early promise by winning the East District Senior Boys title.   He was running for ESH by 1973 when he led them to team bronze in the Senior National.   This was followed by silver in 1974, 1977 and 1978, and gold in 1979, 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1984.   Ian was ninth in 1979 and very disappointed not to make his debut in the World Cross.   He proved the selectors wrong by winning the East District CC later that year.   The Scottish Cross-Country Relay was a successful event for Ian Elliot, who won gold in 1975, 1978, 1981, 1982 and bronze in 1984.   In addition he won two more team golds (1981 and 1982) in the Scottish Six-Stage Road Relay.

On the track, Ian’s personal bests were 3:49.5 (1500m), 14:14.4 (5000m), 29:55.0, (10000m) and 8:53,2 (3000m Steeplechase) in 1977 when he was second in the Scottish rankings.   He won the SAAA Indoor 1500m title in 1974 and represented Scotland in the steeplechase in 1979.   Eventually he returned to Teviotdale and enjoyed several years of considerable success in the Over-40 age-group winning two National Veterans’ Cross-Country titles in 1991 and 1992, plus other championships on the road and track.   Teviotdale Harriers won three National Veterans Cross-Country team awards during this period.

Colin Hume   was yet another very talented Borders athlete who ran for ESH, spent three years representing Memphis State University and then returned to ESH.   He showed great promise from the start, winning the East District Youths cross-country title  in 1978.   That year he was sixth in the Scottish Youths Cross-Country Championship with ESH third team.   In the Junior National Colin won team gold in both 1980 (individual sixth) and 1981 (second).   After his time in the USA he ran in the National Senior in 1985 (team gold, eighth) and 1986 (team gold).   In both 1985 and 1986 he was selected to compete for Scotland in the World Cross.   He won the 1985 East District Cross-Country Championship.   Colin also won team gold in the Scottish Cross-Country Relay in 1982 and silver in 1986.   In the Scottish Six Stage Relay he won gold in 1979, 1980 and 1981 as well as silver in 1986.   The E-G brought further team gold medals in 1978, 1981 (fastest on Stage Seven) and 1985.

His track career was very impressive with personal bests of 1:50.1 (800m), 3:42.72 (1500m), 7:53.06 (3000m), and 8:47.02 (steeplechase).   He was third in the SAAA 1500m in 1982 and won the Scottish steeplechase title in 1985.   A rare achievement was his time in 1983 of 3:59.58 for a mile – indoor!   Colin Hume ran for Scotland on the track in 1981, 1982, 1985 and 1986 over a variety of distances – 1500m, one mile, 5000m and the steeplechase.

Adrian Weatherhead to Richard Charleson

Colin Youngson was a familiar part of the running scene in Edinburgh in the 1970’s and knew all the runners, their strengths and weaknesses and got on well with all of them.    He has written three sets of brief profiles of many of the runners from the top clubs and they should maybe read together.   The others are of course Edinburgh Southern and Edinburgh University.

“Edinburgh Athletic Club’s Fast Pack features: The Knowles twins (Danny and Ronnie) and Dougie Hunter.   Others who contributed are Phil Hay, Alex Mathieson, John Kerr, Eric Fisher, Davie Watson, Robin Morris, Nigel Jones, Colin Keir, Alan Gourlay, Archie Jenkins, Brian Kirkwood, Ken Mortimer and that very good Anglo, Joe Patton.

Danny and Ronnie Knowles really have to be profiled together.   Onlookers could only marvel about how similar and how young and fast they seemed in November 1972 when they first ran in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay, running the final two stages with their team finishing fifth.   They were newly 18 years of age.  In 1973 Danny had to fight the class men on Stage Two, and on the last Ronnie overtook the Aberdeen runner to secure a silver team medal.   EAC never managed to win the E-G but came second six times out of seven!   Both Danny and Ronnie won three silvers, and Danny was fastest on Stage Seven in both 1975 and 1976 while Ronnie was fastest on Stage Eight in 1976.

In the Scottish Junior Cross-Country in 1974, Ronnie finished seventh and his twin tenth, while EAC won bronze medals.  Their best Senior National was in 1977 when they obtained team bronze.   The Scottish Cross-Country Relay produced two bronze and two silver medals for Danny and one silver for Ronnie, who won another silver medal in the 1981 Six Stage Road Relay.

The above worthy performances were definitely over-distance work for the twins, whose best distance was actually 1500m.   Danny’s fastest time was 3:46.5 and he won an individual silver medal in the 1977 SAAA Championships, plus a bronze medal in the 1976 indoor event.   Ronnie produced personal bests of 3:48.2 (1500m) and 8:29.81 (3000m).   He won a bronze medal in the 1974 Scottish indoor.  

Danny and Ronnie (plus Phil Hay and Alex Mathieson) were four of the ten EAC stalwarts who set a World Record in 1974!

Dougie Hunter   was a tough, stocky guy who always battled as hard as possible.   One of his finest moments in the sport happened early: in the 1978 Scottish Junior Cross-Country, he claimed a valiant second place despite being a full minute behind the peerless Nat Muir.   Dougie must Have enjoyed leading EAC to a gold medal by means of a crushing victory (29 points) over Glasgow University (93) and Nat’s club Shettleston Harriers (107).  

In the E-G, Dougie won four team silver medals in 1976; 1977 (fastest on Stage Seven); 1979 and 1982.   He gained another silver medal in the 1981 Six-Stage Road Relay.   In the Senior National, Dougie won three medals: team gold in 1981 (twentieth finisher) and two silver medals (1979 and 1983).   He added another two in the Scottish CC Relay: silver in 1978 and bronze in 1979.    On the track, Dougie’s best event was the steeplechase (9:25.2) and he also ran a marathon in 2:24:25.”

To that I’d like to add the name of Ken Mortimer.       When I was organising the British Milers Club races in Scotland in the mid eighties, Kenny was an almost ever present with his clubmate Nigel Jones.   Both were accomplished track runners.   Ken however seldom ran on the country although between 1982 and 1987 he ran in five Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays and picked up two silver medals – in 1982 he was fastest man on the fourth stage.   His list of personal best times on the track is impressive:   800m – 1:52.8;   1000m – 2:27.42;   1500m – 3:47.95;   2000m – 5:20.2;   3000m – 8:16.68;   5000m – 14:44.1 and he even had a go at the steeplechase with a time of 9:32.28.   In 1984 he was third in the SAAA 1500m.   He became a veteran in 2000 and has recorded several good times as such.   As a V50 in 2011 he ran 800m in 2:19.36, in 2012 he ran 1500m in 4:55.24; he has an 18:00 5K, a 30:06 five miles, a 37:04 10K,  a 62:27 ten miles, an 85:06 half marathon and finally a 3:12:29 marathon – all as a V50!

After writing the above, contact was established with Ken and he added to the information above.    Since it illustrates the period of the 1980’s in Scottish Athletics and the attitudes of the runners so well, I’ll simply quote his email as I received it.   It reads as follows.   “I remember well the BMC races and never felt that I really managed to do myself justice in them but it was great to have races of that calibre on the doorstep, although at that stage the British League races I was turning out in for EAC were probably taking up the bulk of my mental energy.

It was a great time and I had some great fun with running and many of the highlights you covered prompted some further reminiscing on my part.   A couple which might be of interest were my first Scottish vest in 1984 over the mile at Alexander Stadium when I was paired to run with that very good anglo, Stuart Paton.   I surpassed expectations – perhaps even my own included – in finishing third behind Alan Salter and Eddy Stevens of Belgium in 4:04.32.   They’d both run 4:01 but I’d been there till the last 100m.   Alastair Currie had unofficially timed me around 3:45/3:46 at 1500 metres during the race.   I was flying and was convinced if I could get another mile race a sub-4 was on the cards.   That impression was reinforced in early September at a blustery and cold Meadowbank when I ran my quickest official 1500m but by September the races had dried up and plans to go to Cyprus for a late season attempt fell through.   Another highlight from those days was the Scottish indoors 1500m in 1987 when the Indoor Championships were revived.   I had some experience of running indoors and had been a Cosford Games finalist over 1500m five years earlier but this was a championship.   Heats were required and I front-ran my heat and came under pressure but was determined not to give way, holding on to win it but racing harder than I needed to.   Graham Crawford of Springburn who ran 3000m that day, telling me what I already knew, that it would have been more sensible to ease off since I was in a qualifying position anyway.   Alan Smith of ESH who had a recent 3:46 under his belt was the big threat from the other heat but when the final was run a couple of hours late, to my delight I kicked harder than he did (off a slower pace than the heat) to win it.   I went on to have a decent indoor record winning the East 1500m title the following year (1988), and then picking up two Scottish bronzes over 3000m in 1990 and 1992.

I also ran a bit quicker at two of the distances, 5000m and 3000m steeplechase, both in 1986.   In a Scottish League match at Meadowbank having travelled up from a GRE Cup match 1500m in Wigan the day before, I ran 14:33.47.   It’s a time I should have bettered a few years later in 1992, the year I won the 5000m at the East Districts, but didn’t.   A week later, this time in a British League match at Meadowbank, I lowered my steeplechase time to 9:16.03. 

Since the site is mainly about road running, maybe I should also mention two of my better road races.   The first was the 1983 6 stage relay on leg 5 when I attacked the short leg hard to put EAC back into contention (and back into the lead) with a run which set up a last leg showdown between Lindsay Robertson and Allister Hutton for the title.   Allister was imperious that day and brought Southern home and the EAC squad had to make do with silver medals.   Then there was my occasional venture up into the world of the 10 mile races.   Having been an organiser of the EU 10 mile race in 1982, I finished up eighth in 51:43.   This coincided nicely with my best for 400 metres at the time, 51.4.    I ran it (ten miles) again in 1986 when I finished fifth in 52:40 (and there are some hotos of the race in Graham MacIndoe’s collection) but by now I was intrigued to see what I could do over an easier course.   I got the chance in 1990 when I ran the Tom Scott and finished tenth in 49:08.  

You were absolutely right about me being an occasional cross-country runner although that was where I started.   I reckon my best effort was the Inter-Area cross-country when I finished seventh behind George Braidwood in sixth in the mud of Cumbernauld in 1987.    As you will know, I’m back enjoying my running as a V50 over a variety of distances and even managed to squeeze out 4:46.5 (and a win!) at the August Nithsdale Open Graded last year.   I might even think about returning to my roots in the next year or two and get back on the road.”

And that’s it in his own words.   It is included for several reasons: first it just radiates the tremendous pleasure he got from his running and he doesn’t list numbers of medals or list all his best times he just speaks of the great memories he has – and what’s the sport for if not for the memories.   All coaches are giving their charges memories and if they look back on their career with the delight that Ken does, they will not have done a bad job; second the desire to improve – and the regret when he didn’t -is mentioned at several points, eg aiming to travel halfway across the world to Cyprus to get a better time, or regretting not bettering his 5000m time; third it illustrates the range of events open to runners at the time – Scottish League, British League, Open Gradeds, Championships, Cosford Games and so on.   Most are still there but not all are and it is much more difficult to plan a year’s progressive racing now than it was then; fourth, he talks of international representation, the lack of such now is well documented elsewhere on this website.  

Note the club tops which are a plain colour with the hawk on a square of material stitched on.

Dundee Hawkhill Harriers is one of the oldest clubs in Scotland and also has a women’s section dating back to the beginnings of Scottish women’s cross-country running in the early 1930’s.    They produced women cross-country and track champions such as Mildred Storrar and of course currently they have Olympian Eilish McColgan following in her mother’s very successful footsteps.  But the men have been no less successful and while Mildred Storrar was winning titles, the men were doing well with men such as Alex Donnett and Charlie Smith winning international caps for the men.   Dundee was a real hotbed of athletics and Charlie’s brother Suttie Smith – one of the real stars of the sport – competed for Dundee YMCA although the main rivals to Hawkhill was the now-defunct Dundee Thistle Harriers.   Colin Youngson has selected several runners from a particular spell of real success for the grand club and his account is below.   This is followed by a link to the history of the club from 1924 to 1945.

Dundee Hawkhill Harriers were formed in 1889.   They were the best club in their area for many years and promoted classic road races such as the Kingsway Relays and the Perth to Dundee.   Back in the 1960’s they fought with Aberdeen AAC for supremacy in the North-East Cross-Country League, producing runners like Fergus Murray, Ron Coleman, Phil Kearns, Rab Heron, Doug Gunstone and Ian Graves.   However in Scottish National Competitions, their best teams featured in the late 1980’s and early 90’s.   Liz McColgan was world-famous but male club-mates included her husband Peter McColgan, Charlie Haskett and Iain Campbell, as well as ex-Clyde Valley star Peter Fox , Chris Hall (Welsh international, previously Aberdeen AAC), Dave Beattie, Richie Barrie, hill runner Des McGonigle, Matt Strachan, Paul Briscoe and Craig Ross.   Ross Copestake won the Scottish Cross-Country Under-17 title in 1980 and went on to run for his country in the World Cross as a junior and as a senior.   Terry Reid also won the Scottish Under-17 title in 1987.

In the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay, DHH were a top ten club for several years before breaking through in 1989 when they achieved a tremendous victory.   Dave Beattie was second on the first stage, Peter McColgan brought them into the lead with the fastest time on Stage Two, and Terry Reid, Craig Ross, Iain Campbell (fastest on Five), Charlie Haskett, Richie Barrie and Peter Fox retained first place to the end, a minute and a half clear of Cambuslang Harriers.    The following year, by only four seconds, the Hawks lost a titanic battle with Falkirk Victoria Harriers.   B Pattieson was fastest on Stage Seven and the other silver medal winners were P McCanna, B Cook, Chris Hall, Charlie Haskett, Richie Barrie and both Iain and Ian Campbell!

Hugh McKay to Richie Barrie in the Six Stage Relay in 1983

Charlie Haskett was a real stalwart for Dundee Hawkhill Harriers (Charlie’s father Chick was a good runner, his elder sister Christine was a major Scottish star on track and country and his son Mark is also a fine athlete.)   Charlie won the East District Senior Boys CC in both 1972 and 1973, followed by East District Youths CC in 1974 and 1975.   Then in the 1975 National CC, he won a silver medal in the Under-17 age-group behind the peerless Nat Muir.   In 1976 he finished eighth junior.   Charlie represented Scotland in the IAAF World Junior CC in both years.   His consistency in the Scottish Senior National was outstanding: six successive top ten performances between 1984 and 1990.  His best placing was sixth in 1985.   Charlie won four Scottish CC medals with DHH: bronze in 1990 and 1993, and silver in 1991.   In the Scottish CC Relay he won team silver in 1990.   The Six-Stage Road Relay produced considerable success for the Hawks and Charlie Haskett won team silver in 1989 and 1991, and must have enjoyed the victories in 1990 and 1994.   He ran 18 E-G’s, including team gold in 1989 and silver in 1990.   In the summer season Charlie ran well in the steeplechase and 10000m (30:24) and gained Scottish international vests as a marathoner, with a best time of 2:18:41 (1984) and silver medals in the Scottish Championships (1984 and 1987).   This durable athlete went on to run well as a veteran on country and road.

Peter McColgan was a Northern Ireland international who ran in the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games, reaching the Final in the steeplechase and 5000m..   By 1987 he was running for Dundee Hawkhill Harriers and won the 1988 East District   CC title.   Twice Northern Ireland steeplechase champion, in 1990 he won the Scottish 5000m title.    Then in 1991 he he claimed UK steeplechase gold.   He represented Great Britain in the 1991 World Athletic Championships steeplechase in Japan.   His track personal bests include two NI records (3000m indoors 7:54.48, and steeplechase in 8:27.93.) and a mile in 3:59.37.

Peter contributed a great deal to DHH success from 1987 to 1994.   He was fastest on Stage Two of the E-G in 1987 when his club finished fourth.   Then he was fastest once again on Stage Two in 1989 setting Hawks on the road to victory.   In 1989 he was part of the team which won silver in the Scottish Cross-Country Relay and then gold in the same event in 1990.   In the Six-Stage Road Relay, he gained team silver in 1989 and 1991 and then gold in 1994.   However his finest moment must have been when he won the Scottish Senior National Cross-Country title in 1990, leading DHH to bronze.   Peter also finished second individual in the 1991 National, with the Hawks being second team as well.

Iain Campbell (born 1960) originally ran for East Kilbride AAC, running the World Junior Cross-Country in both 1978 (27th) and 1979 (an outstanding 10th).   Then he went on to Clemson University in the USA, recording a 5000m best of 14:02.0 in 1985.   He represented Dundee Hawkhill Harriers from 1989 to 1994.  Apart from making a major contribution to gold and silver medals in the 1989 and 1990 E-G, he featured in three further championship wins: 1990 and 1994 Six Stage and 1990 Cross-Country Relay.   Always enthusiastic and hard training, Iain went on to become a regular and successful member of the Scottish Masters squad for the annual Five Nations CC International.

Near namesake Ian Campbell was ten years younger and a track specialist (800m and 1500m) with impressive junior bests of 1:53.6 and 3:51.5.   His senior club 1500m club record is 3:43.64.   He was sixth on Stage One of the E-G in both 1990 (team silver) and 1992.  In addition he helped the Hawks secure team gold in the 1994 Six-Stage Road Relay.

Peter Fox (born 1962) originally came from Motherwell district and showed a great deal of athletic promise.   In 1978 he won bronze in the National Cross-Country Under 17 championship, and then gold in the Scottish Schoolboys Track 3000m.   In 1979 he finished first in the National Cross-Country Under-17, and won the Scottish Schoolboys 5000m.   In 1980 it was silver (behind Graham Williamson but in front of George Braidwood) in the Under-20 National Cross-Country.   Peter Fox ran for Scotland in the World Junior Cross-Country in both 1979 and 1980.

By now, along with Brian McSloy and Colin Farquharson, Peter was one of the young lions racing for Clyde Valley AC.   In 1979 (along with future 800m star Tom McKean) he was one of the team that won the Scottish Cross-Country Relay Young Athletes Championship.   Then Peter won two senior team gold medals in the 1979 and 1980 Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relays, as well as two silver medals in the 1979 and 1980 Six-Stagers; and two more silver in the E-G when Peter was fastest on Stage Eight.   The 1982 Senior National Cross-Country produced team silver.   In the 1983 E-G, Clyde Valley AAC finished third with Fox fastest on Stage Four.   Then in 1986, running for Motherwell YMCA Harriers, Peter won the West District Cross-Country Individual title.   He was fourth in the 1988 Senior National Cross-Country.

Peter Fox studied for a medical degree at Dundee University and subsequently worked in the area as a doctor.   So Dundee Hawkhill Harriers must have been very pleased when he eventually joined them first-claim, making an immediate impact with a superb third place in the 1989 Senior National over a tough, hilly, snow-covered course at Hawick, behind Tommy Murray and Anglo Paul Evans but in front of Steve Ovett!   With the Hawks, Peter went on to win gold in the 1989 E-G and 1990 Six-Stager; plus silver in the 1989 Six-Stager, 1989 Scottish Cross-Country Relay and 1991 National Cross-Country, and bronze in the 1990 (tenth finisher) and 1991 National.   Although his training after this may have been reduced due to work commitments, this cheerful, popular runner can look back a career with so many fine achievements.

*   In the Six-Stage Road Relay, Dundee’s medallists (gold in 1990 and 1994 and silver in 1989 and 1991) included Haskett, McColgan, both Campbells, Peter Fox, B Cook, P McCormack, P McCavana, D Storey, Matt Strachan, J Hill, Craig Ross, Des McGonigle and Chris Hall.

*   1990 Scottish CC Relay gold medallists were Chris Hall, P McCavana, Iain Campbell and Peter McColgan.   1989 silver medallists were Fox, Paul Briscoe, Haskett and McColgan

*   Scottish Senior National Cross-Country team medallists (bronze in 1990 and 1993, silver in 1991) included Haskett, McColgan, Fox, Hall, Storey, McGonigle, Strachan, Briscoe, G Rennett and I Campbell (the younger?)

That is where Colin’s account of the DHH Fast Pack concludes but of those mentioned above, I knew Hugh McKay and Richie Barrie through their involvement in British Milers Club races that I organised in the mid-80’s.   Hugh (DoB 18/06/60) was a man of several clubs, having run for Central Region and Dundee University before joining the Hawks and he currently runs for Fife AC.   He was a good, honest runner who always gave of his best and by 1985 his best 1500, time was an excellent 3:48.3.   Richie was younger, Date of Birth 10th March 1963, but was also a good runner.  After the BMC Annual General Meeting in Glasgow in 1985, he offered to organise it for the following year in Dundee but was unfortunate that the National Committee wanted it back in England again.   In 1985 his pb for 1500m was 3:49.47 at the age of twenty one.   

Dundee Hawkhill Harriers – 1924/1945   Mildred Storrar   Nan Robson   Caird Park: In the beginning   Caird Park 1954 – 1990

   Dundee Kingsway Relay   The Gunstones     The Hasketts

Athletics, particularly running it seems, is basic to every sport in the land: sprinting is sprinting whether it is done on a track, criss-crossing a tennis court or ‘pinning your ears back and going for a try’;  throwing is throwing whether it is shying a ball into the box at a football match or taking a line-out throw; jumping is also basic to many sports from gymnastics to basket ball.   It is therefore no surprise to see athletics coaches such as Allan Wells, John Anderson, Tom McNab and Stuart Hogg working with professional squads in a whole host of other sports.   Many athletes in their career take part in other sports.  One sport which has benefited greatly from the input of athletics is rugby union.

The new vice-president of the Scottish Rugby Union, Eddie Crozier, used to be a runner himself.     Eddie hails from Dumbarton, son a local lawyer, and ran for the local Dumbarton AAC as a sprinter who specialised in the 400m.   As a rugby man Eddie represented two clubs from Glasgow on the sport’s governing body –  West of Scotland and Glasgow Academicals both of whom were in at the birth of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association in 1883 as founder members along with such as Watsonians, Loretto, Royal High School, Edinburgh University, St Andrews University, Edinburgh Academicals, Fettesian-Lorettonians and Blair Lodge School.   The rugby link with athletics is still there – for instance at Scotstoun, used for athletics since the 19th century, is currently shared by athletics, mainly Victoria Park AAC, and the Glasgow Warriors rugby team.

Eddie himself is part of a long line of sprinters and 400m men who took part  in his sport.  Taking the 400m, it is possible to go back via Menzies Campbell who was the best British sprinter of his generation over 100m, 200m and 400m who captained Scottish and British teams, captained the Olympic team, won many international honours as well as doing the ‘double treble’  – ie winning the 100 , 220 and 440 yards at the same championships as well as a couple of doubles!  In total Campbell won the 100m 3 times (62, 63, 64), the 220 3 times (63, 64, 65), and the 440 4 times (61, 62, 53, 64).   Campbell raced all over Britain and was a regular runner for Glasgow University as well as for Garscube Harriers. He was a noted rugby player and although he never won a Scottish cap, he won a Twickenham sevens medal with Edinburgh Wanderers.   Going back a wee bit further we get the great Eric Liddell who won the 100 five times (1921, 22, 23, 24, 25), the 220 five times (1921, 22, 23, 24, 25) and the 440 yards twice (1924, 25), including a ‘double treble’ in 1924 and 1925.   Liddell was a rugby winger of strength and speed who was a regular all over Scotland at big meetings such as the Rangers Sports as well as at local meetings.

There were others but if we look at Eddie’s running career, one of his club mates at Dumbarton was noted official and administrator Jim McInnes, who served his time as President of the SAAA, and who himself (a) started out as a sprinter at the club and (b)who had played as one of the backs for Glasgow High School.   Dumbarton had a very good track team at that point – multi-Scottish medallist at decathlon and over the 440 hurdles Bobby  Mills covered many events, quarter and half miler Jack Brown was also a man capable of competing in other events, the young Currie brothers Alistair and Allan with fellow distance runner Scott Reid held great promise for the future, and at one point the club had four sub-two minute half milers in Mills, Brown, Jack Baird and Colin Martin.   Colin was a top class athlete at any distance from 440 yards to the steeplechase and only just missed out on Commonwealth selection.  Check their times on www.scotstats.net in the Archive section.  They trained at the Postie’s Park track in Levengrove Park in Dumbarton.   It was into this team that Eddie Crozier came.

If we look at the result below, taken from the DAAC website and drawn to my attention by Hugh Barrow we note that he defeated sub-4 minute miler Alistair Currie in a handicap club road race in 1980.  Amazing as the running of Campbell and Liddell was, neither has ever defeated a 4 minute miler!   Eddie has that honour:.

Alistair Currie’s ability was clear from the start and at local level races were arranged to give him ‘a good pull oot’.   The note at the foot of the result is self explanatory.   The link between good 400m men and rugby is clear.

If further proof of the 400m sprinters – rugby link were required, Brian Whittle, another outstanding 400m runner with Scottish and GB representation all the way through his senior career, an Olympian as well as a World, Commonwealth and European runner of note, was also a rugby player and a man who could have gone either way: his friend Derek Stark, who admittedly only ran 100 and 200m was also a rugby player of great ability.   Most recently of all, Guy Learmonth of Lasswade, a 48.0 second 400m runner and international athletes over 800m (1:46.69) only took up running seriously when he was not selected for the Under 17 Six Nations squad!

 The elevation of Eddie Crozier is an addition to the ever growing list of former athletes excelling in another sphere.   We have commented in the past on former athletes who are now better known as operatic tenor, a football referee, radio/TV sports reporter, successful sports agents, millionaire financiers, journalists of every sort and the list just goes on.   Well done Eddie.

I finish with a quote from Hugh Barrow:   When confronted with his past athletics endeavours Ed responded – “I can remember that day one of the Adams brothers wound me up re being a sprinter ! I thought my lungs were going to come through my throat !”    Most runners make a comeback at some point in their career – will we see    “E. Crozier (Dumbarton)” on a 10K results sheet at some point?