Author: The Author

The Mile has a kind of magic of its own and while all events have world figures that are looked up to, respected and admired, the Mile tends to have Heroes.    People who are legendary and of whom any middle distance runner walks in awe.   The to real stars are Herb Elliott and Peter Snell.    Herb was coached by the rather eccentric Percy Cerutty – who called himself a ‘conditioner of men’ rather than a coach.   He would have been well in tune with the philosopher Diogenes who, when asked why students left him to study with others, none seemed to leave other philosophers to study with Diogenes, replied “One can make a eunuch of a man, but can never make a man of a eunuch!”   Elliott never lost a race at 1500m or a mile between 1957 and 1961 and while he ran well and won medals over 880 yards and 800 metres, he was regarded as a miler pure and simple.    There is a very good clip of Percy Cerutty and Elliott at the Portsea Training Camp on youtube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKqMRpv7ygc and one of Herb setting a world record at      www.criticalpast.com/video/65675066596_Herb-Elliott_mile-race_gun-being-fired_run-on-the-track

Peter Snell, another Antipodean but from New Zealand, won three Olympic golds as well as Commonwealth winners medals and set world records at 880 as well as winning Olympic gold in the 1500m.   In fact his first Olympic gold was at the shorter distance and his first world records were for 800m and 880y on a grass track in 1962.   Coached by Arthur Lydiard who like Cerutty was not part of the official coaching system.  Unlike Cerutty he did not believe in weight training but did believe in bige mileage training  for athletes including training runs of over 20 miles.   There is an excellent video of Peter Snell on youtube at www.nzonscreen.com/title/peter-snell—athlete-1964    There are two clips (9 min and 12 min) to this short documentary covering his career up to 1964.   Hugh Barrow sent a link to another article –   www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/sport/6365084/Peerless-Snells-Christchurch-records-still-stand – which is a good read.

Classic picture from the cover of the BMC News

2014 being the anniversary of the first four minute mile ever run on 6th May, 1954, by Roger Bannister at Iffley Road Track in Oxford.   The story about how Roger and the ‘two Chris’s’ managed it is by now well known and there are many journal and website articles about it.    Universally hailed, there were one or two dissenting voices at the time (and there are still some to be heard) that it it was not the done thing to use pace makers – indeed on the very day one of the officials there who were required to sign the form ratifying the record refused to sign until heavy pressure was brought to bear upon him.   Several years later every runner in a British Milers Club race in the South West was disqualified because a pace maker had been used in the actual race.   Video of the race can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz3ZLpCmKCM   and an account at www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/first-sub-first-four-minute-mile explains briefly the previous attempts and the race itself.

There was no less excitement north of the Border to have a Scot under the magic figure and many top Scots strove to reach the mark but the honour of the first four minute mile in Scotland went to Englishman Derek Ibbotson in June,1957 – a full three years after Bannister and his time of 3:58.4 was the second fastest ever in the world, only Landy had been faster, and a European, British and Scottish all-comers’ record.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ report on the race read as follows:

 “IBBOTSON’S ACHIEVEMENT AT POLICE SPORTS” – 

GD Ibbotson, holder of the AAA’s Three Miles title, gave notice of his intention to do particularly well at Glasgow Police’s seventy fourth annual sports at Ibrox Stadium on Saturday by requesting that he take part in the Mile rather than in the three miles event.    That he was serious was proved when on an afternoon of stamina-sapping heat, he broke the European, British and Scottish all-comers records for the mile by winning in 3 mins 58.4.    Ibbotson’s time is the second-fastest ever run in the world.   Only J Landy (Australia) who holds the world record of 3 min 58 sec has achieved faster time.   The 18000 crowd gave the Yorkshireman a magnificent reception when he became the first to run the distance in Scotland in under 4 minutes.   That Ibbotson succeeded may be due in the first instance to the pace and judgement of a colleague, L Locke, who ran the first lap in 57.2 sec – Ibbotson was then comfortably in fifth place – and the half mile in 1 min 58 sec, at which point Ibbotson was moving up.   At the end of the third quarter of a mile, Ibbotson led the time being 2 min 59.8 sec.   No one was able to extend him in the final lap and yet he completed it in 58.6 sec.   The previous British record of 3 min 59.4 was held jointly by RG Bannister and two Hungarians,  L Tabori and I Roszavolgyi.   The Scottish champion GE Everett, profited by competing in the top class for he finished fourth in 4 min 6.6 sec- 0.9 sec better than his previous best for the distance achieved at the corresponding meeting last year.   M Bernard (France) who was second was delighted with his time of 4 min 5.8  sec, the best ever by a Frenchman.   Ibbotson who visited his wife and newly born daughter in St Helier Hospital, Carshalton, Surrey, said of Saturday’s race:-

“Had it not been quite so hot, and had someone been able to stay with me to the bell, I think I should certainly have broken the world record.   I had not planned to try for a four minute mile but knew after hearing the time for the first lap that it was possible.   The only encouragement I had was the other athletes lining the track and urging me on.”    

The third placed runner was Mike Berisford, an Anglo-Scot who was one of a number who were trying to reach a mile time that started with 3.   The man most likely had been thought to be one mentioned above – Graham Everett.   Other home Scots who had been though contenders for the honour included Graham Stark from Edinburgh and Hugh Barrow from Victoria Park in Glasgow who was a bit younger but very talented.   Then there were the Anglos.   Berisford was one and the Wenk brothers were also working hard on the task.   None of them ever lived in Scotland, none of them had a Scots club affiliation and none of them were at all known north of the border.   But the Anglo who might have been first was Alan Gordon, the man who had run in the actual race where the first four minutes was run.

Gordon was a very talented runner who took part in several of the four minute miles of the era and at one point he had run in more sub-fours than anybody else but had never dipped below the magic figure himself.   A one point he confessed himself to be uncertain why he never did so: in an interview with Doug Gillon he said that Graham Everett had paced him on one occasion to get the time but he was out of sorts and didn’t manage it.   He himself paced Tabori to the clocking coming through 440 in 60 and 880 in 2:00.8.    There were several races where Everett, Gordon and Berisford all ran well in the same race but none of them got there.   Despite the best efforts of Scots runners to beat the clock, it was not until 1961 that a Scot ran inside four minutes, and not until 1970 that a Scot ran the time inside Scotland.   It was not for want of trying though.   The table below shows the progress of the Scottish Native Record for the Mile (performances made in Scotland by competitors born in Scotland).

It was a long wait – sixteen years after Bannister before Scots could see a Scot run under 4 minutes.   It was a hard battle to get there at any venue and the progress is indicated in the table below.

Berisford was born in England in 1936, he lived in England and ran for an English club, appearing seldom north of the Border.   Very few of us would have recognised him.   He did compete in Scottish championships and won the 880 yards in 1961 and mile in 1962.   He raced against Everett many times, usually coming off second best but on 18th August 1961 he went into the Emsley Carr Mile at the White City  in a race won by Jim Beatty (USA) in 3:56.5, and finished fifth in 3:45.2 to win the race to be first Scot under 4 minutes.   He was a Scot under the rules and that is what matters when compiling rankings but we would rather have seen a home Scot doing it.   Graham Everett would have been a popular man to have done it, Alan Gordon should probably have done it in 1955 or 56 and later on Hugh Barrow or Graham Stark were also capable: Barrow’s three quarter mile record of 3:00.5 and pb of 4:01.0 indicate that it was possible.

However – Bannister 3:59.4 in Oxford was first in 1957, Ibbotson 3:58.4 was first in Scotland in 1957, 3:59.2 Berisford was first Scot in 1961 and Stewart was first Scot in Scotland in 1970.   Stewart of course was from Birmingham and later chose to run internationally for England after running for a couple of years for Scotland.    Scotland’s really great period of miling was still to come with the likes of Clement, Robson and Williamson being regularly under four minutes and members of many GB teams.

We are now sixty years from that first sub-four and hundreds of runners have succeeded in getting there but the event and the time still exerts a fascination for people all over the world.   There have been several claims from runners around the world to have run the time before Bannister did so but the most repeated is that of Englishman Ken Wood to have done so.   Ken Wood, from Yorkshire, was a very good middle distance runner indeed and he claimed to have beaten Bannister to it by 29 days.   Unfortunately it was done in a training session in Sheffield.  Many runners claim to have done great things in training which are greeted with scepticism.   Of Wood’s ability there can be no doubt – he won the Emsley Carr mile four times and ran in the 1956 Olympics – and he was adamant that he had run the distance inside four minutes.   His time – 3:59.2 – was faster than Bannister’s and run on the University of Sheffield’s track on 7th April, 1954.   Looking back on the run he said, “I used to train with the University team on Wednesday afternoons and that day there were four or five others doing the session.  Some of the boys thought that it was interesting that I had run under four minutes, but I didn’t regard it as that important.   It was only when Roger made a fuss about it that it seemed significant.   I was pleased for him because I knew mine wouldn’t have counted in any case.”

I’m a wee bit sceptical about the time, but then I’m sceptical about lots of things.    The remark that he didn’t regard it as that important is a strange one when there was a great deal of coverage of the quest for the four minute mile with John Landy in Australia and Wes Santee in America only the most prominent searchers for the prize.

More significant is an article by James Fletcher on the topic from a historical perspective.    It can be found at the BBC website and has some wonderful illustrations.

 The 18th Century four-minute mile              By James Fletcher BBC News

PARROTT’S MILE:  Roger Bannister was credited with being the first person to run a mile in under four minutes – but 18th Century runners are reported to have got there first. Why are they not recognised?  It was 9 May, 1770 when James Parrott, a costermonger, stood at the Charterhouse wall on Goswell Street, London. He was getting ready to run. For money.   A wager had been made that Parrott could not run a mile in under four and a half minutes. If he could, he stood to win 15 guineas – a substantial sum for a man who may only have earned around 50 guineas a year selling fruit and vegetables from a street barrow. With money on the line, it’s likely that umpires on both sides carefully checked the watches, locked them in a box to prevent tampering, and placed them in a horse-drawn carriage that would make sure they reached the finish line ahead of the runner.

After the signal was given, Parrott was away, turning briefly up the narrow confines of Rotten Row before emerging onto the flat, wide open space of Old Street. Legs pumping, heart pounding, he ran its length almost all the way to the finish, a mile away at the gates of Shoreditch Church.  The result was reported in the Sporting Magazine of 1794: “1770 May 9th, James Parrott, a coster-monger, ran the length of Old St, viz. from the Charterhouse- wall in Goswell Street, to Shoreditch Church gates, (which is a measured mile) in four minutes.”  It is the first known report of a four-minute mile. On another May morning 244 years later, Peter Radford retraces James Parrott’s steps.

Listen to Peter Radford on More or Less on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, or download the free podcast  Today, estate agents and kebab shops line the route. A massive roundabout has been added. But St Leonard’s Shoreditch, home of the bells of Shoreditch from the famous nursery rhyme, still looks much as it would then, although these days it’s perhaps best known from the BBC sitcom Rev.  “The ghost of it all is still here,” says Radford. “All of the new buildings are clustered around the road which is exactly the same as it was then, with the same bends and twists and turns and width as it was then.”  Radford is a retired professor of sports science, and also bronze medallist in the 100m and 4 x100m sprints at the 1960 Rome Olympics and broke the World Record Holder for the 200m in 1960..

He has a passion for runners from the past, and it’s largely thanks to him that we know of the achievements of James Parrott and others like him.  He has collected more than 600 records of running races from the 18th and 19th Centuries, revealing a rich culture of running and athletic achievement. “Women did it, girls did it, men did it, young men did it, old men did it, fat men did it,” Radford says. “Sometimes for a wager someone would say, ‘I can run two miles in XYZ time while eating a chicken’.” Among those records there are further intriguing hints that the mile may have been run in under four minutes.

 1770

May, 9th, James Parrott, a

coster-monger, ran the length of

Old Street, viz from the Char-

terhouse Wall in Goswell Street

to Shoreditch church gates,

(which is a measured mile) in four

minutes.   Fifteen guineas to five were

betted he did not run the ground in

four minutes and a half

POWELL’S MILE; On 22 December 1787, the Oxford Journal reported that a man named Powell, a plater from Birmingham, had been wagered the huge sum of one thousand guineas that he could not run a mile within four minutes. No report survives of the final race, although the paper does say that Powell ran a trial in four minutes, three seconds, and continues: “He ran entirely naked, and it is universally believed, that he will win the wager.”

WELLER’S MILE: Then in 1796, the Sporting Magazine reported that a young man called Weller, one of three brothers, “undertook for a wager of three guineas to run one mile on the Banbury road, in four minutes, which he performed two seconds within the time.” In other words, a mile in three minutes, fifty eight seconds.

From a modern perspective, it’s natural to assume that the further back in time we look, the slower people were running. We also have the benefit of distances measured to the millimetre and times recorded automatically to a hundredth of a second, so when confronted with stories of naked, chicken-eating runners, and reports of races published decades after they took place, it’s easy to dismiss the old times as errors or tall tales.   But Radford argues that at the time of Parrott’s run, agricultural chains would have been able to measure the distance to within a few inches. And, by the late 18th Century, the best watches were extremely accurate. Even a watch that lost five seconds a day could still time a mile to within a second.

Crucially, the culture of wagers gave everyone a strong financial incentive to get it right. “The two parties agreed that there hadn’t been any advantage taken by one side over the other,” Radford says. “It’s not like a diary entry where somebody said, ‘I did so and so’ and they could make up whatever they wanted.”  But any individual result could always be compromised by dodgy technology or dishonest or inaccurate reporting, so Peter Radford has applied the tools of statistical analysis to all of the hundreds of results he’s collected.

“It’s only when you look at them and gather them together that you begin to see the patterns emerging,” he says.  Very broadly, his method is to take the best results in any given era over a range of distances and plot them on a graph. Results that are suspect stand out and can be discarded, and those that remain can be seen as more reliable. You can also extrapolate from the times at other distances to see what the ‘physical culture’ of the time might have been capable of achieving over the mile.

“You begin to see that they’re not a random collection of oddball times and distances, they have an internal mathematical logic to it. The argument increases in strength all the time that there were some quite extraordinary athletes in the 18th Century.” Radford recently ran the numbers based on all the races in the period covering Parrott’s run. Factoring in the margin of error, the best possible one-mile time would be anywhere between 4m 13s and 4m exactly.

Radford himself appears surprised by Parrott’s reported time. “The gods of mathematics (and athletics) are playing games with us,” he says.   But behind the athlete’s excitement, there’s the professor’s more scholarly caution. “The analysis has of course answered no questions,” he says, “but has simply made the debate even more intriguing.”   So where does this leave Sir Roger Bannister’s famous run of 6 May 1954? What does Sir Roger himself make of the idea that a costermonger might have got there before him, in the 18th Century?   “It’s inconceivable,” Bannister says. “Without the modern measurement of tracks, and stopwatches that were reliable, there was a lot of guess work in terms of the distance run and I don’t think any of these claims are credible.”  But for former Olympic sprinter Peter Radford, the comparison with Bannister is not the point. “I suppose it’s trying to understand where I’ve come from, to try to understand the history and culture of what drove me,” he says.  “For me the runners of the 18th and 19th Centuries are part of my sporting family tree, and I think they’ve been overlooked for a long time and I want to understand them better.”

The article is fascinating and the accompanying pictures and maps that you will find at the BBC website add tremendously to it.

The four minute mile may be almost commonplace today but regardless of how many men, and surely women in the future, run it, it will still retain its magic.

UK ALL-TIME TOP UNDER 17 MILE TIMES

So there it is – numbers three and four both Scots, High’s time set in 1961, Alistair’s set in 1981 and despite all the remarkable improvements made in shoe and track technology, they have only been beaten on time by Welshmen in 1972 and 1977.   The list is noteworthy too for those not included on it – No Clement, Coe, Cram, Elliott, Ovett, Robson, Williamson ……………………..

If you have any more interesting statistics about the half/800/mile/1500m, just send them on and we’ll put them up.

Rosemary winning the 1970 Commonwealth Games

Rosemary Stirling, later Wright, was one of the heroes of the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh when she won the 800m on the last day.   Ranked in Scotland for performances as early as 1964 she was a firm favourite of athletics supporters on both sides of the border.    With Georgena Buchanan she was half of the GB team that broke the world record for the 4 x 800m in September 1970.   Colin Youngson has put together this profile of a wonderful athlete.

Doug Gillon, the distinguished athletics journalist, wrote in ‘The Herald’ on Friday 2^nd May 2014: “Rosemary Stirling was once the first lady of Scottish Athletics. She was the first to win Commonwealth track gold when she took the 800 metres title in Edinburgh in 1970; first to hold UK and Commonwealth records indoors and out; first to win a medal (400m bronze) at the European Indoor Championships, while 4x400m victory at the European Outdoors made her the first Scottish woman to win European gold and she was the first to hold a world record in an Olympic event.”

Colin Shields and Arnold Black included her profile in “The Past is a Foreign Country”, published in 2014: “At 5 feet 2 inches, and weighing in at around 110 pounds, Rosemary Stirling did not cut an imposing figure on the track, but her achievements stand along any other female athlete in the history of Scottish Athletics…….. an Olympic finalist, she also held Scottish records at 400m that lasted 12 years and, at 800m, an incredible 36 years from her first record, set in 1966.”

“Born in Timaru, New Zealand, on 11^th December 1947 of a Scottish father and English mother, she started running at the local club’s handicap events in Whakatane before moving to the UK in the mid-1960s.” She joined Wolverhampton and Bilston in the English Midlands. In 1966 Rosemary won the SAAA 440 yards title and then, Gillon says: “She was selected to run for Scotland. ‘My grandparents were proud Scots and so was my dad,’ she said, ‘so I accepted.’”  The following week, as Shields says: “Her breakthrough came at the AAA Championships where, although finishing third in the 440 final, she bettered the Scottish record in the semi-final with 54.5. To put this in perspective, as an 18-year-old, she was now ranked in the top five all-time in the UK. Finishing behind her in that semi-final was a young Lillian Board, destined for tragically short-lived greatness.” Doug Gillon reports: “Rosemary Stirling was offered an England vest immediately. ‘I told them they were too late, that I had already committed to Scotland. I never regretted it. Scotland, with smaller numbers, really looked after you.’” At the Commonwealth Games in Jamaica, 1966, Rosemary Stirling was fourth in the 440 and 880 finals, recording Scottish records on both occasions. 

In 1967 Rosemary Stirling won Scottish titles at both 440 and 880. (Between 1966 and 1973 she was to win the 440 three times, the 880 once and the 800 three times.)  Previously she had taken (Colin Shields): “The first of five WAAA indoor titles, and together with Pat Lowe and Pam Piercey, became a world record holder as part of the team that broke the 3x800m and 3×880 relay records.”

“1969 saw her first international medals at the two European Championships held that year. At the indoor event in Belgrade, she slashed her UK indoor record from 56.0 to 54.8, courageously fighting round the final bend to gain the bronze medal, in a time shared with second place. In Athens in the outdoor championships, she was adrift in the 400m final, finishing 8^th in 54.6, but two days later ran the lead-off leg in 54.2, hampered by a troubling foot injury, as the UK team of Stirling, Pat Lowe, Janet Simpson and Lillian Board came home in a world record of 3.30.8 for gold.”

The ‘Athletics Weekly’ report by Mel Watman was as follows.

“In the entire history of Track and Field Athletics there has never been a race that was more exciting than this one. From my own point of view, even the Chataway v Kuts epic will now have to take second place.

On paper France couldn’t lose but, luckily, races are fought out by people on tracks, and not by mathematicians or computers. There was one obvious chink in the French armour, though. Instead of ending up with the double grand slam of Colette Besson and Nicole Duclos – a partnership almost guaranteed to make up any deficit – the team management opted for Duclos on the second leg and Besson on the anchor. This made the French extremely vulnerable on the third stage with Janet Simpson in pursuit of Eliane Jacq. If Janet could be close sufficiently then Lillian Board would be in with a chance against the tempestuous Besson.

Rosemary Stirling, her troublesome foot feeling the strain of five races in as many days, led off with the utmost of her current ability. She handed over with a few girls ahead of her but her time was 54.2 (0.1 outside her best ever) and Britain was in touch. On the second leg Duclos rushed from third to first along the back straight – overtaking the Russian and West German – and continued to pile on the pace for the rest of the distance. It was an awe-inspiring run – TIMED AT 50.6 SECONDS – and at the end of it, France was nicely set up some ten yards ahead. But only ten yards up, for Pat Lowe – who has never run faster than 54.6 off blocks – produced another of her inspired relay performances. Running perilously close to her optimum 200m pace for the whole circuit she covered her lap in an heroic 52.1. Britain’s chances had been kept alive.

Now it was Janet Simpson’s turn. Bitterly disappointed with her showing in the individual final, this was her chance to show why she came fourth in the Olympic final. Never allowing herself to be flustered, she gradually cut down her French rival and, although she could have forged ahead in the final strides to hand Lillian a lead, she deliberately held back … and still ran a superb 52.1!

The advantage in the anchor leg of the relay rests with the runner who takes over just behind and that was just the position in which Lillian found herself. Would Besson destroy herself? As she pulled away from Lillian with every stride it looked for a while as though it would be no race, but then came the realisation that the French girl was travelling too fast for her own safety – a situation borne out by the splits that became known later. Besson covered her first 200m, during which she opened up a lead of 6-8 metres, in a suicidal 23.6! Worse still, at 300m – when some 10 metres up – her time was an almost unbelievable 36.1 … 48.1 speed for 400m. No woman – and not all that many men – could get away with it.

Inevitably, Besson began to crumble in the straight, and Lillian – who had sensibly run her own controlled race – started to close. There was no question of a response from Besson, who was thrashing about wildly, the question was could Lillian pass her in time? With 40 yards to go Besson looked round, the ultimate sign of anxiety, and that gave Lillian renewed hope. It was still touch and go but in the last stride or two, Lillian forced herself ahead for a famous victory. She had run her lap in 52.4 and the team’s total time, shared with France, was a World, European, Commonwealth and UK record 3.30.8 – an average of 52.7 per leg. Truly a glorious performance, one in which all four girls gave of their very best and from which no individual should be singled out.”

Shields and Black note: “Concentrating on the 800 up to the 1970 Commonwealth Games at Meadowbank, she set a Commonwealth and UK all-comers indoor record of 2.06.51 at Cosford and won for Britain against East Germany at the same venue. In June she took the Scottish title in an all-comers record (2.05.4) and returned to Meadowbank a week later to share in a world record 4×800 time of 4.27.0 for the British quartet of Stirling, Sheila Carey, Lowe and Board.”

‘Athletics Weekly’ journalists Cliff Temple, Dave Cocksedge and Mel Watman compiled the Commonwealth Games Reports.

WOMEN’S 800 METRES: Final

“It was four years ago, at Kingston, that Rosemary Stirling – then 18 – surpassed herself by placing 4^th in the 880 in 2.05.4. Since then she has run in several world record relay teams and produced the occasional world class performance, but a combination of repeated injuries and a certain lack of confidence prevented her from reaching the heights expected of her. Although possessed of all the necessary qualities to break 2 minutes for 800 metres she was in danger of falling well short of her potential.

Not so now. By winning this important title, her first, in a race in which she had to drive herself unmercifully for the entire length of the finishing straight, Rosemary had proved to the world that she is a champion. More important, she had proved it to herself. From now on, we can expect to see a more assured runner.

The race, as exciting as they come, was marred by Sheila Carey’s misfortune. She tripped and fell soon after the field merged along the back straight. After a few seconds hesitation she started running again and pluckily finished but it was a deeply distressing experience for Sheila, rated favourite for the title.

Rosemary Stirling and Pat Lowe were two runners affected by Sheila’s fall but they managed to regain their balance without losing much ground and at the bell (63.6) it was Gloria Dourass of Wales ahead of Lowe, Cheryl Peasley (Australia) and Stirling.

Peasley, a strapping 19-year-old with fast 400m and 1500m times to her credit, took up the running after 550m and with half a lap to go the race was clearly between her, Lowe and Stirling. The Australian continued to lead into the finishing straight but the two Midlanders (though New Zealand-born Rosemary was representing Scotland, of course!) were poised to strike. A relentless struggle ensued … and it was Rosemary – on the outside – who prevailed by the narrowest of margins.

Both Rosemary and Pat have made courageous recoveries from injures that a few weeks ago threatened their very participation in these Games, and it was tough that one of them had to lose.

Rosemary said later: ‘On the first lap I was boxed in and kept looking round waiting for someone to make a break so I could get through. I thought after the slow first lap that I had a good chance.’ Pat said: ‘I was very tempted, before Cheryl went, to go but it was a long way from home.’ Cheryl said: ‘It was too slow in the early stages; it just wasn’t my race.’

       1                    Rosemary Stirling (Scotland) 2.06.2

2                    Pat Lowe (England) 2.06.2

3                    Cheryl Peasley (Australia) 2.06.3

4                    Gloria Dourass (Wales) 2.08.6

5                    Sylvia Potts (New Zealand) 2.09.7

6                    Penny Werthner (Canada) 2.10.0

7                    Georgena Craig (Scotland) 2.16.1

8                    Sheila Carey (England) 2.18.5”

Doug Gillon reports the victor as saying, “I knew I’d won but it took a long time for the result to come through. I can still hear the crowd egging me on now.”

(Rosemary Stirling, left, was first in the final of the 800m at the 1970 Commonwealth

Games in Edinburgh, crossing the line just three hundredths of a second ahead of her rivals but enough to claim the gold medal. Picture: Herald Archive.)

Shields and Black: “Returning to the 400 scene later that season, she set a national record of 53.9 with her first outdoor win for Britain in Warsaw and repeated this feat in the 800 (2.04.2) in Bucharest in September. That same month she helped Britain to reduce its own world 4×800 record by two seconds to 8.25.0.    In 1971, Stirling improved her 400m time to 53.24, a Scottish record. She also won bronze in the European indoor 800m, retained her Scottish title, was second in the AAA and third in the European outdoor 800m (2.02.08, another Scottish record). In addition she also brought Britain up to fourth on the final leg of the European 4x400m, recording an outstanding split of 52.6, quickest in the team and her fastest ever.

Unfortunately in Olympic year, 1972, as Doug Gillon wrote: “Rejection of England may have hindered her. She says: ‘Before the Munich Olympics, I couldn’t get the British Board to send me anywhere. I struggled for races.’”

At the Olympics, after Rosemary Stirling had battled through the heat and semi-finals, AW commented: “As so often in the past, she has peaked at the right time and her record of being an individual finalist at Kingston, Athens, Edinburgh (gold medal), Helsinki (bronze) and now Munich, is an indication of her consistency.”

The final was packed with world class runners. The gold medallist was Hildegard Falck of West Germany, with an Olympic record 1.58.6. Four competitors broke 2 minutes. AW reported: “Such was the overall quality of the race that Rosemary Stirling smashed Ann Packer’s UK and former world record of 2.01.1 by 0.9 in 7^th place and Abby Hoffman (Canada) clocked the same Commonwealth record time of 2.00.2 for nothing better than last position!…….Rosemary, tipped by AW five years ago to become a 2 min runner, finally made it – or at least came within a stride of that target.” Doug Gillon comments: “Stirling’s time survived as the Scottish best for 30 years until Susan Scott broke it…..Rosemary also held the Scottish 400m record for 12 years with 53.24.”

Shields and Black: “Marrying English international distance runner Trevor Wright after the Olympics, she ran steadily thereafter, representing Britain internationally until 1975.” Rosemary won her final Scottish 800m title in 1973 and also won bronze in the AAA outdoor 800m. Between 1966 and 1981 she topped the annual ranking lists for 220 yards (once), 440 yards (once), 880 yards (once), 400m (six times), 800m (six times) and the marathon (once, recording 2.43.29 to win the Gloucester Marathon in 1981). 

Then the Wrights emigrated to New Zealand and settled in Tauranga. Their daughter Jess Ruthe ran for NZ in the World Cross Country Championships; and her sister Emma was NZ schools 800m bronze medallist. Rosemary was team manager of  several NZ teams, including for the 2008 World Cross in Edinburgh.    Trevor’s grandson is Julien Matthews is a sub-four miler who ran in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 and finished ninth in the 1500m final.

In June 2014 Mrs Rosemary Olivia Wright (nee Stirling) was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of the University of Glasgow in recognition of her sporting achievements.

Colin Shields and Arnold Black conclude her profile: “A gracious and modest runner, she expressed her pleasure on Susan Scott breaking her 800m record in 2002, although admitting her surprise that she still held the record after such a long time.”

Rosemary with her Glasgow Doctorate

And that’s where Colin ends his look at the career of Rosemary Wright.   The GB World Record Relay mentioned at the top of the page was reported in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ as follows: “At the Coca-Cola International Invitation Meeting at Crystal Palace on 5th September, 1970, they obliged but the race did not go as expected.  Let Ron tell the tale: “Two Scots, Rosemary Stirling and Georgena Craig, shared in another world record, though only through the disqualification of the West Germans.   The West German Women’s 4 x 800m relay squad broke the tape in 8:22.6, a world record, but were disqualified for passing the baton on the first leg take-over out of the legal area.   So the world record went to Britain (Miss Stirling, Mrs Craig, Pat Lowe and Sheila Carey) who finished second in 8:25, two seconds inside the record set by Britain earlier this year.”  It was the second time that the record had been broken that year – the only change being because Lillian Board was too ill to run and Georgena Craig had been drafted in.   Statistically, Rosemary appeared in the Scottish lists from 1964 through to 1985 in a wide range of events.  220 yards, 200m, 440 yards, 400m, 880 yards, 800m, Mile, 1500m, 3000m and from 1980 she was ranked only at the marathon where her best time was 2:43:21 which made her top rated Scot in 1981!   Had she not been living in New Zealand at the time, a new international  career might have beckoned.

Graham Williamson leads – rival Steve Cram inset

Graham Williamson was born in Glasgow on 15th June 1960 and was one of the best middle distance runners the country has produced – Frank Clement was already on the scene when Graham and John Robson burst through to prominence in 1977 and 1978 but the rivalry between the three of them was as intense as that south of the Border between Coe, Cram and Ovett without any of the bad feeling.    Graham, like many another before him was well known on the Scottish track and cross country circuits well before he was heard of in England.   He had started running in Summer 1973 at the age of 12/13 with personal bests of 2:19 and 5:20.0 for 800m and 1500m.   By 1974 as a Junior Boy his bests were 2:09.0 and 4:29.0 and his bests for the next three years are in the table.

There was an excellent interview with the BMC News of Autumn 1978 which provided a lot of information for this profile.  His competitive record with placings up to and including 1977 are as follows

• 1974: third in Scottish Junior Boys Cross Country
• 1975: second in Scottish Schools Cross Country; first in the Scottish Schools 800m; Second in the SAAA Boys 1500m
• 1976: second in the SAAA Youths 800m; second in SAAA Youth 1500m; first in Scottish Schools 1500m
• 1977: First in Scottish Youths Cross-Country; 43rd in IAAF Cross Country (Dusseldorf); First in SAAA 800m, 1500m and 3000 metres; second AAA U20 1500m; Scottish Youth (U17) 800 and 1500m record holder.

So, although John Keddie says that Williamson came into prominence in 1977 along with John Robson, he had been working his way through the age-groups, under the guidance of coach Eddie Sinclair since he was twelve years old!   The first report in Keddies book says “In 1978, Robson had a brilliant run in the SAAA Championships in a memorable race.   After a terrific duel with Frank Clement Robson just came out on top, 3:40.1 (a Native record) to 3:40.5.   Not far behind these two was outstanding Junior John Graham Williamson (Springburn Harriers)  whose 3:42.1 constituted UK aged 17/18 years old bests.   Six weeks later these positions were exactly repeated in the UK Championships at Meadowbank.    These performances augured well for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games at Edmonton for which, alas, young Graham Williamson, despite a record breaking win in the AAA’s Championships (3:39.7), was not selected”.   When the list of incredible non-selections made by administrators is drawn up, this along with his disgraceful non-selection for the 1980 Olympics are sure to be at or very near the top.   His win/loss record vis-a-vis Steve Cram was something like 21:1 in his favour but while the English selectors sent Cram along to gain valuable experience, the Scots left Williamson at home.

So what was Graham’s response?   By the end of 1978, his achievements included;

• Scottish Junior 800m and 1500m champion;
• Scottish Junior 1500m and 3000m record holder;
• Scottish, UK and European record holder for 1500m;
• UK record holder for Junior 1 Mile;
• AAA Under 20 Champion.

 But what must surely have given him most satisfaction was setting a World Junior record in Warsaw the day after the final of the 1500m in Edmonton.   His time?    3:37.7.

In July 1979, Williamson was second  and Robson third right behind Steve Ovett in the AAA’s 1500m.   Three days later on July 17th, both Scots were in the Golden Mile in Bislett Stadium, Oslo, when Coe broke the world record with 3:39.0.   Robson in fifth ran 3:52.8 ( a Scottish National record) and 19 year old Graham was seventh in 3:53.2.  Video with interviews can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyss8ym2bq0 .

 There is a superb article in Sports Illustrated by Kenny Moore on 13th March 1980.  

and is a first class description of how the field came together, the wheeling and dealing about who took the pace, how fast it was to go, conversations between runners, the influence of Andy Norman, the conversation Brendan Foster had with Graham before the race and (of course) the course of the actual event.   If you are interested in middle distance racing at this time and what ‘our boys’ are expected to put up with when they get to these events, this is a ‘must read.’    I’ll quote some of the bits of what Graham had to put up with here.   The race already included Steve Scott, John Walker, Thomas Wessinghage and initially Ovett seemed a certain starter and the race was being organised by Andy Norman and Arne Haukvik of Norway.   “Graham Williamson, only 19, had a best of 3:55.8 and been third in the Golden Mile the year before.   For seven months he had had a tentative invitation to Oslo but there had been no confirmation.   It seemed that with Walker and Ovett and Scott in the race, the promoters were waiting until the last minute to complete the field.   They wanted the fittest runners and, because NBC-TV had bought rights to the race, a few Americans.   “All year I’d been planning to make this race the peak of my year,” says Williamson.   “I arranged three weeks of training at altitude in Colorado as final preparation.”   He returned to Scotland 12 days before the race.   “My training was going badly when I got home.   One afternoon a week before the race I was out doing four miles and everything clicked.”   That was the day that Norman called.   “You’re in,” he said.   They continued to put the field together – Robson and Moorcroft were kept waiting for their invite.   Steve Lacy and Craig Masback (The two Americans) were also included.   In Oslo no ‘journeyman rabbit’ could be included – it would have to be one of the runners.   Masback was in no doubt that it would be Robson, Williamson or himself that would be required to do the job.   None of them wanted it and Williamson made it clear that he wasn’t doing it.   Then during an interview with the BBC Ovett said that with the strength of British Miling, why should they go all the way to Norway for a fast race?   He boxed himself into a corner where it was not possible for him still to go to Oslo.   Coe, who still seemed to regard himself as an 800 metres runner was in the field.   “Back in the hotel, Williamson who had also resisted Haukvik’s entreaties to set the pace sat down with his room-mate, Brendan Foster, a magically astute judge of runners.   Before them they had a ist of the field.   “We got it down to Coe and Scott really,” Williamson says.   “For a year I had felt that Coe was capable of a big mile, Coghlan had to be tired from his 5000, Walker was not at his best and Wessinghage seldom comes off well in a big race.   I never expected anything of Masback.”   The 19 year-old Williamson looked up at the 31 year-old Foster .   “What do you think?” he asked.    “I’d bet you third,”   said Foster.”   There was an interesting conversation with Walker and it was on to the race.   Graham warmed up wearing two track suits.   Lacy, the American, took the pace and came through the first lap in 57 seconds with Scott a yard back.  They both got to 800 in 1:54 with Coe just behind in in 1:54.5.  Two laps in 57 seconds each.   At 1200 metres the time was 2:52.0.   Coe moved off and down the back straight, “Williamson had found the race frustrating for its refusal to develop into a file of efficiently running men.   “You could never settle in,” he said, “There were always things going on, people going past.   I really only took stock of the race with 300 metres to go.”   He was in fourth.   “With Scott and Coe out and away, I was aiming for third.   I got by Walker.   I cut in on him and he pushed me in the back.   Ahead Scott didn’t look that good.   I began to think I might get second.”   Looked good but then ………….. “On the turn, just past 1500 metres Masback loomed up just behind Williamson, and his reaching stride accidentally caught Williamson’s left foot.   Two spikes came into the rear of the Scotsman’s  red Puma and ripped it off his heel.   “One second I was sprinting at Scott, thinking he’s not too far away’, says Williamson.   “And the next ‘Christ, what can I do?’   I kept looking down.   I ran a few steps with the back of the shoe tucked under my foot like a carpet slipper.   Then I got it off.   People began to go by me.   My running action was gone.”   Williamson would finish seventh in 3:53.2 – that and his 1500 metres time of 3:36.6 were European Junior records.   The whole saga of the race is in Moore’s article.   Then after all that hassle, just five days later Williamson easily won the AAA’s 1500 metres which he had won the year before in 3:41.6 and on August 16th won the European Junior 1500m in 3:39.0.   A month later at altitude in Mexico City, Graham won the World Student Games title in 3:45.4: a really remarkable double.

In 1980 there was a slow start to the season with early season illness.   If the non-selection for Edmonton was a disgraceful decision, it did not compare with the ‘fix’ that was the selection for the 1980 Olympic Games.   There was an Olympic trial for the 1500m in June.   Graham ran and was second to David Moorcroft who said he wanted to run the 5000m in the Games.    Ovett and Coe were clearly going and Graham as second in the trial should have gone.   Steve Cram had fallen during the race and Brendan Foster persuaded the selectors to have Graham and Steve have a run-off for the Olympic place over One Mile at Bislett.   Graham had a cold that week and asked the selectors to put the race back a week so that the two would have an equal chance.   They refused.   Then his bag containing his running kit, spikes and all, was stolen at the airport.   He had to run with a cold and in borrowed kit.   Needless to say he did not run to form in the race which was won by Ovett in 3:48.8 with Cram second in 3:53.8 and Graham some way back in 3:56.4.  In his biography, ‘Ovett’ written with John Rodda, Steve has some hard words to say about the incident and I’ll quote some of them here.   Steve was running in the 1500 at Bislett as were Cram and Williamson.   “When I arrived in Oslo airport my thoughts of world-record breaking were quickly set aside for the plight of another runner, Graham Williamson.   The young Scottish miler and Steve Cram had been pitched into my race to decide who should have the third 1500m place in the Games, in my opinion the most absurd way of choosing an athlete and an indictment of the selectors who could have had little understanding about the preparation and planning that goes into an athletes life.   It showed a complete lack of feeling for the sport.   If these selectors had been runners then they had completely forgotten what their sport was all about.   To ask two young athletes to race in these circumstances a month before their Olympic event was like committing them to a duel at dawn: one of them was going to have a shattering experience.   As we all waited at the airport it became clear that Graham’s kit was missing.   I felt for the man as did the other athletes in the party.   The prospect of having to run in different spikes, shorts and vest in such a crucial race was a cruel blow.   A runners spikes are like a comfortable old pair of shoes – you will keep them until they are falling apart.   I wanted to say something to Graham but I stopped short realising I would only make matters worse.   In the event Graham’s gear did not appear and Cram finished in front of him and won the ticket to Moscow.   Within a few seconds of winning the race I went over to Graham and tried to offer the right kind of words to comfort the guy.   He had been running well, he thought he had done enough to win his Olympic place and then the selectors had turned round and said they had wanted more.”   The book is excellent and I used to use particular paragraphs to illustrate points that I wanted to get across to runners and even at times to coaches.    Exactly two weeks later  at the same Stadium, Ovett set another world record with 3:32.1 for the 1500m while Graham ran 3:35.8 in fifth.

1992: Graham wins the Mile in a Scottish Native Record of 3:52.66 at the Iveco International Games at Meadowbank

Injury prevented him from competing seriously in 1981 and the only mark for him in the SAAA Yearbook is 3:46.4 for 1500 metres in March that year.   In 1982, however, he won the AAA’s indoor 1500m in January with a UK Indoor best of 3:40.72 which eh reduced further to 3:38.28 in a match against Belgium at Cosford ten days later.   Into the summer season and he brought his mile time down to 3:50.65 for a National record when he was fourth behind the South African Sydney Maree at Cork on 13th July.   He qualified for both the European and Commonwealth Games held later in the year.   He had ten of the top 20 Scottish marks that year from 3:37.7 in Meadowbank in July down to a 3:46.1 indoors at Cosford in February.    He won a top class 1500 in an international match at Meadowbank in July with 3:52.66    The match was against England, Poland, and Norway and he defeated the in-form Irishman Ray Flynn by almost two seconds.   There was more misfortune in the Commonwealth Games in Australia however.   He won his heat in 3:45.22 and was going really well in the final when there was a bit of a kerfuffle in the back straight of the final lap.   Cram saw this and decided to take advantage and go for it.  The result was a win for the Englishman in one of the tightest finishes imaginable.   Result: 1.   Steve Cram   3:42.37; 2.   John Walker   3:43.11; 3.   Mike Boit   3:43.33; 4.   Graham Williamson   3:43.84; 4.   Mike Hillardt   3:44.03.   How close and how unlucky can you get?     Well, the European Championships later in the year gave the answer.   In the Final Graham accelerated past Cram with 600 metres to go before the Spaniard Jose Abascal caught his heel in the back straight and he crashed to the track.   Cram won and Graham did not finish.

1983 and 1984 produced many of his lifetime best times with 1983 in particular showing best marks of 1:45.6 for 800m, 3:34.01 for 1500m, 3:52.01 for the Mile, 4:58.38 for the 3000 metres and 8:07.8 for the 3000 metres.   The times for 800m, 1500m and 2000m were lifetime bests.   He ran in the World Championships in Helsinki at the start of August and the BMC News had this to say of his performance: ” Graham Williamson gambled on not having lost too much conditioning with his injury but a 3:38.99 Heat was really all that he could manage in his condition.   The man has talent and guts but never seems to enjoy much good luck.   Still, he and George Gandy may well come through in 1984: Williamson can certainly run 800 in 1:44 and 1500 in close to 3:30, sometimes.”    I like that ‘sometimes’ at the end!   Graham was well liked and respected in the BMC and Frank Horwill liked the fact that he was not afraid to take it on if appropriate.

 In 1984 there were more excellent times recorded: 2:16.82 for 1000m, 3:34.13 for 1500m and 3:51.6 for the Mile.   After these two outstanding years he was injured for most of 1985 and did not compete.   There was a solitary 1500 metres time of 3:46.85 recorded in 1986 and, because of injuries, his wonderful career was basically over.   The man who had been on the wrong end of several decisions by administrators and selectors was ironical given an extension to gain the qualifying time required for the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games.   He couldn’t get within 7 seconds of the required time when he went for it in Innsbruck.   His last lap kick had gone and he could only manage 63 seconds for it.   In an article by Doug Gillon in ‘Scotland’s Runner’ for  May 1987 he says”I knew then I’d had it.   Yet it was the most consideration I had ever received from the Scottish selectors.   He had retired by the age of 26.

Graham had a fine career with many, many very good races and although most of the times were recorded approximately 30 years ago they stand up remarkably well today.   He tops the Scottish Junior All-Time lists for 800m, 1500m, One Mile and 3000m.   He ran for Scotland n the World Junior Cross-Country Championships (twice as a Junior and once as a Senior).    His best marks are in the table which has his all-time GB as well as his Scottish rankings for each performance.

I would like to go back to the article mentioned at the start: The ‘Olympic Prospect’ interview in the British Milers Club magazine for Autumn 1978. It is not clear who asked the questions but the replies were quite revealing.  Remember his date of birth: 15/6/60

BMC:   Please describe in some detail your winter training and outline how it has progressed over the past three years.

GW:     1975/6:   Sunday: 7 Miles easy.   Monday: 4-5 miles steady.   Tuesday:  4-5 miles brisk.   Wed:  5 miles steady.   Thursday:  5 miles steady.   Friday:   Rest.   Saturday:   Race

            1976/7:   Sunday:  10 miles easy.   Monday:  3 miles easy am; 800’s or speed work pm.   Tuesday:  3 miles easy am; Brisk road run pm.   Wed:  3 miles easy am; steady road run pm.   Thursday:  3 miles easy am; Acceleration run pm. 

            Friday: Rest.  

           Saturday:  Race.

            1977/8:   Sunday: 10 miles easy.   Monday: 3-4 miles easy am; Brisk road run pm.  Tuesday:  3-4 miles easy am; track speed work pm.   Wed:  3-4 miles easy am; Steady run pm.   Thursday: 3-4 miles easy am; Steady run pm.  Friday:

            Rest

            Saturday:  Race.

BMC:   What are your views on the comparative values of indoor running and cross country during the winter?

GW:     I value cross-country running very much.   It is a nice break from track running.   I take the country very seriously but seem to get dogged either by very bad colds or injury at very important times.   I have only won the Scottish National once.   Twice in the last three years I have been undefeated   and then got ‘flu one year and a very bad foot injury in 1978.

BMC:   Please describe in some detail your summer training and outline how it has progressed during the past three years.

GW:

BMC:   Please give details of training other than running.

GW:     None.

BMC:   Please describe how you warm up.

GW:    At the moment I am trying different ways of warming up to see which one suits me best.   I am trying different amounts of jogging and strides at different meetings.   The warm-up depends on how long before the event you have to report.   Normally at meetings I now start 45 minutes before the event.   I just jog about during that time with about four or five ‘strides’ to loosen off and increase the heartbeat.

[The entire article can be found in the BMC Magazine for autumn 1978.]

My favourite Graham Willliamson story is of the wee boy (no more than 12 years old) who spotted Graham talking to Jack Crawford as he walked through the Springburn Harriers grounds at Huntershill and asked for his autograph.   Graham was quite agreeable to this and asked if the boy had a pen he didn’t but borrowed one from Jack.   He then asked for a bit of paper but the boy didn’t have one; he did however suggest that Graham sign his forearm and he would trace it on to a piece of paper when he got home!

Adrian Weatherhead (76) with Alan Puckrin (290) leading Jim Brown (229)

Scotland is a small country so you would expect all those interested in endurance running, whichever branch was their speciality, would know each other or at least know what each other was doing.   That is not necessarily the case as can be seen from the career of Adrian Weatherhead,   Well known as a top flight athlete, his actual career seems to be a well-kept secret.  He won SAAA titles at various distances  on the track, indoor and out (did YOU know that he was also a steeplechaser?   I didn’t!) and a cross country internationalist  who turned late in his career to road running where he turned out to be a master of his trade.   He was reported to be a speed merchant in training who was seen out regularly doing lunch time training sessions on the grass beside the North Meadow Walk in the Meadows – often accompanied by the accomplished 400m/800m runner Tom Renwick.   Andy McKean was one of our best ever cross-country runners but Adrian was runner-up to him National Cross-Country Championship three times and Andy says, ‘I recall glancing over my shoulder to see him uncomfortably close behind, dancing light footedly over the snow in Drumpellier Park in Coatbridge.’   All photographs on this page are by Graham MacIndoe unless otherwise stated.   This profile has been written by Colin Youngson and tells the story of an athlete who should be remembered for his achievements more than he is.   Before the profile however, let’s look at Adrian’s replies to the questionnaire.

Name:   Adrian Weatherhead

Club/s:   Octavians, Polytechnic Harriers/Edinburgh AC

Date of Birth:   22/9/43

Occupation:   Retired Local Government Officer.

Personal Bests:  

How did you get involved in the sport:   School to get fit for rugby (400/800m); then Octavians AC and Heriot Watt University.

Has any individual or group had any marked effect on either your attitude to the sport or individual performances?     Peter Snell and Jim Ryun

What exactly did you get out of the sport?   1.  The satisfaction of proving certain people who doubted my ability wrong.   2.   The satisfaction of watching my training being translated into results.   3.   The thrill of becoming a GB International athlete.   4.   The enduring legacy of well-being which physical fitness gives one.

Can you describe your general attitude to the sport?   A sport which is both rewarding for achievement through effort but unforgiving when preparation is lacking.   It is therefore a sport when competitors stand or fall by their own efforts and can neither depend upon nor blame team mates as in other sports.

What do you consider your best ever performance/performances?   1.   My fastest mile run in blustery conditions finishing only two seconds down on Filbert Bayi, the then new world record holder.   2.   Outsprinting the notoriously fast-finishing Andre de Hertoge in the Scotland v Benelux match 1500m since I did not have the blistering sprint speed which many of my contemporary rivals possessed.   I covered the last 400m in 54 seconds.

What ambitions did you have that remain unfulfilled?   Olympic and European Championships.

What did you do apart from running to relax?   Jog/run 5 – 6 miles per day; swim a hard mile most days; astronomy; competitive small-bore target shooting; playing the guitar.

What did running bring you that you would have wanted not to miss?   The pleasures of achievement, health and fitness.

Can you give some details of your training?   Basically the type of schedule advocated by John Anderson (one of the world’s best and, to my knowledge the only British coach that the former Soviet Union sports machine ever invited to join them).   The opposite of the Lydiard method – plenty of high quality track running along with one’s winter mileage.   No track anaerobic session was ever run at a slower than summer race pace.

Adrian P Weatherhead was born on 22nd September, 1943.   By 1965 he was running for Octavians AC and recorded a time of 1:56.9 for 880 yards.   During the next 25 years he produced an extremely impressive series of top class performances on every surface: outdoor and indoor track, cross-country and (almost as an afterthought) road.   Since he had no interest in taking part in veterans-only competition he retired at the age of 47 having made a considerable mark on the Scottish record books.

Adrian went to Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and represented them with distinction.   For example in November 1968 he ran the fastest time in the East District Cross-Country Relay Championships round the hoof-marked, bumpy Hazlehead pony track in Aberdeen, outpacing future GB internationalists Donald Macgregor, Gareth Bryan-Jones and Alistair Blamire.   Although for many years he refused to run on the road (to prevent injury), he was a formidable cross-country runner and at the end of the same month as the East relay, he was narrowly outkicked by John Myatt in the Scottish Universities Trial over the Aberdeen University course.   In December in the Scottish Universities v Scottish Cross Country Union match at Camperdown Park, Dundee, Adrian finished fifth behind Lachie Stewart, Dick Wedlock, Alistair Blamire and Myatt.   Weatherhead emphasised his place amongst the nest Scottish Cross-Country runners on January 18th, 1969 by winning the East District title on Musselburgh Racecourse.   At around the same time he ran 3000m in 8:13.8 at Cosford on the indoor track.   Then he finished thirteenth on his first run in the Senior National at Duddingston Park.

Weatherhead also ran for HWU during the track season, for example doubling up at 1500m and 5000m in a match against Aberdeen University and Glasgow University at Westerlands in April 1969.   Adrian graduated that summer but improved his best 800m time to 1:52.3, was a close second to Craig Douglas (who later won the SAAA title) in the East District 1500m, ran a pb of 3:48.1 (third in the Scottish rankings) when winning a race for the Scottish Universities v English Universities at Crystal Palace and completed a Mile in 4:04.0.   By now Adrian was running for Polytechnic Harriers as well as for Octavians and also won over 5000m (14:17.2) at Crystal Palace.   In addition he won a 3000m (8:20.0) in Oslo.

By December 1969 Adrian Weatherhead was representing the SCCU in the annual cross-country fixture with the Scot Unis, this time at Paties Road, Colinton, Edinburgh.   His cross-country career continued intermittently but with a great deal of success.   In the 1970 National on Ayr Racecourse he was sixth, securing selection for the International Cross-Country at Vichy, France, where he contributed well as fourth Scottish counter in forty second place ahead of Dick Wedlock and Norman Morrison..

The Vichy team:   Adrian, Lachie Stewart, Bill Stoddart,  Bill Mullett, Dick Wedlock, Gareth Bryan-Jones in the rear, Norman Morrison, Ian McCafferty and Jim Alder in front.

(Picture from Lachie Stewart)

In 1971 Adrian regained his East District Cross-Country title (which he also won in 1976).   He improved further in 1973 in the National at Drumpellier Park, Coatbridge, finishing an outstanding second behind Andy McKean.   By now Weatherhead was running for Edinburgh AC and they won the team championship.   The first IAAF World CC Championships took place at Waregem Racecourse, Ghent, Belgium, where Adrian was fifth Scottish counter in seventy second place.

At Coatbridge in both 1975 and 1976, Adrian Weatherhead was second to Andy McKean in the National and EAC won the team title.   For some reason (indoor races?) Weatherhead did not run the World Cross-Country again.   However he continued to compete well for his club.  In the National, EAC were victorious in 1978 at Bellahouston Park (Adrian tenth) and in 1981 at Callendar Park, Falkirk, (Adrian fourteenth).   He was twenty first when EAC won silver at the Jack Kane Centre, Edinburgh, in 1983; and signed off with thirty sixth (but first M40 veteran) in 1984 having won three individual silver medals n the National Cross-Country plus five team golds and one silver.   In the National Cross-Country Relay, he won team bronze in 1976 and silver in 1978.

Despite enjoying consistent excellence over the country, Adrian Weatherhead’s main focus was the track.   In 1970 he won the East District 1500m from Jim Dingwall and improved his one mile best to 4:00.7 at Crystal Palace.   he also ran 5000m: second in the East District and third in the SAAA Championships (14:09.2) behind Ian and Lachie Stewart.

Further progress was clear in 1971 when Adrian was second in the Scottish 1500m rankings to the outstanding Peter Stewart.   Weatherhead not only ran 3:40.9 during a mile in 3:58.5, but also his seventh fastest 1500m was only 3:47.4.   During the indoor season he had run 3000min 8:02.61 when second in the AAA’s Indoor Championships at Cosford (in front of Andy Holden but behind Peter Stewart who went on to win the European indoor title at that distance) winning his first Great Britain outdoor vest and he won an outdoor 3000m at Belfast in 8:10.0.   Furthermore he broke14 minutes for 5000m three times, was second in the SAAA event to Ian McCafferty, won a bronze medal in t he AAA’s Championships and was unlucky not to be selected for the European Athletics Championships.   His new pb was 13:47.28 at Crystal Palace in the AAA event.   In the Scottish rankings this was second only to Ian Stewart.

In 1972, after winning a silver medal in the AAA indoors 1500m (3:46.7) on January 29th, Adrian Weatherhead was selected to run 1500m for Great Britain in the match against Spain at Cosford on February 19th.   He finished third behind fellow-Scot Frank Clement and Spaniard Jean Borraz.   The outdoor season produced a 5000m in 13:50.4, third in the rankings behind Ian Stewart and McCafferty.   He also won his first outdoor Great Britain vest v Greece and the Netherlands in Athens.      In 1973 Adrian won the SAAA Indoor 1500m (3:51.3) at Bell’s Sports Centre, Perth.   He followed that with victory in the outdoor East District 1500m from Jim Dingwall with a season’s best of 3:42.7, second in the 5000m and his season’s best was 13:54.

1974 provided further proof of Adrian Weatherhead’s speed, consistency and versatility.   The season started normally enough with a win in the East District 1500m.   Two good 5000m races both produced a time of 13:48, including a win in the English Inter-Counties at Crystal Palace.   Adrian won the English Inter-Counties title and ended up second in the Scottish rankings.   The big surprise was Weatherhead’s victory in the Scottish Championships – in the steeplechase!   He defeated list-topper Ian Gilmour with 8:52.8 and also recorded 8:50.6  as second-fastest Scot that season.   Then Adrian competed for Scotland in the match versus Norway in Oslo: winning the 1500m in 3:43.4 as well as coming fifth in the steeplechase.

1975 was another good year.   Adrian ran 1500m in a pb of 3:41.35 when finishing fifth in the AAA Championships (second in the rankings to Frank Clement).   Another pb was 3:57.59 for the Mile at Crystal Palace in May which was repeated in the IAC meeting in September the same year.   He also raced another 1500m for Great Britain v East Germany (DDR) in Dresden where he finished second.   He had also won a 1500m the previous week in the Spanish Games in Madrid where he beat the Spanish record holder Antonio Burgos.   He ran for Scotland in the British Isles Cup in Munich, and won a 5000m race in Munich (14:11.6).   1976 started with a win in the SAAA Indoor 1500m (3:48.9) in Perth.   In 1977 it was evident that Adrian’s speed had not lessened: 800m in 1:52.8; 1500m in 3:41.46 (third in the rankings – his sixth fastest mark was 3:47.5); and a Mile in 3:58.7, making him the oldest person ever to break four minutes.   He also won the last two of his seven Great Britain vests that year. .    1978 was less successful: 1500m in 3:49.6 and 3000m indoors (8:07.8).

In 1979 Adrian  became the oldest athlete to win the SAAA 1500m title outsprinting Hugh Forgie and Steve Rimmer.   He also ran 3:43.3 in the AAA 1500m final.

Having retired from the track, Adrian Weatherhead continued to run cross-country until 1984 (as reported above).   However the real shock was his late career as a road runner!   In the 1983 Scottish Six-Stage Relay he won team silver with EAC, next year they won gold and in 1988 silver again.   He also won the Grangemouth 10K race twice (fastest time 29:36) and the Falkirk Half Marathon in 66 minutes, all achieved as a 40 – 42 year old vet.

However the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay was the event in which Adrian made most impact, when he was aged 40 to 47.   EAC had finished second in this prestigious event seven times in the previous decade – they could really have done with Weatherhead then to turn silver into gold!   Adrian would only run the hilly first stage but did so seven years out of the next eight starting in 1983 with a tremendous 26:16 (33 seconds clear of the next man and only 16 seconds slower than the record).   He was sixth fastest in 1985, second in 1986, seventh in 1987 (when EAC won team silver), fifth in 1988, seventh in 1989 and sixth in 1990 – only 14 seconds slower than the fastest man – future Olympian Tom Hanlon).

Adrian Weatherhead’s career had been truly remarkable and very successful.   It is a shame that he had no interest in the burgeoning area of veteran athletics, since there is no doubt that he was capable of winning at British, European and World level.   Nevertheless his achievements were admirable – speed and stamina nurtured by very effective training, in addition to tactical awareness and a sense of racing adventure.

With regard to Adrian’s road running, there is a good picture of him on the first stage of the 1985 Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay in the Edinburgh – Glasgow section of this website.   Colin mentions his conditions for running his first relay and they are backed up by Doug Gillon’s report on the race in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of  12th November, 1983, beginning “The sweetest sight for veteran marathon runner Colin Youngson must have been the Corinthian pillars of Stirling’s Library with its Cyclops clock-eye staring unblinkingly at the finishers of the Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Race…” and goes on to say:   “Adrian Weatherhead, now 40, had never run in the race before despite a lifetime in the sport.   Yet he insisted that he would run the opening leg or not at all for his club, Edinburgh AC.   In a run of spectacular effort he finished 33 seconds clear of the second team. ”    Many clubs in the race have the situation of one of their best runners insisting that he was a track man but not a road runner, none, I would suggest, have had the reward of the same athlete returning in such a spectacular fashion in subsequent years!   A first class athlete on all surfaces, Adrian Weatherhead deserves to be better known in Scotland. 

The 1950’s were very important for Scottish men’s athletics but even more so for the women’s side of the sport.   There were no international fixtures over the country, the SWAAA Championships were only for senior women and track races above 220 yards were few and far between with most of those being handicap races.   By the end of the decade the championships had swelled to include events for Juniors (under 15) and Intermediates (under 17) as well as for senior women and the number of events had almost doubled.   This was largely down to the women themselves demanding races and supporting those that were put on.   It was a hard job getting the number of 880 yards races increased and even harder to get the Mile into the District Trials, Inter District and Championship fixtures  – there were none at the start of the decade.   As in all endurance running for women, Dale Greig was a key figure but there were other notables who should be discussed and remembered.   Unfortunately the records were not kept as well as for the men and the reports in the newspapers were fewer and scantier for the women too.   We seriously need information about these pioneers.   Barbara, now living in Autralia, was kind enough to complete the questionnaire for us.

Name:.     Barbara Tait      (Martin, Carpenter.)

Club:   Edinburgh Harriers – Edinburgh Athletic Club

Date of Birth:    16^th February 1939

 Occupation:   Teacher, Relaxation Therapist, Author, (Published 3 books, 3 health and fitness Videos Relaxation Tapes) Public Speaking engagements.

 How did get into the sport initially?   I knew I could run when I was at primary school. My teacher always made me run in the races against the boys not the girls. I then went to James Clark High School in Edinburgh and in my second year I was sports champion for the school. I knew then I loved to run. My Uncle David introduced me to the Edinburgh Harriers Athletic Club. In my first year I was very shy and only did the short distances the same as the other girls. At the East via West the next year 1956 the east team needed someone to run the half mile in the relay, so I put my hand up. I ran a good time and loved the longer distance. From there I entered the quarter mile and the 1 mile in the Scottish Championships in the June. I really liked the quarter mile and so wanted to beat Anna Herman the mile was just another race to try. On the day the mile came first and I broke the record so quarter mile did not seem so important.

 Personal bests.   In 1959 I broke my own mile record three times in that year brining it down to 5 minutes 18.3 sec and then in London British Championships I came 4^th in a time of 5 minutes 15.4 seconds. In 1960 at Bute Highland games I clocked a time of 5 minutes 12.5 sec. I was going well in training and my time was getting better. I was once again training with the boys, and on one very special day at Meadowbank I got my training time clocked at 4minutes 59.3sec. I was feeling so good and looking forward to the next season. But things did not go as planned I did not feel very well during the winter and the doctors found I had T.B. in my lungs. I was divested I was told I must stop all training immediately. I felt well so I kept on training.  The doctors said my good feeling would not last and my body would soon start to break down, and it did. In my last Scottish championship race at Meadowbank on 10^th May 1961 I came 3^rd that day I knew I could not go on. My leg was very heavily strapped I could hardly move my left arm both cartilages in my knees had been damaged. I knew then I would have to stop my beloved sport.

 Did any individual or group have any marked effect on performance or attitude to the sport?   My Uncle David was the person who encouraged me most in my athletics. He had been interested in athletics in his youth. He was always there to encourage me in the good times and the bad. I was very young and shy and he gave me confidence to keep going. He was my rock. My idol was Dianne Leather. My coach was K Herman (Anna Herman’s husband) he was the most inspiring and dedicated person to the sport. He ran for Poland before the Second World War. He trained Anna and I hard and never took no for answer, or I can’t do. He made me a much better person in so many ways. When he found out I had T.B.and on longer able to run he introduced me to basketball. As he said a team sport would be easier on my health. I loved it. After some time and a lot of practice I was chosen to play for Scotland.  I represented Scotland on many occasions the highlight was playing in the European Championships in France.

 Best ever performance as a runner?   The best performance, well not the fastest time but the most memorable was the very first time I ran the mile at Meadowbank. It was a lovely day I had entered the 440y and the mile. The mile came first. I had no idea what I was doing as it was the very first time I had run the distance, the 440y was the race I was really interested in. As the race went no I just kept running with everyone and  in the last lap the rest of the girls seemed to be a little out of breath and I still felt fine. Off I went running at my own pace it was such a good feeling. When I finished I was told I had a new Mile record knocking 6.7 seconds of the previous one.  What a great day it was for me. I could not believe I had found the distance I liked running and I was good at it. I was a Scottish champion.

What has athletics brought to me that I would not have wanted to miss?   Friendships I made on my trips. The club spirit I will never forget. Being in a position where I can now encourage not just the young to never give up but also the elderly. Athletics gave me the courage to face up to difficult situations in life and I have had my share. To discipline myself in many ways to make me the person I am now. Life should not be a straight line; we have to experience the downs to appreciate the ups. I feel privileged to have been able to be part of women’s athletics at that time. Athletics what can I say it allowed me to have good friends, a positive attitude, help others, keeps me healthy as I get older, never give up, but most of all a lot of joy and happiness.

What has been my involvement in the sport since I stopped running?   I have had very little involvement in athletics since I came to Australia. It makes me too sad. My grandchildren aged 9 and 6 years play netball and they are both very good swimmers .I enjoy watching and encouraging them. I played netball in the same club as my daughter Wendi and Granddaughter Tanna till 2013 when once again I had to give up because of injury. I do keep up with athletics on TV and I go to the Olympic Stadium in Sydney whenever there is a competition on. Athletics is not a number one sport here.

 What changes would I make?   I would like to see the girls being recognised in a similar way to the men!

Where am I now?   I left Scotland in 1980 after divorcing Archie Martin. I set up my business called Relaxacise.  Not the easiest thing to do in a strange country. I did a segment on the Television show called Good morning Sydney. That lead to me recorded my videos and writing my books on the subject of Exercise with Relaxation. The programme became very popular which made it necessary for me to conduct teacher training courses. I married Bill in 1989; he is a very special man and encourages me in all my adventures. We live in Penrith just west of Sydney. I am still teaching classes and doing speaking engagements from time to time. I love living in Australia but still visit my home in Scotland whenever can. I like playing golf with Bill and training with the netball team to keep me fit. My new challenge is to encourage the older generation to keep moving in a natural way, and the young to keep trying and never give up.

For those who wondered what she had been doing, the answers are all there.   What a wonderful life she’s had in Australia.

There were two key figures in the Mile in the late 1950’s/early 60’s.   Barbara Tait and Helen Cherry between them won the SWAAA Mile title seven times in eight years before Georgena Buchanan came on the scene.   Barbara herself won it five times in succession.   Doreen Fulton, a popular Springburn Harrier with a distinguished track pedigree and an established cross-country international, won it in the middle with her solitary win in 1961.   Helen was second in 1959 and Barbara third in 1961 and 1962.   It was a very different time from the twenty first century: running gear was nowhere near as light or functional, shoes were heavier with fixed spikes but most of all the tracks were different.   Racing in championships was nearly always on cinder tracks which by the time the Mile races came along were very cut up by the previous events making it difficult for the runners.   And yet the competition was no less intense nor were the rivalries any less exiting for the spectators.   We can start Barbara’s profile with a look at 1956.

Although not mentioned in the East District Championships or the East v West match, on 9th June 1956 Barbara won the SWAAA Mile in 5:28.3 which the ‘Glasgow Herald’ said beat the existing record for the distance by 7 seconds.   The actual report on the race in the pink ‘Evening Times’ read as follows: “Seventeen year old Barbara Tait of Edinburgh Harriers became the new mile champion.  Her victory over A  Lusk, the holder, was a popular one.   The former James Clark’s schoolgirl was “swamped” by her jubilant friends at the finish.   There was even more applause when Barbara’s time of 5 min 28.3 sec was announced  as it was a new Scottish native record by nearly seven seconds.”   ‘The Bulletin’ read,  Barbara Tait has set a new record.   A brilliant mile by 17 year old Barbara Tait of Edinburgh Harriers in which she set up a new Scottish native record of 5 min 284 sec was an outstanding feature of  the Scottish women’s athletic championships in Edinburgh yesterday.   Barbara, a former pupil of James Clark’s school, ran a well-judged race and proved far too strong for the holder, A Lusk of Maryhill Harriers.   At the finish the excited Barbara was overwhelmed by her enthusiastic friends.”  She had also entered the 440 yards at the meeting but the Mile was her real event.  At the end of the season, on 18th August at Murrayfield in a scratch invitation 880 yards race, Barbara lined up against England’s Diane Leather and Ann Oliver, Poland’s Halina Gabor and fellow-Scots Molly Ferguson and Ann Reilly.   Ferguson and Reilly were the SWAAA champions at 880 and 440 yards and in a race won by Leather in 2:18.5 Barbara was sixth across the finishing line.

Barbara Tait leading Helen Cherry

Barbara won the East v West match mile at Westerlands on 11th May, 1957, and then she repeated the SWAAA mile victory on 8th June when in a small but high quality field of herself, Doreen Fulton, Margaret O’Hare and Helen Cherry she recorded the time of 5:35.  Helen Cherry, only 17 and an Intermediate sprinter the previous year, in her first run in the event was second and Doreen Fulton third. Barbara started 1958 with fifth place in the cross-country championships.  In the summer season of Empire Games year, there were two seconds in the East v West match: in the Mile to Helen Cherry, and in the 880 yards To Molly Ferguson of Springburn. In the SWAAA championships, held early on 24th May, the hat-trick of national titles was achieved when she again beat the young Helen Cherry in 5:33.2 with Dale Greig third.

Barbara started 1959 with a second place to Aileen Paterson from Aberdeen AAC in the cross-country championships and although she qualified for the international event against England this was one of the years when there was no report in the local papers.   The first biggish event in the summer season was always the District Championships, held this year on 16th May,  and Barbara had a very good championships indeed.   The Herald report read “Another Scottish record was broken in the Mile in which Miss B Tait (Edinburgh Harriers) finished well clear of the field in 5:24.6.”   She had in fact won both 880 yards (2:28) and the Mile.   Only one week later in the East v West Match the headline read ‘Comfortable Win By East Women At Scotstoun.’   In referring to Barbara’s efforts it said, “Miss B Tait (E) beat her own native record in the Mile with a time of 5:21.0 – 3.6 better than her time in the East Championships.’   She had again ‘done the double’ by winning the 880 yards in 2:26.6 as well as the Mile.   It was only three weeks to the SWAAA Championships and they were held on 13th June at New Meadowbank.   “Miss B Tait (Edinburgh Harriers) won the Mile in a new native record of 5:18.3.   This was the third time that she has improved her mile time this season.   Miss Tait hopes to compete in the British Championships in London on July 3-4.”   Helen Cherry was again second – only one tenth outside the previous record with Dale Greig third.   Three races, three records – the difference is that this time she missed the double by being beaten in the 880 yards and finishing second.   She may well have travelled to the British Championships at the start of July but you wouldn’t know it from the report which listed only the winners and praised Mary Bignal and Dorothy Hyman for doing their own doubles.   No word in the Glasgow Herald about the Scots.  She finished off the season on 1st August with a win off 6 yards in the 880y at Strathallan Gathering in 2:18.3.    It had been a good season and one that would be difficult to replicate.   At the the finish, she was ranked number one in Scotland in the 880 yards with a best of 2:19.3  and also in the Mile with 5:15.4.(possibly done at the WAAA in July!)

Barbara had a most unhappy experience in the 1960 national cross-country championships, when ….   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ says: Miss B Tait (Edinburgh Harriers) the holder of the Scottish Mile title, followed Miss Greig closely for the major part of the race, but she counted the laps wrongly, and put in her finishing burst – passing Miss Greig, a lap too soon.    Attempts to persuade her to continue the race failed.”   The race was won by Dale Greig from Pat McCluskey and Doreen Fulton.   The track season started in much better fashion with a double at the West v East match on 21st May at Scotstoun.   Winning the 880 yards from Molly Ferguson in 2:26.6, she proceeded to take the Mile as well in 5:24.2 from J Crocket of Aberdeen.  In the SWAAA Championships held again at New Meadowbank, on 11th June Barbara won the Mile for the fifth consecutive year but the fact went unremarked in the ‘Glasgow Herald’.

Barbara made her start to 1961 when she was fifth in the National cross-country championship at Greenock but missed the meeting against the English Counties in March.   The track season began with a victory at Dam Park in Ayr, the occasion being the opening of the new pavilion.   She won the 880 yards in 2:22.2.   Unfortunately she missed the East District Championship a week later, the ‘Herald’ saying only that “Miss J Crocket (Aberdeen), in the absence of Miss B Tait, won the half-mile and the Mile.”  For the record, the winning times were 2:43.8 and 5:54.6.   Nor did she turn out in the East v West fixture on 22nd May but she did run in the SWAAA Championships where she finished third.   The report only said, “Miss D Fulton (Springburn) caused a surprise when she beat Mrs A Reilly (Ardeer) on the post in the Mile.”   Doreen Fulton’s win should not have been a surprise – she was a fixture in the cross-country international team with a whole series of top four or five finishes in the national championship along side many good track championship appearances and medals.   However  I would have thought that the winner of the title for the previous five years was third and was worthy of some sort of mention.   But women’s athletics was not as well reported as the men’s.   Nevertheless she still managed to top the national rankings for the Mile with a time of 5:22.0 and her 2:22.2 in the 880y ranked her sixth.

Not mentioned in the cross-country championships of 1962, national or international, she won the Inter-District Mile from Dale Greig on 20th May.   She did run however – ranked number three in Scotland for the Mile, with 5:26.4 for third in the SWAAA Championships behind Helen Cherry and Georgena Buchanan – but the trail seemed to peter out here.   But then  I heard from Neil Donachie in Edinburgh.   He tells us that Barbara married a chap called Archie Martin and subsequently went to Australia where she had an exercise programme on TV.

Barbara’s love of activity and the lifestyle that goes with it is clear from her whole career in Australia since she left Scotland : relaxation therapist, videos, books and sports activities such as netball right up to 2013.

When I came into the sport in the late 1950’s Graham Stark was one of the best runners in the country and even after he emigrated to Australia, his results were sent back to Scotland and published in the ‘Scots Athlete’.    Colin Youngson wrote the following profile of Graham.

In 1996 the history of Edinburgh Southern Harriers was published, celebrating this great Scottish club’s centenary. Graham Stark was declared “Man of the Fifties”.   He was photographed in GB racing kit; and also as part of a very successful 1957 ESH medley relay team.   Graham set two Scottish Native Records in the summer of 1959: 3 minutes 2.5 seconds for the three-quarter mile at Larkhall on July 15^th; and 4 minutes 6.3 seconds in the Rangers Sports at Ibrox on August 1^st.   At Ibrox Graham won the Emil Zatopek medal for his one mile time, which was considered the meeting’s best performance.    (The previous Native Record was held by the illustrious Graham Everett, who went on to reclaim it ten months later.) In 1959 Graham Stark raced over the one mile distance for both Scotland (versus Ireland at Murrayfield)) and Great Britain (on 14^th August against Poland at White City, London). In the latter event, he finished fourth in a tactical race won by Poland.

Graham Stark was born on the 8^th of December 1935.

In 1956 he was 1500m champion of the 2^nd Tactical Air Force in Germany and went on to represent them in an athletics match against the Army.    He was East of Scotland one mile champion in 1957, 1958 and 1959; and second to Graham Everett in the Scottish one mile championship in 1958 and 1959.

1959, when Graham set his very best times, proved to be the peak of his track career.   After winning the Insurance Athletic Association one mile championship at Motspur Park, he came second in the 880 yards.   He topped the Scottish rankings for 880 yards (1.52.1) and was fourth in the mile with 4.06.3, only just behind the three Scots who were ranked first equal with 4.06.0 – Anglos Mike Berisford and Alan Gordon, plus Graham Everett.   Graham Stark was pipped in the SAAA mile by Everett (4.11.3 to 4.11.6, with Aberdeen’s Steve Taylor third in 4.14.6.

Then in November 1959 Graham and his wife Margaret emigrated to Melbourne, Australia. During the next five years he was heavily involved in a very strong Inter-Club scene, latterly with one of the leading clubs there: St Stephens Harriers.   He competed in various events from 880 yards right up to a fifteen mile road race!

Graham writes “my main claim to fame was to represent Victoria (who won the team title) in the Australian 10,000m Cross Country Championships at Adelaide on 24^th August 1963. (This was over a hilly course which featured creek crossings and fences.) Other team members were Ian Blackwood, race winner Ron Clarke (legendary multi-world record setter), Tony Cook, Gordon Noble and Trevor Vincent. I was also a member of the 4×1 mile relay team which set a Victorian Club record – others were Barry Tregenza, Ian Blackwood and Derek Clayton (who went on to be the world’s fastest marathon runner).”

In 1963, Graham ran a mile in 4.09.6 and was ranked third Scot that season.    He also tried the Steeplechase and was ranked fifth in that event in 1964, with a time of 9.22.9. An interesting fact is that Graham’s Personal Best in the Three Miles (14 minutes 11 seconds) was set at Olympic Park, Melbourne, on the 3^rd of December 1964, when he narrowly avoided being lapped by the winner, Ron Clarke, who set a new world record of 13.07.6, breaking Murray Halberg’s 1961 mark of 13 minutes 10 seconds.

Returning to live in Scotland in February 1965, he went on to win SAAA steeplechase bronze in 1965 when he was ranked eighth.   Several years later, in 1973, Graham finished third in the SAAA Indoor Championship 1500 metres. Then in 1978 he became the Scottish Veterans 1500m champion.

Despite the mile being his best distance, Graham Stark was a durable athlete who contributed a great deal to Edinburgh Southern Harriers success at longer distances, between 1956 and 1980.   His fastest half marathon time was 1 hour 15 minutes 28 seconds.   Graham took part in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay seven times between 1956 and 1970.   He ran Stage One twice, Stage Seven once, Stage Eight once and the windswept Fifth Stage three times. His club finished fourth three times, fifth, ninth and then in 1968 third and finally in 1970 second.

In 1958 and 1959 Graham Stark was part of winning Southern teams in the East District Cross Country Championship. Much later he won a bronze medal with the ESH team that finished third in the 1973 National Cross Country Championship. Once he achieved veteran status at the age of 40, he enjoyed helping Edinburgh Southern to win team gold in three Scottish National Veterans CC Championships: 1977 (when he was fourth individual), 1979 and 1980.

His team-mates remember Graham as a graceful athlete, who continues to be unfailingly polite, friendly and a true gentleman.

That is Colin’s very full summary of Graham’s athletic career but it should be remembered that the athletics scene in the 1950’s was very different from the twenty first century.   One short story retold by Tom O’Reilly of Springburn Harriers and former Scottish steeplechase champion and record holder is illustrative of this.   The race report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ read: “The principal event at Carluke Rovers open sports meeting was the invitation one mile short limit handicap in which the Scottish record holder G Stark (Edinburgh Southern Harriers) was running from scratch. At the end of the first lap, Stark was just behind R McKay (Motherwell YMCA) and J More (Kilmarnock) who started from 10 and 15 yards respectively. In the meantime however, the Scottish steeplechase champion, T O’Reilly, off 35 yards, was setting a good pace over the seven lap course and by half distance it did not look like Stark would catch the leaders. Soon afterwards, McKay and More left Stark and he had to be content with sixth place – 6.2 seconds behind O’Reilly the winner.”   A seven lap one mile race on grass: to get an idea of how tight it was, think that indoor tracks at present are eight laps to the mile!   The race was billed as an attempt to set anew Scottish record!   The tracks then were either good grass or cinders – either could cut up badly through use or because of the weather, even championship tracks were cinder and in Scotland many events, at times even invitation events, were handicap races.   There were however many good quality inter-club fixtures on 440 yard cinder tracks.   For instance, there was a triangular competition between Victoria Park, Bellahouston Harriers and Edinburgh Southern at Scotstoun.   There were several GB athletes competing, men such as Mike Hildrey and Alan Dunbar (sprints), Crawford Fairbrother (HJ), Ken Ballantyne (Mile), Robin Sykes, Des Dickson and of course Graham Stark.   The comment made in the report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of 10th May, 1959, said “Stark, who won the 880 yards and mile, may now be encouraged to devote his attention to the half-mile in which he had the splendid time of 1 min56.2 sec.”  Handicaps on short tracks, often with uneven surfaces, and good quality inter club meetings were part of the scene then.   Bearing that in mind, his times stand up well after almost 60 years.

As indicated by Colin above, his track competitive record is even better.   Three East District Mile titles, plus one third and two seconds in the SAAA Championships.1958  SAAA Mile  2  4:13.0,   1959  SAAA Mile  2  4:11.6 , East District Champion 1957, 1958, 1959.   One wonders what he might have done under present day conditions.

No list of the all-time greatest Scottish half-milers would be complete without the name of Hamish Stothard. The lanky Edinburgh runner was a stylish and gutsy performer with a good tactical brain and a consistent record for rising to the big occasion. During his career he set Scottish records and garnered honours ranging from Scottish, A.A.A., Intervarsity and British U.A.U. titles and a pair of British Empire Games bronze medals to three golds and a silver in the International University Games (known today as the Universiade). The only piece missing from this collection of hardware is, of course, an Olympic medal. In the run-up to the 1936 Olympics he had been discussed as a potential successor to Tom Hampson, gold medallist in the 800 metres at Los Angeles, but that’s another story. Hamish Stothard was not only a great all-round athlete, but also, like his illustrious compatriot and predecessor Eric Liddell, an accomplished rugby player. Versatility was the name of the game with Stothard, for he was also an avid golfer with a handicap to die for!

James Charles Stothard was born in Edinburgh on May 6, 1913. Like Charlie Mein and Hugh Maingay, Scotland’s leading half-milers of the 1920’s, he enjoyed a privileged upbringing. His wealthy father George Stothard was a rubber planter and the director of a major rubber company in Penang, Malaysia. Latex rubber was a lucrative business in early 20th century when the demand for rubber skyrocketed due, among other things, to the rapid growth of the tyre industry. The business instinct evidently ran strong in the Stothard family.

Stothard was educated at Merchiston Castle School, the private boarding school for boys which has always been synonymous with academic excellence and sporting tradition. When Stothard entered Merchiston, the school had already nurtured a string of well-known athletes over the years, the most notable of these being Hugh Welsh, the former A.A.A. champion and Scottish mile record holder.

Stothard’s athletic talent first shone through in 1928, when, aged 14, he won no fewer than four events at the annual school sports, the “Merchiston Castle School Games”. Also attending Merchiston Castle School at this time was Stothard’s younger brother George, who likewise was a talented athlete, albeit more the sprinter/jumper type. Between them, the Stothard bros. fairly raked in the school titles during their time at Merchiston.

In 1929 Stothard annexed another three events and claimed the Junior Games Cup, smashing the junior record in the cross-country race and improving to 2:09.0 in the half-mile. This was some going for a 15-year-old as the quarter-mile grass track at Merchiston was often heavy and slow and the weather was seldom propitious at this time of year. Then, in early 1930, a team of well-known Achilles athletes on a promotional and coaching tour of Scottish public schools visited Merchiston and had a match against the schooboys, who, in the interests of fair competition, received handicaps. After taking fourth in the long jump, where his 5.51 metres clearance and 1 ft. 9 ins. concession were still not enough to match the 6.87 metres returned by the Olympian R.W Revans, Stothard toed the line for the half-mile. The Achilles men ran 4 yards wide as a handicap and the Merchiston boy took full advantage, romping home 20 yards ahead of the Australian W.C. Wentworth in 2:07.6. That year, Stothard added another four school events to his collection and won the Senior Games Cup by some margin. After finishing quarter a mile ahead of the nearest opposition in the senior cross-country race, the Scotsman commented: “The senior race winner J.C. Stothard is a very promising 16-year-old runner, who is expected to do well in the Games Cup this year.” Again, he won four events in total. Moreover, he defied near gale-force winds to set school records of 54.4 for the quarter-mile and 2:04.4 for the half-mile, and then, for good measure, he equalled the mile record with 4:44.6. The previous quarter-mile figures of 55.2 had, it will be noted, jointly been held by G.O. Turnbull and W.H. Welsh and had stood since 1893.

In 1931 Stothard finally erased the name of L.W. Weatherill from the school’s record books, when he clocked 4:43.2 for the mile in blustery conditions. Lawrie Weatherill was another well-known Merchiston alumnus. He competed for England in the 1934 and 1938 Empire Games. In the annual contest between Merchiston Castle School and Edinburgh Academy Stothard won both the mile and the half-mile by a sizable margin under the watchful eye of a team of officials which included the well-known S.A.A.A. official George Hume as time keeper and George McCrae as starter. No doubt, the seven-time Powderhall Marathon winner McCrae had some words of encouragement and advice for the youngster. Little did they know that their paths would cross again in the future, but more on that later. In 1932, his final year at Merchiston, Stothard was once again the school athletic champion, winning three events. Despite heavy underfoot conditions and a strong wind, he improved his school records to 53.6 for the quarter, 2:03.8 for the half and 4:39.0 for the mile, “a feat,” wrote the Scotsman, “so far unparalleled in school performance in Scotland.“

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Hamish Stothard, 1932 Merchiston Castle School athletic champion, with his trophies

Then, for Stothard, it was off to Cambridge University, where he matriculated at Caius College and settled into student life for the next four years. He began to train regularly on the university training ground at Fenner’s, where the cinder oval was a world removed from the grass tracks he had been accustomed to in Edinburgh. Of course, the chance to train with other top-calibre athletes provided an added spur for this budding middle-distance novice. He made rapid strides, and by December was a member of the Light Blues quartette which won the Intervarsity 4 x 880 relay championship at Fenner’s in a record-equalling in 7:58.4.

December might sound rather late or early for track racing, depending on your perspective, but in those days the athletics season at British public schools and universities typically ran from the winter until the spring, as cricket was played during the summer term. The 1933 season typically began in February for the Cantabrians, pick of the early season outings being a 53.3 quarter-mile at Fenner’s to blow off the cobwebs. Then, in the Cambridge University sports at the Fenner’s Ground on March 4, Stothard lost by inches to Forbes Horan in the half-mile, but in clocking 1:59.4 he had, of course, finally gained admission to the exclusive sub two minute club. Two weeks later at the Intervarsity meeting he ran a similar time to finish third behind Pen Hallowell (Harvard) and Horan. The first title of any note came his way only two months later, on May 20, when he won the half-mile in the British Universities Athletic Union championships at the White City in 1:58.2. Then, after a 1:58.4 win over the highly rated Tommy Scrimshaw, Belgrave Harriers, in the A.A.A. vs. Cambridge University match at Fenner’s on June 6, Stothard was selected for the combined Oxford and Cambridge team due to compete against their Ivy League rivals in the USA in July of 1933. That year Stothard did not contest the Scottish championships as it clashed with the Varsity tour. In his absence, the half-mile title went the way of A.L. Cram, Edinburgh University AC, who won by three yards from T.J. McAllister, Beith Harriers, in a modest 2:00.8.

Stothard, competing for Atalanta AC at Glenalmond College, 1933

Arriving in the USA in early July, the combined British team trained at Yale ahead of their match against Harvard and Yale at Cambridge, Mass., on July 8, where Stothard came third in the half-mile. The following week in the match against Princeton and Cornell at Princeton, New Jersey, he finished fourth in the half-mile, won by Princeton’s Bill Bonthon in 1:53.0. The highlight of the meeting was the show-down between Bill Bonthron and the New Zealander Jack Lovelock in the mile, the latter winning by six yards in a world record of 4:07.6.

The experience of competing in the USA and seeing at first hand how the créme de la créme of America’s athletes lived and trained had evidently done Stothard the world of good. Being on the same team as the great Jack Lovelock could not have done him any harm either and Stothard would have worked out with the affable Kiwi. And so it was that he emerged the next season as an altogether more formidable athlete as evidence by a 3:09.2 from scratch in a three-quarter mile handicap at the Fenner’s Ground on February 22. This was a week or so before his first major competitive outing of 1934, when he scored an impressive double in Cambridge University sports, winning the half-mile in 1:56.6 and the mile in 4:23.2. Both performances were significant improvements on anything he had achieved before and made him something of an overnight sensation in his native Scotland where the standard in the half-mile in particular had slipped somewhat since 1932.

The following week Stothard took yet another giant leap forward in the Varsity Match at the White City where he helped rewrite the history books by pushing Pen Hallowell (USA & Baliol) to a new Varsity record of 1:54.2, eclipsing the 1:54.8 which had stood to Kenahan Cornwallis since 1904. Stothard, runner-up 3 yards behind the American, also bettered the old record with a time of 1:54.6. It was also more than a second inside the Scottish record that had stood to the credit of Bobby Graham since 1932. Clearly, Scotland had a new middle-distance star!

A 1:59.8 win over Michael Gutteridge, a 1:54.8 performer, at the Cambridge University vs. A.A.A. match at Cambridge on June 5 set Stothard up nicely for his debut at the Scottish championships at Hampden Park on June 23, where he was competing for the Edinburgh Atalanta Club, the Scottish equivalent of the Achilles Club catering to university students. The race, it could be said, went by the form book, because Stothard was untroubled by the domestic opposition and won by 10 yards from Bobby Graham in 1:58.8. Stothard then, to the surprise of many, elected to forego the A.A.A. championships and chose instead to ready himself for the prestigious International Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge and Princeton & Cornell at the White City a week after the A.A.A.’s, where, in his absence, Jack Cooper easily won the half-mile from Jack Powell and Michael Gutteridge in 1:56.4. In the Intervarsity half-mile Stothard faced strong opposition including Princeton’s Bill Bonthron, who three weeks earlier had set a 1500 metres world record of 3:48.8 at Milwaukee. However, the Scot was in unbeatable form and sprinted to victory by 2 ½ yards from Bonthron in 1:58.6. Even if the American crack perhaps wasn’t at his best, it was proof that, internationally, Stothard was fast becoming a force to be reckoned with.

The final fixture for Stothard in 1934 was the British British Empire Games, which were held at the White City in early August 1934. Stothard had been selected to represent Scotland in the half-mile and in the mile relay. The half-mile qualifying rounds, decided on August 4, were very competitive and proved a stumbling block for Scotland’s other representative, Bobby Graham. Stothard, on the other hand, was impressive in the third heat, which he won comfortably from Canada’s Jerry Sampson in 1:56.0; Cliff Whitehead, 1933 A.A.A. champion, was third and failed to progress. The final was decided two days later, the six finalists being Phil Edwards (GUY), Jack Cooper (ENG), Jack Powell (ENG), Willie Botha (RSA), Hamish Stothard (SCO) and Jerry Sampson (CAN). It was the spectacular of the meeting. The coloured runner Phil Edwards, of British Guyana, a bronze medallist for Canada at the Los Angeles Olympics, stormed off in characteristic style, but for some unknown reason Cooper, who was fancied for his event, ran outside Edwards on the first lap and pushed him to a 53.2 first quarter-mile. At the bell the British Guyana representative was leading by a few yards from Cooper and Botha, followed by Stothard, Powell and Samspon, together at the back of the field in a shade under 55 sec. Edwards kept piling on the pace down the back straight, his long strides carrying him clear of Cooper, who ultimately cracked and trailed home last. Only Botha, Powell and Stothard were able to take up the chase, but all their efforts to overhaul the popular Guyanan proved to no avail. Edwards held his form to win his first major title by 8 yards in 1:54.2. Behind Edwards, there was an almighty three-way battle for the minor places, Botha (1:55.5) gaining the silver and Stothard (1:55.6) wresting bronze from the unlucky Powell in a near-blanket finish. The following day Stothard ran the third leg for Scotland in the 4 x 440 yards relay. Unfortunately, the blue shirts were out of sorts on this day. Though they finished more than the length of the straight behind the English and Canadian teams, they were nevertheless assured a medal as only three countries were able to field a team.

To view the British Pathe film featuring the dramatic Empire Games half-mile of 1934 click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8nd9tqaXR8.

Stothard, as a mark of the esteem in which he was held by his fellow students at Cambridge, was elected President of Cambridge University Athletic Club for the 1935 season, having served as the C.U.A.C. secretary in 1934.

With a view to increasing his stamina, Stothard now stepped up the volume and began mixing with his half miles in 1935. Despite having done no track work. Stothard opened his season by running a personal best of 51.5 in the quarter-mile at Fenner’s on February 8. The following week, in the annual Inter-college Competition, the Cambridge University President turned out for his college in no fewer than three individual events. In addition to winning the half-mile, he tied with M.F. Dutton in the 3 miles in 16:27.2 and placed third in the long jump with a leap of just a shade under six metres. Sadly, his Herculean efforts were not enough to propel Caius to victory. At the Cambridge University sports on March 7, 1935 he focused on the mile, which he won by 50 yards from Peter Ward in 4:18.8 – a time which catapulted him into the British miling elite. His improved stamina also stood him in good stead at Varsity Match at the White City on March 23, when he scored one of the – if not the – quickest Varsity half/mile doubles on record. The half-mile saw him tie for first with fellow Cantabrian Michael Sullivan in 1:55.4, but the mile was much tougher and it was only by the narowest of margins that he outdipped W.T. Squires (Oxford) in 4:23.2. Then, on May 18, Stothard won the U.A.U. half-mile title for a second time at the White City, beating Michael Sullivan by 5 yards in a championship record of 1:56.6. This was the weekend before the annual Kinnaird Trophy meeting featuring the Polytechnic Marathon at the White City. The prestigious competition, which was instituted in 1909, was an inter-club contest open to clubs affiliated to the A.A.A. In many ways, it was a precursor to the modern-day B.A.L. Clubs were allowed to entered two athletes per event and the club scoring the highest aggregate points was adjudged to have won the trophy. Stothard was competing alongside Jack Lovelock for Achilles AC, the exclusive club open to O.U.A.C and C.U.A.C. members who had competed in the annual Varsity Match. Achilles had had a virtual strangehold on the Kinnaird Trophy, having won it 11 times since its formation in 1920, but had lost it to Polytechnic Harriers in 1934. The Cambridge president was a firm favourite for the half-mile, and lived up to all expectations by seeing off Tommy Scrimshaw in the last furlong in front of 6,000 spectators. His time of 1:57.2 was six-tenths outside the best for the meeting. Relatively speaking, it was better than anything done before, having regard to the windy conditions. It would have been the highlight of the meeting but for Lovelock’s stunning front-running performance in the mile, which he won by 50 yards from Aubrey Reeve in 4:13.8. Achilles, thanks mainly to their middle-distance runners, were successful in regaining the coveted trophy.

Stothard’s precision-engineered half/mile double at the 1935 Varsity Sports Meeting (courtesy of Kevin Kelly)

A 4:30.2 mile victory at the British Games on June 10 saw Stothard in blistering form, which he would capitalise upon five days later in match between the Varsity and the A.A.A. at Fenner’s. Defeating Aubrey Reeve by 18 yards he won the mile in a ground record of 4:15.8, which took him to within eight-tenths of Tom Riddell’s Scottish record.   Academically, except for taking some examinations, Stothard was now finished at Cambridge. Having enrolled in the Officer Training Corps whilst an undergraduate, he was hoping to make a career as a C.O. in the Royal Air Force.

Next on the sporting agenda, however, was the defence of his Scottish half-mile crown at Hampden Park on June 22. This year he faced a stronger opposition including, notably, the South African Empire Games silver medallist Willie Botha, an undergraduate at Edinburgh University. Running his first quarter in 56.7, he was lying fourth at the bell to T.J. McAllister, T.C. Ewing and Botha. Botha shortly after took the lead, but Stothard went after him and, easing to the front at the end of the back straight, sprinted to victory by nearly 20 yards over the South African in a Scottish native and all-comers’ record of 1:53.6. “There can be little doubt,” wrote the Scotsman, “that if Stothard cares to concentrate on half-miling, he can attain world championship standard.“

Breaking the Scottish record in the 1935 S.A.A.A. half-mile championship at Hampden Park

Stothard, on the strength of this performance, was now a firm favourite for the A.A.A. half-mile title – a title which no Scot had ever won since the inception of the championship in 1880. In the meantime however he had a strength-sapping schedule of races lined up. The weekend after the S.A.A.A. championships he was back at Hampden representing Great Britain for the first time in an international match against Finland. Fired up to perform before a home crowd, he won the half mile by 5 yards from Jack Powell in 1:57.4 and anchored the 4 x 880 yard relay to victory in 7:52.0. Then it was off to the Belgian city of Antwerp where he turned out the following day (!) in a match between Achilles AC and Belgian clubs. Despite having travelled overnight from Glasgow, he showed little sign of tiredness and duly scored maximum points in the 800 metres with 1:57.4. Then it was back to Scotland, where three days later he turned out for Atalanta in a match against the Scottish Eastern District at Craiglockhart, winning the quarter-mile in 52.4 and the half-mile in 2:00.6.

In the A.A.A. championships at the White City on Friday July 12, Stothard, representing Cambridge U.A.C, won the first of four heats in 1:56.1. The “dark horse” was the meteoric 18-year-old Ralph Scott, the English public schools champion, who was the fastest of the qualifiers. Overall, the standard was the highest since the legendary final of 1926, when the German Otto Peltzer defeated Douglas Lowe in a world record time of 1:51.6. The final was a great contest and a fast one, too, thanks mainly to Scott. The Leicester public school boy set a cracking pace and led at the bell in 56.2, with Stothard holding on grimly in second. Down the back stretch the pair piled on the pace, then with a furlong from to go Stothard moved up on to the youngster’s shoulder and struck for home, gaining a couple of yards. Down the home straight, Stothard called on every ounce of energy and, holding off a late run from Jack Powell, raced to victory by a couple of yards in 1:53.3 – a Scottish record and the third best championship time in the long series. Powell was officially given 1:53.8 and Scott 1:54.0. The finishing photo would however suggest the times and placings of the minor medallists were incorrect, as Stothard won by no more than 2 yards and Scott, no. 21, clearly crossed the finishing line ahead of Powell (no. 14).
Stothard’s major goal for 1935 was the International University Games in Hungary in August. Until then, however, he had several races lined up. The first was the annual International Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge and Harvard and Yale at the White City on July 20, and, opting to run the mile, he made short shrift of the opposition, winning by 15 yards from Harvard’s John Scheu in 4:26.8. The following weekend he was back at the White City where he donned his British vest again for a match against France, winning the half-mile by 7 yards from Jack Powell in 1:57.4.

On the journey out to Hungary the British team stopped over in Munich and contested a match against Germany at the Dante Stadium on August 11. The Germans won the match 75-61 before 15,000 partisan spectators, but Stothard maintained his perfect record for the season in the half-mile with a well-timed run which carried him to victory by a metre over Wolfgang Dessecker in the 800 metres in 1:54.4. The German was the reigning International University Game champion at this distance, so defeating him might have been considered a good omen.

The 1935 International University Games were held in the Hungarian capital of Budapest from 10-18 August with a total of 774 athletes from 62 nations competing in a programme featuring ten events.

Hamish Stothard – Part Two

John Robson, 1985

By my calculation, John accumulated 5 individual SAAA gold medals and 28 SCCU team golds! John Paton Robson was born in Kelso on 31^st January, 1957. Like Frank Clement and Graham Williamson, he was a middle distance runner of true world class, but unlike the others, he could also be world class at cross-country and enjoyed a long running career.   In his centenary history of the SAAA, John Keddie writes in considerable detail about some of John Robson’s finest track races and it seems appropriate to quote at length.

“In a heat of the 1977 AAA 1500m, Robson carved a full four seconds off his previous best with 3.41.1 and finally finished third (3.43.8) with Clement fourth (3.44.1).    In 1978 he had a brilliant run in the SAAA Championships in a memorable race. After a terrific duel with Frank Clement, Robson just came out on top – 3.40.1 (a native record) to 3.40.5. Not far behind those was the outstanding junior Graham Williamson. Six weeks later these positions were exactly repeated in the UK Championships at Meadowbank, with John Robson winning the title in 3.43.9. But in between times, at the Bislett Stadium. Oslo, scene of many record performances over the years, Clement had improved Steve Ovett’s 1977 UK mile record by 0.5 to 3.54.2, a mere tenth ahead of John Robson, whose 3.39.0 at 1500m was a personal best.    These performances augured well for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games at Edmonton, Canada, where Robson and Clement ran brilliantly. After comfortably qualifying (Robson with a personal best of 3.38.8), the Scots lined up for what promised to be a cracking final. Among the competitors were such outstanding runners as World Record Holder Filbert Bayi (Tanzania), Dave Moorcroft (England), Wilson Waigwa (Kenya) and Rod Dixon (NZ). With Bayi in the field a fast pace was assured. And so it proved to be as the Tanzanian pulled the field through 400m (57.7), 800m (1.55.2) and 1200m (2.53.9).He had not, however, shaken off Robson, Moorcroft or Clement. As the runners turned into the final straight – Bayi still leading – the excitement grew to fever pitch among the capacity 43,000 crowd. First Robson strained to pass Bayi, but it was Moorcroft who proved the strongest, just edging past in the last few strides to win in 3.35.48, with Bayi (3.35.59) just holding off Robson (3.35.60) and Clement (3.35.66) coming through like an express train, only to find that the finishing line came just too soon, as he swept past them all a few metres over the line. Ironically, the next day, the ‘missing’ Scot, Graham Williamson, set a European Junior record of 3.57.7. Three weeks later at Prague in the European Championships, Moorcroft finished third and Robson 8^th (3.39.6) behind Steve Ovett (3.35.6).   Clement was injured in 1979 but Robson and Williamson again showed brilliant form. In February, Robson won a bronze medal at the European Indoor Championships at Vienna (3.42.8); and in July he (3^rd) and Williamson (2^nd) pushed Ovett all the way in the AAA 1500m. But three days later (July 17^th) at Bislett Stadium, Oslo, both Scots were involved in the scintillating ‘Golden Mile’ won in World Record time (3.49.0) by Sebastian Coe. In his wake there were many fast times, including those of Robson in 5^th place (3.52.8, a Scottish National record) and 19-year old Williamson in 7^th place (3.53.2). On September 4^th at Brussels, Steve Ovett made a determined bid to wrest the World 1500m record from Coe, but finished a tenth off with 3.32.2. Behind him in second place, John Robson recorded his fastest-ever time of 3.33.9 – a magnificent achievement.   Unfortunately, John Robson missed the entire 1980 season through an Achilles tendon injury.”

(One significant race omitted above took place at Crystal Palace on 2nd July 1978, when John Robson ran brilliantly to win the important Emsley Carr Mile in a time of 3.55.82, in front of fellow Scot Graham Williamson, Brendan Foster and Steve Cram.)

John Keddie succeeded in covering John Robson’s main track successes, although inevitably the summary excluded other notable achievements, such as his other gold medals in the SAAA 1500m in 1977 and 1984. But how did his career begin? I ran for Edinburgh Southern Harriers from 1974 to 1981 and was lucky to have John as a team-mate during that period. He and Allister Hutton were absolutely outstanding, despite the fact that, by Scottish standards, we had a very good cross-country and road running team. The rumour was that John had been discovered as a promising young competitor in Borders professional races. Kenny Ballantyne (SAAA mile champion in 1964, and a 4.01.1 miler in 1965) is meant to have persuaded John to try amateur athletics and join ESH. The Borders had a strong athletic tradition and Craig Douglas was another prominent ESH man, who won the SAAA 880 yards in 1963 and the 1500 metres in 1969 and 1971.

John Robson first appears in the yearbook as a Junior, in 1974. He was third in the SAAA Junior 800m and had a season’s best of 1.57.1. However in 1500m he improved with every outing and topped the list with 3.55.0. In 1975, still a Junior, he reduced his 800m time to 1.51.7; won the Senior East District 1500m; and the SAAA Junior event; as well as recording an excellent 3.47.8. The time was set shortly after my first encounter with this quiet, dignified young athlete, on April 26^th 1975 when, at the tender age of 18, John ran the second (shorter) stage of the AAA National 12-Stage Road Relay at Sutton Coldfield for Edinburgh Southern Harriers. He moved his club from 23^rd to 12^th, recording 14.23 for slightly less than a hilly 5000m! More than 9 years older, I took our club from 8^th to 4^th on stage six. My 14.16 was third fastest short stage of the day, behind Brendan Foster’s record-breaking 13.58 and ESH club-mate Ian Elliot’s excellent 14.04. John’s time was 8^th fastest; ESH finished the race second, only 21 seconds down on Gateshead, and ahead of Coventry Godiva, Tipton Harriers and all the other English clubs. That was the one and only time I could be worthy of a mention in comparison to this elegant, classy runner!   I do not have a yearbook for the 1976 track season.

In 1977, John Robson ran his first sub-four-minute mile, in 3.58.8 on the 29^th of August. He also topped this season’s Scottish 800m list with 1.47.8 on the 30^th of July.    There was an International Match at Athens on 14^th May 1978, with Scotland competing with Greece, Wales and Luxembourg. John Robson was a close second in the 1500m (3.40.7). He topped the Scottish 1500m list with his Commonwealth bronze medal time (3.35.60). In fact he had six of the top nine performances and ten of the top 20 (all below 3.44), with Frank Clement and Graham Williamson claiming five each. In addition, John ran four sub-4 miles, with the best being 3.54.3 just behind Frank Clement’s 3.54.2 on the 27^th of June.

An unusual result in 1979 was in early July at Tullamore, Eire, when John Robson won both the 800m and the 1500m for Scotland during an International Match versus Denmark and Ireland. Once more, John finished top of the Scottish 1500m list, after a close battle with Graham Williamson. John had 11 of the top 20 times. Apart from UK fixtures, he raced in Brussels, Oslo, Bremen, Turin, Vienna, New Zealand and Australia.

1981 saw John Robson return to form on the track. He recorded 1.48.91 for 800m; and dominated the Scottish 1500m list with the three fastest times and six of the first eight. Single performances by Nat Muir and Frank Clement were the other two. John Robson’s best 1500m times were recorded within a ten-day span: 3.36.18 when finishing fourth in Budapest on the 29^th of July; 3.37.42 for third at Crystal Palace two days later; and, on the 8^th of August at Crystal Palace once again, second in 3.39.41. In Athens near the end of August 1981, John Robson easily won the 1500m for Scotland, during an International Match versus Greece, Wales, Israel and Luxembourg.  In addition he ran four sub-four-minute miles: two at Crystal Palace; one in Brussels (3.53.13); and the fastest in Oslo (3.52.44). Furthermore, he was top of the 3000m list with 7.51.08 at Gateshead; and second only to Nat Muir in the 5000m rankings with 13.34.02 in Oslo.   1982 was Graham Williamson’s year, with John only managing one good 1500m time (3.37.72), which so nearly equalled Graham’s list-topping 3.37.7) when fourth at Saughton Enclosure, Edinburgh, at the beginning of July. Before that, he had won silver, behind England’s Geoff Turnbull, in the SAAA 1500m. Then, in October 1982, John was narrowly squeezed out of qualifying for the 1500m final in the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane.

In 1984, one outstanding run by John Robson was his 3000m (7.45.81) at Crystal Palace on the 13^th of July.    In 1988, John won the SAAA Indoor 3000m title.

John Robson won Scottish vests for 800m, 1500m and 3000m, in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984 and 1986. He represented Great Britain over 1500m and 300m, in 1977, 1978, 1979 (indoors and outdoors), 1981 and 1984.

John also had an excellent cross-country career. In 1977 he was third in the National Junior CC, behind the precocious Nat Muir and John Graham. In the IAAF World CC Championships in Dusseldorf, Robson ran for the Senior team and finished 94^th. He was back in the team in 1979 at Limerick, and improved to second Scot in 52^nd place.

In 1980, John Robson made a major impact on the cross-country scene. Only two weeks after winning an indoor mile in San Francisco, on the 21^st of January at Callendar Park, Falkirk, John won the East District CC title over a frost-bound course, with team-mate Ian Elliot second and Aberdeen’s Graham Laing third. ESH won the team award. Then John finished second to Nat Muir in the Senior National CC at Beach Park, Irvine and once more led his club to gold. Colin Shield, in his centenary history of the SCCU, takes up the story: “The 1980 World Championships attracted 35,000 spectators to Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, where John Robson emerged as a world class cross country runner. Better known for his success over 1500m and 1 mile on both indoor and outdoor tracks, Robson ran a courageous race. The Kelso runner suffered a spiked left knee but bravely raced home in fifth position, for what was to be the highest Scottish placing in the World Championships in the 12 year period between Ian Stewart winning at Rabat in 1975, and the final team appearance at Warsaw in 1987. John was second Briton to finish, just 19.5 seconds behind the winner Craig Virgin (USA), and over 37 seconds in front of Allister Hutton (29^th) and Jim Brown (31^st). Unfortunately, Nat Muir injured his Achilles tendon and had to drop out. In a team contest won by England from USA, Scotland finished seventh – much better than the fourteenth place gained in Ireland the previous year – and this team position was to prove their best achievement in the World Championship.”

Although he never ran as fantastically well again, John Robson had a distinguished cross-country record, since he represented Scotland in the World Cross eight times. Apart from 1977, 1979 and 1980, he took part in 1981 (Madrid), 1982 (Rome), 1985 (Lisbon, when he was first Scot in 42^nd place), 1986 (Neuchatel, Switzerland) and 1987 (Warsaw). He was the leading Scot three times.

In the National Senior, John Robson’s best placing was second (1980, 1982 and 1985). However he was in the top six on no less than seven occasions; won team golds with ESH five times, plus one silver; and also won team silver with Racing Club/Leslie Deans/Mizuno three times plus one bronze (in 1999). In 1986 John won the East District CC again.

John Robson was in the winning team in the National CC Relay SEVEN times! Three golds with ESH; four with the ‘superclub’, plus one bronze. His final gold was in 1996.

Frank Clement, John Robson and Graham Williamson: internationals on the track and over the country

Finally, what about John Robson the Road Runner? The National Six-Stage Relay at Strathclyde Park started in 1979, but John did not take part in ESH’s winning teams until 1987. However he won five further golds with Racing Club, with his last one in 1999. In 1996 he and his brother Alan were part of the Leslie Deans RC ‘B’ team that won bronze medals!

The Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay, of course, was considered the Blue Riband of the Scottish Winter season by so many Scottish distance runners. It is fair to say that John Robson’s E to G career did not start well, but he certainly made up for it afterwards!   I have mentioned how fast he ran in the 1975 AAA 12-stage relay – but that was in good weather with cheering crowds. The Third Stage of the E to G can be hilly, cold, windswept and lonely.  In 1976, young John ran well for a start and had just passed Paul Forbes to move ESH into the lead, when, legend has it, he began to feel strangely  fatigued, then mildly despondent, and then he is supposed to have cursed loudly and thrown the baton over a fence into someone’s garden!   No amount of pleading or threatening by ESH supporters had any effect, until his old mentor Ken Ballantyne persuaded John to pick the thing up and jog to the end of the stage, by which time his club was 19^th. ESH finished 8^th, instead of picking up silver at least.

 However John made amends the very next year. Into a freezing headwind in blizzard conditions, Robson ran the fastest time on the exposed Fifth Stage, handing over in second place. Eventually, ESH won gold, without Allister Hutton, and all was well!

In 1978, John was best on Stage Four (almost a minute faster than his nearest challenger, John McGarva of Falkirk). Another team gold for ESH. 1981 saw John fastest on Stage Five again, with his team victorious. They were second to the USA guest ‘The Kangaroos’ in 1985, with John fastest on Stage Seven. In 1987, John was swiftest on the long leg Six but his club could only finish sixth. A year later, he was fastest on Six again, with ESH second.

By 1991, Racing Club were dominating. Between 1991 and 1997, John was fastest on Stage Six twice and Stage Three once, and won seven more team golds.   In my personal history of the race, I expressed the firm opinion that, of all Racing Club’s stars in the E to G, the greatest was the once-maligned John Robson, with ten golds, two silvers, a bronze and nine times fastest on a stage, often the long leg!

By my calculation, John accumulated 5 individual SAAA gold medals and 28 SCCU team golds! I cannot imagine anyone else, in the history of Scottish running, getting near that total. Remember that, in his peak years, he was concentrating on International indoor and outdoor track racing! Although there was talk of him going to the USA to compete on the ‘Masters’ circuit, he does not seem to have done so, and certainly never raced for Scottish veteran titles. Surely he would have done very well in World Masters championships.

 John Robson was a very good team man, who ran brilliantly on countless occasions. He should be remembered as one of Scotland’s greatest-ever athletes: talented, fast, dedicated, graceful and versatile.