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The first ‘International Veterans Cross Country Match’ took place on the 5^th of November, 1988, at Moss Valley, Wales.

Henry Muchamore reported in the November 1988 edition of ‘Scotland’s Runner’: “For the International match in Wales, Henry Morrison has the unenviable job of getting together teams in the over 40s, 45s and 50s for men, and the over 35s and 40s for women. While this event has been organised by the British Veterans Athletic Federation, it is salutary to note that it will not be an “all expenses paid” trip. There is to be some help with travel costs, but accommodation and even team vests have to be paid for by constituent bodies and individuals. For veterans that’s all part of the honour of representing your country.”

L to R back row: Tony McCall, Colin Martin, Allan Adams, Henry Morrison, Sam Graves, Ian Leggett, Bernie McMonagle, Pat Keenan, Jack Maitland, not sure.

Front: Archie Duncan, Ian Seggie, Willie Day, Bobby Young, not sure, Mel Edwards, Jim Morrison.

Bobby Young wrote: “This was conveniently the day after my 45^th birthday. Henry Morrison invited me to join a Scottish team to take on the English and Welsh. Delighted to do so, Pete Cartwright, John Maitland and myself drove down to Chester to stay overnight. We were supplied by SVHC with £10 each for petrol money. Next morning we drove to a school in Wrexham over the Welsh border and prepared to take on our rivals. We paid to wear a special, beautifully-embroidered, blue Scottish vest with a triangular badge.

The course was two 5k circuits of a steep Welsh Valley. The climb was steep and long, with many being happy to say they only walked part of it with hands on knees. We then enjoyed a cup of tea and a biscuit in the local school. (In more recent years, this level of refreshment has been replaced by a banquet!) This was followed by the presentations. Luckily for me I was in a good vein of form and managed M45 Bronze. Then we drove home.

So began for me a stretch of 18 consecutive appearances, culminating in M60 Gold in Dublin 2005. Northern Ireland joined us and eventually the Republic of Ireland – unofficially in 1992 and officially the year after. The fixture settled down to Five Nations hosting the competition in rotation. Very convenient with Five-Year Age-Groups. So now each time I become a ‘young competitor’ in a new age group it will be in Wales. Then England, Republic of Ireland, Scotland (getting on a bit by now) and finally Northern Ireland (really difficult even to get into the Scottish team).”

Janette Stevenson wrote: “I managed to dig out a couple of photos from the first Home Countries Veterans International XC. In the first match there was no team from Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. England wore white, Wales red and the Scots were in blue. How young we all were! Think I was 39 at the time. Don’t remember much about the event, just that, after the races, the tea and prize-giving were in a kind of community hall.  This was restricted to runners only – partners had to wait outside! Don’t remember who was in the men’s team, except for Willie Day, who travelled down with us.”

Left to right. Nancy McKinnon, Moira Bonner, Kay Dodson, me in front, Tricia Calder hiding behind me, Margaret Robertson, Susan Belford, and Sue Rodgers.

The Women’s Start in 1988

In the Women’s races, England won the W35 age group, with Scotland second. England also won W40, with Scotland third. Tricia Calder was First Scot in second place, behind Bronwen Cardy-Wise of Wales, with Janette Stevenson fifth. The Scottish W35 team were second. (Tricia Calder contributed to GB team bronze medals in the 1988 and 1990 World Mountain Running Championships. She was also Scottish W35 XC Champion in 1989.)

Wales triumphed in the Men’s race (Tony Simmons first, Alun Roper second, Taff Davies M50) third and Dic Evans fourth. First Scot was Allan Adams in seventh. Others in the Scottish team were: Ian Seggie, Archie Duncan, Willie Day, Bobby Young, Mel Edwards, Bernie McMonagle, Tony McCall, Ian Leggett, Jack Maitland, Jim Morrison and Henry Morrison.

Wales won M40 and M50 team awards and England M45. Scotland was third in each category.

Bobby Young’s Amazing International Record

                   The indefatigable Bobby Young in 2015

A report of this event was as follows. “A Scottish Veteran Harriers Club team was among the medals in yesterday’s veteran home countries cross-country match over a fast, grassland course at Ampthill Park, Bedfordshire. Tricia Calder, a farmer’s wife from Duns, finished second in the women’s race behind English internationalist Glynnis Penny. Calder, world hill-racing team bronze medallist, led the Scots (15 points) to second in the team contest behind England (8 points). Janette Stevenson (Falkirk Victoria Harriers) finished third overall in the over-40s race, with the Scots (26) again second to England (11). The W50 team won silver too.

Scottish veteran marathon champion Allan Adams (Dumbarton AAC) was third in the 45-49 age group race, with the Scottish team second to England. In a high-class over-40 event, Colin Youngson (Aberdeen AAC) was seventh in 34.54. This race was won by former European 10,000m silver medallist Tony Simmons (Wales) in 33.45. Wales scored a surprise team victory over England, with Scotland a disappointing fourth behind Northern Ireland.” The M60 team was second.

Alex Muir described the course more accurately! “The rolling parkland ensured good, challenging running; and the aptly named Breakheart Hill was a stern test for all.”

Other details were as follows. The silver medal winning W35 team was; Tricia Calder, Heather Wisely and Renee Murray. In W40, Janette Stevenson was backed up by Sue Rodger and Margaret Robertson, to secure second team. The Scottish W50 team won silver as well.

The M40 team was in theory led by Colin Youngson and Ron Smith, but actually non-counter George Meredith (a tough guy who was to win the 1990 Scottish Veterans XC title) was first Scot, since he coped better with hills. Allan Adams was third M45, with Terry Dolan, Bobby Young and Mel Edwards ensuring second in the team contest. The M60 crew: Lawson, Gillespie and Livingstone, was second to England.

In 1990, a report was as follows. “Scottish veterans ran well in the Home Countries international veteran cross-country event at Ampthill Park, Bedfordshire. Teviotdale Harrier Ian Elliot, who led for two of the three laps, finished third in the over 40 race, with reigning Scottish veterans champion George Meredith (Victoria Park AAC) fifth, fifteen seconds behind. Tony Simmons of Wales won for the third successive time, (British M55 and M60 marathon record-holder) Willie McBrinn (Shettleston Harriers) took third place in the over 60s race. Janette Stevenson (FVH) was the best-placed Scots woman, finishing fourth in the over 40s. Carol Hancock (Giffnock North) was fifth in the over 35 event, just ahead of clubmate Kate Chapman. England’s Glynnis Penny won the women’s race for the second time in a row. Scotland finished second team behind England in four of the seven age groups contested: W50, M40, 45 and 60.”

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1991: Aberdeen, Balgownie Playing Fields.The event was run on 3^rd November, over a smooth, grassy, undulating course. A committee, led by Mel Edwards, secured funding from Hydrasun. Consequently, free Scottish vests were given to Scottish runners; and two formal meals were supplied, the night before Sunday’s race; and afterwards, when prizes were presented.

The four nations were allowed to run not only A but B teams. This experiment was never repeated. England’s Sally Young was first woman home and the W35 gold medallist. Christine Price finished first Scot and was second W35. She had support from Janet McColl (5th W35) and Rose McAleese (11^th W35), so that the Scottish team finished second to England. There was a very tight finish in the W40 race, with Janette Stevenson 3^rd (W40 silver) only four seconds behind the victor, Pat Gallagher of England. The Scottish W35 team won silver.

Roy Bailey (England B) achieved a surprise victory over his own A team; and prevented runner-up Tony Simmons from winning for a fourth successive time. Brian Emmerson (Teviotdale H) was first Scot in 5^th, with his team-mate Ian Elliot 8^th. Scotland A finished third, behind the two English outfits. The Scottish M60 team was second, led by frequent World Veterans champion Bill Stoddart (individual silver).

1992: the event took place in Northern Ireland for the first time, at the Valley Leisure Centre, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, outside Belfast, on 31^st October. The Republic of Ireland ran as Guests, which was to cause controversy later, when M45 team positions were calculated!

A report in ‘Athletics Weekly’ stated that “143 men and 58 women faced a challenging course, consisting of a number of small hills and several soft muddy areas caused by recent heavy rain.” During the races, cold winds blew and more rain fell.

England’s Ann Turrington won the women’s race. Sandra Branney was first Scot in fifth, and with Janet McColl 8th and Rose McAleese 9th, the Scottish W35 team won silver medals.

Bob Treadwell (England) defeated Tony Simmons (Wales). The first Scot to win an age group in this prestigious fixture, former Scottish marathon champion Colin Youngson (Aberdeen AAC), had his best-ever run as a veteran to finish sixth overall and first M45 (by 63 seconds). Cameron Spence (M40) was ninth and Archie Jenkins 11^th so that, along with George Meredith and Brian Howie, the team won M40 team silver.

                                                                                The Start: Colin Youngson (number 44) on the right

The Scottish M45 team (Youngson, Terry Dolan, Colin Martin and Bill Adams) won gold by one point, from Wales and England. The event organiser, Jim Harris, was very happy to hand the medals over to fellow Celts. However the excitable English team manager, distraught that England had only won all six of the other age-groups, asserted repeatedly that, if Eire had been taken out of the results, then England would have won by a single point! Nevertheless, the four Scots still possess those treasured medals. Colin Y and Archie J celebrated with Guinness in a famous Victorian gin palace: the Crown Liquor Saloon, Belfast. That weekend, opportunist Colin also sold 80 copies of his book “Running Shorts”.

                                                                                                   Colin Martin (number 46)

Colin Youngson wrote: “Having been second five times in M40 British Veterans events, I wanted to try extra hard to win something at M45. So far, 1992 had been fairly successful for me: second in the Scottish Vets cross-country; and winning Scottish M40 titles at the Lochaber Marathon and Tom Scott 10. Training did not go over 60 miles per week but usually included time-trials and pushing very hard up road hills. I raced quite frequently, including 1500m (4.17), 3k (8.59), 5k (15.33), 10k (32) and half marathon (71). The last two weeks before Belfast I eased down and refrained from ‘celebrating’ my 45^th birthday. During the race, along with my old rival Cammy Spence, I stayed near the back of the leading pack then, up the last hill into a headwind, ‘sat’ on the previous year’s overall winner, Roy Bailey, before somehow managing to out-kick him downhill – and was absolutely delighted to perform well in an important event. It was the only time I ever punched the air as I crossed the finish line! Later I was to win British M45 titles at 10k, marathon and cross-country.”

                                                                            Colin Youngson at his fastest as a veteran

Archie Jenkins wrote: “I have been involved in this wonderful event since 1992, twenty-one times as a competitor, and on the other occasions as a reserve – and once as the announcer. Not only is it special competitively, involving quality fields, but also socially, involving team camaraderie, and annually meeting up with friends, old and new, from each of the five competing countries. Sadly, in the case of English runners Jimmy Bell and Ken Moss, with whom I had many a battle in my age group, they are no longer with us.

Socially, memories spring to mind of: Andy McLinden`s hangovers; acting as translator to the English for the legend Bobby Young; and having to follow, okay voluntarily, Colin Youngson on his post-race real ale pub crawls (although Doug Cowie may be less happy about those memories).

Over the years it has been great to see Scotland team stalwarts such as Ian Stewart, Brian Gardner, Andy McLinden, Pete Cartwright and Jane Waterhouse (apologies to the others not mentioned) who all persevered over the years to eventually and regularly pick up individual medals. On the ladies` side, Hazel Bradley for one always makes herself available for selection. I also appreciate the hard work of team managers, initially Danny Wilmoth, then Davie Fairweather.

Personally, with the M65 age group looming in the not too distant future, it would be great to continue the feat of competing in every age group from M35 up. Admittedly the M35 was a fluke in Dublin 2010, stepping in as a spare reserve! Physically, however, this is going to take a lot of effort, including a loss of old age weight.

My own competitive memories, include finishing 8^th in the M40s in my first run (wearing a Grimplex Scottish vest) at Newtonabbey in Northern Ireland and first Scot in the age group, initially after looking like I was only going to be a reserve. This started a long unbroken series of selection. In the 1992 run, I was in fact third Scot behind M45 winner Colin Youngson and Cameron Spence. My purple patch was the first two years as a M45, placing 3^rd in Ballymena in 1998 and retaining this 3^rd position one year later in the infamous St Asaph`s race in Wales, where if you were not involved in the leading group, you were held up queuing at a kissing gate – fortunately I was in the top ten throughout! Post-race, Trudi Thompson knocked on my hotel room door to join her for a five mile run – that would have been the better option, instead of listening to my football team get well and truly gubbed. Over the years, nine team medals were won, including the special gold ones in 2001 and 2007, beating the English. Long may this tremendous race continue and hopefully, in the future, Scottish Athletics may provide the team kit, just like most of the other countries do, and non SVHC club members may decide to join and make Scottish teams even stronger.”

Doug Cowie wrote:

“My honest opinion is that I enjoyed my earlier ones the best. Most of us travelled by coach, which I felt made for a better team spirit – apart from my first selection in 1993. The bus travelled all the way to Cardiff, arriving at 9pm. 30 minutes after the end of the race (and a visit to the supermarket for 4 cans of Murphy’s stout) we were on our way home, to arrive back in Glasgow at 1.30am! All the way, there and back, I really felt like an outsider! The only people I remember giving me the time of day were Andy McLinden and his Hamilton team mate Hughie Gibson. In 1994 we travelled to Sunderland by bus, but I felt better, since I had George Sim and Graham Milne for company.

In 1995 we were off to Dublin in a bus that we had to push-start every time. We even had to push it off the boat. It was a thrill that year to meet (and beat) Tony Simmons.

George, Graham and I gave the night ‘do’ a miss, opting to go into town! The taxi driver who took us in said he would pick us up at 11pm, at the same place he dropped us off – and he was as good as his word. On our return to our hotel in Malahide we were invited to join the Irish Cycling function which was taking place. George’s wife’s cousin Alistair McClennan was head coach!!! Joe Dolan was performing, which was a great end to the day.

For me Wales, England and Ireland was repeated in each age group – I never ran in Scotland or N Ireland, since they were at the wrong end of age group for me.

I particularly enjoyed the two or three hours after the race in the company of Colin Y, Archie J and Ian Stewart, either watching a 5/6 Nations rugby match or sussing out a new ale! We should be ever indebted to Lynn Marr for her taxi duties.

I remember being in a pub in Navan, watching Ireland against England, and the locals being quite amused by the guy in a Scottish tracksuit wearing his newly swapped Irish vest!”

Doug with Jim White and Barney Gough at Bideford 1999

M60 Gold: Frank Hurley, Andy McLinden and Doug. Nottingham 2014 

Ian Leggett wrote: “After the demise of the prestigious Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relays this annual event in November is a must goal for us old codgers. The fixture is circulated around each different participating country and this year it will be organised in Scotland.

My first introduction was in 1988 with only three home countries taking place; now, with the two Irish countries added, it has become more International.

I’ve been fortunate enough to formulate life-long friendships from this event, as normally the circulation of personnel through the age groups has been constant, with the exception of the English teams who, with their greater depth in numbers, seem to be able to change their line-up regularly.

The Scottish team’s kit always seemed to be inferior to that of the other nations, maybe because of the 50 shades of Blue, which is dark compared to the bright Green of the Irish, the radiant Red of Welsh and the White of England ( who by the way receive sponsorship from Sport England).

It doesn’t mean that the Scottish teams haven’t performed well, because we have had some very notable victories in the past and will have in the future.

I would like to remark on two memorable events that have stuck for ever in my memory and both, coincidentally, were in Ireland.

The first event was in NAVAN in Southern Ireland, in 2000. We had a long trip by bus and arrived in the middle of a rain storm at 10 o’clock at night. The bus stopped in the dark outside this ivy-covered Country Manor stuck in the middle of nowhere. The arched wooden entrance door looked as if was out of the Rocky Horror Show or the Addams Family and, with the torrential rain belting down, all that was missing was the forked lightning as the door creaked open and we were ushered into the main reception area.

This was an old fashioned library of old dark oak shelves up to the ceiling. The lighting was pretty dim and the heating consisted of a one-bar electric fire. Our beds were in dormitory style, as this used to be a Convent at one time. It was certainly very Spartan but we managed to put out a sterling performance in the race.

The second experience I want to relate to was in NEWTONABBEY just outside Belfast in 1992. It was during the times of the unrest In Ireland and the security forces were still operational in Northern Ireland.

Our accommodation was in the centre of Belfast, in the Europa Hotel and, as we slept in our rooms, suddenly in the middle of the night we had a helicopter with searchlights scanning our hotel and, as the bright lights swept across our window, we wondered what was coming next. Thankfully it passed on.

In the morning we had a warm-up run planned and, while running through the streets of Belfast at that time in the early morning we encountered British soldiers crouching in doorways, with their guns at the ready, and also on side streets complete with combat gear. Black cabs were everywhere: they were the only way to get around as no buses were allowed into the centre of town. We encountered the barricades and every store had its own security guards prominent outside its doors.

The races themselves were all well organised and the Northern Ireland contingent were full of the best Irish hospitality. I returned home with admiration for their bravery and fortitude in face of the situation they were in.

These are just memories for me personally. Others will have many stories and memories attached to this event and long may it continue. I am always proud to pull on the Scotland Vest whenever I can.”

1993: The course was outside Cardiff in Lord Trehearne’s Estate, on dry grass and featured a short but very stiff hill. Archie Jenkins remembers the ‘Saga bus trip on the way down from Glasgow’, with older team members requiring relief at every service station.

Doug Cowie, Andy McLinden, Gerry Fairley, Ian Seggie, Bob Young, Steve Dempsey, Christine Price, Archie Jenkins, George Meredith, Allan Adams, Margaret Robertson, Ian Donnelly, Ron Smith, Bob Guthrie, Brian Campbell, Andy Stirling.

The top Scottish performance was by Christine Price (formerly Chris Haskett, of the famous Dundee running family). This experienced international athlete won the W40 title. (She first represented Scotland, aged 17, at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.) All of the Scottish women had good runs, with very close packing, and special mention should go to: Janet McColl (3^rd W35), Sue Roger (2^nd W50), Margaret Robertson (11^th W40), Rose McAleese (9^th W35), Ann Nally (6^th W50) and Irene Gibson (8^th W50). (Irene’s father was the great John Suttie Smith). The W50 team won silver medals.

           Christine Price working for her W40 gold medal

In the men’s race, Gerry Fairley started fast but eventually Archie Jenkins came past to finish first Scot (8^th M40) with Gerry 11^th. Ian Seggie was 13^th M45; Bob Guthrie and Bobby Young 7^th and 9^th M50; and Hugh Gibson, Willie Marshall and Pat Keenan 5^th, 6^th and 8^th in the M60 race – finishing second team.

1994: Silksworth, Sunderland. The course was very muddy. Since the Scottish team arrived shortly before the start, the women had to change on the bus. Janette Stevenson was 2^nd W40. With Sandra Branney third and Rose McAleese fifth, the Scottish W40 team won gold medals. Jackie Byng was 3^rd W50 and her team (Mary Chambers and Ann Nally) won silver.

The Men did less well on this occasion. Archie Jenkins was first Scot (tenth M40). Allan Adams was ninth M50, with Bobby Young tenth and Bernie McMonagle 11th. In the M60s, Hugh Gibson was fifth and Stuart Lawson tenth.

1995: Dublin, Malahide Castle. “We met at Queen Street Station for the journey by coach to Stranraer for the ferry. In Malahide accommodation was at the Grand Hotel, which was old-fashioned and rambling but pleasant and comfortable.”

On race day the weather was cool and the course flat, firm and fast. In the Open Race, Team Manager David Fairweather was first M50 and Tom O’Reilly first M60.

In the Women’s Race, Maggie Sinclair was 8^th W40, Kate Todd 8^th W45 and Jackie Byng 4^th W50.

The Men’s Race featured a contest between Eire’s Gerry Kiernan and England’s Nigel Gates, which the latter won clearly. First Scot home was Charlie McDougall (3^rd M45); closely followed by George Sim (5^th M45); then Jim Robertson (16^th M40); and Archie Jenkins (18^th M40). Next was Archie Duncan, who ran a stormer to finish 2^nd M50, ahead of such notable M45 runners as Harry Matthews and Tony Simmons. Bobby Young was 6^th M50.

A battle went on, between Peter McGregor (M45), George Black (M55) and Hugh Rankin (M60). George came through to win that little contest and secure M55 silver; Hugh did even better to win the M60 race. He was supported by Jim Irvine (6^th) and Henry Morrison (7^th) to win M60 team gold, beating England on count-back.

Archie Jenkins recalls that it was a lovely day and, afterwards, the Guinness was very refreshing. An excellent dinner dance was the first evening function since Aberdeen.

1996: Irvine, Beach Park. This tough, undulating grassy course had been used for several Scottish XC championships as well as the 1995 British Veterans one. Former GB marathon international Lynn Harding ran brilliantly to win the W35 title and lead the Scottish team to gold. Sonia Armitage did really well to place 4^th. With Trudi Thompson 9^th, the Scottish W35 team beat England to win gold medals. Consistent Jackie Byng was 6^t Lynn Harding

In the Men’s race, Gerry Gaffney was first Scot (6^th M40). He was backed by Keith Varney, Archie Jenkins and Brian Gardner, to win team silver. Colin Youngson finished 5^th M45, but was slower than the superb Dougie Gemmell (third Scot home and M50 individual silver medallist). George Black did very well to be third M55. Hugh Rankin won M60 silver, and his team (John Gormley and Henry Morrison) also finished second.

1997: Ballymena, Sentry Park. The night before the races, the hotel dance went on until one a.m. and then drunks bellowed in the car park. It was important not to be upset by lack of sleep. There was a one-mile loop to be circled, undulating and rather muddy on bends. Trudi Thompson, GB ultra-marathon runner, was first Scottish woman, in a fine second place overall. Jackie Byng ran well to be 6^th W50.

In the Men’s race, teams from the five countries lined up in pens, waiting for a countdown to the start. The hooter caught everyone by surprise. Everyone rushed downhill to the first sharp right-hand corner. Some idiot running in bare feet skidded straight on and was never seen again! Athletes charged on recklessly, as the course twisted and turned, rose and fell. The big hill felt harder on the second lap – and for the men there were five to get round. Keith Varney was first Scot; Archie Jenkins 3^rd M45; and Colin Youngson third M50 with his team (including Bobby Young, Dougie Gemmell and Davie Fairweather) winning silver medals. The banquet was very good, followed by a demo of Irish dancing and lots of Guinness. The legendary 1972 Olympic Pentathlon champion, Mary Peters, handed out the prizes.

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1998: St Asaph, Wales. Team awards for M55, M65, W45 and W55 were introduced. The event took place in North Wales and Davie’s report said “The course was a fell-runner’s dream, with a long steep descent followed by a strength-sapping climb – with a rest at the top while you queued to get through a kissing gate!”

Trudi Thompson, so consistent, gained W40 silver and her team (Trudi, Lynn Harding 7^th, Sonia Armitage 8^th and Anne-Marie Hughes 17^th) finished first.

Bobby Young was an excellent second in the M55 race; and Archie Jenkins won M45 bronze again, leading his team (John Hanratty 11^th, Andy McLinden 12^th and Barney Gough 13^th) to silver medals. In the M40s, Keith Varney was 9^th, Gerry Gaffney 10^th, Brian Gardner 11^th and Ian Stewart 13^th. George Meredith was first M50 Scot in 8^th place. Bert McFall was 9^th M60.

1999: Bideford, England. GB international marathon runner Trudi Thompson won the W40 title in fine style, by 34 seconds. Elaine McBrinn was 8^th W35; Patricia Affleck 9^th W40; and Jane Waterhouse 10^th W45.

Trudi Thompson goes for gold

The Scots also had an individual gold medallist: hill-runner extraordinaire Colin Donnelly (M40), who led his team (Keith Varney 4^th, Gerry Gaffney 9^th, Dave Dymond 14^th, Brian Gardner 15^th and Ian Stewart 17th) to silver medals.

For the second time in succession, Bobby Young won individual M55 silver; and his team (Davie Fairweather 7^th, Pete Cartwright 8^th and Brian Campbell 9^th) was second. Ian Leggett finished 9^th M60. The Scottish M65 team (Bert McFall 4^th, Hugh Gibson 6^th, Tom O’Reilly 8^th and Henry Morrison 9^th) also won silver.

2000: Navan, Eire, Dalgan Park. Despite the course being tough, with glue-like mud, World W50 10,000m record-holder (and also 1999 World Masters 5000m and 10,000m champion) Janette Stevenson ran away with the W50 title. Her W50 team won silver. Jackie Byng was 3^rd W55. Sue Ridley did well to finish third W35.

Janette: our evergreen star, aged 65, in the 2016 World Masters Champs

Sue Ridley wrote: “My first ever British & Irish XC Masters International in 2000 still stays fresh in my mind.  I can remember clearly phoning David Fairweather asking him if it was OK to bring my 14 month old daughter on the bus journey to Navan!  He clearly was full of apprehension (probably horror) at the thought of a long, tiring bus journey through Ireland with a screaming toddler!  Thankfully we were allowed to go and Amy was as good as gold for the whole weekend (never cried once).  She had a great time with all the attention she was given, being held by different people and made such a fuss of.  Everyone was very friendly and made you feel so welcome.  I met some very nice people, some of whom are still very close friends.  Staying at a convent was different but made for a great team spirit.  Everyone was so supportive of their team-mates and colleagues in every age group and that happy atmosphere has stayed with me. The weather wasn’t particularly nice and the course was tough but I still remember managing to sprint to the line overtaking an old rival from my senior days to take bronze in the W35 event.  It was a fantastic experience.  What is also so nice about this event is the number of people you befriend from each country who you often meet year after year.”

First Scot home in the men’s race was Colin Donnelly (3^rd M40). However the Scottish men’s performance of the day was by Davie Fairweather, who triumphed in the M55 category; and led his team (including Bobby Young and Brian Campbell) to gold medals. Davie wrote later: “I had enjoyed a good build-up, with 78:28 in the Helensburgh ½ Marathon, 2:48:39 2 weeks later in the Glasgow Marathon, and 78:48 3 weeks later in the Inverclyde ½ Marathon. By the time I got to Navan, I was well-prepared, but fell flat on my face in the warm-up, which didn’t augur well for a good race performance. I’m never very good at judging my position in cross country races, and I didn’t see any M55 numbers, so just assumed that all the good runners were out of sight in front. Then, on the last lap, I passed Archie Jenkins (who was in the M45 team), and suddenly I was on Colin Youngson’s heels (in the M50 team) but he wasn’t going to let me beat him this time, and I crossed the line 3 sec behind him to win M55 gold. Frank Reilly came in 12 sec behind me, with Graham Patton 3rd a further 6 sec behind. With Bobby Young 4th and Brian Campbell 10th we won team gold as well.”

Davie: stalwart athlete and long-time team manager

The M50 team [George Sim (individual silver), Charlie McDougall, George Meredith and Colin Youngson] finished a very close second; as did the M65 outfit (Bert McFall, Jim Irvine and Henry Morrison).

2001: Falkirk, Callendar Park.

David Fairweather reported: “In the Ladies’ race, Anne Keenan-Buckley (Eire), for the 3^rd year in a row, completely dominated the race from the off.   She appeared to just float over the ground to win by over 1½ minutes in a 16 minute race. Tricia Affleck ran the race of her life to finish 3^rd overall and 2^nd W40. Just like me last year, she had no idea she was so far up and couldn’t believe she’d won silver. Trudi Thomson (6^th W40) showed that she is only human and can no longer head the field just 2 weeks after running the Dublin marathon (well she is training for the Commonwealth Games Marathon after all). She had to pull out all the stops to hold off the determined onslaught of Janette Stevenson, who repeated last year’s W50 gold medal performance, and Susan Finch who was 5^th placed W35. Addi Gerard finished 7^th W40 to secure team silver. Sue Ridley was 8^th W35.

According to the usual biased reporting in Athletics Weekly, four Englishmen were favourites for the M40 title. However GB international and Multi-Scottish champion, Tommy Murray, had other ideas and went on to win by 26 seconds. Then, 45 minutes later, Tommy finished first in the Open Race too ‘because I was good enough.’ (In 2003 Tommy and Julian Critchlow (England) had a closer battle at Beach Park, Irvine, before the Scot won the British Masters XC championship. Shortly afterwards, aged 42, he retired.)

Colin Donnelly started very cautiously and had to work his way up from the low 50’s to a final sprint for 3^rd M40. All the Scotland M40s (Murray, Donnelly, Ross Arbuckle, Colin Meek, Dave Dymond and Ian Stewart) had excellent runs, but the tight packing of England in 2, 4, 5 and 6 was too much to beat and we had to settle for silver.

However it was a different matter for the M45s, with Keith Varney coming in 2^nd, Gerry Gaffney 4^th, Brian Gardner 5^th, and Nicol Maltman 10^th (plus Archie Jenkins) to beat England by 5 points to win team gold. (Did any other readers hear Brian’s mother phone in to Radio Clyde on Sunday morning and mention that her son had been running the veterans international at Falkirk?)

George Sim (4^th M50) failed narrowly to win a medal this year, but with Andy McLinden 9^th, Brian Emmerson 13^th and Charles Noble 16^th they won team silver.

In the M60s, Ian Leggett pulled through to 5^th, George Black finished 7^th and, with support from last-minute replacement and team newcomer Robert Daly, they won team silver. The M65s were led by Bert McFall in 7^th.

This is the 1^st time that every team in the Men’s race has finished in the top 3. All the runners I spoke to were unanimous in their praise for the excellent course.”

2002: Ballymena, Sentry Park again. The same hilly, muddy loop had to be negotiated several times. In the women’s race, Sonia Armitage was top Scot (4^th W40), just in front of Elaine McBrinn (6^th W35) and Frances Florence (5^th W40). Hazel Bradley finished 5^th W50.

In Tommy Murray’s absence, Julian Critchlow won the 40-49 race, with Colin Donnelly first Scot (fifth M40). The Scottish M45 team (Mike Simpson, Ian Stewart, Gerry Gaffney and Dave Dymond) secured silver medals. George Sim ran his usual fast race to be third in the M50 category, and was well-supported by Andy McLinden and Archie Jenkins in fifth and sixth. Fred Connor was fourth counter and the M50 team finished second. Colin Youngson managed 3^rd M55, just in front of Bobby Young (4^th). Terry Dolan was third counter and that team too won silver. Ian Leggett ran well to finish fifth M60. Hugh Gibson produced the best individual performance by a Scottish man, with second place in the M70 age group. Bill McBrinn was 6^th.

2003: Cardiff, Bute Park. “Race day was cold and grey; and the course flat, twisting grass. In the Women’s race, Eileen Lang ran boldly and hung on bravely to finish 4^th overall and win a bronze W35 medal. Sue Ridley and Suzanne Carson contributed to an excellent team silver. Susan Finch was 5^th W40; and Jane Waterhouse 5^th W50.

Bobby Young (M60) moved through strongly mid-race to secure an individual bronze medal. Unfortunately even very good team packing by Pete Cartwright (5^th) and Brian Campbell (6^th) led to a heartbreaking one-point defeat by the inevitable English. Hugh Gibson (M70) maintained his excellent record with a fine silver medal. He and his team-mates Tom O’Reilly (8^th) and Willie Hamill (10^th) clinched second place too.

Keith Farquhar (M40), running smoothly and rhythmically, was first Scot in the 40-49 race, with Ian Williamson (from Shetland but a Cambuslang athlete) not far behind. Tom Anderson (M45 was next), followed by Gerry Gaffney (M45). Doug Cowie (recently M50 silver medallist in the European Masters Half Marathon) was first Scot in his category. With Archie Jenkins, Campbell Joss and Jim White, the M50 team won silver. Gentleman George Mitchell, tall, tanned, bearded and quietly determined was our first M55.”

2004: Croydon, Lloyd Park. “After an arduous 400 miles bus journey from Glasgow, we reached the hotel in Croydon about 8:30, it was a relief to find that Ann Nally had volunteered to distribute numbers and provide assistance to the team.

Saturday morning dawned cold and grey, but it didn’t look too bad as Ann guided us through Croydon on a walk/jog to Lloyd Park. However, just as we reached the park we saw the odd flake of snow, and the weather went downhill from there. The course consisted of 1 small loop, followed by a 3km loop that went out to the extremity of the park, so it wasn’t good for spectating. M40-69 ran 2 full 4km laps, while the women and M70+ ran a figure of 8, before disappearing onto the large loop to make up 6km.

Ann Keenan-Buckley wasn’t running this year, but fellow Irish International Niamh O’Sullivan proved an able successor. Mountain runner Sonia Armitage led the field up the first hill and round the starting loop, with Niamh in close attendance. BMAF and SAL W35 cross country champion Sue Ridley was not far behind, followed by W45 Tricia Affleck, W35 Janet Laing and SAL W40 cc champion Hazel Dean.

The M70s were led through by Brian Ashwell (Eng), but Walter McCaskey came through in 2^nd followed by Bert McFall, with Tom O’Reilly and Hugh Gibson not far behind. We then had to wait while the field negotiated the muddy, undulating large loop.

Niamh O’Sullivan appeared with an 80m lead over Margaret Deasy (W40, Eng), closely followed by 1^st W35 Sue Ridley. Hazel Dean was next Scot to finish 12^th overall, followed by Sonia Armitage 14^th and Tricia Affleck 22^nd. Jacqui Thomson, who is actually W40, ran superbly for the W35 team to finish 23^rd overall.

With good performances by all team members the women won silver medals for W50 (Jane Waterhouse, Hazel Bradley & Liz Bowers.

In the M70s, positions were reversed at the finish with Bert 2^nd and Walter 3^rd. Tom finished 7^th, closely followed by Hugh Gibson, to win team silver just 1 pt behind England.

  Sue Ridley

Sue Ridley wrote: “I seem to do the opposite of most people – instead of winning when going into a new age group, I wait until I’m about to move up!  The W35 International victory in Croydon came off the back of winning the British Masters Cross-Country overall earlier in the year at Durham. I remember Sonia Armitage taking the race out up the first hill and leading round the first small loop.  The course was pretty muddy and undulating.  The leading group were fairly close packed but after the large loop Niamh O’Sullivan (Ireland) proved the stronger and pulled away from Margaret Deasy (England) and myself who had managed to break clear of Claire Pauzers to clinch victory in the W35 age group as the first two were W40s.”

The next race was for M55 – 69. Unfortunately the M55 and M65 teams were not in medal contention, but Pete Cartwright (M60) kept close to the leading M60 England runners and managed to split them up to win bronze. Bobby Young, David Fairweather and Gibson Fleming followed in 5^th, 7^th and 9^th places to win team silver.

George Mitchell again led the M55 team home in 9^thplace, while Steve Cromar was 7^th in the M65 race.

By the start of the M40 – 54 race the temperature was just above freezing, and the ground was badly churned up. Not many of us hung around to provide support, preferring to retreat to the changing rooms for a hot drink. Brian Gardner ran the race of his life to win M45 gold and finish 5^th overall. Tom Anderson and Ian Stewart were neck and neck throughout the race, with Tom just sprinting clear at the finish in 8^th place. John Simpson ran a spirited debut international race to finish 15^th and help secure team silver. Steven McCloone was first Scot home in the M40 race in 15^th place, and Andy McLinden, who flew down to Luton on Sat morning, was first Scot M50 in 8^th place. Despite strong team support they weren’t in contention for team medals.

                                     Brian Gardner

Brian Gardner wrote: “The build up to the race couldn’t have been better for me: I was winning cross country races outright and setting lifetime pbs on the road. I had planned and trained to the best of my ability and this was the most important race.  Although I’d never finished higher than 12^th overall before, I knew that if I concentrated and held my nerve, this could be my time. We were held up in the sleet at the start while the organisers found a 1^st aider (!) It was difficult to keep warm but I made a cautious start and then threaded my way through the field. With about a mile to go, I knew I was the leading M45 and first Scot overall but England’s Jon Cordingley was trying to get past me.  I surged to hold him off several times until I sprinted clear in the home straight. Crossing that finish line was the proudest moment of my life.  And it was only after finishing that I learned that I was 5^th overall; I had no idea that I’d moved so far up. The support from team mates was heart warming. I had planned and trained for that win; and had finally run as well as I possibly could.”

The Dinner and Presentation, at the HSBC Sports & Social Club in New Beckenham, was rather disappointing. There was a free bus service, but the bus was due to return to our hotel before the end of the dance. We were so tightly packed in the hall that the staff had difficulty serving the meal and, despite an effort to shorten the medal presentation, the dance was just starting as our bus was ready to depart.

The homeward bus journey took about 10 hours in spite of Jamie’s sterling efforts. He took his life into his hands when he leapt out of the bus in Birmingham to move some cones, so that he could switch lanes and gain access to the toll road, thus avoiding a long delay on the M6.”

2005: Dublin, Santry Demesne. Report by Davie Fairweather.

In the Women’s Race, first Scot home was Ann McPhail (12^th overall and 5^th W35), one second in front of Sue Ridley (6^th W40). Janette Stevenson won the W55 event by 32 seconds, leading her team (Hazel Bradley 7^th and Phyllis Lemoncello 11^th) to team silver. Fiona Matheson was 8^th W40 and Sonia Armitage 4^th W45.

The M55-M69 race was dominated by England’s Mike Hager, but he was bravely chased by George Sim, who won the M55 silver medal. Meanwhile Bobby Young was having the run of his life to win the M60 title by shaking off reluctant England runner Willie Allan, who is actually Scottish and used to run for Edinburgh University but lives in Tadcaster. Gibson Fleming was 7^th M60 and Brian Campbell 12^th. The M60 team only lost second place on countback.

Ian Leggett had a fine run to finish 3^rd M65 (Steve Cromar was 9^th). Walter McCaskey came through to secure M70 silver, leading his team (Tom O’Reilly 5^th, Bert McFall 6^th and Willie Hamill 8^th) to second place medals.

The Scotland team for the M40-54 race was sadly depleted by injuries but Jack Brown finished 6^th M40 and Andy Little 8^th. Ian Stewart was first Scottish M45 in 10^th; and Andy McLinden 9^th M50.

2006: Falkirk, Callendar Park.

The superb Janette Stevenson retained the W55 title, no less than one minute 25 seconds in front of second place in this age group! Her team (Hazel Bradley 5^th, Kate Todd 7^th) won silver medals. First Scot home was Fiona Matheson (8^th overall and second W45). Susan Finch (4^th W40) was two seconds behind her. Fiona’s W45 team (Sonia Armitage 5^th and Pam McKay 11^th) finished second. Janet Dunbar was 7^th W35.

In the M40-64 race, Andy Little finished 8^th M40, with Jack Brown 9^th. Neil Thin ran very well to end up 4^th M45. Brian Gardner was 6^th M50 and Alastair Dunlop 9^th. George Mitchell (4^th M60) led his team (Graham Smith 6^th and Frank Yeoman 10^th) to silver medals. However the Scottish male star was elegant George Sim who improved one place from the previous year to win the M55 title. Andy McLinden was 9^th and Charlie Noble 10^th. Ian Leggett was 8^th M65. The M70 team (Walter McCaskey 5^th, Les Nicol 6^th and Alistair Shaw 8^th) finished second behind England.

           George Sim: still classy and competitive at 65

2007: Belfast, Stormont Estate. The course featured a narrow, muddy start, but then several laps of fine parkland, before a hill and a tricky, slippery finish.

      Robert Quinn: still racing successfully in his fifties

Bobby Quinn, a multi-Scottish champion, ran brilliantly to finish first in the 35-49 race and secure the M40 title. With support from Andy Little 6tg, Roger Alsop and James Snodgrass, Robert’s team won second team medals. Second Scot home was Neil Thin, who had a fine run to win M45 individual silver, with Ross Arbuckle 9^th. In the M50-64 event, Ian Stewart raced very well to be second M50. His team [Brian Gardner 3rd, Alastair Dunlop 8th and Colin Miller) won silver. The M55 Scots did even better by winning the team title [George Sim second (to Mike Hager of England), Andy McLinden third, plus Archie Jenkins 7th and Ewan Patterson 8^th]. In the M60 age group, Scotland won team silver [Archie Duncan a splendid individual silver medal, and support from consistently strong George Mitchell (4^th), Colin Youngson and Frank Yeoman]. It was second again for the M65 team (Pete Cartwright winning an excellent individual silver, with backing from Ian Leggett, Rab Daly and Steve Cromar). The M70s matched that team result, due to Les Nicol 4th, Alistair Shaw 6th and Walter McCaskey 7th.

In the women’s race, W45s Susan Finch (6^th) and Sonia Armitage (7^th) were the first Scots home. Clare Gemmell (10^th W35), Julia Henderson (12^th W35) and Michelle Heatherington (6^th W40) were the next Scottish finishers. Jane Waterhouse (7^th W50) and Hazel Bradley (5^th W55) also ran well.

 2008: Swansea, Singleton Park. The first race was 6km for W35 – W65 plus M65 and M70. England’s Debby Walters W40 was 1^st, followed by Ireland’s Donna Mahon W35. Megan Wright (3^rd W35) was first Scot 7^th overall, finishing just in front of Ireland’s Niamh O’Sullivan W45. Julia Henderson (10^th W35), Sonia Armitage (5^th W45) and Hazel Dean (7^th W45) were the next Scottish finishers. Jane Waterhouse and Liz Bowers (4^th & 5^th W55) also ran well in their age-group, with Jane finishing 21 sec behind winner Zina Marchant. Hazel Bradley was 10^th W55, which meant that the Scottish team won silver medals.

On a severely undulating, damp, lap course, Walter McCaskey was 7^th M70 and Alistair Shaw 8th. Brian Campbell (6^th M65) assisted by Bobby Young (7^th), Pete Cartwright (8^th) and Ian Leggett (9^th), secured team silver.

Next race was 8km for M50 – M60. George Mitchell was 4^th M60 and Archie Duncan 6^th. George Sim (4^th M55), Andy McLinden (6^th), Ewan Patterson and Archie Jenkins finished second team. Brian Gardner finished 5^th M50 and, with Iain Stewart (7^th), Jeff Farquhar and Colin Miller, the team won silver.

By the final international race for M35 – M45 conditions were more sticky and slippery, which made the race more interesting. The best performance on the day by a Scottish man was certainly produced by Bobby Quinn, who was second M40 behind England’s Tim Hartley. They both outpaced all the M35s. Lewis Lawson finished 9^th M45.

2009: Birmingham, Perry Park. What would have been a flat, fast course was hit by a thunderstorm just before the start of the race, so that mud became a challenge, particularly on corners. In the women’s race, Sue Ridley (10^th W40) was first Scot home; Sonia Armitage was 9^th W45; Phyllis Hands 10^th W50. However the finest Scottish performance was achieved by ultra-consistent Jane Waterhouse, who fought off three English rivals to win the W60 title. Jane wrote later that, athletically, it was her finest hour! Liz Bowers and Liz McGarry helped her to secure team silver as well.

                                     Jane Waterhouse

Ian Leggett (4^th M70), assisted by Les Nicol (6^th) and Hugh Rankin (7^th) made sure that the Scots finished second team. Davie Fairweather, Pete Cartwright and Bobby Young were 5^th, 6^th and 7^th in the M65 contest, to win silver as well. George Mitchell was 5^th M60; Andy McLinden 4^th M55, with Doug Cowie 7^th; and Jeff Farquhar ran especially well to win individual M50 silver, with Ian Stewart 8^th.

In the M35-49 race, first Scot was Neil Wilkinson (8^th M40). Iain Campbell finished 7^th M45.

2010: Dublin, Santry Demesne. On a deceptively tough, increasingly muddy lap course near the Billy Morton Stadium, Melissa Whyte was the Scottish star, with 3^rd overall in the women’s race and 1^st W45. Sue Ridley ran well to be 5^th in that age group. The ultra-consistent Jane Waterhouse was 4^th W55, with Liz Bowers 9^th. Hazel Bradley ran her usual good race for 5^th W60, with Kate Todd 7^th.

                     Melissa Whyte heading for W45 gold

Steve Wylie did very well to finish 5^th M35. Dave Gardiner excelled with 4^th M40. Iain Campbell was 6^th M50; Alastair Dunlop 8^th M55; Robert Marshall 6^th M60; Davie Fairweather 9^th M65; and Walter McCaskey 7^th M70.

2011: Glasgow, Bellahouston Park. Report by Davie Fairweather.

The race was two weeks later than usual, on 26^th November. The weather forecast was poor, but we didn’t get snow and ice, just rain and gales, which made the course very heavy, slippery and treacherous. Nevertheless the Scottish teams had some good results.

In the 6 km race for Women and Men aged 65 upwards, there was a tremendous battle between Lesley Chisholm W35, Melissa Whyte W45 and Fiona Matheson W50, who eventually finished 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th overall respectively. Lesley was second W35 but Melissa Whyte and Fiona Matheson both won age-group titles. The W35 team (including Dianne Lauder 4^th, Julia Henderson 7^th and Paula Wilson) finished second, as did the W45 outfit (Sue Ridley 5^th, Kirsty Husband 8^th and Hilary McGrath 8^th). Sheila Gollan was 6^th W40; Jane Waterhouse 5^th W55, with Erica Christie 9^th and Phillis Hands 10^th; and Kate Todd was 7^th W60, with Beth McLafferty 10^th. Betty Gilchrist (W65) ran extremely well to secure individual silver.

Totally reliable George Mitchell finished third M65, and with backing from Stewart McCrae (8^th), Pete Cartwright and Davie Fairweather, his team was second. Ian Leggett 6^th, Watson Jones 8^th and Walter McCaskey 11^th did well in the M70 age group.

In the M35-64 race, the M35 team (Jamie Reid an excellent 2^nd, David Millar 4^th, Robert Gilroy 7^th and Joe McKnight 17^th) finished second. Stuart Kerr was 7^th M40; and Neil Thin won M50 individual bronze, with Iain Campbell 6^th. The M55 team packed well (Brian Gardner 3^rd, Paul Thompson 5^th, Alastair Dunlop 6^th and Alex Chisholm 8^th) to make sure of silver medals. Andy McLinden ran very well to finish 2^nd M60.

Joe Small sent a link to a video of this race and you can find it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxSs_k3vsnI

2012: Belfast, Queen’s University Playing Fields. Fiona Matheson gave a first class performance to retain her W50 title. Sue Ridley ran well, as usual, to achieve W45 individual bronze, as did Liz Bowers (W60). Joasia Zakrzewski was 7^th W35; Jacqui Thomson 6^th W45; Pamela McCrossan 8^th W50; and Hazel Bradley 8^th W60.

Pete Cartwright excelled again to win M70 bronze. George Mitchell produced another fine run to win M65 bronze, and led his team [Colin Youngson (7^th), Stewart McCrae and Hamish Cameron] to silver medals. In Race Two, Ian Stewart (M55) and Andy McLinden (M60) both secured individual silver. Neil Thin (M50), Brian Gardner (M55) and Tony Martin (M60) all finished fifth in their categories. The M55 squad (Stewart, Gardner, Gerry Gaffney and Alastair Dunlop) was second. In Race Three, Kerry-Liam Wilson (M40) and Charlie Thomson both tried extremely hard and achieved 5^th places in their age groups.

George Mitchell – consistently tough

After the races but before the banquet, for some Scots there was a particularly memorable hour, celebrating in the nearby heritage pub The Barton Arms, which was actually hosting a real ale festival at that time. Forres Harriers trio Paul Rogan, Doug Cowie and Colin Youngson, plus Archie Jenkins and (kind abstemious driver) Lynne Marr drank fast. Only one of them consumed slightly more strong ale than was entirely sensible!

2013: Cardiff, Bute Park. The course was flat as a pancake, dry and firm; and the weather calm and quite mild. The amazing Fiona Matheson was first Scot in the women’s race and won the W50 title, for the third year in a row, in emphatic style, as well as leading her team [Hilary McGrath (5^th), Beryl Junnier and Pamela McCrossan] to silver medals. A few seconds behind Fiona, Lesley Chisholm ran well to finish 5^th W35. Jane Waterhouse excelled to win W60 individual silver, and led her team (Liz Bowers, Hazel Bradley and Linden Nicholson) to second place.

Fiona Matheson: along with Janette Stevenson, our most successful competitor in this annual fixture

Robert Marshall was fourth M65; and Bobby Young also ran well to win individual bronze (M70). Stan Mackenzie (5^th M50) was first Scot in the M50-64 race; and Paul Thompson won a fine individual bronze medal (M55). In the 35-49 event, Kerry-Liam Wilson had a good run to be first Scot and 3^rd M40.

2014: Nottingham, Wollaton Park. “We assembled in good time on the steps of Wollaton Hall for the photo-shoot. Once again we were blessed with good weather: it was very mild, calm, and almost remained dry. The course was more testing than last year, but was ideal for runners and spectators.

In Race One, Megan Wright and Fiona Matheson came up the hill on the first of three laps in good positions, closely followed by Hilary McGrath and Beryl Junnier. Martin McEvilly ROI & Martin Ford ENG were also well up the field. Fiona was being challenged by Clare Elms ENG as the race progressed, and (2^nd W50) was just pipped on the line. She was closely followed by Melissa Wylie, who had moved up to 4th W45 and Megan 7th W40. Hilary McGrath (5) and Beryl Junnier (9) helped Fiona to win W50 team silver medals. Meanwhile Isobel Burnett finished 8th W55. Jane Waterhouse was 5th W60, and with support from Liz Bowers (6) and Hazel Bradley (9) won another team silver. Then Betty Gilchrist (1^st W70) came through with a commanding lead of 1:37 over Brigid Quinn NI, and in front of all 3 Scottish W65 runners.

Betty Gilchrist

Alex Sutherland (6) was the first M65 Scot to finish. Bobby Young improved one place on last year to win M70 silver. Pete Cartwright 5th M70 and Gibson Fleming (11) ensured that their team won silver medals. Les Nicol was 3rd M75, and led 80 years young Walter McCaskey (6), and Bill Murray (13) to team bronze medals.

In Race Two, Stan MacKenzie finished 8^th M50. Paul Thompson and Colin Feechan worked well together to end up 5th and 6th M55. Frank Hurley and Andy McLinden ran very well to secure individual silver and bronze M60 medals. Tony Martin (8) and Doug Cowie ensured M60 team gold for Scotland.

In Race Three, Robert Gilroy had a cracking run, finishing 2nd M35.

Overall, Scotland won one gold, four silver, and two bronze individual medals; and one gold, three silver and five bronze team medals, our best result since 2011.

2015: Dublin, Santry Demesne. The race was held on almost the same course as previously, but some minor changes were made because of the water-logged conditions. However the team did a lot better than 5 years ago, finishing 3^rd Women’s team, 3^rd Men’s team and 3^rd overall out of the 5 competing countries; and won 4 silver and 8 bronze team medals. There were 4 individual silver medallists & 1 bronze medallist, but unfortunately no gold medals.

In Race One, Joasia Zakrzewski finished 3^rd W35, behind Anne-Marie McGlynn & Natasha Adams IRL, followed 32sec later by 2^nd W50 Fiona Matheson, who was once again pipped in the finishing straight by Claire Elms ENG. With help from Beryl Junnier , Pamela McCrossan and Rhona Anderson, the W50 team won silver medals.

Sharon Muir and Alison Dargie were 7^th and 8^th W40. Betty Gilchrist again finished clear of Brigid Quinn, but was pushed into 2^nd place by new W70 Dot Fellows ENG. Isobel Burnett 6^th W55, Jane Kerridge 5^th W60, Hazel Bradley 4^th W65 and Anne Docherty 6^th W70 all deserve special mention.

Alex Sutherland was first Scots male, finishing 7^th M65, 2 sec ahead of 1^st M70 Peter Giles ENG. Bob Young and Stewart McCrae finished 5^th and 6^th M70, and Pete Cartwright made sure that the team was second. George Black put in a brave run, with the aid of permitted painkillers, to finish 2^nd M75 just 4 sec behind Peter Covey ENG and 1min ahead of 6^th placed Watson Jones. 81 year old Walter McCaskey was 8^th M75, 2 min behind Watson, ensuring that the M75 plus team won silver.

In Race Two, Neil Thin ran extremely well to finish 2^nd M55, 23sec behind Tommy Payne IRL. Colin Feechan was 5^th M55. Robert McLennan and Paul Thompson also contributed to team silver. Andy McLinden and Alastair Dunlop were 7^th and 8^th M60.

In Race 3 Martin Williams 7^th M35 was first Scots finisher, followed by 7^th M40, Kenny Campbell. Kerry-Liam Wilson was 7^th M45.

David Fairweather, Men’s Team Manager for a very long time, who has written so many reports on the British and Irish International, decided to step down from the post. Alastair Macfarlane declared that it would take more than one man to fill Davie’s shoes – and indeed two men will share the job in 2016. Davie wrote: “I want to pass on the responsibility of being Team Manager to younger members. Although it has been a fantastic 23 years, and I’ve made so many friends, I have found the last 2 events particularly stressful, with the increased number of competitors, and I’m also feeling the effects of the advancing years!”

2016: Glasgow, Tollcross Park. (Report by David Fairweather).

The course had been successfully used for the BMAF Cross Country championship.

The SVHC decided to hold a Selection Race on the course in September, with the first 2 finishers in each age-group gaining automatic selection for the International team. This race was very successful, and provided a good opportunity to get the feel of the course. Another innovation was a team get-together in October, with another chance to train on the course, and an opportunity to obtain numbers, vests and function tickets

England’s population advantage always makes them favourites in most races at this event but in certain age groups, with five-year brackets, Ireland and Scotland also secured team golds. In fact this year Scotland produced a particularly good set of results.

Three Scottish women’s teams took gold medals with the W35 outfit setting the tone thanks to Gillian Palmer (2), Michelle Sandison (3), Dianne Lauder (4), and Katie White (7). Dianne was actually W40 and an invaluable addition to the W35 team.

The other winning women’s teams were at W65 via Ann White (2), Jeanette Craig (3), Hazel Bradley (6) and Beth McLafferty (9); as well as the trio at W70 of Betty Gilchrist (4), Liz Corbett (5) and Anne Docherty (6).

                    M70 winning team: Liz, Anne and Betty

By an impressively clear margin, W55 World 10k record holder Fiona Matheson took individual gold in her category (18^th overall); and Lesley Chisholm secured bronze in the W40 (9^th overall).

The competition was intense in the men’s races and five real stalwarts were successful, as Robert Gilroy took a hard-earned bronze at M40 and Neil Thin likewise at M55. Andy McLinden was a silver medallist at M65 while there was a bronze for Stewart McCrae at M70 and a yet another silver for George Black at M75.

                            Rising star: Robert Gilroy

Scottish team silver medals included the following.

W40 (Lesley Chisholm, Joasia Zakrzewski 6, Sharon Muir 8 and Jennifer MacLean 10); W50 (Hilary McGrath 4, Susan Ridley 8, Mary Western 11 and Rhona Anderson 16); W55: (Fiona Matheson, Pamela McCrossan 5, Isobel Burnett 7, Lorna Coyle 12.)

M75: (George Black, Watson Jones 8, Walter McCaskey 10, Jim Scobie 12); M60: (Frank Hurley 4, Paul Thompson 6, Alastair Dunlop 8, Frankie Barton 15).

Scottish teams in other age-groups won an impressive total of seven bronze medals.

The overall competition ended in a win for England, with Ireland second and the hosts in third – ahead of visitors Wales and Northern Ireland.

2017: Derry, Northern Ireland.

By means of planes and boats and trains (and buses and hire cars and taxis), Scottish Masters runners arrived eventually in Derry ready to compete in this fixture, which from our winter calendar is surely awarded the ‘Blue Riband’.
The weather was cold but pleasant; and the course featured some deep mud, gentle undulations and plenty of mossy, damp grass, which produced strength-sapping racing conditions. Of course, when wearing a Scottish vest, you are meant to run as hard as possible, for your team, country, self-esteem and possibly bragging rights!

Our team managers – John Bell, Ada Stewart, Andy and Ishbel Law – were well-organised and always cheerfully motivating and supportive. The new kit looked splendid; and the hotel was an excellent choice.

As usual the opposition, from England, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales, was formidable but many Scots ran well and we all tried our best on the day.

Full results are on the Scottish Veteran Harriers Club website, but here is a summary.

Katie White

Race One was for all the female athletes plus the older guys.

Katie White ran wonderfully well to win the W35 race, and was well supported by Michelle Sandison (4th) and Sara Green (11th). Our team finished second, only two points behind Ireland but in front of the Auld Enemy.

The W40s also shone, with Lesley Chisholm 6th (in the same time as Carol Parsons 7th) backed up by Ann Robin 12th. Team bronze medals were secured.

It was harder for the W45 team, which ended up fourth, led in by Jennifer Forbes (9th).

Sue Ridley, who has enjoyed such a long and distinguished running career, claimed that she was still suffering from an injury incurred three years ago. Poor lady, that would explain why she ‘only’ managed to finish 3rd M50, after outsprinting an Irish athlete for bronze! Her team was fourth.

Now we come to Scotland’s bright star, Fiona Matheson, who currently graces the W55 category. Her victory was overwhelming – 79 seconds clear of the famous Irish runner Niamh O’Sullivan. Not only that: Fiona also outsprinted the legendary Nick Rose, who won the M65 contest. The Scottish team packed beautifully, with Pamela McCrossan, Yvonne Crilly and Anne Howie 8th, 9th and 10th. Another set of bronze medals was won, after an especially close team race.

Scotland was also third in the W60 competition, with Jane Kerridge and Innes Bracegirdle leading the team in 7th and 8th places.

Ann White (the mother of Katie, the W35 gold medallist) was equally successful when victorious in the W65 category, 32 seconds clear of England’s well-known Ros Tabor. With Linden Nicholson 7th and Jeanette Craig 8th, our team tied with England on 16 points – but their last counter was 9th so Scotland secured silver medals!

Ann White

Liz Corbett ran very well for 3rd in the W70 race. Her team-mates, Margaret Robertson (8th) and Anne Docherty (9th) also raced strongly to ensure another set of bronze medals.

Perhaps our top male team was the M65 outfit, which finished second. However, the English proved impossible to beat, although their winning margin was only three points, due to an excellent silver medal for Tony Martin, and strong backing from Frank Hurley (4th) and Andy McLinden (6th).

Tony Martin

The Scottish over-70s included three runners who were loudly worried, due to leg niggles or illness. Norman Baillie, making his first appearance in a Scottish vest, was the healthy, non-whingeing one, and fought to 5th place. Stewart McCrae (the victim of a heavy cold) still shot off as usual but eventually ran out of steam and was caught half a mile from home by more cautious team-mates, who had started slowly then moved through to 9th place (Colin Youngson) and 10th (Bobby ‘Forever’ Young). This ensured surprise team silver medals. Happily, Stewart recovered quickly and joined the others in a few select Derry pubs that afternoon. The incredible Bobby ran the first of these fixtures in 1988 and has now completed a record total of 26 ex 30. Colin told anyone prepared to listen that, in parkrun terms, he had now run for Scotland in every age group from M25 to M70.

In a close battle for bronze medals, our M75 team was squeezed into fourth place. Jim Scobie ran really well to finish 8th. That upbeat character, Ian Leggett (12th) is continuing the longest running career of any current SVHC member, having been a good senior athlete as long ago as 1963.

Race Two was for the M50, M55 and M60 categories.

Robert Quinn (trade name: Bobby), who has achieved a tremendous amount and remains a top-class runner, only just missed out on an individual medal when he finished fourth M50. Michael McLoone (11th) and Ross McEachern (13th) backed up well but the team were unlucky to lose bronze on countback (by only two places).

Our M55s had a tough time but battled bravely nevertheless.

The M60 race produced one real surprise, Although there had been rumours that Teviotdale stalwart Alastair ‘Sammy’ Walker, in his youth a consistently successful runner, was very fit, no one was sure how fast, since he had never actually competed as a veteran! Here, in his very first Masters appearance, he came close to winning gold but was very happy to secure an impressive second place. His team-mates closed in admirably. Paul Thompson (6th) and Alex Chisholm (10th) finished second behind Ireland but in front of England.

Alastair Walker

Race Three featured M35, M40 and M45 age groups.

Competition was especially fierce in the events for younger Masters athletes. The M35 men fought hard to fourth team position, with Jozsef Farkas first Scot in 12th place.

Iain Reid (first Scot in this race, just in front of Jozsef and Scott Brember) produced a very good performance for 6th M40, as did Leon Johnson in 9th; and the team won well-deserved. bronze medals.

Our best M45 runner was Scott Brember in a fine 6th place; and the team finished fourth.

The evening banquet was unforgettable, fortunately for good food, drink, social pleasure and well-organised medal presentations; and unfortunately for rambling speeches and an inexplicable lack of result sheets.

Nearly all of us enjoyed this trip a great deal, however. The Derry folk were friendly and welcoming and most of the event was very successful, even if no one could actually locate the post-race showers. Roll on Swansea 2018!

2018, SWANSEA, WALES

This year saw our team head for Swansea which, if truth be told, isn’t the easiest of places to reach. As Mens’ team manager, I was just hoping everyone would be all right for race day after such a testing journey.
Ross McEachern V50 suggested that I could fly to Bristol then hire a car and drive to Swansea, allowing me to be there early to collect team numbers and check out the course etc.
So, when our team arrived finally arrived, slightly battered and bruised, I really didn’t know what to expect come race day but, in fairness to our team, the mood was upbeat, which I must say was better than I would have been after travelling on a bus for some 11 hours.
With numbers handed out and our new newbies all kitted up you could see some nerves starting filtering through which. for a team manager, is a good sign, if you ask me. Our team had a real mix of old hands and newbies.
Our hotel was only a mile from the course, so some opted to run there and some took the coach to the course, which in hindsight maybe wasn’t the best idea, as the second coachload missed our allocated photo slot time of 10.35 a.m. However, Innes Bracegirdle’s husband Pete took some excellent photos, so many thanks Pete we really appreciated it.
On to the real business of the day, the races itself. First up for the males would be our V65, V70 and V75+, who started alongside the young whipper-snapper women of the V35 category.
I was hoping that the day would start well and by the end of the race we would have some silverware to get the rest of the age groups fired up. I had high hopes especially of our experienced V75 quartet (Bobby Young, Jim Scobie, Ian Leggett and Pete Cartwright). It was great to have strength in depth for this age group.
Our V65 and V70 runners had a wealth of experience at this level and included individual medallists from previous years so medals would depend on who raced well on the day.
Under starting orders on a dry course, which seemed to spectators fairly flat, but like a lot of courses it was not until you put the foot down you realised there was always a sting in the tail. The second half of this course was no different, with a long testing drag up to the highest point where you could see positions change throughout the day. First to come over the line for Scotland was none other than Andy McLinden V65 in 8th place, one in front of Tony Martin. Along with Ed Norton, the team secured Bronze medals.
With so many runners being in the first race, it is always hard to keep track of positions throughout the age groups, but in-form Alex Sutherland M70 had set his stall out early and was always in contention for an individual award, which he duly delivered with a gutsy performance to claim Bronze. Unfortunately, this age group wouldn’t be claiming any team medals as Norman Baillie had to pull up with a hamstring injury after just 50 metres, taking the team out of contention, although it didn’t deter Stewart McCrae from putting in a sterling performance finishing an excellent 7th M70.
If I had been asked beforehand which teams I thought had the best chance of medals, I would have opted for our V60 and V75, both very strong at British level and generally performing well at these events. It was great to see Pete Cartwright toe the line after his recent health issues, despite his doctor advising him not to run (what do doctors know about us runners?). Evergreen Bobby Young M75 never fails to amaze me not only by drinking skills afterwards but especially by his running achievements. He seems to rise the occasion every time with a calculated run making his final surge for victory on the tough climb to claim victory by 20 seconds. First Gold of the day for our men’s team! Jim Scobie, Mister reliable, put in a tough shift, fighting all the way to finish 7th and help us claim a well-deserved team Bronze.
Just past mid-day and the medals were starting to come our way.
V50 to V64 races
The V60 year age group was up next, and this is where I thought we could play our ace of the pack, Alastair Walker, who I had down as pre-race favourite although nothing is guaranteed in this game such is the competition each year. Alongside the formidable Walker, we had the likes of Paul Thompson, Jeff Farquhar and Alex Chisholm, so hopes were high for a team medal of some colour. Despite being in the sport for a few years more than I care to remember, I still get excited watching guys like Alastair warm up, totally focused on the task ahead. After the first lap Alastair looking relaxed and composed. He was leading the the V60s but not without a spirited effort from the Northern Ireland athlete Laurence Johnston, who was trying to match Alastair’s every move. Jeff Farquhar, now back on the stage where he belongs, ran a great race to finish 7th, Paul Thompson was 8th and Alex Chisholm 9th. These guys were a team manager’s dream. Yet the day belonged to Alastair who was under pressure throughout but stayed calm and extended his lead on the final lap to 32 seconds, which may sound comfortable but my stomach was churning just watching as the NI athlete also ran a cracking race. Second Gold of the day! Not only that but we managed to secure team Silver for our efforts.
Our V55 team was made up of Mick McLoone 10th, Dave Eckersley, Steven Worsley and Stan MacKenzie. They had it tough as the strength-in-depth from the other nations was impressive. If I’m being honest, I think this may have been the strongest V55 I’ve seen from England and Northern Ireland, which left Ireland, Wales and ourselves fighting for the scraps, but fight we did, right to the end, with a great effort put in by everyone. Well done lads.
V50: This one had me monitor the team performance maybe more than others, as I know most of the team very well and have trained with them on many an occasion. Couple this up with me turning the Big 50 next year – who knows, will I aim for a comeback? (Watch out, Chalmers, your place is on a shaky peg!). Once again England and Northern Ireland were to the fore dictating the proceedings but, from a Scottish point of view, all our team gave us a great race to watch and to see who would come out on top of the V50 Scottish guys. Well that top spot went to Andrew White, finishing in a credible 16th, but as I say a great race to watch as all the guys had a turn at the front at one stage for the Scottish top spot – Andrew White, Stephen Allen, Ross McEachern, Alex Chalmers, Howard Elliott and Ian Johnston.
Now we move on to the young guns – V35 to V45.
Our trial winner Scott Brember V45 was looking to perform well, as his recent racing programme had shown good signs. Alongside Scott we had Paul Rogan, who made his debut the same day as myself a few years ago down at Birmingham, but was feeling slightly nervous as he had thought he may have overcooked his build up to the race. However, as the results would show, Paul put in a top-class performance. Paul Monaghan had a nasty tumble at the start of the race and never fully recovered to get himself back in to the race where he had hoped he would like to have been, and the result didn’t do him justice, but thankfully at the end of the day it was only his pride that was hurt and nothing more serious. On the injury note, Davie Gardiner pulled a hamstring with only 150 meters to go to which I feel slightly guilty about as I was yelling at him for that last push to the line. Justin Carter and Stephen Allan again showed what the Scottish vest meant to them by putting in 100% on the day – what more could we ask for? So back to Mr Brember, who was tracking his English rival like a man possessed and kept making inroads each lap but maybe just ran out of grass before that Gold would have been his – but hey, who wouldn’t be happy with an excellent Silver medal against a top-class English runner? Great run Scott – he was first Scot home in this race, beating all his younger team-mates – but unfortunately there were no V45 team medals today.
V40: As the age group goes down, the pace usually gets faster so to medal at these age groups everyone has to run well and not just well but probably out of their skin even to be just considered for a team medal. So our boys did very well by claiming an excellent team Bronze. Without being disrespectful, I was thinking this would have been a tall order for the boys but I love to be proven wrong, especially when medals are up for grabs. Graeme Murdoch 10th and his team of Donnie MacDonald, Chris Devine, Darran Muir, Malcolm Lang and Stevie Campbell had us all celebrating. This race turned out very similar to the men’s V50 event with each of the guys striving to finish in that counting four. As this result came out of the blue, it was probably the one I will savour the most. As is often said, cross-country races are not won on paper but on the course – guys, sorry for doubting you but at the same time so happy for you all.
V35: Please excuse me for starting my V35 report by mentioning the race winner, Mark McKinstry of Northern Ireland, but I couldn’t help but admire the manner in which he took this race by the scruff of the neck right from the gun. Initially I thought he had started far too fast but he just kept going to from strength to strength to claim a well-deserved victory.
Our own guys (Grant Baillie 9th, Darrel Hastie, Mike Houston, Chris Mooney, Robbie Paterson and Garry Matthew flew the flag as well as they could but, without making any excuses, the pool our English counterparts have to choose from in this age group is always going to be the toughest, as some of the athletes are still competing for their country as seniors, never mind as veterans. Grant Baillie came away with a top 10 placing which might not sound particularly special but I thought this was a great run. Not to be outdone, all our other guys fought tooth and nail to be part of that counting four and were only separated by a mere 50 seconds. Unfortunately, Garry Matthew had to pull up with one lap to go with a calf injury but, after a few shandies, he seemed on the way to recovery.
Now for a brief overview. May I finish by saying that once again it has been a great pleasure, being asked to be team manager for a great bunch of guys who gave nothing less than 100%. Our Scotland team is not made up of any superstars or elitist athletes – just a mere bunch of hairy-arsed Scotsmen willing to give everything they have on the day for the vest!
So, roll on next year!
By John Bell

SCOTTISH WOMEN’S RESULTS
W35
Michelle Sandison has written about her splendid individual gold medal in this age-group. Backed by Sara Green and Romy Beard, the team won bronze medals.
W40
Carol Parsons finished an excellent fifth, with Jennifer MacLean 9th. Jacqueline Etherington completed the team and secured bronze.
W45
Megan Wright (7th) was first Scot home in this category. Karen Kennedy and Allie Chong allowed the team to obtain bronze medals.
W50
Mary McCutcheon ran well for 6th place. Her bronze medal-winning team-mates were Sue Ridley (9th) and Rhona Anderson.
W55
Our perennial star, Fiona Matheson, delivered individual victory yet again, for the third successive time in this age-group. (Between 2011 and 2013 she achieved the same feat in the W50 category and added two individual silvers in 2014 and 2015!) Fiona was ably backed by all her silver medal-winning team-mates: Anne Howie (7th), Pamela McCrossan (9th) and Mary Western (10th).
W60
Team bronze was the result for Isobel Burnett (a fine 5th), Margaret Martin (8th) and Innes Bracegirdle (9th).
W65
Last year’s W65 gold medallist, Ann White, won an excellent individual silver this time; and team silver too, with superb backing from Linden Nicholson (4th) and Morna Fleming.
W70+
Liz Corbett (5th) was the outstanding Scottish runner in this category, and along with Anne Docherty and Margaret Robertson the team obtained bronze medals.

2019, AINTREE, ENGLAND

Scottish athletes enjoyed a particularly successful outing to the 2019 version of this great annual fixture. Individually, three gold, five silver and two bronze medals were secured; and there were two team victories as well as five silver medals (M60, M65, M70, M75, W35) and nine bronze.
Michelle Sandison (W35), Alastair Walker (M60) and Ann White (W65) each retained titles won last year. Ann was chased all the way by Jane Waterhouse (who has a very fine record in this event), Jeanette Craig finished fourth and Linden Nicholson fifth, which ensured team triumph. The other winning Scottish outfit was M35 due to fine runs by Stuart Gibson 2nd, Richard Mair 3rd and Colin Reilly 4th.
Scott Brember won M45 silver for the second year in succession. Alex Sutherland improved to M70 silver. Bobby Young fought off a Welsh rival for M75 silver. Jennifer MacLean, such a consistent runner, took W45 bronze.
Grant Baillie 4th was first Scottish M40; David Gardiner 5th led our M50 team; and Chris Upson finished 9th M55; Alastair Walker (M60) was well-supported by Rob McLennan 9th and Jeff Farquhar 12th; the M65 Trojans delivered yet again, with Tony Martin 4th, Andy McLinden 5th and Frank Hurley 8th; Alex Sutherland was well-backed by Robert Marshall 7th, Norman Baillie 8th and Stewart McCrae 9th.
Michelle Sandison’s W35 team-mates included Katie White 5th and Sara Green 6th; Louise Ross finished 8th W40); Megan Wright was 10th W45; Ana Richardson ran well for 4th W50, with Mary McCutcheon 6th; Anne Howie (6th W50) was supported by Mary Western 8th and Rhona Anderson 9th; Isobel Burnett was 5th W60, with Phyllis O’Brien 9h and Nanette Heaney 10th; Liz Corbett finished 9th W70); and Elizabeth Gilchrist was 4th W75.

Congratulations Alastair Walker Scottish Athletics Masters Athlete of the Year 2019!
This award could not be more deserved. Alastair has had an absolutely fantastic year of competitive success. He is World, European, British and Scottish Masters M60 Champion at 10k and/or 10,000m; European, British and Scottish Masters M60 Champion at 5000m and/or 5k; and British and Irish, British and Scottish Masters M60 XC Champion!
The greatest Scottish Veteran Harriers include runners like Janette Stevenson, Trudi Thomson, Fiona Matheson, John Emmet Farrell, Gordon Porteous, Bill Stoddart, Willie Marshall, Donald Macgregor and Donald Ritchie, amongst others; and now Alastair Walker of Teviotdale Harriers can certainly be added to this small, select list of superstars.

Name: George Black.

Clubs: Fife AC – Scottish Vets – Glasgow Nightingale Cycling.

Date of Birth: 23^rd November 1939.

Occupation: Retired.

How did you get involved in the sport? Could not afford a bike!

Has any individual had a marked influence on your attitude or individual performance? Very many, including Bill Stoddart, Bill Scally, Willie McBrinn, Jimmy Moore, Max Jones, Jim Dingwall, Steve James, Emmet Farrell, Gordon Porteous, Davie Morrison, Bobby Young, Pete Cartwright and Davie Fairweather.

What exactly do you get out of the sport? Fun and friendship.

What do you consider your best ever performances? Winning the European Duathlon Championships in 2007. Running a 2.30 marathon only 15 months after my first run.

Your worst? I try to forget them.

What unfulfilled ambitions do you have? To win individual gold at the Veterans International XC. Set 100 year old best time for the marathon.

Other leisure activities? Cycling. Sleeping.

What does running bring you that you would not have wanted to miss?  Friendships. You get to know a person’s character during long hard training sessions together.

Can you give some details of your training? This has varied according to age and target race etc. Everything from 13 weeks averaging 128 miles a week, to long spells of short high-intensity runs with an average of 19 miles a week. The latter might include 20x400m with 15 seconds ‘recovery’. My record week totalled 196 and a half miles – and I almost went out again to reach the 200!

Currently I run between 30 and 40 miles per week, with nothing too severe so that I might avoid injury.

                George Black in the 2012 Tour of Fife

Below is a long letter from George about his unusual and very successful athletic history.

“Until I began working shifts aged 21, I was a good club racing cyclist. My cycling at the time was mainly track and time trials. Aged 20 I managed 12^th in the Scottish Best All-Rounder competition, over distances of 50 miles, 100 miles and 12 hours. I realised I had good endurance: my 12 hours distance was 248 miles – still a club record. At 22 I stopped cycling, got married, we had two children and I took no exercise other than occasional rounds of golf. I weighed 14 stone 12 pounds at one point, but mainly 12 stone 12 pounds.

Aged 42 I went out for a jog with a friend, hated it and was happy I caught a cold after a second run and had an excuse to stop – this was November 1981. In January 1982 I decided to try again but struggled to cover half a mile in a local park. A friend, Gordon Campbell was a Clydesdale Harrier, and told me about the Scottish Veteran Harriers. I went to Woolworth, bought a pair of ‘training shoes’ for £4 and began training at night. Gordon encouraged me and soon I was running up to 14 miles in the morning, several days a week.

I learned that the Vets Marathon Championships was being held in Glasgow on 21^st March 1982 so thought I would give it a go. The Thursday before this event I went for a run in East Kilbride and met the wonderful Jimmy Moore, who caught up and slowed down to encourage me. He told me he was going over to Bellahouston to watch the race and agreed to give advice.

This was my first ever running race – a bloody marathon!

When I heard there were ‘feeding stations’ I thought I would be receiving bananas etc but of course discovered it was only water. Jimmy introduced me to three old guys and told me to stay with them and I would be okay – Davie Morrison, Gordon Porteous and Emmet Farrell (a legendary trio of World Veteran Champions). What an introduction to the sport! The marathon took place on a lovely day and I had an enjoyable run in great company, finishing in 3 hours 19 minutes. The winner was Bill Stoddart in 2.30, after a hard-fought contest with Andy Brown.

I was hooked but my right hip was sore so I had a week off and bought a pair of New Balance 660, which cost over £30. Next I began training with East Kilbride AC under Jimmy Moore’s guidance and improved rapidly. In July I won the North Tyneside Peoples Marathon in Whitley Bay. This was for runners who had not broken 2.50. My time was 2.46.

I could not understand why a runner I caught with half a mile to go was trying so hard to beat me, as I thought we were outside the top ten. Obviously he knew we were racing for the win.

In August I managed 2.44 in the Inverclyde Marathon; and in September had my first track race – the Vets 10,000m at Coatbridge (3^rd in 34.30). Bill Scally won in 33.33 from Dick Hodelet.

The first official Glasgow Marathon took place in October and I finished 60^th in 2.36. I had no idea how high up I was, and in fact estimated somewhere inside the top 500, since masses had sprinted off and disappeared up the High Street at the start.

During Winter 1982/1983 I trained with a group of friends. I averaged 128 miles a week for 13 weeks, including ‘double headers’ at weekends with Charlie McDougall, another former cyclist. We ran over the Glasgow Bellahouston marathon course on four successive Sundays, all of them under 2 hours 50 minutes. This was after a long run the previous day.

In March 1983 I returned to the Vets Marathon Championship at Bellahouston and won by 12 minutes on a very windy day by in 2 hours 30 minutes. Willie McBrinn ran two laps of the three lap course with me before I discovered he was using it as training for the London Marathon and only intended doing the two laps. Thanks, Willie!

Willie duly went to London and set the current British over 55 marathon record. After he turned 60, he also broke the British record for that age group at the Lochaber Marathon.

A change of jobs meant more responsibility and travel but in July 1985, at the age of 45, I managed to run a 71 minute half marathon at Musselburgh. The best part of that day was beating Peter McGregor and getting my name added to the ‘book’ he kept of people that had beaten him. Yes – a result!

My job took me south in 1988 and I joined the Leeds Valley Striders in identical circumstances to when I joined East Kilbride. I told my wife I was going out for a run and would look for another runner to find out about local trails. I met Max Jones who took me under his wing and introduced me to his club.

Probably my best year was 1995, when I was 55 years old. That February I ran an out and back road ten miles in 56.36. In March I contested the Hull 20, finishing in 1.58.06, which is still the British age group record. My five mile splits were 29.12, 29.11, 30.23 and 29.20. I ran with Jim Dingwall who was living in Hull. I did not realise it at the time but sadly it was the last occasion I would meet this fine man. (Back in October 1982 I took part in the Scottish Vets half marathon at Grangemouth and was amazed to see Jim marshalling a Vets race out in the wilds. That year he had finished the London Marathon 5^th in 2.11 and yet was still willing to help out at a Vets event!)

In March 1995 I was second in the over 55 British Vets XC Championships, behind Steve James, which was no disgrace. That October in the British Vets XC Relay I was fastest M50 individual, recording 19.21 for 6k.

Other achievements included the following. Three wins (aged 50, 70 and 75) at British Vets half marathons. Three individual silver medals for Scottish Masters in the British and Irish XC International. First places in Scottish Vets Marathons; and in Cross Country Championships.

My best age-graded performance was in December 1996 at the Abbey Dash in Leeds. At the age of 57 I ran 10km in 34.49 which was rated at 91%. The course was remeasured later and found to be 50 metres too long.

I was a member of the British Masters gold medal team at the 1991 World Championship marathon in Turku, Finland.

Other Personal Bests included one mile road in 4.54 at 45; 2 miles road in 9.59 at 46; 3km track in 10.13 at 47; 4 miles road in 21.36 at 53; 5km road in 16.48 at 55; and 5 miles road in 28.28 at 57. Another race I remember well was the 1983 Piccadilly Radio Marathon in Manchester, when I finished first M40 in 2.36.

In Cycling, I won the over 60 Scottish Road Race and also the Series. In the British over 60 road race I finished third. In addition I was age graded winner of the Lennon Trophy and the Boomerang Trophy.

In Duathlon, I won the 2007 over 65 European Championship. In the 2010 World Championships I was second over 70. I enjoyed numerous British and Scottish age group wins from over 60 to over 75. In fact in these championships I was only beaten once since I learning about such events and making my debut in 1999. Why not try Triathlon? I’d probably drown.

After having a heart attack in January 2014, I had a stent fitted. Many veteran athletes have had the same operation and I call us the Stenturions! I was told to continue training and racing. Would we have survived had we not been so fit? “

[After this setback, George Black was second M75 in the 2015 British and Irish XC International, only four seconds behind the age group winner. Then in March 2016 in the East Hull 20, George set a new British M75 20 miles road record, and was also first M70 by just 23 seconds. His official time was 2.50.12, which beat the previous record, set a week earlier, by 11 minutes 48 seconds. This means that he currently holds the British records for 20 miles aged 55 (1.58.06) and M75. Amazing durability! (Ed.)]

[On 29 October at the St Andrews Park Run, with a time of 21:46, George recorded the first sub-22 minute Parkrun recorded by a 75+ in Britain. Thirty minutes earlier in England, Roger Wilson had established the previous record! However in November at the 2016 Masters XC International in Glasgow, Roger got his revenge by winning the age category, with George a meritorious second yet again. George wrote “I was more pleased with the team silver, which none of us expected. What can you say about the wonderful M80 Walter McCaskey!”]

                                                                                                       (From Scottish Athletics, Spring 2020)

Alex Kidd and Arthur Warton

At a time when Scottish athletics was at a high level, Garscube Harriers was among the best in the land.   After the war, Maryhill Harriers was still a very good club, Shettleston Harriers,  Bellahouston Harriers, and (between 1949 and 1959) Victoria Park (especially on the road) were all operating on an elevated plateau.   The club from Westerton was not far behind.   The period from 1946 to 1952 illustrates the club’s progress as an endurance running club at that time.

The ‘Scots Athlete’ magazine, founded and carried on at his own expense by Garscube Harrier Walter Ross, chronicled the period in question in some detail.   With championships in short supply, the magazine had started a Scottish athletics league with club positions based on places gained by individual club members in open meetings, including works sports, highland games, etc.   By the middle of the 1946 season with 42 clubs taking part, Garscube Harriers was second behind Victoria Park.  At the end of August 1946 one of the men who woulf feature in the coming cross country season was in the news: Arthur Warton won two races in four days when he won the Mile at Milngavie on the Saturday and then another at Helenvale on the following Tuesday in the Transport Sports.   He was not the only club man doing well though with Robin Sharp being in the results every other week for a good performance in the sprints, and on the roads Alex Gold was finishing high up the field in most races (eg 6th in the Perth to Dundee).    The club trainer at this time was John McFadden and he is pictured on the cover of the October 1946 issue of The Scots Athlete along with Warton and Sharp in a photo taken at Cowal Highland Games under the title @Some of Scotland’s Finest’.

The winter started as ever with the McAndrew Relays and although the club had good runners, they suffered because of the lack of depth at that time.   Emmet Farrell in his ‘Running Commentary’ in the November issue of the magazine said –

“Garscube with F Jewell off through injury, and A Warton obviously not tuned up were a shadow of their former selves and as they have not the latent strength of Shettleston, their racing prospects are uncertain but they remain the usual exuberant bunch of sportsmen.    They have lost Albert Hay, now in Canada, but in R Smith, D Murray and J Small they have promising runners, who along with R Mulgrew, who may find some form, and Alex Kidd, an international potential, likely to be demobbed soon, can maintain Garscube standard.”

The Western Track League final placings were revealed in November and top was Victoria Park with 109 points, Glasgow Police were second with 86 points, Garscube third with 84 and Shettleston fourth with 67 points, followed by Maryhill and Bellahouston.   The top 33 clubs were listed.   It had been a good summer season.   But we were in the cross-country season and the first championship after the relays was the National Novice championship and Garscube runner R Smith finished fourth and the team was seventh of the 15 complete teams to finish.   Clydesdale Harriers Youth Ballot Team Race took place for the first time in November and Garscube’s JJ Duffy finished fourth again.   Arthur Warton was written up as a contender for the Midland District championship but the January, 1947,  ‘By The Way ..’ column had comments on two of the club’s runners.   First:

“Alex Kidd, home on leave and expecting demob in a few weeks time, was converted to running because of his enthusiasm for boxing.   He wanted to put in extra training nights for the Amateur Boxing Championships and so he started training with the Garscube lads from Westerton in his desire to build up his stamina.   He enjoyed the runs and was tempted out in a 6 miles cross-country handicap.   His first race was a revelation – finished second off the novice mark from a fairly large entry.   From that date as far as Alex was concerned, running was ‘leading on points’  before he finally gave boxing the ‘knockout’.   In the SCCA test at Motherwell in 1945 Alex was a good third to Emmet Farrell and Harry Howard.   At 22 years of age, Alex Kidd will add keenness and colour to Scottish athletics.”

and

“And who would imagine that Alec Hay, joint champion with brother Albert of Garscube, and runner-up this year in Scottish 3 mile track championship, with his heavy stride and almost cumbersome style, is a very beautiful and graceful Highland dancer and has many classes in and around Inverness?   ‘Sandy’ is training to defend his title again this year and, no doubt, will have a bid for international honours, which he narrowly failed to achieve last year.”

The Garscube team was coming together – Warton and Kidd would be fixtures for decades to come and Hay did indeed finish second in the SAAA 3 Miles championship in 1946, the race being won by Emmet Farrell with AT Peters of Maryhill third.   In the Midlands District Junior and Youth Championships, the Juniors were in sixth place but the Youth team led by R Smith in second place and Joe Duffy in fourth, was second equal with Maryhill in the race won by Victoria Park.   There was a letter from their former member Bert Hay in the ‘Scots Athlete’ giving an update on his progress in Canada where he ran for Gladstone AC.   He reported that in a 5 mile road recently in which he was fourth he received a 17 jewel wrist watch, and he followed that up with a victory in an eight mile road race in 44 minutes.

Hay ran well in the national – taking the lead during the second lap he led all the way to the end of the third lap but dropped five places in the second lap and fell back to finish fifteenth.   This was a very good field indeed with the first half dozen being Andy Forbes, Alex McGregor, Emmet Farrell, Frank Sinclair, Willie Somerville and J Reid.  The other Garscube men were Mulgrew 24th, AL Hay 29th, DB Brookes 37th, J Gunn 54 and Walter Ross 55th.

The promise of the Under 17 group of Garscube Harriers was seen whe they finished first (JJ Duffy), second (R Smith) and third (F Russell) in the Dunbartonshire Cross-Country Championship for Youths on 29th March at their home trail at Westerton.   Then came the Round Dundee relay which they had won the inaugural race in 1943 and were first to finish in 1944 although the race was declared void after a stewarding error.  The team did well enough in 1947 to be third: Alex Kidd was fifth on the first stage, AL Hay moved up to third on the second, T Dailly brought them up to third on the next leg and R Smith held it on the final stretch.

R Smith

Looking  ahead to the SAAA Championships, Emmet Farrell rated Sharp a good contender for the quarter mile and Warton had ‘proved himself no slouch’ over the half mile.   Unfortunately he had to report that F Jewell of Garscube was in England and could not run in the championships.   As for the longer races, A Hay was able to make an interesting start but unfortunately for Farrell, Hay always peters out!    R Smith was the previous year’s runner up in the Junior mile was also mentioned in the context of the junior championships.    When it came to the bit, though, only Sharp picked up a medal in the National Championships when he was second in the 440 yards.   However two weeks earlier at the Babcock & Wilcox Sports at Renfrew, the club won the Empire Exhibition Trophy for the best team at the meeting – a hotly contested trophy for several decades.   In the SAAA Junior Championships, R Smith went one better and won the Mile in 4:45.0 and the report read:   “The favourite for the mile, however, long striding DRB Grubb (Geo Heriots School), already holder of the Scottish Schools title, could not meet the challenge of R Smith of Garscube Harriers whose strong finishing burst took him to the tape in 4 min 45 sec, and excellent performance on this track.”

In the McAndrew Relay at the start of the 1947/48 winter season, Alex Kidd lef the field home on the first stage, Arthur Warton was second at the end of the second stage and D Murray was third at the end of the third stage.   On the last stage veteran T Dailly had dropped another single place to see the club finish in fourth and out of the medals – it had nevertheless been a good start to the winter and proof, if any were needed, that in Kidd and Warton, the club had two very good seniors.    In the Midlands District Relay, the first after the War, the club finished third with a team of D Murray (13:38), A Warton (13:43), A Kidd (12:58) and T Dailly (13:27) and the club B team was eleventh.  Kidd was third fastest over the course, faster than Andy Forbes and Emmet Farrell and several other very good athletes.   The next championship was the national novice championship and Joe Duffy of Garscube won the race with the club in sixth position of the 27 competing teams.   The Photoflash article in the Scots Athlete was on Joe Duffy (Robin Sharp having been covered earlier in the year) .

Coming up to the National, Alex Kidd was mentioned as a contender for a place in the international team.   BNefore then of course came the Midland District Championships and although there was no one in the first three (the race was won by Bobby Boyd of Clydesdale Harriers from Walter Lennie, Vale of Leven and George Craig of Shettleston) Kidd in fourth place led the club to a great team victory.   They had a total of 74 points from Maryhill’s 110 and Shettleston’s 130.   The counting runners for Garscube were Alex Kidd 4th, Arthur Warton 5th, RJ Mulgrew 10th, T McGinley 11th, J Gunn 15th and D Murray 29th.    There were eleven Garscube Harriers who faced the starter that day and all finished.    In the Youths race, the team was led home by Ewan Murray in eighth place and Hugh Hatrick in eleventh to finish seventh.    In the 1948 national with Shettleston and Bellahouston back to full strength, Garscube was third team – Kidd 10th, Mulgrew 13th, Warton 19th, McGinley 24th,  Murray 28th and J Croall 56th.   Walter Ross and Davie Causon also ran finishing 64th and 74th respectively.   The Youths team were unfortunate in that they only finished fourth – W Munro 11th, H Hatrick 12th, E Murray 26th and J Linn 59th.   W Murray was 80th.    It had been a good day and ended a very good season with team medals in relays, and championships all the way from County to District to National.    But still no international representation over the country.

Winter 1948/49 started on 3rd  October when a depleted team finished fifth in the McAndrew relay at Scotstoun: fastest man was D Smith, two seconds faster than Alex Kidd on legs two and three.   Four teams were run that afternoon with the B, C and D teams finishing 17th, 31st and 32nd.

In the Clydesdale Harriers Youth Ballot Team Race, first Garscube man home was F Robertson in third place with Ewan Murray in tenth.   In the Midland Relays at Stirling on 4th December, Alex Kidd was third on the first stage in a time of 19:18 but the next three men – McGinley, Mulgrew and Gunn – all ran exactly the same time of 15:59 which dropped the club down to ninth.

The team turned out by the club for the Midlands District Championship was far from the club’s best.   TA Gourley was 48th, experienced road runner Alex Gold 50th, David Causon 59th, P McGrath 62nd, W Robertson 80th and J Andrews 82nd.   Other runners included R Smith 83rd, J McGarrity 84th, I Edwards 92nd, WJ Ross 96th, A Veitch 99th and J Croall 115th.   The team was down in eighth place.   The youngsters were more successful with F Robertson second and the team also finishing second.   However by the time of the national, a few of the stalwarts were again available and first man home was Alex Kidd in 9th place, followed by J Gunn 26th, T McGinlay 40th, T Dailly 444th, J Mulgrew 48th and J Andrews 56th.   Just out of the medals, but again the Under 17’s improved on that.   With no one in the first three or four, they were a very close second, beaten by only two points.   Runners were ES Murray 8th, G Dunn 17th, FJ Robertson 18th and W Munro 28th.

Emmet Farrell reported enthusiastically on the AAA’s marathon and waxed enthusiastic over Garscube runner Eddie Farrell’s 11th place, commenting: “Garscube Harrier Eddie Farrell finished 11th of the 75 starters and considering the fact that the field was a considerably good one, his performance rates even better than its face value.   Despite taking up racing rather late in his career and being now in the veteran stage, the Garscube man is the type that can stay forever.   He sets a steady pace and maintains it to the finish.   If he cared to attempt a more ambitious schedule I believe that he could be placed in the Scottish Marathon Championship”.

The Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay race was held on 25th April in 1949 and Garscube had a bit of an up-and-down performance.    Joe Duffy on the first stage was eighth but Alex Kidd on the tough second leg moved up to third with second fastest time of the day for the six miles.   Fred Robertson pulled up another place and handed over  in second.   D Murray on the fourth stage dropped back, but only one place to third.   D Murray kept that position on the fourth stage to half distance.   J Andrews dropped one more place to fourth  on the exposed fifth leg and then on the longest stage of the race, J Gunn dropped to seventh – it should be pointed out that he was racing some of the top men in the country and was passed by three international athletes.   R Black managed to pull one back and at the start of the last stage the club was sixth.   The gap to the third team of 3+ minutes was too big for T Dailly who held on to sixth place.

On 1st October 1949, the club was sixth in the McAndrew Relay.   This was actually a good performance at a time when the standard of Scottish distance running was high.   The team was R Smith, R Black, JJ Duffy and A Kidd who was fastest club man again.   On 15th October it was time for the Dunbartonshire County Championship relay and the club’s two teams were third and fourth.   The Edinburgh to Glasgow had its second running of 1949 on 21st October and the club started out with Hugh Hatrick finishing 12th on the first stage.  Alex Kidd, again on the second stage, moved up four places to eighth but John Gunn could not hold that and dropped down to tenth.   Fred Robertson came next and picked up one [place, handing over in ninth to AW Watson who made his way up to eighth place.   Joe Duffy dropped only one place to ninth on the seven mile leg, R Black held it on the seventh stage and R Smith ran home in ninth position.   In the Midland Relay Championship the club team of Hatrick, Smith, Kidd and Robertson was eleventh.   Eddie Farrell had disappeared from the scene but reappeared at the start of 1950 in the Helensburgh to Clydebank 16 miles road race (later to become the Clydebank to Helensburgh) when he finished 15th, one place and 36 seconds behind Walter Ross in a field of 21.   The Midland District Championships were held at Motherwell on 4th February, 1950, and Garscube finished eighth.   Ironically for a club that had formerly got results by packing well, Alex Kidd was ninth and then there was a huge gap to J Gunn in 46th, then Mulgrew 84th and Ross 86th.    The national was on 4th March at Hamilton and again Alex Kidd was the top Garscube man.   He finished 20th with J Gunn again second club runner back in 68th with Alex Gold in 71st.   The team was ninth.   It must have been a frustrating time for the club – they had runners in big numbers but they were not turning out in the races that counted.   Young runners were coming through and not adding to the strength of the team. The Junior team was also ninth with Joe Duffy leading them home in 20th with Fred Robertson 27th, R Smith 43rd and H Hatrick 44th.   There was no team or individual entered in the Youths race.

In summer 1950 several club men ran on the roads – Walter Ross, Normal Ross, TJ McGinley and TF Barton, with McGinley’s performances good enough to see him ranked number 8 in Scotland for the year.   But when the winter came. they were all out.  First race was the McAndrew relay and the club was fifth with the runners being Russell, Duffy, Coupland and Kidd with other teams placed 27th and 34th.   On 21st October at Jamestown, the Dunbartonshire relays were held and Garscube won with teams also finishing fourth and fifth.   Alex Kidd was second fastest on the day and the team was again made up of Russell, Duffy, Coupland and Kidd.   On 4th November the Midland District relay was held at Stepps, and the team was sixth and had the same four runners on the same stages as in the two previous races.   B and C teams were 21st and 25th with the name of A Warton reappearing for the third team – not much slower in time than two of the first team either.

18th November, 1950 saw the Edinburgh to Glasgow on the week end which was to become its due date for decades to come and Garscube chose to start wit Coupland on the first stage.   He finished eighth and handed over to Joe Duffy who dropped three places to eleventh.   Arthur Warton was next up and he picked up three places to have the team back in eighth.   J Gunn maintained eighth, but Fred Robertson had a really bad run and dropped back to sixteenth.   Alex Kidd could do no better than hold the position on the seven miles of the sixth stage, F Russell brought them up to 13th and R Smith came up two more places to have the club finish 11th.

On 6th January, 1951, the Dunbartonshire county championships were held and Garscube won the team race with the counting runners being Alex Kidd third, Gordon Dunn fourth, D Coupland fifth and J Gunn sixth.   Wonderful packing.   In the Youths race, H Carson was second and the team was also second with the other runners being G Dixon 4th and P Walkie 5th.

In the Midland Championships at the start of February, Garscube was fourth with Alex Kidd leading them home.   He was 11th with J Gunn in 28th, A Warton 34th, JJ Duffy 38th, D Coupland  53rd, and NM Ross 69th.

City of Edinburgh Marathon: Alex Kidd, Andy Brown, J Kelly, Emmet Farrell

Being written up by Emmet Farrell as a contender for a place in the international team was often the kiss of death for the athlete’s chances, but after sever years of such treatment, Alex Kidd made the top eight in the national.   Kidd ran ‘possibly his best ever race, full of verve and determination’.   He finished fifth but fourth for the purposes of the team race.   The other Garscube runners who helped take the team into sixth place were J Gunn (30), J Duffy (38), A Warton (42), D Coupland (51) and A Gold (57).   They had no team in the Junior race but G Dunn was 20th and J McDonald 65th.   Alex was picked for the International in Caerleon, Wales, but finished 55th – six places behind Eddie Bannon and four behind Charlie Robertson – and out of the counting six.

Alex Kidd then took to the roads over the longer distances and on 25th August ran in the Perth to Dundee race where he finished fifth of the 17 runners in 2:08:41 for the 22 miles.   In the City of Edinburgh marathon he finished fifth, one place in front of Joe McGhee, in 2:47:39.

The winter of 1951/52 started with the McAndrew Relay and Garscube was eighth with a quartet of Coupland, Duffy, Russell and Kidd.   With a slightly changed foursome of Coupland, Kidd, Dunn and Duffy they were seventh in the Midlands Relay but the surprise was that Duffy ran six seconds faster than Kidd.   The second team of Jewell, Gunn, Carson and Warton was 19th.   In the Dunbartonshire championships the team was second to Clydesdale Harriers (who also provided the third team) with Coupland, Duffy, Dunn and Kidd.   On to the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay and the team runners and positions were Coupland 11th, Kidd 7th, R Bell 7th, Dunn 11th, Gunn 9th, Duffy 9th, Black 8th and Russell 8th.   It cannot be said often enough that the standard at this point was very high – yes, VPAAC, Shettleston and Bellahouston tended to be the top teams but snapping at their heels were Springburn, Garscube, Edinburgh Southern and Greenock Glenpark.    It was not enough  to have five or even six good men for the E-G or the Midlands or National championships.   The clubs needed eight – even for races where only six counters were required because there was always somebody injured or having an off day and the other clubs would pounce on that weakness.

With the Inter Counties Cross-Country Championship at Westerton on 12th January, the Garscube runners were not out in the Nigel Barge Road Race seven days earlier.   Alex Kidd was the first Dunbartonshire man to cross the line when he was fourth.   D Coupland was 12thm R Black 16th and Robertson 18th.   There was a serious rivalry at the time between Kidd and Vale of Leven AAC’s Willie Gallacher and although the latter won in the County Championship, both were inside the old course record.   The Midland championship was on 2nd February and a weak Garscube squad finished ninth – again Kidd was the main man being 13th but it should be borne in mind that, as a result of his war service, Kidd suffered from malaria and it affected him from time to time.   There was the story of the runners returning to the dressing room in Lenzie and finding him lying shivering on the bench: apparently he told them not to worry, it was only the malaria!   Several runners also had malaria after the war – the old joke about the man going home from training to take his quinine being corrected by his clubmates who said it was Queen Anne (whisky) that he was going to have, had a bit of truth in it.   Nevertheless, Kidd was only 13th at Lenzie in 1952 and there were three scoring athletes outside the first 80.

First six in National:  Scots Athlete, p5, Feb 1952

The National was held, as was the custom, at Hamilton on 1st  March and the Garscube team, while stronger than at Lenzie a month earlier was eighth.   Runners were Kidd 17th, Black 33rd, Coupland 38th, NM Ross 60th, TA Gourley 62nd and A Gold 64th.   They had no one in the Junior race but the Youths team was ninth.

This was to be the pattern for several years to come with very good runners such as Stan Horn running in the blue and white in championships and major races without ever winning more medals at  national level.   But make no mistake, there was some seriously good running by club men at this time.

  Garscube Harriers  1930 – 1935                            Garscube Harriers 1935 – 1940

In this section the emphasis will be on the winter season – the road running and cross-country races and championships – with only major results between May and October being included.   It will cover the period from October 1935 to the start of the war in 1939.

Winter 1935 started with the McAndrew Relay from Whiteinch Baths on 5th October and was won by Plebeian Harriers, road relay racers par excellence, from Shettleston Harriers and Greenock Glenpark Harriers with Garscube Harriers fourth, 20 seconds behind Glenpark.   Their fastest man, J Lardy, was fourth fastest individual and the team times were all within 51 seconds: great packing again with their B Team eighth.   Lardy, Gowans, Girvin and Dailly were the runners.    The report says that Garscube were the holders of the trophy but the result of the 1934 race is not available.   Thereafter the programme of novice championships and inter-club runs (eg Garscube, Glasgow YMCA and Irvine YMCA Had two packs from Westerton on 26th October) until the District Relay Championships were held at Hamilton Park on 25th November when Plebeian won from Shettleston with Springburn third and Garscube again a frustrating fourth, a mere 6 seconds away from bronze.   The team this time was Lardy, Gowans, Dailly and T Armstrong  with only 43 seconds separating the times.   Lardy was eighth fastest over the course.   With no races the following week, the next race was the Shettleston 4  x  2.5 miles at Gartocher Road.   This time Shettleston beat Plebeian by 3 seconds with Springburn Harriers third and Garscube back in eighth.   Runners were Hardy, Gowans, Brooke and Dailly  and one minute forty four seconds covering the team., Lardy  (sixth fastest on the day) on 13:06 and Dailly on 14:50.    The last race of 1935 was the Glasgow West End Clubs Championship which Garscube won from Victoria Park by the handsome margin of 48 points to 114.   First equal were Lardy and Gowans of Garscube with David Brooke third.   The remaining runners were RD Phoenix 5th, Dailly 6th, J Thomson 7th, J Fleming 9th T Brooks 15th.

January 1936 started with an inter-club on 4th January with Clydesdale Harriers, Maryhill Harriers and Shawfield Harriers at Westerton when three packs covered seven miles.   Wonderful events, inter-clubs: good for adding variety to training, adding a bit of a challenge and encouraging good fellowship between athletes and clubs.   Maybe a pity that they seem to have gone for good.   There was nothing other than club events until the 7th March and the National Championships at Hamilton.   The club finished a disappointing ninth in a race where Jim Flockhart won for Shettleston but Springburn won the team race.   Runners were Brooke 33rd, Gowans 57th, T Dailly 62nd, J Thomson 73rd, J Lardy 84th and C Thomson 89th.   The Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1936 was held on 4th April and Garscube were fifth.   By the start of the third stage the club was running sixth and it stayed that way until Davie Brooke pulled up a place on the hard sixth stage.   The club stayed there and Lardy, with the fastest time on the seventh stage handed over to T Dailly a four and a half minute lead over Springburn which pretty well assured the club of fifth place in the invitation only race.

It would maybe be interesting to go through the season week by week to get the pattern of a typical winter.   Inter-club runs and all club races will be noted and where there is none mentioned here, it would normally be a club run from the Westerton Headquarters.   It was, then,  into the winter season of 1936/37 and the first race was on 3rd October and was the McAndrew Relays from Whiteinch Baths.   Shettleston’s new recruit W Donaldson from Glendaruel had the fastest time of the day but the team race is what the McAndrew was always about.   Here Shettleston won with Garscube a very good second, only 5 seconds down, with Springburn third.    Lardy had fourth fastest time of the day and the Garscube men with their times were J Lardy (15:59), W Gowans (16:12), DB Brooke (16:21) and T Armstrong (16:27) – 28 seconds between fastest and slowest!   On 24th October they, like many other clubs, held their own Novice Championships over six miles, and it was won by AL Geddes in 34:27.     A week later there was an inter-club run away with Irvine YMCA.   After the national Novice championship at Hamilton, there was a two and a half scratch race at Westerton on 14th November which was won by JR Lardy in 16:21 from W Gowans (16:26) and T Dailly (16:40) and Lardy had a really good day when he also won the handicap prize.       The following week it was another inter-club with Carntyne Harriers at Auchinairn with two packs covering five miles.    The big one in November of course was the Midland District relay, held at Hamilton on the 28th.    This time round the team did not fare so well.   The race was won by Shettleston  from Maryhill and Bellahouston with Springburn fourth and Garscube’s quartet of Lardy, McKie, Gowans and Dailly were sixth.   Gowans had equal sixth fastest time of the day and Lardy was ninth fastest.    The following week was a club run on the first Saturday in December.   Club handicaps were held all over the country with members looking for a good enough handicap to win them a prize or a trophy for the fastest time.   The Garscube club handicap was over 6 miles for the McCaa Cup and was won by TA Gourlay in in 34:49 with a 3 minutes 20 handicap allowance from T Sims in 35:04 with a 2 minutes 55 seconds allowance.   The fastest time was 36:48 by W Gowans.    Distances for club handicaps ranged from 2 miles to 6 miles and clubs as far apart as Dumbarton (5 miles), Edinburgh and Ardeer (2 miles) had their events on this particular afternoon.   There was a three miles Christmas handicap on 26th December at Westerton and the fastest times were by J Lardy and T Dailly with the handicap being won by A McIntosh from A Murphy.

On 9th January, the return inter-club with Irvine YMCA was held at Westerton with two packs covering seven miles although the juniors only covered three.   The run on 23rd January was more of a muster run than an inter-club although it was billed as the latter.   Held at Westerton three packs from Garscube Harriers, Paisley, Renfrew YMCA, Babcock & Wilcox, Olympic and Shawfield Harriers covered seven miles.   Six clubs in the old Westeron changing accommodation must have been a bit crowded but the main objectives of good companionship, a change of company and patter for the run itself and a wee bit of feeling out or assessing the opposition before the District championships would have been achieved.    On 6th February, 1936, two packs covered nine miles at Westerton.   With nine miles being the distance of the national championship this is the first recorded run over the distance on a Saturday and the ‘fasts’ were led home by D Urquhart, T Dailly and DB Brooke.   The big race in February was always the Midland District Championship and in 1937 JR Lardy in fourth led the team which finished sixth.   There was a big drop from Lardy to J Fleming who was 28th, then came Gourley 33rd, Russell 44th, Phoenix 45th and Simms 67th.

At the SAAA and SCCU AGM on 27th February, Garscube’s Mr C Chalmers was elected on to the Western District Committee.   One of the more interesting items on the agenda was the proposal to force harrier clubs to be responsible for an annual subscription of £1:1:0.   This was opposed by the SCCU.    On the same day, Garscube hosted an inter-club run  with West of Scotland Harriers at Westerton when two packs covered eight miles, with youths only running three miles.   The national was held on March 6th, at Redford Barracks, and was won by Dundee Thistle Harriers with Garscube down in sixth place of the 26 club teams that completed the course.   Urquhart led them home in 14th place, followed by Dailly 34th, Lardy 37th, then Gowans, Fleming and Phoenix.   It was a very much under-strength team with some of their better runners missing or out of form, but 6th was not too bad.     Sutherland who could not count for team purposes was third.   The following week was the English National and the winning Birchfield team was led home by Sutherland, who could count for team purposes south of the border.   ’37 was the year that Jim Flockhart won the International for Scotland and Sutherland was third counter for Scotland in 20th position.

The next big fixture was the Edinburgh to Glasgow on 1st April.   W Gowans was fifth on the first stage and this position was held successively by DB Brooke, R McKie, T Dailly, GB Russell, and JR Lardy who ran well on stage six.   Then D Urquhart with fastest time of the day, which was also a stage record, took them up to third position but unfortunately A Gourley on the last leg could not hold the place and they dropped back down to fourth.     It had been a good season with lots of solid running but the top runners were posted missing in the two major championships – District and National – and the club did not gain the rewards their strength deserved.

The cross-country season at  that time had only three main championship meetings: District Relays, District Championships and National Championships.   There were some regular races – eg the McAndrew Relay was already becoming the standard start to the season – but most of the season was taken up by inter-club fixtures such as have been noted above, club races and on other Saturdays, runners ran in packs, groups or on their own from the club HQ.

Winter 1937/38 and the McAndrew Relay on 2nd October did not have a good result for the club.   The first seven teams were interesting.   1st Shettleston Harriers; 2nd Bellahouston Harriers; 3rd Ardeer Recreation Club;   4th Plebeian Harriers;   5th Victoria Park;   6th  Victoria Park Novices;  7th  Maryhill Harriers Novices;   8th  Maryhill Harriers.     Ardeer had been led off by PJ Allwell ‘the Ayrshire Meteor’ who had equal fastest time of the day, and the VPAAC Novices defeated the A team by 4 seconds.  What about Garscube?  Well they were back in 19th.    In the Midlands relay championship in November, JR Lardy ran the fifth fastest time of the day when wnning the first stage for Garscube, but despite less than 50 seconds covering their four runners (Lardy, Gowans, Dailly and Phoenix) the club fell back to sixth by the end of the race.

On 5th February at Hamilton the District Championships were held at Hamilton and Garscube Harriers was not among the ten team who finished – there were no individuals mentioned in the results either.    Given that the tenth team (West of Scotland Harriers)was on 471 points against the winners 93, we must conclude that for reasons which are not now clear, Garscube did not enter.   Garscube did however have a team victory in the National Championships – it was in the Youths race where R Mulgrew was third finisher but second for the purposes of the team competiton.   The team was Mulgrew 2nd, R Stephen 17th, A Veitch 19th and J McDougall 24th.  They were 11 points clear of Carntyne who were the previous winners.   The Senior team of Brooke, Russell, Lardy, Cuthbert, Phoenix and Burns was ninth.   1938 was of course the year that Emmet Farrell first won the National and in doing so he led his Maryhill Harriers team to victory.

1938/39 season began as was fast becoming the norm with the McAndrew Relay race organised by Victoria Park AAC at Whiteinch.    The Senior Race was won by Bellahouston from Shettleston and Plebeian Harriers.   The Garscube team was down in eighth place in a very high quality entry but in the special Novices Relay over the same course, Garscube (68:57) won from South Glasgow Harriers (69:44) by quite a margin.   Mulgrew and McGarrity of Garscube had second and third fastest times with team members McGinley and McDougall not much slower.    In the Midland District relay in November the team did a bit better finishing sixth with a team of Lardy, McKie, Dailly and Simms.    One of the notable features of this relay was that Bellahouston Harriers had two teams in the first five.   The second Garscube Harriers team was 19th with Gowans, Gourlay, Fleming and Brooke the runners.   The slowest man in the first team ran 14:19, the fastest two in the second team ran 14:21 and 14:29.    In the District Championship at Pollok Estate at the end of January, Victoria Park won the title in style with what the Press described as ‘splendid team packing’ from Bellahouston (84 points to 153) with Garscube sixth sandwiched between Springburn and Plebeian Harriers.   Mulgrew in 12th place was their leading man.   The National Championships in 1939 were held at Lanark and in what were to be the last championships before the War, Garscube were eighth of the twenty three clubs represented on the day.   Like some other clubs they were a bit short of their best men – some had already been drafted into the services or had signed up – and the team was T McKie 24th, J McGinlay 54th, J Fleming 63rd, TA Gourley 67th, RD Phoenix 83rd,  and P Thomson 90th.   They were ahead of many very good clubs such as Edinburgh Northern 11th, Edinburgh Southern 12th, Plebeian 13th, Springburn 14th and Motherwell 16th.   In the last of the major races before the War – the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay – they were fifth behind Maryhill, Bellahouston, Shettleston and Plebeian Harriers.   Dailly on the last stage was the fastest runner on that stage for the day but could still only maintain fifth.   Gowans had been ninth on the first leg and McDougall on the second leg brought them up to sixth, a position held by Veitch, Mulgrew and Phoenix before Lardy on the sixth stage pulled in one place to fifth.   Gourley held it on seven as did Dailly on the last leg.

The club was performing at a high level – but they were not getting all their best men out in all the key races – only two of the E-G men had run in the National for instance – and the packing was not up to the standards of ’35.’36 and ’37.   The war intervened however and the strings were picked up in 1946 at the first post war championships.

Robert R Sutherland

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

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

VMC member: Ron Clarke

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The “splendidly equipped pavilion”

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

MUNICIPAL TRACK OPENED AT KNIGHTSWOOD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 David Stevenson

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mike Bathgate winning 100 yards in EU v Octavians v ESH

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Those listed as Octavians were

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

Octavians tie with octopus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hugh Stevenson’s Octavians vest

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

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

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

John Jones

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OCTAVIANS PIP SOUTHERN FOR BURNS TROPHY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gordon Rule vaulting at Grangemouth

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hammer:   W Gentleman  9th  44.34

Decathlon:   P Burgess   4th  6552 pts

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

The Octavians final dinner at the Balmoral Hotel, 1971

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

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

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

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

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

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

Group photographs are almost all from the Octavians website

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

GREAT SCOTTISH VETERAN ATHLETES:

WILLIAM MARSHALL

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

CLUBs:  Motherwell YMCA, Clyde Valley and Cambuslang.

DATE OF BIRTH: 12.12.1927.

OCCUPATION:  Invoice clerk –retired.

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

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

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

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

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

WHAT UNFULFILLED AMBITIONS DO YOU HAVE? None.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

David Marshall, Willie’s son wrote:

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

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

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

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

Other highlights included the following.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 David Fairweather wrote:

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

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

GREAT SCOTTISH VETERAN ATHLETES:

FIONA MATHESON

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

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

NAME :  Fiona Matheson

CLUBs:    Falkirk Victoria Harriers

DATE OF BIRTH:    25.04.1961

OCCUPATION:   Administrator NHS

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE SPORT?

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

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

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

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

WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU GET OUT OF THE SPORT?

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

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

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

YOUR WORST?

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

WHAT UNFULFILLED AMBITIONS DO YOU HAVE?

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

OTHER LEISURE ACTIVITIES? 

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

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

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

CAN YOU GIVE SOME DETAILS OF YOUR TRAINING?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fiona well clear in Swansea 2018

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

My W60 Masters records are:

Track – Outdoor:

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

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

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

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

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

Track – Indoor:

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

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

Road Running:

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

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