Author: The Author

George Lindsay, Palm’s Dad

He was a Hawkhill Harrier in 1928 and appears in a club photo of that date.   As athletes, both George and Margaret ran to a good standard in club championships and events, in inter-club meetings and in open sports contests all across the region.   They ran as individuals with George winning races at 100 yards, 220 yards and 440 yards and Margaret competing in 100 yards and 880 yards in open meetings, she won a Mile race in the club championships quite comfortably and both ran in winning relay teams for Hawkhill Harriers.   They even competed together in a wheelbarrow race at the combined Hawkhill and Errol sports meeting in 1938.   Margaret’s wider family was also involved in the Hawkhill camp with William Palmer winning shot, discus and javelin competitions at many meetings over several years and Betty Palmer also competing for the club.     George even won the club 5 mile championship early in his career with the Hawks in May 1927.   Like all club members of the day, he did what his club needed him to do. 

There were no veterans races in those days and like some others he gradually moved into officiating.   He worked as a Starter at local events and also got into judging. For example, he was a judge at the Perth to Dundee Walk on May 20th 1961. 

Dundee Hawkhill Harriers was one of the very first Ladies Clubs or Sections in the country.   It was established in November 1928 and won the national cross-country championship several times.   Margaret Palmer was also a club member, being a member at least in 1931-32, and she also appears in a club photo with the date printed on it,.   It was very big for a Ladies Section of the time with and amazing total of 41 members were there in the photo.   There may have been more as some might not have been there on the day. The family still have a cup which has “DHH Ladies Section 1934-35 Margaret Palmer” engraved on it.

Possibly the earliest women’s club group photo.   Taken right at the start of the women’s cross-country movement, they won the SWCCU Championships  twice, were second three times and third once in the seven years between 1932 and 1938  times.  A very big section, there are 41 women in all in the photograph.  Palm’s Mum is in the second back row, five from the right.

She came back into the sport when Palm started running and got involved with the Hawks becoming their President for a few years.  She was a member of the Scottish Women’s Cross-Country Union and was elected President of that body.  Serving in that position in 1973-74; 1974-75; 1975-76   she went all over the country and abroad with teams in this capacity.  As in many other such bodies, Presidency was only for three years.  

Among the international team duties she undertook were the following: 1974 IAAF World Champtionships Monza, 1976 she was at IAAF meeting at Chepstow, 1978 IAAFCC Glasgow, not sure if that was just as President or perhaps some were team manager.”

To pick up on these meetings, which were all big meetings with the best teams in the world at the time competing.

•  in 1969 she was at ICCU meeting at Clydebank where the Scottish women’s team in 1969 finished fifth with Margaret McSherry leading the team in in 18th place.
• in 1974 in Monza, Italy, there were 12 teams taking part and the Scottish team, led by Mary Stewart, was eighth.   Palm finished 63rd in the race.
• in 1976 in Chepstow, Wales, again 12 teams contested the issue and the team was again led by Mary Stewart, ninth this time, and finished ninth.
• in 1978, in Glasgow, 18 countries took part and Scotland, led by Judith Shepherd in 22nd place finished 16th.    

Margaret Lindsay on the right with Mrs Christie officiating in the sunshine.

Both men’s and women’s cross-country unions had a rule that you could only hold the office for three years.   For the men, the President was also the representative to the BAAB for three years.   One former President said that three years were no use – for the first year you were playing yourself in, you could do something in the second year but in the third year you were on your way out.  It is said that the women were the same but there is no solid evidence for this.   Margaret, Palm and Eleanor were all President of the Union but there is no list of Presidents anywhere with their dates in office.   The programme for the international in Clydebank in 1969 lists both Margaret and Palm among the list of officials.   As a team courier, Margaret is clearly among the great and the good of Scottish athletics from both men and women’s organisations.   Names like Jim Morton, Brian Goodwin, Colin Shields and Alex Johnston on the men’s side, and Pat Spence, Molly Wilmoth, Ishbel Peel and Aileen Lusk are well known in athletics circles with almost all having been presidents of at least one governing body.   Back in Dundee, the club was recognised their achievements and both were made life members of their club – as was Palm in her turn.   

The Scottish Team for San Sebastian in 1971.   Margaret, as team manager for the Women’s team, is fourth from the right.

Neither George nor Margaret restricted themselves to the country however.  They were active on the track and field circuit.   This was in In addition to being seriously involved in cross-country running.  They officiated at local meetings, district and national championships, and of course when the 1970 Commonwealth Games came to Edinburgh, they were both involved there.   George had progressed very rapidly through the ranks to become a Grade 1 field official when Margaret was still at level two, but she progressed steadily.   

In 1968 Margaret Lindsay was East District representative on the SWAAA General Committee.   Not listed as a committee member in 1969, she re-appears on the committee as the SWCCU representative.  As far as officiating goes, she was a Grade 3 field judge from 1968 – 1970 and  a Grade 2 from 1970 to 1985.    So in 1970 when she officiated at the Games, she was a Grade 2 judge.   Have a look at the names on the page extracted from the official Games programme.   Anybody who mattered was there, but more importantly, they were all very competent officials – they would not have been there otherwise.   You will note of course that Mrs AW Lindsay should read Mrs MA Lindsay.

In September 1973 the European Cup Final was held in Scotland – again in Edinburgh.   This time it was not a Scottish team but a Great Britain team in the final of one of the hardest fought competitions in athletics with every single point hotly contested.   There were only six countries involved – the Soviet Union, East Germany, West Germany, France, Britain, and Finland.   There was also a bit of an ‘atmosphere’ about it because of the drugs and doping issues and the rivalry between the two German teams was intense.   The Lindsays were right in the thick of it as the field events, particularly the throws, were the main focus.   A harder job than the Commonwealth Games had been.   

John running in the SCCU Championships, probably Currie in 1972

With no previously known form – at least to those of us in the West and I suspect to many in the East of Scotland – John Gunstone was an unknown quantity when he arrived at Glasgow University in season 1971/72.   Who was he?   He was the second of the three Gunstone children.   Older brother Doug was well known by then and his younger sister Penny was yet to make her mark in the sport.  He ran mainly for Glasgow University between 1971 and 1975 joining a very good squad of runners  which included Olympian Paul Bannon, Commonwealth Games athlete David Logue and a whole group of good standard club runners.  John’s career as an athlete was successful but relatively short because his real interests lay elsewhere.   Mainly a road and cross-country runner he did run on the track in summer and was ranked nationally in both 1973 and 1974 which were his best years.

1973: 10,000 metres in 31.55.0 which ranked him 22nd in Scotland

 1973: Steeplechase  in 9.46.4 

1974 10,000 metres in 31.59.0 which ranked him 22nd.

Colin Youngson says: “John enjoyed his running at university but did not try to emulate his brother’s serious dedication.   He was a popular, sociable man who won team bronze with GU in the 1973 Junior National, when he finished tenth.   His progression over the country as a member of Glasgow University team began with 20th in the National in season 1971-72, the following year he was up to 10th in the race.   John also ran the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight stage relay for Glasgow University in 1972, when they were seventh, and he ran on the fourth stage catching and passing the Edinburgh University runner.   At the finish they were still that one place ahead of their east coast rivals.   In 1973, he ran on the tough second stage and dropped three places – two of whom were Colin Falconer (fastest time on the stage), Lawrie Reilly of Victoria Park and Ian Elliot of Edinburgh Southern.   His third run was in 1974 when he moved up from `4th to 12th .   His team mates in these races included such quality athletes as Willie Sheridan, Dave Logue, Paul Bannon with really solid club runners like Innis Mitchell, Stewart Crawford and Campbell Joss.     

 Captain of the Hares and Hounds in Season 1972-73,  President Jim Bogan at the Annual General Meeting praised John for his consistently excellent performances during that year. John was also elected as Public Relations Officer, Dunbartonshire AAA representative and joined the committee of the Glasgow University Athletics Club. In 1973, John Gunstone was awarded a Glasgow University Hares and Hounds Blue.

He did of course run in the University fixtures and  John’s best achievements during his time at GU (1971-75) included: two appearances for the Scottish Universities Cross-Country Team versus the SCCU Select; being a counting scorer in two Scottish Universities Cross-Country Championship team wins; a team win in the Dunbartonshire Cross-Country Championships; and victory in the Scottish Universities Road Relay.

He finished 11^th in the Midland Cross-Country; 33^rd in the British Universities Cross-Country and a fine 24^th in the Scottish Senior National.   In the hilly Edinburgh University 10 Mile Road Race against a good quality field on 2nd March 1974, John Gunstone finished fourth in 51min 55sec.   Jim Bogan asserted that 1973-4 had been the best in the Hares and Hounds’ history. Famously, John suggested that the Club consider holding an Old Crocks’ race; the idea was favourably received.“

John started running in season 1970/71 turning out for Hawkhill B team in the McAndrew Relays and then for the University B in November in the Midland District relay.   That was the start and as Colin has said he went on to good running career as a student.   Over his career at Glasgow, he ran in 22 different races, many only once but as far as major championships are concerned he was always there – the  National Cross Country (4), the Scottish Universities (4 ) and the British Universities (3) were all on the schedule with two races for Scottish Universities against the SCCU.   His championship record can be summarised as follows.

There were many other very good results in races like the Tom Scott 10 (11th in 1974 in 50:58), Glasgow University 5 Miles (10th in 26:08 in 1974), Grangemouth Road Race (8th in 1973), and the Edinburgh University 10 miles (5th in 1973 in 51:50).   The real big race that was not a championship as such was the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay and his performances therein have been discussed above by Colin.

When John left  University, he joined Victoria Park AAC and represented them in several races before leaving the sport in Scotland altogether.   A comment was made about the good quality team that he ran with at Glasgow University but the standard in the country generally at that time was very high indeed.   For instance in the 1973 when he was 10th that was an impressive result especially when you look who the first 6 were. Jim Brown, Laurie Spence, Lawrie Reilly, Ron MacDonald, Dave McMeekin and Frank Clement.  Then came  Alan Marshall in7th, followed by Dave Lorimer, Iain Moncur and Roy Baillie. Furthermore Willie Sheridan was 18th, and an A Hutton 23rd!   Exceptional runners all.   John has said that in connection with this profile, he was happy to be mentioned as a member of the family who enjoyed and took great pleasure from running.’

The family enjoyment of running continues as John’s daughters have done marathons, ultras and cycle mile after mile and one of his sons,  Jo, did  run for a while as a member of Fife for one year in the 90’s.    

The photograph above was taken in the lounge of St Andrews Care Home on Saturday afternoon 24th March, Frank and Eleanor Gunstone celebrated their Platinum Wedding. Many friends and relatives gathered there to enjoy this very special occasion. Eleanor and Frank came to North East Fife in 1954 when Frank was appointed lecturer in Chemistry at St Andrews University.    They had three children (Douglas, John and Penny) who were all talented runners and the family was to have a big effect on Scottish athletics.   

Doug tells us that  “Dad’s involvement in athletics had been providing the car that was used to take us to races earlier in our athletic careers. However he was always very supportive and interested in what we were doing and was always happy for my mother to get involved.   He it was who got the Gunstone’s to Scotland, working in Glasgow University from 1946 before moving to St Andrews in 1954. He was born in Oldham before moving to Liverpool in his teens. My mother was a Liverpudlian.”   If you look up Frank Gunstone on the internet you will be told that he was a very gifted academic chemist and his entry in the Prabook website says: 

“Frank Denby Gunstone, British chemistry educator. Recipient AOCS Lipid award American Oil Chemists Society, Champaign, Illinois, 1973, Chevrul medal Association Francaise, 1990, Normann medal Deutsche Gessellschaft fur Fettwissenschaft, 1998. Fellow American Oil Chemists’ Society; member University Staff Club (honorary member, president 1983-1985).”   His career was listed as 

“Lecturer, U. Glasgow (Scotland), 1946-1954; lecturer, U. St. Andrews (Scotland), 1954-1959; senior lecturer, U. St. Andrews (Scotland), 1959-1965; reader, U. St. Andrews (Scotland), 1965-1970; professor, U. St. Andrews (Scotland), 1970-1989; honorary research professor, U. St. Andrews (Scotland), 1989-1996; honorary research fellow, Scottish Crop Research Institute, Dundee, since 1996. Consultant in field.”

The list of his publications is also available elsewhere on the net and it is considerable.   

Although Doug says that he was not really into the sport, he did nevertheless officiate at meetings – I remember officiating with him in the pole vault at the Scottish Championships at Grangemouth in 1979.   He was not nearly as involved as Eleanor was.    There was though an involvement with the sport in his schooldays where the only running he did was when for the school sports (which was not his thing) they said if anybody did the Mile their House would get 1 point so he and his brother started running the mile so they could take part in the school sports!!   He said he used to be the House Secretary so his contribution to running was recording the results for the school magazine. 

*

Eleanor was much more a force in the sport.   Daughter Penny tells us that: “Mum got into athletics because she used to spend her weekends driving me around events. Like many parents she started officiating so she had something to do whilst waiting around for me. I was born and brought up in St Andrews. There was no athletics club there at the time and when I started running I joined Dundee Hawkhill Harriers as Doug and Palm both ran for them.   Along with Donald Macgregor and Ronnie Morrison, Mum was instrumental in setting up St Andrews Athletics club.  St Andrews Athletics club later amalgamated with Cupar and Fife Southern AC, a Glenrothes/Kirkcaldy club, to form Fife AC.”

Doug corroborates this when he says, “Penny never really trained with the Hawks.   The training was done in St Andrews (similarly with me I very rarely trained in Dundee.   I didn’t need to!  From the month before I started at London I trained with Don Macgregor and learned a lot very quickly!))  Mum first got involved on the admin side of the sport in 1974 when a St Andrews Amateur Athletic Club started and a year later merged with Cupar and District AC to form Fife AC.” 

It is as an official at national level that most in Scottish athletics remember her.   She worked her way quickly through the various grades: beginning in 1973, she was a Grade 1 by 1985.   

By 1979 was a Grade 1 Track Judge and Grade 3 Judge for Throws and also for Jumps.   She very soon upgraded the two field events into Grade 1 and was a qualified Wind Gauge operator.   These plus experience gave her the Referee qualification as well.    At club level she progressed to club president, an office she held for three years.   Her progress through the administrative echelons of the sport was equally smooth.   The SWAAA Annual Reports tell us that in 1974 she was the East District Representative and then from 1975-82 she was Honorary Championship & Match Secretary.   Dropping the Match Secretary role, Eleanor was She was Honorary Secretary from 1982-85.   In 1982-83 EG was SWAAA representative on the BAAB with this role overlapping (1982 – 1985) as one of three  representatives to the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland.   

On the SWAAA Committee Eleanor became a member of the executive and was still in post in Scotland when the athletics governing body changed dramatically.   Scottish athletics had been organised by no fewer than six bodies – SAAA and SWAAA organised the track side of things, SCCU and SWCCU organised the cross-country season, the SSAA organised the schools athletics, the Hill Runners had their own organisation.   After a prolonged period they came together to form the Scottish Athletics Federation in season 1995/96.   Eleanor had been a powerful figure during the negotiations and when the new body was set up, she was Vice Convener of the Road and Cross Country Commission.   The setting up of this body was not without its problems, some of which were to do with money.    Eleanor was largely responsible for the establishment of the Scottish Women’s Road Running and Cross-Country Trust  which kept some of the money from the women’s governing body for the development of women’s endurance running in Scotland.   Many were not happy but the Trust has worked well to the benefit of women in the sport.

Extract from the Programme for the 1986 Commonwealth Games

Although she was an administrator and official of the highest quality, Penny tells us that “Mum was a teenager during the 2nd world war and her sporting life was curtailed by this. She used to jog with me to the track and then hold the stop watch for me. She did a little bit of running to keep herself fit and at the age of 79 competed in a ‘novice’ triathlon at Cupar. Distances were 400m swim, 12k bike and 3 k run.”

1986, Grangemouth: from the top: David Lyle, Dora Stephen,  –  , Netta Sinclair, Eleanor Gunstone (on the bottom step)..

Unlike many who are as involved in sport, indeed unlike many who involved in sport to a much lesser degree, she had a full life outside the competitive arena.   Apart from the family, she was a local politician of some note.   The following summary indicates that involvement.

*Eleanor served on Fife Regional Council and then Fife Council, before standing down in 2007.
* First becoming a councillor  in 1966, when  she began pursuing improvements to the sport and leisure facilities in the town.
*She lost her seat in 1971, but would return to politics later.
*In 1986 she returned as a councillor – this time representing the Motray ward.
*She would serve for 21 years, resenting Leuchars, Guardbridge and Balmullo until 2007.

Endurance seems to have been her forte – 21 years from 1986 in local government can seem like a lifetime.   This was another job that was done in a professional fashion, she would not have lasted as long otherwise.

It is of course eminently possible that one of the reasons that the younger family members remained in the sport was that the family did not have a narrow, sport focused lifestyle.   There would be many other things spoken of at the dining table or in the car.  Sport as only one part of life is perhaps essential for a continued love of it.   

Eleanor was the recipient of many awards but one that had a special place is the one mentioned by Penny when she says: “She received a long service award from British Athletics when she had been officiating for 40 years (considering she didn’t start officiating until the 2nd half of her 40’s that was some achievement). She also carried the Commonwealth Baton in St Andrews in 2014 – it was my sister-in-law Palm who nominated her for this. It was a proud moment for mum.”

Eleanor with the Games Torch
87-year-old Eleanor Gunstone, one of the founding members of the St Andrews Athletic Club, climbed out of her wheelchair to carry the baton by foot.

Ron Morrison wrote this tribute after Eleanor died in 2017.   It is to be found on the scottishathletics website.

Eleanor Gunstone was never anything more than a casual jogger but her impact on our sport is a legacy that most would be proud to have achieved.

Born 91 years ago in Liverpool, Eleanor joined her husband Frank in Glasgow in 1948 two years after he had taken a Lecturing job at the University of Glasgow.

Shortly afterwards, in 1954, Frank moved to the University of St Andrews and developed into a world class Lipid Chemist and at one time Vice–Principal of the University. Eleanor was happy to come in the package and it seems to have worked as Frank and Eleanor celebrated their 70^th wedding anniversary in March this year.

Eleanor’s interest in athletics started when her daughter Penny showed promise in endurance running and, being helped by Don Macgregor, they and many others set about developing a club in St Andrews in the early 1970s.

That soon combined with the already successful Cupar & District club in 1975 to form what is now Fife AC. Eleanor contributed many years of service on the Committee and lead it as President in 1988-1991.

Eleanor soon understood that the then governing bodies of our sport needed competent people to drive them forward. She was an Executive Member of the SWAA from 1974 until the formation of the SAF including being Honorary Secretary from 1983-6 and representing the SWAAA as a representative on the British Amateur Athletic Board. She was also a General Committee member of the SWCC&RRA from 1975 and Honorary Treasurer from 1977 until the formation of SAF in 1992.

When the SAF was formed by the amalgamation of the four Scottish Governing bodies, Eleanor embraced the challenge by being a member of the Interim Council and acting as both Vice–Convener and Convener of the RR&CC Commission 1992-1998.

Controversially, she set up the Scottish Women’s CC & RR Trust to ensure that the SWCCU monies were directed to women’s endurance running. It was these monies now administered by the SAL that allowed athletes like Freya Murray to benefit from high altitude training.

Eleanor Gunstone was a Grade 1 Track and Field Judge from 1973 officiating at numerous athletics events in Scotland. In addition she acted as referee at the Scottish Women’s Cross Country Championship, the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay and the six-stage National Men’s Road Relay Championships.

She convened International events, the East v West Women’s match and acted as International Team Manager at track and field, cross country and road running internationals.

As if she did not have enough to do, Eleanor Gunstone served as a local councillor from 1990 to 2007 in St Andrews.

My own favourite story of Eleanor is her insisting that anyone recording at a race must use a pencil and it had better be sharpened at both ends.

In 2014 Eleanor Gunstone was presented with an award for achieving 40 years of service by UK Athletics. Being unable to travel to the presentation in Solihull Eleanor received the award at the SAL AGM that year. Also in 2014 Eleanor carried the Queen’s baton for the Commonwealth Games as it passed through St Andrews.

Eleanor is survived by her husband Frank, their children Douglas, Penny and John, 10 Grandchildren and 11 Great Grand Children.

There is no doubt as to the quality of Doug’s running.   He has deservedly been the subject of a profile on this site in the marathon stars section.   An international runner on the road and over the country, multi medallist at the SAAA championships and one of the most consistent runners in the country from January to December for many a year.   But the extent of his family involvement in the sport is not really appreciated – even among his contemporaries.

Doug is the oldest of Frank and Eleanor’s children and was the first to take up running.   It is usually the parents that take the children along to an athletics club and on occasion a parent who comes along with a boy or a girl gets involved at some level.   In the Gunstones case, it might well have been Doug who started a dynasty which included his parents.   His father Frank was the man who provided the car that transported the children to the clubs and his mother Eleanor was a real driving force in the sport at national for decades and her involvement started with going along to training in St Andrews with Penny. 

Then Doug and Palm’s two children Kim and Neil were both introduced to the sport, enjoyed it as children and although Kim has a successful career away from the sport she is still running for pleasure and Neil, who is also very successful away from the running track, has had a very good career as an athlete and also continues to run for pleasure.    The family connection and contribution to the sport has been significant.

  Doug’s career in the sport can be outlined briefly here.  There were however several particularly notable events in which he played a major part and these will be noted here.   We can recap on his career a bit by noting that he appeared on the Scottish track running ranking lists on 38 occasions between 1969 and 1982.   They were in events ranging from 1500 metres through 3000 metres, 5000 metres, 10000 metres, 10 miles and the marathon.   Times are only one part of the assessment of any runner’s career, the competitive record should also be looked at and Doug has a Scottish championship record to be proud of :

1975 10000 1st, 1973 10 Miles 1st, 1975 10 Miles 1st – 3 first places at two distances

1976 10000 2nd, 1977 10000 2nd, 1976 Marathon 2nd , 1973 10000 2nd – 4 second places at two distances

1974 10000  3rd, 1978 10000 3rd; 1977 1500i 3rd – 3 third places at two distances.

There were of course many excellent races against the best of British opposition with trophies won, places gained and at times superb performances in an era when the sport in the country was at an undoubted peak.   His best individual performances at standard distances were 

As we see from the picture below where he is surrounded by top international stars in Madrid (Doug is second from the left in the back row) he was a very good cross-country runner too.   

Colin Falconer, Doug, Bill Stoddart, Les Irvine, Eddie Knox and Lachie Stewart with team manager Ewen Murray kneeling.

One of the things that separated him from many of his contemporaries was his continued involvement in the sport once he was past his prime.    Nor did he compete on the veteran athletes circuit.   He went on racing as a senior man athlete against all the others in the country without the veteran or any other filter being applied.   He ran well, he got results.   He ran in total 44 consecutive times in the national cross country championships.

His last was in February 2012  and it was only when ill health stepped in. 

He couldn’t stay away however, and as soon as he could he started back into the sport running in parkruns, and local open road races.     His record over the period from 2010 as listed in the runbritain pages includes almost 100 races plus outings in League matches.   

Doug (267) running in the Tom Scott 10 miler in 1985

But while looking at his current athletic career do not forget that Doug was a very good cross-country runner who ran in the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships twice – once as a Junior in 1970, and once as a Senior in 1975.   His consistently high standard can be seen just by looking at the decade between 1970 to 1979 in the National.   

1970: 6th Junior; 1971: – ; 1972: 8th; 1973: 13th; 1974: 8th; 1975: 10th; 1976: 15th; 1977: 11th; 1978; 17th; 1979: 18th.

If we want to see how the scene had changed over this period, then we only need to look at the top cross-country runners.  In 1972 when he had his first run as a senior man, the first five were Ian McCafferty, J Alder, A Blamire, A McKean and L Stewart.   By 1979, the top five runners were N Muir, L Spence, J Brown, J Dingwall and G Rimmer.  

We can also mention two events which illustrate the standard at which he was running: 

1.   He was part of the Edinburgh AC team that won the national cross-country championships with only 37 points – their six counting runners being in the first 11 with Jim Dingwall 13th and not a scoring man.   As Colin Shields tells it in the official history of the SCCU, it was one of the lowest scores in the history of the championship, indeed their next six counters would have been fourth team had they been a separate club.   Victorious Team – 6 in first 11; ie 1. A McKean, 2 A Weatherhead, 5. J Alder, 8.  A Wight , 10. D Gunstone, 11  J Wight.  37 pts;   ESH  101 pts.
2.  He was part of  the Edinburgh AC team which had already shown pace and endurance the previous March when from 6 p.m. on 28^th September 1974, at Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh Athletic Club broke the world record for the 24-hour 10-man x 1 mile relay. This outstanding feat even out-performed the world best for a composite team and the U.S. Olympic Training camp select, in addition to the record for members of a single athletics club.  

Their final distance was 297 miles 1145 yards (or 479.009 kilometres). This translates to an average of 4 minutes 50.27 minutes per mile. Most runners ran 31 or 32 miles with between 40 and 45 minutes between and only one dropped out.    Doug’s contribution was to run 31 separate miles with a top speed of 4:42 and a slowest mile of 5:04, with an average of 4:52.4 per mile.   

The heroes were: Jim Alder, Jim Dingwall, Doug Gunstone, Phil Hay, Danny and Ronnie Knowles, Alex Matheson, Joe Patton and, unsurprisingly, Alex and Jim Wight. Truly an amazing achievement.  

Following this feat there was a very interesting article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1859579/

To be part of a world record holding squad is quite an achievement.  Not many Scots can equal that – other than nine former EAC members!

back row from left Joe Patton, Twin Knowles, Doug Gunstone, Jim Alder, Jim Dingwall

Front row Twin Knowles, Phil Hay Alex Wight, Jim Wight and Alex Matheson.

The Knowles twins were notoriously difficult to distinguish even to their contemporaries in the EAC team

Doug also spent some time coaching the endurance runners of the Kingdom Juniors team, passing on some of the knowledge gained from many years of top class running.   Well liked in the running fraternity he can be seen in the picture below chatting with another top class runner from his own running days and enjoying the evening.

Earlier we spoke of his consistency but there is another statistic that he might call trivia but would amaze some and interest almost all Scots runners – he has run inside 15 minutes for 5000, no fewer than 53 times!   All run between April 1970 and May 1981.   Finally it should be pointed out that Doug, international runner, national champion, world record holder has never changed in his manner or his attitude but I maybe suspect that he is content to be called what he is – a lifelong runner.   To be a famous runner, as the Irish might say is quite an accolade.

Doug with Lachie Stewart at a reunion in 2012

Palm winning the Tom Scott 10 Miles in 1985: winner in 66:42 

Palm Lindsay was brought up in a family associated with running.   All through her childhood her parents had been members of Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, first of all as runners and subsequently as officials, and her sister had also been a member of the club.   When Palm was about 13 years old her Dad took her along to the club where she started off being coached by Tom Crighton.   Her Dad was a starter in the area although the main starter was a chap called Sid Whyte. Palm is best known as a cross-country and road runner but before looking at that, it should be pointed out that she was actually a good track runner.   This was almost all at the start of her career and, although there was an overlap, the most successful and long lasting period came after the track running. 

Almost from the start she was performing well.   In the East District Track Championships in 1963 she was a medallist in the high jump (and she was ranked eleventh in Scotland in that event in 1969 too), and there were creditable performances in long jump and javelin too.   In 1964 she was first equal in the Harris School Sports Championship.   Club champion in 1966, 1968, 1969 and 1974, there were successes in the East District Track championships too.   In 1965 she was first intermediate in the 880 yards and in 1967 second in the Mile.   

Competitively, Palm’s track championship record there was also good.   In the District Championships, she won the 3000 metres 1971, 1973 and 1974, and in the 1500m in those years she was second, third and first.   Places in the National championships were also hard fought, partly because there were so many England based runners coming up who only ever set foot on a Scottish track , but nevertheless Palm raced well.   On 23rd June 1973 she was third in the 3000m and also a member of the Medley Relay team that finished third.   On 22nd June 1974 there was a second in the 3000m and a fifth place in the 1500m.   Also in 1973, she won the indoor 1500m, with a very convincing victory.   The results read: 1.   P Gunstone 4:47.9;  2.  F McKenzie (Pitreavie)  4:58.9;  3.  L Inglis (Edinburgh AC)  5:00.3.

Palm’s rankings in the official Scottish track statistics lists are as below.  She had personal bests of 5:03.1 for 1500m indoors, 4:57.02 for the same distance outdoors, and 10:40.8 for the 3000m.       

There were also good performances in field events other than the high jump – eg the javelin and long jump – but distance running was always her forte.   

The Hawkhill team after the first SWCCU Championship win

Palm, Joan Will, Ina Coull and Christine Haskett

By 1969, Palm was a very good cross-country runner, a member of the group coached by the well-known Dundee coach Harry Bennet.   She was successful at club, District and National level, ran against the best in Britain in the English championships and in International Championships.     In the club championships, she was victorious in 1964/5, 1965/6, 1967/8, 1968/9 and 1973/74; in the East District championships, there was a third place in 1971, and then first in 1972, 1973 and 1974.   The next step up the competitive ladder was the National Championships where she competed every year from 1969 to 1976. which should maybe be looked at in more detail.   

Her first Scottish National Team Gold medal came in season 1969/70 when Christine Haskett (2nd), Palm (10th) and Joan Will (20th) won the title.   It was a time when there were real speedsters at the top of women’s cross-country in Scotland and the top ten in Palm’s race were 1st M McSherry;  2nd.  C Haskett;  3rd.  S Fitzmaurice;   4th.  S Kirk;  5th.  A Barrass;  6th.  M Speedman;  7th.   K Mackie;  8th.  D Greig;  9th.  L Watson;  10th.  P Lindsay .   There were quite a few very fast runners behind her too – eg Georgena Craig was eleventh.   Four of the first five in the race were Anglo-Scots.   Every one of them was a top ranked track runner and two would go on to become very good marathon runners.   Palm’s run in tenth was a very good one.      The following year  (1970/71) the Dundee trio successfully defended their title but all moved up the field a bit – Christine won, Palm was 7th and Joan 14th.   Finishing places were 1st C Haskett;  2nd  M McSherry;  3rd A Barrass;  4th  S Sutherland;  5th  B Grinney;   6th  R Murphy;  7th   P Lindsay;  8th.  M Speedman;  9th  L Watson;  10th  D Greig.   The unfortunate thing for Palm about this race was that she was only a single second behind Rose Murphy of Bathgate and that cost her a place in the international st San Sebastian as the first six were picked.     By 1971/72  Margaret McSherry was Mrs Coomber.  Palm was again the top ten and Hawkhill won the title for the third consecutive year.    The winning team was Christine  2nd, Palm 9th and Fiona Murdoch 13th with Joan Will in 14th.   Places at the finish were 1st M Coomber;  2nd  C Haskett;  3rd  A Barrass;  4th  M Chambers;  5th  B Stone;  6th.  W Sosinska; 7th  P Spence;  8th  E McCulloch;  9th  P Lindsay;  10th  S Henderson.    Again four of the first five were English women.

Like the other members of the winning teams, Palm’s training and racing had been guided by Harry Bennett, the well known coach at Dundee Hawkhill.   Times change, athletes change too and Palm’s running  and the success that she enjoyed after that were down to Doug’s guidance.   She chose her own routes and long runs and decided when they had to be done, but Doug kept her on the right path with the various sessions such as hill sessions, Fartlek and rep sessions and how often to include them.   They enhanced her enjoyment of the sport, attitude to it and the many successes that came thereafter.

Winning teams do not usually happen by accident.  The fact that Christine, a quite superb athlete, Palm and Joan were all SWAAA medallists in the track over 1500m and 3000m was obviously a key factor in their success.     In 1972/73 Palm was Mrs Gunstone and finished fifth.   The team was  unplaced partly because Christine Haskett was running for Stretford in England and the Athletics Weekly had  this to say about the race: In the Senior race Christine Haskett – now training in social science in England and entered from Stretford AC – broke away from holder Margaret Coomber and Ann Barrass in the last quarter of the race to win impressively.   With Mary Chambers fourth, Palm Gunstone – top of the domestic scene all winter – was the first home Scot in fifth position.   Dale Greig with eyes on the Boston Marathon in April, was happy with her finishing position in the first dozen.”   An interesting wee sidebar is revealed in the following comment, also from Athletics Weekly: “In the Junior Race Anne Cherry was bidding for her third title in a row, but could not shake off Penny Gunstone, who finally broke the “Fauldhouse Flyer” in the run-in to win by four seconds.”   Palm’s place gained her her first selection for the international, held in Belgium that year, where she finished 74th.  

The club had also, run well in the Scottish Road Relay Championships with Palm having good runs all the time.   The club was second in 1970 and she had the third fastest lap time; second again in 1972 and in 1973 they won the race with Palm having the fastest time of the day.   

In 1973/74 the winner was Moira O’Boyle from three Anglo-Scots in Haskett (Stretford), Barrass (Aldershot) and Purseglove (Westbury) with Palm in fifth place.   The ‘Athletics in Scotland’ magazine reported that ‘Palm Gunstone, wife of Douglas, ran one of the best races of her career to finish fifth overall in the race in 23:17, thus clinching her place in the Inter-Territorial Championships at Leicester on the 23rd.’   This race on the 23rd was to be a quite momentous event.   Palm thinks it was the best race she ever ran.   The lengthy report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ which came under the headline of “Scots selectors saved from embarrassment” read:

‘The 12 women who select Scotland’s cross-country teams will meet on Wednesday to choose six senior runners for the women’s cross-country international at Monza, Italy on March 16th.   Quite a few of them will be breathing sighs of relief after having seen the resukts of the English cross-country championships on Saturday, because one potentially embarrassing situation has been thankfully avoided.   

The difficulty stems from the presence among the selectors of Mrs Lindsay whose daughter, Mrs Pam Gunstone, is a strong contender for a team place.   The fly in the ointment is one Mrs Arlene Purseglove – no, not a character in an Ian Fleming novel but a little known Anglo-Scot who came fourth in the Scottish championships two weeks ago beating Mrs Gunstone into fifth place.   Consternation in the ranks.   The three others ahead of the aforementioned Miss Purseglove are all certain of selection.   Moira O’Boyle, Christine Haskett and Ann Barrass.   Add to them the 16 carat certainty Mary Stewart must be despite missing the Scottish and English races, and the other top ranked Anglo-Scot Margaret Coomber and one reaches the conclusion that the remaining sixth place is a toss-up between Miss Purseglove and Mrs Gunstone.    

In Saturday’s English championship race at Leicester Mrs Gunstone ran the race of her life by finishing 22nd in a field of 200, but what was more important to her, and no doubt to her mother, she finished 13 places in front of Miss Purseglove who was running for the London club Westbury Harriers.   Wednesday night’s deliberations will certainly focus on the relative merits of these two girls, but with Mrs Gunstone showing immense improvement this year, I doubt if the 12 selectors need feel any embarrassment at plumping for their colleague’s daughter.’  

Doug was selected for the men’s team and both represented Scotland in Italy in March.   

Scottish women’s team for Monza in 1974 – Palm on extreme left.

In 1974/75 Palm finished fourth – her highest placing since her debut in the senior event in 1969.   In the race, held at Lesmahagow, the first three were all Anglos and Palm,who according to the Athletics Weekly ‘ran most of the race in isolation’ again had to wait for selection since neither Mary Stewart, another Anglo who could not fly up from Birmingham because of a strike at the airport, nor Moira O’Boyle, suffering the effects of of smallpox vaccinations, could run.   She was selected however, and finished 67th in the race held at Rabat in Morocco.   She had earlier – on 18th January that year, run for the Scottish team, crossing the line in 14th,  that finished second to England in the Home International held in Coatbridge.   

By winter 1975/76 Palm had basically stopped serious training.   Doug and herself had moved to Lenzie, near Glasgow, and she turned out in the National Championships that year as part of the Victoria Park team and – with Moira O’Boyle in second, Noreen O’Boyle being 26th and Palm in 28th – won another medal in the team championships, silver this time to go with the three golds with Hawkhill.   

Palm and Margaret Coomber in Leicester, 1974

Over the period between 1969 and 1975 Palm had run in every English National Cross-Country Championship: 1969  –  Aldershot  –  51^{st, ;} 1970  –  Blackburn  –  52^nd; 1971  –  Wolverhampton  –  44^th; 1972  –  High Wycombe  –  61^st; 1973  –  Rawtenstall  –  33^rd; 1974  –  Leicester  –  23^rd; 1975  –  Parliament Hill  –  28^th.    These races often incorporate domestic international matches – as the photograph above shows

 “The individual I admired and think greatly of, and who gave me the desire to compete in cross-country, road and hill running was Dale Greig.   She was quite a private person but once I got to know her I found her to be one of the most under-rated of athletes.   Dale was a true pioneer of women’s cross-country and road running, and it’s a shame that the majority of women competing in these mass events will never have heard of Dale, or realise that without the determination she had to get women included in all types of races a lot of  races in Scotland would not exist today.”   

Given these comments and the inspirational effect of her friendship with Dale, it should be no surprise that she ran a marathon – the 1981 version of the London Marathon where she ran a very creditable time of 4 hours 14 minutes and 40 seconds, given that with two very young children and limited training it was a good run.   The following year she again tackled the event taking four minutes from that time (4:10:39).   Palm’s running from this point was entirely road and cross-country with some hill running added.    She returned to the East District Cross-Country Championships where she had performed so well in the past and in 1983 finished 14th with 19th place in 1984 being good enough to help Hawkhill to a team bronze medal.   These were probably good enough to win veterans medals because her running at that point was good enough to win the Scottish Vets Cross-Country medals in 1984 (1st) and 1985 (2nd).   In 1984 she had a really active and successful series of races including 

4th February, Scottish Vets Championships, 1st

11th August, Largo Law Hill Race, 1st

26th August, Glasgow Hospice 10K, 1st Vet

7th October, Vets Races Victoria Park Road, 1st

4th November, Vets Races, Aberdeen Cross Country, 1st

 In 1985 the SWCCU Road Race 10K Championship, incorporating the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice run, was held in Glasgow.   Palm entered and ran well – so well that she was first veteran and Scottish champion.    First veteran in this Ladies Only race was no easy task.     It was to be a good day for Dundee – Liz Lynch, home from America, won the race and Palm was first vet to finish.   

Palm wins the Glasgow 10K Race 

Her principal races that year were as follows.

24th February 1985, Scottish Vets Championships, 2nd

13th April, Tom Scott 10M, 1st Lady + 1st Lady Vet

19th May, Glenrothes Half Marathon, 1st Vet and 2nd Lady

2nd June,  Glasgow Hospice 10K, 1st Vet.  

16th June, Lomonds of Fife Hill Race, 1st

4th August, Auchtermuchty, 1st

10th August, Largo Law Hill Race, 2nd Lady

The London Marathon experiences inspired Palm to aim for her home town version – the Dundee Marathon was one of many that had sprung up across Scotland at the time, and this one was given a big build up including regular daily radio slots by Donald Macgregor on training for the distance as well as schedules in the local papers.  It was to be held on 28th April when the weather could have been expected to be fairly good for distance running.  However, Pressreader tells us that ‘April showers were in full flow as runners from across the country flocked to Dundee …” and after the race Doug, Scottish Marathon Club treasurer at that point, reported on the race with an opening line of ‘“A cold, if not gale force, westerly wind greeted runners and soon after halfway, even for the leaders, this was accompanied by sleet. This made life miserable.”   Neither did full justice to the conditions – it was maybe sleet at the finish, but it was certainly snow during the race!   Palm had been training hard and hoping for a sub-3 hours time.   It was all planned carefully including deciding which male runners to run with.   But the race stewards had other ideas and separated the men from the women by a rope which split the road in half with women on one side and men on the other.   In addition they were lined up alongside the fast men.   She started a bit quickly but then the sun which had been shining brightly at the start changed to snow.   In short sleeves and not wearing gloves she was frozen by the time her Mum had managed to get a pair of glove to her at about halfway.   All the runners were suffering to some extent – Palm points out that the runner in front of her was given an anorak by a spectator!   She started walking for a bit but a friend in the race caught up with her and encouraged her to press on because a 3:15 time was on.   She didn’t quite make that but her finishing time was 3:17:39.   As Doug said in his article for the SMC Magazine, “This (weather) made life miserable.”     It was still a very respectable time.  

It has been really memorable career so far – a good track runner, a very good road runner and an international cross-country athlete.   She really loves running and there have been moments and memories scattered through her career in the sport.   For instance, she ran in the Around Cumbria race in 1978 when her daughter was about 9 months old after being invited by Dale Greig.   Dale was concerned after persuading the organisers to put on a women’s race that nobody but herself seemed to be going to turn up so she asked Palm if she would go.  She really only went as it was Dale who asked and didn’t want all her efforts to be wasted or her embarrassed as they had put up a trophy.

Then there was the cycling.   Another unknown was that she joined the Heatherbell Ladies Club back in the late 1960’s because she was friends with some of the cyclists:  and on 3rd June 1969 she took part in their club championship 15 mile time trial.   Despite falling from her bike at a turn, she won the Novice Trophy and gained their bronze standard for her time of 44:04.   Palm at that time used to attend a circuit class and one of the cycling coaches there had maintained that cyclists were only ‘bike fit’ and not physically fit.  He encouraged her to take part in the championships where the competitors went off at one minute intervals – she nearly caught one of the top club members.   Fortunately for us, she decided to stay with athletics!

The programme above is a reminder that Palm is more than just a runner of serious ability.   In addition to being a talented athlete, Palm was also an effective and efficient administrator in the sport  where she was Scottish Women’s Cross-Country Union Secretary in 1969/70, 1970/71 and 1971/72.   This was followed by three years as President in 1979-80; 1980-81; 1981-82.  By the time of the 1970 Empire and Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, she had already officiated at the international cross-country championships in Clydebank in 1969.   The late 1960’s and 1970’s were a very significant period in Scottish athletics with the sport enjoying a high profile.   Palm’s name can be seen at the foot of the page as one of the Communications team.   When asked, she tells us that her job was to answer the telephone if and when the judges phoned up with any queries.   As one who has been in a similar team for the GB championships at Meadowbank, it is not a sinecure but as Palm said, they were housed up in the box which overlooked the entire arena so they had the best seats in the house.   Not all tasks which were allotted to her as Secretary or President of the Union would be as rewarding.   

It all comes back to the running though and we can close by echoing Palm’s comments that she is glad she discovered road and cross country running.   Reasons?   The officials who would stand in all sorts of weather encouraging all runners right down to the last across the line; the runners who are very friendly and always friends for life and finally because she has seen parts of the world she would not otherwise have seen at the time.

The Family connection goes back to the 1920’s when George Lindsay wore the club vest

When Palm Lindsay married Doug Gunstone in 1972 two families which were in athletics and which would greatly  influence Scottish athletics for the better came together.   Palm’s family had been involved in the sport from the 1920’s when her father was a member of the Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, and her mother had been one of the pioneer members of women’s cross-country running from 1931.   They would both go on to become Grade 1 athletics track and cross-country officials.   Doug was one of Scotland’s best road, cross-country and track runners, his sister was an international athlete and his brother John was a Scottish Universities representative athlete.   His mother was a significant and influential administrator at Scottish and British levels. 

If we look at the SAAA Handbook for 1980, we note that Mrs MA Lindsay was a Grade 2 official for Jumps and also for throws while Eleanor Gunstone was a Grade 3 for both.   George Lindsay meanwhile, was a Grade 1 Field events official.   

They had many things in common – both sets of parents were top grade SAAA officials who had officiated at Commonwealth Games – Palm’s parents in 1970, Doug’s mother in 1986.   Both were involved in cross-country running with Margaret (Palm’s mother) and Palm  both serving in their turn as President of the SWCCU, and Eleanor (Doug’s Mother) being really involved in the setting up of the new joint governing body of athletics in 1995 representing the SWCCU.   

The running careers of Palm and Doug were both very successful with each of them representing Scotland.Their two children, Kim and Neil, were also involved in athletics with Neil taking it rather more seriously and over the longer term, but both still involved in running for pleasure.   And of course, Doug’s brother John was a successful University athlete and his sister Penny (Rother) ran for Scotland on all three surfaces (track, road and country) and then became an international triathlete.

It really is a quite unique family involvement and should be looked at more closely.   Just click on the names below.

Margaret and George Lindsay      Eleanor and Frank Gunstone     Douglas Gunstone    Palm Gunstone   Penny Rother    John Gunstone   

Kim Gunstone     Neil Gunstone

Neil in the Six Stage Relay in 2010

Always interested in how athletes come into the sport, I asked Neil the question and here is his reply.

 “​I was always at or around races when younger but at that time children didn’t train in groups like they do now. I was never pushed into it but at the same time having parents that know the setup makes it an obvious thing to do. Initially when suggested I backed away from it – possibly because when very young I saw how time consuming it was and how being taken to running events often meant I couldn’t play with friends etc. I did initially want to play football at beginning of secondary school but wasn’t particularly talented. In order to get fitter for football I started going to the Hawks once a week. I soon realised the football team I was in was terrible and as I was sometimes sub, I didn’t like not being involved whereas apart from track events in running you compete if you want to at most races not if your picked or not. The training group at the Hawks was a decent bunch of both boys and girls so mainly it was good fun but we also trained hard and I gradually improved from being near the back to mixing it up at the front. I really only started to realise I might be able to be quite good at age 16 or so. This was when a huge number of people I ran with stopped citing school/uni commitments but really what they meant was they preferred to go out drinking! I took the opinion I’ve trained so hard to just get to a good level I don’t want to not take it further now. ” 

Neil ran in all types of endurance events, track, road, cross-country, hill races, highland games and local sports meetings.   The main things is that he progressed through the ranks quite steadily.   Many young athletes progress by leaps and bounds with fallow years in between but that was not what happened here.  Neil made steady incremental improvements to his times.  At the longer distances his 3000m time went from 9:53.15 in 1995 to  9:21 in 1997, while the 3000m steeplechase went from 10:55.8 in 1996 to 10:12.43 in 1998 and the 5000m improved by almost 25 seconds by 1998.    We should however look at his running in more detail.  Not all races will be included – that would be impossible – but there will be enough to trace his route through the sport.   In 1994 he was just 15 years old, first year Under 17 and the record that the races were few in number and mainly at a local level.   They were not without success though.   [DHH stands for Dundee Hawkhill Harriers]

1994 – DHH U17 Boys Road Silver

         – SCCU national Cross-Country Championships 96th
1994/1995 – DHH Cross Country Championships 1st equal (held over a series of races: not a dead heat!)

1995 – SCCU national championships 39th
          – Grove Academy Senior Boys Sports Champion

 Came the summer, 1995, and he was third in the East District 3000m age group championship  in 9:53.16.  

Neil running in the Forfar 10K

The following season, 1995/96 there was a similar pattern with the addition in summer 1996  of the event that was to become his specialist track event, the steeplechase. before heading into winter 1997

1/11/1995 – Arbroath High School Invitational Cross-Country – 1st over 15
11/12/1995 – Fife AC Lita Allan Memorial Race – 5th

1995/96 – District Championships Under 17 16th

Feb 1996  – National Under 17  –  34th

Also in winter 1995/1996 – DHH Under 17 Road Racing Championships – 2nd
                                              – DHH Under 17’s Cross Country Championships – 3rd

In Summer 1996 Neil moved up to the Under 20 (Junior) age group.
15/7/1996 – 2km steeplechase – 5th, 7.01.57
25/6/1996 – Grove Academy Sports – Sports Champion

18/8/96 – 3000m steeplechase 10:55.8

Running in the National in 2008

He was clearly getting stronger as an athlete and in his first year as an Under 20 over the country he was 15th in the national.   This was followed  swiftly with fifth place in the  Under 20 men’s national road championships  on 15th March.   If that was good what followed was his best summer season to date.

1996/1997 – Grove Academy Senior Boys Pentathlon – 1st
1997 – Grove Academy Sports Champion
10/3/1997 – TSB Scottish Schools Championships Irvine Over 17 – 9th 21.45
17/3/1997 – Scottish 10k Road Race Strathclyde Park 5th 25m41s
22/3/1997 – TSB British Schools International Cross Country Championships, Chepstow over 17 men – 6th 25m22s

Neil himself thinks that this Chepstow race was one of his best races.   Certainly running in the Schools International and finishing sixth was at least a very good run.   June was the peak month for Neil when he had no fewer than three ranking times, all at Meadowbank.   On 20th June he ran 6:32.64 for 2000m steeplechase and on 21st June he was 3rd in the Scottish Schools 5000m championship.   A week later, 28th June, he recorded 10:23.07 for the 3000 metres steeplechase, which time ranked him 9th in Scotland at the end of the year.   Came July and on the 15th in Carmarthen, he ran 3000m on the flat in 9:21.73.   

He was still running local races and was third Junior in the  Fife Scared Hare Series.

In winter 1997/98, Neil had his first taste of the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay when he ran the third stage for Dundee Hawkhill Harriers.   He ran well on this high profile race picking up one place, going from 12th to 11th and passing the English runner from Bedford and County in the process.   In the National at the start of 1998 he finished 21st.   There was  a silver medal in the  SAF Road Race National Championships U20 Strathclyde Park on 9/3/1998. 

That summer, his best steeplechase was over 3000 metres on 26th April and that saw him ranked fourth in the country at the end of the season.  In the 5000 metres he was timed at 15:58.16 which won him third place in the East District Championships.

1998/99 saw Neil run in his second Edinburgh to Glasgow, this time on the fifth stage where he held on to 13th position for the club. Fourth Junior in the East Districts, he ended the winter with a very good fifth in the National Cross-Country Championships – just 16 seconds away from the bronze medal!   The 16 seconds was the difference between a very good run and the run that his form at that time deserved.   He was in his last year in the Junior Men’s age group, he was in very good form indeed and on the day on a frozen, icy surface he just missed what would have been a deserved individual national medal

Neil was now in the Senior Men ranks and he was facing the best runners in the country as well as the wily old-timers who knew how to use their elbows and keep young aspirants in their place.  He was not ranked in anything that first summer as a Senior but did run in the eight man relay in November when he finished 18th on the first stage.    Neil had one of his best races over the country when he finished sixth in the East District championships, in the same time as the fifth placed runner, one place ahead of team mate Matthew Strachan.  Just look at some of the names behind him that day – 

7.   M Strachan; 8. Colin Meek (Livingston); 9. Martin Ferguson (EAC); 10. Robert Russell (Central); 11. Terry Mitchell (Fife); 12. David Adam (Fife); 13. Alan Robson (Mizuno); 14. Alistair Anthony (Central).   There were 224 finishers in the race.   In the National there was another sparkling run when he was thirty seventh with a lot of good ‘scalps’ behind him – names like Mark Rigby, Alan Robson, and Kevin Forster not far in front,  and   Dermot McGonigle, Graham Wight and Alan Reid not far behind.   He was running in good company.   

Neil had progressed steadily from his days as a Youth through to early steps in his career as a senior runner and could cope with good standard Scottish runners whatever their age, and however sharp their elbows.   

Glasgow 10K 2010

Neil started the 21st century with some very good runs but it was a time when he was working hard at University and had other things on his mind to occupy him, nevertheless he managed to get some good running done.   On the track he was ranked in Scotland at 5000m and in the steeplechase as in the following table.

Looking at the table above, it should be noted that the 5000m PB of 2001 was at the AAA’s U23/U20 championships in Bedford where he struggled a bit in the second half, mainly because it was a hot day in late spring/early summer in Bedford.    He’s a bit wiser now about running conditions in the South – “I now realise living in the South of England, the heat builds from early April.   I was used to the fresh East Coast breeze (which I battled against in virtually every summer track session ever done at Caird Park!) so a hot and humid Bedford was a shock to the system and a real battle.”   The race was combined with the Under 20 men and he was actually ninth U23 which wasn’t too bad at all.

Neil became an enthusiastic and prolific racer in the 21st century – below is just a list of his domestic races up to 2007:

27/12/2000 – 132nd New Year Sprint Musselburgh Youth One lap open handicap – 1st + 2 Lap Open Race – 4th
15/01/2001 – East of Scotland League Race Gorebridge – 3rd
23/4/2001 – Scottish Universities Championships Grangemouth 3000m steeplechase – 1st 10.11.2
12/7/2001 – Sri Chimnoy 2 mile Road Race – 2nd 9.55
13/8/2001 – Perth Highland Games 3200m Open – 1st
4/3/2002 – Cupar 5 mile Road Race – 3rd 25.44
2/5/2002 – Fife Mid Week Blebo Craigs – 1st
9/5/2002 – Kinnoul Hill Race – 1st 25.49
13/5/2002 – East of Scotland Championships 3000m 9.57.95
25/5/02 – Black Rock Race – 3rd 24.03
11/7/2002 – Newburgh Race – 3rd 23.25
17/1/2006 – East District Championships – 3km 3rd
2006 – The Highland Spring 2 Inches 10K Race – ? place
2007 – Gauldry 5m – 1st 26.31

If you look at that list, you will note a significant gap from July 2002 through to the start of 2006.   He was running consistently well and holding his own in the senior ranks.He was training and racing hard and results were good.  He felt there was a lot more to come.   He had run the Capital City Challenge (also Scottish 10k champs that year) in Sept and finished with a time of 31.55  in about 13th in 31:56.   He reckons that it was the 1st 10k  he’d raced, rather than just running and it felt good. He was looking forward to doing more.    What happened next was really unexpected.   Let him tell it:

“A week or so later at the district cross country relays in Galashiels I was full of confidence. I was on leg 1 and started hard, leading up the early steep climb. I got to the top and it was like a tap had been turned and all my energy poured out. I had nothing and only got round as had teammates awaiting. I then remember sitting under about 4 layers of coats all the way home shivering and feeling awful. A trip to the doctors on the Monday gave the usual ” its just a bug that’s going around, a few days rest and you’ll be fine” By the end of the week I couldn’t eat, sleep or talk easily and a revisit to the doctor was met with far more concern (a different doctor I might add). He was convinced it was Glandular fever and tested for it (it was) but the results were another week or 10 days away.  

” I had forced myself back to University as it was my final year and my tutors gave me 2 options: Get the work done or redo the year (after 6 years I didn’t want to sit and watch all my friends finish and leave me to slog it out while they all got jobs etc).   I struggled to recover the rest of that year and the stress of finishing university meant I kept picking up colds and sore throats. I tried to build up and get back to fitness only to race at the East District Track Championship 5000m, only to have a severe tear of my calf with a lap or so to go. From then on I had years of either calf tears or severe colds/throat infections stopping any decent training I built up.”

There were only three Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays after 2000, and he turned out in two of them, running very well in both.   In 2000 he was on the fourth stage and was fourth quickest over the distance to lift his team from tenth to eighth.   The fourth is recognised as one of the top four stages of the race because of the calibre of runner on it, so fourth time is an achievement in itself.   The following year he was on one of the two ‘big’ stages of the race – the sixth – which is also the longest at 7 miles.   He maintained his place (eighth) and his time was in the top ten for the stage.  

We can maybe digress for a bit at this point for some comments on the conduct of the stage and some of Neil’s retrospective observations.   The sixth stage is one of the two toughest in the race, the second being the other.  All the top guys are on these two legs.  They are both run on very busy stretches of road and the runners have to keep their wits about them at all times.   Each stage has an official supervising it, watching for infractions of the rules and these judgements are naturally usually subjective.  Neil comments: 

“I don’t remember too much of the 4^th stage run but the last year I remember it well but for the wrong reasons. I was going well and I think Dad had said it’s a leg you can build into and pick up on. I got towards one of the small villages midway through when an official in a car drew up beside me and started giving me alot of abuse about running on the road. Considering there had been no pavement I was pretty shocked and the runners ahead of me were all on the road! He continued to harass me and said if I didn’t get on the pavement then he would disqualify me and the team there and then. It completely knocked my concentration and I lost all momentum. On finishing the same official then said I had sworn at him and gave him foul abuse and that he wanted me disqualified anyway. Anyone that knows me knows I wouldn’t say what he was claiming I’d said even if I was angry and funnily all my team mates said they would have said a whole lot worse and wouldn’t have accepted any disqualification!”

Over the country, in the national, he was 37th out of 386 runners in 2000, 79th out of 362 in 2001 and 22nd out of 423 in 2002.   The 2002 race must be another one of his best races.   Runners behind him on that occasion included Jethro Lennox, Adrian Callan, John Cowan, Alistair Anthony, Eddie Stewart, Alaister Russell, Martin Ferguson and many other weel kent athletes.   Maybe one was having an off day, or even two, but there is no way they all were.   That 2002 national was actually one of his best years.    All bar two of thee runners listed above were regular or frequent Scottish international runners. 

Neil left Scotland to continue his education and started to put some decent training together.   He ran for Teesside University and then for Morpeth Harriers.   He was back racing too.   Between 1st January 2010 and the end of 2019, he ran a total of 146 races according to the runbritain rankings.   They included English Cross-Country Championships, Scottish Cross-Country Championships, British Universities Cross-Country Championships Relay Championships, League Matches and Open races.   On the road they included every distance from 5K parkruns to the London Marathon.     This was a very good transition to good class English running.   When Neil was asked about how it came about, he said:

I had done a track session on my own not long after starting and was pointed in the direction of Gordon Surtees who trained Jonny Taylor and Richard and Adam Morrell – he said I could join them.   I now realise how lucky I was as Gordon didn’t accept time wasters. His dry sense of humour I appreciated and his dedication to his athletes was immense for a man that didn’t drive and lived a 30-40 min bus journey away – he rarely missed a session. Even so he could be blunt in telling me I wasn’t an Olympic potential, but he knew exactly how to taper the sessions so I got the best from them. These sessions were rarely a recognizable distance (even for some track sessions, he used the conditions and locations he new and they were always intense).   At the end of the 1st year, Ross Floyd joined us and as he and Jonny Taylor were both racing for Morpeth they persuaded me to join and get high quality races. Teesside didn’t have a club but were happy to enter us into university events) From joining Morpeth I realised what an excellent club they are. Predominantly set up for local participation but with Jim Alder and Mike Bateman’s passion to compete they brought the best out of their athletes and rather than poach local talent it naturally drew to them as they guarantee meaningful national competition. After leaving Middlesbrough I moved to Newcastle and trained with Jimmy’s group and had one of my most enjoyable spells of running/racing.” 

For the full list go to https://www.runbritainrankings.com/runners/profile.aspx?athleteid=635  and you’ll be amazed.   If you want to see his results from all the championships, etc, you can go to the power of 10 website  (  https://thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=635 ) 

One final thing: Neil and his Dad, Doug, have a rare distinction shared by few others in Scottish athletics.   These include Gerry and Kenny Mortimer (Edinburgh Northern, Kirkcaldy YMCA and Edinburgh AC) and Bill and Brian Scally (Shettleston).   The distinction?   They have between them run every stage of the late, wonderful Edinburgh to Glasgow eight stage road relay.   Neil has run stages 1, 3, 4, 5  and 6; Doug has run 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.   There were no ‘easy’ stages in the race but by common consent stages 6, 2 and 4 were the most difficult in terms of the opposition faced.   For the few father/son combinations who have accomplished it, it is an honour that will never be achieved again since the race is now discontinued.  Their joint time?  Only 4:00:40!    Well done, chaps!

Like the club groups, the different styles and poses through the ages can be seen in these pictures of club winning teams and groups – tracksuits vary as the ages go by.   Millington’s finest via Admiral’s money makers to the modern synthetic fabrics that never saw a sheep’s back or a cotton bud.    From neatly dressed for the sports day through 60’s and 70’s hippiedom to today’s neat, usually, hair styles, from formal posing to informal standing around,    There are a range of clubs here from Aberdeen to West Kilbride in alphabetical order – more photographs of winning, placed or just teams always welcome.

Aberdeen: Scottish Junior Cross-Country Champions, 1976

Fraser Clyne, Danny Buchan, Graham Laing, Steve Cassells

Aberdeen AAC after winning vets Cross-Country, Troon, 1992

Graham Milne, Colin Youngson, George Sim, Francis Duguid

..

Aberdeen AAC

                                                                                         Graham Milne, Mel Edwards, Fraser Clyne, Graham Laing

Cambuslang Harriers Scottish Masters M50 Team, 2015

Cambuslang Harriers: Scottish Masters M40 Team winners, 2015

Cambuslang Harriers2010 BMAF Road Relay winning team

Clydesdale National Cross-Country winning teams from 1904 and 1905

Clydesdale Harriers: West District Relay winning team, 1995

Ewan Calvert, James Austin, Grant Graham, Des Roache

Dundee Hawkhill Harriers team, 1930’s

Edinburgh University team taken after winning medley relay in North Berwick: CAR Dennis, JV Paterson, A Hannah, WH Watson

Edinburgh University, Edinburgh to Glasgow Winners, 1965

Back: Roger Young, Chris Elson, Willie Allan, Frank Gamwell, Iain Hathorn (Hon Sec);  Front: Fergus Murray, Jim Wight, Alex Wight, Alistair Blamire

Edinburgh AC  24 hours x 1 mile world record team

Back: Joe Patton,  Danny Knowles, Doug Gunstone, Jim Alder, Jim Dingwall; Front:   Ronnie Knowles, Phil Hay, Alex Wight, Jim Wight, Alex Matheson

                                                                                                                      Falkirk Victoria Harriers

Glasgow University team at the Isle of Man:

Dougie McDonald, Alastair Douglas, Ian Archibald, Raph Murray

Hunters Bog Trotters: Capital City Challenge

Law and District AAC: West District Relay Champions 1974

Alex Miller, Hugh Forgie, Jim Thomson and Billy Dickson

Pitreavie AAC, Scottish Vets Cross-Country winners, Musselburgh, 1987

Archie Duncan, Phil Shave, John Linaker, Bill Ewing

Two photographs below of Shettleston Harriers teams with the Elkington Shield for the National Championship

Shettleston H National winning team, 1921

Shettleston Harriers, National winners, 1948

The team that won the six stage road relay in centenary year with David Morrison holding the trophy

With the trophy for the McAndrew Relay.

The National Cross-Country Relay winners

The Allan Scally winning team

The Shettleston team which went to Arlon and came within a single point of winning the European Clubs Championship

Lachie Stewart, Dick Wedlock, Henry Summerhill, Norman Morrison, Paul Bannon and Tommy Grubb

Shettleston team, second in the 1999 Edinburgh to Glasgow

Spango Valley won the McAndrew Relay in 1986.

Chris Robison, Lawrie Spence, Peter and Stephen Connaghan

Springburn Harriers team – second in GB Vets Championships

Bill Ramage, Tom O’Reilly and Tony White

Victoria Park AAC

.

…