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Sprinter;

Born: October 13, 1932; Died: December 7, 2012.

It was a good day for the Scots and we reproduce here Sandy Sutherland’s report on it.

Hugh’s photographs and cuttings see a steady stream of visitors – let’s face it, most of us like pictures on the internet, but the mix of topics and the historical rarity of many of the items make them a real joy to see.   We start with Herb Elliott and Percy Cerutty running together illustrate perfect Percy’s dictum of “You might run faster but you don’t run any harder!”   Others have said so since but Percy was the first.

Then the Victoria Park London to Brighton team from the 1950’s

From Singers Sports in Clydebank: Ian Binnie in the black, possibly Bob Steele from Vale of Leven leading

Spot Ian McCafferty in this pro race from Carluke

No prizes for recognising Rangers Sports at Ibrox

Before any of our times: Edinburgh University team from 1872

Herb Elliott leading Mike Rawson

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.The athletic seasons used to have a rhythm to them – on the track there were the early season fixtures which led to the National Championships at the end of June, then they tailed off in a host of highland games, sports meetings and invitation extravaganzas which usually included events for domestic athletes.   On the road there was the build up to the SAAA Marathon Championship.

In each case the build up was just that – on the track there were Club, County, District, SAAA and AAA Championships in that order with other meetings of varying sizes where athletes could get the races that their programme demanded, or which were used at times to amend perceived deficiencies – eg if a runner felt that the season wasn’t going as planned, he could find a shorter race or two fr sharpening purposes; like wise if he needed to strengthen a bit there were over distance races to help him do that.   This season is shown in the Victoria Park AAC racing programme for 1958.   Many of these have disappeared from the calendar including the Big Two of Rangers Sports and Edinburgh Highland Games. 

On the road, the Scottish Marathon Club had been formed in 1944 and organised a summer programme that led to the SAAA Marathon Championship at the end of June.   The value of the SMC to road runners cannot be over estimated.   They had their own championship consisting of races at 12 miles, 16 miles and 20 miles which all led to the marathon.   They worked hard at persuading meetings with no road races to include some road race in their programme, and where one had a road race, the club tried (usually successfully) to have it over a distance that would help the progression to the full distance.   Often these races came after the championship so that people reluctant to step up the distance could have a go at it when the spotlight was not shining with a view to running the marathon the following year.

Compare the programme below with races between 10 and 45 miles with current fixture lists which seem to go from 5K to 10K to 10M to half marathon with a jump from there to the event itself.

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The match was a resounding success from the Scottish Point of View as the following report from the ‘Glasgow Herald’ on the following Monday made clear.   For the benefit of the current generation, the documentation that the athletes received is reproduced below (the programme is already on site) from John Mackay’s memorabilia.   It is interesting to see how things were handled.

The first thing that the athletes received was the selection letter which was the same for every international.

Having received the invitation, the athlete received the instructions and administrative details including the timetable and order of events.   These were sometimes sent out in advance but were often issued on the day of competition.

And finally, there was the letter of thanks and congratulations, where these were due, after the meeting.   Things were very civilised in the olden days!

Joe Small in Coatbridge, a former team mate of John Graham, has sent this article from ‘Running ‘ magazine about the wonderful athlete that is John Graham.  

Graham Laing was a very good runner indeed and he ran for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games in 1982.   Joe Small has sent us this article from the ‘Marathon and Distance Runner’ which was actually written by Graham and describes the lead up to the race and the event itself.

It is always interesting to see the programmes from significant meetings of the past and as the last complete international in which all events were contested to be held on Scottish soil this one should be seen.   Supplied by John MacKay, and gratefully received, who ran in the 1500m, it is in that category.   Not5e again the name of Elliott Bunney who, although selected, could not run on the day.   His replacements were unfortunately not included in the programme.

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Mark Davidson winning the 400m Hurdles in the 1991 Small Nations International

It is January 2020 and only recently discovered that the last full international involving a Scottish team on Scottish soil was back on 16th  June 1991.   Arnold Black, the official Scottish athletics historian confirmed this when he said :

“It was the last full Scotland international in Scotland.  There was a Scotland v NI v Wales v USA Juniors v a Kiev/Edinburgh Twin Cities combo at Meadowbank in 2001 across 10 men’s and 10 women’s events, then later the short-form Bank of Scotland Cup & Falkirk Cup matches at Grangemouth between 2006 and 2009.  There were GB internationals v USA and Russia in the early 2000s at Scotstoun and there have been international indoor events.”

Confirmation then that it was the last full Scotland international in Scotland.   It was 21 years ago this year.    

Ewan Clark, Men’s 100m

The Small Nations was always an interesting one with Scotland competing against the home nations (England excepted) plus at various time Iceland, Israel, Turkey and Greece.   They were useful fixtures that gave athletes, some were established stars to give some backbone to the team, some were up-and-coming athletes, some were new to the scene, a second tier of competition that was slightly less arduous than facing the might of England or any of the major European countries, or even the Commonwealth Games where the standard was exceptionally high.   The Small Nations match in June, 1991 was a landmark for a different reason: the competition against Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Iceland was to be the last full international on Scottish soil.   Not the sort of landmark anyone in Scottish athletics was looking for.    The team sheet issued to athletes and officials on the day and supplied by 1500m representative John Mackay, is below.

 Scotland won, if that’s any consolation and the Scottish athletes performed as follows.

Team Scores were Scotland 127, Wales 119, Ireland 114, Northern Ireland 106, Iceland 88

How did the match look to the Press?

It was of course covered by all the local papers.   eg the Aberdeen Press & Journal reported that 

“Aberdeen AAC members Mark Davidson and Helen Cowe and Inverness Harriers David Barnetson and Russell Devine helped Scotland win both the men’s and women’s matches at yesterday’s small nations international at Grangemouth.   Davidson had an individual success in the 400 metres hurdles in 52.8 winning by 0.43 of a second from C McDumphy (Eire) \, and later anchored Scotland to victory in the 4 x 400 metres relay in 3:14.17.   Barnetson took the high jump with a 2.13 metres clearance and route to a tilt at the Scottish decathlon title in Aberdeen next week.   Devine finished second in the hammer (60.28) while Helen was third in the shot (12.77) and fourth in the discus (41.46 metres).   Match totals:

Men: Scotland 67; Eire 64; Wales 62; Northern Ireland 55; Iceland 52

Women: Scotland 57; Wales 56; Northern Ireland 51; Eire 50l Iceland 37.

That was the local press, but how about the specialist athletic press?   Maybe the best coverage was by Sandy Sutherland whose report can be read  here .

Biggest coverage was in the “Scotland’s Runner” whose report is reproduced in its entirety here. 

The athletes taking part did not know of course that it would be the last full  international held on Scottish soil but they all liked the event,   For instance Aileen McGillivary said: 

John MacKay, speaking of his own event, the 1500m, described the race, and said that Gary Lough, who later married Paula Radcliffe, finished fourth, Neil Horsfield who was a very talented athlete and a GB internationalist won from John with Nick O’Brien from Ireland third.   It was a slow race with a big burn up over the last 300m .    They were kept waiting around for a race that was last on the programme, except for the relays.   It also featured a race for wheelchair users and must have been one of the first internationals in the country to do so. 

The programme for the meeting can be seen   at this link .   John Mackay has allowed us to reproduce the documentation that the athletes received plus a copy of the press report on the meeting, and you can see them   here  .