Author: The Author

Several of the most popular athletes are here with Eddie Knox and Lachie Stewart on the extreme right.

The website has been running for several years now and the number of visits has increased year on year.  A kind of Oscars for the site – the DotScot Awards.  The biggest number of hits on a single day was over 700 but this year the highest number was almost exactly 600.   There have been 98,471 page views over the last 12 months, the highest monthly total was 5,549 in April 2019 and the top 10 categories were as follows:

1.   Who’s Who of Distance Running – 2, 409
2.   Marathon Stars – 1,392
3.   Elite Endurance – 1,382
4.   The Milers – 951
5.   The Fast Pack – 702
6.   A Hardy Race – 625
7.   The Veterans – 582
8.   The Chasers – 522
9.   Marathons – 493
10.   The Professionals – 451

These are the categories but we can look at them more closely.  Bear in mind however that the pages with most links on them will, or should have, most views.    eg Elite Endurance has many more names on the page than The Milers and that would probably cover the difference of less than 400.  Bearing that in mind, the relatively high position of The Chasers is perhaps a bit surprising.   Who’s Who is comparatively recent in appearance so it’s dominant position says something about what the readers want to see.  The most popular individual page for the Who’s Who was the letter C with 542 visits, followed by B (486), Mc Alinden to McParland (429) , VWY (390) and S (389).   The most popular Marathon Star was Leslie Watson with over 1,000 views with Donald Macgregor 400 behind (640) , Donald Ritchie (559) and Jim Dingwall on 557.   On the Elite Endurance page, it was Eddie Knox top on 684, followed by Lachie Stewart at 664 and Liz McColgan on 356.   Most popular miler in the overall rankings  was 800m runner (?) Tom McKean with 735 views.   Carol Sharp and Graham Williamson were second and third most popular over the year.

Lesley Watson wins the Luddon Strathkelvin Half Marathon.

Individuals:

1.  Leslie Watson – 1,034
2.   John Freebairn, Coach – 753  
3.   Tom McKean –  735
4.   Eddie Knox – 684
5.   Lachie Stewart – 664
6.   Donald Macgregor – 640
7.   Stuart Hogg, Sprinter – 599
8.   Donald Ritchie – 559
9.   Jim Dingwall – 557
10.   Mel Edwards – 535

Leslie Watson is by far the most visited of the individual profiles, almost 300 more views than John Freebairn and Tom McKean.   A good athlete as a teenager with SWAAA titles and international vests, she came into her own when the marathon boom started and she became probably the most prolific of the top class runners produced by Scotland at that time.   Like all the others, just click on her name above to go to the page and see just how good she actually was.

Number two among the individuals is an interesting.   John Freebairn was a very good athlete indeed as a youth but he was blacked as an amateur when he chose to play professional football because as a student he really needed the money.   After several years as a pro athlete he was re-instated as an amateur and became an international coach and veteran athlete.   A really outstanding athlete he would probably have competed for GB had it not been for the rupture between Pro and Amateur athletics.  His pages were all well visited with his next most popular page being  John Freebairn – In the Beginning which had 485 visits.  There were three other pages – As a Professional (107), As a Veteran (125) and As Others See him (201).

Stuart Hogg in seventh place was another who wanted as a boy to run in the Olympics but had to race as a pro because he lived in an area known as a hotbed of professional athletics and because he lived three bus journeys away from the nearest club.   It is kind of strange that three of the professional athletes that we profiled – and the three which were most viewed – had not wanted to be professional in the first place.   Be that as it may, Stuart’s other pages were visited as follows : As A Coach (243),  Career Achievements (127),  Athletes (159), Talking About Stuart (71) and To the Top (56), 

Tom McKean topping the Milers was a bit of a surprise, I think, because he was an 800 runner.  However wherever he was placed he was the subject of a lot of interest as a runner – and as a runner he was much better and more successful than many suspected.   Six of the top ten are no longer with us, having died in the past year Eddie Knox, Donald Macgregor, Don Ritchie, Jim Dingwall and Mel Edwards as well as John Freebairn.   All top class athletes, all highly respected and all really missed from the scene.  Lachie of course, El Lachie to our Spanish friends, is one of the most respected athletes of all time and we were all saddened to hear of his recent amputation of part of his left leg.   The good news is that he is progressing well and his recent video on BBC testified to that.

A non-Scot of interest is Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon.   When they were writing up Kathy Switzer as the first woman to run in the event, and the Press was almost vilifying Scot Jock Semple, it seemed about right to point out that it was Gibb not Switzer who was first – and was congratulated by Jock afterwards.   That particular post has been read hundreds of times and continues to be read several times each month.

John Freebairn

Having had a look at the various categories there was a vast range of events in which the athletes competed = road, country, track, hills, etc and the preferences seemed to go with what might be expected with three long distance road races in the top four.

Events:

1.   Glasgow Marathon – 1,283
2.   Two Bridges – 815
3.   The Rangers Sports – 552
4.   Aberdeen Marathon – 393
5.   Dundee Marathon – 453
6.   Edinburgh to Glasgow – 417

Just click on the link – the name of the event you want to see – above for the story of each event.   It is probably true to say, though, that the one which produces most correspondence is the Two Bridges Race although it is a close run thing with the Rangers Sports.  

Glasgow Marathon 1985

The next page to go up will be the top three in each category – the top three Milers (men and women separately), the top three Steeplechasers (men only – the website deals with the period 1945 to 1990 and there was no women’s steeplechase at that time), the top three marathon runners (men) and top three marathon runners (women).

Graham Crawford

Lyn Harding

Don Ritchie, left, winner of five of the first six Moray Marathons

The oldest still running marathon in Scotland, the first Moray Marathon was held in 1982 and since then it has developed into a 3 in 1 running event incorporating the Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K Road Races. In 2014 the venue was changed from the Cooper Park to the Glen Moray Distillery, and was run on a different course.

The 2006 event celebrated the 25th anniversary of the marathon with Simon Pride (Forres Harriers) finishing in 2:39:53 to win the event for the 5th time and Kate Jenkins (Gala Harriers) first woman home in 2:58:29 to win her 8th Moray Marathon. (Kate went on to win this marathon an amazing 14 times!)

Kate Jenkins: 14 times winner of the Moray Marath0n

The marathon was part of a real festival of running wit associated 10K and half-marathon events.   The marathon results are below and the results of the other two races are available at these links:     The Moray 10K                     The Moray Half-Marathon

Course records (Finish at Cooper park 1982-2013)

• Marathon
  • Men – Simon Pride – Keith & District – 2 h 21 min 17 s
  • Women – Trudi Thomson –Pitreavie AAC 2 h 49 min 43 s
• Half marathon
  • Men – Graham Crawford – Springburn Harriers – 1 h 06 min 09 s
  • Women – Lyn Harding – Houghton AC – 1h 14 min 58 s
• 10 K
  • Men – Chris Hall – Aberdeen AAC – 29 min 46 s
  • Women – Lyn Harding – Houghton AC – 33 min 58 s

Course records (Finish at Glen Moray Distillery since 2014)

Marathon

Men – Wayne Dashper – Forres Harriers – 2 h 45 min 40 s (2014)

Women – Debbie Moore – Unattached – 3 h 16 min 12 s (2015)

Half marathon

Men – John Newsom – Inverness Harriers – 1h 12 min 55 s (2015)

Women – Sarah Liebnitz – Inverness Harriers – 1 h 22 min 10 s (2014)

10 K

Men – Gordon Lennox – Forres Harriers – 33 min 10 s (2014 & 2015)

Women – Sarah Liebnitz – Inverness Harriers – 38 min 16 s (2016)

A SELECTION OF RACE REPORTS

Don Ritchie, the legendary ultra-distance runner, wrote the following in his training diary. “On Sunday the 15^th of August 1982, I ran the first ‘Moray Marathon’ in warm and windy conditions. I went into the lead at about 6 miles and pulled away from Ian Moncur and John Robertson, passing 10 miles in 54.30 and 15 miles in 1.21.04. I was running well and felt good. In Lossiemouth I began to feel tired and had difficulty with the strong headwind by the harbour. I passed 20 miles in 1.49.58. Over the last four miles I found the conditions difficult and was getting dehydrated, so my pace dropped considerably and I was glad to reach the finish in 2.29.36. Alastair Wood (former European marathon record-holder) came through for second in 2.35.02, well ahead of Ian Moncur, who finished in 2.43.48.

There was a feeling among the runners that the course was over-distance, so I would have to try to get it measured by a Jones Counter, on a bicycle calibrated over a measured mile. Adrian Stott from Edinburgh, an accredited course measurer, agreed to assess the course so he, Elgin marathon runner Duncan Davidson, who also had a Jones Counter and a calibrated bicycle, and I cycled the course on a summer evening. The measurement indicated that the present course was 315 yards beyond the standard marathon distance, so the route would be modified for the next edition of the race.” (Donald always treated the Moray Marathon as merely a hard training run – but still won it five times!)

Fraser Clyne (Metro Aberdeen Running Club, above winning in Morpeth) was a couple of weeks short of his 37th birthday when he travelled to Elgin for the 1992 Scottish Championship race. The event, held along with a 10km and half marathon as part of the Macallan Moray Festival of Running, was organised by Moray Road Runners. It started and finished in Elgin’s Cooper Park and the course followed a series of quiet rural roads past Burghead and Lossiemouth. This was the furthest north the championship had ever been held.

Although Clyne was taking part in the championship for the first time he still wasn’t taking the event too seriously. His training diary reveals that 90 miles had been run in the seven days before the Moray race so he was hardly well rested for the challenge.

John Duffy of IBM Spango Valley (formerly of Greenock Wellpark Harriers – and later of Shettleston Harriers) got the race off to a spritely start on a bright but breezy day. The stiff climb out of Elgin after two miles resulted in a slowing of the tempo and soon a small group which included Duffy, Clyne, George Reynolds of Forres, Aberdeen-based New Zealander Stuart Mills, Ayr’s Alistair Stewart and the Teviotdale pair Nicol Maltman and Andy Fair settled in at the head of the field. Duffy seized the initiative approaching the 12 mile mark by increasing the pace and quickly pulling away from the group which immediately began to break up. Clyne allowed the Spango Valley man to open a lead of 100 metres before setting off in pursuit. The Aberdeen athlete quickly pulled in his rival and swept past to open up a gap which stretched to almost three minutes by the end of the race. Clyne coasted home in 2.25.38. It was the slowest time he had ever run for a marathon but a course record nonetheless. Duffy collected the silver medal in 2.28.25 and Mills was a clear third in 2.30.16.

‘I just did enough to win,’ Clyne said at the time. ‘I wanted to win the title but I also didn’t want to interrupt my training which is aimed at the California International Marathon in December.’ (Clyne later ran 2.20.5 in the American race).

Trudi Thomson of Babcock Pitreavie AC, who would later become an international class marathon and ultra-distance runner, won the women’s race in 3.14.30. Fiona Nicholson and Clare Slatter were well behind in second and third respectively.

1995 featured a very close race in the Moray Marathon. David Lancaster (York), who won the Moray Marathon in 1993, 1994 and 1999, and was involved in a competitive battle to retain his title. He finished third this year in 2.35.30. Ultra-distance star Alan Reid (Peterhead AAC), with a tremendous sprint, won in 2.34.43 from George Sim (Moray Road Runners) in 2.34.45. Lynda Bain (Garioch Road Runners), a former GB Marathon International, finished first woman in 3.06.49.

The Moray Marathon was the chosen venue for the Scottish Marathon Championship in 1997, so Fraser Clyne travelled to Elgin to bid for a fifth title in 1997 at the age of 42. Interest in the championship had dwindled to an all-time low and even some of the people involved with the organisation of the event were unaware it had been given championship status. ‘When I handed the trophy over to them before the start of the race an official asked what it was for,’ Clyne said.

The race itself was over within the first two miles. On a warm and blustery day Stevie Ogg of FMC Carnegie Harriers kept with Clyne for a little more than ten minutes before dropping well off the pace. Clyne, who had been worried by a foot injury in the preceding weeks, was able to relax and cruised away to win by more that ten minutes in 2.29.39. Ogg achieved his aim of securing a London qualifying time when finishing second in 2.39.39; while Londoner Steven Kovacs seemed bemused at receiving a championship bronze medal after taking third place in 2.45.18 – it was the slowest medal-winning time for more than 30 years.

Kate Jenkins of the Carnethy Hill Running Club was a convincing winner of the women’s race when recording 3.18.07 to finish well ahead of Pat Donald of Deeside Runners (3.44.38) and Val Goldie of Milburn Harriers (3.51.48).

David Lancaster won three times: in 1993 (2.30.10, well clear of the opposition); 1994 (2.33.31); and 1999 aged 42 (2.46.37) on a very hot, humid day which made the marathon ‘a gruelling slog’. He was also third in 1998, behind Simon Pride and Sam Graves from Fife AC. 

The 1999 report had the headline: “Lancaster does it the hard way”. He ‘came home ten minutes clear of the field’. ‘This was Lancaster’s first race as a veteran and he had to win it the hard way by running solo for most of the race. “The main thing,” he said, “is the mental anguish of being on your own the whole way. Mentally it is very hard, but the good thing about the Moray Marathon is that there is plenty to see en route.” For the last five years, David Lancaster has been a regular visitor to the Moray 3 in 1 event, which also incorporates a half marathon and 10k. He combines the race with a family holiday in the area.”

“Despite the heat taking its toll on her legs by the finish, Kate Jenkins clinched her third successive Moray Marathon Ladies’ Championship win in style. She was delighted to run a personal best of 3.03.56, which was good enough for fifth place overall. The Carnethy Hill Runner is the reigning Scottish Ladies’ Hill Running Champion and completed an amazing 40 miles on the hills just a week before tackling the marathon.’

Simon Pride (Keith and District, above) enjoyed his greatest triumph in May 1999, in France, where he won the World title with a UK road best of 6 hours 24 minutes 05 seconds. It was a superb performance which took the ultra-marathon world by surprise. Even more surprising was Simon’s decision a year later not to defend the World title. ‘I need a break from ultras,’ he said at the time. He decided to concentrate on marathons for a while and, when the opportunity to bid for a Scottish title on his home patch presented itself, Pride was in no mood to miss out.

He was determined to win the 2000 Scottish championship – and equally keen to break the Moray Marathon course record of 2.25.38 set eight years earlier by Fraser Clyne. He achieved both with plenty to spare. Running on his own for almost the whole way, he took advantage of perfect conditions to stop the clock at 2.21.17. It was the quickest winning performance in the championships since 1984, the biggest winning margin ever, and was just 14 seconds outside his personal best set in London four months earlier.

Martin Ferguson (City of Edinburgh) was more than two and a half miles behind in second place (2.35.49) and Nick Milovsorov (Metro Aberdeen), who was ‘training for the Amsterdam marathon later in the year’ collected bronze in 2.40.04.

Kate Jenkins (Carnethy), who earlier in the summer had set a women’s record for the 95 miles race along the West Highland Way, in which she finished second overall, added another title to her growing list of endurance achievements, by taking the Scottish Women’s Championship in 3.04.21. Carol Cadger (Perth) won silver in 3.12.24 and Averil Dudek (Perth) struck bronze in 3.18.34

(Simon Pride’s concentration from 2000 onwards on the marathon distance paid dividends. He recorded an excellent personal best of 2:16:27 in the 2001 London event and represented his adopted country, Scotland, in the Manchester Commonwealth Games marathon in 2002, finishing 16^th.)

The 2001 Scottish Marathon Championships, for both Men and Women, started and finished in Elgin, as part of the Moray Marathons series on September 2nd. The Athletics Weekly report by Fraser Clyne was as follows.

“Simon Pride (Metro Aberdeen RC) retained the Scottish marathon title with a comfortable victory over a field of 162 runners, but women’s champion Trudi Thomson was in tears at the finish after missing the Commonwealth Games qualifying standards in tough conditions.

Pride, who clocked a Commonwealth qualifying time of 2.16.29 at London earlier this year, eased round the windswept course to finish in 2.28.34, well ahead of Martin Ferguson (City of Edinburgh – 2.32.50), who collected the silver medal for the second year in a row.

Ferguson had bravely tried to hold on to the former World 100km champion for much of the race but Pride proved to be much too strong over the last six miles. Robert Davidson (2.42.55) was third, while fourth placed Terry Coyle (2.43.48) was top M40.

The result virtually guarantees Pride a place in the Scottish team for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Manchester. He said, ‘I felt quite comfortable but there was a very strong headwind in the closing four miles which made things difficult. The time was unimportant. I just wanted to win and I’ve achieved that, so now I can relax. I’m happy.’

Pride also led Metro Aberdeen Running Club to the team title on a day when the North-East outfit also won the half marathon and 10k team trophies.

Trudi Thomson (Pitreavie AAC, above) became Scottish Women’s Marathon Champion, but came to the Moray race hoping to get the Games qualifying standard of 2.40 and the strong winds ruined any hopes she had of achieving that mark. She said, ‘I so wanted to get the standard. It was very hard in the first ten miles but, despite that, I was still on schedule at 20. Then it all fell away. I am so disappointed. I cannot believe how tough it was at the finish.’

Thomson, who was beaten by only six men, took little consolation from the fact that her 2.49.33 broke the course record of 2.51.09, set by Belgrave’s Frances Guy in 1987. Carol Cadger (Perth Strathtay) was second in 3.20.57 and Scarlett Courtney (Milne’s) took third spot in 3.21.54.”

Carol Cadger was a durable athlete who won the Scottish 50km title four times, in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002.

In 2003 Jamie Reid reduced his ten mile time to 48:51. Then on 31st August in the Elgin Moray Marathon in Elgin, over a much slower course, he retained his Scottish title in 2:34:08, still three minutes ahead of his closest rival James Snodgrass (Kilbarchan AAC – 2.37.20), with Andreas Merdes (Lothian RC 2.39.58) third.

2007: In Elgin, at the Moray Marathon, the Scottish Women’s Marathon title was won, for her fourth and final time, by Kate Jenkins (Carnethy HRC – 3.10.43); in front of K. McKinnon (Carnegie H – 3.16.27); and L Schumacher (3.18.09).

Jamie Reid (Cambuslang – 2.33.11) won his third Scottish Marathon title, gaining revenge on Simon Pride (Forres H – 2.33.46). Bronze medallist was David Gardiner (Kirkintilloch – 2.38.07).

Jamie Reid wrote very frankly about this race: “My most recent Scottish title was at Elgin in 2007 where I had my first marathon victory over Simon Pride. The previous day, my girlfriend Roisin and I had driven north as she was competing in a a six-a-side shinty tournament near Inverness for her club, Tir Connail Harps from Glasgow. I spent the afternoon watching the tournament, drinking diluting juice and eating large amounts of cake! Afterwards we drove to a B&B in Elgin where we checked in and went out for a meal. We settled for some pizza and relaxed talking about the shinty that afternoon and the race the next day. I wasn’t really nervous as I wasn’t expecting much as recent races hadn’t gone particularly well. I had hit the over-training button again as I had logged a tremendous mileage (maximum of 144 miles per week), switching to this after my best ever fifth place at the National Cross-Country Championships in February. It hadn’t improved me, only made me worse. Never mind, I entered the marathon, hoped for a solid run and then I could look forward to the autumn relays – my favourite part of the season. The morning of the race we had coffee in the hall after picking my number up. I saw that Simon Pride was entered, along with Adam Reid from Peterhead and David Gardiner from Kirkintilloch whom I knew fairly well.

Early pace was slow as the four of us settled down and let the countryside pass by. The day was warming up and there was little wind. I managed to get some drinks from Roisin as the race progressed, with the pace beginning to pick up as we passed Burghead (c14 miles). Simon and David pulled away and I knew it was too fast for me. In the distance I could see Simon moving ahead of David, but as we neared Lossiemouth, I could see I was gaining some ground. The sun by now was shining fiercely and I could sense a silver medal. I managed to pass David in Lossiemouth offering words of encouragement to each other, and I now looked to see how far ahead Simon was. He was out of sight.

Still, always believe – funny things can happen in the marathon. I finally caught sight of him as we entered the woods around 20 miles and I checked his lead in seconds. I can’t remember exactly but it must have been at least a minute. After a mile or so, I checked again – it was now around six or seven seconds less. A quick calculation in my head told me it would be close if we maintained the same pace, so I pushed on. Three miles to go, I could see Simon more clearly now and I calculated I could catch him by the end if we both maintained the same pace. Roisin was at this point in the car and she drove quickly back to the finish.

Every step was taking me closer to Simon now and the Scottish title was back in my head. What will happen when I catch him? How much has he left? Is he tiring or just unaware that I’m coming through? I caught Simon just as we entered the outskirts of Elgin, around a mile to go, and I decided to give it a push on to try to discourage any attempt to try to stay with me. Thankfully for me it worked and I went on to win in 2:33:11 with Simon not far behind and David taking bronze – marathon title Number Three! A slow time for all three of us, and perhaps highlighting the dropping standard, but it was one of the few marathon races I’ve run which had been tactical and a real ‘race’. I knew that, due to injuries, Simon had been past his best (although he had won the Scottish Masters M35 title in 2006), and neither David nor I had been at our peak, but it remained a very happy day for me. The rest was spent celebrating with ice-creams in Lossiemouth before driving south to Aviemore where we spent the night and I stuffed myself with burger and chips, washed down with chocolate fudge cake and ice cream!”

2014: Fraser Clyne reported on the controversial (and very last) race: “Kilmarnock’s Connell Drummond got more miles for his money than expected when winning the Glen Moray Marathon at Elgin. Race organisers were left with a major headache after runners were directed off the proper course in the early stages of the race. Despite the best efforts of everyone involved to resolve the situation, the competitors ended up running anything from two to four miles over the prescribed regular 26.2 miles distance.

Drummond, who has a best time of 2.41.13 set at London in April, reckons he ran closer to 30 miles after completing the route in 3.16.14. He said, “I was hoping to run faster than I did at London but obviously that was never going to happen once we were put the wrong way. I was leading at the time but when they tried to sort things out I found myself behind a whole pile or runners. I reckon I had to pass 15-20 guys to get back into the lead and I’m just happy to win, although the finishing time doesn’t mean anything now.”

Mary McCutcheon (Giffnock North) was second across the line in 3.21.05, while John Goodall (Keith and District) finished third in 3.25.11. Elaine Armour (Bracknell Forest) was second woman in 3.49.23 and Carol Massie (Fraserburgh Running Club) was third, first over-50, in 3.49.45.”

In the days when every club member received a booklet or card as evidence of having paid their sub or on joining the club, there was a great variety of what the various clubs produced.   One of the very best was the Bellahouston Harriers booklet which contained much more than most other clubs in the land.   The page size was only three and a half inches  by  two and a half and the whole contained a lot of social history – eg note the reference to National Service on p 14.   Thanks to Jimmy Irvine for letting us copy the booklet/

…

Every club used to issue cardboard or cardboard and paper handbooks or membership cards annually to their members.   Much better than an online list of club information, they had club rules and regulations, club trophies and their holders and fixture lists as the basic information with other details tending to vary from club to club.   Two of the Monkland Harriers handbooks are below.   Thanks to Joe Small for forwarding them

Part Four really was a long chapter – over 100 pages plus photographs, hence the breaking it down into several smaller sections.   This is a particularly interesting part of the book for me since it deals with the time when Fred Lumley was in charge of the arena and there were several items of significance took place in the period.   This bit includes the period of the 1914 – 18 war.  

Fred Lumley was a giant of a man in athletics giving tireless service, and money, to the sport in both its amateur and professional forms.   His Lumley Shield is still awarded for the winning team in the Scottish National Cross-Country Championship, for instance.   Chapter Four deals with him and his time at Powderhall.

The photograph above shows Alan Simpson winning a typical early 1960’s domestic race.   The races, whether won by Simpson, Stan Taylor, Brian Kent Smith, Mike Wiggs, Brian Hall or any of the other top UK runners, were typically three and a quarter laps of keeping an eye on each other with a final desperate sprint finish.   Even runners who came from abroad fell into that pattern.  Have a look at these results of the AAA’s Mile Championships at the start of the 1960’s.   

The times were not slow but the fact that the athletes were content to run as a pack until the final ‘burn up’ indicated to Frank Horwill and a number of other athletics coaches, officials and aficionados a lack of desire to commit themselves.    This was reflected in the coverage of the AAA’s championships where over the years in question the headlines were for Robbie Brightwell, Frank Salvat, Gordon Pirie, John Savidge and others with the mile at times not even mentioned in the reports.  The Daily Mirror report on the 1961 version, run on a wet and heavy track, read as follows:

 That’s the entire report and the final sentence stands out.  Almost the entire report was given over to Gordon Pirie who won the Three Miles.   That particular event was getting lots of headlines with Bruce Tulloh and Frank Salvat getting more than their share of the AAA’s headlines over the years.  Frank Horwill was  maybe a bit more vociferous than some others.  That was always the case though: I remember at a BMC two day AGM in Liverpool in the 1990’s watching coverage of a major Games with others when Frank stood up, announced “I am going to leave the room to throw up!”   The race on the screen was showing a heavily strapped up Said Aouita leading the field slowly round the tracK.   Frank thought like many of us that the other runners were showing too much respect to an injured runner – instead of having a go at winning it, they were in effect conceding the race to him and thinking only about second place. 

The tactic of sitting in and sprinting has its merits – Brian Hewson won the 1958 European Championships 1500m by doing just that, and, for the Scots the outstanding example of sitting and kicking was Lahie Stewart winning the 10000m at the Commonwealth Games in 1970.   At any rate, there was a feeling in the country at large that the ‘wait-and-see’ tactic had been elevate to an art form by that generation of milers while the rest of the world was passing us by.   Look at the result of the 1500m in the Rome Olympics:

1.   Elliott  3:35.6;  2.   Jazy  3:38.4;  3.  Rozsavolgyi 3:39.2; 4.  Waern  3:40.0;  5.    Vamos  3:40.8;  6. Burleson  3:40.9; 5;  7. Bernard  3:41.5; 8. Grelle  3:45.0; 9.  Hammarsland  3:45.0

The British 1500m and mile rankings for 1960 were 

The best British runner, on his best day of the year would have finished eighth in the Final.   In the 1962 European Championships, the first three were Jazy (3:40.9), Baran (3:42.1) and Salinger (3:42.2) and the only British runner in the Final was Berisford in 3:45.2.   Cornell and Taulor were eliminated in the Heats in the identical time of 3:49.9.   Also in 1962, the Empire Games was won by Snell in 4:04.6 from Davies in 4:05.1, Sullivan (Rhodesia) 4:06.6 and Blue in 4:08.4.   The two Britons in the Final were Taylor in 4:12.7 and Tulloh (formerly of Scotland) in 4:22.1, both of England.   Domestic Rankings for 1962 are as follows.

Mile

Boring races over the classic mile distance, lack of success in any of the major Games (Olympic, European, Empire) and a lack of any perceived action by the governing led to Frank and some colleagues taking their own action.   That was the situation when the best British milers, like BMC member number one, Hugh Barrow, received a letter from Frank about a new club being set up to foster Miling in Britain to be called the British Milers Club.   That was the start of something which was to become the tremendous success that is the BMC that we all know and which has done so much for British middle distance running.