Author: The Author

Bill McLellan was a top class athlete at a time when there was a chasm dividing professional and amateur athletics in Scotland, indeed it was so the length and breadth of Britain.   With international athletics being the preserve of the amateur code, he never competed for Scotland or Britain in any of the major games or internationals of any sort.   Given that the professionals competed at different distances on tracks of different lap dimensions and all sorts of surfaces, it was, barring the occasional cinder or all-weather track, not possible to have an accurate estimate of how fast he was or how good his field performances were.   He was however, given his competitive performances and times on inferior surfaces undoubtedly a  quality athlete.   His obituary as written by Jack Davidson is below.

Bill McLellan, top-class athlete, teacher and businessman

                                 Bill McLellan, athlete.  Born: 14 March, 1943 in East Wemyss, Fife.   Died: 16 August 2022 in Windygates, Fife, aged 79.

Clearly a superb athlete, Bill enjoyed a superb career in the sport of athletics and brought pleasure to thousands of people in the course of his career.   The Scottish international team would have undoubtedly been the better had he been eligible to compete for his country.

John sent me some details of his competitive career as a professional athlete.   It is just four sheets with lists of Games at which he has competed and events in which he took part.   Even without accompanying notes they are very interesting to look through and see how good he was.   The first sheet deals with meetings in 1961, ’62, ’63 and ’64.   Note that the first one – Blackford in 1962 should be further down among the other competitions for that year.   The list only deals with the ‘light athletics’. 

The sheet above indicates that he liked the high jump – remember he won the Scottish Schools High Jump as a pupil at Kilsyth Academy.   This next list covers 1965, ’66 and ’67, noting that he won the PGA Championship for his specialist group in 1966.   in ’65 he cmpeted in 13 meetings from Thornton in Fife to Braemar to Oban to Strathpeffer.   In ’66, his championship year, there were 11 Gatherings with Mallaig and Grasmere added to the list.   Note the name of Ian Ward who won at Aboyne – Ward was an English athlete who specialised in the Pole Vault and was one of those responsible for introducing the fibre glass pole to Britain.   He held workshops all over the country including Scotland before producing the BAAB Coaching booklet shown below.   John and the other Scottish vaulters at this time used the metal pole.

The third sheet had competitions for 1968 and ’69 plus one each from ’78 and ’79.   In ’68 he took part at eight venues in a total of 30 events.   These are only the light athletics events, he also did heavy events in some events – notably the caber (was it not included in his email address as jf_caber@) and even running on the track.   W McLellan, pictured below, was another superb athlete and very hard to beat although John did on occasion get the better of him, but he was an athlete who would have shone in any company.

The years are down the right and go from 1971 to a single meeting in 1980.   The last two meetings from above are for running events, but here he is competing only in heavy events – with a good record too.   There are six columns but in some cases he competed in seven throws – the caber has had to be added in the end column.     

Before we start, thanks go to Graham Getty  , pictured above, who looked out all the results from his personal collection of Athletics Weekly magazines for the period.   All of the AW cuttings are from the same source and we have often reproduced the whole page because there are other results that will undoubtedly provoke your interest.   eg All county cross-country championships are on the same day and a comparison can be made.   This is not always the case with newspaper reports where some are judged to be more newsworthy than others so that, on a day of four county championships, one is reported in detail, two might be results only and the other left out because of lack of space.   AW treats all results as equal.   Thanks Graham.

Just looking at this one page of results, below, we can see how busy the racing scene was in 1980, and one of the consequences was the abbreviated coverage of the Renfrewshire Road Championships (8 lines including headline) – and note that there were some non-Renfrewshire guests running, Peter McGregor (VPAAC) and Dave Cooney (Cambuslang).   This had not been usual for most counties – races tended to be confined or completely open with no guests allowed in the confined events.   

The relay in October, 1980, was covered a bit better – see the two pages below – along with those of Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire.   The result in Renfrewshire was a win for Bellahouston Harriers with fastest time also by a club member, George Braidwood,  by 11 seconds from Cammie Spence.  

Three more County Championships – DAAA, LAAA as well as RAAA – which were all held in December, 1980, are shown below.   The fact that three, four if you count Ayrshire which is not on this page, held their championships on the same date, organised independently, indicates that there was a genuine need and place for them in the calendar.   Note the number of clubs mentioned in there: Greenock Wellpark, Greenock Glenpark, Spango Valley, Bellahouston, Kilbarchan, Strathclyde Police, Pentastar, Paisley, Strathclyde Police Cadets.   The days when one club could dominate for several years and then be replaced by another for several more years have gone with every race being hard fought.

1981

The County Relays took place on the second Saturday in October but the race was not reported on – Lanarkshire, Dunbartonshire and Ayrshire results all appeared in the dailies that usually covered the event but either someone had failed to get the results in or the paper sports editor did not have space for them.   The individual and club championships went on in December and the A.W. report is below.

The 1981 championships indicated that the Bellahouston young team (Braidwood, Daly, Getty) was starting to get results and it would not be long before they were leading the field.   As it was, Spango Valley won with 66 points, Wellpark was second with 76 and Bellahouston was third with Bellahouston third with 107 points.   Note presence of Alan Puckrin for Kilbarchan – a man who would become on of the country’s top distance runners.

The championships were held on 30th November 1981 and were poorly covered, barely covered might be a better description, by the ‘Glasgow Herald’ but did et us know that Cammie Spence won and his club took the team title.

1982

The Road Race Championships went ahead on 20th February 1982.   This time there was no doubt – Braidwood defeated Spence by 19 seconds over 10,000m with Andy Daly third and Bellahouston won the team race.

The longer, open 10 miles race was held on April 10th, and the winner was Evan Cameron from Edinburgh Southern Harriers.   Bellahouston’s young team of Fleming, Daly and Getty in four, five and six easily won the team race.

The RAAA Relays 1982 were held on October 9th at Greenock and resulted in a win for Spango Valley with Bellahouston Harriers second.

All of the County Championships took place on the same date (November 27th) with the Renfrewshires at Bellahouston Park resulting in a victory for Spango Valley whose team was led by Lawrie Spence (1st) and his brother Cammie (2nd).

1983

The County Road Race Championship was held at Greenock in 1983 with George Braidwood winning, Andy Daly third, Peter Fleming sixth and Graham Getty seventh to show that the Bellahouston Young Team had really arrived.   Bobby Quinn of Kilbarchan won the Youths race.

The County Open 10 miles road race was held on  and was led home by two Spence brothers, with previous winner Evan Cameron of Edinburgh Southern Harriers in third place.   The popularity of the race was shown by the number of runners from other clubs outwith the Renfrewshire orbit.

The Renfrewshire Cross Country Relays in October 1983 were held at Bellahouston Park and Bellahouston really relished running on one of their home trails with the first three home coming from the club with such as Puckrin, Quinn and Hammy Cox trailing in their wake.   The youths field was led by Tommy Hearle and Steven Connaghan – two runners of immense promise who would represent Scotland before much longer.   But the first three of Daly, Getty and McAngus would go on to even better running.  

1984

The Renfrewshire Road Championships for 1984 were held at Houston and Lawrie Spence won from George Braidwood, Peter Fleming, Andy Daly and Graham Getty in2nd, 3rd, 4tf and 6th.   Alistair McAngus was 10th ensuring a comfortable team victory for Bellahouston with 39 points to Spango Valley’s 62 and Wellpark’s 151.    It is to the credit of the County Association that the road championships which had started out as a men’s race now embraced women, Youths (U17), Senior Boys (U15) and Junior Boys (U13).   If part of the constitution was the fostering of athletics within the county, they were certainly doing that with two road races, a track and field championship and the cross country relays and championships.

The Cross-Country Relays were held on 13th October at Bellahouston and fittingly Bellahouston Harriers won the championship.   Kilbarchan with  Alan Puckrin, plusBobby Quinn now operating with the Senior team and Tommy Hearle coming through the ranks were indicating that they were a team to watch in the not too distant future – two teams in the first eight, winners of the Youths and Junior Boys team races as well as the bronze in the Senior race all went to the club.

The championships were held at Linwood this time and Kilbarchan had first and second seniors, first and second in the Youths race and first and third in the Junior Boys event.   Teams?   Seniors were second, and although they were not given in the AW report, Youths and Junior Boys were probably winners.   

1985

The Renfrewshire 10 in 1985 was held on April 6th and was another Spence benefit affair.   Lawrie won from Cammie with Chris Leck also of Spango Valley in third and the women’s race was won by Elaine Masson of Kilbarchan.The relays in October saw a  series of results that caused a stushie the like of which has seldom if ever been seen in cross-country racing in Scotland: all results resulted in protests being lodged.   Doyg Gillon describes the day in the Glasgow Herald:

The Championships took place on 31st November, 1985, and resulted in a first county senior title for Bobby Quinn.   Details below.

Club members enjoy many privileges of membership – the right to train with the club, to use club facilities, to wear club uniform in races and compete in club championships, the right to represent the club in championship races and in many cases the right to club discounts in various shops and so on.   To prove their right to these – and most importantly perhaps – the payment of this year’s subscription, they were issued with a membership card, often enough this was a small handbook, with the current year’s date, signed by the club Secretary or President.   The variety of such cards is manifold and some will be looked at here.   Why bother showing something as commonplace as a card?   Because now most of these transactions are recorded on line and many will never have seen them.   All clubs had membership cards, Denis’s are here because HELP was typical.

Clydesdale Harriers was the first open athletic club in the country and members were issued with cards as illustrated above (outside) and below (inside)

This contained only the date, member’s name and address and a note of club patrons.   Patrons have long gone out of fashion for most clubs with benefactors (when there are any) listed as  ‘sponsors’.   The card  developed into a member’s handbook of anything up to 42 pages, most often somewhere in the 20’s with details of committee members, fixtures, club meeting places for travel to these fixtures, comprehensive lists of members with their addresses, club rules and regulations and a summary of the previous year’s championships.   This was standard for the initial clubs but gradually diminished in size, probably because of the expense of production relative to the membership fee combined with smaller numbers.

For the period we are dealing with they had been reduced to small booklet size, about 8 pages, and then to a single card.   

The cards which became almost standard started off as pretty basic productions and then grew to to be professionally designed and produced.   Some of Denis Bell’s membership cards as a member of Haddington East Lothian Pacemakers are reproduced.   Four cover shots – 1991/92 and 1992/93 – to start with

and a change of design (not an uncommon practice) for 1996/97 and 1998/99

Then there were the inserts – tri-fold in this case – 

The Clydesdale Harriers issued a membership booklet immediately after the war which was a reduced version of the original pre- WW1 handbook.    The 1945/46 one is below.    They were relatively expensive with their cloth covered cover and many pages so it became the practice to give one to the athlete on joining and subsequently a paper insert was given in return for the subscription.

Inserts issued for the two years after the war:

Eventually even this was seen to be inappropriate and David Bowman devised a compendium of rules and results on a single sheet of foolscap folded into eight pages – 

Multi-club clubs

There were, and still are, specialist clubs in existence such as the British Milers Club, the Fell Runners Association, the Scottish Hill Racers Association and so on.   For the multi-club clubs the identity of the athlete was not always clear to race organisers – a Scottish BMC member could find himself running in club Grand Prix races in Manchester, Birmingham or Kent in the course of the year – or discount-offering businesses without a distinctive form of identification.   For instance the British Milers Club with members all over the United Kingdom a card like the one below was produced in 2010, which had a plain white back, followed by the 2012 model –

Both of the above were for the same 2012 membership card, obverse and reverse.

The Fell Runners cards, like the BMC cards, were the basic, slip-it-in-your-shirt-pocket or in your wee trifold wallet kind of thing that could be shown to race organisers.

The County Championships, like everything done by the DAAA, was organised by the book and even included a programme which not all counties did.   The officials were all from Dunbartonshire clubs and many of those named below had officiated at the Empire & Commonwealth Games at Meadowbank in 1970.   Before 1970 the Games had all been called the Empire Games, 1970 had added  “& Commonwealth” and by 1974 they had dropped the “Empire” part.   The entire programme is below and followed by the report on the meeting printed in the “Clydebank Press” the following Friday.

The officials, see below, had almost all been athletes themselves.   Some had been really high class performers and internationalists – George Dallas, Donnie McDonald, Fraser Riach, Bobby Mills are just a few of those.   Possibly the President – Charlie Middler – had been in the sport the longest having joined Clydesdale Harriers in 1919.   

As we go through the programmes we see that the four traditional Dunbartonshire clubs have been joined by Victoria Park AAC, Glasgow University and Maryhill, clubs that had joined the DAAA when the Glasgow Association folded.   The four had become seven.

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District Championships at Westerlands with several Dunbartonshire club runners taking part: 12 Lachie Stewart (VoL), dark vest three from left Colin Martin (DAAC), extreme right Brian McAusland (CH), three from right Hugh McErlean  (VoL), five from right, between Lachie and McCafferty is Alistair Milroy (DAAC)

The County track championships, which were the first event that they hosted that year,  were held on Tuesday, 16th May, 1966, at the Westerlands track with Garscube winning the Logue Trophy for the club with most points won over the evening..    

The Athletics New Year started as ever on 1st October when the Cross-Country Relays in 1967 were held on 14th October.   The training year differs from the calendar year because winter is the start of preparations for the following summer’s track and field event beginning with all the strength and conditioning work being done between then and March.   In the relays, Ian Donald of Clydesdale Harriers had the fastest time of the day.   Despite this and with Bobby Shields of the same club being second fastest, Dumbarton AAC won the team title.   

Ian Donald

The Individual and team championships were held on 2nd December, 1967, – there were five different County titles contested that afternoon and the Dunbartonshire was won by Lachie Stewart from Bobby Shields with Colin Martin third.   The Youths title was won by Phil Dolan of Clydesdale Harriers who would go on to be a Scottish international on the track and over the country.   Young Danny Pless of Dumbarton who won the Junior Boys race was a very talented runner who unfortunately never ran as a Senior man.   All four counties results are below as a matter of interest and as an indicator of the seriousness with which the events were regarded by runners and clubs.

The Lanarkshire results were of course reported in much more detail elsewhere and they are added to complete the counties for 1967.

The Clydebank to Helensburgh was held on 27th April in 1968 and it was ‘that man again’ when Lachie Stewart won in 1:23:46 from Andy Brown.   It was a better time than it looked in that when Fergus Murray set the record there was a strongish following wind – over 16 miles that does make a difference!

The Track and Field Championships were held at Westerlands on 15th May 1968 and the Logue Trophy for the best team performance was won again by Garscube Harriers.   Every senior track event went to a runner of international class, two of them (Piggot and Stewart) were Olympians and bar Piggot were from the West End of the County.   Gerry Taylor of Garscube, later to join Victoria Park, won three field events.

Lachie Stewart running in the National at Hamilton in 1967

At the start of winter season 1968/69, Lachie Stewart joined Shettleston Harriers on the east side of Glasgow and was ineligible for the Dunbartonshire Championships.   His form had no slipped and he won the Lanarkshire AAA title in December.   His departure opened the door to other athletes in the DAAA to win a championship.   The relays hinted at two who would maybe see themselves in that role.

The Cross Country relays were held again at the Strathleven Industrial Estate and again the strong Dumbarton squad proved victorious.   Ian Donald was again fastest over the trail but he had to share it with Graeme Grant of Dumbarton this time.   

Donald shared the County title with no one when he won it on 7th December on his home turf in Clydebank.   His winning time was 34:19, just 7 seconds ahead of team mate Ian Leggett with another Clydesdale Harrier, Bobby Shields, third in 34:33.   Just 14 seconds between first and third is good packing!   They won the team race with runners placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 6th – 12 pts; Garscube were second with 33 and Dumbarton third with 35.   In the Youths race, Phil Dolan of Clydesdale won in 18:40 for the three miles trail and his club won the team wace (1, 3, 9) with 13 points.   Senior Boy winner was D Cosgrove, also of Clydesdale and his team (1, 3, 5) was first with 9 pts and finally the Junior Boys race was won by Willie Burns of Clydesdale with Vale of Leven winning the team race to prevent a clean sweep of all the gold available on the day.

Graeme Grant leading the pack in a race at Westerlands.

The DAAA Track and Field Championships were becoming settled in to Glasgow University’s grounds at Westerlands and they were there again on 13th May in 1969.   The event was noted in the Glasgow Herald rather than reported on with only two athletes mentioned and no word of which club won the Logue Trophy.

The Clydebank to Helensburgh was held on 28th April and was won by Lachie Stewart in the colours of his new club from Jim Brennan of Maryhill and Bill Stoddart of Greenock Wellpark.

The ’68/’69 season was over and the Dunbartonshire Association was in fine fettle with its county championships – road, cross-country and track – plus open Helensburgh race and teams as required for inter-county duty.    They were heading in to the ’69/’70 season – the Empire & Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh season – in a positive frame of mind.

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Pat Moy on the left, Stan Horn centre

The next five years would be quite significant for the Dunbartonshire Association.   Given the remit of promoting and developing the sport within its bailiwick, it is fair to ask how it was living up to these measurements.   

• If we look at the number of young men coming in to the sport, then the answer is definitely yes.   There are teams in Senior/Junior Men,  Youths  and Boys categories and we have already seen schools teams taking part.   
• Is the quality there as well as the quantity?   The reply has to be in the affirmative there too.   We have already seen international representatives in the form of Alex Kidd, Alex McDougall, Pat Moy and others in the Senior age bracket, we now see Boys, Youths,  and Juniors coming in to the races that we know with hindsight would go on to have brilliant careers in the sport.   
• The Vale of Leven team in the championships of 1962 would be probably the youngest the County had seen up to that point – Stewart, Haddow, Fraser, Billy Gallacher were barely out of the Youths competition and yet were beating good Senior teams.   
• What events are the Association promoting?   There are at least five events every year by now being organised by the DAAA: Over the country there are the cross-country relays in October and the individual championships in December; on the road there are the Balloch to Clydebank 12 miles and the Clydebank to Helensburgh, both in April; and on the track there is the annual championship meeting in May.    It also helps out with sports meetings put on by member clubs.

The County relays which started the 1960/61 winter season were held at Westerton, Garscube Harriers’ HQ, on 17th October, 1960 and resulted in a victory for the Vale of Leven team of Friel, Moy, Campbell and Billy Gallacher, by 50 seconds from Garscube with Clydesdale Harriers third   In the Youths race Lachie Stewart had the fastest time by over half a minute and the Vale must have been excited at the prospect of seeing him join their senior squad – after all Moy had fastest time of the day, and young Gallacher had equal second fastest with Doug Spencer of Garscube.   Note too the fact that Clydesdale had the first two teams in the Boys race with half a dozen very good athletes most of whom went on to have good careers in the sport: for instance Bobby and Jim Shields   were both international class hill runners and Jim went on as a veteran triathlete represented GB in the world championships, Ian Logie as a junior man took up the pole vault and represented Scotland, and Iain Cooke was a medal winning sprinter before giving up the sport to become a doctor.    Report and results below.

Unfortunately the actual county championships were not reported on in either the Glasgow Herald or Scotsman so we will look next at the Track & Field Championships were held on a Wednesday in Mid May at this time and coverage depended on what else was being contested that night.   In 1961 the date was 16th May and the winning team in the points contest for the Logue Memorial Trophy was Garscube Harriers, top competitor with three victories was Bobby Mills of Dumbarton AAC.   The Glasgow Herald report is below.   Note that under track regulations, Lachie Stewart was now a Junior Man

Below: Jack Brown, Dumbarton AAC, winner of the 880 yards

1961 was a year that was significant for the Vale of Leven AAC: Lachie Stewart was at last eligible for the Senior/Junior Cross-Country Relay championship.   Running the anchor leg for the club after Hughie McErlean, Pat Moy and Fraser Watson had done their bit, he brought the team home first, 25 seconds ahead of Clydesdale Harriers with Garscube Harriers a further 3 minutes back.   The shock of the day however had to be the fastest time award not going to Stewart but to his club’s Ian Haddow who was running for the B team.   Note too the arrival on the scene of Colin Martin returning the fastest time in the Boys’ race.   Details below.   

The Individual and Team Championships took place on 18th December, a bit later than usual, but with the very strong Vale of Leven team keeping their title, and Pat Moy winning the individual championship.   The standard at the time was very high and the Vale had four in the top five finishers.   Garscube was second team and Dumbarton third.   Note the strength too of the younger athletes coming through the age groups – Bobby Shields of Clydesdale, Allan Adams and  Colin Martin of Dumbarton – any club in the country would be delighted to count any one of these as a member.

Below: Lachie Stewart as a Senior in the red and white hoops of the Vale of Leven

The Balloch to Clydebank in 1962 was held  on 14th April and was won by Alex McDougall (Vale of Leven) in 69:53 from George White of Clydesdale (71:18 with Willie Gallagher of Vale of Leven third in 72:03.    At this point in its development, the Balloch race had a Ballot team prize.   A Ballot team is a system where the entrants are seeded in three piles and one is drawn from each pile to make up the teams.   The winning team this year was Alex McDougall first, Stan Horn fifth and Billy Hislop (Clydesdale) eighth.   George White won the Clydesdale Harriers road championship which was incorporated into the race.   The times were notably slower because the route was longer, having been diverted to miss out the Dumbarton High Street.   This may have been the year that Bob Pape of the Royal Navy ran as a guest while posted to the Clyde; like Weekes-Pearson, he started behind the official start to the race.

Two weeks later, Andy Brown of Motherwell YMCA won the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16-mile road race for the second time.    His winning time was 1:26:15 and he defeated Gordon Eadie (Cambuslang) by approximately a quarter of a mile, Eadie’s time being 1:27:31.   JM Kerr (Cambuslang) was third in 1:29:05.   Shettleston won the team race with fourth, sixth and seventh places, and Cambuslang was second team.

In the cross-country relay at the start of the 1962/63 season, Vale of Leven again took the title with a team of four young athletes – I Haddow, B Gallacher, L Stewart and F Watson – taking over from the Moy, McDougall Willie Gallacher era.  Clydesdale Harriers were second with Garscube third.   Details:

The actual championship races, as opposed to the relay format, was held on 8th December, 1962, and Lachie Stewart won his first county senior championship at Dumbarton.   The team race was as close as it could be with Dumbarton beating the Vale by only one point thanks to their slightly closer packing at the finish.

The first of the two annual road races was held on 13th April, 1963, and was won by The Vale of Leven’s reliable and hard running Hughie McErlean from his regular rival from Clydesdale, Brian McAusland.   They had many a hard tussle but this time the Vale man won fairly comfortably with Garscube’s Walter Ross, founder of the Veteran Harriers movement in Scotland a good few years later, in third.   The brief report reads:

Two weeks later and it was changing at Bruce Street Baths in Clydebank for the 16 mile Clydebank to Helensburgh road race.   As usual there was a good quality field for the race – it was one of the four counting races for the Scottish Marathon Championship and at 16 miles it was an important stepping stone to the marathon distance.   Gordon Eadie (Cambuslang) defeated the previous winner Andy Brown (Motherwell) by almost 40 seconds.   The report is below.

There was no report on the County Track and Field Championships in May 1963 but there was this report on a county select, which must have been selected by the DAAA, competing in a triangular match at Westerlands on 7th May.   The names of Bobby Mills, Jack Brown and Graeme Grant are all familiar.

Next confined fixture was the cross-country relays at the start of the 1963/64 season in October.   The Senior Men’s race achieved the seemingly impossible – the two and a half mile loop saw the leading three teams being disqualified after the first race and no medals being awarded.   The trail was not so much lost as misunderstood – to lose the trail over such a short distance is fairly difficult.   What happened, if memory serves correctly, is that the first three teams came to a barbed wire fence, crossed the fence, ran alongside it, then re-crossed it to follow the trail back to the changeover.   They had actually run further than they were meant to but the decision was whether to disqualify all three clubs.   However, the remainder of the races are covered in the Herald report below.

The Individual and Team Championships were held at Dumbarton on 14th December with Lachie Stewart winning for the second year in succession and Dumbarton AAC won the team race.   Results below.

The Balloch to Clydebank race in 1964 merited only a 4 line note in the Herald after the event on 4th April.   Lachie Stewart of the Vale won the event from Cyril O’Boyle with David Martin of Garscube third.   The field was a strong one with two of the country’s best distance runners battling it out at the front end, indeed Ian Harris was reigning SAAA Marathon champion.  Details below.

The Track and Field Championships were held on 19th May in 1964 but at Whitecrook Track in Clydebank, home of Clydesdale Harriers rather than Westerlands.   Dumbarton won the Logue Memorial Trophy for the most points by any club while Lachie Stewart of the Vale of Leven had three wins.   Among the names of those who would be international stars were (of course) Stewart and Les Piggott of Garscube who would also be an Olympian and Graham Grant of Dumbarton who would also be a GB Internationalist and have a share of the World 4 x 880 yards record.

Below: Les Piggott (1) winning the invitation 100 yards at Babcock & Wilcox Sports.

1964/65 and the cross-country relay championships were held from the Garscube Harriers base at Westerton and Vale of Leven beat Clydesdale Harriers by just over 40 seconds with Garscube Harriers third.  It was no surprise that Lachie Stewart had fastest time with Clydesdale’s Bobby Shields second and the Vale’s Hugh McErlean third.   The quality kept on appearing – Garscube’s Boys Ricky Wood and Jim Cook would be runners to watch.    

The individual and club championships on 12th December and resulted in a victory for Clydesdale from Vale of Leven although Lachie Stewart retained his championship.   Ian Donald had only that week completed his transfer from Shettleston Harriers to Clydesdale Harriers and the report mistakenly refers to him as I.Donald (Shettleston) although they had it right in the team result.   

The Balloch to Clydebank 12 mile race was held on 10th April and was won by Cyril O’Boyle from previous winner McErlean with Allan Adams of Dumbarton third.   All three were hard fighters and tough opponents although the finishing time was not anywhere near what any of them was capable of.

The Scottish Marathon Club had by now taken responsibility for the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16 but in truth it was actually a joint affair with most of the officials by far coming from the DAAA, many of them being members of the SMC as well as retaining their own club affiliation.    This year it was held on April 24th with Donald Macgregor winning from Alastair Wood.   The finish was a source of contention – apparently Macgregor and Wood had decided to finish side-by-side but the place judges decided otherwise, placing the Fifer ahead of the Aberdonian.   Some said the runners should have been placed joint first, some thought that what they were doing was not an honest finish to the race, either way Don was credited with first place.

The Track and Field Championships in 1965 were held on Tuesday, 18th May, 1965 at Knightswood Secondary School, home of Garscube Harriers, with Piggott, Grant, Stewart and Mills wrapping up the track events for Garscube, Dumbarton, Vale of Leven and Dumbarton respectively.   Taylor and Ryan were recognised everywhere as good throws experts and McGhee won several titles as a high jumper and all three competed on the amateur Highland Games circuit.

Stan Horn, Garscube and Glasgow University, leading the field in a University fixture at St Andrews

The 1950’s was an unappreciated Golden Age for Scottish endurance running and this was exemplified by the standard in Dunbartonshire at the time.   Pat Moy of Vale of Leven ran for Scotland in the International cross-country in 1956, 57 and 58, Alex McDougall, also Vale of Leven, was in the international of 1957 and the Empire Games of 1958, Cyril O’Boyle of Clydesdale was sixth in the National but, because of his Irish background, was not selected to run in the international, Pat Younger of Clydesdale was first reserve for the international, John Wright of Clydesdale was Junior Cross-Country Champion for two consecutive years, Alex Kidd of Garscube ran in the international in 1951 when there was only one international fixture on the calendar and only 8 were selected for it, Gordon Dunn of the same club ran in the 1956 international, while young Lachie Stewart of the Vale appeared on the scene in the latter years of the decade.   Look for the names as we go through.    We start with the 1957 road race season. 

The Dunbartonshire County confined events in 1957 started in April with the road race that runners in other clubs wanted to see opened up: the Balloch 12.

On 13th April, 1957, O’Boyle (above) and McDougall renewed their rivalry over the 12 miles from Balloch to Clydebank for the DAAA Road Running championship.     It was a very good field with Willie Gallacher and George Dickson also starting.    

Two weeks later the annual Clydebank to Helensburgh 16 miles road race was held again with another good field and many top runners starting their long distance programme for the summer.   The first three were all notable marathon runners, all Scottish international representatives and all hard competitors.   Report and results: 

The Cross-Country 1957/58 season started with the relays on 19th October at   and the report in the Glasgow Herald read:

It was a remarkable victory – John Wright would go on to win the SCCU Cross-Country Championships twice after being second in his first run in the event, Jackie Hislop was in the same age group – a good runner but not as good as  Wright. Ballance had run for Glasgow University and Oxford too but much preferred the road and track to country.   The Vale team had three internationa class athletes in their four and were a formidable team.   The complete results were as follows:

Alex McDougall is seen in the picture below (source unknown) wearing the Scottish colours and number 20 in the Empire Games at Cardiff in July 1958.   He finished seventh of the 21 finishers in 2:29:58, the only Scot to finish, ahead of such as Ron Franklin of Wales, Arthur Kiely of England and Ray Puckett of New Zealand.   That he was a quality athlete, there is no doubt.   

The actual individual and club championships took place on 14th December and Wright showed that his run in October was no fluke.   The coverage of the race in the Glasgow Herald was quite complete.   It was a remarkable event altogether – even if we ignore the Senior race which was dramatic in its own right – the names in the younger age group are significant.   Doug Gifford, second in the Youths race would be Glasgow University and Scottish Universities cross-country champion before becoming a leading authority on Scottisg literature on a world wide platform, Bobby Bell went on to be a top-class coach specialising in the Hammer event, the winner of the Boys race was none other than Lachie Stewart of the Vale of Leven whose athletics future needs no further comment.

Douglas Gifford leading the field in the Scottish Universities Championships with Don Macgregor of St Andrews in fourth place.

Into 1958 and the first DAAA road race was again the Balloch to Clydebank on 12th April and the duel between O’Boyle and McDougall became a three man race when McDougall’s team mate Pat Moy joined the field.   He had to set a new course record to do so but he was in good form – fit enough to qualify for the Empire Games later in the season.

Then came the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16 exactly two weeks later won for the second year in succession by Bellahouston Harrier Harry Fenion who in 1957  had become the only man to win the Scottish Cross-Country Championships and SAAA Marathon title in the same year) in a new record time – but Alex McDougall was second and both, along with Shettleston’s Hugo Fox, would go to Cardiff in July.   Result:

Pat Moy, right, passing the Edinburgh to Glasgow baton to Bob Steele

Coverage of the county championships were not available in the Press that summer, or most summers come to that, which is unfortunate given the quality of athlete in the four clubs that were contesting the events there.    The following season, 1958/59, Wright lost his title but to team mate O’Boyle who won by approx 40 yards with Moy a similar distance behind Wright.   Detailed results: 

O’Boyle did not contest the Balloch to Clydebank in April 1959 but Wright did – and he like his team mate, finished second to McDougall.   The report read as follows:   A McDougall (Vale of Leven) had his fourth successive win in the Balloch – Clydebank road race over a shortened course, caused by a diversion at Dumbarton which cut about three-quarters of a mile off the usual 12 miles.   His time of 60:40 was 1 min 54 sec faster than his record for the longer course.   JH Wright (Clydesdale) was second, 300 yards behind McDougall, with P Moy (Vale of Leven) 150 yards behind Wright.   A Weekes-Pearson (Blackheath Harriers), an English internationalist who could not take part as it was a confined event, started unofficially 3 minutres behind the runners and his time for the distance was only 5 sec outside McDougall’s time.   Results:- 1.   A McDougall (Vale of Leven)  60:40;  2. J Wright (Clydesdale) 61:40;  3.  P Moy (Vale of Leven) 62:08;  4.  G White (Clydesdale)  63:10;  5.  E Barrowman (Garscube) 65:13;  6.  R Hamill (Dumbarton) 67:32.

The appearance of Weekes-Pearson, who was with the Royal Navy on the Clyde at the time was unusual because as it was a confined event, guests were not usually permitted to run.   There had been a desire by many athletes and officials, including the Scottish Marathon Club to hold it as an open race for several years but it was to continue as it was for several decades to come.

The next County road race was, unlike the Balloch event, an open race, and a popuar one.   The Clydebank to Helensburgh on the 25th of the month when the winner for the previous two years and record holder, Harry Fenion was not present.   It was nevertheless a good quality field with Empire Games representative Hugo Fox of Shettleston, Gordon Eadie of Cambuslang, like Fox a future SAAA Marathon champion, and Andy Brown, a top class track, cross-country and road runner who would hold the Scottish marathon record for a short time later in his career.       Brown was to emerge the victor this time round.   The Glasgow Herald report read.

“ROAD RECORD FOR A.H. BROWN

Clydebank-Helensburgh

AH Brown (Motherwell YMCA) beat the record for the Clydebank-Helensburgh 16-mile road race with a time of 1 hr 23 min 11 sec, 4 min 24 sec better than the time returned by H Fenion (Bellahouston Harriers when he won the event last year.   Fenion was not in Saturday’s race but H Fox (Shettleston Harriers) and G Eadie (Cambuslang Harriers also were inside the previous best time with 1hr 24min 06sec, and 1hr 26min 39sec respectively.   The team contest was won for Shettleston Harriers by H Fox, H Mitchell and W Gorman.”

We could have done with more detail on the race but there is enough there to let us know that it was a hard race if the first three were inside Harry’s record and Hughie Mitchell was unplaced.    The thing about point-to-point races is that they can be seriously affected by the weather – the prevailing wind for this race was west to east and in the runners’ faces if there was one; there was one race in the 1960’s when the wind was blowing in the other direction and almost all runners had personal best times.   No wind guages for road races!

AH (Andy) Brown, Motherwell YMCA

The Cross-Country Relay in 1959/60 season were held on 17th October at Kirkintilloch and resulted in a victory for Vale of Leven over Clydesdale thanks mainly to the sterling work of Pat Moy.   The report in the Glasgow Herald read as follows.   

Dumbartonshire Title

The race for the Dumbartonshire senior relay title at Kirkintilloch, with race headquarters in St Ninian’s High School,  was decided in the third relay of the 4  x  2 miles event when P Moy (Vale of Leven) gave his team mate W Gallacher a lead of 170 yards for the final circuit.   Clydesdale Harriers, who had been in the lead until the half-distance, were beaten into second place, 100 yards behind Vale of Leven.   DL Spencer (Garscube Harriers) was the fastest individual over the course, his time of 10 min. beat that of Moy and C O’Boyle (Clydesdale Harriers) by 4 sec.   Results:-

Note that the reporter headlines the report with the title ‘Dumbartonshire Title’ when the previous reports, and indeed all the DAAA documentation followed the lead of the County Council by referring to it as  Dunbartonshire.   Doctor McPhail, noted historian and proud citizen of Dumbarton was clearly of the opinion that the Dumbartonshire version was correct and made the point that such was the county title until the early 20th century when a decision was made to distinguish the one from the other by changing the name of the county.   Several of the Youths Ian Haddow, Fraser Watson, Bob Montague would go on to have a decent senior career although none would be as glorious or as long as that of Lachie Stewart who had by far the fastest time over the race distance.   Of the seniors, Dougie Spencer of Garscube was the county track 3 miles title holder and a very good all round distance runner.

The photograph below of Pat Younger clearly indicates the fact that cars were not for the many in 1959 – note the two team buses in the background parked beside the High School.   There were more than two used by clubs that day.

Pat Younger running the third stage for Clydesdale Harriers in the 1959 Relay championship.

12th December was the date for the County Cross-Country Championships in 1959, and Dumbarton was the venue.   The course started on the Common from outside the Brock Baths which provided the changing accommodation and officials facilities.    Glasgow Herald report below.   The two W Gallachers for Vale of Leven is not a misprint – they were referred to locally as Willie Gallacher for the older of the two and Billy Gallacher for the younger!   

9th April 1960 saw the Balloch to Clydebank road race won by a distance by Cyril O’Boyle from John Barrowman of Garscube with Doug Spencer third.   We read: “C O’Boyle (Clydesdale Harriers) beat J Barrowman (Garscube Harriers) by more than three-quarters of a mile in the Balloch to Clydebank 12-mile road race, winning in the slow time of 65 min 32 sec.   D Spencer (Garscube) was third, 12 yards behind Barrowman.   O’Boyle, who led from the start, was 200 yards ahead after three miles and he steadily increased his lead thereafter.   W Gallacher (Vale of Leven), who was in second place after six miles) had to retire with foot trouble.   Results:-   1.   C O’Boyle (Clydesdale H) 65:32;  2.  J Barrowman (Garscube H) 69:56;   3.  D Spencer (Garscube) 70:03.”

The only result that we have for the Clydebank to Helensburgh on 23rd April, reads:  “G Eadie (Cambuslang Harriers), who was third last year, won the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16-mile road race in 1 hr 23 min 32 sec.”   

The lack of reporting at times was rather disappointing; even more so was the lack of information about the DAAA Track & Field Championships.   However, we have the information above and the next section will deal with 1960/61 through to 1964/65.

….

The McAndrew Relay was a real classic that deserves its place in Scottish athletics history.   The traditional start to the winter season, it was held on the first Saturday in October for over half a century.   Organised by Victoria Park AAC, it began with changing in the Whiteinch Baths and a start at the side of Victoria Park and consisted of two interlocked rectangles, it later changed to a start outside St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School and went up round Anniesland Cross and back round via Danes Drive, past Scotstoun Showground and up to the school to finish.   The map of this course is below.

It was a very popular race with many clubs entering four or five teams – it was unusual for clubs to enter only one four man team.   

Allan Scally (extreme right) with the winning McAndrew Relay team of 1945.  The runners were Barney Cairns, Harry Howard, Willie Connor and Charlie McLellan

Start of the race in the 1950

On the original trail in October 1947

Alex Kidd and Arthur Warton of Garscube in 1947

The start in October 1947 – George White (Clydesdale) on the left leading the field out.

Tom O’Reilly (Springburn) to Gary MacKay

McAndrew Start, 1950

McAndrew Finish, 1950, Andy Forbes

Duncan Middleton (Springburn

The first of three with Danny Wilmoth (Springburn): here he is with Jimmy Irvine (Bellahouston) in the 50’s

Danny – again in the 50’s

Danny as a veteran on the traditional trail passing the Showground

Brian McAusland, mid 1960’s

Hugh Barrow (VPAAC) running the fastest time of the day in 1965: last stage, winning team

Victoria Park winning team, mid 1960’s:  Ian McPherson, Albert Smith, Hugh Barrow, Joe Reilly

Molly Wilmoth in the middle with Doug Gillon (Reporter) quizzing Andy Forbes (VPAAC), Brian Goodwin (Bellahouston extreme right and Willie Laing (Shettleston) behind Molly.

Race Start: 1960’s

Handover from Donald Macgregor for Fife AC and Alistair Douglas for VPAAC; Alex MacIndoe on the left, and Alastair Macfarlane (68) for Springburn waiting for his runner.

Race start, 1986  –  Alistair Douglas number 37  – record entry of 154 teams

1986: Kilbarchan leads the group

Handover from Donald Macgregor for Fife AC and Alistair Douglas for VPAAC; Alex MacIndoe on the left, and Alastair Macfarlane (68) for Springburn waiting for his runner.

The winning Spango Valley team from 1986: Chris Robison, Lawrie Spence and the Connachan brothers

Dave Cooney (Cambuslang) member of winning Vets team in 1989

The start, mid-90’s:   63 John ‘Cowboy’ Cunningham (Fife), 38 Des Roache (Clydesdale), 30 Tommy Hearle (Kilbarchan), 11 Brian Kirkwood (Racing Club).

Winning Shettleston team with trophy

2006 – this and the next two are from Chris Upson’s at his blogspot (https://chrisupson.blogspot.com/)

Just after the start, 2006, 95 Lindsay McNeill, 65 John McArthur

Gus Cairney (Clydesdale) heading for the finish in 2006.

Paul Carroll

Pete Cartwright

Inverclyde with the trophy in 2013: Dan Mulhare, Michael Houston, Craig Ruddy and Greg Williams

Marathon Club Fixture List for Summer 1966: Championship Races are marked with a Star

The SMC began in 1944 but only two ‘minute books’ survive. These cover 1950 to early 1981. In the early years, the focus was mainly on the Scottish Marathon Championship (which the SMC organised, along with SAAA). Even by 1952, there were at least 26 Scottish Distance Road Races (between 10 miles and the marathon – 26 miles 385 yards).    Scottish Ultras were yet to be invented, although the Edinburgh to Glasgow 44 miles and the Two Bridges 36 miles were to take place before too long.

All credit then, to Scotland and the SMC, since the more famous Road Runners Club (based in Southern England) did not start up until June 1952. In fact, before that date, RRC planners wrote to the SMC for advice on so many aspects of the work involved. For example: appointing office bearers with different responsibilities; committee meetings; minute-taking; collating a fixture list; organising important events and club championships over distances from 10 miles to marathon and ultras;  course measurement; setting up a standard system to encourage more membership and improvement in racing times; certificates and medals; raising funds and managing them; creating a club magazine; maps of courses; officiating at some races; organising water stations, changing facilities, refreshment, prizegiving ceremonies, club socials. No mean achievement, the Scottish Marathon Club being the first specifically road racing club in Britain!  

The first SMC Club Championship (normally between April and August) took place in 1955. Joe McGhee (Shettleston Harriers) won with 24 points, followed by George King (Greenock Wellpark H – 18) and Hugo Fox (Shettleston H – 14). There were four qualifying events, over 16 miles, 20 miles, marathon and 12 miles. The order varied, but usually the 16 miler (Clydebank to Helensburgh) came first and the Scottish Marathon (June) third. 6 points were given for a win; 5 for second; four for third; three for 4th; two for 5th; and 1 point for finishing. Presentations took place during the annual Social Evening, held in Glasgow venues like the Ivy Restaurant or McColl’s Restaurant. Committee Meeting venues varied but eventually most were held in the Glasgow Sports Centre, which became the SMC headquarters. 

J.R. (Jimmy) Scott was a genuine SMC stalwart who served as Secretary/Treasurer from at least 1950 (when the first extant Minutes Book began) until his death on the first of March 1977. He not only kept detailed handwritten minutes of Committee Meetings (including Annual General Meetings) but also typed up precise and painstaking long ‘foolscap’ sheets with race results and charts of all contestants in the SMC club championship. Eight of these charts survive: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 (when the Macnamara Cup was first presented), 1962, 1963, 1967 and 1968. Samples are photocopied below. Other Club Champions can be found by trawling through the minutes, but the points scores are not always available.

The Macnamara Cup was named in honour of James (Jimmy) Macnamara, a training partner with President Dunky Wright during the war. Jimmy ran for several clubs including Maryhill H, Vale of Leven and Shettleston H. He became a pioneer ‘veteran’, even, aged 63, completing a 14 miles road race. He died in 1958 and had been a long-serving committee man, SMC Captain and Life Member.

1956: Harry Fenion (Bellahouston H) 18 points, George King 15, Tom Scott (Motherwell YMCA H) 10. (Tom Scott is honoured by the famous Tom Scott Memorial 10 Miles race, which used to be from Law to Motherwell but nowadays takes place in Strathclyde Park.)

1978: Davie Wyper and Eric Fisher (Edinburgh AC) tied, and each had the trophy for six months.

(Please note that the 1979 Club Championship had new rules. To be considered, a runner had to a) race the Scottish Marathon Championship and b) complete four of the following fixtures: Balloch to Clydebank 12, Jimmy Scott (Clydebank to Helensburgh) 16, Edinburgh to North Berwick 22, Carluke 10, Strathallan 14, Dunblane 14 and a half, Springburn 12.) Fifteen SMC trojans completed five races!

The second minutes book ended in early 1981. By then, the SMC Club Championship was less keenly contested, as traditional road races waned and city mass marathons started, plus half marathons and 10k races. Yet, in ‘serious amateur’ distance road racing days (1945- 1979), SMC club champion contenders included several Scottish Marathon victors: McGhee (three wins), Fenion, Kerr, Fox (two), Eadie and Stoddart. Other SMC members who won the national marathon title included Donald McNab Robertson (two), Charlie Robertson (two), Harry Howard, Alastair Wood (six), Ian Harris, Jim Alder, Donald Macgregor (three), Colin Youngson (three), Jim Dingwall and Alastair Macfarlane. 

The Scottish Marathon Club had so much influence on the early days of distance road racing in Scotland. Their Club Champions were tough to beat!

1960’s SMC Standards

Club Standards Were Only Issued For Times Recorded in the Four Championship Races.