Tom McKean leading Steve Cram
At a BMC Meeting in Bishopbriggs in 1985, I had asked Tommy Boyle to speak about putting strength and speed together to make an 800m runner. At that time Tom McKean was unknown outside Scotland but Tommy said that 1986 would be Tom’s breakthrough year. At the time I said that he was either very brave, very stupid or very confident. Guess who was right??? Tom had a good year, just check the results page. Scotland in the CG did not have anywhere near as good a year as it had had sixteen years earlier. More anent anon. The table below indicates the total medals over all sports; the figure for athletics is one gold, four silvers and a third. Look at the tables below and see what you think of the team representation for a home games!
| Position | Country | First | Second | Third | Total |
| 1 | England | 52 | 43 | 49 | 144 |
| 2 | Canada | 51 | 34 | 31 | 116 |
| 3 | Australia | 40 | 46 | 35 | 121 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 8 | 16 | 14 | 38 |
| 5 | Wales | 6 | 5 | 12 | 23 |
| 6 | Scotland | 3 | 12 | 18 | 33 |
| 7 | Northern Ireland | 2 | 4 | 9 | 15 |
| 8 | Isle of Man | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 | Guernsey | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Swaziland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Hong Kong | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 12 | Malawi | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 13= | Botswana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 13= | Jersey | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 13= | Singapore | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
SCOTS ATHLETES IN ATHLETICS
MEN
| Event | First | First Scot | Second Scot | Third Scot | SAAA Champion |
| 100m | Ben Johnson (Canada) 10.07 | Elliot Bunney 10.37 5th | James Hendersn 10.68 8th | C Sharp 10.63 | C Sharp 10.94 |
| 200m * | Atlee Mahorn (Canada) 20.31 | George McCallum 21.39 | Brian Whittle 21.69 | C Sharp dnz | G McCallum 21.7 |
| 400m | Roger Black (England) 45.57 | Brian Whittle 47.10 5th | Martin Johnston 47.57 | J Nicoll 50.07 | B Whittle 48.64 |
| 800m | Steve Cram (England) 1:43.22 | Tom McKean 1:44.80 2nd | Paul Forbes 1:51.29 7th | – | P Forbes 1:50.14 |
| 1500m | Steve Cram (England) 3:40.87 | John Robson 3:57.20 10th | Alistair Currie 3:44.82 | T Hanlon 3:50.57 | A Callan 3:43.0 |
| 5000m | Steve Ovett (England) 13:24.11 | Nat Muir 13:40.92 8th | – | – | N Muir 14:06.44 |
| 10000m | Jon Solly (England) 27:57.42 | Allister Hutton 30:16.5 11th | – | – | N Tennant 29:02.25 |
| Marathon | Ron de Castella (Australia) 2:10:15 | John Graham 2:12:10 4th | Fraser Clyne 2:17:30 10th | – | B Carty 2:23:39 |
| 110mH* | Marc MacKoy (Canada) 13.31 | John Wallace 14.23 | Neil Fraser 14.28 | G McDonald 14.37 | N Fraser 14.23 |
| 400mH* | P Beattie (N. Ireland) (49.6) | David McCutcheon 53.68 | Mark Hardie 55.58 | Mark Fulton 57.9 | M Fulton 51.54 |
| Steeplechase | Graeme Fell (Canada) 8:24.49 | Tom Hanlon 8:53.56 10th | Colin Hume 9:05.40 11th | R Charleson 9:21.73 12th | R Charleson 8:53.94 |
| 4 x 110 | Canada 39.15 | third 40.41 | – | – | |
| 4 x 400 | England 3:07.19 | fourth 3:18.03 | – | – | |
| Long Jump | GR Honey (Australia) 8.08m | Ken MacKay 7.39m 8th | – | – | K MacKay 7.48 |
| Triple Jump | John Herbert (England) 7.27m | Craig Duncan 15.68 7th | – | – | M Makin 15.89 |
| High Jump | Milt Ottey (Canada) 2.30m | Geoff Parsons 2.28m | – | – | G Parsons 2.25 |
| Pole Vault | Andy Ashurst (England( 5.70m | Brad McStravick 4.45 8th | – | – | G Jackson 4.80 |
| Shot Putt | W Cole (England) 18.16m | Eric Irvine 16.73m 9th | NB: A Vince (Eng) 10th | – | E Irvine 16.82 |
| Discus | Raymond Lazdins (Canada) 58.86m | George Patience 52.54m 8th | – | – | P Gordon 52.68 |
| Hammer | David Smith (England) 74.06m | Chris Black 63.88 8th | – | – | C Black 60.46 |
| Javelin | David Ottey (England) 60.62m | Stewart Maxwell 62.34m 12th | – | – | D Abernethy 63.86 |
| Decathlon | FM Thomson (England) 866 pts | Brad McStravick 7563 pts 4th | A Rankin 6079 pts |
Three Medals, 28 empty slots that could have been filled, three track events with no one in the final and no more than one in any field event.
WOMEN
| Event | First | First Scot | Second Scot | Third Scot | SWAAA Champion |
| 100m | Heather Oakes (England) 11.2 | Sandra Whittaker 11.59 5th | Kaye Jeffrey 11.59 6th | – | S Whittaker 11.50 |
| 200m | Angela Issajenko (Canada) 22.91 | Sandra Whittaker 23.46 3rd | Angela Bridgeman 24.13 | – | A Bridgeman 24.05 |
| 400m * | D Flintoff-King (Australia) 51.29 | Dawn Kitchen 55.52 | Fiona Hargreaves 55.76 | L McDonald 58.26 | D Kitchen 54.57 |
| 800m | Kirsty Wade (Wales) 2:00.94 | Anne Purvis 2:02.17 4th | Elizabeth McArthur 2:04.40 | – | C Whittingham 2:02.59 |
| 1500m | Kirsty Wade (Wales) 4:10.91 | Lynne McIntyre 4:17.25 8th | Chris Whittingham 4:33.01 | – | L McDougall 4:10.23 |
| 3000m | Lynn Williams (Canada) 8:54.29 | Yvonne Murray 8:55.32 3rd | Marsella Robertson 9:51.33 | – | L Lynch 9:01.12 |
| 10000m | Liz Lynch (Scotland) 31:41:42 | Liz Lynch 1st | Andrea Everett 33:56:43 9th | Christine Price 33:59.90 10th | C Price 35:02.33 |
| 100mH * | Sally Gunnell (England) 13.29 | Ann Girvan 13.60 | Pat Rollo 14.00 | – | J Kirk 13.70 |
| 400mH * | D Flintoff-King (Australia 54.94 | Moira McBeath 64.03 | – | – | E McLaughlin 59.33 |
| 4 x 100m Relay | England 43.29 | Fourth 45.84 | |||
| 4 x 400m Relay | Canada 3:28.92 | Fourth 3:42.86 | |||
| Marathon | Lisa Martin (Australia) 2:26:07 | Lorna Irving 2:36:34 5th | – | – | S Quirk 2:58:57 |
| Long Jump * | Joyce Oladapo (England) 6.43m | Lorraine Campbell 5.65m | – | – | L Campbell 6.07 |
| High Jump | Chris Stanton (Australia) 1.92m | Jayne Barnetson 1.83m 7th | – | – | J Little 1.83 |
| Shot Putt * | Gael Martin (Australia) 19.00m | – | – | – | M Anderson 14.08 |
| Discus * | Gael Martin (Australia) 56.42m | Morag Bremner 47.06m | – | – | K Pugh 51.86 |
| Javelin | Tessa Sanderson (England) 69.80m | Shona Urquhart 48.04m 10th | S Urquhart 49.28 | ||
| Heptathlon | Judy Simpson (England) 6282 pts | Valerie Walsh 5420 pts 8th | – | – | M Anderson 4914 pts |
Three medals, twenty three empty slots that could have been filled (the women) had fewer events than the men (no pole vault, hammer or steeplechase), six events with no one in the final, one event with no Scot present and no field event with more than one entry * indicates an event with no Scot in the final.