Author: The Author

From Wikipedia: “Dale Greig (Born March 15, 1937) is a former Scottish long-distance runner who is recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having set a world best in the women’s marathon on May 23, 1964 with a time of 3:27:45.   Greig held world best time until Mildred Sampson set a new mark nearly three months later.   With this performance she became the first woman to break 3 hr 30 min for the marathon distance.   Her record was set on 23 May 1964 at the Isle of Wight Marathon where she was followed round the course by an ambulance.   It was her first attempt at the distance.    She was also the first woman to run the 55 mile London-to-Brighton race in 8:30 in 1972 – seven years before female competitors were officially allowed.   In 1974 at the age of 37 she won the first international championship marathon for women at the world veterans’ championships in Paris.”   

The above entry from Wiki says a lot about her claim to fame but does not tell anything like the full story of Dale Greig’s remarkable career.    Track Champion,. Cross Country champion and international athlete for 13 years, marathon pioneer and world record holder, ultra marathon runner and more covers the bases and we need to look at what she did before the remarkable run in Ryde.    Doug Gillon listed some of her career highlights in an article in ‘The Herald’ in April 1998 as follows.

• Scottish Universities 440 yards champion 1956
• Scottish Cross Country Champion 1960, 1962, 1964 and 1968
• Scottish Cross Country Internationalist 1957 – 1970
• In 1968, Dale (along with Doreen King, Margaret MacSherry and Leslie Watson) won Team Bronze medals for Scotland in the ICCU Cross Country Championships
• World Record Holder Women’s Marathon, 1964
• First Woman to run the Isle of Man 40 Miles TT Mountain Course, 1971
• Ran up and down Ben Nevis (4400 feet) 1971
• First Woman to run the London to Brighton 53 miles 1972
• IGAL World Champion Women’s Marathon, Draveil, Paris, 1974
• Competed in 10 IGAL Championships and three European Championships

It is clear that we are not talking about a plodder who was lucky one day – we are talking about a serious athlete who had a core of steel which enabled her to do remarkable things in the sport.   If we take her career in order we might get some idea of what she had to do to become one of the top rated world athletes: was she not rated ahead of Ingrid Kristiansen, Wanda Panfil, Rosa Mota and others in an American poll of The Greatest Women Marathon Runners in history where she was ranked ninth with Catherine Ndereba first.

Dale started off her career as a track runner in summer and cross country runner in winter.  

                                                                      DALE GREIG: ATHLETICS WEEKLY COVER STAR

On February 16^th 1963 at Fauldhouse, “over a course more like a Polar plateau than a cross-country course” Dale (Tannahill) finished second (by 7 seconds) to Georgena Buchanan (Western) in the Scottish Women’s C.C. Championships. On March 9^th at Richmond Park, when “rain, gale, mud and still more rain was the runners’ lot” Dale battled her way to a very good 7^th in the English Women’s National C.C. Championships. Two weeks later, Dale (apparently wearing a Scottish International vest) became an AW cover star!

One of the interesting facts of her cross-country career was the close rivalry at times with that other great marathon pioneer who came after Dale and who capitalised on what she did to such an extent that women’s marathon running in Britain was never the same again: Leslie Watson.    If we look at their relative positions in the SWCCU Championships between 1964 and 1971 we get this picture.

In 1966 she was ranked fifth in Scotland for the Mile which was the longest distance women could race at the time with 5:36.0 – Leslie was second with 5:14.4 – and in the SWAAA Mile championships she was third to Watson’s first place; in the West District championship, she was third while Watson was second.   At this point she was of course thinking of the marathon.   Her next appearance in the ranking lists is in 1969 when the 3000 metres was introduced to the championships and she was fourth with a time of 11:46.5 on the cinder track at Scotstoun.   It is of more than passing interest to note that she was running for a club named Tannahill LAC.   There had been no club for women in Paisley at the time and this was not unusual, for instance in Greenock there were two clubs for men (Greenock Glenpark and Greenock Well park) and the women had to form their own club, Greenock Rankin Park LAC.    The difference was that Tannahill was a one member club – Dale was president, secretary and treasurer and sole running member!   When one bears in mind that this meant that she had to pay all the affiliation fees (SWAAA, SWCCU, County, etc) out of her own pocket as well as all the incidental costs that clubs have to bear in order to survive.   It was clear that she meant business.

A better than average career but not enough for Dale.    At a time when the longest distance that women could run on the track was one mile, she took on the challenge of running 26+ miles.    Working as secretary in Walter Ross’s printing firm, she knew of the marathon at Ryde in the Isle of Wight (a notably hard course).    Walter’s brother lived in the Isle of Man so it was that she went to run in that one.    She couldn’t run with the men, that was clear so she started four minutes ahead of the field.   The first of the 67 men entered passed her soon after the start but she finished the course, the challenge was simply to last the distance.   She finished in 3:27:45 – she insists that she was actually 20 seconds faster but the recognised time was published in ‘Athletics Weekly’ and although the magazine published a correction a few weeks later, it has been ignored and the 45 seconds remained.    The report in ‘AW’ was fairly detailed as far as the men were concerned (conditions were very humid, and only 49 men finished) but at the bottom, after the results and separated from the report by a line, it said “Scottish girl Dale Greig, starting 4 minutes before the men, ran unofficially and completed the tough course in 3h 27m 45s.”   The report in the local paper for Saturday, May 23rd, (from which the picture at the top is taken) read: “A slim 27-year-old Scots girl astounded the AAA officials when she completed the IW Marathon course on Saturday – the first woman to run this distance in Britain..   Dale Greig who at weekends turns out for her local club at Tannahill, Paisley,, came to the Island a week beforehand to train over the 26 miles 385 yards hilly course, one of the toughest in Europe.   Three times winner of the Scottish women’s cross country championship, her aim was to better the unofficial women’s world record of 3 hrs 35 mins set up three months ago by an American girl over a flat course.

Although Dale was prepared to run among the 67 men competing, the officials would have none of it since marathons are, or rather were, a strictly male domain.   Instead they allowed her to leave four minutes ahead of the rest of the field, and had a quiet word with the course ambulance driver to keep an eye on her.   The same officials broke into cheers when 3 hrs 27 mins 25 secs later, Dale stormed over the finishing line in a sprint with a better time than many of the men, 19 of whom failed to finish.   She ran straight into the arms of her widowed mother, Mrs Ann Greig who followed the race for most of its distance in a car.

“I knew she could do it,” said Mrs Greig.   “Dale is a secretary for the editor of a Scots sports periodical and lives for athletics.”   Dale’s employer, Mr Walter Ross, himself a competitor in past marathons, agreed.   “She’s a bonnie lass,” he said admiringly.   Commented Dale: “Before the race I was nervous, but once I started I knew things would be all right.”   With a grin she added: “I felt sorry for the men  I kept passing in the closing stages – they looked embarrassed.   A couple who had given up and were sitting at the roadside struggled to their feet when they saw me.

A few hours later Dale went off to the athletes dance at the Royal York Hotel and remained until midnight.  On Sunday she was up early and went for a swim before leaving on the long journey home.”

Several things are clear: she suffered no harm, she enjoyed the race and it was at that time illegal in Britain.   To make it worse, it was a mixed race and she had been helped for part of it by Walter’s brother Bill – some say that Walter himself helped out in this way too.   Officialdom was not happy and the following letter – reproduced in full – gives some of the flavour of their distaste.

There were even family feuds about it.   A doctor writing in the ‘Daily Mail’ warned that women (running marathons) would become ‘old too soon’.   The misogynist IOC President Comte Ballet de Latour wanted women barred from all Olympic events.   Harold Abrahams supported this point of view but his brother Adolf, a noted sports medical expert and physician who had written a book called ‘The Human Machine’ among others, was very supportive of women running endurance events.   Dale said “Walter’s brother lived on the island and knew all the race officials and as I was going there on holiday, it was arranged that I would be allowed to run their marathon.   I had to start four minutes ahead of the field so that they could say I was not part of the race.   I was followed all the way by an ambulance and knew nothing about any world record at the time.   The challenge was simply to last the distance.   What nobody seems to realise was that I never considered myself a pioneer, championing women’s rights.   I just ran because I loved being outdoors.”

The furore blew over and Dale kept on running – having won the SWCCU title earlier in 1964 she continued to run and in 1965 was third.    Her next big challenge was the Isle of Man 40 miles TT Course in 1971 – interestingly enough the report on the 1971 SWCCU Championship says that she ‘was satisfied with placing in the top dozen as she had her eye on a run in the Boston marathon’   That would have been interesting as it was before Kathy Switzer had her famous contretemps with Jock Semple!   Also in 1971 she ran in the Ben Nevis race – Britain’s highest mountain at more than 4400 feet – which she said was a “body shattering” experience.

When she tackled the London to Brighton in 1972, she again had to start ahead of the men – this time she was an hour ahead.   “I carried a map in my hand because I was worried about going off course,” she said. “I needn’t have worried about getting lost,” she said, “the men caught me after about 14 miles and I was able to follow them after that.”  Her time was recorded by the Road Runners club of Great Britain as 8:30:04 but does not feature in the results.   It was only seven years later in 1979 after Leslie Watson and two others had run over the course unofficially that women were allowed to run the 55 miles from Big Ben to the Esplanade in Brighton.  It should be noted that she was not the first woman to cover the course but she was the first woman to run over it.   It had earlier been done by a walker, the little known Lillian Salkeld is credited with walking the race in 12 hours 20 minutes in 1932.   The ’72 race however was all-Scottish affair with Alastair Wood setting the wonderful record of 5:11:00 and Dale doing her unofficial run on the women’s side.   Doug Gillon in an article in ‘Athletics Weekly’ of 30th October 2002, says:  She had no doubts at all that she could go the distance after some remarkable training runs from her home in Paisley.   She would set out at 7 am and head for the Ayrshire seaside resort of Largs but not by the most direct route.   Her preferred run was through Bridge of Weir.  “I’d stop there for an ice cream cone and walk while I ate it.   By the time I’d got to Largs I’d done nearly 30 miles.   Then I would have a swim in the outdoor pool.   I’d hire a towel but I carried my costume in a pocket in a pocket of my wet-suit top.   Then I would go for a cup of tea and a scone in a cafe and return along the coastal route along the shore of the Clyde by Wemyss Bay and Inverkip.   If I got thirsty I’d just drink from a stream, or sometimes I might stop for a coffee and a wee cake before finishing in Gourock.   I’d go to a friend’s for a bath and then catch the train and be home by 3:00 pm.   The total run was just over 50 miles and I did it quite  a few times.”

Walter Ross was an enthusiastic veteran harrier and was responsible for starting up the Scottish Veteran Harriers Association.   He was also very keen on the international side of the movement and  when he managed to get the IGAL World Road Running Championships to Glasgow in 1980 there were hundreds of runners from all over the world running through the streets on the south side of Glasgow in the 10000 metres on the Saturday and the marathon on Sunday.   It was a wonderful festival of running and comradeship with exquisite pieces of jewellery in lined boxes for every finisher.   The first such championship was held in Paris in 1974: one Scottish runner ran with an armful of flowers which he distributed to spectators with the cry of “Vive l’Ecosse!”   As in Brighton, the day belonged to the Scots when, in 80 degrees heat, Alastair Wood won the men’s race and Dale, aged 37, took the women’s event in 3:45:21.   This was the first ever marathon in which men and women were allowed to run together.   The Editor of the ‘France Soir’ newspaper presented Dale with a trophy which she keeps in a cupboard at home with her other memorabilia.   Reports always comment on two things – the fact that she has no trophies, medals or certificates on display and the fact that she made no money from her career.   Doug Gillon goes on at  length about the houses owned by Paula Radcliffe, Liz McColgan, et al and makes the point that while they are millionaires, she lives in a small home bought from the Council.   Her line is simple and has been reported frequently and it runs as follows – “I don’t envy them the money.   I’m against materialism and glad to have missed the drugs which came into the sport after I had gone, but I envy them the opportunity that they have to make a career and a life out of running.   I would have loved that!”    The picture below is from an ‘Athletics Weekly’ article of 2002 by Doug Gillon and shows Dale with her friend Aileen Lusk running in the IGAL marathon.

Finally, Dale is frequently seen as a bit of a loner – Doug’s article from ‘The Herald’ of April 1988 says, “She admits to being a loner forming Tannahill Harriers of which she was the sole member – named after the street where she lived – because Paisley had no women’s club.”    However you only have to see what she has put back into the sport to see that the remark is only partly true.   As an administrator she has been

• Secretary of the SWCCU between 1960 – 66
• Treasurer of the SWCCU between 1967 – 70
• President of the SWCCU between 1976 – 1979
• Life Vice-President SWCCU and Road Running Association
• Member of the Organising Executive in 1980 when the IGAL World Championships came to Glasgow
• Assistant Secretary World IGAL 1982 – 1987
• Honorary Life Member Scottish Athletics Federation and Scottish Veteran Harriers
• Member of the Notable 19: a club whose members have won major marathon honours or held world records

Dale has had a wonderful career and been a first class ambassador for Scotland as a whole not just the running community: would that we had some like her today!

Dale Greig has been inducted into the Scottish Athletics Hall of Fame.

Postscript: 

Dale Greig’s Scottish Athletics statistical list is introduced by: “A pioneering woman distance runner who ventured into the area of marathons and   ultra-distance running   that even seasoned and hardened male runners regarded with trepidation, Dale Greig became one of the first women to run a marathon, setting the inaugural recognised IAAF Women’s World Best for the distance. In addition to her competitive achievements, she acted as a national administrator, official, race organiser and athletics writer over a long period of time, editing “Dale’s Diary” (from 1956-1958) in The Scots Athlete magazine”. (She was also invaluable in producing the Scottish Veteran Harriers Newsletter throughout the 1970s and later. Dale’s journalism was enthusiastic and well-written – her enduring love for running shone through.)

Here is a summary of Dale’s articles for The Scots Athlete magazine:

October 1956 edition “Women’s Notes” about 1956 track season, the ‘retirement’ of Aileen Drummond (who returned as Aileen Lusk and ran very well into her 50s)  and the Scottish Women’s Championship results (including Dale finishing second in the 880 yards to Molly Ferguson).

November 1956: Women’s Notes about Scottish and British Women’s Field Events and the AGM of the WSAAA.

January 1957: WN about the Scottish Women’s Cross-Country Championships and which club might challenge Maryhill Harriers’ supremacy.

May 1957: the first Dale’s Diary (Women’s Notes): detailed report about the WCCU championships held on March 16^th at Ayr, won by Morag O’Hare (Maryhill) with Dale fifth and the first six selected to face England in an International Match at Musselburgh Racecourse on March 30^th. That race is also reported: the English girls ‘romped away’ and Dale was 11^th out of 12 finishers – but good-humoured about the event, in which Doreen Fulton (Springburn) was first Scot in front of Morag O’Hare. The Diary also looks forward to the WSAAA champs at New Meadowbank on 8^th June.

                                                                                             The very first “Dale’s Diary”

July 1957: DD/WN about SWAAA results.

March 1958: no DD

Last Scots Athlete: June 1958: Dale’s Diary / Women’s Notes by Dale Greig about SWCC Champs on 8^th March at Auchinairn. Ina Mae Mooney (Jordanhill Training College) won, with Dale Greig (Bellahouston) second, eight seconds slower. For financial reasons, the annual match v England was cancelled – a great pity since Scottish XC Champion Ina Mae Mooney would not get the chance to represent Scotland. (Ludicrously, from a 21^st Century viewpoint, the longest Women’s event in the 1958 Commonwealth Games would only be 220 yards!)

[Dale’s last Scottish XC Championship victory was over three and a half miles at Musselburgh Racecourse on 9th March 1968. Running for Tannahill, she won decisively, finishing fifty yards in front of Doreen King (Western). Sheena Fitzmaurice (Aldershot) was third; Margaret MacSherry (Cambridge) fourth; Rosemary Stirling (Wolverhampton) fifth;  and Leslie Watson (Maryhill) sixth. These were all outstanding Scottish runners –  Rosemary Stirling went on to win the 1970 Commonwealth Games 800m!]

Dale died in April, 2019, and Colin Youngson has had access to her archive files.    His selection from these files is available from this link:

Dale Greig Archive Selection.

Back to Front Page

The picture above is from Colin Shields’s book ‘Whatever the Weather’ – the official history of the Scottish Cross Country Union.

I had just been elected Secretary of Clydesdale Harriers in 1959 and when the discussion in Committee about who to invite to the Presentation Dinner as guest of the club came up, someone said “Andy Forbes.”   And that was it – no further discussion when the usual form was to have two or three names discussed before one was settled on.   Given the rivalry with Victoria Park, the fact that this staunch Vicky Parker was invited nem con was remarkable but a measure of the respect that he was accorded throughout Scottish athletics.   He was Scottish champion over the country and on the track, a multiple record holder and Commonwealth Games medallist.   What more could you want?    As an introduction to his career we have George Barber’s portrait of Andy published in the ‘Scots Athlete’ of February, 1952.

ANDREW FORBES

(Victoria Park AAC)

by GS Barber

During an inter-club I had a good chat with Andrew Forbes, the present cross-country champion and three miles champion and record holder.   Andy – I must say now – is a very modest man and it was with the greatest difficulty that I got him to say anything about himself.   He first started running in 1935 with Victoria Park, and fancied shorter events when they took him across country and during the following years ran unobtrusively winning a few track handicap races.   Then came the war and in the Services he did little or nothing in the competitive side until 1944-45 when he won the BAOR (British Army on the Rhine) 1500 metres championship in 4 mins 10 secs.

His reaction to his services days was interesting.   He thought that the open air life, the regular meals and the training really did him good.   He mentioned the many opportunities he had of using tracks which did not exist outside the services and it was an illuminating thought that with so many of our boys having to do their National Service training that they may improve instead of otherwise.   On his return to civilian life Andy took to the country and was the Midland District CC Champion 1946-47 and also the Scottish National CC Champion – Junior and Senior the same year.

In 1947 he won the Scottish 3 miles championship and in the following triangular match finished a very close second to Alec Olney (England) in the 3 miles creating a new native record of 14 minutes 32 seconds at New Meadowbank.   In 1948 an unfortunate foot injury interrupted and spoiled his chances of Olympic selection but as the Scottish 3 mile champion, he ran second at Manchester in the triangular match in the 5000 metres when he and Alec Olney again raced for it and Andy was beaten by 12 yards in 14 mins 48.4 secs finishing ahead of two of the newly selected Olympic team runners.   The same year he ran for Great Britain v Denmark at Copenhagen.

In a thrilling race against John Joe Barry, he was second only in the 1949 Scottish 3 miles but put up a new native record of 14 mins 18 2/5th secs and ran for Great Britain v France at the White City, London.   Over and above at almost every open sports meeting in Scotland, large or small, Andy would appear and the result was a splendid race.   Other track achievements were British 3 mile standard medals in 1947-48-49 and 51 and his record to date of best performances are:

1 Mile:   4 mins 19 secs; 2 Miles:   9 mins 14 secs;   3 miles:   14 mins 15 secs  and   6 miles:   30:31 9/10th.   Quite an impressive total.

He won International honours over the country in 1947-49-50 and 51 and was the first Scot home in 1949 and 1950.

We had quite a long talk about his likes and dislikes of diet but Andy has no dislikes and can take any kind of food.   He likes to drink glucose before a race but is not quite sure whether it is not just psychological in its effect or not.   He trains hard and often, does not mind training on the road because he has a light step, but does not like running alone during training.   Andy feels that company is desirable and is certain that cross-country RUNNING is excellent training for strenuous track work despite what the AAA officials say to the contrary.   His proof is that after a hard continuous cross-country season in 1949-50, he ran so well in New Zealand.   We discussed whether there are too many races during the winter season and he agreed that even a minor event could take as much out of you as a major one and that no matter how you feel before a race, the actual race had to be started before you knew exactly your condition.   So many factors come into it.   The wind, conditions underfoot, reckless running of men with no chance in the actual race so that as well as the physical trials during the race, there is certainly a mental stress that draws from the reserves.

Andy has always listened to what older runners have had to say and studied carefully any information regarding previous races.   During a race he likes his time to be given to him as a check against himself and the others in the race.   Andy is now aged 35 and has a strenuous job as a Commercial Traveller, out in all weathers which suite him.   He feels at the moment he is at his best, he weighs about 9 st 8 lbs and likes to have a bit in hand to shed when he wishes.   He is looking forward after this full cross-country season to the following track season with an eye on Olympic honours at Helsinki.

As a track runner Andy won the SAAA Three Miles title four times and even set a record for the distance but never won a championship at Six Miles – the distance at which he won Commonwealth silver!   Andrew Forbes was born in Glasgow on 9th October 1915 and the beginning of his career is outlined above by George Barber.   Winning the SAAA Three Miles on 28th June, 1947, in 14:55.2, it was only a week before the battle with Alec Olney in the Triangular International match at New Meadowbank where he set a Native record of 14:32.2 which was only 0.2 of a second behind the winner.    He retained the title in 1948 with 14:45.0 but the target that year was to make the Olympic team.   As part of the Olympic possibles group he trained all winter specifically for that.   He missed the 1948 National Cross Country Championship and Emmet Farrell said in ‘The Scots Athlete’ of June that year: “I am more confident than ever of Andrew Forbes’ chances of earning selection at 5000 metres.   Victoria Park 3 mile Scottish Champion and record holder, proved last year in the AAA 3 miles that he was amongst the three best in Britain, but I believe his graduated training will prove him faster than ever this year.   With his nice combination of pace and stamina the other 3 mile contenders will have to produce fireworks to thwart him of his ambition..”   But we all know that Andy didn’t make the team and we have to turn again to Emmet Farrell for the reason.   in August he reported after the team had been selected that “I feel a meed of sympathy is due to Andy Forbes who, despite recurring foot trouble which handicapped him in the final stages of his training, still managed to do a 14 mins 32 secs 3 miles.”.   This was elaborated a month later, “Stylish Andy Forbes must be regarded as distinctly unlucky not to have gained his Olympic singlet at 5000 metres.   Just prior to the AAA Championships which was to be regarded as the official Olympic test, his foot injury was aggravated to such an extent that he had to ease off in his training.   In the test, despite a courageous effort of 14 mins 32 secs, he was not far enough up to catch the selector’s eye.   Yet later in the triangular contest at Fallowfield, Manchester, Forbes chased A Olney home in the 5000 metres with a time of 14 mins 52 secs, equivalent to a time a fraction over 14 mins 20 secs for the 3 miles, and in the process handsomely defeated Britain’s 2nd string in this event.   Throughout the season Forbes has put up some immaculate and pleasing performances at various athletic galas and has proved himself a great favourite with the fans.   Would it not have been a nice gesture for the British selectors to have included him in the 3 miles team event in the recent Britain v USA athletic match at the White City?   It would have been somewhat of a consolation for Andy to represent Britain and he certainly was worthy of the honour.”

The SAAA championship race the following year was another in which he finished second by only two tenths of a second – this time to John Joe Barry from Ireland.   His time of 14:18.4 was nevertheless another Native record.   Later that year he competed for Great Britain for the first time in a match against France in London.

The man who beat Andy:  New Zealand’s Harold Nelson who won the Empire Games gold in 1950

he was the first NZ runner to break 30 minutes for Six Miles

The race against Barry was described  by Emmet Farrell in ‘The Scots Athlete’ as Andy’s greatest ever race:               

“The duel between John Joe Barry and Andy Forbes in the 3 miles was a classic and will be a fragrant memory to those privileged to be present.   Forbes in particular ran the race of his life and although losing his title cracked his own native record to the tune of 14 seconds, a remarkable display of powerful and artistic running.   It may seem churlish to lavish more praise on the runner-up than the victor, Barry after all came back in magnificent fashion despite the reaction caused by his earlier racing and previous heavy programme.   He too proved himself a ‘bonny fechter’.    But we knew John Joe was capable of such running.     On the other hand, Andrew Forbes surpassed himself.   Not only did he bear the heat and burden of the day, by assuming the role of pace-maker, but he took John Joe right to the tape, demonstrating an entirely unsuspected brand of finishing power.”   He goes on to talk of a 2 mile invitation race at Dublin the next day where Barry won off scratch and Andy Forbes, off 35 yards ran 9:17 which was only 4 seconds off the native record

In 1950 he had probably the finest race of his life when he was selected for the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand where in a real sprint finish he won the silver medal in the 6 miles in a time of 30:31.9 behind WH Nelson (30:29.6) and in front of Noel Taylor (like Nelson, running for New Zealand)  who was also timed at 30:31.9.   The fourth man recorded 30:34.7 and the fifth 30:46.3.   Five men in 17 seconds!   Emmett Farrell again: “meritorious second places were earned by Andrew Forbes in the Six Miles and Alan Paterson in the high jump.   The former’s bid was a glorious one.   After a magnificent dust-up with Bill Nelson of New Zealand he was beaten by only 12 yards.   Forbes’ time of 30 mins 31.9 secs is inside the Scottish record figures of 30:42 but being done outside Scotland the record is not affected.”

Forbes’s young club mate Hugh Barrow sent the following three pictures of Andy in action during the race.

Andy can be easily picked out by his erect running action with the high knee lift – in the third photograph he is running fourth.

He went on to win the SAAA Three Miles again in 1951 and 1952 in 18:28.8 and 14:26.9.

The team that won the English National in 1952: Back Row: Bobby Calderwood, Ronnie Kane, Ian Binnie, Dunkie McFarlane and Alex Breckenridge;

Front Row: Johnny Stirling, Andy Forbes, Chic Forbes and Jimmy Ellis.,

I have separated the track running from the cross-country and road racing aspect of Andy’s career because, while the track running was entirely his own the team aspect of his winter seasons are as much a part of the Andy Forbes story – hence the team picture at the top of this section.   A very good clubman, Andy ran in many races for his club and helped the win many medals.    If we look only at his performances in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay and the National Cross-Country Championship, we get this table.

It is well known that Victoria Park in the 1950’s was virtually invincible on the road and almost as good over the country, nevertheless Andy’s performances in the Edinburgh ot Glasgow are really remarkable: eight runs, five fastest times, two second fastest times and no details available yet for the eighth!   As for the National, the star in 1948 indicates that although he was fit enough to run he had been training over short distances very fast as one of the pool of ‘Olympic possibles’ selected by the AAA’s: he was as ‘The Scots Athlete’ says “an interested spectator!   The picture below is of Andy passing the baton to Alex Breckenridge in the Edinburgh to Glasgow.

Andy started 1948 by winning the Nigel Barge Road Race at Maryhill from a good class field but with the Olympics to be held later in the year was a non starter in the National so 1948/49 was his first complete winter for two years.  The December issue of ‘The Scots Athlete’ reported on ‘Mr Mercury’: “Andy Forbes, thwarted by being unable to show his paces in the Whiteinch relay owing to the unfortunate breakdown of his club’s first man, adopted the role of ‘Mr Mercury’ in the Kingsway Relay and thus duplicated Fleming’s feat of the previous fortnight.   Taking over in fifth place  he made a characteristic last lap effort to  pass all his opponents and win by a margin of some 8 secs.   His time of 13 mins 56 secs is only a few seconds hort of his last year’s record effort.”   He had fastest time in the Midland Relay and was a hot tip for the International when the National Championships were due with Emmet Farrell forecasting a duel between Andy and John Joe Barry for the title.   The race was held at Ayr and the report read: “Just as in the Grand National for horses, the jump known as Becher’s Brook has been the death of many a favourite’s hope – so at Ayr the stream encountered id-way round each lap ruined the chances of many well-known runners including the favourite Andrew Forbes.   Swollen and in spate and with both banks a sea of mud from which no correct take-off could be had, this natural hazard meant immersion each time and appeared to have a particularly adverse effect on some runners.”   James Fleming of Motherwell YMCA coped best with the conditions and Andy was eleventh.     He was selected for the International only by vote of the Committee because of his known class.   It was held in Ireland, and was first Scot home when he was fifteenth.

There was great excitement in 1949 at the return of the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight stage relay.   The first post-war race was held in April and won by Shettleston Harriers from Victoria Park.   Andy ran the fourth stage and lifted his club from third to second with the fastest time of the day, 64 seconds quicker than the nearest time.   Later in the year it settled into what would become its regular slot in November and the headlines told that Shettleston won again ‘despite a great bid by Victoria Park.’   The Forbes brothers had a lot to do with that – Chic Forbes ‘considerably whittled down Shettleston’s lead on the fifth fifth leg and his more famous brother Andrew stormed into the lead on the long sixth stage.’.   Chic was fastest on his stage by 58 seconds and Andy quickest on the sixth by 59 seconds.   Shettleston also won the District Relays but Andy again had the fastest time.   In the National Cross Country Championships in March, Shettleston were the winning team with Victoria Park third.   Andy in eighth led the team home and selected this time on his placing, Andy was twenty ninth and again first Scot to finish.

1950-51 was the start of Victoria Parks’ golden period which lasted for approximately ten year.  This was in evidence especially in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay.   The season started with a win in their own McAndrew Relay and they had two teams in the first four and Andy was second fastest behind Tom Tracey of Springburn Harriers.   In the Dundeee Kingsway Relay they were again victorious and Andy had the fastest time of the day again.   In the Midland District Relays, Victoria Park won again with Andy second fastest behind Tracey.   In the E-G Relay in November they won the event for the first time with the Forbes brothers again in the team.   Chic was on Five and beaten for fastest time by only three seconds and Andy had the fastest time on Six by over forty seconds.  The team in running order was Ian Binnie, Alex Breckenridge, Dunky McFarlane, Donald Henson, Eddie Bannon, Chic, Andy, Jimmy Ellis and Johnny Stirling.   In the Nigel Barge Five in January, 1951, Andy turned the tables on Tommy Tracey by winning with a 50 second margin.   There were no selection issues in 1951 when Andy won the National from Tommy Tracey – 13 seconds was the difference this time.   Having already won the Midlands title (with Forbes third) Victoria Park won the team race to make it a very successful season.   In the international Andy was third Scot to finish – Tracey was the first!    There was  one more event however – as winners of the Edinburgh to Glasgow they were entered as of right in the London to Brighton Relay.    ‘The Scots Athlete’ had this to say: “Victoria Park started poorly but improved later on and in the 7th leg.   Andrew Forbes with a 30:08 (2nd fastest) brought his club up to 5th place.   Although a trifle disappointing, this was good enough to win for the all-conquering Scottish club the medals for ‘the most meritorious performance.’

In 1951-52 the club again won everything there was to win with the sole exception of the Midlands District Championships and Andy continued his battle with Tom Tracey.   They won the McAndrew Relay at the start of October and were only third in the District Relay before tackling the E-G.   They led from the first stage to the last with Andy having second fastest time on the long sixth stage, eleven seconds behind Eddie Bannon of Shettleston.  On New Year’s Day he was second to Bannon in the Beith Cross-Country race and on the Saturday, Andy again won the 5 miles Nigel Barge race – this time from team-mate Ian Binnie with Tracey third and Victoria Park won the team race.   Came February and Andy was third in the Midland Championship and the team was second to Shettleston again.   In the 1952 National Forbes was third and Victoria Park again won the title.   Not content with the Scottish title, the travelled to England for the British Cross Country Championship and came home victorious.   Runners are in the picture above -Andy Forbes was 11th, Jimmy Ellis 32nd and Ian Binnie 41st before the ‘pack of three’ came in – Chic Forbes 51st, Ronnie Kane 52nd and Johnny Stirling 54th.   This was followed by third place in the London to Brighton Relay Race – their best ever performance.   In the international Cross Country Championships he was first Scot home in 52nd place.

Before the National Championships, Emmet Farrell had indicated that Andy was having problems with a foot injury and this might have contributed to him missing the McAndrews at the start of 1952-53.   In the Midland Relays Shettleston won from Victoria Park for whom Andy was slowest man in a team of Chic Forbes, Ronnie Kane, Bob Calderwood and himself.   After the first lap when Bobby Calderwood was second to Clydesdale’s George White, Victoria Park led every stage to the finish with Andy running a record time for ths seventh stage.   Emmet Farrell commented, “Andy Forbes showed a welcome return to form by narrowly creating a ne record on the seventh stage displacing Donald Urquhart, Garscube’s ex-internationalist.”   The question was also raises whether they could win the London to Brighton and it was felt that they had an excellent chance.   In the Midland District Championships in January, 1953, Andy was seventh, second VP member behind Breckenridge in second, and the team was first.   He had a better run in the National where he was second forty seven seconds behind Bannon to lead Victoria Park to team success yet again.    He had another very good run in the International where he was twelfth (one place behind Jim Peters and eight behind Bannon, nevertheless after praising Bannon’s fourth place, Emmet Farrell had this to say: under the headline, “Forbes Answers His Critics”: ‘Andrew Forbes twelfth place was a magnificent one, in a comparative sense very little behind Bannon’s effort considering his long service and his recent numerous hard races for his club.   By beating on the day such great runners as Vandewattyne, Coll, Pirie, Ranger, Theys and Holden he answered in unmistakeable fashion the suggestion that he is a fading veteran of other days.   On this form Forbes is still at the zenith of his powers – capable indeed of leading his country to an even higher placing in this severe and rigorous athletic test.”   In the London Brighton, in what was described as a great contest, the club was seventh.

Season 1953-54 had another victory for the club in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay after second in the Midlands four man relay.   Andy Forbes ran the seventh stage of the E-G where he had second fastest time but retained first place.   However, in his annual preview of the National Championships, Emmet Farrell did not include Forbes in his list of contenders for the top places and said: “Andrew Forbes, below par and under doctor’s orders, is not likely to take part in serious competition this season at least.   Not only his club but his country will miss his services.   One recalls his splendid second to Bannon in last year’s National and his perhaps even greater twelfth in the International in Paris.”   And indeed Andy missed the entire ’53-’54 season.

The above questionnaire replies were sent to me by John MacKay and they make a valuable addition to the site.

The following season, 1954-55 started with victories for Shettleston in both the McAndrew and District Relays and there was no Andy Forbes in either of them.   His club won the E-G in November in a new record time but there was no Andy Forbes on any stage.   He missed the Midland Championships and also the National.  In fact he missed the National in 1954, ’55 and 56 and did not run in the E-G in 1954, 55, 56 or 57.   He made a comeback in the 1957 National when he was thirty sixth and the club’s final counter and won himself a team gold medal.   It was clear that, apart from the E-G in 1959 when he was fastest on stage seven in the bronze medal winning team, his best days were behind him in terms of winning titles and gaining international vests.

He did not however give up the sport as so many might have done.   He not only trained at the club, encouraged, inspired and coached the younger runners but moved effortlessly into a road running career and ran with his friends including Emmet Farrell, David Morrison, and Gordon Porteous – I remember one of my own first road races after demob from National Service (at Dunblane) these four old guys ran effortlessly past, gabbing away pausing only to ask if I was OK, son? – which was running for the sheer pleasure of it.   When the vets scene arrived in Scotland, Andy was a veteran who raced and enjoyed it.   You could know him at that time, enjoy his company and never know how good he had been.   No boasting, no incidental name dropping – he carried on conversations, listened to the other fellow and was a pleasure to know.    He was also a direct contrast to his club-mate Ian Binnie: where Binnie was challenging, Forbes was encouraging.   the club was lucky to have them both at its disposal.

The word ‘gentleman’ is much abused these days and is often applied inappropriately so I seldom use it.   In Andy’s case however it is appropriate and the following tribute is  from clubmate and equally loyal Victoria Park harrier Hugh Barrow.

ANDY FORBES: ATHLETE AND GENTLEMAN

“Imagine being selected for the Empire (Commonwealth Games) and then finding you needed months off work just to get there and back at a time when employers didn’t co-operate.   Well, it’s 1950 and the War was not long ended  and Andy was selected for the Empire Games in Auckland , New Zealand, and you had to sail there.   Andy’s employers, Phillips, were not amused but in stepped Glasgow business man Sir AB King who offered to pay his airfare along with Alan Paterson, high jumper.   Mind you it still took a week to fly there but better than a month sailing.   This gesture enabled them both to gain silver medals.  

Andy, like Sidney Wooderson had his career cut in half by World War 2.   He was a stalwart for Victoria Park for so many years – star – club man – coach, it didn’t matter to Andy but always a gentleman.   He encouraged so many young athletes, whether it be at Scotstoun Showgrounds, Whiteinch Bath where he had his own stall, or his beloved Milngavie.   Each venue had its own atmosphere and I was privileged to be part of that time.   

Some of Andy’s programme collection was sent to Graham MacIndoe and extracts from some of then are reproduced  here

Andy Forbes’s Programmes

Andy Forbes: AW Interview

Allan Finishing in the Springburn Cup ahead of Mike Bradley

Allan Faulds was a really good endurance athlete – on the road, on the track and, perhaps especially, over the country.   He even ran in the Ben Nevis race and enjoyed that as well.   He was an inspirational athlete in whatever club colours he wore – it was not unusual to see him driving himself over the finishing line in a state of exhaustion and then a few minutes later making his way back down the trail shouting and driving on his team mates further down the field.   Off the running course he was one of the quietest and most gregarious men you could wish to meet – but you wouldn’t want to try to head him off at a narrow gap in a cross-country course.   What follows is a slightly expanded version of an earlier pen portrait that I did and also has a lot of information from a very full account of his career written by Graham Bennison in Fife in 1992.    Thanks to Graham for his permission to quote from it.

Allan’s introduction to athletics came as a pupil at the McLaren High School in Callander while living in Aberfoyle.   In June 1957 he was third in the 880 yards and a year later was first in the good time of 2:07.6 (which he bettered later that year to 2:07.4) and was second in the Perth County School Sports.     A year on and he won the Perthshire Schools 880 yards in the excellent time of 2:02.   Until then his main sport had been football where he had played a trial for Scotland’s Youth team,been invited to trial for  Rangers while at school and again to trial for Stirling Albion during his first year at University.   When on a University placement in Newport he did some running for the local club, Newport Harriers, and did some running in a variety of track meetings.

Even when he started at Glasgow University, where his athletics career really took off, his main sporting interest was with football but when he was invited to run in the Hares & Hounds Christmas Handicap in 1961 he started running seriously.   He won the race in the fourth fastest time of the day and soon became a fixture in the team.   On 27th January, Glasgow University defeated Edinburgh University and Edinburgh Southern Harriers over 6 miles from the King’s College in Edinburgh – ‘their greatest victory for 20 years’ – with Calum Laing first and Allan thirteenth in what was only his third cross country race.    One month later and he made his first appearance in the British Universities championships where he was eighty ninth and only seven days afterwards was eighth in the Scot Unis and the Glasgow team won the team race.   In March, running in the Scottish Championships, he was fourth in the Junior National in only his eighth race and led the GU team to the team title.   In summer 1962 he was second in a three miles at Westerlands in 15:13 – a time improved to 14:44 in the Scottish University Championships. before the season was over.

Allan with some of the excellent Glasgow University team

In the 1962-63 season Motherwell YMCA, who as a team were virtually undefeated, won the prestigious Edinburgh to Glasgow eight man relay followed by Edinburgh Southern Harriers and Glasgow University in third.   Allan ran on the very difficult long Stage Six where traditionally many of the best distance men turned out.    It was a dreadful day with snow underfoot for most of the race and snow drifts in some of the more exposed sections – Allan’s time of 34:33 was the fourth quickest of the day and kept the team in third position.   Also in November, his second place helped Glasgow to a win over Loughborough Colleges and just five days later defeated Don Macgregor in an Inter-University 6.75 mile race.   The following month saw another battle between the two but this time Don won, Allan was fourth and St Andrew’s won the team race.   They were both in the Universities Select against the SCCU where Allan was sixteenth.    Into the New Year and Fergus Murray (representing Edinburgh University Hare & Hounds won the traditional New Year opener, the Nigel Barge Road Race at Maryhill with Allan in eighth helping Glasgow University to fourth team place.   He  finished January with fifth in the Midland District Cross-Country Championships to start the cross-country championship season.   Early in Februarythe Scottish Universities Championships were won by Calum Laing with Glasgow University first team: . Allan was eighth.   Finally at the National Championship, Laing was eighth while Allan was eight places further back.   In March 1963Allan made his debut for the Stirling club St Modan’s AAC in the Springburn Cup relay where the club was second.

To quote Graham Bennison, “That March  Allan, described as a “dour, tenacious runner of the Zatopek breed” was awarded a Glasgow University ‘blue’.   Calum Laing (15:06) beat Allan (15:26.7) in the Glasgow University AC Track & Field Championships that spring.   … …That summer Allan returned to work placement in Newport, Wales and competing for Newport Harriers  set times of 4:32.2 (Mile), 9:54 (3000m steeplechase) and 14:39.2 for three miles – a pb).

In the autumn of 1963, Allan was in great form.   The Annual Glasgow University Road Race was won by Lachie Stewart (27:04) with Allan second in 27:17.   A week later Mel Edwards won an inter-universities match with Laing second and Faulds third.   In December, Allan won the annual match against St Andrew’s University, held at St Andrew’s.   In February 1964 Allan again featured in the British Universities Championships where Fergus Murray dead-heated with the legendary Mike Turner.   Allan finished twenty third, Calum Laing was thirty ninth and Glasgow were eighth in the team race.   The Scottish National that year read like a “Who’s Who” of  Scottish Cross-Country – 1.   F Murray 36:58; 2.  J Alder (Morpeth)   37:37; 3.  AJ Wood (Aberdeen)  37:59;  4.   AH Brown (Motherwell) 38:03; 14.  A Faulds  39:21.   A week later Allan dead-heated with Fergus Murray at an inter-university cross-country held at Edinburgh.   A full summer of track races followed and in the Autumn Allan was elected St Modan’s cross-country captain.   Allan’s time for the McAndrew Relay course (then two miles 1595 yards) was 14:34: Hugh Barrow (Victoria Park) was fastest with 13:38.   A tri-angular cross-country match between St Andrew’s University, Strathclyde University and St Modan’s saw St Andrew’s win the team race but Allan was first over the six mile course in 32:09.   Further success came when Allan broke Falkirk Victoria’s four and a half mile course record (24:12), two minutes better than the previous record held by W Morrison.  [The Falkirk Victoria Course (six miles 370 yards) was won by Allan in 31:56.4 on 16th November 1964.   He also won the same race on 15th November 1965 in 30:52.8).    Further inter-club wins came Allan’s way before finishing thirtieth in the National at the end of February.   That May Allan ran 9:35.4 for the 3000m steeplechase improving to 9:29.6 in August.   In June at the West v East match, Allan ran as a non-counter finishing fourth in the track Three Mile race in 14:09.6.   At the other end of the distance scale, Allan achieved third place in the Dunblane Highland Games fourteen and a half miles road race (79:43).   That winter season, 1965-66, was an uneventful one for Allan having a number of wins in the autumn.   In November Allan was a reserve for Scotland against the Army, he ran as a non-counter finishing sixteenth.   In January Allan, now 24 journeyed south where he was third in the Essex Country Cross Country Championships, won by another ‘legend’ – Mel Batty.   Back in Scotland Allan finished third in the Midlands Cross Country Championship behind Lachie Stewart and Eddie Knox.   Meanwhile St Modan’s changed its name to Stirling AAC.   In the Springburn Cup, Eddie Knox was the winner while Allan was runner-up in 27:11, ahead of Hugh Barrow who was third..   That winter, Allan had his greatest run to date representing Scotland at the Hannut International in Belgium.   Olympic Steeplechase gold medallist and World Cross-Country Champion Gaston Roelants of Belgium won the 10K race in 32:20, ahead of Tim Johnston (Portsmouth) in 32:28.   England won the team race with Scotland third – Jim Alder 6th, AH Brown 7th and Allan Faulds 19th.    Later in February, Allan finished thirteenth in the Scottish National won by Fergus Murray.   Allan was disappointed not to make the Scottish team for the World Championships at Rabat in Morocco.”

It was mentioned at the start that Allan had run in the Ben Nevis Race and it was in September 1966.   For a non-specialist he ran very well indeed to finish twenty sixth.   Many years later he said that he had enjoyed it and maybe should have raced in more hill-races.   Clydesdale Harrier Bobby Shields was second in that race and they would both feature in Clydesdale medal winning teams in the early 1970’s.   Allan then turned out for Woodford Green AAC in the St Alban’s 4 x 2 miles relay where his running earned him a place in the team for the Epernay – Rheims Road Relay helping the team into second place.   On his return to Scotland, he beat Alastair Wood in the 5.5 miles Esk race and followed this with fourth in the Grangemouth ‘Round the Houses’ race behind Ian McCafferty.  His form shaded a bit after this and he moved to Exeter in the summer of 1967.

Allan leading at Westerlands

In his first winter with Exeter he started with a wonderful run of success.   He was second in a 5.25 mile race at Paignton, fourth in his first Devon League Cross-Country race and helped the team to second place in the Exeter to Exmouth Relay.   Possibly his best win was when he won the Ross Shield Race in a new course record of 30:33.1 ahead of Denis Crook and Danny McFadzean – the latter being a Scottish marathon internationalist and a regular member of Royal Navy teams.   That was on 2nd December,  on the ninth he won against Exeter University and St Luke’s College,  on the sixteenth he was forty third in the highly prestigious Hog’s Back 9.25 miles race at Guildford and finally at New Year he raced in the Nos Galan four miles race at Mountain Ash in Wales which was a race supported by all the very best in the country at the time: he finished nineteenth and his team was eighth.   He travelled back to Scotland to help his club, Stirling AAC, in the National Cross Country at Hamilton where he was twenty ninth.  Returning to Devon, he ran a 52:31 for third place in a ten miler at Plymouth and in April he ran into sixth place in the Bampton to Tiverton Race.   His first run on the track was in a steeplechase where he ran 9:45.4 to win .   In May in Bournemouth he was clocked at 2:03 for the 800m.   A week later he gained bronze in the Devon County Six Miles in 30:19.6 followed by fourth in the steeplechase in 10:25.4.   In June it was 9:41.2 for the ‘chase when he won in the Westward League.   He was third in the County Three Miles in 14:35.8and a third in the Three Miles He continued to race well for Exeter with times of 9:37.2 for the steeplechase, 14:13.4 for the Three Miles and 30:19.6 for the Six Miles.   Competitively he won medals at the County Championships and in Road Races.   There were lots of good runs but his strangest time ever was 23:29 for the Two Miles.   The explanation was that in a League Match his club had no walkers for the Two Miles walk, well the walkers were there but for some reason were not allowed to compete – so Allan and his friend just walked round to get the points!

In September he was elected captain for Exeter Harriers and performed up to his own high standards before moving back up to Scotland in September.   After a few months with Stirling AAC he joined Clydesdale Harriers when he moved to Clydebank for business reasons

Allan (27) behind Ian Leggett (26) at Babcock’s Sports, Renfrew, 1970: the runner behind Allan is Cyril O’Boyle, the third member of the Clydesdale Harriers team

Clydesdale Harriers gained a runner who had taken on the very best and not been disgraced, who had won team and individual medals with every club he had represented, who was a prolific racer and who was a good club man.    Cross-country was his favourite followed by running on the roads with track third favourite – but he was excellent on all three.   After joining the club formally in January 1970, his first race was the club cross-country championship which he won from Ian Leggett and Bobby Shields.   This was followed by a twenty seventh place in the National Cross Country Championships at Ayr in February.   With no national six-stage relays at the time, his first opportunity for a team race thereafter was in the Edinburgh 10 Miles Road Race over a hilly course from King’s Buildings.   This was a new venture for the club but it proved successful – they won.   The race was won by Gareth Bryan-Jones in 49:48 from Andy McKean (50:37 and Pat Maclagan (50:57).   Allan was sixth in 52:02 (sandwiched between Alex Wight and Jim Dingwall) with Doug Gemmell eighth and Ian Donald twelfth.   They won by a single point from ESH.   Other club positions were Brian McAusland twenty second, Bobby Shields twenty fourth, Frank Kielty thirty ninth and (not on the result sheet because as a Junior he was not allowed to run as far as ten miles) Phil Dolan was approximately twenty eighth.  The following week was the Balloch to Clydebank 12 miles race where Allan was third with Ian Leggett second.   The 10 Miles Tom Scott Race in Motherwell was on 4th April where Allan was fourth (49:33), Doug Gemmell eleventh and Ian Leggett thirteenth to win second team prizes.   He then finished third in   For the remainder of the season he took part in as many road races as possible including Airdrie (13 miles), Babcock’s Sports in Renfrew (14 Miles), Carluke (12 Miles), Shotts (14.5) and Dunblane (14).   On the track he contested the all the club championships, the inter-club fixtures, and the SAAA 10000m at Meadowbank .   His last track 10000m that year was in September when he was third in the West District Championships at Scotstoun in 30:54.4.   He was placed in the first three in almost every race he contested and the team, which had been good before but was better for his inclusion, picked up many awards with various permutations of the top six runners.   Allan was an almost ever present in these teams.

Came the cross-country season and the McAndrew Relay at the start of October and he was the fastest club runner when he pulled the team from tenth to fourth on the third stage, a position held by Ian Leggett on the last leg.     The club dominated the local Dunbartonshire scene with a victory in the County Relay the following week with Allan second fastest for the course.    In the County Championships in January, Clydesdale Harriers won the team race with seven runners in the first ten, Allan winning from Ian Leggett and Phil Dolan.   In between the two DAAA events, he ran well in the Midland Relays at Bellshill where the team was sixth.   Then came his first Edinburgh to Glasgow race for the club.   The team finished fifth with one of its best balanced squads ever, Allan ran the long sixth stage and took the club from sixth to fifth with the fourth fastest time of the day.    For their efforts the team picked up the medals for the most meritorious performance.    For their running in the season up to that point, Allan and Ian Leggett were selected for the Scottish team against Morpeth Harriers, a Northumberland and Durham select and a North of England Universities Select on 5th December at Durham.  Allan was eighteenth and the team finished first.

In January 1971 he led the club home in the Midlands Championships at Stirling where he was thirteenth and the team took third place medals.   On 30th January he was part of a DAAA team that finished third in the Inter Counties Cross-Country Championship at Cleland Estate with Allan ninth.   At the start of February he won the Club Championships for the second time – this time from Douglas Gemmell.   In the National Championships at Bellahouston in February, Doug was the first club counter in twenty seventh with Allan forty second.   He regained his club superiority in the Sinclair Trophy 5 mile road race when he won from Doug Gemmell and Junior Phil Dolan.   On 6th April  a group of club runners travelled to Edinburgh for the University’s two-lap, ten mile road race.   The club was fourth and the key positions were Doug Gemmell 9th, A Faulds 14th, Ian Donald 12th, with Bobby Shields 24th.   Summer followed the pattern of the previous year with a good run in the Tom Scott 10 (16th, 2nd team) before jumping up to 16 miles in the Clydebank to Helensburgh where he was 12th and then a mega-leap up to the marathon – 10 miles further still.   There were three club runners in the race: Allan training about 45 miles per week was fifth in 2:41:28, Brian (about 65 a week) was seventh in 2:44:40 and Bobby Shields (putting in over 100 mpw in preparation for the Ben race in September) finished a further three places back.   With a hiatus in the middle of the year, preparation for the winter season included the club 5000m championship, the Strathallan 3000m and the 14.5  miles at Dunblane.   When the winter started, the team was seventh in the McAndrew Relay and a week later won the DAAA Relay with Allan moving from second to first on the final stage.   Thereafter a team travelled up to the Kingsway Relays where they finished second.   In the Allan Scally Relays at the start of November, Allan led the A team off and was second fastest club runner behind Douglas Gemmell and with two good club teams finishing well up, the prospect of a good race in the Edinburgh to Glasgow was good.   Came the actual race, the team was good enough to finish sixth.   The team consisted of Phil Dolan (12th on the first stage), Doug Gemmell (8th on the second stage), Ronnie Paton (6th), Ian Leggett (7th), Brian McAusland (6th), Allan Faulds (6th), Bobby Shields (6th) and Ian Donald (6th).    The two men with the hardest stages were Doug Gemmell on Two who had one of his best ever E-G races with sixth fastest times (just one second slower than Jim Alder) and Allan on Six with the fifth fastest time of the day.   At the DAAA Championships in December Allan won and the club had the first two teams.  It should be noted that at this time, the Dumbarton squad was very good indeed with Colin Martin, Billy Cairns, Bobby Mills, and many other good quality athletes so the club performance was excellent.

Allan started 1972 with seventh place in the Nigel Barge, leading the team to second place and followed that up with sixth in the Midland Championships and then third in the Inter-Counties behind Eddie Knox and Jim Wright.  He continued this vein of form by winning the club championships for the third consecutive year.   When the National Championships came round in February the country was in the grip of a Miners’ Strike and most factories could only provide four days work for their employees.   Many were working on the day but Allan was available for club duty and was seventeenth.   Four Clydesdale Harriers – Allan, Phil Dolan, Doug Gemmell and Ronnie Paton went to the English Championships at Sutton Coldfield.   The weather – which had been fine before the race – turned really nasty and developed into a blizzard with quagmire conditions underfoot – one of the race marshals died and many of the athletes dropped out.   Allan ran hard and finished 119th.  February was also the time of a missed opportunity for Allan to capitalise on his good form.   He was asked at the last minute to represent Scotland at Hannut in Belgium for the second time – but had to turn it down as his passport required renewal!   Tough!

The inaugural Dunky Wright Road Race for a trophy put up by Dunky himself and to the great delight of the club, Allan won with Phil Dolan (4th) and Doug Gemmell (5th) making up the winning team.   In March he was second (behind Jim Dingwall, in front of Colin Martin) in the Balloch to Clydebank Road Race (another team victory) and then two weeks after that was ninth (49:40) in the Tom Scott Road Race with a third place team award.   He was third in the Clydebank to Helensburgh (the team was second) and then he was second in the Scottish Marathon Club 12 miles race at Springburn.

He ran the last leg in the McAndrew Relay for the first time at the start of winter 1972-73 and the club also finished fourth.   The very good Victoria Park squad had now joined the DAAA and they won the County Relay with Clydesdale Harriers second..   Allan missed the District Relay that year but was available for the E-G but had missed time due to illness and work commitments and dropped to eighth on the fourth stage.   The club picked up to sixth by the finish.    Allan had run in three E-G’s and the team had been fifth, sixth and sixth.   The County Championships were strongly contested with Paul Martin winning from Colin Martin and Pat Maclagan.   Allan finished seventh and with Doug Gemmell (4th), Phil Dolan (5th) and Ian Donald (9th) Clydesdale won the team race.    In February 1973 he lost his club championship title when Phil Dolan won from Ian Donald with Allan third.   At the end of July 1972, Allan moved to Perth but kept representing Clydesdale until the middle of 1974 when he joined Perth Strathtay Harriers.

In January 1975 he ran in his first ever East District Cross Country Championship after a bet that he would finish in the top thirty – he was twenty eighth.   Later in May he moved to the Gauldry where he still lives.   He remained a member of Perth Strathtay until early in 1976 he joined Fife AC.   Let Graham Bennison continue the profile: “A problem with a knee cartilage resulted in an operation and Allan never really got going again although early in 1983 he did compete in the first Dundee Marathon finishing in 3:20.   Allan made a real effort in 1984 to train for the second Dundee Marathon joining in the long training runs organised by the club in Tentsmuir Forest.   Unfortunately he developed pneumonia and pleurisy – he never competed again.   Allan organised the first Gauldry Gallop Cross-Country Meeting in 1978 (when Graham wrote this piece the upcoming race was the 15th consecutive running of this event which ceased in 2009)   Allan and his wife Liz can also be seen helping at other  Fife AC promotions – the Largo Law and Cupar Six.   It was such good service to the club that saw Allan voted as a life member at the AGM in 1990.

This portrait reveals Allan as a top quality athlete at a time when ‘the best’ competed regularly against each other.   Unlike today there was no choice of which race to attend on a certain Saturday.   The athletes followed a traditional programme of inter-club fixtures and championship races, especially during the winter season.   Consequently the top athletes were constantly in competition against each other and the standard ‘at the sharp end’ was so much higher.   Scotland had Lachie Stewart, Ian McCafferty, Jim Brown, Andy Mckean, Fergus Murray, Dick Wedlock, Eddie Knox, etc.   The North of England had Ron Hill, Mike Freary, Colin Robinson, Mike Turner, etc who helped England to win after win in the World Cross-Country Championships.   That era ended with Hill’s victory at the Commonwealth Games Marathon and who can ever forget the victory of Lachie Stewart in the 10000m and the sight of Ian Stewart and Ian McCafferty sprinting to the finish in the 5000m ahead of Kipchoge Keino – an age of brilliance.   Allan Faulds was very much part of ‘that age’.

Allan’s Last Race: The City of Dundee Marathon in 1983

In response to an invitation to do so, Mel wrote his own account of his first 50 years in the sport – fascinating, humorous but mainly informative and certainly inspirational they are among the best running stories I have ever read.

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You can see from that exposition why we just reproduced his own words – more detailed and eloquent than we could ever be!   Mel’s son Myles, who is referred to in the text, is also a runner but he has an excellent blog which has two articles in particular about Mel.

1.   At http://mylesedwards.wordpress.com/2007/12/17/cancer-facing-tough-opponent is an article called ‘Cancer Facing A Tough Opponent’ about his Dad’s attitude to the diagnosis, treatment, etc.

2.   Am article called ‘Some Things Never Change’ appeared on his blog at http://mylesedwards.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/some-things-never-change

Both are beautifully written, interesting as articles in their own right, but very informative about Mel.

Back to Mel Edwards

Mel winning in Harlow in 1967  in 2:18:25 – his first marathon. 

I first saw Mel in action when he won the Scottish Junior Men’s Cross Country Championship in 1964.   This was probably the best cross country race that I ever saw with a really top class field of athletes who would go on to represent and win medals for Scotland and Britain in the not too distant future.   Coming from the West of Scotland and being familiar with Lachie Stewart and Ian McCafferty among others, we were surprised to see this very good looking runner in a yellow vest (we didn’t even know who wore yellow vests!) won a hard, hard race dropping first Lachie and then at the very end moving away from Ian.    My friend Cyril o’Boyle and I both reckoned that he was the best of a wonderful bunch of athletes.   This was proved by some wonderful runs and top class times on the track and the road as well as over the country before, like many another very good runner, he succumbed to the charms and challenges of the hill and fell running scene and became one of the best ever at that.   For instance , in 1963 after the victory described above and the subsequent selection to run for the Senior team at the international cross country championships, he appeared in the Scottish Ranking Lists for 1963 in the 880 yards – 1:56.5;  Mile  – 4:14.9; Two Miles – 9:14.7 and Three Miles – 14:40.   By the victory in the marathon at Harlow in 1967 his appearances in the lists tended to get better the further he went – Mile 4:14.8; Two Miles – 8:56.2; Three Miles 13:51.6, Six Miles 28:27.0 and Marathon 2:18:25.

He had many problems with illness and injury but none of them stopped him being one of the best ever.   It was 40 years before I met him and during that period he had a rich life as an athlete – not many runners have been as adventurous as Mel has been and that is a rare quality in any man.   His own story is at the link below to ‘The First 50 Years’: for an informative, educational and amusing read you must visit it.

Winning the Scottish Junior Championship in 1963

Mel Edwards: Personal Memories: By Colin Youngson

“Meldrum Barclay Edwards was one-of-a-kind: relentlessly optimistic, enthusiastic, energetic, dedicated, determined, uncomplaining, brave – and encouraging to so many others.

I remember umpteen encounters with this marvellous human being. Like so many others, I was very fortunate to know the inspirational Mel Edwards.

At the end of my first year in Aberdeen Grammar School in June 1961, on Rubislaw grass track I fought a slow but dogged way through the Heats and into the Final of the Junior 880 yards before finishing eighth (and dead last).   From another planet was a tall, thin, dynamic 6th year boy who dominated the opposition to win the prestigious Senior One Mile title.   That heroic figure was Mel Edwards who lived only a few hundred yards from my house, so I often walked up to see him or chat to his parents Joy and Freddy. By the time, as Grammar Mile winner too, I started Aberdeen University, Mel had graduated and gone, leaving behind a fine athletic reputation on the track and over cross country.   Towards the end of my first year, in summer 1967, I remember thinking myself fit enough to join him for a late afternoon five mile training run from King’s College round the Links Golf Course.   While I panted, speechless, and strained to keep up, Mel kept on talking, praising, encouraging – and this was my only session of the day while it was Mel’s fourth!   It was his marathon racing period!

Later that same year, spectating during the prestigious Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay, I was fascinated to see him battling, exhausted, up the hill to the changeover, fifty seconds in the lead, recording the day’s fastest time on elite Stage Two (back in 1966, he had already been fastest on the other top Stage Six). Some foolish official tried to hassle Mel about his club vest being illegal. Mild-tempered Mel lost it, prodded the idiot repeatedly in the chest and the guy retreated wisely.

We all knew he trained like a madman, running endless mileage including 60 x 220 Zatopek-style.   An extremely fine racer but an Olympic champion trainer.   We all believed that he ought to rest a bit more – (partly because of jealousy – there was no way we could contemplate dedicating ourselves to training as hard as he did)   Eventually he got ‘injured’ and had to give up road running.   So what did he do?   Years and years of hill racing!   No one understood how his legs could cope with bashing up mountains and zooming down them while he said he was unable to cope with flat tarmac!

In 1972, when AAAC first attempted the John o’ Groats to Land’s End ten-man road relay, Mel was the Link Man – alone in a car, desperately trying to ensure that five dormobiles (each with two runners and two drivers) could be sure that the route ahead was clear and that they would take over on time for their two-hour stint. By the third day, even indefatigable Mel was utterly knackered and fast asleep in his parked car, out of contact and beyond linking anyone or anything!

When I turned 40, Mel was an important part of the Aberdeen AAC veteran cross country team.   In February 1988 at Dalmuir, after winning the Scottish Veterans M40 title, I glanced back a few moments later to see Mel punching the air with delight as he crossed the line just ahead of Rod MacFarquhar to win the M45 title.   His first cross country one since his Scottish Junior National title in 1964, when he ran right away from future greats Ian McCafferty and Lachie Stewart.   Mind you, he had hardly been idle in the interim.   That day Aberdeen AAC won the team title plus five individual medals.   Rod’s shockingly bad taste joke was that the last team to do that much damage in Clydebank had been the Luftwaffe!

A few years later, the AAC 8-Man Squad won the Scottish Veterans Alloa to Bishopbriggs road relay. On the drive home, we stopped to celebrate in the famous Gleneagles Hotel, since, if we proved victorious, as Captain I had promised to buy everyone a beer. We were all wearing totally inappropriate jeans, sweatshirts and trainers, so even mature, distinguished, confident Mel pushed me in front to negotiate with the posh doorman – who kindly let us into the American Bar, which did not have a dress code.

About then, a week after running disappointingly in an Aberdeen Marathon, I tried the Scolty Hill Race, which features a lot of easy downhill path. I took a few seconds off Mel’s M40 record, and was unsurprised when he could not have been more gracious.

Much later, in 2004, after we had both won age group medals in a particularly gruelling Scottish Vets Cross Country Championships over a horribly hilly course in Cupar, and were slumped, extremely tired, in the gym, we agreed that the ability to keep going when knackered was important!

Mel with son Myles

I remember seeing Mel cheering home absolutely everyone well down the field in a Balgownie cross-country race. Speed did not matter; only wholehearted effort. When, for services to Sport and Charity, he became Meldrum Barclay Edwards, Member of the Order of the British Empire (or MBE squared, as he called it) no one could have deserved the honour more. Everyone admired and liked him.

Mel Edwards will be remembered by a vast number of people when other runners are long forgotten.   His dedication has given so much to the sport – by organising races, coaching, dispensing training advice to joggers and fellow international athletes, inspiring youngsters and writing articles.   Yet his personality has the lasting impact.   Fitness, determination and a constantly positive attitude saw him cope with a serious illness for thirteen tough years. Hospital visitors left believing they must be ill because Mel certainly didn’t seem to be!  When I visited him, we laughed our way through my collection of Alf Tupper – The Tough of the Track – photocopies.

All the time, Mel was incredibly enthusiastic, supportive and motivating.  I could add so many more memories. His tales of dawn jogging at Rubislaw, saying hello to the fox that trained there at the same time; the seventy minutes run aged 70; so many charitable ventures. Is it any wonder that Oldmeldrum (should be) named after him; or that his son Myles has inherited the same generous spirit?

One final anecdote. An unusually sunny summer day in Aberdeen. Where did this happen, exactly? Could have been King’s College Playing Fields, Balgownie, Duthie Park or the sands between Donmouth and Balmedie? Anyway, I was jogging in one direction when I saw a familiar figure, dressed only in shorts, running fast, lightly, effortlessly towards me. It was Mel. Would we stop and chat? Not at all – he was ‘in the zone’. I remember his words exactly: “Aye, aye! Fine day! Bare chesty!” and away he went, revelling in runners’ heaven.”

The best exposition of Mel’s excellent career over the first 50 years of his involvement is contained in his own reflections of his career and they can be found from the link below.   I have simply scanned it in exactly as Mel wrote it.   Mel died in November 2019 and a tribute from the Aberdeen Pres & Journal is   at this link .

The First 50 Years

Alastair winning the Falkirk Half Marathon in 1987

Alastair Douglas (born on 10th December 1960) is probably the most unsung of Scotland’s athletic talents in recent years.   A Scottish Internationalist on the track, on the road and over the country, he joined Victoria Park AAC in 1972 having been inspired by David Bedford in his build-up to the Munich Olympics and then by the Olympics themselves.   Locally, Jim Brown winning the National Cross-Country Championships in 1974 was a source of inspiration – although that did not stop him having a real go at him when they met in races, and getting the better of him in the National in 1982 – his first year as a senior.   Alastair ran with and against the best – Ron McDonald, Jim Brown, Graham Williamson and any other athlete in the period from about 1979 to the end of the century – and at some time or another beat most of them.  The only thing that his career lacked was a single defining race to tell the world how good he really was.   Given the length of his career and the number of races run, it is almost impossible to cover them all here but several events are taken for each year to indicate the calibre of his running.   He also had a long-ish career as a student starting with a BSc from 1978 – 82 and then going directly to medicine after that.   Of course as a student there are various diversions from the dedicated monk-style of the successful modern athlete and it’s fair to say that Ali

Alastair got involved in typical GUAC Student activities such as the traditional week/weekend at the Isle of Man.  On one occasion a team of Douglas MacDonald, Alastair, Ian Archibald and Raph Murray (Freya’s uncle) won the relay at the Manx Easter Festival as well as being third in the Friday night team race and for their efforts picked up the awards for the best overall team and the best student team   They are pictured below on the left – click on the image for a bigger picture.   The picture on the right is of the Scottish Universities 8-in-a-row cross-country winning team: Tom Logue, Ian Archibald, Alastair, Doug McDonald and Gordon Colvin at the back with Raph Murray and Steve Brennan in front. He himself rates the Glasgow University victory in the British Universities cross-country championships as one of the highlights of his career: the English favourites were stunned because Glasgow University had not entered into their calculations!

Initially Alastair was coached by Albert Smith at Victoria Park and in the mid-80’s he had a short spell with Alex Naylor but by and large he looked after his own training.  He trained with a good group at Victoria Park and one of his club-mates reckon that this was the best track running he ever did.  Even then it was clear that he had a desire to succeed and it was when training with Albie that he went to Professor Peter Radford (an Olympic medallist and a man who had shared the world 100m record for a time) and asked if he could help him to improve his sprinting.   He was advised to do skipping and to do specific drills.  He used to do them behind the stand at Westerlands and when the other runners saw him at it they apparently cracked up!   His career really started to take off in 1977 when he won the Scottish Schools Cross Country Championships and was third in the Senior Boys race in the National Cross Country Championships, picking up a team medal with the victorious Victoria Park Team.   That was his final year in the age group and the following year as a first year Youth (Under 17) he was second to Graham Williamson in the National Cross-Country Championship leading his club to the third team award.   On the strength of this run he was selected for the Junior International Championships in Dusseldorf where he finished fifty ninth.  In summer 1977 as a Youth, He was first in the Scottish Schools 3000m in 8:55.0, second in the SAAA 3000m (8:43.5) and SAAA 1500 (4:02.3) and third in the West District 1500m .   Further afield he was eighth in the Final of the AAA’s 1500mm with a time of 4:00.8 and fifth in the British Schools 3000m in 8:46.

As far as the National was concerned he went one better in 1977-78 when he won the title and then finished thirty sixth in the International at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow.   Later in the year, in November he had a quite outstanding debut in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay when he ‘won’ the first stage to put his team in a good position from which the finished second.  A Junior on the track in 1978, he was first in the West District 1500m in 3:58.6, second in the Schools 1500m in 3:58.4 and second in the SAAA 1500m in 3:56.0.   His best times at the longer distances were 8:29.6 for the 3000m and 14:34.2 for the 5000m

Alistair ran well enough in the National in 1979 to be selected for the international to be held in Limerick where he was eleventh finisher, one place behind Ian Campbell of Dundee.   His track form was also excellent when he  ran into third place at the AAA’s 5000m championship.  He was still a Junior on the track in summer 1959 and was second to Colin Hume with a 3:56.3 against Hume’s 3:55.7   His best for the season however was 3:51.0 for fourth at Grangemouth on 15th June .   This made him second on the list behind Graham Williamson who had a really amazing time of 3:36.6.   First in the Junior 3000m (8:17.8) ahead of Peter Fox and Adrian Callan and 500 where his time was 14:36.2 – well clear of the second runner.

In season 1979-80 Alastair was asked to run the very difficult  second stage of the Edinburgh – Glasgow race where he faced some of the very best road runners in the country but he was equal to the task, taking over in third place and maintaining this position with the fourth fastest time of the day.   In the National in 1980 he was twelfth in the junior race which was a bit far back for selection to the team.   This was down to injury (Achilles tendon) and he probably only ran in it because it was the National Championship.       .

In the 1980 – 81 season, he had several good races and featured two that he himself rates very highly.   But first, in the Edinburgh to Glasgow in November he again had fourth time on the second leg but moved his club up from eighth to fifth.    He ran a very good run in the international race at Gateshead that year in which he was second Scot behind Nat Muir (another feature of that race was that Adrian Callan defeated Lasse Viren double  Olympic winner in a sprint finish.  Alistair has this to say about the winter that year: “That winter actually featured another of my best ever races: the GU Road Race – I led all the way into Great Western Road with only Nat Muir and Ronnie McDonald with me.   Nat, it has to be said, was cruising and took off over the last half mile.   I had a titanic struggle with Ron for second place which he got.   The times were among the fastest ever recorded for that course, which was changed shortly afterward.   I was also tenth in the San Silvester Road Race in Madrid  – with Graham Williamson and Graham Laing just ahead.”   He ended the season on a very high note when he won the Junior Cross Country Championship to go with the Youth title he won in 1978 ahead of several of those (Colin Hume, Paul Fox and others) who had beaten him the previous year.   The reward was a run in the Senior team for the International, at Zorzuela in Spain, where the Scots team was struck by a mystery illness which made three runners drop out of the race and Alistair in 192nd position was again a counting runner for his country.     And of course he won the Scottish Universities Cross Country championship leading Glasgow University to victory  for the eighth time in succession – a contemporary says “Edinburgh University won it in Edinburgh the following year – so we didn’t get the ‘one-over-the-eight!”   Over the summer of 1981, Alastair was not only Scottish Universities champion for the 1500 in 3:56.8 but also for 5000m with 14:31.1.   Best times for the season were 3:56.8 for the 1500m, 8:13.8 for the 3000m and 14:28.37 for 5000m.Alistair again: In the summer of 1981, I concentrated mainly on the 1500m and got my only sub 3:50 time   I also made the final of the Scottish Senior 1500m along with Ian Archibald who had been training with me that summer – Ian won the title – cuffing me in the Final.   That night we travelled to France for a Scottish Universities Athletics Tour.   My disappointment in my performance was not helped by Ian’s constant reminders of how good he was and how slow I was.   However. this gets me to another memorable race.   Scot Unis v Paris Unis over 3000m.   I beat Ian into second place in a sprint finish in a pb (8:22).   It shut him up for a day or two.   (Good friends then; good friends now!)

In the Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1981 he ran on the fourth stage where he moved from sixth to third with the second fastest time of the day in a team that finished fourth.   The National in 1982 was one of his best races in the event: in his first race as a senior man he finished fifth ahead some of the strongest runners in the country.

For a first year senior to come in ahead of that seven is quite remarkable.    He was, of course, selected for the International and travelled to Rome for his fifth outing in a Scottish vest where he finished 135th – again it was a scoring position for the team.  The following summer (1982) his best time for 5000m was 14:46.0.    At the end of the year he ran in the E-G, back on the second stage where he dropped one place (6th to 7th) but that was to George Braidwood of Bellahouston Harriers who ran really well to pick up from eleventh to sixth.   The National was not such a happy hunting ground in 1983 when he could only finish forty first.   In November he missed the Edinburgh to Glasgow either for Victoria Park or for the University team.   The 1983-84 cross-country season gave him one of his happiest memories when he was part of the Glasgow University team that won the British Universities team championships and he ran better than the previous year in the National when he was twenty fifth.   In the E-G in November that year he was again on the second stage and pulled in one place when he moved from 8th to seventh with the sixth time on that stage.  In the course of that winter he won the tough inter-area match on the heavy Stirling course and also had a very good run in the Belfast International where he was twelfth in 22:51 and with Nat Muir second (22:10 and Neil Tennant ninth (22:39, the team was second to England.  That summer (1984) there was a 14:24.1 for 5000m.    At the cross-country championships in 1985 he moved closer again to his true form when he was tenth across the line.

From the 1982 National Cross-Country: Look for Nat, Allister, Lawrie, Fraser, John Robson and Alastair for a start!

In the summer of 1985 he set not one but two pb’s for the 5000m: 14:11 for second in the British Students at Crystal Palace beating Robert Quinn into third place and then 14:07.78 for fourth in the National behind Braidwood, Quinn and Gilmour.   Alastair then contracted glandular fever and and struggled for four months.

1985-86 season he ran the Edinburgh to Glasgow, this time on the long seven miles of the sixth stage where he picked up from thirteenth to twelfth.

On the 18th of May 1986 he ran in the well-supported and high quality Luddon Half Marathon at Kirkintilloch and finished third in 67:01 behind Peter Fleming (65:56) and Graham Crawford  (66:36) and then bettered that with a 65:37.   Later in 1986, on 24th August, he went to Irvine for the Marymass 10 Mile Sand Run and won in a new record time of 53:23 – a full one and a half minutes ahead on the second man. On the track he ran 30:31.8 for 1000m.    He started the winter with a good run in the George Cummings Road Relay at Kilbarchan where he had third fastest time (11:24) behind Tommy Murray (11:21 and Doug Frame (11:22).

The traditional winter starter is the McAndrew relay and it was next on the roster – again Alistair was third fastest over the trail with 15:12 behind Peter Fleming (15:07) and Steven Doig (15:11).   The next Saturday was the Dumbarton Relay Championship and the fastest run of the day was by Alastair Douglas with 10:13 from James Austin’s 10:19.   On the 12th October 1986 an open cross-country race was held at Clydebank and Alastair won in 25:57.    In the 1986 Edinburgh to Glasgow he was obviously injured  and he dropped from fourth to sixteenth on the second stage.   That was in November and on 6th December Alastair went through to East Kilbride for their 10K Road Race which was won by John Robson (28:39), followed by Chris Robison (28:55), Peter Fleming (28:56 and Alastair (29:19).  He also, in November, ran in the Bellahouston Open Race where he was fourth in 33:37 – the race being won by Chris Robison in 33:03.   Right at the start of the New Year, 2nd January 1987, He went down to Beith where he was second to Chris Robison (22:24) with a time of 22:56. Eight days late he was second to Nat Muir in the Springburn Cup race finishing only one second behind him with 26:10 to Nat’s 26:09.   In the National that year he was a very good 15th.     Outwith Scotland he was fourth in the British Students and twelfth in the English Inter-Counties

In March ’87 he went to the fearsome Edinburgh University King’s Buildings 10 Mile Road Race which he won and at the end of the month he won again – this time in the St Mungo’s Charity 10K Road Race in Glasgow where his winning time was 28:26 which was another victory by over a minute.    On the track he ran in the Glasgow University Sports Day in May where he won the 3000m in 8:47.0 as preparation for the BUAC Championships.   They were in June 1987 and were held at Meadowbank and Alastair was out in the 10000 metres where he won another medal for finishing second in 30:18.86  By the end of the summer he was ranked eighth in Scotland for the 10000m track with a season’s best of 30:18.86.

Heading into winter 1987 – 88 Alastair had four races in August: On 2nd August he ran the fastest South Lap in the Corrie Capers Relay in Arran, on 13th he won the Round Cumbrae 10 Miles in Millport in 57:04 from Chris Robison who was well back in 52:42.   On the 19th it was the Irvine Marymass Festival again where he ran in a 10K Road Race this time and finished third in 31:06 behind Alex Gilmour (Cambuslang) and Steven Conaghan (Glenpark).   The month was finished competitively with first place in the Inverclyde Quarter Marathon in 32:05 in another close finish – only two seconds in front of Lawrie Spence.   Came 26th September and he was fastest of the day in the Kilbarchan Relay with a time of 11:12, three seconds faster than John Graham running for Motherwell.   On the 25th October, he won the popular and well-supported Grangemouth half marathon in 65:45 from track and cross country internationalist Chris Robison who was over a minute seconds behind.    In the Glasgow University 5 Mile Road Race only the race recorders cost him another win when he was second to Adrian Callan but in exactly the same time of 22:26.    Given that Victoria Park did not have a team in the Edinburgh to Glasgow in November 1987.   In November ’87 he was fourth in a race at Gateshead with Steve Cram one of the runners in front.    Alastair went to East Kilbride on 8th December 1987 for the 10K Road Race where that man Callan again won (29:23) with John Robson second (29:27) and Alastair in third place with 29:40.   The reward for all this fine running was a trip to a New Year’s 10K in Balzano, Italy.   Adrian Callan was twelfth (29:30), Alastair fifteenth (29:45) and Eddie Stewart twenty fifth and they won the team prize.   He won the Dunbartonshire County cross-country championships at Postie’s Park in Dumbarton leading VPAAC to a team victory and just for a change ran in an indoors 3000m for a Scottish Select v Midland Counties where he was third in 8:20.   He also that winter set an indoor pb of 8:07 behind John Robson.  He was 46th in National Cross-Country Championship in 1988.

On 2nd April, 1988, he ran  the Balloch – Clydebank 12+ miles which he won in 62:02 from Steven Conaghan who was just four seconds back    In June he won the Bearsden Highland Games Road Race with 67:32 from Andy Daly on 72:17.   Then on 28th June he won the Polaroid 10K in Alexandria in 30:56.   His best month of the summer was July with two wins in consecutive weeks and a Senior SAAA championship.   On 17th July he went to Inverness for the People’s 10K and against a really first class field he won in 29:31 from Chris Hall , Fraser Clyne, Peter Fleming  and Graham Laing among others.    The ‘Scotland’s Runner’ report on the race can be accessed here .   Colin Youngson, who also ran in the race where he finished eighth and first vet, says “the real stars were Fraser Clyne and Alastair Douglas.   Alastair won but was only two seconds outside the record set by Motherwell’s Peter Fox, missing out on a £200 prize for a new record.   The ‘Press and Journal’ reports “But Alistair, the West of Scotland 5000 champion, was involved in the most thrilling finish of the event since it began five years ago, holding off the pace-setters, Aberdeen’s Chris Hall and Fraser Clyne by a second.   Alastair’s time was 29:31, Chris and Fraser clocked 29:32, with Peter Fleming fourth in 29:46.   The first three picked up an additional £50 each for coming within ten seconds of the record.   Alistair said, after picking up the trophy from Provost Alan Sellar: “I only knew I had the chance of breaking the record when I saw the clock ten yards from the finish and by that time it was too late.   Chris, Fraser and Peter were in the lead for most of the race but I knew I had a superior sprint finish.”   The victory gives Alistair a points boost for the Scottish AAA’s road-race championship which included the Inverness race in its calendar this year.”

Five days later (22nd July) he won the SAAA Track 10000m Champion with a time of 29:29.39 which not only won the race but topped the Scottish rankings for that year and was also a lifetime personal best.   ‘Scotland’s Runner’ reported on the race which was held at the SAAA Championships in Glasgow as follows: “This race, the last final on Friday evening, proved to be one of the classic tussles of the championship.   A group of six – Peter Fox, Tommy Murray, Billy Robertson, Alistair Douglas, Alec Gilmour and Alan Robson – broke clear of the large field at about 3000m, this group whittling down to Murray, Douglas and Robertson 600m later.   Robertson was dropped just after halfway, and it then became a battle of attrition between Murray and Douglas, the little Glenpark Harrier knowing that somehow he had to burn off Douglas before the end.   For the last eleven laps (70 secs, 69, 71, 71, 72, 71, 72, 71, 72, 70, 64) they clung together before with 100m remaining the inevitable happened and Douglas eventually over took to win in 29:29.40 – almost his exact time in winning the Inverness 10K over the roads just five days previously!   Result: 1.   A Douglas (VPAAC) 29:29.4; 2.   T Murray (Glenpark Harriers) 29:31.43′ 3.   W Robertson (Bellahouston H) 29:56.12″

A look at Alastair on the track.

Cowal, 1981 – look at that crowd!

Alastair’s personal bests’s for track running are listed below.

Mainly known as a cross country runner Alistair showed enough talent in his forays on to the track to indicate that had he decided to spend more time there, he could have been a considerably good track man at a time when Scotland was already blessed with quality athletes in his chosen events.   For instance, in the year in which he won the 10000m championship referred to above, he was working 100 hours a week as a junior doctor and in fact he had to turn down at least one invitation to represent his country at 3000m on the track because of the working hours required of him.    His achievements on the track were at their best when he was a young athlete – even at school at Glasgow Academy he set a 1500m record of 4:01 which still stands.   As a student his track running had been every bit as good as his cross-country exploits: we have mentioned some already but to summarise: 3 Scottish Universities Cross-Country Championship victories, 2 x 500, track championships and 1 x 1500m;   at British student championships there’s a fifth (1982), a fourth (1987) and a team winner’s gold in 1984 on the country and on the track he had second in the 5000m in 1981, 1984 and 1985, a third in the same event in 1982 and a second in the 10000m in 1987.   For reasons many and varied he never ran much on the track as a senior athlete, which can only bring to mind the old Scots query “What if ……….?”    Certainly a friend and athletics team-mate of Alastair’s says : “My view was that he underperformed on the track, despite winning the SAAA 1000m.   His best track years were when he trained with Alby Smith who focused more on middle distance.   I can’t remember his best 1500m time but this was the only track event where he has a pb that probably reflected the best that he could do.”   He certainly made the final of the SAAA 1500m in 1980.

He started the1988-89 season with fastest time in the Dunbartonshire Relays leading his club to second place. On 17th December he ran in the Irvine Harriers Runners v Cyclists race and won from Bobby Quinn with no time given.   On 23rd April he turned out again in the St Mungo’s Hospice 10K race where he was fourth this time in 33:28 and just three days later he was eleventh in the Adidas Torsion 5K where he was back in eleventh in 14:55.    On 3rd May he ran in the Adidas Torsion 8K Road Race in Glasgow which was won by his friend Robert Quinn in 22:51 with Alastair tenth in 24:30.   Three days later on 6th May Bobby won the Campsie 10K at Lennoxtown in 29:54 with Alistair seventh in 32:06.    Four days on and Tommy Murray won a (short course) 10K in 29:48.2 with Alastair ninth in 30:07.   He appeared on the rankings for 1989 at 10000 metres with a best of 30:00.6.   In the second half of the summer (August 1989) he raced at Grangemouth in the Inter-District 5000m for the West of Scotland and finished fifth in 14:49.   He had many close finishes in his career and more often than not he won them – this time the sixth placed runner as Martin Ferguson from Edinburgh who was also given 14:49.  On 16th July he went back to the scene of his previous success in Inverness for the People’s 10k where this time he finished sixth in 30:52, with the race being won by Peter Fleming in 29:39.  On 17th September when the Great Scottish Run was held over the unusual distance of 25K he was fifth finisher in 80:45 and second Scot behind Tommy Murray (80:27).

The traditional start to the winter season was the McAndrew Relay race at Scotstoun, promoted by his own club.   This time, 1989 – 90,  Alastair had the fastest time of the day – a not inconsiderable feat – with 15:03.  On 28th October in the National Relays he was second fastest in 12:21 with Peter McColgan fastest (12:07) He then had a very good run moving from 21st to 16th on second stage of the E-G.  The Allan Scally Relays on the first Saturday in November were another good day for Alastair when he was fourth fastest in 22:18: the first three were Nat Muir in 22:02, John Robson in 22:09 and Allister Hutton in 22:15.   On 19th November he returned to Bellahouston Park where he was third behind Tommy Murray and Eddie Stewart (Cambuslang Harriers) and one week later he won the County Championships in 28:32 in front of Glen Stewart (28:47).  Saving the best to the end of November he ran in the Presto Open Cross Country Races at Gateshead on the 25th and finished seventh in 20:42 which made him first Scot ahead of John Robson (9th in 20:50 and Bobby Quinn (10th in 20:25).    Right at the start of 1990 he won another classic – the Nigel Barge Road Race at Maryhill over the tried and tested course from Cleveden Street and he won in 21:48 – another close finish and a victory by only one second.  It was a real classic course and all the stars of the past including Ian Binnie, Emmet Farrell, Andy Brown, Jim Brown had run it and to be only one second outside the course record was another exceptional run.   It is one of the races that Alastair himself rates highly. On the eleventh of February he ran in the Falkirk Round the Houses 10K at Grangemouth and emerged victorious with a time of 29:43 from Billy Coyle (Shettleston) in 29:51.   On 24th February he ran into fifth place again for the second time, finishing one place and three seconds ahead of Steve Ovett, a magnificent run.   The following day, 25th February, he ran for the SAAA District select against Scottish Universities,  Scottish Schools,  Loughborough and Birmingham in the 3000m and finished third in 8:31.

Unfortunately after this good winter and excellent run in the National, his appearances became fewer and more intermittent.   Maybe it was injury, maybe it was work-related, but the truth is that he was not seen in action very often over the next few years.

Alistair himself says that by the early 1990’s chronic injuries were taking their toll and stopping him training properly.   He continued to run and even ran in the last-ever Edinburgh to Glasgow race in 2002.   The year before that – 2001 – he won the Scottish Veterans Indoor 3000m championship which had the additional significance that he had now won an individual Scottish title in four different age groups – Youth, Junior, Senior and Veteran.     Races when he was able to run were good.   Some instances: Summer 1990 started with a fast run in the Glasgow Brightside 10K Road Race where he was eight in a very good field with the first two places filled by Geoff Turnbull and Gary Nagel of the English club, Valli Harriers, with another Englishman also ahead of him.   Alastair says “The races from the St Mungo’s Hospice on deserve further mention.   I had been inured for about three months.   I was still working a lot of hours as a hospital doctor.   During that summer I basically used races on my days off to get myself fit and would go for steady runs in between.   I raced a lot.   As the year progressed, my performances improved and probably peaked  at Nigel Barge, Celtic International (third ahead of McColgan and Quinn who beat me at the National a few weeks later) and English Inter-Counties (seventh).   After that I think my performances declined.   I think fifth in the National was a decline and definitely bu the Brightside 10K.   I had probably over-raced by this time.”

On 1st September 1990 he was second to Robert Quinn in the Calderglen 10 Miles with a time of 50:43 behind the winning time of 49:50.   In 1991 he ran exceptionally well for several weeks in the summer: on 8th June he was second to Nat Muir in the Monklands Festival 10K in Coatbridge with only two seconds separating the runners – 33:03 to 33:05; he faced Nat four days later when on 12th June he was again second, again by two seconds in 30:52 (Nat 30:50); and on 16th June in the Inverclyde 10K at Greenock he was again second to Nat Muir in 30:23 to Nat’s 30:23.   There’s consistency!  On 1st July in 1991 he won the Isle of Mull Half Marathon in 70:34 which was a course record and two weeks later (15th July) he was second to Bobby Quinn in the Saltcoats 4 mile race with Quinn setting a record 19:33 for the course and Alistair being only one second behind him.   Two weeks later on the Isle of Arran, in the Corrie Capers Relay he set the fastest time of the day on the first stage of the relay.   Training was going well and so was racing.   Then there was a big gap.   The next race that I could find was the Nigel Barge race on 5th January 1992 when he was thirtieth and then on 29th February 1992 when he finished eleventh in the Balloch to Clydebank in a very creditable 67:15.

If  we look at his Edinburgh to Glasgow appearances over the next ten years we see that although by-and-large he did not run at the same consistently high level, he did well enough:   In 1990 he ran on the eight stage; 1991 he ran a first-class second stage to bring his club from sixth to first with the third fastest time of the day; in 1992 he did not run; 1993 he ran on the 6th stage;   in 1995 he ran on the second stage; in 1996 he again  ran on the second stage; in 1999 he was on the eighth stage: in 2000  he was on the  first stage; 2002 he was on first stage in the last E-G.

He therefore ran in the race for his club from 1978 – 2002: he ran in a total 19 E-G’s (could have been more), and ran on five different stages 1,2,4,6,8.   The figure could have been higher because on several occasions when he would certainly have been an important runner for them, the club did not have a team in the race.   The eight-man Edinburgh – Glasgow was one where the club man came into his own and even when the club was not going well and Alastair was, he turned out and there were also times when he was not running/racing well but competed for his club.   Indeed for all but one of his years at University he turned out for Victoria Park and after a single year racing in University colours on open races, he was good enough to get his University ‘blue’.

Looking back at his career, Alastair says “I was (either fortunately or unfortunately) competing against exceptional athletes.   Graham Williamson was in my age group.   I was second to him on many occasions.   he was in fact the top Junior in the world at the time.   There was also Nat Muir who was one of the world’s top distance runners in the early 80’s who totally dominated the Scottish scene during that era.   Although it was inspirational to be up against these runners – in retrospect I feel it made me train too hard too young to try to compete with them.   I think if I had taken a “more conservative” approach to training and incremented the training loads more gradually, I would have ended up with better PB’s and I would have been able to run at a high level for longer.  In saying that, I have no real regrets – if I hadn’t pushed myself at a young age I might have always wondered – what if?”

Alastair  makes the following comments on his racing: “I think 1991 was the last year I was able to produce performances of Scottish international calibre.   Second by one second to Nat Muir at Inverclyde 10K and ahead of Tommy Murray and Hamy Cox.   I won a 10K in Boston, USA, in 29:24 which was a course record.   However the chronic injury which had been plaguing me for a couple of years returned, and I went into semi-retirement.   I managed a few reasonable races in the mid-90’s – fourth twice in the Glasgow University Road Race , won Queen’s Drive races and the Dunbartonshire CC Championships.   I even got another another appearance for Scotland, in the European Mountain Running Championships in 1997.    Turned vet in 2000 and won a few things:   National Vets Indoors 3000m in 2001, first vet in the Paisley 10K and first vet in the Great Scottish Run in 2003.   I still run and occasionally compete to this day.   I was in the Victoria Park AAC first team in the McAndrew Relay in 2008 – thirty years after first being in the first team in 1978.   (Probably more a statement on the decline of VPAAC!)   I have even won a couple of races in the last two years    I won a Parkrun 5K (on a day when any decent runner was running in the National Relays) and I won the Elie 10K in 2010.   That means I have won races in five different decades from the 70’s onwards.”

Colin Donnelly was born in 1959 and has excelled in two branches of long-distance athletics: cross-country and, especially, hill running. An internet debate about who is Britain’s best-ever fell-runner comments: “Colin Donnelly had (and still has) the speed and endurance to set even more records. He has more or less soloed every long-distance challenge there is, without support or route advice. If he was better organised, he could have achieved more than anyone else. Perhaps that is the way the great man likes things to be: out there on his own, doing things his own way”. While I agree that Colin has always been a very unusual individual, he has also been an exemplary team-man for his only cross-country club – Cambuslang Harriers.

According to the club history, Colin Donnelly joined around 1976 as “a novice runner with lots of raw talent”. He ran for them in the Scottish CC Relay in 1977 and in 1978. I well remember the latter occasion, at Beach Park, Irvine. Despite the distance being too short for me, somehow I had squeezed into the talent-loaded ESH team and Allister Hutton had handed me a seventeen second lead. Young Colin scorched after older Colin and very nearly caught up before his impetuousness and my stamina took effect. As I edged clear again, before handing over to the flying Ian Elliot who ensured victory, the bellowed insults of a Cambuslang ‘supporter’ rained down on the poor tired youngster. He still gained three seconds and handed over second, although his team was eventually edged out of third. Not surprisingly after such an unfair ear-bashing, Donnelly avoided this event thereafter; but his record in the National CC was to be truly amazing.

Around the same time, Colin Donnelly studied at Aberdeen University and once or twice I kept him company on a training run. Apparently he ran sixty miles per week, as hard as he could. When I suggested that a few slower recovery sessions might be a good idea, he ignored the suggestion completely. He also turned up on a trip to the Isle of Man Easter Running Festival. No doubt he ran well, but what I remember is his total innocence about the probable effects of beer-drinking on an inexperienced young fellow! However before very long he became a mature, disciplined, teak-hard competitor.

Colin’s first appearance in the Scottish Junior CC National was in 1979, when he finished a respectable 20^th. His debut in the Senior National took place in 1981, when he was third counter for Cambuslang in 29^th place. No sign of what was to come!

For several years, Colin was in the RAF and based in Wales, where he made a considerable mark on the hill-running world, as will be described later. Consequently it was 1987 before he featured once more in the Senior National for Cambuslang Harriers – a team which was to dominate the event utterly for the next twenty years.

Perhaps the quickest way of communicating details of Cambuslang’s fantastic run of success is a simple list. 1987: Colin 12^th, team bronze. 1988: 6^th, team gold. 1989: 12^th, team gold. 1990: 15^th, team gold. 1991: 5^th, team gold. 1993: 8^th, team gold. 1994: 9^th, team gold. 1995: 8^th, team gold. 1996: 22^nd, team silver. 1997: 24^th, team gold. 1998: 11^th, team gold. 1999: 7^th, team gold. 2000: 11^th, team gold. 2001: 17^th, team silver. 2002: 11^th, team silver. 2003: 16^th, team gold. 2004: 21^st, team gold. And finally, at the age of 48 in 2008: 20^th, team gold. Colin Donnelly amassed a total of no less than 14 team gold medals (plus three silver and one bronze) during a period in which Cambuslang Harriers won 16 titles. Has anyone ever shown such consistent team spirit and excellence?

Not surprisingly, Colin continues to run very well indeed as a veteran. In Scottish age-group cross-country championships he won M40 titles in 2000 and 2001; M45 in 2007 and 2008; M50 in 2010; and (of course) a number of team gold medals. Perhaps his finest race as a ‘Master’ was a superb win (M40) for Scotland in the 1999 Five Nations Home Countries CC International at Grenville College, Bideford, Devon.

Colin, wearing a Cambuslang vest, moving his team from sixth to first on stage four of the 2000 British Masters 8-man road relay in Manchester

However, Colin Donnelly’s main claim to fame isn’t cross-country at all! He burst onto the hill-running scene with victory in the Ben Nevis Race in 1979 – the youngest man to win this famous event. He won it again in 1986; and lost to Gary Devine by only five seconds in 1988. In the interim Colin Donnelly had dominated fell-running, especially near his home in Wales, where he set many records, some of which have never been beaten, for example the Welsh 3000s (26 miles from the top of Snowdon to Foel Fras, including some 13,000 feet of ascent and fourteen summits). In 1988, when he was a local Eryri Harrier, Colin’s time was an astounding four hours 19 minutes.

Colin Donnelly’s hill race victories are countless, but include the Snowdon Race, Cader Idris (6 wins), Buckden Pike, Shelf Moor, Carnethy, Kentmere Horseshoe and the Manx Mountain Marathon (31.5 miles, 8000m ascent).

Colin Donnelly was British Fell-Running Champion three times in the late 1980s. In the WMRA World Mountain Running Trophy, he represented Scotland in eighteen successive races between 1985 and 2002 (plus another one in 2004): an almost unbelievable record. Colin’s greatest run, which displayed exceptional descending skills, secured a silver medal in the 1989 men’s individual short race at Chatillon-en-Diois, France. In addition, he was in the Scottish team (Tommy Murray, Bobby Quinn, Colin Donnelly and Graeme Bartlett) that won silver medals in 1995 (Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh).

On the 22^nd of September 2001, in Ustron, Poland, Colin Donnelly won the M40 Masters World Mountain Running Championship by an enormous margin of 91 seconds. In 2002 (Innsbruck, Austria) he was third; and in 2005 (Keswick, England) second M45 to Dave Neill of England.

Colin Donnelly shows no sign of retiring or even slowing down much. He is based in Lochaber and in 2011 ran eight hill races. This year he had competed twice by mid-January. He is a truly remarkable runner and it seems likely that there are many triumphs to come.

This profile of Colin was updated in 2022 by fellow hill-runner Denis Bell whose comments on his friend are in two articles and  can be found at the link below:

A different perspective  

Phil Dolan (87) at Saltcoats

Philip joined Clydesdale Harriers in 1966.  It is always interesting to find how young people come into the sport in football-dominated Scotland.   He had dabbled in athletics during his first three years at St Pat’s High School but in fourth year he was told by the Head of PE to choose between athletics and football after he had just beaten the pupils in the school who had been training for cross country.   Clydesdale Harriers at that time organised a Youths Ballot Team and Individual Race and as his football match that afternoon was cancelled, he ran in the Senior Boys race finishing thirteenth out of almost 100 cross country and road runners and in the process defeating Alan Simpson of Clydesdale Harriers and with only one Clydesdale Harrier (John Tonner) ahead of him.   In his own words ~

“After the race I was standing at the finish awaiting the older lads from the school who were competing in the Youths Race.   Billy Hislop and George White of Clydesdale Harriers approached and, recognising me as having defeated Alan Simpson, enquired as to which club I belonged to.   I informed them that I ran for my school but I would have to choose a club to run the Dunbartonshire Championships.   They asked me my name and said they knew my Dad and that I would be running for Clydesdale the following week.   Needless to say I ran for Clydesdale the following week.”

 He was one of a group of good young runners but was the only one who made anything of himself as an athlete.   Of the other three in his age group, Alan Simpson was maybe the most stylish, John Tonner was probably the most overtly ambitious but he was to find fleeting fame as a coach of schoolboys rather than as an athlete in his own right and Tom MacKay had other priorities.   Philip had some qualities that set him apart quite early on.   First he knew what he wanted from the sport; second he was prepared to listen to others and consider the advice before taking it and finally he was prepared to do the work.   He was also prepared to travel to get the races he felt he needed.   The old saying “You can’t say that you want to be a ski-er and never leave Maryhill: you have to go where the snow is”, might have been written for Phil.   He raced all over Britain and Ireland, ran in Europe and even travelled to America to run in the Boston and New York Marathons.   Probably the most travelled of any Harrier I met or heard of, he was also among the most versatile endurance runners and ran with distinction on the track (where he ran for Scotland), on the country (where he raced in two World Championships and competed for several small Scottish teams on the Continent) as well as on the roads and over the hills where he set numerous course records.   He was also a long time Committee Member particularly during the 1980’s when the club was under threat locally.   His experience was invaluable at that point. He is currently working as a coach in the club.   In addition to all that, there was the work he has done for charity. 

In Club Championship Races

Born in 1951, he joined the club at the age of 15 and  proceeded to win the JD Semple Junior Cross Country Cup awarded annually to the Youths age group (Under 17) for the two years when he was eligible, 1968 and 1969, before winning the Junior Cross Country Championship Cameron Shield (for Under 20’s) in 1970, 1971 and 1972.   He then moved up to Senior Ranks where he won the Challenge Cup (the Senior Cross Country Championship Trophy) in 1973 and for nine of the next eleven years.   His domination did not stop there – the Hannah Cup for the cross country handicap was also won nine times in eleven years, the  Sinclair Trophy for the Five Miles Road Race was taken home eight times in nine years, the Harold Wright Trophy for the first club man home in the National Cross Country Championships was won eleven times in thirteen years and the Dan MacDonald Trophy for a points contest over the winter season was won nine times in eleven years – and the first win in every one of these was in 1973 which was the first year in which he was eligible to win them!   Counting youth and junior championships he won club cross country championships in thirteen consecutive years!    He could have won more because neither his ability nor his application went away nor was he injured but he missed some championships because he was running for a National or District Select somewhere on the day when the club race was being held.   For instance his run of successes in club championships came to a temporary halt in 1977 when he missed the Hannah Cup race on 15^th January because he was racing for Scotland at Mallusk in Ireland.   The race was won by Ireland’s Gerry Deegan from Brendan Foster with Phil twentieth and second Scot to finish.   He then missed the club championship race on 4^th February because he was again racing for Scotland this time in San Sebastian in Spain.   It is also the case that at this point in the club’s history the opposition within the club was stronger than at any time since pre-1914.   When he won the senior championship he followed Ian Donald (winner in 1965, 66, 67, 68, 69) and Allan Faulds (winner 1970, 1971 and 1972), who were both considerably good athletes with many club trophy victories in the Hannah Cup, Sinclair Trophy, etc, and who had run for Scottish selects several times with Allan having captained four man Scottish teams over the country.   These were the runners he had to beat for club championships.   Allan in particular had a big influence on young Philip who says,   “Allan spoke of WINNING races.   He brought a controlled determination and aggression which gave me a new perspective when competing.   The first Dunky Wright Road Race took place in March 1972.   Allan was determined to win the inaugural race.   I was a third year Junior and I had benefited from my training at Westerlands; been a non travelling reserve for the World Junior Cross Country and with an increased level of confidence.   Taking my cue from Allan I hung on the coat tails of Allan and Pat and finished fourth to Allan’s victory.”   The actual result was Allan first in 28:46, Pat second in 28:48, Colin Martin of Dumbarton third in 29:00, Phil fourth in 29:22 and Doug Gemmell fifth in 29:31 with Clydesdale winning the team race.

As A Cross Country Runner

His top achievements over the country had to be representing Scotland in the World  Championships twice.   The bad news was that the two venues were Wrexham in Wales in 1976 and Bellahouston in Glasgow in 1978, so no foreign trips for Philip!    He also ran for three man Scottish teams in invitation races on the Continent as well as for Scottish selects – eg in the annual Scotland v N Ireland v Scottish Universities at Stirling and Cumbernauld – all over the British Isles.     He is pictured, left in the Scottish colours.   It was the form in these days for invitations to run in European races to come to the AAA’s in England who then decided who should get them.   It will surprise no one to hear that the majority went to English squads and that Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland did not appear to get their fair share.   However back to the narrative.

A lot of Phil’s success over the period was down to his hardness as an athlete.   All endurance athletes have to be hard and all successful endurance runners have to be really hard.   With the possible exception of Ian Donald, Phil was the hardest man I have ever run with or against.   This might have been because he never had an easy path in the sport.   Early on he linked up with Cyril O’Boyle.   Cyril had won numerous titles in Ireland, both North and South, and was a notoriously hard trainer.  He talked about the sport, thought about it and argued about it at every opportunity.   He even read about other similar sports and attended seminars in the local library involving long distance cycling and swimming coaches. Two things about Cyril: Every run with Cyril was a hard one – but not too hard.   He was not silly and one of his lines was to the effect that if you could not do the same run the next day, then you were training too hard.   The second thing was that every run with Cyril was an education – challenging statements were thrown out at you, information was passed on and when he said halfway through a hard 10 miler “Now, you’re an educated man, how is it that….” You knew some debate was about to start!   And once you started on an answer, the boot went in.

When Philip became a Junior (Under 20) athlete, he was racing against Ian Donald, Douglas Gemmell, Ian Leggett and Allan Faulds inside the club, at County level there were runners of the standard of Colin Martin and Billy Cairns of Dumbarton and in other races he was a contemporary of Olympians Frank Clement and Donald McGregor, 800 metres record holder David McMeekin, Grand Prix runner Nat Muir, the outstanding Allister Hutton, Jim ‘The Guv’nor’ Dingwall and many others who would always give him a hard race.   The background given to him by Cyril was further developed by racing week in and week out against this high quality opposition.   His own standard was really high – one of his regular opponents said that if medals were given for quality performances from the Nigel Barge Road Race in January to the Midlands Championship in December, Phil would be an outstanding candidate.   Others were as strong, some were faster but few were as hard.    On one occasion when Scottish and British Internationalist Ian Stewart lost an exceptionally hard track race against the German Harald Norpoth, he was lying at the side of the track afterwards when the TV interviewer asked if he had any words of congratulation for the winner.   Ian, still lying on the ground raised himself on his elbow, grabbed the microphone and more or less snarled into the camera “That was a bloody hard race Harald, you won tonight but next time we meet you can expect more of the same!”   No quarter given.   Phil was every bit as tough in racing terms.   If we look at his first seasons as a Junior athlete which included races with the Senior team it will give an indication of what I mean.   Prepared to listen to advice, he was advised by Ian Donald to apply for permission to train at Westerlands, the Glasgow University Grounds at Anniesland in Glasgow.   There was a good blaes track set within large, good quality, grassy grounds which incorporated a three hundred metre straight at one side.   Lots of top endurance runners trained there.   He says:  “Observing and training with the likes of Lachie Stewart, Dave Logue, Mike Bradley, Dick Hodelet and Graeme Grant opened my eyes to ‘proper’ training.   Only Cyril had ever spoken about training of that tempo and intensity summer and winter.   No other Harriers came close.”

At the start of the 1970-71 season he was still a Junior and turned out in the McAndrew 4 x 2.5 mile road relay – the traditional opener for the winter season.   He didn’t even make the first team.   The top team was Douglas Gemmell (14:24), Ian Donald (14:27), Allan Faulds (14:01 and Ian Leggett (14:16) and the team was fourth.   Phil was in the B team and ran the first stage in 14:37 followed by Brian McAusland (14:36), Sandy McNeil (15:34) and Bobby Shields (14:50) to see the team finish twelfth.    In the County Relays the following week he was in the B Team again and his time was 18 seconds slower than Douglas Gemmell who was the slowest in the A Team.   Detailed results are in the section on the County Championships.     Came November and the Allan Scally four stage road relay at Shettleston and he was in the first team for the first time.   The team was Ian Donald (24:09), Doug Gemmell (23:47), Phil (24:26) and Ian Leggett (23:16).   Then came the Edinburgh – Glasgow 8 stage road relay where the team did well to finish fifth with Ian Donald seventh on the first stage, Douglas Gemmell eighth on the second stage, Ian Leggett seventh, Bobby Shields seventh, Brian McAusland sixth, Allan Faulds fifth, Sandy McNeil tenth and Phil Dolan fifth at the finish.   Picking up five places on the last stage of this highly esteemed race when the field was quite strung out was a notable debut.   In the Midlands Relays at Bellshill he was again in the first team.   The team was Ian Donald (12:00), Douglas Gemmell (12:00), Allan Faulds (11:48) and Phil Dolan (12:28).   He was maybe in the first team but he was not the fastest in the club yet.

The year ended and so did the relays and in the club’s Hannah Cup handicap cross country race he was third finisher and fourth quickest over the heavy Braidfield Farm trail.   He was the club’s third finisher in the Midlands Championship at Stirling a week later with Allan Faulds thirteenth, Ian Leggett eighteenth and four places ahead of Philip who was followed by Ian Donald in twenty fifth and Bobby Shields in thirtieth.   Not eligible for the club senior championships, he won the Junior race from John Tonner and watched Allan Faulds win the senior race from Douglas Gemmell.   His next race with the Seniors was in the club’s Sinclair Trophy for the Five Mile Road Race.   Allan Faulds won in 29:19 from Doug Gemmell (29:26) and Phil Dolan (30:18).   That was his first season against the big boys and he was a member of one of the top club squads in the country.   There have been many years when running of the standard he displayed at that time would have won every trophy in the club!   He went on from there and as an indicator of the high standard over a number of years, he finished in the first ten of the Midlands District Cross Country Championships over a ten year period and most of these were seconds or thirds at a time when the District boasted of many top class athletes such as Frank Clement, Alan Partridge, Lawrie Spence, Lachie Stewart, Norman Morrison and many more.

In the County Championships between Bill Yate (Maryhill) and Colin Martin (Dumbarton)

On the Track

If the cross country running showed Phil as a competitor, his running on the track was an indication that he did have a lot of ability – the strange thing is that many even now think that Phil did everything on hard work and not on ability.   The truth is that all top athletes need both.   Many athletes are gifted (eg Willie Sheridan of Victoria Park and Westerlands) but lack the application or motivation to develop these gifts; many others are prepared to work long and hard but don’t make it because the ability isn’t there.   Ability is not a purely physical thing: Derek Parker of Kilbarchan was the first man I heard say that running was 100% physical and 100% psychological.   Phil had both: to see this one only needs look at the times recorded.   His best track times are as follows:

880 yards: 1:57 (on a cinder track)

1500 metres: 4:00

3000 metres: 8:25

5000 metres: 14:17

10000 metres: 30:07

(The 10000 metres was a track time – there were few if any 10K road races at that time and he would assuredly have been faster in a road 10K)

By any standards these are considerably good times.   Even now in 2006 they would have ranked him 40^th (800), 29^th (1500), 8^th (3000), 3^rd (5000) and 2^nd (10000).   His best marathon time of 2:21 would also have seen him in second place!   That is not only down hard work.    In fact, given that a senior athlete can run any number of races in a league match, he would make a welcome addition to any club currently in the league running every distance from 800 to 5000 in each match.   Having trained and argued and discussed athletics with Cyril he thought about running and what he was doing.   BUT unlike many of the present day athletes (but like many of Scotland’s all time greats such as Andy Brown, Lachie Stewart and Ian McCafferty) he raced often and on all surfaces – tartan, grass and cinder all came alike.   He ran in Highland Games meetings all over Scotland.   Unlike today, the top runners raced each other often.   Club teams at Gourock, Cowal or Strathallan, individual races at other Games plus Open Graded Meetings plus championships (County, District National) all went into the mix.   ‘The mix’ is maybe the most appropriate phrase to use.   While he was doing this he was running the Mamore Hill Race, the Gourock 14 miles, the Balloch to Clydebank 12 and the Helensburgh 16 miles.   There are several differences there from the present day.   First the frequency of races; second the range of distances run; thirdly the mix of track with road and hill running.   His reward for consistently good performances was to be selected to run for Scotland on the track.   There were two such occasions, both over 10,000 metres and they were both within the British Isles at Cwmbran in Wales and at Meadowbank.

On the Roads

With a marathon best of 2:21 and a time of less than six hours for 56 miles, he basically has nothing left to prove.   His first race over 10 Miles in the Tom Scott Road Race saw him turn in a time of 50 minutes exactly and would have ranked him first in Scotland in 2006 where the fastest time was 51:17!    As on the track, he raced everywhere he could.   In Boston in 1977 with the temperature at 80 degrees when the race started at 12 noon, he was the first runner from outside the American continent to finish when he crossed the finish line in 2:23.   Common agreement was that the weather had added at least three minutes to the times and certainly I had never been outside 2:50 for the distance but recorded 3:02 on the day.   It was a superb run in which he defeated the best Japanese runners (including Olympian Akio Usami), the best German runners, the best Irish runners (including previous winner Neil Cusack) and all the English representatives including Stan Curran who was running very well indeed at that point.   The following year he went to the New York marathon but unfortunately he had injured a ligament in the World Cross Country Championships that year and rushed back into training a bit too early.   The injury recurred and hampered preparations for the marathon and he only recorded 2:25 (this would have placed him fourth in the current Scottish rankings!).    In competitive terms, he twice won the Dublin Marathon against top class opposition and slightly nearer home took first place in the Preston to Morecambe ‘Milk Marathon’ sponsored by the Milk Marathon Board.   The downside was that he had to drink a pin of milk on finishing the race but there was some compensation – he had his photograph taken with a couple of ‘glamour’ models.   The pictures never made it to the ‘Clydebank Press’.  He was, however, easily the best marathon runner the club ever produced.

Several points should be made here.   Like all of the wonderful and even not so wonderful runners of the era, he had a choice of distances: Tom Scott was 10 miles, the Balloch was 12 miles, Gourock was 14 miles, Helensburgh was 16 miles, Rothesay was 18 miles, Strathallan was 21 miles, Edinburgh to North Berwick was 22.6 miles.   The choice at present is largely 10K, 10 miles or half marathon.   This has an effect on the development of distance runners.   Phil ran all road racing distances with success and set records at distances from six miles to fourteen on the roads. 

On the Hills.

 All Clydesdale Harriers run on the hills at some point and Phil was no exception.   The club has produced hill runners who have smashed records all over Scotland: Bobby Shields, Ian Donald, Brian Potts, Ian Murphy and more recently John Kennedy in very long hill races like the Lairig Ghru and Prasad Prasad in the shorter ones such as the Callander Crags and Ben Sheann.   Phil ran all distances.   He ran the short Neilston Pad race three times and won it.   He also ran in the medium distance Carnethy Hill race where he ran it once finishing second to Martin Weeks of Bingley Harriers.   His favourite however must have been the really gruelling Mamore Hill race at Kinlochleven.    The trail went from the Island Park in the village round to the start of the Lairig Mhor, now part of the West Highland Way, over part of the Lairig and then up to the 2500 feet shoulder of A’Cailleach before plunging down to the road and then racing seven miles on the road back to the park.   Many of the very best in Britain had run this one including Alistair Wood from Aberdeen who set a course record. Phil not only set a record for the course but then broke his own record the following year with a time of 1:37:23.   And that was for fourteen miles including almost 3000 feet of ascent.   (As a side note to this, he helped me win a trophy for a race I never ran.   Having raced the event several times I was down to compete as part of a four man club team.   I failed to turn up because of illness but with only three to count the club won and was presented with four plaques.   I got my plaque the following Tuesday at Whitecrook!)   These races at Kinlochleven must rank among Phil’s best ever runs and had hill running had the profile it has at present he would surely have added to the national vests won for track and cross country.   The Mamore was not the only one he ran but was the one in which he placed himself firmly in the ranks of superb hill runners.

Phil also ran the much shorter Cathkin Braes Hill Race in 1975 in 24:06 from Alan Partridge of East Kilbride AAC who was timed at 24:11 avenging his second place to the same athlete of a year earlier.   He also ran the race in 1977 as part of his preparation for the Boston Marathon.    The furthest he travelled for a hill race was to the Isle of Man in 1970 when he ran the Peel Hill race defeating the Olympic silver medallist and world class steeplechaser Maurice Herriott from Birmingham who was the pre-race favourite.   In fact the officials were so confident that Herriott would win it that they stood there not realising Phil had been to the top and back until he handed then the card given to all athletes at the top!   Herriott knew better and told Phil that he had figured him as his main rival when he saw him warming up.   At the same meeting which lasts for several days, he won the 1500 metres Island Championship and was victorious over the reigning champion in the 800 metres.    Quite a week’s work.

Charity Work 

Phil worked with the Royal Bank of Scotland and was asked by the bank to take part in a ‘Corporate Walk’ to raise money by the Stars Organisation for Spastics.   It was an organisation run by many of the top stars of stage and sport to raise money for charity.    If it still exists it is on a much lower level and has had a change of name.   (It is a pity that no matter how accurate a term is, it has been demonstrated time and again that it becomes demeaned and no one at present uses the word ‘spastic’ in conversation.   This in no way demeans the work done over the years by medical people and charitable organisations using the term.)   At the time it was a major fund raiser for many charities with members such as Kenneth McKellar, Bill McCue, Jack Milroy, the Krankies and Johnnie Beattie from the stage and Jock Wallace and John Greig from the world of sport as members.   Phil took part in the Corporate Walk but with a difference – he asked if he could run it.   The event took place round Pollock Estate and he covered 42 miles the first year – then he did 46 the second year.   Not content he went from there to 52+ miles then finally up to 56 miles in less than six hours!   He had raised thousands of pounds from these events (as well as from the sponsorship he carried in several marathon races) and was consequently made a full member of the association.   His name appears on the headed note paper alongside Gordon Brown, Dougie Donnelly,  Billy McNeill and the rest.

Phil with Jock Wallace (Manager of Rangers FC)

Although we have looked at the various strands of his athletics career separately for the sake of clarity, they were all intertwined all year every year.   In a typical year, the winter was all cross country and short road races and then in summer it was track, hills and road running up to marathon distance.   In my opinion his best year was 1977 where he had a good cross country season which included two selections for small Scottish teams (Mallusk and San Sebastian) before going into the summer where he raced two marathons – Boston where he recorded 2:23:00 and the Scottish Championships in 2:21:59.   In between he ran the 10,000 metres for Scotland in 31:24.8 in the International against Greece at Meadowbank.   On the hills, he won the short hill race at Cathkin Braes and set another record in the 14 miles Mamore Hill Race.   In September he ran 5000 metres in 14:17.9.   Then in October it was back to the Cross Country season with the McAndrew Relay starting the roundabout again for 1978 where he finished fourth, and was unlucky not to be third, in the Scottish Cross Country Championship and be selected for the International Cross Country fixture!   And this intensity was kept up for at least ten years as a Senior.

Any review of Phil’s career must come to the conclusion that he was one of the best all round endurance athletes that the club has ever produced.   His top performances stand comparison with any of the Scottish athletes of his generation and he had victories over several of the domestic ‘greats’ at that time.   What were his best performances?   On the country he had his international vests; on the roads his marathon in Boston where he defeated many of the world’s top competitors in temperatures seldom experienced in Scotland; on the hills, the two Mamore victories must be a source of great pride to him; and finally, using his talents and gifts for running to raise money for those less fortunate was well recognised by those outside the sport.   Phil was a great credit to his family, to the club, to the sport and mainly to himself.

Barbara Grant of Letterewe Estate presenting winning team awards for the Great Wilderness Challenge to Jim Doig, centre, and Ben Preece in 1989

Jim Doig as is indicated below had a short career as a marathon man but had immense talent – his first appearance in the Scottish Ranking Lists was in 1986 when he was sixteenth with a time of 2:20:56 run in Glasgow in September of that year.   

Colin Youngson put the following tribute together.

*****

In January 1992 Jim Doig died tragically young at the age of 34 from meningitis.   However he had packed a great deal into his short life and is remembered with admiration and great affection by those who knew him.   Jim was multi talented, extremely determined and modest.   I clearly remember duelling with him during some very competitive Aberdeen training runs and races (before he outpaced me).   His loss lingers sadly, since he was a wonderfully supportive team-mate, sensitive, thoughtful and cheerful company. I like to remember how delighted he was when, in November 1986, Aberdeen AAC won the prestigious 8-StageEdinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay (Jim put us into the lead with the fastest time on Stage 3; and he cheered me on when I was fastest on Stage 8).

In a second edition of Jim’s fascinating and detailed booklet about his adopted home, the ancient Deeside village of Kincardine O’Neil,  his partner Linden Tapper wrote the following.   (Some extra detail has been provided by Fraser Clyne).

“Those who knew him may be surprised that he had time to sit down and write this history, since his public passion was running.    Latterly he devoted his time to marathons.    Many local people will remember seeing him  pounding the Deeside roads, out in all weathers.   His training paid dividends.   He won both the 1987 Reykjavik marathon and the 1989 Bermuda marathon and represented Great Britain in the 1988 European Cup Marathon in Belgium.

Before taking to the roads he was a well known orienteer  representing both Scotland and Great Britain.   (Jim won the native Scottish title in 1981 and 1983; was a regular in the Scottish International squad in the early 1980’s and competed for Britain in the 1984 Trans-Atlantic Cup in Boston.)

His real pleasure though was not from running on the roads but from running in the hills and forests.   He felt privileged to be training in such beautiful countryside.   The Cairngorms are a short drive from Kincardine O’Neil and this was where he spent some of his happiest hours (with companions like Ben Preece and Jonathan Musgrave.)   Jim was born in Forfar in 1957.   he graduated from St Andrews University in 1979 with an honours degree on Computational Science.   He worked for a couple of years in Dalkeith before moving to Aberdeen in 1982 to work for Shell as an instrument engineer.”

Fraser Clyne wrote the following in ‘The Green Final’ Aberdeen local paper.

“The death of Aberdeen marathon runner Jim Doig (34) from meningitis came as a great shock to the North East’s athletics community.   In 1990 he was ranked second in Scotland with a fine personal best of 2 hours 17 minutes  58 seconds set in that year’s London Marathon which was won by fellow Scot Allister Hutton.   Despite hsi achievements at international level, the one performance that gave Jim greatest satisfaction on the domestic scene came when he helped Aberdeen AAC win the Edinburgh to Glasgow road relay title in 1986.

Although extremely successful on the road racing circuit, Jim was more content running in the quieter surroundings of the Scottish countryside.   He loved training in the forests and hills near his home in Kincardine O’Neil home on Deeside and often travelled further afield to take in a few Munros during some of his log runs.  

In 1986 he became one of a select band of long distance fell runners to have successfully negotiated the Bob Graham Round  – a demanding 72 mile course of rough hill country encompassing 42 Lakeland peaks with 27000 feet of ascent and descent – which has to be completed within 24 hours.   In 1988 and 1990 he he won the sort of race to which he was undoubtedly best suited – The Great Wilderness Challenge, a gruelling 25 mile run from Dundonnell to Poolewe through some of Scotland’s most spectacular scenery.  

Always a source of inspiration and encouragement to those around him,  Jim will be fondly remembered by his family and friends.”

WILLIE DAY: FRIEND AND RIVAL

By Colin Youngson

“Willie Day is a good friend and was one of my closest running rivals.   On many occasions we battled fiercely on country and road, over short relay legs or long distances and there was seldom much between us at the finish.   At no time was there any ill-feeling: on the contrary, we joked and took the mickey out of each other frequently as well as ending up in the pub afterwards.   Such a relationship was not possible with certain other runners!

Our first head-to-head was in May 1971 when I only just managed to get away from Willie and Colin Martin to win my first SAAA medal. – bronze in the track 10 miles – a very long way behind Lachie Stewart and Donald Ritchie.   By October Willie won the first stage of the McAndrew Relay in 13:46 which was third fastest on the day.   I was more than thirty seconds down.   However a month later I ended up one in front of him after a gruelling and disappointing cross-country race for Scotland B Team against Northern Counties at Catterick.   We both attended the ‘International Training Sessions’ at Cleland Estate, Motherwell, rubbing muddy shoulders with real stars.   In the 1972 National I was nineteenth and – surprise, surprise! – Willie was twentieth! 

Although Willie Day had his moments on the country, in my opinion his best surface was road.   Certainly he ‘murdered’ me on 20th May, 1972, when he won the 15 miles Drymen to Scotstoun classic by more than four minutes.   (He also won the race in 1974).   The see-saw nature of our encounters continued a month later when he dropped behind myself and the inimitable Alastair Wood at 15 miles in the SAAA Marathon Championship.   I lasted one more mile before the old fox strolled away for an easy victory.   Willie dropped out and I hit the wall before struggling in third.   The point is that Willie hung on as long as he could rather than pacing himself into the medals.   His tactics were frequently gung-ho, Willie might blast off at the start or stick in ferocious surges mid-race.   At times he paid for it especially when he wasn’t particularly fit, but what the hell?   No one could accuse him of cowardice!    Running was meant to be dramatic and to be fun!

When I skim through my records, there is a great deal to prove how evenly matched we were.   At times I might be a fair bit ahead, but you could be sure that not long afterwards Willie would repay the compliment in style.   His best period was when he was training with the charismatic Jim Dingwall and several others in the excellent Falkirk squad.   I have a puzzlingly vague memory of coming through from Edinburgh one Saturday morning to stay with Jim and train with him and Willie.   It seems likely that we did a hard ten miler that day, followed by a serious period of real ale rehydration in The Wheatsheaf and The Woodside.    Sunday morning featured twenty or more serious miles of hangover cure!  No wonder Willie ran his fine marathon pb in 1977 to win silver in the Scottish behind Jim’s championship record.   I was fourth that day but still managed 2:19:35 with the added pleasure of watching Willie receding rapidly over the horizon.   His success couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Nevertheless when the three of us attempted the International Enschede Marathon in Holland that August, on a very hot day, we all blew up.    Willie was only two places in front of me but we both beat Jim!   Willie and I couldn’t stop laughing at excerpts from the book I was reading – ‘The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin’; and on the ferry back we drowned any sorrows in the company of boozy superstar Ron Hill!

Three significant race memories to finish.   In May 1975 I won the Drymen after an exhausting struggle to hold off Willie Day.   My tactic was to go mental up the hills on the Stockiemuir Road up to Queen’s Drive at the five mile point.   Unfortunately Willie’s downhill skills were much better than mine and I only just managed to stay clear.   Whew!   Sandy Keith was third. Only a few weeks later I won the Scottish Marathon in a lifetime pb with Sandy a close second which suggests that Willie should have entered too.   Still he fulfilled his marathon potential two years later.  

In April 1978 only three were bold enough to turn up at the Coatbridge track for a successful attempt on the (soft) Scottish Native Record for 20K.   Willie and I used to joke that any long ‘Highland Games’ road race in Scotland around then was liable to be won by one of us or Doug Gunstone.   In turn we took the lead for two laps maintaining the steadiest of five-minute miles until the others tired a little, and I moved away.   At the hour (19300m) I was only 96 metres in front of Willie who, for reasons best known to himself, then stopped dead allowing Doug to take second at the 20K finish a couple of minutes later.   The three old rivals were a bit disappointed because we only just missed out on running 12 miles in the hour but it was an impressively smooth ‘team’ performance nevertheless.

In 1988 when I turned up at Dalmuir Park, Clydebank, to make my debut in the Scottish Vets Cross-Country Championships, who should be there but Willie?   He claimed to be less fit than he used to be but still set off like a smooth headed rocket!   No one else went with us and when Willie slowed down he left me in a clear lead.   Eventually I managed to win by 24 seconds from Archie/Ken Duncan of Pitreavie and Graham Milne, my Aberdeen AAC team-mate.   Yet what I remember is Willie Day charging off robustly, as usual making a real race of it!”

The above are some of the personal comments of Colin Youngson of Aberdeen, three times Scottish Marathon victor and with a total of ten marathon championship medals in his cabinet, about Willie Day and they indicate something of Willie’s competitive nature and of his popularity with other athletes of the time.   The thumbnail is of Willie winning the Strathallan Meeting 20 miles road race in 1973.

Willie winning at Bridge of Allan in 1973

As a boy, Willie raced other boys round a course made of local streets and enjoyed running but when he started work in a shop there was no time to follow up this early interest.   When he moved to work with the Post Office, there was more time and he could get some serious training done.  He joined Falkirk Victoria Harriers where the coach was Tommy Todd and his running career took off from there.   His friend, club-mate and travelling companion to many races Willie Sharp, says, “I joined FVH in the autumn of 1965 and Willie joined at almost the same time.   He was still a Junior when he started (a Junior was Under 20 then) and I remember him being called ‘the oldest Junior in Scotland because of his premature loss of hair which I think confirms that right from the start he was pretty good at Scottish club level too.   In the club championships of 1966/67, which covered 17 races (yes, 17 races over 5 months), Willie was the first Harrier home in every single one of them.”

He came to the wider sporting public’s attention when in the 1967 Scottish Junior Cross Country Championships at  Hamilton he finished tenth in a very good field where the first five were Eddie Knox (Springburn), Alistair Blamire (Edinburgh U), John Myatt (Strathclyde U), Jim Brennan (Maryhill H) and David Logue (Edinburgh U) and Colin Youngson was twenty second in the colours of Aberdeen University.   This earned him selection for the Scottish team in the International Championships at Barry in Wales where he finished twentieth.   Willie Sharp again, “At that time Willie was working for the GPO and some genius in the local rag reported his selection with the deathless headline, ‘Running Postman Rings the Bell!’ (sorry about that, Willie!)

His rise was swift.   He first appears in the Scottish track rankings as a promising steeplechase runner the following summer (1967) when he was tenth with a time of 9:45.6.   The following year he was fifteenth with a time of 9:48.6 and was placed third in the West District Championships at the Westerlands track in Glasgow.  I don’t know if he ever ran another steeplechase but he wasn’t ranked for it thereafter.   His appearances in 1969 were for the 10000 metres (twenty second with a time of 31:52.4) and Ten Miles (fifth with 52:27)   In 1971 it was the 3000 metres (fifteenth with 8:42.6), the 10000 metres (31:22.6) and – the marathon (fourteenth with 2:26:07).   He won the West District 10000 metres championship from Doug Gemmell (32:14.4) in what was usually a well supported race but which has since unfortunately fallen by the wayside.  The real surprise though was Willie finishing third in the SAAA Marathon Championship in Meadowbank.     The marathon championship was a story in itself.   It is described in “A Hardy Race” by Colin Youngson and Fraser Clyne and quoted at length in the sections on Pat Maclagan and Jim Dingwall.   And he just, as David Coleman might have said, got better and better!   Some career statistics:

 *   His career personal bests on the track were –    800 metres:   2:02                1500 metres:   4:02             3000 metres:    8:32            5000 metres:   14:20          10000 metres:   29:59 

*   On the road he ran the Tom Scott 10 miles Road Race eleven times and was inside 50 minutes nine times, his personal best being 48:01 done in April 1972; he had a half marathon personal best of just outside 67 minutes and of course his marathon best is 2:17:56

*   He ran in almost all road races in Scotland at one time or another and recorded victories almost all of them at some point.   The classic races were the Tom Scott 10 miles (he ran in this one eleven times and was inside 50 minutes on no fewer than nine occasions – remarkable!),  the Haddington 10, the Balloch to Clydebank 12 miles, the Springburn 12 miles (won in 66 minutes – a record), the Airdrie 13 miles, the Shotts 14 miles, the Babcock 14 miles, the Dunblane 14.5 miles, the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16 miles, the Rothesay 18 miles (first in 1969 in 1:39:30 and in 1970 with 1:44:46), the Strathallan 20 miles and the Edinburgh – North Berwick (22.6 miles most of the time although for a few years it was full marathon distance).   And of course there was the Drymen to Scotstoun mentioned by Colin above where he had two firsts (in 1:19:48 and 1:19:02) and two seconds!.   Then there were the half-marathons at Stirling, Falkirk, Kirkintilloch, and the Isle of Skye where he set a record no fewer than three times.   

*   In the Grangemouth Round the Houses race organised by his own club where he has been second a total of six times – each time to a top class athlete – Jim Dingwall, Alistair McFarlane, Don Macgregor, Doug Gunstone and Allister Hutton were the winners in these years.    

People always ask about the training of successful runners such as Willie and when asked he says that in  the beginning when he started running under the guidance of Tommy Todd at Falkirk, he reckons he was doing about 60 – 70 miles per week with the Sunday long run being about 16 miles.   Almost all runs were from the hut at Falkirk – not the swish modern one but the old wooden one!   Tommy also had the runners doing some circuit training including sit-ups on a home-made inclined board.   Tommy died suddenly while still quite young and Willie’s training continued to develop.   He listed the following sessions that he used to do:   20 x 300 in about 50’s with 90 seconds recovery;   32 x 400 in 68’s with 90 seconds recovery;   6 x 800 in 2:15 with 5 minutes recovery;   4 x 1500 in 4:30 with 5 minutes recovery;   6 x 1 mile in 4:40’s with 5 minutes recovery and these were all done with Willie Sharp.

After he started running marathons when he was working in the Post Office he could train at night and his week worked out something like: Monday – Steady 10;   Tuesday – 15 miles;   Wednesday – 20 miles;   Thursday – 15;   Friday – 10;   Saturday – Race or 15 miles; Sunday 25 miles.    One of the 10’s would be a fartlek including eight bursts of 60 metres in a mile and the total run took about 52 minutes.   When Jim Dingwall heard from some of his friends in England that the steady 25 miles on Sunday was not a good session, they would instead do 20 fast (ie about 1:56) which was done on a Sunday morning at 8:00 am.

In this context it should be noted that he ‘Did the Diet’ just once and that was in the SAAA Marathon Championship of 1977 where he was second.   He reckoned that it worked for him but didn’t do too many marathons thereafter and so didn’t repeat the experiment.    His depletion run the previous week was done in company with Jim Dingwall and Willie Sharp: there was a club outing to Aberdour and the three were dropped off the bus at the Kincardine Bridge and they ran to Aberdour – 20 miles of it.   Then when the others were having a nice meal they were keeping off the carbohydrates and starches!

Although his career extended from the mid 1960’s until 1990, Willie’s best years were the 1970’s and we could have a look at some selected races in that decade now just to get a flavour of how well he was running.

In 1971 he really started to show at the head of the field in road race.   His run at Gourock where he was second to local boy Bill Stoddart in the 14 miler was followed by second to Don McGregor at Strathallan in 1:58:23.     His real breakthrough that  year however was with the West District victory in in the 10000 metres and his first SAAA medal in the marathon.    He started 1972 with twentieth place in the National Cross Country Championship.    Later that year he really established himself as one of the ‘big boys’ on the distance running scene with victories such as Helensburgh in a time of 1:25:18 from Pat Maclagan (winner of the SAAA marathon the previous year) in 1:25:31, and the Scottish Marathon Club 12 miler the week afterwards in a new course record of 65:00 for the long 12 miles course.  (There seemed to be a thing at the time of courses being made hard – hilly marathon courses such as the ones from Westerlands were encouraged; the Helensburgh 16 miles was recognised as being at least quarter of a mile long; the Kirkie 10 was much further and Alastair Wood at his best could only manage 55 minutes for it; the Springburn 12 was undoubtedly more than that).   These races were chosen because they were in consecutive weeks and show the form that Willie was in at that point.   This continued until at Strathallan in August he took two minutes from his previous best time with 1:55:19 when finishing second to Alex Wight.    On the track in 1972 his best time for 10000 metres was 29:59.6 placing him fifth in the championships at Meadowbank and for 3000 metres 8:34.4 for fourth place at Grangemouth in mid September.

1973 started with nineteenth place in the National – his highest so far – and he went in to the summer season with another two minutes from a road race time when he was fourth at Helensburgh behind Lachie Stewart, Colin Martin and Jim Wight in 1:23:11.   Although he ran in the 1972 marathon he was unplaced in it but in 1973 he was seventh in a real star-studded field in 2:26:38 which ranked him eighth in the country..   The race was won by  Don Macgregor followed by Jim Wight, Rab Heron, Tony Moore, Colin Youngson, Martin Craven,. Willie Day and Bill Stoddart.   Alastair Wood, Fergus Murray and Alex Wight dropped out.     It should be noted that earlier in the season he had travelled to Maasluis in Holland for their International Marathon.   He entered himself and when they were offered a choice of accommodation he asked to be boarded at the home of a local policeman who showed him the ropes as far as organisation, etc, were concerned.   In the race itself Willie and Jeff Norman (England) moved away from the rest and as the race progressed they went further and further out on their own.   They went through 20 miles in a fraction outside 1:40 before Willie who, by his own reckoning afterwards, did not take enough fluid blew up at 23 miles and struggled home in sixteenth place.   Jeff Norman was able to ease back a bit but still won in 2:18:12.8.  In the picture below Norman is number 61

 In  1974 he showed what a tough competitor he had become when he started the season with a 49:40 for the Tom Scott race: although he was less than a minute behind the winner, he was fifth across the finishing line.   Ahead of him were Jim Dingwall (EC) 48:45; Doug Gunstone (EAC) 48:46; Martin Craven (ESH) 48:48 and Sandy Keith (EAC)!   Came the Clydebank to Helensburgh on 26th April he had another brilliant run winning it in 1:24:13 from Alistair McFarlane (1:24:57) – a future SAAA Marathon champion.      By the end of the summer season 1974 he had run 14:51.2 for 5000 metres and 31:07 for the 10000 metres in July. He again entered the Maasluis race where he was eighth this time in 2:25:24 (the winner did 2:21:11)  in May which ranked him twelfth in Scotland.   Coming in to the winter, he showed good form on the first stage of the Edinburgh to Glasgow in November when he was second on the first stage in 27:26: two seconds slower than stage winner Colin Youngson running for Edinburgh Southern and no less than twenty seconds up on third placed Jim Alder.     He finished the cross country season by being twenty first in the National.

Into the summer season in  1975 he ran the Clydebank to Helensburgh again in April, this time finishing third in his slowest time for several years (1:27:50) behind winner Phil Dolan (Clydesdale) in 1:26:25 and his own team-mate Willie Sharp who was second in 1:26:53.   Conditions always played a big part in times for this race – it was a straight run for 16 miles from East to West with the prevailing wind in the runners’ faces; in the year when all the good times were set (1973) the wind had changed direction to be a strong wind directly behind the runners for most of the race.   In May he won the SAAA medal that eluded him in the 10 Miles when he was second to Bill Yate of Maryhill who had a brief but successful career in athletics.   Yate won the West District 10000 metres track championship with Willie second in 30:34.2 and Phil Dolan third.   This was his quickest 10000 metres of the season.   In the SAAA Marathon at Meadowbank in June he ran 2:43:58 to finish a lowly fourteenth.  In August he was most unlucky not to win another SAAA track championship medal when he was fourth in the 10 Miles track championship at Carluke.   On a day of torrential rain a strong winds, Doug Gunstone won with a superb run of 48:55.4 from Colin Youngson in 49:00.8 and Martin Craven third in 49:40.   Willie was unlucky twice – once in not getting a medal and, a bit more cruel, once in being timed at 50:01 – just missing a sub 50 minute clocking in atrocious conditions.   In November he was asked by Falkirk Victoria to run the sixth stage for a good team in the Edinburgh to Glasgow: he did his by now usual good job and pulled them from ninth to seventh in a very competitive leg being less than a minute behind Dave Logue’s fastest time on the stage but 40 seconds quicker than Gerry Hannon of the Belfast Achilles club.  On the second stage for Falkirk Victoria in that relay was their new recruit:  the big boost for Falkirk that year came with the arrival of Jim Dingwall from Edinburgh AC.     Jim was a top class runner, an SAAA champion and a man with times below 3:50 for 1500 metres, below 14 minutes for 5000 metres and a top class road and country runner with a wealth of experience to offer.  In the National for Edinburgh Athletic Club in 1974 he finished thirteenth and was out of the medal winning team since the other runners in the club were 1st, 2nd, 5th, 8th, 10th and 11th!   When his job took him to the BP Plant at Grangemouth the nearest club was FVH.   He was popular, friendly and a hard trainer.    He added a lot to the Falkirk scene.    Jim’s first run in the Edinburgh to Glasgow for Falkirk Victoria was in 1975 when he ran the very tough second stage and brought the team from fourteenth to eighth.   He and Willie became firm friends.   They trained together and maybe Willie gained even more self belief from the relationship.   Whatever the case, there were benefits all round from that particular move.

Finishing the Clydebank to Helensburgh

On the track in 1976, his best times were 31:02.8 for second in the West District 10000 metres championship at Coatbridge on 19th June, 14:54.0 for 5000 metres at the SAAA Championships in Meadowbank for ninth place and 9:43.0 for third in the District Steeplechase Championship at Coatbridge on 29th May.  Having started the summer well with a victory over Alistair McFarlane in the Dunky Wright 5.4 miles race at Clydebank, his marathon best was in the star studded field at Rotherham on 8th May.   This race was the trial for the Montreal Olympics and it was described as follows by Colin Youngson and Fraser Clyne in “A Hardy Race”.

“All over Britain marathon runners trained harder than ever for the trial at Rotherham on May 8th.   On a hot day over a hilly course, a pack of at least forty were still together at five miles.   The pace was remorseless and the competition intense.   Many cracked before the three medallists – and Olympic representatives – reached the finish.   Barry Watson (2:15:08), Jeff Norman and Keith Angus were the ones who succeeded that day.   Even Ron Hill, and that other great Ian Thompson, European and Commonwealth champions, failed to make the team.   Sandy Keith impressed in sixth place (2:19:02) and Don Macgregor 12th, Doug Gunstone 14th, Alistair McFarlane 27th, Jim Dingwall 30th, Colin Youngson 40th and Willie Day 42nd (but still in 2:27:59).”

Then in November 1976 the Falkirk team won third place medals in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay.   Jim Dingwall ran on the second stage and brought them from twelfth to first with 28:34 which was the fastest time of the day for that stage.  Willie ran the tough sixth stage and with the third fastest time of the day behind Dave Logue and Doug Gunstone kept them in the third position that he started with.   the other team members held on and at the finish they were well clear of fourth  placed Victoria Park.   The club runners were all training and racing well and it showed in the National Cross Country Championships at the start of 1977 when they were fourth team with Willie in his best ever place of ninth in the individual race.   He was a bit amused or bemused, not sure which, by being told that 9th place made him non-travelling reserve’.   He had however already raced in San Silvestre at New Year in a representative race with Jim Dingwall and Allister Hutton and finished twentieth.

That year he had another good summer on the track with his times of 30:35.2 for 10000 and 14:59.9 being well up to standard –  but his summer 1977 will be remembered for one race – the SAAA Marathon where he finished second to Jim Dingwall.  It’s back to ‘A Hardy Race’ for the actual report.

“1977 was to see the fastest ever Scottish Marathon Championship until 1999 (the race in 1999 was thrown open to all the runners in the Dunfermline to Edinburgh marathon and the first three places were filled by a Mexican, a Pole and a Kenyan – BMA)  Once again it was over the usual Meadowbank course on a warm day.   The main man was that schoolboy 100 metres sprinter turned middle-distance and road runner, Jim Dingwall: the ‘Guv’nor’ as he was known at Edinburgh University or ‘The Head Waiter’ as he was cursed by those who had suffered his famed kick to the finishing tape.   Jim writes “I had been blown away so many times in the SAAA 5000 metres by Dave Black of England that I thought I’d better try the marathon.   I had always been fascinated by those hardy souls charging off for Longniddry while the posers ponced around the track at Meadowbank.”   Jim ran over 4000 miles in 1977 including many weeks of over 80 miles and no less than 96 in the week of the SAAA marathon championship.   Team spirit in Falkirk Victoria Harriers was excellent at the time, and he trained with other club members on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays if there wasn’t a race.    “Guys like John Pentecost, John McGarva, Joe Gibson, Willie Sharp and Willie Day made sure there were plenty of hard sessions.   Recovery runs were from his home in Falkirk to his work in Grangemouth; and back.  

In the SAAA Marathon) Jim Dingwall, confident but uncharacteristically,  led from the start passing 5 miles in 25 minutes exactly.   By 10 miles (51:12) he had opened a two second gap on Sandy Keith who had 20 seconds on Colin Youngson, Willie Day, Martin Craven and Dave Clark with Phil Dolan and Alistair Blamire another 30 seconds down.   By half way Willie Day had made a big effort and caught Dingwall and Keith.   The three leaders recorded 67:04, 50 seconds clear of Youngson and Clark.   Dingwall surged strongly after 15 miles and passed 20 miles in 1:43:08, more than a minute clear of Keith and Day.  …  Into the Stadium to rousing applause.   Whoopee!   the added thrill was to be followed home by Willie Day for a Falkirk one-two.”   Jim broke the existing championship record by 45 seconds with 2:16:05 which has never been beaten by a Scot.   Willie Day won silver in 2:17:56 and Sandy Keith bronze in 2:18:52.”     Later that year he went to Enschede with Jim where he was 77th in 2:31:20.

Willie himself reckons that this was his best ever race and on reflection feels that he could maybe have won it.   It was as he says “Hammer and Tongs” right from the start with Jim, Sandy and himself really pushing on.   When Jim moved out after 15 miles, Willie knew he had a 2:16 marathon runner beside him and decided to stay with him.   When Sandy dropped back relatively soon thereafter. Jim was too far away to be caught.   Every corner he turned, Willie could see Jim ahead and that quarter of a mile that he had snatched early on was what won the race for him.  In addition Willie had had a hard road race just two weeks before the marathon: it was in the very hilly Bearsden Highland Games 10 miles  where he ran away from Colin Youngson over the last mile to win in just over 50 minutes which is a fast time for that trail.   In August that year he, Jim Dingwall and Colin Youngson travelled to the famous Enschede Marathon in Holland and the story of that race is in Colin’s tribute to Willie. at the top of the page.    The picture is of Willie in the Enschede and there are two more on the ‘Gallery’ page.

 Willie’s marathon career of 30 marathon races was fairly extensive and took him all over the British Isles and to the continent of Europe.  His first ever marathon was in the Scottish Championship on 16th May 1970 when he was 14th in 2:38:14 and then in 1971 he was third in 2:26.   He went on to race wherever there was a good race.  These included

In Scotland: The Aberdeen Milk Marathon 3 times, Glasgow, Lochaber, Edinburgh

AAA’s Championships:   Coventry, Milton Keynes, Rotherham, Rugby, Sandbach

London twice;

In Europe: Enschede (Holland), Le Quesnoy (France), Maasluis (Holland) twice.

His two races in London were not among his best – on each occasion he had been away ski-ing with David Lothian in France and Austria and came back undertrained, under raced and just a bit tired for a marathon!   The race in Le Quesnoy was in  July 1980 and Jim Dingwall won in 2:28:40 with the Falkirk team of Jim, Willie, Davie Lothian and Mike Logue second.

Like many of the top endurance runners of his time, he did not do much racing as a veteran – he did some races and was picked for two representative races on the strength of his running in the Allan Scally Relays which were the trials for the teams.   Bob Gray saw a  race in the Hague in 1989 advertised and Bob, Willie and Kenny Rankine (who was not yet a vet) travelled and in the race Willie was second vet.   He was approached in 1976 by the mother of John Pentecost (one of his FVH team-mates) who was a teacher in Falkirk:   Among her pupils were several girls who were interested in athletics and the result that Willie helped found the Falkirk Victoria Harriers Ladies Section which is now a large and thriving section.    He himself is a very good coach although most, if not all, his athletes are field event athletes.

Although we have concentrated on his road running with a wee look at track times and medals, Willie was good on all surfaces running well enough over the country to have several representative appearances for Scottish teams as already noted, and he also ran in several English Cross Country Championships – at Norwich, at Luton and at Parliament Hill twice.   He also ran in some hill races – fourth in the prestigious Carnegie Hill Race, sixth in the Half Ben Nevis race, unplaced in the Glen Bash and second to club-mate Sam Downie in the classic Spean Bridge to Fort William race.   I haven’t even mentioned his running on the half-marathon scene where he raced at Alloa, Stirling and many others including the Luddon Half Marathon at Kirkintilloch which he won from its usual high standard of entries.    Road, country, track or hills – Willie   Day was a top class athlete on all surfaces.

When I asked Willie what he got out of the sport, he started by saying the satisfaction and the camaraderie and then he interrupted himself to say, very strongly, “I just loved running; I loved to run!”   He liked meeting different folk, going places, then when you think you’re quite good you get beaten and it puts things in perspective.   He wouldn’t have changed any of it.   And when you think of it “I just loved running, I loved to run”, sums up what everyone who has had a lengthy involvement in the sport feels.   It’s one of the things that unite runners of all generations from Dunky Wright and Donald Robertson right through to the present day.    Willie is currently working hard with his club, Falkirk Victoria Harriers in several different roles – coach, official, administrator – following the Harrier tradition of doing what his club needs him to do.