Author: The Author

Robert R Sutherland

The first ever track competition I took part in for Clydesdale Harriers was against Garscube Harriers and Springburn Harriers at Springburn in 1958.  The second was the Dumbartonshire AAA Track and Field Championships at Westerlands a few weeks later.   We always had two winter cross-country inter-club runs with Garscube, the ‘big’ one being a triangular with Victoria Park AAC at Milngavie on the Saturday before the National Championships.    Naturally there were many friendships that sprung up: David Kerr came across to train with us at Mountblow on Tuesdays for several weeks in 1964, David Martin was a very good friend and we did several pre-race warm-ups together, Doug Spencer won the County three miles and was always very friendly, Stuart Irvine was an outstandng DAAA secretary, and we could go on for ages noting the pals such as Stevie Cullen, Billy Ritchie were guys I raced with, from the previous generation there were men like Davie Causon, Arthur Wharton, Alex Kidd and of course the wonderful Walter Ross.

Garscube is now almost certainly the most progressive and imaginative club in Glasgow or Dunbartonshire with many initiatives to their credit, often away from the running course.   But little is known of their history and the wee bit that I would like to illuminate here is their endurance running teams of the 1930’s and 1940’s.   Befor that however, we need to look at their history.   The club history tells us that

VMC member: Ron Clarke

One of the most popular pages on the website is that on the Scottish Marathon Club.   Founded in 1944, it was part of the inspiration behind the founding of the Road Runners Club.   Ironically, the SMC has gone while the RRC goes from strength.    The post-war generation really contributed more than their share to the development of the sport and we owe them a lot: it is a pity that the same intensity and drive is not present in the same quantities among administrators in the 21st century.

Across the globe in Australia a similar move with respect to road running was taking place – a wee bit behind the 1944 Scottish initiative but it was just as significant.    Hugh Barrow supplied the following documents dealing with the formation of the Victoria Marathon Club.   First there is the letter announcing the formation of the club sent out on 23rd September 1946.

Second there is a note putting the formation of the club into context …

Before commenting further on the club itself, note that the first President was Percy Cerutty – we might have known he’d be involved.    It is interesting that the SMC had well known and enthusiastic Dunky Wright as one of the funder members, and, coming down a distance or three,  Frank Horwill’s efforts with the British Milers Club were tremendously successful.    Of course nothing is down to one man but an enthusiastic, even eccentric, individual can add impetus to any cause.

The items below speak for themselves and show Percy with Les Perry, a very good marathon man and club member.

The SMC had as its objective “to foster marathon running in Scotland”, the VMC was to “foster and promote long distance running”.    The SMC had club championship races over 12 miles, 16 miles, 20 miles and the marathon.   The VMC comments on 15 mile road races in 1945 and ’46, and a 30 mile time trial.     I quote from the minutes of the club newsletter in Autumn, 1968:

“All members may wear a plain VMC club badge (50c.). Those
who have completed a Marathon in 3:30:00 or better may add a star,
those who have been inside 2;50:00 may add two stars, members
having broken the 2;30:00 limit are entitled to wear the VMC badge
with Laurel Wreath (60c.)”.

There were obvious similarities between the two clubs.    Hugh comments:

The “splendidly equipped pavilion”

When most of us came into the sport there were many tracks in n around Glasgow with Ibrox. Westerlands and Scotstoun being the principal ones in use.    These were only the biggest with the cinders or ash tracks at Barrachnie, Knightswood, Nethercraigs and Toryglen being also in use but all having their wee idiosyncrasies.   Shettleston tended to use Barrachnie in the east end and many a contest was held there up into the 1960s and there were also contests being held at Toryglen on the south side of the city.   Knightswood, which had been a pioneering development when it opened was overwhelmed by the University facility at Westerlands, barely two miles to the west, and Scotstoun about the same distance to the south.   When it opened it was celebrated.   Just look at the Glasgow Herald report on the opening.   From the Herald of 25th April 1932:

MUNICIPAL TRACK OPENED AT KNIGHTSWOOD

The first venture by the Corporation of Glasgow in the way of providing facilities for athletic training was brought to fruition on Saturday afternoon, when the Knightswood Park Running Track was formally declared open by Councillor WT Docherty, Convener of the Parks Committee.   The new track, the entrance to which is in Chaplet Avenue, is a very creditable piece of work, and it should, together with the well-equipped pavilion, prove a boon to the athletes in the District.

To celebrate the occasion a short but interesting programme of scratch races was carried through under the auspices of the Parks Department.   The three events which comprised the programme were:- 100 yards, one mile relay race and two miles team race.   With the exception of IH Borland (Glasgow University), who waited for the relay race, and Roy Hamilton  (Maryhill Harriers), all the leading entrants for the sprint turned out.   Considerable interest centred on tne appearance of JH Bastable (Glasgow Transport) who was making his initial entry into the sphere of amateur athletics.   He had no difficulty in qualifying for the sprint final, but here he found AD Turner and PW Brown, both of Maryhill too fast for him.   Turner’s running in fact was the feature of the afternoon.   In his semi-final he was returned as doing 10 -5th sec, but in the final his time was 10 2-5th – remarkably fast running under adverse conditions.   

In the two mile team race, WJ Gunn (Plebeian Harriers) was the first man home, being followed by his team mate SK Tombe.   The next Plebeian man was only 27th, however, and victory went to Shettleston Harriers whose team work was splendid.   The Maryhill team had no great difficulty in winning the mile relay race.   Results:-

100 yards scratch race:   1.   AD Turner (Maryhill Harriers);   2.   PW Brown (Maryhill Harriers);   3.   JH Bastable (Glasgow Transport AC).   Time: 10 2-5th sec.   Won by half a yard.

One Mile Relay Race:   1.   Maryhill Harriers (WH Calderwood, AD Turner, MH Jack, PW Brown);   2.   Springburn Harriers (J Scott, P McNie, T Edwards, T McKell);   3.   Bellahouston Harriers (W Cumming, WS Lawn, A Duncan, G Keith).   Time 3 min 57 sec.   Won by ten yards.

Two Mile Team Race:   1.   Shettleston Harriers (W Sutherland 4, T Goldie 5, AS Stevenson 6) 15 points;   2.   Maryhill Harriers (T Blakely 3, AH Blair 8, W Nelson 10) 21 pts;   3.   Plebeian Harriers (WJ Gunn 1, SK Tombe 2, R Clarke 27) 30 pts.   Time: 10 min 4 1-5th sec.

It was used for training purposes for a fairly long time and the nearest local club was Garscube Harriers who hosted sports meetings there.   The main drawback the track had was that it was almost circular with only one straight.   When the school just along the Great Western Road Boulevard at Blairdardie had a red blaes track laid, there was no real need for the track.   The last time I can remember the track being used for anything athletical was in the 1970s when it was the start and finish point for the Dunbartonshire County relays – one lap of the track followed by a lap of Knightswood Park including the pitch and putt course.

Back row: Donald Burr (team manager), John Turnbull, Len Penman, Peter Burgess, Tony Hogarth, Mike Bathgate. Front row: Tommy Tait, Ian Dobson, Adrian Weatherhead, Robin Morris.

Dam Park, Ayr, 1969, with Land O’Burns Trophy

Clubs are the lifeblood of the sport in Scotland but not all clubs which contribute to the sport are the traditional long-lived clubs, and there have been clubs which appeared for a time and then just disappeared.   Some of them are the ‘clubs of champions’ which have a definite policy of recruiting only top class athletes in an attempt to win as much as they can; these clubs always go when the driving spirit gives up and moves on.  But sometimes there is a club like Octavians which grows because it meets a need and after a while, when it is at its most successful, disbands.    Octavians was essentially a club of the 1960’s which continued into the early 70’s and which produced and cultivated some quite outstanding talent.   There is a web page dealing with the club at   https://octaviansac.co.uk/ from which much of this profile has been obtained.

Octavians AC was formed in 1962 and was an amalgamation of eight of the Edinburgh fee paying’ schools, former pupils athletic clubs.    Due to falling numbers and a consequent drop in standards, representatives of George Heriot’s School , Royal High School , Daniel Stewart’s College, Trinity Academy , George Watson’s College, Edinburgh Academy, Boroughmuir High School and Melville College met and the club was formed.   George Sinclair was the club president.  There was almost instant success for individuals but as time went on there were club successes too.   Members were to include two Olympians (David Stevenson and David Jenkins), Commonwealth Games athletes (add John Jones and Ian Grant), GB internationalists (add Bob Hay, Adrian Weatherhead, Gordon Rule and Frank Dick) and many Scottish internationalists.   There is a comprehensive list of members at their website.   The club vest was white with red, white and black hoops and they even had a tie designed with an octopus motif.

Robin Morris, a pupil at George Watson’s,  was one of the early members of the club, running for Octavians before he left school in 1967 in the Scottish National League at the new track at Grangemouth as well as turning out in Trophy Meetings for the club.       Robin also tells us that the club moved to start training at New Meadowbank before the stadium was officially opened in 1970 but two of his biggest memories of Octavians were  winning the Land of Burns Trophy at Dam Park in 1969 and the formal winding up dinner at the Balmoral Hotel !

What follows is an account of their progress from the start.   It is not fully comprehensive but covers the ground in some detail.

If we start at the beginning in 1962, we see that they were winning championship medals right from the start.   In the East District Championships on 26th May at New Meadowbank – silver in the 440 yards hurdles (M Weir), high jump (J Jones) and shot (J McDonald); plus bronze in the 120 yards hurdles (W Proven), pole vault (J Jones) and javelin (G Thomson).   Others who would represent the club in the years to come were also competing – F Dick (EUAC) and WA Hogarth (Heriot’s) among them.   Proven (bronze) and McDonald (silver) were also successful at the SAAA Championships in June.   The first endurance runner from the club to win an event was DW Grant who won the handicap Mile off 130 yards in 4:18.1 at the Edinburgh Police Sports at Powderhall on 7th July.   The best team performance of their inaugural year was in the Land O’Burns Trophy match at Dam Park in Ayr.   The meeting was for clubs by invitation only and they were third behind Bellahouston and Edinburgh Southern Harriers and ahead of Ayr Seaforth, Victoria Park (the holders), Garscube Harriers and Shettleston Harriers.   Placed men were N Paterson (second, 100 yards), FW Dick (third, 880 yards, first 440 yards hurdles) and 4 x 110 yards relay (first).   On the same day, Tony Hogarth running in the AAA’s junior in the colours of George Heriots School 120 yards hurdles won in 15.4 seconds.   The year’s successes at both individual and team levels indicated that the schools had been correct in coming together to form a combined team.   Octavians AC was essentially a track and field club – although they had good middle and long distance runners, they did not compete over the country or on the roads of the Scottish winter.   By the end of the year Octavians appeared eight times in the annual ranking lists – two track and six field events.   On the track, Norman Patterson was fifth in the 220 yards (22.0) and Fraser Proven 3rd= in the 120 yards hurdles (15.4 seconds).  In the field events, Jack Jones was in the high jump (sixth with 1.84), in the pole vault (seventh with 3.38) and the long jump (sixth with 6.78), Willie Johnstone was seventh in the long jump (6.74), John McDonald fifth in the shot putt (13.81) and George Thomson second in the javelin (53.29).

In summer 1963 the season started with a triangular match against Edinburgh Southern Harriers and Ayr Seaforth Harriers.   ESH won and Octavians were second but the cub performed well against two strong teams.   Their placers were Tom Tait who won the 440 yards in 51.1 seconds, R Hay won the 440 yards hurdles in 59.6 seconds,Jack Jones who won the high jump with 5′ 8″ and C Grant who won the long jump with 20′ 8″.   The East District Championships at the end of May had some notable successes, such as the one-two in the 440 yards with Tom Tait first and RL Hay second with the winning time being 49.7 seconds. Tait had already been second in the 220 yards.   Fraser Proven was second in the 120 yards hurdles and Jack Jones was second in the pole vault.   Proven and Hay picked up medals at the Scottish championships on 22nd June – Proven in the 120 yards hurdles (second), and Hay in the 440 yards hurdles (first).   A week later and there were several Octavian members at the Braw Lads Gathering at Gala where EW Tait beat WM Campbell in the handicap 100 yards in 9.9 seconds, Tait also won the 220 yards handicap and Jack Jones won first prize in the pole vault.   Jones also won that event in the Strathallan meeting in the first week in August.   Tommy Tait who had not figured in too many prize lists in 1963, was chosen for the Scottish team against the Anglo Scots at Scotstoun on 10th August.   Filling in for Ming Campbell, he was second in the 440 yards.   Club mate Proven was second in the 120 yards hurdles behind another home Scot, A Belleh.   Jones was probably the most prolific competitor for the club in 1963 and was still competing – and winning – in September when he won the pole vault at Shotts Highland Games on the seventh, and also at the Glasgow Meeting on the 14th where he was also second in the high jump.

East District 120 yards hurdles,  Meadowbank, 20th May 1967.   Hogarth, 2nd right, on his way to a CBP of 14.7 sec; right Iain Dobson, Octavians, 2nd left Hugh Stevenson in EUAC strip. 

There were not as many club men ranked nationally at the end of 1963 – three on the track and three in the field,   On the track Tom Tait was 5th= in the 100m with a time of 10 seconds exactly and 6th= in the 440 yards with 49.7 seconds while Fraser Proven topped the 120 yards hurdles list with 14.8 seconds .   In the field, Jones was fifth in the pole vault with a best of 3.68m, Ian Grant was ninth in the long jump with a 6.81m leap and William Noble ninth in the shot putt with a best of 13.21.

Distinguished international middle and long distance runner Adrian Weatherhead joined Octavians in 1963, and one of the ‘greats’ of Scottish hurdling, Tony Hogarth, joined the club in 1964.   They along with Tommy Tait and others were coached by George Sinclair and all were real stalwarts of the club.

*  Adrian was a sub four miler, GB and Scotland international runner indoors and out, on the track and over the country;

*   Tony won 5 SAAA hurdles titles over 110m, 120 yards and 440 yards between 1964 and 1969;

*   Tommy was a top class sprinter, hurdler and long jumper with a long career going from 1960 to 1975.

In 1964, on 16th May, Octavians began their season with a triangular match against Bellahouston Harriers and St Andrews University at St Andrews.   There were several notable performances by the club’s athletes: Tait won the 440 yards with 50.6, J Turnbull won the 880 yards in 1:57.1, Hogarth won the 120 yards hurdles in 15.3, Hay won the 440 yards in 57.0, Jones won the high jump (5′ 6″) and pole vault (11.o feet), Grant took first place in the long (21′ 1″) and triple jumps (45′ 2″), Noble won the shot with 41′ 5″ and D Brown won the 6 Miles in 33:12.2.

Adrian Weatherhead (39) beats Ken Ballantyne in East District Championships on 27th May, 1969, in a new Championship Best Performance record of 4:110.9, eclipsing Chris Elson’s record of 4:10.9

Before the East District Championships at the end of the month, there was a triangular match against Shettleston and Victoria Park in which they defeated Victoria Park by 97 to 88 points and going down to Shettleston 100 to 91.   Therewere nine first places and six seconds to the Octavians team. They were spread through the events too, the winners being Patrick in the 100m in 10.0 seconds (he was second in the 220), Tom Tait won the 440 yards in 51.1 with D Burr second, Tony Hogarth won the 120 yards hurdles in 15.7 and 440 yards hurdles in 57.4 (Fraser Proven second in 120 and Hay second in the longer race), Ian Grant won the long jump (21′ 2″) and triple jump (42′ 8″) Derek Lyle won the discus with 127′ 2″ and both relays went their way too in times of 44.4 (4 x 110) and 3:32.1 (4 x 440).   The remaining second places went to J Turnbull in the 880 yards and Jack Jones in the pole vault.   It was a tremendous display of all round strength with victories in all departments other than middle distance – but then they were up against two of the strongest distance clubs in the country on all surfaces!

This whole club strength was also in evidence at the East Championships where they were equal second with Edinburgh Southern Harriers (29 points each) to Edinburgh University (47 points).   The heroes who won the medals were by now familiar to all in Scottish athletics.   Tait won the quarter mile in 50.9 seconds, Turnbull was second to Craig Douglas in the half mile, Hogarth and Proven had a one-two in the 120 yards hurdles, Jones was third in the long jump and second in the pole vault.   As a result several were selected for the East team to meet the West ten days later.   The following Saturday they defeated Edinburgh AC in a match at Redford Barracks by 78 to 58.   In the East v West match Tony Hogarth took the headlines – and not just for the excellence of his hurdling.   The Glasgow Herald report read : “In the first event of the night, the 440 yards hurdles, JA Hogarth, the East champion, returned the same time as the winner, RR Mills (West), but was disqualified for trailing his leg over the hurdles.   Hogarth made up for this setback when he returned a personal best time of 14.7 seconds when winning the 120 yards hurdles.”

As for the other Octavians in the meeting, Tait was second in the 440 yards, Turnbull third in the 880, Proven was third in the sprint hurdles and Ian Grant won the long jump.   Although entered neither Grant nor Jones took part in the Scottish Decathlon Championships on the 12th/13th June because of injury – easily understood because of the amount of competition that they had.   Came the Scottish championships on 27th June and several Octavians turned out in the colours of their school athletic clubs.   For instance, Fraser Proven (second in the sprint hurdles) ran under the Stewart’s FP banner, Tony Hogarth (winner of the 440 yards hurdles) was listed as Heriot’s FP although RL Hay (second in the race) was an Octavian.   Ian Grant won the long jump as an Octavian with a leap of 23 feet and at Galashiels for the Braw Lads Gathering, held on the same day, S Laird won the handicap 100 yards off 6 yards.   Hogarth and Hay were chosen for the Scottish team to meet Ireland at Ayr on 8th August.

Octavians were part of an Edinburgh Select which faced and defeated a Scandinavian team at Goldenacre on 18th July.   Among their members taking part in a team composed of members of Octavians, Edinburgh Southern and Edinburgh University were Tom Tait who set a 440 yards pb of 49.6 seconds, RL Hay won the 440 yards hurdles in 56.3, Ian Grant won the long jump with 22′ 9″, Jack Jones won the pole vault with a clearance of 11′ 6″ and Tait was a member of the winning 4 x 110 relay team.   Another member of the team was Mike Bathgate from Watsonians, who won the 100 and 220 yards sprints, and who would go on to become a valued member of Octavians.   As indeed would pole vaulter David Stevenson.   A week later and Edinburgh Southern beat both Octavians and Ayr Seaforthat Redford Barracks to win the Scottish League for the third successive season.   This was also the first time that David Stevenson, who had been competing for the last few years as a member of Edinburgh University, turned out for Octavians won the pole vault with ‘only’ 14 feet since he found the wind troublesome.   Another week on (1st August) and Mike Bathgate was running in the Octavians colours at The Strathallan Gathering where he won the 100 yards off 2 yards with team mate S Laird second of four and a half yards.

The International against Ireland at Dam Park was combined with the invitation club competition for the Land O’Burns Trophy.   Members of the club were involved in both competitions and this inevitably weakened their chances in the club competition, but then all clubs could say the same thing.   In the International fixture, Proven was second in the sprint hurdles with Hay gaining an unusual victory over Hogarth in the 440 hurdles in 55.1 seconds for a Scottish winning double and David Stevenson won the pole vault.   In the trophy match, Bathgate was second in the 100 yards, AJ Patrick second in the 220 yards, Tait won the 440 yards in 50.5, and the club quartet won the 4 x 110 yards relay with a team of Tom Tait, Hugh Stevenson, Laird and Mike Bathgate.   Stevenson is another interesting ‘capture’ for the club in 1964: a student at Edinburgh University who was to spend some time in Yugoslavia, he was a talented and experienced hurdler to add to Hogarth, Proven, and Hay.

Ranked at the end of the year were Tait (4th in 100m (9.9), seventh in 440  (49.6), Hogarth was first in both hurdles lists with 14.7 seconds and 54.9 seconds, Jones was eighth in the high jump (1.83m) and 7= in the pole vault with Ian Grant, both having done 3.58m, Grant was top of the long jump lists with 7.03m and George Thomson was tenth in the javelin with 50.90m.    Bathgate and Stevenson were listed under their former clubs names since they had done most of the summer, including championships, for these clubs.   It had been a very good summer for the new club with good individual performances, strong team outings and some exciting new members.

 David Stevenson

1965 Track League fixtures were published in the middle of April and Octavians had matches scheduled for 8th May (v St Andrews v Edinburgh Southern), 15th May (v Bellahouston Harriers), 13th June (v Shettleston Harriers) and 3rd August (v ESH and Victoria Park AAC).   The first of these was at Redford Barracks and they defeated St Andrews on an afternoon of dreadful weather.   Interestingly, David Stevenson was competing for Edinburgh Southern.    In the District Championships on the 29th May the club was very much in evidence.    IG McCallum was second and T Tait third in the 440 yards, M Sinclair second in the 880 yards, Hogarth and Proven were first and second in the 120 yards hurdles with Hogarth also first in the 440 yards hurdles, DB McIntosh won the high jump, W Noble third in the shot putt and AL Heath won the javelin throw.   Of Heath’s javelin, the report read: AL Heath, who already has a throw of 206′ 9″ to his credit this summer, once again broke DWR Mackenzie’s Scottish national javelin record of 204′ 11″ with a throw of 211′.   Only the second person to throw over 200′ at Meadowbank, he is still a junior which makes his performance highly noteworthy.   

On 5th June, there was a league match against Edinburgh AC at Redford Barracks which they won by 78 to 63.   Winners for the club were Bathgate (100 and 220), I McCallum (440), Frank Dick (Mile), 4 x 440 relay team, F Proven (high jump) and W Noble (shot putt and javelin).    Seven days later (12th June) they defeaed Shettleston at Redford by 100 points to 97.    The successes kept coming – on 19th June the 4 x 110 yards relay team was third in the Scottish championships at Goldenacre.   In the SAAA Championships at New Meadowbank on 26th June, Fraser Proven defeated Tony Hogarth in the sprint hurdles with 14.6 seconds to 14.8.   AL Heath was second to Fraser Riach in the javelin with only one inch separating the two men – 180′ 4″ to 180′ 3″!   Mike Bathgate ran in the international on 5th July at Westerlands against Brigham Young University and was second in the 220 yards, and was part of the winning 4 x 110 yards relay team.   Hogarth turned the tables on Proven when he was second in the 120 yards hurdles with Proven just behind in third.   This was on a Monday night and on the Saturday Hogarth worked his way through the heats to the final of the AAA championships and was fourth in 14,6.   He was on the programme as ‘Heriot AC.   On Sunday 11th in a meeting organised by Octavians at Redford Mike Bathgate had three wins – 100  yards in 10.3, 220 yards in 22.3 and 440 yards in 51.8 seconds.   There was a second open meeting the following weekend when Tony Hogarth won two events – 120 yards and 330 yards hurdles in in 12.8 and 36.3 seconds.   Then on the last day of the month in a representative match between SAAA and the British Army, Proven was second and Hogarth third in the sprint hurdles.   Mike Bathgate was second in the 220 yards and a member of the relay squad that finished second in the 4 x 110 yards.   Derek Lyle was third in the discus and AL Heath second in the javelin.

AJ Patrick (left) winning in the inter-club 100 yards  from Gribben of Shettleston in 10.0 at Redford Barracks on 23rd May 1964

On 7th August the final Scottish Athletic League matches were held and Edinburgh Southern Harriers defeated both Octavians and Victoria Park  and Octavians beat Victoria Park by 108 to 102 points.   The only track event won by them was the 4 x 110 yards relay but the fared slightly better in the field with victories by Grant in the long jump, Noble in the shot putt and Heath in the javelin.   The invitation-only Land O’Burns Trophy was held at Dam Park on 14th August and the star of the Octavians show was Tony Hogarth.   “From a statistical point of view the other good run of the day was 14.6 in the 120 yards hurdles by WA Hogarth which equalled the national record.   There was only a breath of wind helping him – in my opinion within the limit – yet had he gone any faster his time would not have been recognised because, as happens too often there was no wind gauge in operation. ”     Apart from Hogarth, the only Octavian winners were Grant in the long jump and Heath in the javelin.   In the international against Iceland incorporated into the Edinburgh Highland Games, Mike Bathgate was in the winning relay squad and Hogarth was third in the hurdles.

At the end of 1965, Mike Bathgate found himself ranked sixth in both 100 yards (10.0) and 220 yards (22.1) while Tony Hogarth was top of the 120 yards hurdles (14.6) and eighth in the 400 hurdles (56.2). Fraser Proven was second equal in the shorter event with Hugh Stevenson, as EUAC, fifth.  Robert Hay was ninth in the longer hurdles race.   The only field eventer ranked was Derek Lyle in the discus with 39.43 for eighth place.   Alan Heath, ranked number one, was listed as Oxford University, while others like David Stevenson were now competing for other clubs with Edinburgh Southern being his choice.

The 1966 season started with an open meeting at  Redford on 23rd April in which Ian McCallum won the 440 yards, Hogarth the sprint hurdles, Jones the high jump and Adrian Weatherhead running for Heriot-Watt University was first in the mile.   On 21st May in a triangular match at Redford, Octavians lost to ESH but defeated Victoria Park.   The only double winner for Octavians was Adrian Weatherhead who took first place in both 880 yards and Mile, while their other victors were McCallum in the 440 yards, Hogarth in the 120 yards hurdles and McPherson in the shot putt.   The East District championships were held the following week and Octavians were third club in the team competition.   The top men in the Octavian colours were Ian McCallum in the 440 yards (first), Adrian Weatherhead in the 880 yards (second), Hogarth and Proven (first and third in the short hurdles race), Robert Hay in the 440 hurdles (second), Jack Jones in the high jump (first), I McPherson and W Noble in the shot putt (first and third), and AL Heath in the javelin (first).   All in all a very successful championships for the club.

Mike Bathgate winning 100 yards in EU v Octavians v ESH

On 4th June there was a representative match held at Wolverhampton between SAAA, Midland Counties and Wales.   Scotland won convincingly in a Commonwealth Games year and there were two Octavians playing their part.   Ian McCallum was third in the 440 in 51.3 and Tony Hogarth was third in the 120 yards hurdles in 15.5.   As has been noted, 1966 was a Commonwealth Games year and the Games were to be held in Jamaica.   The turnout at the SAAA Championships on 24th and 25th June was star spangled; the best Scots athletes from whatever side of the Border were on display and only the best won the medals.      The best included Octavian hurdlers Hogarth and Proven who finished first and third in 15.4 and 15.9 seconds.   Ian McPherson was third in the shot putt behind Edmunds and Sutherland with a best of 44′ 4.5″ to be the third club man to take a medal.   When we look at the results of the Junior championships, held on the same day at the same venue, we see several athletes from the feeder schools performing admirably – Trinity, George Heriot’s, Stewart’s were all there.   Better still was the appearance of juniors running as Octavians:   Bill Golden (Helen’s brother) was second in the long jump and CM Heath won the pole vault.   Encouraging indeed.

The Glasgow Herald of July 25th, carried the headline “OCTAVIANS BEAT CHAMPIONS”, and read

“Octavians AC gained their first win over Edinburgh Southern when they beat the champions by 112 points to 82 in their opening Scottish League contest yesterday at Grangemouth.   Octavians,113 points, also won a triangular contest held in conjunction with the league fixture in which Forth Valley participated.   Edinburgh Southern Harriers had 73 points and Forth Valley 38.   Four competitors gained double wins.   M Bathgate (Octavians) in the 100 and 220 yards, Martin Sinclair (Octavians) in the 880 yards and Mile, AT Murray (ESH) in the 120 and 440 yards hurdles and D Walker (ESH) in the long and triple jumps. “

The list of Octavians winners included  Bathgate (10.5 and 22.3 seconds), I McCallum (440 yards in 50.6), M Sinclair (1:54.5 and 4:28.7), DB McIntosh (high jump 5′ 10″), CM Heath (pole vault 11′), W Noble (shot putt 43′ 5″), P Culhane (hammer 153′ 6″), JN Burnett (javelin 176′ 2″), 4 x 110 relay (DS Bruce, TEW Tait, RJN Patrick and M Bathgate in 43.5 sec) and 4 x 440 yards relay (TEW Tait, DF McRitchie, M Sinclair and I McCallum) in 3:29.1.   A very successful outing indeed.

The following week, on 30th July, the Land O’Burns Trophy meeting was held in Ayr and again the Octavians were invited along.  Adrian Weatherhead just lost out in a fast 880 yards to Duncan Middleton of Springburn who recorded a meeting record of 1:53.2 seconds.   Bathgate was second in the 100 yards, McCallum second in the 440 yards, Proven was second in the 120 yards hurdles, Noble won the discus, the team was second in the 4 x 110 yards relay but in the medley Relay (800/200/200/400m) the team of Weatherhead, Bruce, Bathgate and McRitchie won in 3:34.1.    The team results is of particular interest this time:

1.   Edinburgh Southern 70 points;   2.   Octavians  62;   3.   Edinburgh AC 32;   4.   (equal) Bellahouston and Victoria Park  31;   6.   Shettleston  28;   7.   Ayr Seaforth 26;   8.   Springburn  18;   9.   Garscube  12.

The strength of the club is clear from the above:  first, they defeated such strong outfits as EAC, Victoria Park and Bellahouston; and second, the margin of victory is large.   Remember, too, that the club is only in its fifth year of existence.

John Turnbull models the Octavians kit perfectly in winning an inter-club 880 yards at Saughton in 1963

The first Saturday in August is always the Strathallan Gathering and on the 6th August, 1966, Bridge of Allan again hosted the event.   D Bruce of Octavians won the 100 yards off five and a half yards, D McRitchie won the junior 100 off 5 yards, Adrian Weatherhead won the 880 yards off 12 yards and the medley relay team was second to Bellahouston Harriers.   On the very next day at Grangemouth, the club maintained their unbeaten league record when the defeated Shettleston Harriers by 124 points to 67.   The winners were Bathgate in the 100 and 220 yards, McRitchie in the 440, Weatherhead in the 880 and Mile, Proven in the 120 yards hurdles, Dobson in the 440 hurdles and pole vault, Jones in the high jump, long jump and discus, Tait in the triple jump, Burnet in the javelin and finally the 4 x 110 relay team of Bruce, Tait, McRitchie and Bathgate ran a good 43.8 seconds.

On Saturday August 13th the indefatigable Adrian Weatherhead won the 880 yards at Aberfeldy.   Then on 20th August at the Edinburgh Highland Games, Ian McPherson was second in the invitation shot putt behind England’s Jeff Teale and the 4 x 110 relay team was third in the SAAA Championships at the same venue.   In the Scottish League match at Nethercraigs in Glasgow on the Sunday   Bellahouston emerged triumphant over Octavians – 119 to 78 points – in a 19 event programme.   The Octavian winners were Bathgate in the 100m, Weatherhead in the Mile, Chris Elson in the three miles, Proven in the 120 yards hurdles, and George Thomson in the hammer.   Five wins out of 19 and beaten in several events that were normally bankers for the club in these fixtures while winning the three miles for the first time in several years.   On 3rd September in the Shotts Highland Games, Jack Jones was second in the high jump to Cosmos Julien of Victoria Park and the relay team was second in the SAAA Medley relay championship behind Bellahouston Harriers.    One of the more attractive venues on the amateur highland games circuit was held at Dunblane in a natural amphitheatre  and Adrian Weatherhead finished second in the 880 yards there running from the 10 yards mark, he was beaten by Hamish Cameron off 52 in 1:59.2.

At the end of summer 1966, Octavians AC could look back on an excellent season as a team with several notable victories as well as several first rate individual performances.   There were however also signs of problems to come: with two big and ambitious club track and field teams in Edinburgh, several athletes who had turned out for the club had switched club allegiance for the doubtful benefits of wider competition experience.   How were their members ranked in the Yearbook that year?  The number of athletes listed as club members is slighter than it should be because several who did compete regularly for the club appear for their University – eg Adrian Weatherhead raced for the club inall league matches, entered for open meetings and highland games and so on as ‘Octavians’ but because the fastest time was done in a University fixture he was listed as ‘Heriot-Watt’.  In this category were such as Adrian, Martin Sinclair, Hugh Stevenson and Alan Heath (competing for Oxford University).   It should also be noted that Tony Hogarth missed a chunk of the season through injury.

Those listed as Octavians were

Michael Bathgate  220y  8th  22.3;   Ian McCallum   440y   8th   49.6;   Tony Hogarth  120yH  1st  14.8; Fraser Proven  120yH  4th   15.1;   Robert Hay   440yH   4th  56.1.   Derek Lyle   Discus   9th   39.81m;   Pat Culhane   Hammer   3rd 53.86;

Octavians tie with octopus

1967 started on 8th April at Grangemouth with Adrian Weatherhead finishing third in a half mile promoted by Lewisvale Spartans and won by Duncan Middleton from Hugh Barrow.   He followed this up with a personal best of 4:06.6 for an invitation mile at the same stadium on 13th May, again third, behind Lachie Stewart and Hugh Barrow.   However when the team for the British Isles Cup at Grangemouth on 10th June was picked, the only Octavian was Tony Hogarth for the 120 yards hurdles.   There was one athlete per event and the javelin man was AL Heath.   Came the East District Championships at New Meadowbank on 27th May, and the club which had performed so nobly the previous year was down in fourth position with 28 points.   Ian McCallum won the 440 yards in 49.9 and in the Mile “Weatherhead ran a well-judged race to win and establish a new meeting record of 4 min 10.8 sec, and his team mate, WA Hogarth hurdled flawlessly to record 14.7 , another new best time, in winning the 120 yards hurdles.”   Other notable results at the meeting included Hogarth’s second place in the 440 yards hurdles, Len Penman’s second place in the high jump, Bill Golden’s third in the triple jump, DD Stevenson (Octavians) winning the pole vault, AL Heath’s third in the javelin.    Tony Hogarth was out as selected for Scotland in the British Isles Cup at Grangemouth on 10th June and finished second to Stuart Storey of England in 15.2 seconds.   24 hours later he was again in action at Grangemouth in the Inter-Counties meeting representing Midlothian.   He won the 120 yards hurdles in 15.2 seconds.   Two races in two days, same track, same time!   He was also on duty in the team in the sprint relay which won from Lanarkshire and Dumbarton.    The SAAA Championships were held on 24th June at Grangemouth and Hogarth was again in fine form when he won the 120 yards hurdles from A Murray in 14.9 to Murray’s 15.0 seconds.   David Stevenson won the pole vault with a clearance of 14′ 6″ while D McRitchie won the junior 440 yards in 52.8.

One of the biggest triumphs for Octavians came in the first week end  of July in 1967 when Peter Burgess and David Stvenson, now competing solely for the club, dominated the SAAA Decathlon Championship.   The report follows:

“BURGESS IS DECATHLON CHAMPION.   PJS Buregess (Octavian AC) won the Scottish AAA Decathlon championship yesterday at Grangemouth Stadium.   His total pointage of 6029 for the ten events was a highly creditable performance as it was the first time he had taken part in such a competition.   He is only the third Scot to have passed 6000 points under the existing counting system.   His clubmate DD Stevenson, the Scottish pole vault title holder, and the only other competitor totalled 5395 points to achieve a personal best.   After the first five events on Saturday Burgess led by 3257 points to Stevenson’s 2833.   The best events for Burgess over the two days were the long jump, in which he achieved a personal best and the 400 metres.  

Details: Burgess: 100m  11.2 sec (786 pts);   400m  50.8 (770);   1500m  4:41  (518 pts);   110mH  16.7 (685);   high jump 5′ 3 3/4″ (512);  long jump  22’11 1/2″ (820); pole vault  10′  (543);  shot putt  30′ 1 1/2″ (399);   discus  96′ 11″ (464);  javelin (147′ 2 1/2″  (562).     Total pts:  6029

Stevenson: 11.3  (711); 60 sec (411);   5:40.6 (213); 19.4 (487);   5′ 3″ (493);   20′ 5″ (653);  14′ 3 1/4″  (896);   35′ 7″ (521); 105′ 5″ (522);  121′ 2″ (444).   Total pts:  5395.

Stevenson won the pole vault at Gourock on 22nd July with a vault of 15′ from Gordon Rule, competing as a guest because he was still a schoolboy at George Heriots’s, who cleared 4′ 1/2″.   The following week was when they travelled to Dam Park in Ayr for the Land O’ Burns Trophy meeting and again Hogarth stole the headline and most of the report.   It read as follows:

“HOGARTH EXCELS AT DAM PARK.   Ayr Seaforth, organisers of the Land O’Burns Trophy at Dam Park on Saturday had the understandable difficulty of finding officials at a time when many are away seeking the sun, but at least one athlete will bitterly regret the absence of a wind-gauge operator.   For the second time in three years at this meeting WA Hogarth, Scotland’s fastest hurdler, sped down the 120 yards straight to  national record time only to learn that the chances of ratification was as bright as a coalman’s jacket.   His time, 14.5 seconds, took a fifth of a second off the record  he shares with GA McLachlan and in my opinion the wind could have been within the permissible limit.   

One prominent official thought that it was too strong, but all this conjecture could easily have been nullified by the presence of a gauge.   It is perhaps significant that none of  Hogarth’s rivals in the race, particularly AT Murray, runner-up in the Scottish championships, was clocked in a flattering time that might have suggested wind assistance.

Hogarth really excelled at this meeting.   Earlier he had given Murray, the 440 yards hurdles champion, a severe jolt in that event by leading him all the way to the tape for an eight yard victory.”

Other results:   880 yards:   2.   A Weatherhead; Mile:   2.  A Weatherhead;   4 x 110 relay:   2.  Octavians;   high jump:  1.  L Penman;   javelin:   2.   L Burnett.    Team result:   1st Edinburgh Southern Harriers.   When the Scottish team to meet Denmark at Edinburgh on 19th August was selected Hogarth and Stevenson were both included.

The Strathallan Gathering at the start of August again had a sprinter from Octavians among the prizes – RJN Patrick won the 220 yards off a handicap of 10 yards.   But the season belonged to Hogarth.   At Edinburgh Highland Games he had the headlines and the bulk of the report when he broke the Scottish record with a time of 14.4 seconds into a slight headwind on a grass track.   Stevenson won the pole vault with 14′ 9″.

Hugh Stevenson’s Octavians vest

And so ended the season.   Let’s look, in some depth at the club rankings for 1967 as listed in the annual year book:

100m: Fraser McRitchie 20th= (10.2), Gilroy Borthwick 20=; 220: Neil Patrick 10th= (22.4), Fraser McRitchie 29th= (22.9), Gilroy Borthwick 29th=’  ; 440:   Ian McCallum  13th= (49.9); Fraser McRitchie 30th (50.8); 880: Adrian Weatherhead 24th (1:55.8); Mile: A Weatherhead 5th (4:06.4; 120 yards hurdles:  Tony Hogarth 1st  (14.4);  Hugh Stevenson  5th= (15.7); Fraser Proven  7th= (15.8); Peter Burgess 14th= (16.7);   440 yards hurdles: Tony Hogarth  3rd  (54.9); Hugh Stevenson 5th (56.7); High Jump: Len Penman 5th (6′ 2″); John Jones 8th= (6′ 0″); David McIntosh 16th= (5′ 10″); Pole Vault: David Stevenson 1st (15′ 0″); Stewart Seale 4th (14′ 0″); Crispin Heath 9th (11′ 9″); Ian Dobson 10th (11′ 6″); Peter Burgess 21st= (10′ 0″); Long Jump: Peter Burgess 6th (23′ 0″); William Golden 19th= (21; 4 1/2″); Triple Jump: William Golden 14th (43′ 10 1/2″);  Shot Putt: William Noble  13th (43′ 6″); Stewart Seale 19th (40′ 5″); Discus Throw: Derek Lyle  6th (132′ 4″); Stewart Seale 18th (117′ 8″); William Noble 22nd (115′ 9 1/2″); Javelin: Alan Heath  2nd (208′ 11″); James Burnett 3rd (206′ 1″); Stewart Seale 9th (181′ 0″); John Jones 24th (157′ 5″); George Thomson 27th  (156′ 7″); Decathlon: Peter Burgess  2nd (6029): Stewart Seale  3rd (5749); David Stevenson 4th (5395); 4 x 110 Relay: 11th (44.8); 4 x 440 Relay: 4th (3:28.6)

41 performances recorded over 17 events.   Strengths?  High hurdles, Pole Vault and Javelin with the Decathlon not far behind.   Weaknesses?  Middle and long distances and maybe, to a much lesser extent, Hammer Throw.   Were it not for the efforts of Adrian Weatherhead and John Turnbull, track events from the half mile up would be pretty well non-existent.

John Jones

At Scotstoun on 18th May, 1968, the only Octavian to be placed, or indeed mentioned, at the meeting at Scotstoun in Glasgow was Tony Hogarth who won the 120y hurdles in 14.7 seconds: it was a good time but equally significant was the fact that he defeated AT Murray of Ednburgh Southern who could only run 15.3 that early in the season.   At the East District Championships a week later at Pitreavie, Octavians athletes were again prominent.   Mike Bathgate (23.2) and Tommy Tait (23.3) were second and third in the 220 yards, Fraser McRitchie (51.6) was third in the 440 yards, Adrian Weatherhead (4:20.8) was second in the Mile, Tony Hogarth (14.4) won the 120 yards hurdles, David Stevenson (14′ 6″) won the pole vault, Peter Burgess (20’11”) was third in the long jump and Bill Golden (43′ 11″) was second in the triple jump.   The SAAA team for the Home Countries international at Grangemouth on June 8th was chosen and both Hogarth and Stevenson were included.   The team was then in action as a club team a week later (June 2nd), again at Grangemouth and finished second with 8 points, two less than Edinburgh Southern but ahead of Bellahouston six, Shettleston four, EAC two and Ayr Seaforth nil.   No individual results for this match are available.

David Stevenson was one of four Scots who won their event at the British Isles match on 8th June with a clearance of 14′ 6″ while Hogarth was second to Alan Pascoe, his time of 14.4 seconds being only two tenths down on the Englishman.   The Inter-Counties was held on the following day and there Stevenson won again (14′ 0″), and Weatherhead was second in the mile in 4:16.1 – only one tenth of a second behind Dick Wedlock.   On the same weekend, the Scottish Decathlon Championship was held at Scotstoun and was won by Peter Burgess with 5764 points from fellow Octavian Stewart Seale who had 5183 points.  As a result of his consistently good pole vaulting David Stevenson was selected for the GB team for the international on June 29th in Berne in Switzerland.

And he continued to excel – in the SAAA Championships on 22nd June, he set a new championship best performance of fifteen feet one and a quarter inches.   It was two feet better than the runner-up, Gordon Rule of George Heriot’s School.   Rule also set a British Junior record of fourteen feet seven and three quarters when winning the Junior championship.   Ian Dobson of Octavians was third in the event.   Other club men to pick up national championship medals were Weatherhead (third in the Mile in 4:13.8), Hogarth (hurdles first in 14.9), Peter Burgess (third in long jump 22′ 8 3/4″),

On 9th July the new track at Grangemouth was opened officially and Octavians won the Mile medley relay in 3:34.5.   Edinburgh Southern was possibly the best club in the country in terms of success in inter club fixtures – they had not been beaten for several years – then Octavians put a stop to it when the won on 24th July in a league match at Grangemouth – the top men were Mike Bathgate in both 100 and 220, Ian McCallum in the 440, Martin Sinclair in the 880 and mile, D Mcintosh in the high jump, Crispin Heath in the pole vault, William Noble in the shot putt, Pat Culhane in the discus and JN Burnett in the javelin plus victory in both relays!   This was followed by another good team performance in the Land O’Burns Trophy meeting at Ayr where they lost to Edinburgh Southern  by 62 points to 70.   The only event that they won in the eight club contest was the mile medley so it was another very good team performance.   D Bruce won the 100 yards at Strathallan on the first Saturday in August.   Back to League business and on Sunday, 8th August, the defeated Shettleston Harriers at Grangemouth but, again, there were few event winners: 440 yards: D McRitchie,  high jump and long jump  J Jones,  javelin N Burnett and 4 x 110.

In the Aberfeldy HG 880 yards, Adrian Weatherhead emerged as the winner and at the Ednburgh Highland Games, in heavy rain, the club’s relay teams did well – they  were third in the 4 x 110 relay (behind Garscube Harriers and Edinburgh Southern in 43.4 and although they were second in the 4 x 440, they were unfortunately disqualified.   On August 21st at Nethercraigs in Glasgow the club was beaten by Bellahouston Harriers by 119 to 78.   The individual winners were Mike Bathgate 100 yards, Adrian Weatherhead Mile and F Proven 120 yards hurdles.   The next fixture was at Shotts HG where in the SAAA Mile Medley Relay, Bellahouston won from Octavians in 3:32.1 with Octavians on 3:33.4.

Octavians then won the final league match, held at Saughton in Edinburgh, but for the second year in succession, finished second overall. Bellahouston won the title with Edinburgh Southern, the previous year’s winners, were third.   Octavian winners at this match were Bathgate 220 yards, McCallum 440 yards, Weatherhead Mile, Dobson 440 yards hurdles, J Jones high jump, shot putt W Noble, javelin N Burnett plus the 4 x 110 relay.

The highest ranked club members at the end of 1968 were Thomas Tait (seventh in the 100 yards), Adrian Weatherhead (10th in 880, 9th in the Mile), Tony Hogarth (1st in 120yH), Len Penman (10th in high jump), David Stevenson (1st in pole vault), Crispin Heath (9th in pole vault), Peter Burgess (5th in decathlon),and Jack Jones (7th in decathlon)

These were the men in the top ten in the country and again there were others who competed for the club and who were ranked for it in 1967 (such as Stewart Seale (4th) and Ian Dobson (10th) in pole vault, Seale (10th) in the decathlon) who appeared under their University colours in 1968.

Mike Bathgate (left) and Robin Mackenzie (right) at Musselburgh, 1961.  The club vest can be seen clearly here, modelled by Bathgate: black, white and red bands.

1969 started with a bang – Octavians won the Land O’Burns Trophy.   Normally held at the end of July, the new date was 17th May and suited them down to the ground but the win was not without controversy.   The report went as follows:

OCTAVIANS PIP SOUTHERN FOR BURNS TROPHY

Edinburgh Southern Harriers went away from Dam Park, Ayr, on Saturday convinced that they, and not Octavians, should have won the Land O’Burns Trophy.   It is easy to see why they thought this but difficult to sympathise with the line of reasoning.   The ruling that forced team managers to declare their teams 45 minutes before each event was the root of the trouble.   Edinburgh Southern, in common with a few of the other 11 clubs, were too late in submitting their names for the first race, the 440 yards hurdles, and so their man, Sandy Robertson, Scotland’s number two last year, had to spectate while Octavians Peter Burgess and Ian Dobson gained 9 points for taking second and third places behind Ricky Taylor (Ayr Seaforth).

This race must have assumed mammoth proportions in the minds of Southern officials as the meeting drew to a close and the final pointages – Octavians 45 and Southern and Ayr Seaforth 44 – were given out.   There was even a suggestion from the beaten club that they would have to reconsider taking part in the meeting next year, but we can only hope that they decide to compete again.   Without them (holders during the past four years) the standard would suffer a decline.”   

The result was a triumph for the club since they had been travelling to Ayr since their inception with some good and some very good performances by their men – this was a superb team effort when such as Leslie Piggott, Lachie Stewart, Ian McCafferty, Crawford Fairbrother and others of the very top quality were performing.   The Octavian points winners included Peter Burgess (2nd 440 yards  50.7 and 2nd  440 yards hurdles 59.1), Tony Hogarth (1st 120 yards hurdles 16.1 sec) and Len Penman (2nd high jump  5′ 10″).   So few firsts and seconds, yet the trophy was won – no wonder the heroes pictured at the top of the page were smiling so much.   Let’s just list the names – Mike Bathgate, Tommy Tait, Pete Burgess, John Turnbull, Adrian Weatherhead, Robin Morris, Tony Hogarth, Ian Dobson, Len Penman, and the manager who managed to get them all declared timeously, Donald Burr.

Two weeks later at the East District Championships at Grangemouth, they were not in the first three teams to finish.   Edinburgh Southern took it from Edinburgh University and Heriot-Watt University.   There were nevertheless some good performances by club athletes.   Peer Burgess again ran well in the 400 yards and finished third in 49.8, Adrian Weatherhead produced his usual sterling performance to be second in the 1500m in 3:48.3 (but unfortunately he was running for Heriot-Watt  that afternoon), Tony Hogarth won the sprint hurdles in 14.9, and Ian Dobson won the pole vault (but he was competing under the Heriot-Watt banner).

Burgess gained the recognition that his form deserved when he competed for a Scottish team at Leicester against Midland Counties.   He competed in the long jump and finished second with a best of 23′ 4″.   In trhe Scottish championships at Grangemouth on the last Saturday in June, the only Octavian to win a medal was David Stevenson who won the pole vault with a 14′ 6 1/2″ leap.   The season progressed with a number of the regular fixtures until the start of September when, in an inter-club contest at Grangemouth, the finished fourth club of six.

Nevertheless in the ranking lists of 1969 we see that Tony Hogarth had six of the top eight times for 110m hurdles and seven of the top 21 as well as winning the Scottish and East District championships; in the pole vault, David Stevenson and Stewart Seale had all of the top ten times between them, Peter Burgess had first, fourth, sixth and seventh decathlon performances, Adrian Weatherhead was ranked in 800m/1500m/Mile,/3000m and 5000m, and the list indicates Octavians ranked in the 100m (3), 200m (1), 400m (4), 800m (1), 1500m (1), 5000m (1), 110m H (4), 400m H (3), HJ (1), PV (5), LJ (2), TJ (-), Discus (2), Hammer (-), Javelin (1), and Decathlon (3).   After the brilliant start at Dam Park, club results dipped a bit but the standard and number of individual performances was as high as ever.

1970 started with Adrian Weatherhead in an Octavians vest racing against the best middle distance runners in the country at Hampden Park at the Scottish Cup Final, between Aberdeen and Celtic, over 1500m.   He shared the early pace-making with Lachie Stewart before being outsprinted by both Stewart and Craig Douglas.   This being Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Games year, there were lots of inter-club matches where athletes were warming up early in their search for qualifying marks but the Scottish League had changed its format and there were now meetings with six or even eight teams at the same venue.   Octavians first such match in 1970 was on 9th May at Scotstoun.   The winning team was Bellahouston Harriers (10 points), followed by Victoria Park (8), Octavians (6), Edinburgh Southern (4), Edinburgh AC (2) and Shettleston (1).   There were only two winners for the team that day – Hogarth (hurdles) and Jones (pole vault).   The other two Edinburgh teams were ahead of them in the team contest linked with the East District championships where Octavians were out of the first three.   In the championships at Meadowbank on 23rd May, the club’s medallists were Bathgate (3rd  100m  11.0), Weatherhead (1500  1st 3:53.5, 5000m 2nd  14:27.2), Hogarth (2nd  110H 15.2), IC Grant (110H  16.0), DD Stevenson (1st  pole vault  14′ 8 1/4″) and Stewart Seale (3rd pole vault  14′ 4 1/4″).     Weatherhead had a superb championships with his run in the 5000m being really praiseworthy.  One of the names missing from the District championships roll call was that of Peter Burgess – winner of the Scottish decathlon title for the past two years.   The reason was probably that the championship in question was to be held the following week.    He couldn’t repeat his victory – the title was won by David Kidner with Burgess back in sixth.   He was making a comeback from a back operation in February and this was his first competition since then.   There was an Octavian in second place though, and that was IC Grant who had last competed in this competition in 1963, finished with a total of 5762 points.

The SAAA Championships were held early in 1970 to assist both competitors and selectors.   David Stevenson won the pole vault with 14′ 8 1/4″ with Stewart Seale third on 14′ 1 1/4″.     Adrian Weatherhead, who had run so well in the East Championships was a bit below form when he finished third in the 5000m.

David Stevenson was selected for the Games with Gordon Rule the other Scot in the event.   Rule was 6th  with a clearance of 4.50m (which incidentally was the same height as Wales’s David Lease who became Scottish National coach slightly more than 20 years later) with Stevenson ninth (4.40m).   In the Decathlon, Ian C Grant was top Scot finishing eighth with 6048 points: Kidner, the other Scot, was ninth with 6030 points.   So – the two Octavians were in the top ten in their events with marks that were more than respectable.

Appearances by Octavian members were a bit spaced out after the Games and when it came to the inter-county championship on the third Sunday in August, the Midlothian team which had won the previous year had only three athletes out, one of whom was Mike Bathgate who was unplaced.   In the Edinburgh Highland Games on 24th August the only Octavian in action seemed to be David Stevenson who was third in the pole vault.

1970 was a mixed kind of season for the club with no notable team victories – the Land O’Burns was won by Victoria Park – so how did they fare in the rankings?    Looking only at the top ten places, we see Octavians placed as follows: Tony Hogarth  4th  110m hurdles 15.1, IC Grant  8th   110m hurdles  15.9, 7th high jump  1.83m , 1st Decathlon 6313, David Stevenson  1st=  pole vault   4.50m,   Stewart Seale  3rd  pole vault  4.42,  Peter Burgess  6th  pole vault  3.50m, 4th decathlon 6044.    Adrian Weatherhead appeared in the 1500m , Mile, 3000m, 5000m lists but as a member of Polytechnic Harriers, Crispin Heath was listed for his University and there were others in a similar category.

Gordon Rule vaulting at Grangemouth

1971 was to be the last year for Octavians, one of Scotland’s most successful clubs.    Adrian Weatherhead again ran in the pre-final race at Hampden on cup final day and finished third in the 1500m in 3:55.   The first team fixture was the Land O’Burns Trophy on 15th May and again there was some controversy.   Edinburgh Southern won the event but the report started as follows: “That handsome piece of silverware, the Land O’Burns Trophy, finished up on Saturday in the custody of Edinburgh Southern Harriers but with a couple of events remaining Octavians and Victoria Park were ostensibly ahead.   Then it was pointed out to officials that Edinburgh Southern had not been credited with the correct number of points in the 110m hurdles, and a quick burst of arithmetic showed that Southern were in the lead.   They scored enough points in the relay to stay there, taking the trophy with 49 points, one ahead of Octavians, Victoria Park had 46, Bellahouston 30, Shettleston 29 1/2 and Ayr Seaforth 25 1/2.”  

There was not one single Octavian victory despite their second place but the the winners were largely Commonwealth Games competitors from the Games of 1970 (McCafferty, Morrison, Murray, Birkmyre) with some others in terrific form (Wood, Robertson).   It was however a team event and the team did well.   It didn’t do as well in the East District Championships on 28th May, finishing sixth in the team contest.   Individual successes included Adrian Weatherhead (3rd in the 800m), Robin Morris (3rd in the steeplechase), Bill Golden (3rd in the high jump) and Bill Gentleman (3rd in the discus, 2nd in the hammer).   A week later on 5th June there were no medals for any of the relay teams from the club in the national relay championships, but Adrian Weatherhead was involved in a hard race at Rawyards Park in Airdrie.  Ron Marshall reported in the Glasgow Herald: Ronnie McDonald, the Monkland Junior, came from behind in beating Adrian Weatherhead (Octavians) by 4 yards in 4 min 4 sec.   Soon after the start, the race developed into a march with Weatherhead taking the junior through at a merry pace.   McDonald eventually came through in the final straight.”  

Adrian’s time was 4:04.6.   His reward for the consistently high standard of his running was to be invited to the Emsley Carr Mile at Meadowbank on 12th June.   The race was won by Peter Stewart with Adrian sixth on 4:4.1, two seconds ahead of Ian McCafferty on 4:06.1.   The pair met up again in the 5000m at the Scottissh championships on 26th June in the 5000m   “Ian McCafferty always looked as though he had outright control of the 5000m.   Adrian Weatherhead offered stern opposition and actually led the Commonwealth silver medallist past the bell.   But that state of affairs wasn’t destined to last.   McCafferty produced a perky burst, capitalised upon it, and that was that.”   Weatherhead ran a personal best of 13:57.2.   The only other club medallist was David Stevenson in the pole vault where was second to Gordon Rule.   Good as the time was, Adrian was not finished with the distance for the season: on 24th June at the AAA’s championships in London’s Crystal Palace, he finished third in 13:47.4 behind Mike Baxter and Alan Blinston.   The athletics yearbook commented that he had narrowly missed selecting for the European Games .   Only Ian Stewart ran faster that year with Mc Cafferty’s best being 13:52.0, Fergus Murray’s 13:57.2 and Lachie Stewart’s 13:58.6    At the year end, he was number three on the scottish all-time list for 5000m (as well as number four in the 1500m).   Ocyavians had good cause to be proud of their man’s running.   On the same day in the Scottish Decathlon championship, Peter Burgess was second to Stewart McCallum with a total of 6552 and personal bests in long jump, 110m hurdles and javelin.

On the 9th August at Meadowbank the first ever Octavians Relay meeting was held.    It was the biggest meeting of its kind of Scotland and it is surprising that no such meeting had been held on a regular basis before.   England had the Bracknell Relays, we had nothing.   The Octavians meeting would go on to one of the annual classics on the athletics calendar.   It was fitting that they should win the 4 x 110 metres relay with a team of Bathgate, Hogarth, Tait and Burgess in 43.5 seconds.   Other events included 4 x 200, 4 x 400, 4 x 1500 and 4 x 100m hurdles for senior men; 4 x 100m and 4 x 800m for youths; 4 x 100m and 4 x 800m for boys; 4 x 100, 4 x 200, 4 x 400 and 4 x 800m for women; 4 x 100 and 4 x 800m for Junior women; and finally, 4 x 100 and 4 x 800 for Girls.   A huge meeting to organise but also a huge success.

They were back at Meadowbank   for the Edinburgh Highland Games meeting on 23rd August which incorporated a match against Belgium.  Adrian won the 1500m in 3:44.7, Robin Morris was third in the steeplechase in 9:32.2,  and Peter Burgess ran in the winning Scottish 4 x 100 relay team.

The club folded at the end of season 1971.   Complete rankings for the final season as far as they are available are as follows.

100m:   P Burgess  9th  10.9;  T Tait  16th  11.0;   M Bathgate   16th=  11.0;   A Ward  11 .2;   (G Borthwick  ESH   6th)

200m:   T Tait  19th   22.5;   M Bathgate 32nd  22.8;  (G Borthwick  4th)

400m:   P Burgess  14th  49.9; A Ward  16th  50.4

800m:   A Weatherhead 15th  1:54.4             1500m:   A Weatherhead  2nd 3:40.9;

5000m:   A Weatherhead 2nd  13:47.4         3000m Steeplechase:   R Morris  15th   9:39.2

110m hurdles:   P Burgess  14th   15.8            400m hurdles:   A Nicholson  7th  55.5

4 x 100m:   4th ranked club   43.5.            4 x 400m:   6th ranked club3:27.8

High jump:  P Burgess 21st    1.75m          Pole vault:   D Stevenson  2nd  4:26;   P Burgess 4th  4:10m

Long jump:   P Burgess  10th   6.92m       Triple jump:   Alistair Ni cholson  26th  13.00

Shot putt:   P Burgess  27th  11.42m         Discus:   W Gentleman  17th  36.58;   P Burgess 19th 16.20

Hammer:   W Gentleman  9th  44.34

Decathlon:   P Burgess   4th  6552 pts

In addition to Weatherhead, Hogarth (hurdles 2nd), Proven (hurdles 5th) and Stevenson (pole vault 1st) were on the all-time list at the end of 1971.

The Octavians final dinner at the Balmoral Hotel, 1971

With the standard within the club so high, why did the club fold after only ten years?   The Octavians AC website is at   www.octaviansac.co.uk and it suggests that –

“The Club became a victim of its own success, as the team was principally made up of District and National Champions and both Scottish and G.B. Internationals, as a result youngsters found that they could not get into the team; so they went elsewhere.   The Club folded in 1971 then, after providing two trophies – one in the form of a baton for the Octavian Relays  at Grangemouth, the other a Sword to be awarded annually at the Carnethy Hill Race meeting ( won by club member Robin Morris)”   

The club was unique in many ways.   First, it had a closely defined eligibility system which consisted of eight, specified schools in Edinburgh.   This would seem to indicate a higher-than-average pool of inherited ability  with an attendant work ethic fostered by the schools in question.    Was it a proper athletic club?   Yes, it certainly was with properly qualified coaches and top grade officials prepared to work with them.   In this it differed from the ‘clubs of champions’ which typically consist of a bunch of good quality athletes who club together for the purpose of winning prizes, with no coaching or proper support structure.   A list of the club’s members (all of them), officials and coaches is available at their website at the address above.

Those local clubs which had previously cultivated these establishments as sources of talent were possibly disappointed at the establishment of the club and may even have recruited several former members of Octavians but the club could maybe have continued.   There was always a good supply of athletically talented recruits available from the eight schools – for evidence of this one only needs to look at the Scottish Schools championship results and the numbers of athletes from these schools competing at the East District Championships every May.  Although it was never a cross-country club, with development of the endurance events – only Turnbull, Morris and Weatherhead were ever ranked or won medals for the club in contrast with the very high numbers of hurdlers and decathletes produced – they could have been even more successful.   The argument that the youngsters could not get into the team is probably accurate but surely the team management could have found a way to filter the new blood in?   But these are all  “what ifs …”          What is sure is that it was a very good club that had all too short a life.

Finally, one of the club’s best servants, Tom Tait unfortunately died on 7 Feb 2015 and there is a full obituary at :

http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-thomas-ewart-warriston-tait-athlete-1-3697128

Group photographs are almost all from the Octavians website

Pictures of Bathgate, Patrick, Hogarth, Weatherhead, Rule and Turnbull from Hugh Stevenson

GREAT SCOTTISH VETERAN ATHLETES:

WILLIAM MARSHALL

(Willie Marshall had phenomenal success as a runner, especially between the ages of 50 and 70. When I won my first Scottish Vets XC title in 1988, Willie became M60 champion. We became nodding acquaintances, but he didn’t say much and, although he was well respected, I did not understand just how good he was. Well I sure do now; and can only marvel at the times he set and the titles he won. It is a real pleasure to profile him properly here. Ed.)

CLUBs:  Motherwell YMCA, Clyde Valley and Cambuslang.

DATE OF BIRTH: 12.12.1927.

OCCUPATION:  Invoice clerk –retired.

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE SPORT? I saw the local Harriers at Motherwell out and about and thought I would like to do that.

HAS ANY INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP HAD A MARKED INFLUENCE ON YOUR ATTITUDE OR INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE? The runners and club officials at Motherwell were very supportive.

WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU GET OUT OF THE SPORT?  I am no longer running due to health issues. However I did enjoy the fellowship, the travelling and the winning!!!

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST EVER PERFORMANCE OR PERFORMANCES? Winning my first World titles in Canada in 1994 at 10k and 25k on the road.

YOUR WORST?  Anything that involved heavy cross country courses !!!!

WHAT UNFULFILLED AMBITIONS DO YOU HAVE? None.

OTHER LEISURE ACTIVITIES? As well as travelling to races, I used to enjoy many family holidays.

CAN YOU GIVE SOME DETAILS OF YOUR TRAINING?  Long slow distance on the road – 50-60 miles per week. Raced every second week and that gave me the speed required.

(These answers provide interesting clues to Willie’s career but far too little detail.)

The first mention I can find of William Marshall in the records is in November 1949, when he ran the First Stage of the Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay. He wore the vest of Motherwell YMCA, and it is fair to say that the club struggled at that time. In the 1956 Relay, Willie ran (his favourite) Stage Five, and Motherwell improved to 12^th. Marshall ran Five again, every year from 1957 to 1962 – and his club recorded the following placings: 10^th, 6^th, 5^th, 3^rd and 1^st! YMCA stars included Andy Brown and his brother Alec, Bert McKay, Tom Scott, Davie Simpson and, later on, John Linaker, Ian McCafferty and Dick Wedlock. No wonder they became the top club in Scotland. During their first victory in 1962, Willie Marshall ran Stage Three and gained five places. Motherwell YMCA won again in 1963 and 1964 (with Willie running 3); and in 1965, when Willie ran Five, ended up second to the superb Edinburgh University Hare and Hounds team, led by Fergus Murray. YMCA were third in 1966 (Willie on Three). However by 1967 the bubble had burst, and they finished 16^th (with Willie on Four); and in 1968 could only manage 19^th, when he ran the First Stage at the age of 40. Nevertheless, William Marshall must have been very proud to have played a stalwart part in the rise and fall of such a splendid club; and to have won three gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the wonderful E to G.

Willie Marshall went on to run for Clyde Valley AC in 1977 and 1978. Then in 1982 both Willie (aged 54) and his son David (a good road runner too, unsurprisingly) were selected for the CV team! Having both parent and ‘child’ taking part in this classic event was very unusual indeed and possibly unique.

Although Willie Marshall was in no doubt that road was his favourite surface; followed by track; and only then country (especially mud), he did finish 58^th in the 1964 Senior National, which made him Motherwell’s fifth counter and helped to secure team bronze.

William Marshall must have continued training and racing into the 1970s. The SVHC held their first cross-country championships in 1971, when runners aged 40-49 competed in the same race and there was no M45 category. He must have looked forward to turning 50; and once this had happened, twenty years of greater success began.

In the 1978 Scottish Veterans Cross-Country Championships, William Marshall (running for Clyde Valley AC) won his first title at M50. The following year he lost a close battle with Hugh Mitchell of Shettleston. However Willie returned to the gold standard in 1980 and was champion again in 1981.

When he turned 60, for four years he had no close rival, and (representing Motherwell YMCA once more) won four successive Scottish Veterans XC championships (1988-1991). Between 1993 and 1996 (running for Cambuslang) Willie reigned supreme and won another four titles, in the M65 age group. In total, he had collected an amazing 11 individual gold medals in this prestigious fixture!

An unusual race participation for William Marshall took place in November 1993 at Lord Trehearne’s Estate outside Cardiff, when he ran for Scottish Veterans in the annual Five Nations International Cross-Country. The Scottish M60 team: Hugh Gibson, Willie Marshall and Pat Keenan (who packed well in 5^th, 6^th and 8^th) won silver medals.

David Marshall, Willie’s son wrote:

“My Dad had been successful before M50, picking up prizes in many events. However after this, more momentum was gained.

Between the age of 50 and 55, he won medals at Scottish and British level, especially on the road and track.

An even greater change was in 1984, when he became European M55 10k road champion in Switzerland. The same year he won the British M55 1500m.

In 1985, he won the British Vets M55 5000m title.

Other highlights included the following.

1988: he won the M60 British Veterans cross-country at Irvine, after a close battle with Bob Belford (a World Vets 5000m bronze medallist). Then he was first in the Scottish Vets track M60 800m (2.33.0) and 1500m (4.55.3). Other victories included the British M60 road 10k and track 5000m championships.

1989: he broke M60 World Indoor records for 1500m (4.49.5) and 3000m (10.18.6), while winning British Indoor titles. The same year he won the European M60 10k on the road; as well as the British Vets 5000m and 10,000m on the track; and 10 miles on the road.

1990: he was first in the British M60 10 miles road, 5000m and 10,000m track.

1993: he set another World record (M65) in winning the Scottish Vets 3000 Indoor in 10.32.28. He also won the British 5000m, setting a British record. Then he was first in the M65 European 10k Road championship in the Czech Republic; as well as winning the Half Marathon the following day!!!!!

1994: he won the World Vets M65 10k and 25k titles in Canada. In addition he was first in the British Vets indoor 3000m.

1995: he was first in the M65 European 10k in Spain (37.14); and also victorious in the Half Marathon (1.23.37), again on the following day. Earlier that year, he had won the M65 British cross-country title at Irvine.

1998: he won the World M70 10k road in Japan; and broke the World record in the British indoor 3000m. In addition he was first in the Scottish M70 Indoor 1500m and 3000m; and the Outdoor 5000m.

1999: in the British Vets track, he won M70 titles at 5000m and 10,000m

2000: he won the M70 World 10k road title in Spain (39.57).

(Willie winning the 2000 M70 10k Road title in Spain.)

(As anyone who has competed from M50 to M70 will be only too aware, Willie Marshall’s list of titles and very fast times will be almost impossible to match. What an inspiration and formidable challenge for future Masters athletes in those age-groups! His development is interesting: from a club member who trained lightly; to a good club runner who avoided too much mileage but raced frequently for speed-work; to a brilliant veteran, who continued to train steadily and also to race at all distances from 800m to 25km. ‘Train, Don’t Strain’ was the philosophy behind Long Slow Distance. Not a bad notion for anyone wishing to run well after 50?)

Bert McKay, who was a very important influence on the success of Motherwell YMCA, said: “Willie seemed to be a very light trainer but took part regularly in fast pack runs at the club on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He was a nice man, quiet and apparently frail but obviously much tougher than he looked. I remember one particular 5 mile road run I had with Willie just a week before one E to G. I was in good form but could not drop Willie at any time during the run! He was a lot better than he showed when he was younger.”

Peter Duffy (who was a good hill-runner and also won a medal in the Scottish Marathon) said: “I was a team-mate of Willie’s at Motherwell YMCA. On the road he was too fast for me and had a beautifully smooth, flowing style. When I was a club member, he only trained on his own and did not run at all on Sundays, due to strong Christian beliefs. He was respected for this and his fine running in the E to G.”

 George Black (who has recently broken the British M75 20 miles record) wrote:

“I remember Willie Marshall well. When I started running he was my target.

Remember first time I beat him was a 2 mile at Glasgow Green I was pleased although he was 11 years older than me!

One small anecdote. I was competing in a Yorkshire Vets 5K track championship when that fine runner, Gerry Spinks of Bingley, approached a group of us and asked for our assistance in his attempt to better the British Record for the event.

I asked who held the record and he replied, “some Scots guy.”

I correctly suspected it was Willie Marshall so my response was less than cordial.

He failed in his attempt. I think it likely that Willie still holds the British Road 10k record for M70 (which he set at Grangemouth).

I don’t suppose he will remember me but convey my regards.”

 David Fairweather wrote:

“I knew Willie quite well. He was always quiet and unassuming, and seemed to train very slowly, but still produced the speed when it was needed in races.

I remember asking him if he would run at the 1993 Masters Cross Country International in Cardiff. He said he wasn’t a XC runner, and didn’t think he was good enough! However I persuaded him to run and (at the age of 65) he finished 6^th M60, a few seconds behind Hugh Gibson and two places in front of Pat Keenan, helping the team to win silver medals.”

GREAT SCOTTISH VETERAN ATHLETES:

FIONA MATHESON

(Fiona Matheson has been the most successful Scottish Veteran Harrier for several years – although one of her inspirations – Janette Stevenson – is performing equally well in 2016.)

Fiona Matheson battling with Joasia Zakrzewski in the 2013 Tom Scott Ten Fiona went on to win the race and also set a new W50 World Record of 58.08

NAME :  Fiona Matheson

CLUBs:    Falkirk Victoria Harriers

DATE OF BIRTH:    25.04.1961

OCCUPATION:   Administrator NHS

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE SPORT?

My journey into running began with Jog Scotland. It’s a brilliant initiative and starter point for people of all ages, shapes, sizes to be introduced to jogging and then, depending on your goals, running and perhaps joining a local club.

One of Jog Scotland’s mottos is walk before you jog and jog before you run. You do not need to hire any expensive facilities and it requires very little specialist equipment, just some comfy clothing and a pair of trainers. Which reminds me, on the first night of Jog Scotland I wore my old lounging about the house joggy bottoms and a pair of cross trainers that had been at the back of my wardrobe for a number of years.  I did not want to go to any expense in case I did not take to it. After four weeks however I was no longer worried about not taking to it.  I even treated myself to a new pair of joggers and a new pair of trainers.  I loved the ‘at your own pace theme’ of Jog Scotland and of course the boost to my self-esteem, the social aspects and not to mention the huge health benefits.

HAS ANY INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP HAD A MARKED INFLUENCE ON YOUR ATTITUDE OR INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE?

A number of individuals but mainly Masters are my inspiration/influence and so many to name and apologies to the many awesome Masters out there I have not name checked, you know who you are, but in particular Janette Stevenson, Caroline Lawless, Andy Ronald, Robin McNelis, Joasia Zakrzewski, Beryl Junnier, Laura Mahady, Melissa Whyte, Betty Gilchrist, Walter McCaskey and of course my husband Grant. If he had not started running a few years before me, I might not have even considered running as a hobby. Plus of course all the encouragement/help in planning for races my good friend Jim Munn has given me throughout the years.

WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU GET OUT OF THE SPORT?

So many things. Top of the list, as mentioned above, the huge health benefit, plus definitely meeting so many wonderful like-minded and inspiring people throughout the UK and Ireland.  Visiting places that I might not have got around to if there hadn’t been a race on in that town/city.

WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BEST EVER PERFORMANCE OR PERFORMANCES?

It has still got to be my first ever 10K – Round the Houses in Grangemouth. My main aims/goals at that time were to complete this in under an hour, taking out the walking part and jogging all the way, which I did and was absolutely delighted. I remember coming over the finish line, and you would have thought I had won the race, never mind position, whatever it was (which was not important) but in my mind I was a winner, as I had achieved my goals that day! Plus the added bonus of getting a spot prize from Janette Stevenson when I came over the line made it a memory I will never forget.  

YOUR WORST?

I am not a fan of the cold. Therefore if it is extremely cold, which is normal in XC Events, I unfortunately have a bit of a negative head on to start with! Therefore there have been a few XC Events that I have been a little disappointed with.

WHAT UNFULFILLED AMBITIONS DO YOU HAVE?

Perhaps to maybe run an Ultra event, although I have no plans at the moment.

OTHER LEISURE ACTIVITIES? 

Spending time with my family/friends especially my Grandson Jack.

WHAT DOES RUNNING BRING YOU THAT YOU WOULD NOT HAVE WANTED TO MISS?

The discipline you get from the training, planning your events and setting yourself specific goals in life. If you achieve these goals, great, but if not, to continue to work hard to achieve specific goals, by exploring other ways to train by listening to others, tweaking training methods and nutrition, as there is always something that you can learn. The saying “Every day is a School Day” comes to mind, especially for my running. It has also got to be a big advantage to be able to treat yourself food/beverage wise a bit more than if you didn’t run!!

CAN YOU GIVE SOME DETAILS OF YOUR TRAINING?

My Running Group RTC Falkirk Victoria Harriers train on a Tuesday, Thursday evening and a Saturday morning. I usually make the Tuesday and Saturday Session and our dedicated, encouraging Coaches David Murray and Gordon Mitchell cater for a variety of different distances, as the Group consists of different age ranges, and individuals targeting different goals, so the training is very well structured and thought out throughout the year.  On the other days of the week I run to and from my work, depending on the time factor in the morning i.e. when I manage to get out of my bed, as I am afraid I’m not someone that can bounce out of bed!  I have a 4, 5 or 7 mile route to choose from, which can take me along the canal, roads or trail.  On a Sunday I have a long run and the mileage depends on what I am training for at the time. Just now (February 2016) I am training for a 10 miler, and therefore my training on Sundays at the moment can be anything between 10-14 miles, depending on what the group training session has been on the Saturday.

Fiona going for a 10k personal best despite a Stirling downpour 

(Such is Fiona’s modesty, no one reading her answers, above, would have any idea just how good she has been! Following are a few clues.)

Fiona Matheson’s running career is remarkable. A late starter, and at first delighted merely that she was able to jog, considerable improvement came amazingly fast.

Despite being in the W40 age-group, Fiona was first overall in the 2005 Scottish Half Marathon in Dunfermline. Other Senior Scottish titles were won in 2010 (Half Marathon again) and 2013 (Ten Miles). She has secured other individual Senior medals in the Scottish 5k and 10k Championships.

As for Scottish Masters titles, you name it, she’s won it, in three age groups, on track (indoors and outdoors) road and country, over distances from 1500m to the marathon! Since most of us rate the Masters Cross-Country very highly, it must be stated that Fiona Matheson has been very successful, despite her self-confessed dislike of cold racing conditions. She led Falkirk Victoria Harriers to three successive team titles (2005-2007); and also won the SWCC and RRA Vets Cup, for the outright winner, in 2006. In 2007 she annexed the W45 title; in 2012, the W50 one; and in January 2016, aged 54, W50 again. Fiona has a tremendous record, when representing Scottish Masters in the annual British and Irish XC International: winning the W50 title in 2011, 2012 and 2013; and achieving individual W50 silver in 2014 and 2015.

Back in 2005, Fiona finished first in the Scottish Masters Marathon at Lochaber. In 2006 she won Lochaber again; and in 2007, the Edinburgh Marathon; as well as being first W45 in the Great North Run Half Marathon and the Great Scottish Run 10k.

Since then, Fiona has not gone back to the marathon but has concentrated on shorter distances. Between 2010 and 2014, as her power of 10 profile makes clear, she raced a fantastic amount! British Masters titles were won. In the W45 age group: 5000m (twice); and 5k. In 2011 she ventured abroad to Thionville, France, and won two W45 European non-stadia Championships: 10k and Half Marathon.

In the W50 age group Fiona Matheson has done even better. 2012 saw her win BMAF 1500m and 5000m gold medals in Derby; plus the Scottish East District Senior 3000m. In 2013, in addition to victory in the British Masters 10k in Glasgow, she triumphed again in the BMAF track championships, this time in Birmingham, winning 1500m and 5000m.

2014 was when Fiona Matheson secured perhaps her most prestigious medal. On the 25^th of March, in Budapest, Hungary, taking part in the World Masters Championships, she won the W50 Cross Country title. Two days later, she was second in the World Indoors 1500m; and three days after that, second in the 3000m. A World Masters gold medal plus two silver medals in five days!

Fiona has started 2016 with a parkrun, W50 gold in the Scottish Masters XC at Forres, and first in her age group in the Senior National XC at Falkirk where, at the age of 54, she finished a meritorious 30^th overall (and fourth Master, with only three W40s in front of her).

We all look forward to future triumphs (in the next age group) for Phenomenal Fiona Matheson!

In the W55 category, Fiona went on to break world age group records and win world titles. 

In the Swansea British and Irish Masters International, our perennial Scottish star, Fiona Matheson, delivered individual victory yet again, for the third successive time in this age-group. (Between 2011 and 2013 she achieved the same feat in the W50 category and added two individual silvers in 2014 and 2015!) Fiona was ably backed by all her silver medal-winning team-mates: Anne Howie (7th), Pamela McCrossan (9th) and Mary Western (10th).

Fiona well clear in Swansea 2018

Unsurprisingly, the amazing Fiona Matheson, (talented, determined and modest as ever), went on to break Scottish, British, European and World W60 records. In April 2022, she updated these wonderful performances:

My W60 Masters records are:

Track – Outdoor:

1500m – 5.08.10 – 10^th July 2021, Ayrshire Arena, Kilmarnock – British Record.

One Mile – 5.38.55 – 20th May 2022, Stirling – World Record (1.3 seconds faster than 2018 mark in USA)

3000m – 10.58.85 – 4^th June 2021, Lynwood Stadium, BMC/GAA Miler Meet – British Record.

5000m – 18.38.75 – 24^th July 2021, Ayrshire Arena, Kilmarnock, Masters Championships – British Record.

10,000m – 39.07.46 – 8^th August 2021, Ravenscraig Stadium, Greenock, British and European Record.

Track – Indoor:

1500m – 5.09.58, 13^th February 2022, Emirates Stadium, Glasgow, World Record.

3000m – 10.48.13 – 2^nd April 2022, Lee Valley, London, World Record.

Road Running:

5k – 18.43, Clydebank, Scottish Veteran Harriers Championships, British Record.

10k – 38.40 – Tilli 10k, Tillicoultry, British Record.

The following articles have been passed on by Colin Youngson  and have been written by Roger Robinson   Before we start it might be appropriate to quote the following:

“This article appeared in “Marathon & Beyond” (now deceased). Its research findings – for instance, that the man with the moustache and arm-band was not Conan Doyle, that the track was three laps to the mile, and that the distance was wrongly stated as 40km in the instructions to competitors – have become accepted as standard in later books.

Roger Robinson is co-author of 26.2 Marathon Stories (with Kathrine Switzer, Rodale, 2006). His article “The fascinating struggle” develops some of his research for that book. Senior writer for Running Times and a frequent Marathon & Beyond contributor, he is also author of Heroes and Sparrows and Running in Literature (Breakaway, 2003), as well as literary titles such as the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature and Robert Louis Stevenson: His Best Pacific Writings. He is Emeritus Professor of English, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and lives with his wife Kathrine Switzer on hills in Wellington and New York’s Hudson Valley.”

1. LONDON, 1908 (Roger Robinson’s choice for greatest Olympic Marathon)

They started outside Windsor Castle, with the royal family picnicking on the lawn, 26 miles 385 yards from the finish line in White City Stadium. If you ever find a marathon one mile too far, blame British royalty. Perhaps inspired by the presence of the Princess of Wales, a big group of British runners went out fast, news that delighted the huge crowd waiting in the stadium. But it was too fast, given 1908 training and the day’s hot sun. Two survived to 10 miles, but 56:53 was still suicidal. Soon it was the big South African Charles Hefferon in front, shaking off the little Italian Dorando Pietri. Behind, the pre-race favorite, Canadian Indian Tom Longboat, attacked hard, raced through to second at 16 miles, but by 17 was walking. To quench his thirst he was given champagne by his bicycle  attendant, which probably did not help. Hefferon led by two minutes at 15 miles, by nearly four at 20 miles. The race was surely his. But those days no one understood how suddenly the tank can go dry in a marathon. Pietri caught Hefferon at 25. Now began the drama that entered the consciousness of the 20th century. Pietri was heat-exhausted. He collapsed, unseen by the crowd, in the passage into the stadium. Then he entered, to the roar of 100,000 spectators. But he was shuffling, staggering, and confused. Officials had to turn him the right way for the final half circuit of the big (three laps to the mile) track. He floundered a few steps, then crumpled. Officials and medical attendants ran to help. “It was impossible to leave him there, for it looked as if he might die,” said the official report later. Lifted to his feet, he covered a few more yards, and fell again. The crowd demanded that he be helped. Twice more he was rubbed and raised, twice more he stuttered a few yards and collapsed. “Surely he is done now,” wrote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, observing from the stand. Now the next runner appeared, Johnny Hayes of the United States, who had judged the distance perfectly, and (I have calculated) was moving at close to 6-minute miles at the end. As Hayes reached the final bend, Pietri was on his feet once more, and with floppy legs and dazed face, supported at the right elbow by race manager Jack Andrew, he tottered to the tape. Thus was created one of the iconic sports images of all time. Pietri was hastily declared the winner, there was a protest, Hayes properly replaced him, controversy raged, and the marathon footrace entered the world’s imagination as the ultimate challenge to human endurance.

Run-up to the Olympics 5: For weekend reading, my story of the most famous marathon of all time, the 1908 Olympics, full of original research. The first photo (before the finish) settles whether Pietri received “assistance!” But why did the Brits want him to win? American readers, avert your eyes!

The fascinating struggle
Part 1: Near-death drama at the Great White City (London 1908)

Roger Robinson

“He has gone to the extreme of human endurance…It is horrible, and yet fascinating, this struggle between a set purpose and an utterly exhausted frame.” – Arthur Conan Doyle on Dorando Pietri

It is the fantasy moment all marathon runners imagine during training runs on cold wet nights – you’re running through a dark tunnel and out into the bright sunlight of the stadium – and then, that sudden swelling roar of acclamation rises from a hundred thousand people. Your blood races at the very thought of it. No other moment in sport, however thrilling, is quite like this one. There are great touchdowns, and soccer goals, and home runs, and sprint finishes to one-mile races; but we watch and analyze the unfolding plays that precede each of those – we are witness to the whole drama. At the finish of a marathon, the stadium crowd sees only the final minute of a 3-hour narrative. And for the runner the moment of encounter is just as sudden – 26 miles of lonely effort, then this sudden welcoming rapture.
It happens in a second. The crowd has waited, often with limited information. It mutters and shuffles and worries and waits – and then, he’s there, in front of you – he or she, since that iconic emergence into the sunlight by Joan Benoit in 1984. So much significance is condensed into that first glimpse of the marathon leader – an arrival that is the beginning, not the end, of the drama, a hero completing a journey, on the edge of triumph, yet still not quite there, visibly tired, terribly vulnerable, a tiny figure on a huge arena. Few moments are so expressive of human heroism and human frailty, the aspirations and fears we all share. Even as we roar in praise, we are looking anxiously or eagerly for the next runner. The runner’s sense of completion is also full of fear.
That moment has never been more dramatic than on July 24, 1908, at the Olympic Games marathon in London. Ten minutes earlier, a gun and a megaphone announcement, “The runners are in sight,” had told the crowd that they were near, but gave no names. “Finally after what seemed to be an intolerable suspense a runner staggered down the incline leading to the track,” wrote the New York Times. Down the sloping ramp and out on to the crunching cinders came a small, slight man in a sodden white tee shirt and baggy knee-length red shorts, a white handkerchief on his head. It was the Italian Dorando Pietri. And the crowd roared.
Earlier bulletins had brought them the welcome news from the course that some of the twelve British runners went out fast into the lead, and that two were still well ahead at 10 miles. Later the announcement was that South African Charles Hefferon was in front by nearly four minutes at 20 miles. For a British crowd, a South African winner born in England was nearly as good as a Briton in 1908, only six years after a bruising war had given Britain that last major colony. Better the South African than the young Canadian Indian Tom Longboat, who was the pre-race favorite following his record-breaking win at Boston in 1907 – but who was suspected of having taken money for running. Far better Hefferon, most of the crowd thought, than any of the twelve Americans, whose team had won many events and few friends in those conflict-ridden Games.
But when you’re waiting for the marathon leader to appear, nothing is certain. It was not the big white South African but the little dark Italian who by some miracle entered the roaring furnace of the Great White City (as the stadium was known). And the crowd cheered him a welcome from his dreams.
The dream was already a nightmare. At the very moment he appeared and was acclaimed, his frailty was evident. He staggered and shuffled rather than ran. He “reeled as he entered and faced the roar of the applause,” wrote Arthur Conan Doyle (see “The Man With the Armband”). “It was evident at once to everyone that the man was practically delirious,” wrote the New York Times. He stuttered slowly out on to the cinder track, tried to turn the wrong way, encountered officials bewilderingly shouting and gesticulating at him, stopped in confusion, “afraid that they were trying to deceive him” (New York Times). He finally turned (or was turned) the right way, began to shuffle again. “He staggered along like a man in a dream, his gait being neither a walk nor a run, but simply a flounder, with arms shaking and legs tottering” (New York Times). Wavering from side to side, he covered about twenty yards – and then, to the horror of nearly 100,000 people, his legs crumpled and he fell. He was directly in front of a huge packed stand, and the people held their breath. Some thought he had died.
We might think that the noise or heat of the stadium overcame Pietri, but it is a little known detail that he had already collapsed on the way into the arena. The marathon medical officer, Dr Michael Bulger, reported, “I was first called to Dorando in the passage leading to the stadium. He was in a state of absolute collapse and quite pulseless. In a short time he recovered sufficiently to enter the stadium.”
Now he was down and out in full view of the crowd. Officials ran to help the stricken runner. Later, Pietri lamented that the runners’ official bicycling attendants were not permitted inside the stadium. “If I had had my attendant to guide me and give me such aid as I was entitled to, I could have finished without falling again,” he said (through his half-brother as interpreter).
“There were wild gesticulations. Men stooped and rose again,” wrote Conan Doyle. All was confusion, and I’m trying to say only what I’m sure from contemporary sources did actually happen. Even eyewitness reports vary wildly. “He had to do one round of the arena [in fact it was half a lap] where unfortunately he was helped up, and so disqualified.” (Lady Metcalfe, letter to the Daily Telegraph, September 1965). “My recollection is that Dorando, on arriving at the track, was followed by a few enthusiasts…who patted him on the back. This no doubt caused his collapse.” (G. Chapman, letter to the Daily Telegraph, August 1965). Think how hard it is to get agreement on exactly what happened in the Budd/Decker incident in 1984 – and that was televised and recorded on video.
The official report probably gets nearest to a clear account. “As it was impossible to leave him there, for it looked as if he might die in the very presence of the Queen and that enormous crowd, the doctors and attendants rushed to his assistance. When he was slightly resuscitated the excitement of his compatriots was so intense that the officials did not put him on an ambulance and send him out, as they no would doubt have done under less agitating circumstances.” (T. A. Cook, Official Report of the Olympic Games of 1908).
Pietri now struggled, or more probably was helped, to his feet, tottered along the rest of the long straight, “the little red legs going incoherently,” as Doyle wrote. “Driven by a supreme will within,” he reached the curve, and “there is a groan as he falls once more” (Doyle). “The crowd shouted that he should not be left there, perhaps to expire in front of them all,” said Lord Desborough, the starter and referee, on a 1960s BBC radio program (“Scrapbook for 1908”). Up again – “a cheer as he staggers to his feet” (Doyle) – Pietri covered only a few yards before crumpling at the top of the bend. This time there is a photograph, showing him lying on his back, supported in the arms of the medical officer, Dr Bulger (see “The Case of the Man With the Armband”), with another man touching, perhaps massaging, his leg. Pietri looks totally out of it – eyes shut, limbs soggy, face shattered. He seems to have passed out. How he got to his feet again I can’t imagine, but he did, almost certainly with plenty of help. He got round the bend, “in the same furious and yet uncertain gait. Then again he collapsed, kind hands saving him from a heavy fall” (Doyle). And again the crowd gasped in horrified sympathy. Only about sixty yards remained to the white tape stretched across the track in the middle of the straight. But Pietri was down. “Surely he is done now. He cannot rise again,” writes Doyle, with the dramatic immediacy of a commentator on live radio or TV.
And now things became really exciting. The next runner appeared, the striped shield of the USA on his white shirt. It was Johnny Hayes, a New Yorker of Irish parentage. And he was charging – “going gallantly, well within his strength,” wrote Doyle. Hayes had run a perfectly judged race when everyone else was going bananas. The Brits ran the first mile in 5:01, and 1908 training and 1908 road surfaces simply did not give you a 2:11 marathon. Perhaps they were carried away by the presence of Mary, Princess of Wales at the start (see “Not in the Nursery”). She received a telegraph from Queen Alexandra, and thereupon commanded Lord Desborough to fire the gun. With that royal inspiration two of the Brits reached 10 miles in a still suicidal 56:53. Hefferon and Pietri were on 57:12 – also much too fast, on that training, on a hot day, on a course that was mostly dirt and stone and crossed cow paddocks at 25 miles. But Hefferon and Pietri had enough in reserve to sweep up the Brits by 14 miles, where Hefferon moved powerfully away – too powerfully. On the fifteenth mile he went ahead by two minutes. Then Tom Longboat came up fast – too fast. He was in second at 16 miles. At 17 he was walking. He soon gave up. (“A Special Car will follow to carry competitors who abandon the race,” promised the official instructions.) Longboat’s bicycle assistant was plying him with champagne to quench his thirst, which probably did not help.
Hayes ran the first few miles well back in the field of 56. Some say dead last, but his teammate Joseph Forshaw of Missouri, who came through to 3rd (4th counting Pietri), told the New York Times that Hayes was always ahead of him. Anyway, he went out slow. At 17 miles, probably running with two teammates, he was still six minutes behind Hefferon the leader – which means he was running perfectly. One photo taken at 23 miles shows him, now alone, looking composed and resolute, with a firm stride. Pietri in a photo at the same point looks wobbly – his head on one side, down on his hips. At 25 miles, Pietri had caught Hefferon and they were battling for the lead, but it must have been a battle in slow motion. Hayes was coming on strong two minutes or so behind. Soon after Pietri dropped Hefferon, Hayes scooped him up, and was in second. While Pietri was a crumpled heap on the track, Hayes was powering over the cow tracks across the open space of Wormwood Scrubs towards the ramp into the stadium, running close to 6-minute miles (see below). He appeared. And the crowd roared again – not entirely in acclamation.
How did Pietri ever reach the finish? He got there as Hayes was on the final bend, a mere 150 yards behind, roughly. The famous finish line photo shows Pietri with liquid legs and glazed expression. Clerk of the Course (Race Director in our terms) Jack Andrew is helping him through the tape, with a good grip on Pietri’s right upper arm, holding a huge megaphone in the other hand. Andrew claimed later that he “only caught Dorando as he was falling at the tape,” and Dr Bulger said “I exercised my right in having precautions taken that he should not fall again. Hence the slight assistance rendered by Mr. J.M. Andrew just before the goal was reached.”
The photo does not bear out that interpretation. Andrew is supporting and steering the sagging Italian, and it looks likely that he has had that grip on the arm for some time. Given Doyle’s phrase, “kindly hands saving him from a heavy fall,” Andrew and others were probably alongside him all the way from the second time he fell (within the stadium). Another retrospective eyewitness account recalled, “local officials couldn’t bear to see Dorando lose, so they picked him up and threw him over the tape” (Major N. Leith-Hay-Clark, letter to the Sunday Times, 1964). That makes it sound a little too like the great Australian pub sport of dwarf tossing, but it gets the spirit of the moment.
That is not to criticize Andrew. “Kind hands” is appropriate. The instinct to help a courageous and dangerously exhausted man is a decent one. Dr Bulger had been right with Pietri since the very first collapse on the ramp into the stadium, and seems properly to have taken responsibility on medical grounds. The huge crowd was noisily pleading for Pietri to be helped. Hayes was coming on fast. The place must have been bedlam.
Andrew promptly declared Pietri the winner, presumably announcing it through that giant megaphone. As a long-time stadium announcer, I’m very grateful I wasn’t working that day. The American team immediately lodged a protest, which of course was upheld. They had already lodged four in four days of the Games, which shows something of the tension between the hosts and their most successful guests. It started when the American flag was only at half-mast during the opening ceremony. (Well, it really started in 1776. British Imperialism was at its height in 1908, and America represented its one great failure.) In the 400 meters, the race was declared void, one American was disqualified, all four withdrew, and a single Brit did the re-run final solo. The American Bishop of Pennsylvania, invited to deliver the Sunday sermon at St Paul’s Cathedral in London in the middle of the Games, tried to defuse the dispute by coining the phrase “the important thing in the Olympic Games is not so much winning as taking part.” Baron Pierre de Coubertin at the post-Games Government banquet, only a few hours after the Hayes/Pietri drama, quoted that phrase, and it has become enshrined in the Olympic creed. What Hayes and Pietri thought about it is not recorded.
Anyway, Johnny Hayes was the winner. How well was Hayes running during those climactic final seconds? All eyes were (and still are) on Pietri at the tape, but an important question is whether Hayes was charging him down or struggling along in a similar state of near-collapse. One American spectator said that Hayes “trotted into the stadium as fresh as a daisy,” and Doyle said he was “well within his strength,” but other accounts say things like he “struggled in second, apparently befuddled by strychnine” (Rob Hadgraft, The Little Wonder, p. 220). Jack Andrew also reported that he “assisted Hayes in the same way” as he did Pietri. Why did he need assistance? What shape was he in?
An Italian observer’s sketch reproduced by Martin and Gynn (1979) shows the points where Pietri collapsed, and marks with an X Hayes’s position on the last bend as Pietri reached the tape. Assuming it is accurate (and it fits with Doyle’s and Cook’s accounts), this puts Hayes about 150 yards behind as Pietri reaches the tape (since the full distance on the track was 385 yards). Their finishing times were 2:54:46.4 and 2:55:18.4, a 32 second gap. 150 yards in 32 seconds is 93 second 440 speed, or 6:12 mile pace. (I’m no mathematician so please check). That’s hauling, at the end of a 2:55 marathon, average pace 6:41.
So Hayes finished fast, by any standards. To imagine him at 6-minute mile speed charging in pursuit of the tottering crumpling Pietri is to understand the full frantic drama of that scene. No wonder the crowd was in frenzy. No wonder the officials around Pietri were in a state of near panic. Andrew’s motives in giving Hayes the same “assistance” may not have been as pure as I’d like to think. You don’t need assisting if you can run 6’s. If Hayes “collapsed” or fell down after the line, well, so do plenty of us, and it doesn’t mean we were not running strong.
For astute tactics executed with judgment and determination, few Olympic marathon winners have been more deserving than Johnny Hayes. Next day, after the awards ceremony, he was carried off the track on a table held by six American teammates, with “the Greek trophy” awarded for the Marathon, a statue apparently representing the dying Pheidippides. Pietri had been carried off on a stretcher. But he did not die. He was taken to a hospital where he recovered quite quickly. The New York Times says he “was almost too weak to answer questions when seen tonight [after the race]”, but the next day he looks quite perky in the picture where he is receiving his big gold cup from Queen Alexandra. The New York Times said he “walked briskly around the track and up the steps,” which is more than I could ever do the day after a marathon. He received “a perfect ovation, the people rising in their seats and cheering him for fifteen minutes.” The American part of the crowd “kept up the demonstration long after the others had quieted down.” (New York Times)
The Brits also took the little Italian to their hearts. He became a symbol of gallantry, and of noble breeding. Conan Doyle pronounced portentously, “No Roman of the prime ever bore himself better than Dorando…The great breed is not yet extinct.” If it seems a bit of a stretch to dress up the sweaty little small-town cake maker in a toga as one of the noblest Romans of them all, well, the Brits in 1908 believed in “great breeds,” especially their own, and saw themselves as inheritors of Rome’s imperial destiny. It’s also possible that some of this spin campaign to apotheosize Pietri as the true winner of the marathon might have been meant to take the smile off the Americans’ faces.
No question that Pietri was amazingly gutsy. To get to your feet once after collapsing with heat exhaustion near the end of a marathon is tough. To do it six times is astonishing. Pietri earned his iconic place as a symbol of courage and endurance. But for my money, as a runner, it takes just as much courage to let the entire field in a major race run away from you at the start, sit sedately back while Brit spectators jeer from up every tree, allow the leaders to go away by nearly ten minutes, and wait till after 15 miles before you begin to make any ground on them. That’s really gutsy. The marathon is a sporting event that tests judgment, as well as stamina and courage. By that full test, Johnny Hayes was emphatically the winner. Pietri misjudged by probably only two or three minutes. That extra 1 mile, 385 yards indeed sank him. (Even the program said the distance was 26 miles. The official race rules said 40 kilometers.) But Hayes got it dead right, and all credit to him.
The other thing that Pietri came to symbolize is the public’s mixture of horror and fascination with physical exhaustion. This was the appeal of fights to the death in the Rome Coliseum. A hundred years before the Pietri race, in the early 19th century, the big sport was bare-knuckle boxing, which went on till one contestant was smashed to pulp. Some of the greatest fights lasted over 60 rounds. In the later 1800s, after boxing was regulated, there were still plenty of sporting events where crowds paid well to watch competitors run or walk to exhaustion, as in the six-day “Go as you please” races that have been described in Marathon & Beyond. Pietri went beyond exhaustion in front of the biggest crowd in history, and for the highest stakes. Knowledge of the causes for exhausted collapse was primitive, and included a good measure of sheer superstition. One doctor who examined Pietri at the hospital pronounced, “His heart was displaced by half an inch.” I have never worked out how he knew exactly where it had been to begin with.
It was Pietri’s “supreme will within” that most impressed Conan Doyle. He caught perfectly, in a phrase that deserves to be better known, the appeal of this kind of extreme effort: “It is horrible, and yet fascinating, this struggle between a set purpose and an utterly exhausted frame.”
Some find it so horrible that they disapprove. The London Daily News struck a pose of shocked protest. “Nothing more painful or deplorable was ever seen at a public spectacle…It may be questioned whether so great a trial of human endurance should be sanctioned.” Yet we all love to watch people risk death, even as we fear it, and even though we’re sometimes ashamed of liking it. My brother is a commentator at TT motorcycle racing, and lives every week with a public that is half morbid in its fascination with his sport. I don’t watch Nascar racing but suspect that sometimes there are crashes. It was this element of near-death danger in the Pietri drama that gave the new sport of the marathon its place in the shared human imagination. However purist we are about marathon running, and however positive in our beliefs about it, we have to acknowledge that element in its popular appeal. Having just published a book about the marathon, I know that I could not decline to include the stories of Pheidippides, Pietri and Jim Peters. They are intrinsic to marathon culture.
But Pietri’s sufferings were not the whole story. Look at any photo of the 1908 Olympic marathon, and you’ll be struck by the hordes of spectators. One wonderful picture shows dozens of them who have clambered up trees in Windsor Great Park to get a view of the start. People are lined two deep on Windsor’s Castle Hill in the pictures of the athletes walking up towards the start, and then racing downhill on the first half mile. Several photos in the official report show a crowd at Willesden, about 23 miles, as good as those in modern Brooklyn. “The people who lined the course treated us finely, and they were of great assistance in cheering us up and giving a man heart,” Joseph Forshaw told the New York Times. One estimate I have seen put the crowds at 250,000. I’ve no idea how they calculate these figures, but the crowds were evidently bigger than at Athens in 1896, so it seems safe to say the 1908 Olympic marathon was, in terms of public response, the biggest sports event in history.
Why? It was just 56 under-trained, little-known guys doing something repetitive and not specially interesting that we now know can be done very much better. Yet there was huge public interest. Probably the main reasons are the same that bring out the crowds at modern Boston, London, or New York. (1) A race is a race, the purest and best of all sports contests. (2) The marathon has a sense of historical significance that no other event equals. (3) There is the “horrible fascination” of watching apparently ordinary people heroically push themselves to the extreme that marathon runners do, (4) It’s international so gives the buzz of patriotism, and (5) The marathon happens right outside your front door, yet brings contestants from all over to do battle on your street.
With that 1908 race immediately becoming almost mythic, the marathon entered popular culture, and the English language (and other languages, of course). After the inspiring Greek victory of Spiridon Louis in 1896, the phrase “marathon race” (soon just “marathon”) denoted the new sporting event, with added associations of long and heroic effort. After Pietri, it took on the extra meanings of a struggle against exhaustion, or gallantly surviving long-term difficulty. The word was applied outside running for the first time only four months after Pietri’s race, when the London Daily Chronicle reported a potato-peeling contest named “The Murphy Marathon” (Nov 5, 1908). It entered literature the next year, when H.G. Wells was writing his novel The History of Mr. Polly (published 1910). A criminal called Uncle Jim warns Mr. Polly off his patch, appearing one evening while Polly is taking his walk. Wells spares the reader Jim’s more colorful adjectives.

Mr. Polly…quickened his pace.
“Arf a mo’,” said Uncle Jim, taking his arm. “We ain’t doing a (sanguinary) Marathon. It ain’t a (decorated) cinder track. I want a word with you, mister. See?”

If the low-life Uncle Jim, or the non-sporting H.G. Wells, knew about the marathon, it had arrived. (Wells was a keen bicyclist but had no interest in organized sports.)
Such public interest produced a great era of marathons. The rivalry between Pietri and Hayes was too colorful to let go. They were quickly signed by an enterprising New York promoter for a head-to-head race in November 1908. Pietri gave up his amateur status and endorsed Bovril (a beef tea drink) as the cause of his rapid recovery. (Another shaft for the race organizers, who had sponsorship from the rival Oxo, which was “appointed Official Caterers” to the competitors.) Tom Longboat, the Boston record-breaker with the exotic appeal of being a Canadian Onondagan, also declared himself available for prize-money racing. So did England’s Fred Appleby, another star who had suffered a bad day at London. So did an exciting new name to the marathon, multiple world record-holder Alf Shrubb of England, the world’s greatest track and cross-country runner.
The official report on the 1908 Olympics grumpily dismissed all this as an “epidemic of ‘Marathon Races’ which attacked the civilized world from Madison Square Garden to the Valley of the Nile.” It was in fact the first great running boom, and one of the most fascinating periods in the whole story of the marathon. By November 1908 they were all in New York. An all-star cast was ready for the greatest show in town.