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The Brandon Street YMCA Building in Motherwell which was the club’s 

headquarters for many decades

The first Scottish open clubs were Clydesdale Harriers and Edinburgh Harriers in 1885.   Motherwell appeared soon after and a team ran in the national championships in March 1890.   They were good enough to finish fourth that year but missed the next few years.   Colin Shields explains: “In the final decade of the nineteenth century there was a clear divide between the ‘Senior’ and ‘Junior’ clubs in Scotland.   The ‘Senior’ clubs consisted pf Clydesdale Harriers and Edinburgh Harriers, who were the constant entrants and winners in the Scottish Senior Championships, together with West of Scotland Harriers, Edinburgh Northern Harriers, Watsonians CCC and Motherwell YMCA Harriers who entered the Senior Championships on occasions when they were strong enough to offer a challenge to the top teams.   The remaining 40 or so clubs in Scotland were titled ‘Junior’ clubs and their members took no part in the Senior Championships on any occasion.”    

For this profile of the club’s progress I will be using initially the yardstick of their progress as a club and individually in the two major championships of a short fixture list, the District and the National championships plus the chievements of some of their best runners.   The Edinburgh to Glasgow relay will also be an important part of their progress from 1930 to 1939.   For the second part of the club’s ‘history’ (1945 – 1967) follow this link.

 The championships on 14th March, 1890, were held at Cathkin Park in Glasgow and Motherwell YMCA joined the ever presents of Clydesdale, Edinburgh and West of Scotland in the team contest.   The Scottish Sport paper said that there were over 50 cross-country clubs equally capable of entering experienced teams but they did no do so.   They went on to ask why they did not do so.   The reality is that four teams and a total of 46 runners turned out and Motherwell was fourth.   In 1891 they improved to third place behind Clydesdale and Edinburgh Harriers.   There was no team from the club for several years but the ‘Glasgow Herald’ printed the entire field for the National Championships of 1895 and there was one runner from the club entered as an individual – J Mills – and he was not in the first 17 finishers.   In 1898 there was another third place for the club with two runners in the first ten – Yuill and Pitt – and six of the seven men who started that afternoon in Musselburgh completed the course.   Positions of their runners – 5, 10, 14, 20, 22, 31.   Clydesdale won the title with Watsonians second.   Edinburgh and Edinburgh Northern were fourth and fifth.

The pattern of not entering teams in the National was maintained and the next time the club was mentioned in connection with the event was on 9th March 1901 at Lochburn Road Maryhill where the trail was laid by Maryhill and Monkland Harriers.   Three clubs entered – CH, EH and Coatbridge with one from MYMCA  (Arthur Pitt) not in first three although well up at halfway.   There were no Motherwell YMCA teams in any of the three main races in 1901/02 – the Clydesdale Harriers individual team and handicap races in November, the Junior Championship in Februaru (later to be the district championship) nor in the national championship at Myreside in March 1902.   Seson 1902/03 told a similar tale although to be fair they were not the only club missing all the major races – the Western District event in February 1903 only had four teams entered who finished, in order Larkhall YMCA  Clydesdale Harriers Garscube Harriers and Wellpark Harriers.   This would change with 1904.

Into season 1903/04 and the club’s first cross-country international runner was selected – and he was not the only top class man representing the club.   On February 13th 1904 the Western District Championships were held at Hamilton Park Race course and Motherwell’s W McFarlane finished second to Kennedy of Garscube Harriers with Cochrane of Olympic Harriers third and T Young of Motherwell fourth.   In the team race they were second to Garscube by ten points with Clydesdale Harriers third 60 points back and then Paisley Harriers fourth and Motherwell B team fifth.   Neither the team nor any of the runners were placed in the National championship but  J Barrie was selected the following Wednesday evening for the team to represent Scotland.   Hi running in the national was not a fluke – he had run consistently well all summer and had been third in the SAAA Four Miles championship.   He finished 13th in the international.

One of the biggest events of the cross-country season was the long established and well supported Clydesdale Harriers seven and a half miles open and team race held annually at Scotstoun Showgrounds.   It was held on November 21st in 1904 and all the top clubs entered.   Seventeen teams of six were on the starting line as well as 71 individuals.   To keep the crowds entertained, there was a 100 yards race with 31 entrants held while the runners were out in the country.   T Sommerville of Motherwell YMCA was seventh, while J Sommerville of the same club was fourth in the handicap race incorporated into the event.   The club team was ninth of the seventeen.

The next big race was the West District Championships where the club performed nobly.    The report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of 6th February 1905 read as follows:

“The Western District Championship of seven miles, which now takes the place of the discontinued junior championship, was run on Saturday afternoon from the showyard of the Glasgow Agricultural Society at Scotstoun, Whiteinch, on the western outskirts of Glasgow.   Nineteen clubs of twelve men each had entered for the team and individual races and they ran twice round the track of the show grounds and out into the open country, up hill, across ploughed fields, grass, road and water jumps.   The course was a trying one as the ground was soft and slippery and rendered the going very heavy.   Several clubs ran short of the full entry but no fewer than thirteen teams finished the full competition number, and 132 individuals completed the full distance and counted in the aggregates of six men each.   The results were as follows:  

1.   T Young (Motherwell YMCA);   2,   P Russell (Bellahouston H);   3.   W McFarlane (Motherwell YMCA);    4.  WJ Martin (Clydesdale);   5.   GS Campbell (Clydesdale);   6.  J Sommerville (Motherwell YMCA); 7.  W Muirden (Motherwell YMCA);   8.  WH Currie (Wellpark H);   9.  J Whyte (Paisley YMCA);  10.  J McCulloch (Motherwell YMCA).

Teams:  1.   Motherwell YMCA ;  2.   Clydesdale Harriers;  3.  Bellahouston Harriers.”

However when the National took place at Scotstoun on 4th March, the team was not in the first eight and there was no individual in the first three, although they did have two in the international team.   In the race itself at Baldoyle Racecourse at Dublin, TS Young finished 37th but unfortunately JA Sommerville failed to finish.

We are concentrating here on cross-country championships but members were active on the track over distances from the 100 yards up.   For instance on 27th May in the Clydesdale Harriers Sports at Ibrox R Patterson won the three miles race quite comfortably.    And at the Rangers Sports on 3rd August JA Sommerville won the Four Miles handicap off 335 yards from Arthur Duncan on Scratch.

The club’s excellent run in the Western District Championships was followed two years later with a victory in the 1907 Western District Championship  that was reported as follows in the ‘Glasgow Herald’.  “Motherwell was gay and sad by turns on Saturday night, gay because of the success of the Harriers in the Western District cross-country championship, and sad because of what happened at Galston in the Scottish Cup ties.   But such is life, and yet the Harriers’ gaiety was not so complete as many would have liked, for although they won the team championship, they lost the individual distinction which they looked upon as a certainty for H Young, who for the second time just failed to snatch victory.   It was McPhee of Paisley Harriers who defeated him.   Both were together entering the final stretch but towards the finish McPhee drew away and won a very exciting race.”    In the national that year the club produced their best run in the event ever up to that point when they finished third (102 points), behind Clydesdale and West of Scotland.

The club was first in the Western District in 1908 too and the report was headed “Muscular Christians.”   It read

“Progress is both genuine and general in the realm of cross-country sport.   No fewer than twenty five teams took part in the Western Distrct Championships at Scotstoun on Saturday.   The conditions were all that the most fastidious could desire, the going, if a little sluggish in some places, being, on the whole, better than is usually associated with this event.   On that account racing was all the keener, and, if the winner of the individual championship had an easy journey, the team contest could hardly have been closer with such a large entry.   The winners were the Motherwell Young Men’s Christian Association with 135 points, Glasgow Young Men’s Christian Association being second with 155.   Since the instittion of the championship in 1903, Motherwell’s ‘muscular Christians’ have won three times, which is highly creditable, showing as it does that, among other things, they are keen on cross-country sport and always replenishing their ranks with promising runners.”   The individual winner was G Culbert of Monkland Harriers.   This victory encouraged Motherwell to enter their best team possible in the national championships and the result was a victory – their first win the the premier cross-country event.   They had no one in the first five home but won with 79 points to Clydesdale’s 82 with West of Scotland third.   The club was gaining quite a reputation – I quote from the race report in the ‘Herald’:

“Clydesdale were the popular fancy but to the surprise of all the muscular Christians of Motherwell captured first place.  A few weeks ago they won the Western District Championships, and they are the only team in Scotland to have placed themselves with one bound  in the honourable position of National Champions.   The Motherwell YMCA Harriers have had quite a wonderful career.   They took part in the Western District Championships five times and were first three times and second twice, and now they crown these distinctions by taking the national crown at the first time of asking.”   Their first man across the line at the end was J Miller in sixth place and as a result he was selected for the International at Stade Colombes in France where he was 28th.

On 6th February, 1909, Motherwell YMCA along with 24 other clubs entered the Western District Championships at Scotstoun.   Having won it for two consecutive years, they were unplaced, and the ir first counter (D Peat) in the field of 239 finishers was sixth.   Just out of the medals in the national, their fourth place in the team race was nevertheless a creditable performance.   The following year they had no one in the top twenty indiviuals and the club was unplaced in the team race.   After two fallow years, the club’s name would appear in the results lists again in 1910/11.

D Peat was the first of the Motherwell YMCA men to feature when he won the Western District title in February, 1911.   The race was held at Carntyne with 27 teams of twelve runners (6 to count) each entered.   Peat won from Mason of Paisley Junior Harriers, leading the Motherwell YMCA team to second place, the other runners being P Divers 11, RF McMurdo 21, J Brown 29, D Clarkson 34 and A Rae 42.    The national that year was held at Polloshaws in Glasgow and it was an unfortunate one for the club.    A Kerr of Motherwell was third individual and D Peat was seventh but the club did not finish six runners so could not count in the team race.   Individually, Kerr was selected for the International match at Newport and Peat was one of five reserves.    Kerr was twenty second in the match.

In the West District Championships in February, 1912, Motherwell YMCA was one of 27 teams of twelve men but were unplaced in the race, either  as individuals or as a team.   Came the national on 2nd March, and Angus Kerr confirmed his place as one of Scotlnd’s top runners when he finished second to Tom Jack.   The team was not in the first four however but Kerr won his second international vest for the race.   28th this time he would win two more – one when running in the colours of Bellahouston Harriers the following year, and another as a returned member of Motherwell in 1920.

The district championships on 1st February 1913 were called off for the first time.   Given that the Clydesdale Harriers fixture lists typified the attitude of the day when it said in bold italic print that “Runs will take place, whatever the weather” it must have been bad.   The ‘Glasgow Herald reported: “For the first time within memory the Western district cross-country championships, arranged for Saturday last had to be called off owing to extremes of weather.   The race started off from the showgrounds of the Agricultural Society at Scotstoun and at three o’clock on Saturday afternoon the weather was fine, but there had been a heavy snowfall and the higher grounds were white.   The hares were provided with an amount of coloured paper, but as it turned out the had not sufficient to completely cover the trail over the snow covered patches with the result that so many runners missed the course that at the finish the judges and committee were obliged to declare the race null; and void. ”   The race was re-run on 13th February but although Motherwell was among the teams entered they were not placed at the finish.    It was a similar story in the national – they were entered but there was not mention of the team or its athletes beyond that.   Angus Kerr however was running for Bellahouston who led home by Baldy Craig, finished first.”

A year later the the first war started in 1914 and the country not just running went through a tremendous upheaval.   Almost all cross-country running ceased for the duration although some track events carried on.   These had restricted programmes and contained events restrictedto members of the armed forces.   The cross-country season got under way again on 2nd February 1920 with the Western District Championships at Rouken Glen with 20 teams entered including Motherwell YMCA.   The team was not placed this time round but they had a race before the national.  The first post-war national championship was held in 1919.  On 6th March, also in Rouken Glen Park on the south side of Glasgow, Motherwell YMCA finished second to Shettleston Harriers.   Their team was led home by Angus Kerr in eighth and consisted of Kerr, James Humphries 13th Williamson 15th, John Humphries 17th, Lawson 23rd and Burt 48th.   Kerr was selected for  his fourth international third as a member of Motherwell, and finished as a scoring member of the team when he was eleventh.

By the start of the 1920’s the club was well-established as one of the oldest clubs in the land, a club that had been successful at District and National level, and one that had produced many top class athletes.

*

The Twenties were marked by economic depression, men travelling the land in search of work, teams reduced in number because of that and also because many jobs involved Saturday working as a condition of employment.   Nevertheless the sport continued to develop and Motherwell YMCA produced several very good athletes, including one of their best ever in JNH Gardiner, international cross-country runner in three successive years and were involved in the beginnings of the prestigious Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay in 1930.

In the National of 1921/22 they were sixth team of 16, 1025.26 fourth of 21 teams entered, 1926/27 fifth in the national after tie-ing with Plebeian for first place in the West Districts.

It was in 1927/28  that their next internationalist first showed his talents.   On 4th February in the Western District championships at Hamilton JNH Gardiner was second to R Henderson of Glasgow Harriers but the club was well down in sixteenth place of the twenty seven clubs that started.   Into March and at the National Championship, the club was fifth out of 19 with the counting runners being Gardiner (6), McEwan (31), Kerr (61), Shaw (74), Archibald (79) and Simpson 87.   Gardiner was also second Junior.   The ‘Herald’ commented “J Gardiner, Motherwell, is another improving young runner whose performance of sixth and first man home for his club, proves that his recent “Western” racing when he chased R Henderson, Glasgow, home was no flash in the pan.”   It would be another year before he won the first of his three Scottish vests.   On 2nd February, 1929, JNH Gardiner was again second in the Western District Championships with WH Gardiner sixth and the club up in fifth position.   In the National a month later Gardiner was seventh, ten seconds behind Dunky Wright, and selected for the International at Hippodromede Vincennes and was in the team but could do no better than 74th in the big race.

The District sturcture was altered in February 1930 with a new South West District and most frmer members of the old Western District being in the new Midland District.   In this inaugural championship on 8th February 1930, WH Gardiner (JNH’s brother) finished second to J Campbell of Bellahouston.   His brother did not run and the club finished seventh.   In the National on 1st March, they were 10th team, while  JNH Gardiner was eighth.   The other runners were  Maitland, Shaw, Archibald, Simpson, McEwan.   Selected for the international at Royal Leamington Spa JNH Gardiner finished 52nd.

1930 was a significant year for Scottish distance running – first the new districts structure then on 26th April the very first Edinburghto Glasgow Relay was run.   Won by Plebeian Harriers from Dundee Thistle Harriers, Motherwell Harriers was fifth.   Their team consisted of R Graham, R Maitland, R Simpson, WJ McEwan, J Archibald, JNH Gardiner, D Shaw and WH Gardiner.

In February 1931, R Simpson was first finisher for Motherwell when he was sixth but the ‘Herald’ correespondent wasdisappointed n the running of WH Gardiner who had been a favourite for the individual honour.   Well up early on he took a stitch, dropped back, picked up ten places and finished eleventh.   Their next runner was back in 54th and the team finished eighth.    JNH was back for the national and finished sixth, while WH was second scoring runner for the club in twentieth place.   With J Archibald the third man home back in the 90;s, the team was twelfth.   Gardiner was picked again for the Scottish squad and ran in the international at Baldoyle in Ireland where he finished 48th.   Domestically, the second Edinburgh to Glasgow was held on 25th April and Motherwell, minue WH Gardiner, who had been second fastest on his stage the year before, and Maitland, who had held fourth on the second stage, could do no better than twelfth.

The races we have been looking at all required six- or eight-man teams but there were also four man relays being held as district championships.   If we look at the Motherwell YMCA teams performances in the new Midland District relays of the 1930’s we see a table like this.

Not a bad record at all.   The table only shows the bare bones of the results though – eg in 1930/31 Graham was third fastest, WH Gardiner fourth fastest and JNH Gardiner10th fastest.   For all JNH Gardiner’s last international vest was in 1931, he was still running in relays in 1934/35.   In the Midland Championships proper between 1930 and 1938 they were placed 8th, 4th, 4th. no team in either 1933 or 1934, 8th and 8th.   R Simpson might well have ben the unluckiest runner the club has ever had.   Twice – in ’34/’35 and ’35/’36 – when he was favourite towin the District Championships, he was third, in the relays he ran consistently well being being in the top five times in four relays including fastest time of the day in ’36/’37, and yet he never made the international team or won a major championship.

In the National through the 1930’s the club was – like many a club at that very time –  in the doldrums a bit with successve polacings of  13th, 22nd (out of 22), 9th, 15th, 16th, 13th and 16th.   The important thing was that – unlike some others – it kept going and turning out teams.   Some of the olderclub servants like JNH Gardiner were still turning out iun club runs, although not racing.   There were also many good clubmen and organisers who had done their running, men like Roddy Devon, Alex Nangle and Bobby Craigen (all names familiar to post-war athletes of whatever club for a couple of decades!) who were to help it turn the corner.   Read about their post 1945 teams and glory days here .   This second half of the tale is told by Colin Youngson.

Edinburgh Southern Harriers was one of Scotland’s top clubs and in the 70’s and 80’s in particular was one of the very best in the UK with top class athletes in almost every track and field event in the calendar and teams that won everythingfrom track relays to the eight stage Edinburgh to Glasgow on the road.   The club is no more – it merged with Edinburgh AC in the 1996 to form City of Edinburgh AC, and then when that club in its turn linked with Edinburgh Woollen Mills AC, the resultant club became Edinburgh AC.    The club’s tale is told in two parts, the first goes up to 1947, and the second goes right up to 1996 and can be reached   here

There was a very good historical survey in the ‘Scots Athlete’ magazine for October/November 1947 (Vol2, Nos 7 and 8) by the then club president DA Jamieson.   It is reproduced here.

Edinburgh Southern Harriers    1897 – 1947

Fifty years ago!   Such a short span seems this period in historical retrospect, et what a stretch of endless vista it presents when viewed through youthful eyes.   Many notable happenings, alike of historical, social and sporting interest could be chronicled of the year 1897.   In that year Queen Victoria celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of her lengthy reign; Joe Chamberlain as Colonial Sectretary of a Salisbury administration occupied an up-stage centre position of the then political scene;   Dan Leno, the famous music hall comedian, was still rocking his audiences to hysterical laughter with his quips and drolleries.    In the world of sport, Bob Fitzsimons, the red-polled Cornishman, was sitting on the Heavy-Weight Boxing World’s champion throne; Alfred R Downer was the acknowledged Professional World’s Sprint Champion; and in the sphere of amateur athletics, Scotland was once again a united nation after being rent in twain by a domestic quarrel which had lasted for two years.

Yet a further item – albeit of minor interest – must be recorded, for into the hosehold of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association in this year of grace, was born another lusty infant – the Edinburgh Southern Harriers.   So much then by way of prologue.

Curiously, this youngster was not christened with the name it now bears, since the original title given to it by its young parents – of whom the writer is one, and still retaining moreover the first proud flush of parenthood – was the Edinburgh Southern Athletic Club.   This designation was adopted at the outset because the objects of the club were much more diverse in nature – embracing physical culture, boxing and gymnastics, in addition to cross-country running.   It was not until the autumn of 1898 that the Club’s present title was adopted as being in closer conformity with Rule 9 of its new Constitution which read: “The Club shall be devoted to the promotion of athletics in general, and cross-country running in particular.”   Now definitely purposed as a Harrier Cluvb, and the membership being largely composed of lads domiciled in the southern area of Edinburgh, the obvious step was to add yet another distinction to the City’s geographical points by adopting the title “Edinburgh Southern Harriers.”

To digress for a moment it is interesting to observe in this decision the pursuance in the practice of nomenclature by the Harrier Clubs of Edinburgh.   Thus the parent club: “Edinburgh Harriers” 1886;  “Edinburgh Northern Harriers” 1889; “Edinburgh Southern Harriers” 1897; and “Edinburgh Eastern Harriers” 1934 – originally “The Canon Athletic Club” 1922.

Flourishing in the south-east area of the city during the 1890’s and exercising a beneficent influence upon the youth of its membership was a Bible-Class conducted by a well-known businessman in the city – Mr Alexander Tod.   Here tribute must be paid to the memory of a truly noble-minded and public-spirited gentleman, to whose teaching and guidance many of his scholars owed so much.   It was under such favourable circumstances, then, that the Edinburgh Southern Harriers found its genesis;and it was to a suggestion from the elder lads of his class to found a recreation club that Mr Tod lent a sympathetic ear and generous hand.   On the walls of the club rooms at the present day a portrait of the late Alexander Tod occupies a well-deserved place of honour.   The early years  of the club were uneventful and marked a period of ideal co-operation among its members.   This excellent spirit still prevails, and the Club’s original motto of “Each for All, and All for Each”  has borne much fruit in its practical application.   Memories of these early days, and of many exhilarating cross-country runs over the open country then fringing the City – now covered overwith a multitude of dwellings – crowd in upon one.   

AA Bowman

The season’s activities began with an Opening Run of the combined Harrier clubs of Edinburgh – in which some 200 runners took part – at the Portobello Baths.   Then followed Saturday afternoon rendezvous at such places as the Sheep-Heid Inn, Duddingston; Fair-a-Far, Davidson’s Mains, where Mother Rankine used to provide such wholesome fare with generous helpings of home-baked scones thickly spread with real butter, and oatcakes of most satisfying substance; McLaren’s Cafe, abutting upon the Musselburgh Race Course, the scene of many a hard-won victory in Club cross-country races and also in National events; and the Barnton Hotel, Barnton, which reference induces  nostalgic reflections of the gargantuan ‘ham-and-egg’  teas which always awaited the hungry harrier after his energetic exercise through the neighbouring fields and country roads.

It was not until 1907, however, that the ESH began to develop its athletic strength.   Minor successes had been gained in local events, and also a winning bracket in the Clydesdale Harriers Open Team Race (1904), in which competition the Club also figured as runners-up (1903 and 1906).   The advent of Tom Jack and WAM Watson in 1901 inaugurated a new era in the Club’s history, and an initial success was scored in the Eastern District Cross-Country Championship in 1907.   In this race the Club has been successful on five occasions (1907, 1920, 1927, 1930, 1936), whilst they had the honour of supplying the individual champion in 1938 in the person of Alex Archer.   Other successes have been gained in the Eastern District Cross-Country Relay Championshipas winners in 1914, 1920, 1923 and 1924, whilst they were leaders in the seasons 1929-30 and 1937-38 in the Eastern District Cross-Country League.  

Although never attaining collectively to the heights of athletic greatness, the Club has, nevertheless produced many sterling athletes during its existence.   To the present membership a long list of names would be meaningless, but there springs readily to one’s memory such athletes as   Tom Jack, 10 Miles Flat champion in 1904, 1906-1910, 1912; 4 miles champion in 1908 and 1912;National Cross-Country title in 1907 and 1912; and the Olympic Games of 1908 in which he represented Great Britain in the Marathon race; WAM Watson, internationalist in 1903 in the Scotland v Ireland international; Sandy Thomson, George Pert, RJ Alexander ( a quarter-miler of championship class); George Lindsay, who represented Scotland in the old Scoto-Irish contests in  1911, 1912 and 1914 in the Putt and Hammer events;   and the brothers Ramsay (GH and WA), distance runnerswell above the average.    Again, in succeeding years came WD Patterson, an internationalist again in 1923 against Ireland, George Malcolm, who was ever the handicapper’s headache;  AA Bowman, JA Henderson, R Paterson, GP Janieson and J Wilson(6 Miles SAAA title holder in 1934 and cross-country internationalist) who with others helped to maintain the prestige of the club in cross-cpountry and on the track.

Of the present generation of ESH representatives, much could be written in praise of their merit.   Sufficient to say that the Club banner has been gallantly borne J Smart, W Ferguson, JA Eddison, CJ Hall, W Fraser and others of promise, whilst the welcome addition of EQA Cofie to the membership of the Club has given to this speedy athlete many opportunities to form ties of friendship in a more congenial milieu.   Pride of achievement may also be claimed by ESH members in other spheres of athletic activity.   In Rugby Carl Ogilvie was capped for Scotland against England (1912) and Ireland 1911, 1912); Jimmy Gilbert has claimed similar distinction in the Association code as an Amateur against Ireland (1929, 1931), Wales (1931) and England (1931); whilst J Campbell held the Scottish ABA Light-weight championship in 1914.   

It is perhaps, however, on the administrative side that the Club has held a distinctive place in Scottish athletiuc history.   In its own domestic affairs it has been well served by succeeding relays of whole-hearted and enthusiastic officials .   Among past presidents figure the names of Jimmy Ross, whose histrionic powers on social occasions used to hold his audiences in thrall with renderings of narrative verse  delivered with all the verve and action of the dramatic art; Matthew Dewar, one of the staunchest of club men, who had a deep-rooted contempt for the pot-hunter and the multiple-club athlete, and who would willingly have suffered the ordeal of the cruxifixion in maintenance of the first-claim rule.   Matt in the course of his life long serviuces to amateur athletics, also occupied the Presidential Chair of the National Cross-Country Union ( 1914-1920); Dan Holland, ever zealous in the Club’s interests and still active in the administration of its affairs; Jimmy Gilbert, now bearing much heavier responsibilities as Hon. General Secretary of the SAAA in addition to representing his country on the British Amateur Athletic Board; and the ubiquitous Jimmy Henderson , a whole hearted worker and as keen as the Club’s youngest member.   It has also been the writer’s privilege to serve as President and Secretary throughout his association with the Club.   

The office of President is held at present by Ian Ross who has served the ESH so well in cross-country and track racing, and is now exercising his Presidential duties for a second term of office with great acceptance.   With him as his Vice-President is Alec Fraser, who is probably the greatestr ‘talent-spotter’ of all his contemporaries.   It is interesting also to record that throughout the years of its existence three of the Club’s members have been elected to the Presidency of the SAAA.   Namely, T Jack (1912-1913), J Gilbert 1932-1933) and DA Jamieson (1934-35).   In the wider sphere of municipal administration, members of the ESH have also played a prominent part.     Four of its number have served on the Town Council of the City of Edinburgh, all in their turn attaining to the dignity of the Magistracy.   Moreover, the Club may claim to be pioneers of the present practice of enlisting the support of the Municipality in providing athletic entertainment for the citizens.   It is largely due to the ESH activities that a public park in the City – the Meadows – was made available not only for sports meetings but for athletes to practise there.   Meadowbank Park is also a present testimony to the public-spirited efforts of the ESH executive in securing the co-operation of prominent citizens and other sports organisations as long ago as 1923 in presenting a scheme for the conservation of what was then derelict ground into the present athletic stadium.

In its Secretariat the Club has always enjoyed the benefit of competent officials , whose first principles in the discharge of their duties have always been loyalty and service either in times of adversity or success.   In the exercise of these virtueshonouyrable mention must be made of Alec Bowman, who for over 20 years has has given faithful service as Club Secretary.   “Steve” – as he is affectionately styled by club mates – has been one of the Club’s gilt-edged securities , and its firmly established position in present-day Scottish athletics is largely due to his sagacious management.

At the outset of its existence, the Club occupied an excellent clubhouse nearby to the Meadows – already referred to – and here they were housed for nearly seventeen years.   Circumstances, however, compelled removal to other quarters situated, fortunately, in the same vicinity.   The close of the 1939-45 War found the members faced again with the problem of securing new premises.   The acquisition of a new club house has been one of the Committee’s prime post-war achievements, and today the members enjoy the possession of a comfortable and convenient home in which to house and equip an ever growing membership.   From the walls of this club room the images of its progenitors look down upon the scene with looks of mingled pleasure and pride.   Yesm truly, they builded better than they knew.

Edinburgh Southern Harriers, 1929

That’s where the article ends – maybe a bit long for the twenty first century but we need to at least try to understand those who did so much for the sport – and that includes understanding their manners and thought processes as well as looking at the content.   The pride in the Club (always given a capital), its place in the community, its office bearers and the athletes shines through every word.   It was more than a wee hobby.

So far, so good   Doug Gillon continued the story in the ‘Scotland’s Runner’ magazine of June 1988.   Follow it   here

Allister Hutton in the Newcastle 5K

When ‘Scotlands Runner’ updated the club story in 1988, a lot had changed – ESH had come from being an east of Scotland club with growing potential to be possibly  the strongest club in the country and one of the top clubs in Britain.   Thiswas not only on the road and over the country, but the numbers that the club was con tributng to international track and field teams were immense.

Doug Gillon continues the story of Edinburgh Southern Harriers in the July 1988 issue of “Scotland’s Runner” .

“For Southern’s 90th anniversary last year, Duncan McKechnie literally filled a small book with their avhievements   For example: cross-country relay champions seven times since the event was launched in 1974; road relay champions since that title was put up for grabs in 1979; winners of the Edinburgh-Glasgow road relay race eight times since 1973.   And since 1960 they have won the national cross-country team crown twelve times, filling the silver medal spot eight times   Had Cambusland not beaten the capital club this year at Irvine, Southern would have extended their national run to a unique seven consecutive years   Currently they share the record honours with Maryhill (1927-32)   

On the track they have been Scotland’s most consistent performers, taking the Scottish League title sixteen times sice it was established in 1960, and featuring more prominently in the UK League and Pye GRE Cup than any of their rivals from north of the border   They won the cup in 1975, the only Scottish club to do so   Individually they have the nation’s onlyliving Olympic champion in Allan Wells, who also boasts four Commonwealth gold and a mintful of minor medals.   Elliot Bunney and Jamie Henderson clocked up successive European junior sprint  victories in 1985 and 1987, the latter sharing in a World junior relay gold in which Britain beat the USA.   

Hammer thrower Chris Black, seventh at Montreal, defied the Scottish tradition that  perceives Olympic success in the throws as an unattainable dream.   The club’sthirtieth SAAA title arrived courtesy of pole vaulter David Stevenson (with a record breaking 437 metres in 1964), who that year went to the Olympics in Tokyo, and is now chairman of ewomen’s sponsors, Edinburgh Woollen Mill  BY 1969 the total n umber of national titles won had risen to 56, but the dramatic impact on the fortunes of the club that the 1970 Commonwealth Games triggered , by bringin g all-weather tartan to Meaowbank is revealed by the fact that at the start 0f this year’s track season the Southern vest had been carried to victory in the SAAA senior men’s championship a total of 165 times including relays.   

Ken Ballantyne won the very first of the club’s 65 national junior track titles back in 1957.   And 21 athletes have won 34 Scottish youth championship golds   The UK colours have been worn by 26 different male athletes, and when Southern finally produce a discus thrower worthy of a British vest they will have completed the set.   For that is the only track or field event in which they have not so far been represented.”

Doug’s article continues with many more facts and general information about the club but the bare facts contained in the extract above are impressive enough.    The club had won their last national championship however, and indeed their last major race.   It had left the Scottish stage less than ten years later.   Second in the national in 1989, the club’s positions were seventh, sixth, thirteenth, twenty second and twenty second; in the Edinburgh to Glasgow, with only twenty clubs invited to take part they were placed in consecutive years sixth, third, twelfth, sixteenth, sixteenth, eleventh and twentieth.   It was a great comedown but, given that success tends to come in cycles, the position might have been retrievable but without all the facts, those outside the club don’t know what the situation was.

Why the sudden decline in fortunes in the distance events, cross-country team races and relays?   Edinburgh AC’s top flight endurance teams also suffered a decline in their fortunes at the same time.     How did that come about?

A major factor here was the established of Edinburgh Racing Club.   Set up by a group of established top athletes such as the Robson brothers, Tom Hanlon and several others from Southern, plus some athletes from EAC such as Brian Kirkwood and Scott Cohen, this outfit had a double effect on the other Edinburgh clubs endurance sections – first of all any ‘club of champions’ whatever its motives will obviously have a big effect on existing clubs, and second many of its runners came from the club.   For instance, Racing Club of Edinburgh arrived on the scene in winter 1991/2.  In the Edinburgh to Glasgow Racing won in their first attempt with a team that started with Cohen and Kirkwood and included David Ross, Alan Robson, Tom Hanlon and John  Robson.   Racing Club was very good indeed at what it did – but ESH and EAC suffered.

But why did ESH merged with rivals Edinburgh AC only 8 years after the real high written of by Doug in 1988?   In 1996 it ceased to exist as a club in itsown right.    It might be of course that the club just became a victim of its own success.  To sustain its activities on a UK level. the commitments and overheads were huge and not getting any smaller.  ESH had the continuing commitments of a British Track and Field club – eg in the British League, they had to pay almost £2500  to get a full team to BAL matches in London.   It was reported that at one time a member discovered that if you collected ten tokens from a Sunday newspaper, you could get a buy-one-get-one-free on air fares to London.   The reslt was club members frantically collecting tokens for week after week while the offer lasted to help get the team to the fixture!  There were also age group teams to organise, and normal club activities also cost money, time and dedicated people.

The manpower required to sustain membership of the various leagues and run meetings was also considerable.   When the committee looked across the city and saw Edinburgh AC also putting a team out in the Scottish and British Leagues, duplicating the commitments and expense, it maybe just made sense to link both clubs.   After all, EAC was no less ambitious than ESH and they could bring a lot to the party.  The view from their point of view must have coincided with that of Southern. However it may be, 1995/96 saw the last of Edinburgh Southern Harriers as a club in its own right.

Colin Youngson leading Evan Cameron

Colin Youngson, who ran for the club in the 1970’s, has written a piece for ‘The Fast Pack’ section of the website and yo u can see it here.       He added the following.

In late Autumn 1997, well after the April 1996 club merger to create the City of Edinburgh Athletic club, the ‘Edinburgh Southern Harriers 1897-1996 History Dinner’ was held. I was there along with a host of ESH athletes and officials – plus quite a lot of former EAC members. Since there had been a great rivalry between the two clubs, this felt rather unnatural! ESH representatives included Alistair Blamire, Fergus Murray, Donald Macgregor, Gareth Bryan-Jones, Martin Craven, Craig Douglas, Ken Ballantyne, Graham Stark, George Brown, Bert McFall, Allister Hutton, Sandy Robertson, Chris Black, Lawrie Nisbet, Jamie Henderson, Elliot Bunney, Cameron Sharp and David Stevenson; and EAC athletes included Adrian Weatherhead and Ray Weatherburn plus Coach Bill Walker. There were many officials and ex-athletes, and the age range represented was extensive. The top table featured Jim Smart, Craigie Veitch, Michael McGregor, Donald Gorrie, Ian Clifton, Councillor Margaret McGregor, Ron Morrison and Astrid Gorrie.

Before this dinner, which was very successful, a paperback had been published: ‘ESH – The History of Edinburgh Southern Harriers – Founded 1897’. This Centenary book had been compiled by Edinburgh journalist Ken Smart, assisted by contributions from Ken Ballantyne, Ian Clifton, Hamish Robertson, Ian McKenzie and Jim Smart.

This glossy production featured many black and white photos. There was considerable historical detail, with particular attention on recent stars like Allan Wells, Chris Black, John Robson, Allister Hutton and Elliot Bunney.

The merger was explained in these words. “As the Southern headed for its centenary, the club had to go through a double change of name. First, to attract sponsorship, it became Caledon Park Harriers in 1991, when considerable assistance was given to the club by Edinburgh businessman and property developer Hamish Henderson, whose son Jamie won the European Junior 100 metres championship in 1987. The club was renamed after this property company.

After reverting to the original club name two years later, negotiations opened with Edinburgh Athletic Club for a merger. Both clubs had done well in the British League competitions but over the years it had become apparent, with growing financial pressures from travelling and other expenses, that to maintain standards and to aspire to success in the leagues, a merger of the clubs was inevitable.

The City of Edinburgh Athletic Club is already featuring in the record books. Next season City of Edinburgh AC will be promoted to Division Two of the British Athletics League, having won this year’s Division Three championship.”

Duncan McKechnie had compiled a fantastic list of ESH record, championship winners, International representatives etc. This great club had achieved impressive successes for so long. Although awed by the names of vastly superior athletes at the dinner and in the book, I was proud to have contributed to several team wins in cross-country and road events, and to be bracketed with Olympian Donald Macgregor as a Scottish marathon ‘war-horse’!

Two photographs from the book are posted below. The first is one taken at the Fernieside club track in the early 1970s. Many important athletes and club servants are present (including youngsters like Allan Wells, Chris Black, John Robson and Ian Elliot; experienced men like Martin Craven, George Brown and Graham Stark; plus stalwart officials like Ken Ballantyne, Jim Logan. Ian McKenzie, Hamish Robertson, Ian Clifton, Ian Ross and Bob Steel).

Then there is a photo of ESH Track and Field records. I would bet that no current Scottish club can better those!

From “I Was Or Am A Runner”

IBBO – ‘THE FOUR MINUTE SMILER’
MILE WORLD RECORD 60 YEARS AGO

‘Surely Ibbotson’s run is the greatest mile of all time.’ 1957 commentary.

It was around 1960 that Ibbo gave me my first athletics memory. His career was in limbo with injuries. He visited Northumberland Park in North Shields. I was probably 6 years old and I remember him wearing a white shirt. My father recalls that he ran away from the autograph hunters and drove off in his black car!

Whether I inspired him, I’ll never know – but he came back on the track with a vengeance!

So Sebastian Coe wasn’t the first Yorkshireman to set a World Mile record. 22 years before him, Derek Ibbotson set the track alight.

Yorkshire grit? Yes, that’s Derek Ibbotson. Wry sense of humour? Yes, that’s Derek Ibbotson. Born in Huddersfield in 1932, his most famous race was his world record of 3:57.2 in what was billed as the ‘Mile of the Century’ in 1957.

In true Alf Tupper style, Ibbo would ‘eat a big fillet steak with all the trimmings before a race. Pasta wasn’t on the menu back then and we didn’t have any coaches ‘up north’. We just ran for the love of it. We’d run in two inches of water on a cinder track with fixed spikes and end up covered in black residue. It was fabulous!’

Ibbotson trained hard and raced hard. Years of cross country running helped give him his super-powers. Track training with Alan Simpson in Yorkshire and at Tooting Bec track with Gordon Pirie. His philosophy was that racing helped fitness and he ran 70 races in 1957 before setting his world record.

• Early Days and Early Championship Wins

A member of the famous Longwood Harriers and with not much training, he won a Youths mile race in 4:30.5. Showing further early promise, he won the Yorkshire Junior mile championship in 1949, 1950 and 1951. He went one stride further, winning the AAA Junior title in 1951.

The following year, Ibbo won the Yorkshire Three Miles title, gaining selection for the Inter-Counties, where a personal best of 14:06.8 gave him 5th place. That was a significant race as Gordon Pirie made sure that the Sydney Wooderson days were over, beating the great Man in Black’s British record by 9 seconds.

Injury curtailed his 1953 season, however the coaching, a winter’s cross country and interval training during national service in the RAF helped him to 3rd in the Yorkshire, 4th in the RAF and 8th in the Northern cross country championships.

Derek suddenly exploded back onto the scene with a win in the 1955 Inter-counties 3 miles in 13:34.6 followed by 2nd place to Chris Chataway in the AAA race. He beat Chataway the next year to earn him selection for the Olympic 5000m.

• Olympic Bronze

On Melbourne’s big stage, USSR’s Vladimir Kuts was out to defend his title… which he did in an Olympic record of 13:39.6. With Kuts in the lead at half way, Ibbotson, Pirie and Chataway were well ahead of the other runners. The silver medal was fought out between two Brits, Gordon Pirie and Derek Ibbotson. They finished in that order in 13:50.6 and 13:54.4.

• The Big Build Up

An Inter-Counties 3 Miles win in 13:34.6 and a 28:52 six-miler were followed by third place in the National.

Fitter, faster and stronger, Ibbo faced Chris Chataway in the AAA 3 miles on the White City’s rain-sodden cinders. With a fierce battle over the last half lap, Ibbo edged his way to breast the tape in 13:32.6 (4:32.8, 4:32 and 4:27.8). He ran faster in an international against Czechoslovakia for a personal best of 13:28.2. He followed this to show his speed training had paid off when beating Herne Hill Harrier Ian Boyd in the Emsley Carr Mile in 3:59.4 – an improvement by over 7 seconds.

He had a 5000m race in Budapest, finishing second to Chataway (13:59.6) but ahead of Sandor Iharos, world record holder earlier that year before Pirie

Returning to the UK, Ibbo took a job in London and joined South London Harriers. With Gordon Pirie as its figurehead, the club was one of the most outstanding in the country at cross country and road. He was 6th in the 1957 National (and first team with SLH). He retained his AAA 3 miles title in a British record of 13:20.8. He also ran some fast early season 1500m/mile times. These included a mile race in 80F at Ibrox in Glasgow, the cheers of thousands of Scots pushing him to a European record of 3:58.4, just 0.4 outside Landy’s World Record!

• ‘The Race of the Century’

On the evening of Friday 19 July, Ibbotson lined up with a top class field for an Invitation Mile at the London v New York fixture at the White City, including Olympic 1500m champion Ron Delaney of Ireland. His first wife Madeline was in the crowds with their 5 week old daughter, born while he was competing in Glasgow. ‘I knew I could do it. The pacemaker was Mike Blagrove, who was just back from his honeymoon, but that did not stop him going through the half in a very quick 1:56. I knew then I could take the sting out of Ronnie Delany’s sprint finish.’ With laps of 55.3, 60.5 and 64.2, Ibbo was third at the bell, reached in exactly 3 minutes. He made his move on the back straight and kept on going to set a World Record of 3:57.2. He set a British record of 3:41.9 for 1500m en route.

Just 2 weeks before, he had run an easy 4:10 to win the Yorkshire title at Bingley!

• ‘A mistake. A major mistake’

Ibbo ran 48 track races in 1957, winning 37 and finishing in the first three in 47. These included a British 3 miles record of 13:20.8. However, his training and cross country races did not go well over winter. His track performances in 1958 weren’t encouraging either – 4:05.4/8:47.6/13:46 for 1, 2 and 3 miles and a disappointing mile in the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff… but he did manage to set a world record for 4x mile relay in an England team against Finland at the White City on 27 September 27. Mike Blagrove, Peter Clark, Derek Ibbotson (4:08.6) and Brian Hewson combined to win in 16:30.6.

He won the Emsley Carr Mile in 4:03.6 and manage 2 miles in 8:43.2 but such wins were rarities in 1959. In 1959 he was 7th in the AAA 3 miles, ran for Britain against Poland and Finland, and had bests of 3:42.9 for 1500 metres, 4:03.1 for the mile, 8:00.0 for 3000 metres and 13:32.8 for 3 miles. His times were slower in 1960 due to injury but he still managed 4th in the AAA 3 miles in 1961.

He moved indoors where he won British titles and set World Indoor bests for 2 miles with 8:47.8 and 3 miles (13:44.8).

‘Geoff Dyson, the leading coach, and other people told me to have a rest, take two or three months off, to recover from the hectic season I had. They said it would recharge my batteries. And for the first time ever I listened to other people and did what they said. It was a mistake, a major mistake, and a very costly one because when I started training I got a carbuncle on my neck because my system reneged, and so I missed three months’ more training. By taking the time off and living the high rich life with parties and dinners and do’s, I let myself down. I did not train, and I should have done because I loved running and racing. If you don’t do the training through the winter you don’t have the basis for the summer. By the time I made it back again about a year and a half had gone and I got down to quite good times.’

• A Comeback in his Thirties

He won the 1962 European Indoor 2 miles championship in 8:47.8 followed in the summer by third places in the 3 miles races at the British Games and the AAA Championships. He also finished 8th in the Commonwealth 3 miles in Perth. He kept going courageously, running 3:44.4 for 1500m and 4:01.6 for the mile. Aged 30, he finished 3rd in the AAA 3 miles championships and had a season best of 13:21.6, plus 8:41.4 for 2 miles and 4:03.6 for the mile. ‘Not bad for a “has been”.’

‘When people write me off and say I am finished I have tremendous determination ‘I’ll show the beggars!’ This is why I succeed to get back when people think I am more or less finished.’

He also won the UK indoor two miles in 1965, representing his country and had bests of 8:42.6 and 13:51. He finished 8th in the Commonwealth Games 3 miles in 1966. In 1967, aged 35, he ran 2 miles in 9:01.8.

He started to play squash, becoming Yorkshire veterans’ champion – twice. After retirement from his role as promotions executive for Puma Sports, he continued to enjoy golf… and jogging!

• Inspiration and Advice

Top athletics journalist Alistair Aitken asked Ibbo who inspired him. ‘Nobody really, I have inspiration from thoughts of breaking World records. I always wanted to become a World record holder, a lot of drive inside me. I have never had a coach. I have admired lots of runners but have never been inspired by them. I have always wanted to become the best in the World.’

Alistair also asked what advice he would give to an aspiring, young runner. ‘The main thing when you are young is not to be worried by reputations and size because World Champions come in all shapes and sizes. When you are young you think a big lad is bound to beat you. This may be true when you are 16,17 or 18 but when you get older there are lots of things that come into it. It’s what you have in the heart and in the mind that counts because mind can plan a race well, to make up for the little lack of physique.’

‘I wouldn’t have missed a day of it’

• Career History

1956
International Cross Country (46th)
AAA 3 Miles (1st)
Olympic 5000m (3rd)

1957
AAA 3 Miles (1st)

1958
Commonwealth Games 3 Miles (10th)

1962
UK Indoor 2 Miles (1st)
Commonwealth Games 3 Miles (8th)

1965
UK Indoor 2 Miles (1st)

UK Internationals
18 (1955-65)

• Personal bests

880 yards 1:52.2 (1958)
1500m 3:41.9 (1957)
1 mile 3:57.2 (1957)
2000m 5:12.8 (1955)
3000m 8:00.0 (1959)
2 miles 8:41.2 (1957)
2 miles indoors 8:42.6 (1965)
3 miles 13:20.8 (1957)
5000m 13:54.4 (1956)
6 miles 28:52.0 (1955)

• George Derek Ibbotson: Factfile

Born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire on 17 June 1932. Height 5’9½” (1.76m ) and weight 10st6lb (66kg).

His Olympic 5000m bronze is only 1 of 6 won by Brits at the event. In fact, no British athlete had bettered bronze until Mo Farah’s first gold medal in 2012.

Derek’s Longwood Club Record, a World Record at the time has been broken subsequently by an even grittier Yorkshireman, Walter Wilkinson, with 3:56.60.

Ibbo finished 4th in a mile race won by Australian Herb Elliott in 3:55.4 at the White City on 3 September 1958. Nothing remarkable in that – except that he became the first man to run a mile in a time of exactly 4 minutes. There’s one for any quiz compilers!

He was awarded an MBE for services to athletics in 2008.

In 2011, he was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame.

The YouTube video of his World Record Mile is linked in the first comment.

C Paul Fitton

Tom Jack, Edinburgh Harriers

In season 1961/62, several Edinburgh harrier and athletic clubs came together to form one club which was to be called Edinburgh AC.    In order of appearance on the scene, the first Edinburgh Harriers club was called Edinburgh Harriers and they were Scotland’s second oldest club.   Founded on 30th September, 1885, after Clydesdale Harriers on 4th May of that year, they actually held their first cross-country run from’ The Harp’ in Corstorphine.   You can probably guess from that (the Corstorphine venue) that they were mainly a west of Edinburgh club.   Edinburgh Northern Harriers came along next – in 1889 – and were remarkably successful.   They won many championships, produced a lot of good athletes and promoted many successful meetings.   Edinburgh Southern Harriers was established in 1897.   Much later Cannon AC was formed and that became Edinburgh Eastern Harriers.   The city was pretty well quartered by the clubs.   Braidburn AC, the fourth club that went to make up EAC, had started out in life as the Rover Scouts but the name was changed in the 50’s.

It is interesting to look at the various constituent clubs that went to make up the Edinburgh AC in 1961/62 plus the Braidburn club which joined after the club had been going for a year – in the 1961 Edinburgh to Glasgow relay the EAC team finished eleventh (most of its runners that year were from Edinburgh Northern) and Braidburn was 20th.    We can look at the clubs separately and in chronological order.   Two points first:

1. There is so much history attached to each of the clubs involved that  each would require a book-length rview of their history to do them justice.   We can only make a brief survey of the constituent clubs here leading in to the amalgamation into Edinburgh AC.
2. The emphasis throughout will be on the endurance running activities of the clubs involved – much more detail on the track and field actrivities can be found at Arnold Black’s statistical website  www.scotstats.net.

Now for the tale.

EDINBURGH HARRIERS

Edinburgh Harriers winning team in the inaugural Scottish Cross-Country Championship of 1886: 1 Tom Fraser, 2 David Colville Macmichael, 3 David Scott Duncan, 4 William Mabson Gabriel, 5 John William Lodowick Beck, 6 Peter Addison, 7 Robert Cochrane Buist, 8 John M. Bow

Photo from Alex Wilson

Established as we said in 1885, the club won the first two Scottish cross-country team races ever held – in 1886 and 1887 – and went on to be first in seven races in all – 1886, 1887, 1891, 1895, 1903, 1904 and 1911.  They were second seven times and third six times withe last national medals being won in 1912.

Their first national individual champion was RA Hay in 1895 and he was to be the only Edinburgh Harrier to hold that distinction.   When the International Cross-Country Championship started, the club produced several runers for the Scottish team: A Kinnaird in 1903, TC Hughes in 1903, RE Hughes in 1906, JD Hughes in 1911 and 1912,  and T Robertson in 1905, ’06, ’07, ’08.   In the District Championships, they won the title in 1899, 1902, and 1909, providing winners in the form of Kinnaird (1902), and Robertson (1905).

The club organised many an open meeting, at times in conjunction with the Heart of Midlothian Football Club and later some of these meetings were three way affairs with Edinburgh Northern Harriers adding their expertise and manpower – an example of this is the meeting at Tynecastle on 30th June, 1915.   They were still a functioning athletic club in the 1950’s but operating at a much lower level.

EDINBURGH NORTHERN HARRIERS

Edinburgh Northern Harriers was founded in 1889 – only four years after the Harriers appeared on the scene and just when the sport was starting to take off among the general population.    Edinburgh Harriers glory days were largely behind them and the baton of Edinburgh’s athletics was passed to Northern.   Although they had to wait until 1935 for their first victory in the National Championships, they had four seconds (1893, ’94, ’97, 1927) and two thirds (1914, ’34).   They won the Eastern District Championships in 1908, ’10, 14, 24, ’26, ’31   and the relay in 1926, ’27, 30, 31, ’33, ’34, ’35, ’37, ’38.   In the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay (which only started up in 1930 when, arguably, the club’s best days were behind them) they won in 1935 after being second in 1934.   Looking at the above, 1934/35 was clearly their best spell when they won the E-G, the National and the East relays in 1935, with second in the E-G, third in the National and winners in the East relays in 1934.    The quality of their runners at that time was not too poor either with international vests being won by members: 

T Glancy in 1924 (47th in the international race), W Hinde 1933 (29th), 1934 (26th), 1935 (30th) and 1937 (32nd), and JP Laidlaw 1934 (27th).

And on the track, one of the club’s runners – Gerry Mortimer – finished runner-up in the East District AAA’s Three Miles championship three times in consecutive years – 1950, ’51 and ’52 – and in recognition of this feat achieved when the standard was relatively high, he was presented with a silver trophy which is pictured below.

Suttie Smith (left) wearing the Canon vest

EDINBURGH EASTERN HARRIERS

Canon Athletic Club was formed in 1922 and changed their name to Edinburgh Eastern Harriers in 1934.   The club was never placed in the national or Edinburgh to Glasgow but in the 1950’s a good group was coming together and in 1956 theyy actually finished sixth in the eight stage relay and were awarded the medals for the most meritorious unplaced performance.     In fact they finished first Edinburgh club in the race twice in the six years leading to the merger in ’61/62.

BRAIDBURN AAC

The Braidburn club had red, yellow and green hoops and had possibly the best all roung team of the four.   They had evolved from the Edinburgh Rover Scouts AC who had been in existence since before the 1939/45 war.   In the last national championship before the war, they had one senior man running, G Strachan was second in the Youth Championships and a check of their involvement in the National back as far as 1930 found individual runners entered under the club’s name back to 1931 when J Mitchell ran; the only senior team in that period was in 1936/37 when they were 14th.   After the war, they ran a Youths’ team in the second national (1947/48) which finished third behind Kirkcaldy YMCA and St Modan’s but well ahead of the other Edinburgh clubs – Edinburgh Southern was tenth, 61 points adrift.   The runners were CR Jones 5th, R Pearson 10th, W Henderson 35th and E Gray 52nd.   Other team men who finished the course were D Hall 68th and I Milton 89th.

They were a solid middle distance club with good quality runners but they also had some good field events athletes.   One of their best runners – ranked in the national top ten over 880 yards, medallist at the SAAA championships and a frequent prize winner at the highland games circuit, Neil Donnachie says:

“The Edinburgh Rover Scout Club came into existence just before the 1939/45 war and it evolved around this time from the scout movement to be well established by the time I joined in 1948.   We were not particularly competitively successful at the time but even I, as an also ran, quickly saw the potential for a good cross-country team as we had a group of youngsters; a little older than me, and they were very enthusiastic.
There were several older athletes in the Club and although very few were capable of finishing in the first twenty in the “East League” races there were enough to be noticed. All age groups ran together in the “League” and I did my best to avoid being last.   Claude Jones, a Scottish Champion boxer, who you may remember as a coach, was the first one to show any prowess but that was a little before my time.   Everyone came from a Scout background before I arrived at the Club and then some BB boys joined with others who were not from any particular group although several had Rugby as an alternative sport .

The Rover Scouts were a winter club at this time but I suppose with the aid and encouragement of the rugby set, and the connection and availability of their training grounds for use in the summer, we started to develop a Track team.   The fee paying schools in Edinburgh had F P athletic teams and those who did not play rugby in the winter joined the Rover Scouts Club for cross-country and we evolved even further. “Would be” runners like Bill Linton, who, like me, came from West Calder, joined the Rover Scouts Club and we quickly became a force to be reckoned with as Bill proved to be a fine sprinter in addition to developing his significant middle distance prowess.   Our Rugby players generally strengthened the team including in the “Field” events while some athletes were very versatile.

Our success annoyed at least one member of the long established clubs  of that time, the early fifties, and he raised the fact that we were not all Rover Scouts with the East Committee.   As a result, the committee required us to change to a less misleading name.   You will appreciate that I was very unaware of athletic politics of the time.   At the Club’s AGM, a school boy from George Watson’s called David Laing suggested that as we did runs through an area where the Braid burn flowed in addition to our using Braidburn House for changing purposes we should call ourselves Braidburn and this was accepted.

Braidburn continued to improve as a club over the next few years until we were probably the most consistent Track team in the area whlle some of the other older clubs had began to struggle.   We won most of our inter-club contests against the “FP clubs” and the “Harrier” clubs. We had several fine sprinters and an extremely strong pack of middle distance runners who contributed to a successful road/cross-country team.   I know that I preferred the short relay races on the road but I also improved as a middle distance runner.

Most ‘Track’ athletes competed in the many handicap races at Games of that time and as everyone thought that they had a chance of a win, these were extremely popular and often we had two buses to take athletes to the Highland Games at Aberfeldy or the Galashiels Gathering or elsewhere.”

The rules said that clubs had a 14 month period of grace before joining a completely new club and Braidburn, having an invitation to the Edinburgh to Glasgow, took advantage of this and had a winter as an independent club before joining up with Edinburgh AC.   Their last year as Rover Scouts AC had been 1951/52.   Braidburn then competed well in 1952/53 – first in the Youths age group in the Eatsern District Championships, seventh and tenth in the District relays, and their Juniors had been second in the national championships.   On the track it was a fairly successful club with good coaches and officials such as Tom Drever, mainly but not at all exclusively a high jump coach, and JT Mitchell who was president of the SCCU in 1953.   As Neil says, their athletes competed everywhere and at a higher level than he suggests.    Of his own racing, Neil is maybe a bit too modest as well.   He was a hard fighter at the end of any race as his third place in the half mile in the SAAA’s of 1955  showed – he and the fourth man were given the same time exactly but Neil got the verdict.

RESULTS FROM 1955 – 60

One member of Edinburgh AC that I spoke to said:  “I always understood it to have come about from a meeting of the clubs Northern, Eastern, Edinburgh Harriers and Braidwood in the face of putting a club together to compete with Southern.”   We can look at the results of the relative Edinburgh clubs in the late 50’s – ie from 1955 to 1960 to see if there was indeed a gap between the south-siders and the others.   Let’s take the National cross-country championships first, and look at the Senior team results, and excluding the University team which was quite strong at this point.

1955:   Edinburgh Southern Harriers 7th; no other club had a team running.   There were individuals from some of them.

1956:   ESH 5th; Braidburn and Edinburgh Eastern had incomplete teams.

1957:   ESH 3rd; No other club had a team finishing.

1958:   ESH 4th; Braidburn had an incomplete team.

1959:   ESH 4th; Braidburn and Eastern had incomplete teams.

1960:   ESH 5th; Braidburn 9th; no other club had a team out.

The picture was less clear in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay that required eight runners per team.

1955:  ESH 10th, Braidburn 15th

1956:   EEH 6th (they gained the most meritorious unplaced team medals), ESH 9th, Braidburn 13th

1957:   ESH 4th; EEH 9th; Braidburn 17th

1958:   ESH 4th; EEH 10th; Braidburn 19th

1959:   ESH 4th;   EEH 19th.

1960:   EEH 14th,  ESH 20th

In four years out of six they were the top team; Eastern headed them twice and Braidburn was a solid enough team too.   The gap however was

1955:   ESH 2nd;   Braidburn 4th; no other complete senior team from Edinburgh.

1956:   ESH 2nd; Braidburn incomplete; not other team from Edinburgh.

1957:   ESH 1st; EEH 2nd; Braidburn 4th; Edinburgh Northern Harriers 7th.

1958:   ESH 1st; EEH 4th; no other complete team

1959:   ESH 1st; no other complete team.

1960:   ESH 1st; Braidburn 3rd; EEH 7th

Edinburgh Southern was clearly the team to beat.   Edinburgh Harriers, pre-1912, had been one of the top two or three teams in the country, Northern had had their real purple patch in the 20’s and 30’s, Eastern was just coming on to its game.   They won the most meritorious medals in the Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1956.  Unfortunately however they were not turning teams out in most of the major championships.

Southern, on the other hand, turned out teams in everything – in the District Relays there were often four or more teams running, at times there were more from Southern than from the other four put together.   The other clubs looked at the example of Eastern in the E-G of 1956 and 1960 which seemed to show that if the others got their runners out, Southern could be beaten.   They certainly had the talent.   They had good runners with a very good supporting cast.   Why shouldn’t they join forces?

Barry Craighead with Claude Jones, 1983

THE COMING TOGETHER

It may be of course that they were not targeting Edinburgh Southern Harriers, but at least the results from that direction pointed out and emphasised the failings in the other clubs in the city.   Neil Donnachie says:

“In late 1960 I was approached by a near neighbour, Willie Carmichael of Edinburgh Eastern Harriers, (a born organiser who also organised the 1970 C.G.) who suggested to me that several of the Harrier clubs were willing to amalgamate and would Braidburn like to come in on it the formation.   I said that I would put it to the club and with very little opposition the four clubs met in 1961 to inaugurate Edinburgh Athletic Club

We ageed to use the Edinburgh Eastern strip but changed the diagonals from Eastern’s maroon to black as black (with white) were the Edinburgh City colours. The change over proved seamless and we immediately had a very high quality committee. The original four founding teams were Edin. Harriers, Edin. Northern, Edin.Eastern and Braidburn. Initially the new Club used the Edinburgh Harriers Club Room at Fords Road in Edinburgh for all Meetings and Northern sold their Clubrooms at Greenfield Place in Leith Street to the Council, which gave us a solid financial basis.”

You need more than runners and money to run a successfukl athletic club, you need capable officials.    If we look at those available to the new club, we realise that it was well endowed in this department too.   Willie Carmichael  has already been mentioned.   A very capable administrator who had been involved with many athleticxs meetings in Edinburgh including the Highland Games, he was recognised as having played a major role in bringing the Commonwealth Games to Edinburgh in 1970.   For morer detailed information on his part in the Games, see the following article:

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/more-in-sport/glasgow-2014-we-will-never-forget-1970-games-1-3369991

Claude Jones has already been mentioned: a larger than life character, always in a good mood, he spent countless hours involved in the sport on behalf of the club and is well known as an effective team manager in the 80’s and 90’s.   He was President of trhe SCCU in 1983/84   Coincidentally another Edinburgh  AC committee member was President of the SAAA at the same time – Barry Craighead is well known as one of the best starters in the UK but he is also an effective administrator.   Bob Greenoak, mentioned here  as a runner, also served as President of the SAAA (in 1987) but the first member of the club to fill that office was JC Bannatyne in 1962.   In due course others from the club like Neil Donachie, a runner when the club was formed, would become top flight officials and administrators in their own right.   W Hunter Watson, a long time member of Aberdeen AAC started out in Edinburgh as a member of the University club and then Edinburgh Eastern Harriers.   His take on the beginnings of EAC can be accessed  here

They also had excellent coaches – Bill Walker and Tom Drever who came from Braidburn were quite superb coaches and were joined by others covering pretty well all athletic events.

The club had all it needed to make at least a genuine attempt to be one of the very top clubs in Scotland – officials, administrators, athletes and a sound financial base.   Nevertheless starting from scratch against clubs that were already motoring along is always a notably difficult task.

Lindsay Robertson

THE FIRST FIVE YEARS: 1961/2  –  1965/66

If we look at the diustance running side of the club, the first big race of their first season saw Edinburgh AC finish eleventh in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay Race.   The team was made up of R Prior (from Edinburgh Harriers), J Foster (Edinburgh Southern), R Greenoak (Edinburgh Northern), T Chalmers (Edinburgh Eastern), F Neillings (ENH), W Ramage (EEH), H Watson (EEH), and NJ Weir (ENH).   They ran well in their first outing but Edinburgh Southern Harriers was second team.   In the National championship their first finisher was F Neillings in 35th place, with A Carse in 36th, D Hamilton 72nd, WH Watson 79th, T Harrison 90th and N Donachie 102nd.   They also had C Clarke 109th, R Greenoak 112th, A King 125th, W Henderson 182nd, and C Jones 185th.   After several years with hardly a complete team finishing, they had eleven runners in the race.   Out of the medals, butit was a first attempt.   In addition their Junior team was ninth and there were competitors in both Youths and Boys races.   Things could only get better.

One year later and the team of Prior/Foster/Walker/Watson/Carse/Henderson/Donachie and Weir finished seventh – Southern was second.   In the national, the club was sixth with Ramage (28th), Henderson (47th), Watson (52nd), Prior (55th), Donachie (60th) and (Foster 74th).    Other finishers included Harrison (92nd),  A King (127th), M Innes (143rd) and C Jones (146th)   200 finished that year   In 1963/64 they were ninth n the E-G and in the national, but in the national. they started to make their presence felt   Anglo Jim Alder finished second to Fergus Murray and he was followed home by RG Clark (46th), Harrison (52nd), Carse (54th), Carcas (55th), and Watson 66th.   This counting six was followed by Henderson (75th), Donachie (91st), J Convery (117th)

Eighth in the E-G in 1964/65, they were again seventh n the national.   Alder again led the team home in second, Carse had come from 54th the previous year to twelfth this time,  Ramage was 58th and the team was completed by the runners who had served the club so well in the past few years. Then on 21st November, 1965, the team was up with the leaders in the E-G when they finished fifth – one place behind Southern.   Carse had fastest time of the day on the difficult second stage and the team was made up of Fairgrieve, Carse, Convery, Carcas, Steele, Alder, Gillon and Donachie.   They won the medals for the most meritorious unplaced performance.   In 1965/66 they were sixth in the national   Led home by Jim Alder in third, he was followed by A Leitch in fifteenth.   After only five years, they were getting closer to the medals.

Weatherhead to Charleston, Edinburgh to Glasgow, 1983

The club went on from there to many successes at Scottish, British and international national level      The very peak was in 1974 when they broke the world record for the world record for the 24 hour 10  x  1 mile relay.   They won League matches, cross country and road championships, and provided Scotland and Britain with international athletes across the spectrum.   However, since this is a Scottish distance running site, we should maybe get back to the domestic scene

Within Scotland in the E-G relay they were second 7 times, fourth 6 times,fifth 5 times, sixth 3 times,  The lowest places (12th and 13th) were in the early 90’s after the formation of Racing Club and just before the City of Edinburgh AC  was formed.   Whereas they never actually won the road relay, the teams were more successful in the national cross country championships – 5 victories, 4 seconds, 2 thirds, 4 fourth  2 fifth and 3  sixth places.   The really outstanding team performance was in the national of 1975  when Jim Dingwall in thirteenth place was not even a scoring runner for the club   The winning team was made up of Alistair McKean 1st, Adrian Weatrherhead 2nd, Jim Alder fifth, Alex Wight 8th, Doug Gunstone 10th, and Jim Wight 11th   22 runners represented the club that afternoon with eight men home before second placed Southern’s sixth man, and thirteen before third placed Shettleston’s sixth and last counting runner.   They also won gold, silver and bronze in the six stage road relay and the four stage cross-country race

Given that the club had a short life span of thirty years (until the City of Edinburgh club was formed in 1996/97), the record was remarkably good indeed

The track and field team was also very good, competing successfully at all age levels in the British Men’s Athletics League and in the Scottish Men’s League.   They were the first and only club to have two teams in the Scottish five division league and that required changes to the rules and regulations of whole structure.   They won the First Division in seasons 1976, ’77, ’78, ’79, ’80, ’81, ’85, ’86, ’97, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91 and ’93.   In the British Athletic League, their record was excellent.   Look at the table below

 Many of their athletes are still highly ranked in the national all-time lists from Drew McMaster and Drew Harley in the sprints through to Jim Dingwall, Jim Alder and Lindsay Robertson – marathon runners of quality.   There were several prodigious young talents unearthed too – just look up the careers of Ross Hepburn in the High Jump and Peter Little in the sprints as well as the slightly more seasoned middle distance runners  Paul Forbes is fourth and Peter Hoffman is eighth (Hoffman is also in the 400m at tenth.

WHY DID THE TWO CLUBS MERGE?

Edinburgh AC merged with Edinburgh Southern Harriers in 1996.   Doug Gillon of ‘The Herald’ gave the main reasons at the time as  “A steady haemorrhage of talent to England, precipitated by the athletics clubs’ decline through the UK leagues, means that only united can they stand any chance of preventing further fall.”    The clubs had indeed competed in the British Athletic League and a strong rivalry had built up there as EAC worked their way up through the Divisions to join ESH who had been at the top tier of UK track athletics well before them.   Doug’s article can be read in full at

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12043763.Merger_ends_an_era_in_athletics/

The one thing that is not mentioned in the article as a reason for the ‘decline’ of the two clubs is the arrival on the Scottish scene of Racing Club – at various times Edinburgh RC, Reebok RC, Leslie Deans RC and Mizuno RC – in the 1990-91 season.   The club was composed mainly, at this point of former members of ESH and EAC.   Tom Hanlon, John Robson and others from Southern and Brian Kirkwood and some others from EAC.   It was not a popular club – clubs of champions seldom are whenever they appear – Dunky Wright’s Caledonia AC in the 1920’s only lasted one season.   But popular or not, it attracted some outstanding runners from both clubs.    It later spread its wings and Peter Fleming from Bellahouston, Frank McGowan from Shettleston and others jpoined from the West.   One of its effects was to weaken both clubs, poissibly ESH more than AC.

It was not universally popular within the two clubs concerned either but iut went ahead anyway and so far – March 2017 –   it seems to be doing well.

Nigel Jones to Brian Kirkwood, 1983  6-stage road relay

The start of the winter season was always the relays – four man relays on the road and then over the country  as a lead-in to the season.   All endurance runners ran in them.  They gave the track specialists over a mile or two miles a chance to up the distance gradually, and also helped the marathon and longer road runners get the pace for the winter season.   Usually over anything from two and a quarter miles to three and a half miles, on surfaces varying from week to week (two miles cross-country in Ayrshire was vastly different to two miles round a Glasgow park) and stage to stage (the trails on the country were heavier for the last leg runners than for the first), nothing could be read into the times other than as they compared with each other on the day.   After the war in 1945, the start was usually the McAndrew Road Relay at Scotstoun, followed by the Dundee Kingsway Road Relay and then the county relays in the west and the District Relays the week after that.    They were great club events with great team spirit, hard fought out races and the friendliest of club rivalries.    Least known to the present generation of runners is the Dundee race.   The story of its conception and development is told in the November, 1946 issue of Walter Ross’s marvellous ‘Scots Athlete’ magazine and we can start by reproducing it here.   The picture is of Eddie Knox in the 1966 Kingsway Relay.

STORY OF THE “KINGSWAY” RELAY

by D.M. THOMSON

Firmly established in the West of Scotland as the official “curtain raiser” to the cross-country season, Victoria Park’s popular “McAndrew Relay” is an event with which cross-country enthusiasts have long been familiar.   The “Kingsway” can make no claim to such mellow vintage and to members of clubs now resuming operations after years of enforced inactivity, and, to others whose only knowledge of it is what appears in the Press, the mention of the Kingsway Relay must bring to the mind quite a crop of whys and wherefores.   True, it did not exist pre-1939, yet, since its inception in 1941 it has enjoyed the ever increasing support  of the leading Glasgow clubs whose entries this year were augmented by those of the revived Edinburgh Northern and Southern clubs, and Kirkcaldy YMCA, though unfortunately the Northern were unable to travel.  

Undoubtedly inadequate competiton during the war years had much to do with the success this event has achieved and so far as I am concerned, I am content to leave it at that.   As one who had what might be termed a fatherly interest in the birth of this war-time babe, your Editor, in what must be one of his rare moments of indiscrimination, has asked me to relate how the Kingsway Relay originated, and to give a resume of its subsequent history.   To do so, I shall have to draw on the strings of memory for some time, and, I trust, any resultant discords in the form of inaccuracies will be pardoned on the grounds that, at the time and place of writing, I have but the scantiest of records on which to work.

At the outset let me inform you that, when the race was first mooted by Jim Brannen, Alec Mudie, Peter Henderson and myself, any thought that it would become one of the leading road races in the country never occurred to us.   Such a possibility was never even considered.   All that we were concerned with then was arranging what, we hoped, would be an attractive opening fixture for the 1941-42 cross-country season.

In Seasons 1939-40 and 1940-41,  you will doubtless recollect, there were pretty drab and uninspiring events everywhere, but nowhere, do I think, as dismal as in Dundee.   Of the score or so clubs affiliated in the Eastern District Committee, NCCU, in 1937-38, all but Thistle and Hawkhill were, through force of circumstances, obliged to close down for the duration.   Rapidly depleting memberships, owing to the call-up, scarcity of recruits, and lack of competition, resulted in a not-unnatural waning of interest in the ranks.  

HAWKS AND THISTLE UNITED

During this period of athletic depression, Hitler & Co decided to “eliminate” Thistle’s headquarters.   The obvious solution was followed.   Hawks and Thistle amalgamated for the duration, and proceded to operate from the former club’s premises under the name “Dundee Harriers”.    

  About the same time there came into being the Dundee Central Council for the Entertainment and Welfare of the Forces.   Jim Brannen, who was in the process of making a “come-back” after 10 years of retirement, became athletics convener, in which capacity he, more or less, had a free hand and was successful in obtaining the ready and willing co-operation of the Sports Officers of the various officers in the District.   Towards the end of seasion 1940-41 things were moving nicely, so much so, that plans were made for the formation of an Eastern Cross-Country League for season 1941-42.The League was to comprise units from Service units in the District, St Andrews University, where cross-country running had found a number of enthusiastic adherents, and Dundee Harriers.

The programme was to consist of a series of team races, but, as a sort of get-together, it was decided to hold a six-per-team relay race, in Dundee, early in October 1941.   In close proximity to Hawkhill’s clubrooms stretches the Kingsway by-pass road which skirts Dundee from west to east.   Used regularly as training territory by Hawkhill since they first established themselves at Fairfield Street, the Kingsway was accepted by club members as nothing more than that.   But to Alec Mudie, the Club Secretary, this highway, with its trim carriageways, had long suggested great possibilities as a relay course.   Its beauty lay in its simplicity.   It was straight, flat and required the minimum of stewarding.   His suggestion that the league relay race be held on the Kingsay course was accepted unanimously and, accordingly, the constituent clubs were duly notified.   The course mapped out was over a mile stretch of the highway, the runners starting at the midway mark, running for half a mile along the west-bound cariageway, before turning to the eastbound, of which they had to cover a mile before turning back on to the west-bound carriage for the half-mile to complete the circuit.   That was all there was to it.   Nothing to it at all, or so we thought in September 1941.

However the preliminary canters with the Service Units at the end of the past season had whetted the competitive appetite of our fellows, and, as the new season approached, they were impatient to get into action once more.    So new ground was trodden, and a team entered for the 1941 “McAndrew”.

Jim Brannen, Culprit-in-chief

As it transpired, it was at Scotstoun that our quiet little league relay took the K.O., and in its stead there emerged the colossal, gigantic, stupendous Dundee “Kingsway Relay”, open to all the world.   I was not present when this bombshell burst, but, knowing Jim Brannen, culprit-in-chief, as I do, I have no doubt that the attractions of the “Kingsway” relay would be painted in  glorious technicolour.    At any rate, the first my colleague and I heard about it was on the Monday following the McAndrew.   To say that we were surprised would beexpressing our feelings mildly.   Garscube and Maryhill were definitely coming, and possibly others.   Jim Brannen informed us.   Garscube we did not mind so much, for, after all, we regarded them as the Glasgow branch of the Thistle Harriers at the time.   But Maryhill!   We were filled with awe.   Just as we were recovering, we were informed that we would have to find a cup.   “What cup?” we asked.   It appeared the cup in question was to be awarded to the winning team, and would be known as  “The Kingsway Cup”.   We also learned first and second teams were to get prizes, and that there was also to be a prize for the fastest lap.

Finding the Cup

The race was formally constituted there and then, and ways and means of acquiring the necessary awards  discussed at length for we had only a week in which to do the needful.   However, the Cup problem was soon solved.   The Hawks had a cup which had become redundant on the demise of their one-time ladies section, and it was decided to rename this trophy “The Kingsway Cup”.   Some hurried lobbying of a few friends of the sport culminated in substantial and tangible gifts being made to the prize fund.   The stage was now set for the first Kingsway Relay.   Our initial misgivings had long since evaporated,  and we looked forward with keen anticipation to welcoming our Glasgow guests on their first visit to Tayside.  

Came the great day.   If I remember aright, we had an entry of about a dozen teams, most of which were from the Services.   It was a great race.   Garscube, right on the crest that season finished worthy winners, with Maryhill a good second.   The winners’ time for the six two mile laps was 66 min 29 sec.   Emmet Farrell had the distinction of returning the fastest lap, his time being 10 min 26 sec.    The Glasgow runners were complimentary almost to the point of embarrassment.   The course, in particular, impressed, and, somehow or other, it became a generally accepted fact that the event would be an annual one.   That then is how the Kingsway   Relay came into being.

Alec Donnet’s Spade Work

So far as the subsequent races are concerned, tribute must be paid to the efforts of Alec Donnet, our new NCCU Vice-President, whose spade-workdid much to maintain and spur further interest in our event.   For the 1943 race, the team composition was reduced to the more orthodox four runners, and the lap was increased to approximately three miles.   By this time the Hawks headquarters had been requisitioned by the NFS, but the fact that we had no home to call our own did not deter us.   Thanks to old friend Jack Quskley, the pavilion at the nearby UCD grounds was put at our disposal for the day.   The entry had increased to about 20 teams for this year and, I think, it was on this occasion that Shettleston made their debut.   It was Maryhill’s turn this time, their winning quartet aggregating 58 min 28 sec.   We locals were more than satisfied with Jim Brannen winning the fastest lap award with a fine  14:14.

In the 1944 race, Maryhill again came out on top, and Farrell again gained the individual award making it a Maryhill double.   It has to be admitted that we blotted our copybook that day.   Bad stewarding turned the first lap leaders on to the home stretch considerably before the appointed spot, while the rest of the field, following the lead and advice of oneof the local runners went on to complete the circuit.   To rectify the position second lap men were to run a long or a short lap, as the case happened to be.  At the end of this lap things had been pretty well ironed out, but, as a spectacle, the race had been spoiled.”

In 1944 it was another double first for Maryhill and Emmet Farrell with new records by both; 1945 saw another double first, but this time for Shettleston and Harry Howard.   1946 however was when, with the war well and truly over, the race really took off.   27 teams competed and the first twelve teams were

1. Maryhill Harriers A   58:18     2.   Bellahouston Harriers   58:50     3.   Victoria Park A  59:07     4.   Shettleston Harriers A   59:39     5.   Thistle Harriers   60:44     6.   Maryhill Harriers B   61:40     7.   Garscube Harriers   61:42     8.   Shettleston Harriers B   61:48     9.   HMS Condor A   61:50     10.   Hawkhill Harriers A   61:58     11.   Edinburgh Southern Harriers   62:33     12.   Kirkcaldy YMCA   62:55.
2. As an indication of the quality of the individual runners, fastest man was Andy Forbes of Victoria Park, whose 14:22 was only 1 second faster than Emmet Farrell’s in second.   Third saw J Clark of Maryhill and C McLennan of Shettleston equal on 14:28 with Alex McLean of Bellahouston (14:31) and Charlie Robertson (14:32) fifth and sixth.

The race had been well and truly accepted by the athletics community.

Kenny Lunn and Duncan Middleton of Springburn in 1966

Colin Youngson took part in this event eight times between 1966 and 1977, and has been  kind enough to contribute his memories of the race.

From 1966 to 1971, when I ran for Aberdeen University Hare & Hounds Club, I raced many times on the road in Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and near Inverness.   There was less traffic in those days, the police granted permission easily and fewer runners took part, since this was well before the jogging boom. Now many of these fine traditional races are long gone, including the fantastic Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay and the very first significant event I took part in – The Kingsway Relays in Dundee.

On Saturday the 15^th of October 1966, only a month after becoming a student, I found myself running for the AU second team in a major competition.   The Kingsways were extremely popular and many of the top Scottish athletic clubs – from Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth – participated.   The Winter Season commenced on 1^st October, followed by a flurry of fixtures preparing for the E to G in late November.   From the direction of Perth, the Kingsway itself is a major thoroughfare which passes the top of Caird Park and then leads into the heart of Dundee. Each team had four runners who raced round the same 2.9 mile loop.   The start was below the park, on a local road parallel to the Kingsway.  A massed start (in those days, about 40 runners) charged off for about a mile, before cutting left uphill, and then left again at the main road.   So far, tarmac had been the surface, but now (due to heavy traffic) the route followed a path between road and park perimeter hedge.    This featured some tarmac, but also bare soil which, in lightweight ‘Tiger Cub’ racing shoes, could be treacherous when wet. Eventually the Aberdeen roundabout was reached, where one turned sharp left onto the pavement and zoomed, almost tumbled, down the steep slope, before another sharp left and a straight sprint to the handover point.

Dundee Hawkhill Harriers organised the senior relay and some shorter ones for boys and youths too. This was the first senior fixture I had attended. I must have been running one of the later legs, because my main memory is of jogging round the course in reverse to warm up. We reached the top of the hill and gazed down the path to watch the first stage runners approaching. To my awe, a lone runner appeared and rapidly came nearer, an incredible distance in front of his pursuers.   This champion, running with power and total control, turned out to be John Linaker of Pitreavie, a great Scottish athlete with (I discovered more than thirty years later) a marvellous personality. He must have run 13 minutes 20-odd seconds; whereas I did 15.26 and could only dream of being anything like as fast as him.    Still, road relay running suited me – the determination not to let the team down, the excitement of sprinting away, hanging on like mad and struggling to the finish, using every available drop of energy.    Tactics were minimal – this was an opportunity for challenge and total commitment. AU finished twentieth.

In subsequent years, my times improved gradually: 1967 14.30 with AU 8^th; 1968 14.19, one second in front of my main club rival Don Ritchie, with AU 10^th (Lachie Stewart from Shettleston ran 13.15!); 1969 14.09, with AU 8^th (Fergus Murray from Edinburgh ran 13.25 to pip Dick Wedlock from Shettleston); 1970 13.57, again one second faster than Don, with AU up to 3^rd, not bad for a student team.

By 1972 I was representing Victoria Park A.C. I have a full set of results for the Kingsway that year.    Edinburgh Southern (Allister Hutton, Martin Craven, Gareth Bryan Jones and Fergus Murray) won in 55.17; with VPAAC (Davie McMeekin, Colin Youngson, Hugh Barrow and Albie Smith) second in 56.15.   However we led until halfway! Third in 56.34 were Clydesdale Harriers (Alan Marshall, Phil Dolan, Allan Faulds and Dougie Gemmell).    Amazingly, my 13.32 was fastest of the day, one second in front of Gareth, and I was presented with the Brannen Memorial Cup. The engraved names of past winners seemed embarrassingly illustrious.   The prize was a Boots token for, I believe, half a crown, and I still possess the Pears Cyclopaedia and Dictionary I bought with it.   Professional Athletics, eh?

My next participation in the Kingsway Relays was in 1975.    After a year teaching in Sweden, on my return to Scotland I had joined the best club in Scotland, ESH, and we had no difficulty in winning the race in 55.25. Our ‘B’ team had the temerity to stick its nose in front at halfway, courtesy of Martin Craven and Nigel Bailey, who edged the ‘A’ team’s Craig Douglas (13.47) and Don Macgregor.   However Alistair Blamire restored propriety with the day’s fastest time (13.39) and I made sure the winning distance was respectable with 13.48. Eventually Edinburgh Athletic Club (Dave Taylor, Danny Knowles, Doug Gunstone and Jim Wight) were second in 57.17, with our ‘B’ team third.    Then in 1977 ESH finished second to EAC, and I was second-fastest, two seconds behind Willie Sheridan (of VPAAC or Glasgow University).    I have no idea when, or why, this fine race ceased but surely, given the low-traffic nature of the course, there is no good reason why it could not be revived.

*

That’s where Colin’s reminiscences end and they indicate the quality of runner attracted to Tayside for the event.    Further evidence is in this copy of the results, sent by Hugh Barrow who still holds the record for the race, from 1964.   Just look at the Aberdeen team for a start and they were down in fifth.  Note also, from the top of the page the fact that me men were running for the sake of the race rather than the money!

Sub 2 hours?   The winner of the race?

 WG George set a world mile record in a proper race in which there were only two  finishers – but a race nevertheless.   The story of the first sub four mile has been well rehearsed – the tactics had been well worked out and the only issue was when they would put into action.   There were those, some in positions of authority, who felt that the record should not be allowed because of the use of pacemakers.   What would any of those involved have said about the Nike Breaking 2 project to run a marathon under 2 hours?   But times change, what would the best marathon runners of today have said of the ploy?   We asked Colin Youngson, three times SAAA marathon champion, ten times medallist in the event for his thoughts on the matter.

Will it be Desisa?

MUST ATHLETICS KEEP GOING DOWNHILL?

At a time when Track and Field Athletics is fighting to restore a drug-free reputation, is Nike’s plan to break the two-hour marathon barrier unethical? After all, people claimed to have run a sub four minute mile in the 18^th Century – even though it was said to have been achieved either down a grassy slope or on a road time trial with lots of betting involved – but it is Roger Bannister’s feat in 1954 on an accurately measured track that is respected, despite the fact that he had two enthusiastic pacers (a practice frowned upon at the time) in his friends Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway.

Once the Scottish Marathon Championship started in 1946, in true blue amateur days, things were very different, compared with Nike’s sophisticated plans. Footwear was either black gym shoes from Woolworth’s or Dunlop Green Flash tennis shoes. Horrible blisters were almost guaranteed. Vests were water-absorbent cotton and shorts long and flapping. Vaseline had been invented, but did those hard men use it to prevent chafing? Some of them considered it effeminate to drink any water during a marathon, let alone a sugar solution. Steak was considered appropriate pre-race diet.

By the 1970s, racing shoes were much better and kit featured softer synthetic material – or string vests for hot days. The Saltin diet (from Finland) became popular, which involved running a total of 50 miles i.e. 20 Sun, 10 Mon, 10 Tues, 10 early Wed morn before work –

and masochistic avoidance of all carbohydrates from Sunday to Wednesday morning. This resulted in the exhausted runner feeling like a deep-sea diver in lead boots. There followed two manic days of avoiding protein and stuffing down cakes, bread, potatoes and pasta, which produced considerable weight gain and hopefully extra glycogen storage. On Friday a normal diet was reintroduced and the bloated ‘athlete’ went out for an essential digestive jog, finishing with half a mile at race pace. Marathons used to be on Saturday afternoon.  A big cup of extra strong black unsugared coffee was ingested half an hour before the gun, to produce a rapid start. If all went well, instead of hitting the wall at 18 miles, the runner might make it all the way to the finish line without fading weakly.

Very few courses were intrinsically fast, such as the Poly, Rotterdam or the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games one (on days when the headwind was light on the way to the turn and thereafter beneficial). However there was no question of drugs, unless one was a certain East German steeplechaser turned double Olympic marathon winner…

By the time that professionalism was accepted in the late 1980s, running kit had improved further, along with smoother tarmac and the introduction of flat, fast Big City Marathons like Berlin, or ones with quite a bit of downhill like London. Major cash prizes provided extra incentive. After all, even the most treasured medals rust.

Altitude training, special low oxygen tents to sleep in, physiotherapy and other medical assistance, careful nutrition, scientifically well informed modern coaches, and a range of clever but very challenging training strategies: these became normal for top professional marathon runners, although Ethiopians and Kenyans seemed to break records due to maize porridge, rough trails, tough training rivals, innate talent and being born at altitude, plus a fierce and understandable ambition to escape from poverty.

But still the Two Hour barrier remains unbroken. Welshman Steve Jones set a Men’s World Record of 2.08.05 at Chicago in 1984; the current mark of 2.02.57 was set by Kenyan Dennis Kimetto in 2014 at Berlin (where the last six records have been achieved).

Now Nike has decided to promote a serious attempt to help an athlete to run a marathon in under two hours in 2016. After intensive physiological testing, three East African runners (Eliud Kipchoge, Lelisa Desisa and Zersenay Tadesse) have been selected. Talent and potential have been assessed. They have agreed not to contest lucrative Spring marathons. Instead, with a team of helpers, they will undergo a special training regime in preparation for their record attempt.

.. or Kipchoge? 

So far, so professional. But Ross Tucker, a well-known South African sports scientist, has hinted that the chosen marathon course may well be: closed to other competitors (apart from several pacers, it seems certain); in a fairly straight line from start to finish; largely downhill; and that the race will take place when there is a helpful following wind.

Now, to me, that begins to sound like cheating. How much help should any true competitor need? Any such record would be devalued, despite the strictest of drug testing. Organisers would have to be very careful not to break IAAF criteria for record eligibility, which rule out “artificially fast times” produced on courses aided by downhill slope or tailwind. Performances claiming world record status on ‘point to point’ courses like the legendary Boston Marathon have historically been rejected due to excessive descent and/or tailwinds. In fact “the decrease in elevation between the start and the finish shall not exceed an average of one in a thousand, i.e. one metre per kilometre.”

Surely, year by year, the very best professional marathon runners are already succeeding in chipping away at the record, in flat, fast, Big City marathons, especially Berlin. Why not let the ‘Two Hour Barrier’ be broken naturally, at the right time, so that it can be hailed as a supreme human achievement by a truly great athlete, rather than tainted and belittled as a commercial stunt?

.. Or Tadesse?

That’s the opinion of one of our better road runners and it chimes with almost every other marathon man’s opinion that I have heard.   If we look at the progression of the world marathon record in recent times (ie since 1965 we get the following table.

It can be easily seen that the world records have been broken in races all over the world – from Japan to the United States, all over Europe – and in genuine races, albeit in races which often had pacemakers employed.   The situation is similar to that at the time of the sub-four mile in that the ultimate target is always in sight.   It seems inevitable, if it is indeed possible, that it will come in a genuine race – but which one?   Where?   When?   And that is part of the excitement for runners and enthusiasts everywhere.   The Nike stunt is really not one which will result in a record.   It is, they say, “An innovation moonshot, one designed to unlock human potential.”    Legally such an event could not result in a world record.  Like Colin, I reckon that we should work towards it, chip away at the existing time and celebrate when it comes!

Finally the ‘Runners World’ infographic forecasts 2030 as ‘the Year When…’   Go to their site for the complete article – http://www.runnersworld.com/marathon/nikes-audacious-plan-break-the-2-hour-marathon-barrier-in-2017

Don Ritchie has had a long and illustrious career as a top class road runner, a member of a quite outstanding generation of endurance men from Aberdeen but mainly as an ultra distance runner setting records all over the world and winning most of the globe’s best known very long distance races.   He has been persuaded to write his autobiography which is now available from Amazon for £19:99.   A fellow Aberdonian, and a top class road runner in his own right, Colin Youngson has written the following review of the book.

DONALD RITCHIE: PER ARDUA AD ASTRA

If his 1970 interview with the RAF had gone better, Donald Ritchie might well have been a fighter pilot. He had a licence to fly small planes and indeed practised aerobatics! As a runner, it was clear that he was brave and tactically bold. However he might have been (physically) better suited to long-haul flights or indeed solo round-the-world record attempts.

I have known Don Ritchie since 1968, as a good friend and sometime rival (but only up to the ‘mere sprint’ marathon distance). Although I was well aware that, even in his mid-twenties, he trained hard and ran what seemed to me a ridiculous number of weekly miles, when he suddenly became a world-class ultra-distance athlete, I wasn’t sure exactly how he had become so good.

Now that I have read through the first draft of his autobiography, soon to be published as ‘THE STUBBORN SCOTSMAN’’, the reasons for his success have become crystal-clear.

Recently, on a train journey, I spent ten minutes writing down a series of words I associated with Donald’s personality and running career. Quiet, modest, calm, charitable, friendly but private. Self-motivated, determined, dedicated, ambitious. Stoical, masochistic, amazingly tolerant of pain, resilient. Obsessed, addicted to training and racing. Seldom allowing time for rest or recovery. Secretly passionate, foolishly optimistic, occasionally crazy. (I did wonder whether a title for this article might be ‘Hero or Madman?’!)

Having started running (as a 440 yard man!) in 1962, Donald served a long ‘apprenticeship’ on track, road and cross-country, became a decent marathoner and finally, in 1977 at the age of 33, realised that his true strength lay in the ultra-distances. Yet despite producing many wonderful performances, he endured a process of trial and error for years, not infrequently making serious mistakes connected with over-racing, lack of recuperation, inappropriate diet, injuries and illnesses. By the mid-1980s, he had developed a greater ability to analyse reasons for disappointing races; and thereafter made fewer errors in preparation, nutrition and recovery.

Yet the very nature of ultra training and especially racing is essentially gruelling. The champions have learned to suffer greatly and to push on regardless. Agonies, injuries and infections are part of the game. To fight through these extreme difficulties and win must be tremendously satisfying. Donald Ritchie M.B.E. broke world records for distances including: 50 km, 40 miles, 50 miles, 100 km, 150 km, 100 miles, 200 km and 24 Hours Indoor, and also set many new age-group standards. He won most of the classic ultra races in Britain and Europe. Lesser mortals talk about striving to achieve their potential. Despite starting off with reasonable talent, speed and natural stamina, Don must be the most over-achieving runner ever!

‘Per Ardua’ translates as ‘through hard work or struggle or adversity’. During his running career, and indeed most of his life, as so many admirers would agree, Don Ritchie has been the ultimate trier, and has undoubtedly succeeded in adding his own bright star to the athletics universe.

Donald’s autobiography covers, in considerable detail, his early life, running apprenticeship, peak performances and veteran highlights (he was still racing for Great Britain senior teams until over 50 years of age). Blood, sweat, pain and triumph, but no tears from this most uncomplaining of Scotsmen. Buy a copy now – and marvel!

KEN  BALLANTYNE-OBITUARY:  Born- 15^th October 1940;   Died 10^th November 2016

             Ken Ballantyne who has died aged 76 was a leading Scottish international athlete of the 1960s who very nearly became the first home-based Scot to run a sub 4 minute mile. At the time breaking the mythical barrier was not commonplace and only one Scot, Anglo Mike Berisford, had achieved it. On 21^st July 1965 while competing in a British Milers’ Club race at Motspur Park in Surrey, Ballantyne was clocked at 4mins. 1.1 sec, the fastest ever by a home Scot. He was Scottish champion over the distance in 1964, placed in the first three several times, and won the Eastern District title on three occasions. Although the mile was his best event, he was a quality runner over a wide range of distances, good enough  to feature in the national ranking lists each year from 1959 to ’71 at half mile to six miles.

He was a stalwart member of Edinburgh Southern Harriers for whom he competed with distinction at the top level of the Scottish and British Leagues, scoring many valuable match points. Between 1961 and ’66 he represented Scotland eight times in international contests against countries including Wales, Ireland and Belgium.

Away from the track, he also excelled at cross country and road running. With his ESH team he won three gold medals as well as bronze and silvers in the National Cross Country Championships. He shone in the famous Edinburgh to Glasgow road relay, winning a coveted gold medal in 1969 and several lesser medals. On three occasions he recorded fastest stage times including over the prestigious second one in 1966 when he beat leading runners Hugh Barrow, Andy Brown and Alastair Wood.

Once he stopped competing he joined the ESH committee and became their British League assistant team manager before taking over from Jimmy Smart in 1982. During his involvement the club enjoyed a period of considerable success throughout the U.K., competing with distinction in the first division of the British League and in 1975 winning the British Gold Cup. As a dedicated and selfless official he contributed much to the club.

Born at Kalimpong near Darjeeling in India, Ken’s father was manager of a tea planting estate owned by the Duncan company where he and his wife had lived for several years. The family enjoyed a fairly privileged lifestyle with house servants and a nanny who helped look after Ken and his sister Aileen. Aged six he was sent here to be educated, initially at Blairmore prep school near Huntly where his running talent first emerged. He then attended Strathallan School where he gained his first notable success winning the Scottish Schools’ Championship mile in 1958. The following year he won the Scottish junior mile title setting a championship best, smashing the record by almost five seconds, equivalent to about thirty yards.

Taking up a position as trainee manager with the Commercial Union insurance company in its George Street office in Edinburgh he joined ESH, which was to play a large part in his life. He trained initially at various venues including old Meadowbank and Inverleith Park with teammates Ian Mackenzie and future Olympians Fergus Murray and Donald McGregor. Like many at the time he was self-coached, learning training methods from books, latterly a disciple of Arthur Lydiard, the famous New Zealand coach.

There is no doubt that had he been exposed more frequently to the high calibre of opposition faced in his 1965 record run, he too would have broken the 4 minute barrier. His win four days later in the invitation mile at the prestigious Sward Trophy meeting at Chiswick supports that contention.

In September 1967 he married Doreen Hamilton, originally from near Penrith, whom he had met socially in Edinburgh and together they enjoyed a long and happy marriage, bringing up daughters Julia and Nicola. Appointments as branch manager at Hawick, Kelso and Berwick followed till he took early retirement from Commercial Union. He then joined Lowland Insurance Brokers in Berwick where he was particularly valued for his agricultural insurance expertise, becoming a director of the company till it was bought over by a national concern.

Through his work he was well known among the farming community in the Borders and, having lived mostly in Kelso for the past forty years, he played a full part in the life of the town, being a former chair of the Round Table, and member of Probus and the 41 Club. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of Kelso rugby club and attended their game a week before his death.

Unfortunately his quality of life latterly was marred by ill health requiring surgical intervention and regular medication, which was particularly cruel for one who had been so fit and active. He  remained positive and was much respected and well liked by people from all walks of life. His friend and fellow athlete Ian Mackenzie commented, “Ken was a very affable and friendly man who did lots of good work for the various organisations he was involved with, always giving 100% in all he did. As a runner he was a seriously hard trainer and one of the best athletes of his time.”

Despite his achievements he was extremely modest, with many of the large turnout at his funeral unaware of his sporting pedigree. He is survived by his wife, daughters and sister.

Jack Davidson