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Potted Profiles: Fred Evans

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Admin

There are always particular officials that athletes know well and know well for a variety of reasons. For instance athletes competing in handicap events in the 50’s and 60’s were familiar with handicappers McNeillie and Nangle for very obvious reasons. Fred Evans however was known to several generations of athlete as a master starter, easily recognised and much respected. Barry Craighead speaks very highly of him and his influence on his own development as he followed in Fred’s footsteps. First the facts.

Born in 1885, the year that the first open athletic clubs in Scotland were established, he did not retire as a starter until 1975 in his 90th year. Fred was a kenspeckle figure, easily recognised and beginning in 1929, was official starter at the SAAA Championships for over 40 years In addition to his officiating at meetings, Fred trained up new starters including other well-known figures such as Charlie Meldrum and Barry Craighead. When Barry started out as a starter, Fred was ‘the man’ – no one argued with him and what he said was law. There was no written component in the training of starters. It was all intensely practical; beginning starters were told where to stand to get the best view of the runners, to make sure that they could be seen by the timekeepers and how to get everything right. He carried on through the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh by which time he was 85 years old and was one of the team of starters from all over the British Isles operating. Longevity? The Gourock Highland Games website tells us that he was for instance the starter at Gourock Highland Games from 1956 to 1975, in which year the programme announced his retirement “in his ninetieth year.”

Very highly thought of, he was awarded an MBE “for services to athletics”, the only Scottish starter ever to gain such an honour.

The competition situation was very different when he was in action at tracks all over the country. With no all-weather tracks and surfaces of grass or cinders, the scene was different scene from today if only because the starter was in complete control of events. He, or whoever the official starter on the day was, decided if there had been a false start and took the responsibility for the decision whereas in the current situation the guns are wired to computers which tell us if there has been a false start. And Fred was always ready to stand by his decision. It has been said that the younger athletes were a bit frightened of him, but he was, by universal opinion, a very nice man, a man with a nice sense of humour. Neil Donachie remembers a story about taking his guns through security at the airport on the way to an Empire Games causing some problems, even then before the whole terrorism scare.

Despite a reputation for a strict, no nonsense approach to the job, and an air of authority that no one questioned, he was scrupulously fair. Barry Craighead, who took up starting under Fred’s guidance in 1959, reports that if the starter or official did not do everything they could for the benefit of the athletes under their control, he told them about it in no uncertain manner. A testament to how highly thought of he was, is the fact that he appeared at the same meetings, many in the west of Scotland, year in and year out. Although in great demand by championship organisers as we have noted, he officiated at highland gatherings, local sports and open meetings all over the country, including at the New Year Sprint where he officiated for many years.

Starters are not like most other officials – they need to pay from their own pocket for the firearms license, for the safe in which to store the gun and ammunition and for the ammunition. Here again Fred led the way in demanding, and getting, £2 per meeting towards these expenses as well as travelling expenses to the meeting with the rest of the officials. The special treatment for starters continues to this day.

The illustration below is from the programme of the 1961 SAAA Championships and he is there among many legendary names such as Willie Carmichael, DM Duncan, Dunky Wright, Ian Ross, Gordon Cain, Tom Drever, David Keddie and Fred Graham.

SAAA Championships, 1961, Officials

Fred often worked with Dick Littlejohn – and here he is again as Chief Mark Steward

1883: September

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Admin

September, 1883, started with reports of matches held on the opening day of the month with Shawfield Grounds topping the reports. The meeting there featured a 10 mile race for a £30 purse between William Smith of Paisley, and D Livingstone of Tranent. Smith had a 25 yards start. By the end of the seventh mile, Smith had almost lapped Livingstone, starting the ninth mile they were running side by side with Smith exactly one mile ahead. He won in 53 min 11.75 secs. There was also the second round of a 120 yards handicap. Barrowfield Park was the scene of another track meeting, ‘got up by Mr James McLeavy of Alexandria’ and the main race here was a One Mile Handicap. There were other races and although there were no comments on prize money, the report concluded that ‘Amateur contests were also advertised to take place but as it was contrary to the rules of the association, to compete with professionals, the events did not fill. ‘

The remaining fixture on 1st September was the Beith Annual Sports which had sprints, middle distance events, quoiting and ‘penny pitching’. It was not said what ‘penny pitching’ was – but surely not pitch and toss???

There were three fixtures on 8th September – the Shawfield started with a 200 yards dog handicap. For two-legged competitors there was a half-mile handicap with prizes of £10, £1:10:0, £1, 10/- and 5/-. The Dunfermline Cricket and Football Club’s annual amateur athletic sports took place before a crowd on 5000 spectators and included most running events, including hurdles, selected field events, shying at wickets and lawn tennis. Competitors came from Queen’s Park FC, Royal High School, Glasgow University and similar University and School FP clubs. Finally there was a small meeting in Hawick with running and cycling handicap events.

September was a slow month for the sport – athletics tended to finish at the end of August but, nevertheless, came 22nd September and the Shawfield Grounds fixture had a 120 yards sprint and a One Mile Handicap with prizes of £14, £2, £1 and 15s. The odds for the betting were also listed in the Glasgow Herald and if you were interested in running, it was a good meeting, but if you were a committed amateur, forget it. Both meetings that day were professional. At Powderhall the match was a head to head between Clark of Portobello and Albert of Edinburgh for £10 a side. Run over 880 yards with runners starting from scratch, they were evenly matched and running side by side into the final straight, Clark stumbled and fell yards from the tape and Albert won.

The summer was pretty well over and what do we know from it? Having looked at the programme for every Saturday, we see that there were many meetings for amateurs, organised by works, by individuals, by local authorities, by football clubs, by cycling clubs, by cricket clubs most weeks so that there was no shortage of access to the sport for those interested.

There were also many professional games – the weekly one at Shawfield grounds being the standout example. It was a time when the most luxurious method of travel to New York by Cunard steamer could cost only 18 guineas and the cheapest 21 guineas, Ballantyne’s whisky was 10 shillings a gallon and walnut bedroom suites were £23:10:0 so the money on offer at the professional games was really worth winning.

In addition every meeting had its own speciality – note that in this month alone there was quoiting, lawn tennis,shying at wickets and ‘penny pitching.’

Before the Clubs: 1883

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Admin

The first Scottish amateur athletic clubs to hit the scene appeared in 1885. Before that there was only an SAAA which had appeared in 1883 and catered for University clubs and private school old boys clubs. The other sports clubs – football, cycling, boxing, etc – provided athletes too but the scene before that is vague as far as most are concerned.

This page covers the events that took place in 1883 – it is a simple list of events Saturday by Saturday to indicate what the athletics public had to satisfy their interest. That there was such a public is shown by the number of spectators at many of the significant meetings and the regular professional meetings at Shawfield Ground in Glasgow.

Just click on the link to go to that month.

[ April 1883 ] [ May 1883 ] [ June 1883 ] [ July 1883 ] [ August 1883 ]

1883: August

Posted on June 6, 2017 by Admin

On 4th August, 1883, the Strathallan Games took pride of place, being the biggest, best attended and most longstanding of the meetings that day. The report began: “After the lapse of one year, these annual Games and athletic sports were held at Stanley House Cricket Ground , Bridge of Allan, on Saturday. The weather was favourable, only one slight shower falling during the afternoon and the concourse of spectators numbered about two thousand. Three grand stands were created, one for the accommodation of the general public, another set apart for lovers of “the fragrant weed”, while the third was reserved for private ticket-holders. ” There followed thirty lines of honoured guests who came from all over central Scotland. The Chieftain was Colonel Williamson of Lawers, his henchman was Mr J Mackison, and his champion Mr A Menzies. The meeting began at one o’clock with the confined events and went on until six o’clock. Running (including races for boys under 14 years old), jumping (including pole vaulting), piping, dancing, tug o’war, a ‘pitcher and water’ race and wrestling without shoes. The hurdles were over obstacles of 2′ 6″ and there was even a sack race over low hurdles. The band and pipes of the 51st Highlanders performed and all in all it was a very successful meeting.

On the same day, were the Inverkeithing Games where there were only seven events on the programme (including vaulting with the pole) and the other meeting that day was at Dumbarton, ‘held under the auspices of the Dumbarton Corporation’, and there was a large attendance. The band of the Dumbarton Volunteer Reserve was in attendance and played throughout the afternoon. The events were mainly running events – the report on the main events of the afternoon did not mention any field events at all.

On 11th August the principal event was the Garnock and Gowkhall Sports and took place ‘in a field near the village’ with competitors from all over Dumfries but also from Edinburgh, Dunfermline and Alloa. The Depot of the King’s Own Borderers at Berwick held their annual athletic sports in the Pier Field, Berwick. A full programme of athletic events were held while the depot band played a selection from their repertoire. This was the nearest to a modern sports day as we know it in August so far. Finally there was a sports meeting at Hamilton by the Academical Football Club which was the first of a two days sports meeting and as might be expected the 1st LRV performed well up to expectations with several prizes going their way.

Shawfield Ground had not hosted a Saturday event for over a month but they were back on 18th August with ‘a more than usually interesting programme’ . Although the runners turned out in great numbers the crowd was disappointing. Events included a quarter mile handicap (prizes a silver cup and 30/-, 15/- and 5/-), a half mile handicap (prizes as for the quarter), Boys one mile handicap (prizes 10/-, 5/- and 2/6d), two miles handicap, 220 yards consolation handicap, three quarters mile consolation handicap (prizes for consolation races 20/-, 10/- and 5/-) plus a competition for ‘the neatest running costume’ – all the competitors were very neatly dressed and the judges had a difficult job to decide!

There was a half-mile handicap at the Edinburgh Royal Gymnasium grounds where several hundred spectators turned bu but the biggest crowd of the day was at the second day of the Hamilton Academicals FC sports. Winners included men from HAFC, QPFC and DFC as well as members of several bicycle clubs, in addition there were a few athletes not attached to any club.

Finally on that afternoon there was the Corstorphine Gymnastic Games confined to the inhabitants of Colinton, Currie, Ratho and Corstorphine. It was an annual meeting and consisted of both running and field events. It would be interesting though to find out what the qualifications were for entry to the ‘Old Men’s Race.’

In the last week of August, 1883, there was the Shawfield Grounds meeting which had the first heats of a 130 yards sprint and a half mile handicap. One of the interesting features of the Maybole FC Annual Sports was the running of AP Findlay in the half mile from the scratch mark. Findlay would go on to be the first winner of the amateur cross-country championship of Scotland but one who was noted for his strength – on one occasion the etire field went completely off the trail on a snowy afternoon led by AP Findlay (who it is alleged) knew what he was doing! It would seem that he had the speed of the half miler – at Maybole he finished third conceding 80 and 60 yards respectively to the first and second finishers. The other meeting that day was ‘the popular sports’ at Crieff. Captain Henry Grant of Grant was Chieftain for the day although there was no report of him having a henchman or champion. In addition to the programme of athletic events, the Crieff Company of PE Volunteers went through their programme in a ‘very creditable manner’, and the Brothers Anderson, celebrated Scotch gymnasts, performed a series of daring feats on the English, Scotch and flying trapezes. There was also a horse jumping event (possibly show jumping?) and a trotting competition where several horses ‘broke the trot.’ It was reported to be a great success.

An interesting month with many ‘novelty’ events – wrestling without shoes, competition for ‘the neatest costume’, gymnastics – and bands with everything. Above all however was the athletics – many meetings had pole vaults, meetings were organised by local authorities (Dumbarton Corporation), football clubs (Maybole FC), military regiments (KOSB’s in Edinburgh) and private groups and individuals.

1883: July

Posted on June 4, 2017 by Admin

There were only two meetings noted for 7th July – one at Shawfield and one in Edinburgh. Shawfield Grounds hosted the Glasgow Fair One Mile handicap for a prize of £20 and the final of a 120 yard sprint from the previous week for which a large crowd gathered. In the capital, it was the Edinburgh University Athletic Club Sports that drew in the crowds. This was the eighteenth consecutive sports run by the University at Corstorphine and a full programme of athletic events was held with the addition of some cycly races.

The following was packed with meetings for the athletics fan. The first was the West Kilbride Annual Games held ‘in a field at Seamill.’ There were 20 events in all with none of the placed men being members of an athletic club which seems to indicate that these were professional sports. The same could be said of the annual Stirling Games held at Laurelhill where the competitors were from Causewayhead, West Plean, Stirling, Menstrie and Bridge of Allan. There were also Games at Denny with a limited athletic programme and several other events such as quoiting on the list. The West of Scotland Athletic Games at Johnstone were also professional, prize values were listed in reports of the meeting and runners such as W Hindle of Paisley were there. Finally there was the St Bernard’s FC Sports at Powderhall where prize winners were recognisable amateurs and the clubs represented included Queen’s Park FC and EUAC.

The big meeting on 21st July was that to celebrate the opening of the new St Mirren ground at Paisley. All the top amateur clubs were represented and a full athletics programme was carried through plus a very full five-a-side tournament. In Edinburgh there was a ‘Free Gardeners Sports’. Held in conjunction with a demonstration of the British Association of Free Gardeners, a sports meting was held at the Royal Gymnasium grounds under the auspices of the Fuchsia Lodge. The events were interesting and included a 250 yards race for amateur (pedestrian) gardeners. That was it – apart from a Sports for Junior Football Clubs which seemed to consist solely of football matches.

The last week in the month featured the Ayur Sports with four events (100 yards, quarter mile, half mile and mile) with many heats in each of them. The second day of the St Mirren FC Sports to celebrate the opening of the new ground took place with a four-a-side football tournament as well as the usual athletic rpogramme and finally there was the Kelso Gymnastic Games. There were some odd events here too – the Roxburghe handicap over 350 yards, the Glasgow handicap of 245 yards and a three-quarter mile race for instance.

In the absence of a governing body for amateur athletics, the events were sponsored by all sorts of groups, and the public for athletic events were being attracted by many professional races. After all they were none the less atractive for the winners being paid in folding money. So long as it was honest competition.

Summit: 21st May, 2017

Posted on May 28, 2017 by Admin

Summit kids did well won both boys and girls team – distance girls – 400 – 2nd/ 1&2 in 800/1500 and 3000/ NIK 12 second pr in 3000/ Olivia state records in 1500 and 3000/2 girls on 4×4 – 1st

21/05/2017 – 22:21

400 Meters 5A – Finals x
1.	11	Bethanie Altamirano	57.67a PR	Central
2.	12	Sarah Reeves	57.77a PR	Summit
3.	11	Anna Hinz	59.57a PR	Summit
4.	12	Maya Bradd	59.97a PR	Eagle Point
5.	11	Dagny Donohue	1:00.47a PR	Bend
6.	12	Desiree Sinn	1:00.55a SR	Silverton
7.	10	Sydney Gardner	1:00.95a	Bend
8.	10	Elsa Torres	1:02.63a	Hermiston

800 Meters 5A – Finals x
1.	12	Emma Stevenson	2:17.75a SR	Summit
2.	9	Isabel Max	2:18.45a	Summit
3.	10	Geneva Wolfe	2:22.40a PR	Crescent Valley
4.	10	Rainy Adkins	2:22.67a PR	Marist
5.	12	Josie Hanna	2:23.00a SR	St Helens
6.	10	Jori Paradis	2:23.22a SR	Silverton
7.	11	Ariana Marks	2:23.39a PR	Crater
8.	9	Reed Bauer	2:24.36a PR	Hood River Valley
9.	12	Ciara Jones	2:25.39a	Mountain View (OR)
10.	10	Emma Mullins	2:28.14a	The Dalles
11.	12	Margaret Faliano	2:28.26a	Crater
12.	9	Samantha Prusse	2:29.62a	Wilsonville

1500 Meters 5A – Finals x
1.	12	Olivia Brooks	4:30.71a	Summit
2.	9	Fiona Max	4:41.64a PR	Summit
3.	10	Geneva Wolfe	4:42.90a PR	Crescent Valley
4.	12	Grace Perkins	4:47.59a PR	Bend
5.	11	Ariana Marks	4:55.22a PR	Crater
6.	10	Kelsey Swenson	4:55.88a PR	Mountain View (OR)
7.	10	Jori Paradis	4:57.48a PR	Silverton
8.	9	Samantha Prusse	4:58.19a PR	Wilsonville
9.	10	Sophia Somerscales	4:59.82a PR	Wilsonville
10.	9	Lottie Bromham	5:03.66a PR	Hood River Valley
11.	10	Alexa Hague	5:03.75a	Ashland
12.	9	Tressa Wood	5:15.46a	The Dalles

3000 Meters 5A – Finals x
1.	12	Olivia Brooks	9:50.94a PR	Summit
2.	9	Fiona Max	10:09.47a PR	Summit
3.	12	Grace Perkins	10:18.46a PR	Bend
4.	9	Isabella Zachem	11:00.01a	Marist
5.	9	Georgia Karam	11:03.45a	Marist
6.	10	Isabella Ayala	11:04.31a	Lebanon
7.	9	Lottie Bromham	11:04.80a	Hood River Valley
8.	9	Tressa Wood	11:15.63a PR	The Dalles
9.	10	Brigid Hanley	11:16.64a	La Salle Prep
10.	11	Tora Skog	11:24.79a	Corvallis
11.	10	Kaitlyn Dougall	11:26.64a	Wilsonville
12.	10	Zoey Bailey	11:33.99a	Corvallis

800 Meters 5A – Finals x
1.	11	Jerik Embleton	1:57.00a	Marist
2.	11	AJ Sandvig	1:57.55a PR	Crescent Valley
3.	11	Alex Franklin	1:58.51a	Ashland
4.	12	Isaac Wilson	1:58.54a	Crescent Valley
5.	12	Griff Hokanson	1:58.90a	Crater
6.	11	Jett Ballantyne	1:59.40a	Summit
7.	11	Chad Ford	1:59.91a	Summit
8.	11	Isaac Sanchez	2:00.10a	Hermiston
9.	9	Ryland McCullough	2:01.35a	Crater
10.	11	Travis Running	2:01.65a PR	Hood River Valley
11.	11	Gabe Compton	2:01.70a PR	St Helens
12.	12	Abraham Mitchell	2:05.69a	Sandy

1500 Meters 5A – Finals x
1.	10	Jantz Tostenson	4:04.07a PR	Crater
2.	12	Jesse Wiley	4:04.74a PR	Hood River Valley
3.	12	Michael Callaway	4:04.78a PR	Sandy
4.	11	AJ Sandvig	4:05.08a PR	Crescent Valley
5.	11	Albert Hesse	4:05.34a PR	Ridgeview
6.	11	Isaac Sanchez	4:06.02a PR	Hermiston
7.	10	Peter Lechman	4:06.18a	Churchill
8.	12	Scott Kinkade	4:06.27a	Summit
9.	9	EJ Holland	4:07.46a	Ashland
10.	12	Hosea Catterall	4:09.61a	Silverton
11.	10	Brendan Dexter	4:19.58a PR	La Salle Prep
	11	Andy Monroe	DNS	Crater

3000 Meters 5A – Finals x
1.	11	Andy Monroe	8:37.28a SR	Crater
2.	12	Niklas Sjogren	8:38.26a PR	Summit
3.	10	Peter Lechman	8:44.57a PR	Churchill
4.	11	Albert Hesse	8:46.15a PR	Ridgeview
5.	9	EJ Holland	8:46.24a PR	Ashland
6.	10	Jantz Tostenson	8:46.98a PR	Crater
7.	12	Griff Hokanson	8:52.84a	Crater
8.	12	Michael Callaway	8:56.29a PR	Sandy
9.	12	Jesse Wiley	9:04.09a PR	Hood River Valley
10.	10	Trevor Cross	9:08.99a	Dallas
11.	12	Jacob Bromham	9:11.10a PR	Hood River Valley
12.	11	Nicholas Whitaker	9:14.65a SR	Wilsonvi lle
13.	11	Ian Vickstrom	9:18.13a	Corvallis

1883: June

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Admin

WA Peterkin: Winner of the first ever SAAA 100 yards and 440 yards championships

There were four meetings on 2nd June, 1883, two in Edinburgh, one in Glasgow and one in Kilmarnock. The Glasgow one was at the Shawfield grounds amd was a professional meeting. It occurs to me that in the early 1950’s the Clyde Football Club Sports, held at Shawfield, were professional in nature and the amateur meeting there was the Lanarkshire Police Sports. Were the Clyde Sports a continuation of these nineteenth century pedestrian events? Whatever the situation, there were 1000 spectators on this first Saturday in June to see the 130 yards sprint and the half-mile handicap. There were fifteen heats of the sprint. I quote from the report: “The contests in the sprint were somewhat disappointing , and in several of the heats the non tryers were conspicuous, but the half-mile eas really a capital race, upwards of 32 pedestrians facing the starter. … Half-mile handicap prizes were £10, £1:10:00 and 10 shillings. 1st T Stott, Newton, 70 yards; 2nd A Bird, Glasgow, 80 yards; 3rd G Wilson, Glasgow, 70 yards; 4th A Young, Falkirk, 30 yards.”

“ATHLETIC GATHERING IN EDINBURGH: About 60 persons assembled at Edinburgh Royal Gymnasium on Saturday to witness the contests for a number of events which were announced to take place under the auspices of the “Scottish Athletic Society”. Being the first championship meeting of the Society, most of the visitors anticipated that the ‘best records’ in the various arrangements would have been beaten. The meeting was very tame, and was prolonged to a wearying extent – the performance lasting from four o’clock until half past seven. ” There were about sixteen events, most being field events, track consisting of 100 yards, quarter-mile, Mile and Two Miles.

“EDINBURGH INSTITUTION SPORTS: The annual sports in connection with the Edinburgh Institution came off on Saturday at the Institution’s grounds at Warriston, Edinburgh, and the weather being fine were witnessed by a large concourse of ladies and gentlemen. ” There were thirteen events, all but one confined to either pupils or former pupils. The exception was a half mile, open to amateurs which was won by a Canadian from Montreal AAC.

“KILMARNOCK: Sports under the auspices of the Kilmarnock Bicycle Club were held at the Rugby Park on Saturday. In the bicycling competition, Barton of the ESBC carried off no fewer than three first place honours. Fortunately the weather was very favourable and the track everything that could be desired. About 2000 spectators were present.” The programme was entirely made up of cycle races except for a tug of war, 100 yards and quarter mile.

Four meetings. one professional, two amateur and one mainly a cycle meeting.

There were four meetings on on the following Saturday, June 9th, too but the only one at the same venue as the first week in June was at the Shawfield Grounds where the events were the 130 yards and the One Mile handicap where the prizes were £10, £1:10:0 and 10/-.

Ayr was always a good athletics venue and the Ayr Academical Club’s Annual Sports were held on this Saturday. It was a very big meeting and popular with competitors and spectators alike. “These sports took place at Springvale Park on Saturday and were highly successful. The arrangements were of an elaborate description, and the programme was an excellent one. The weather was very fine and there was a large crowd of spectators – a greater number than had turned out for anything of the kind for a number of years and every seat in the grand stand was occupied. The programme comprised twenty two events, of which four were bicycle races, and the bicycle races were probably the most exciting on the card. ” The lengthy report went on to detail many of the events completed on the day when there were many competitors from all the University Athletic clubs, former pupils clubs, plus several football clubs such as Queen’s Park FC, Vale of Leven FC, West of Scotland FC, and other clubs like 1st LRVAC and so on. The winning competitor in the Two Miles Flat Race handicap was A Findlay of Ayr FC who would go on to win the first ever Scottish Cross-Country championship in the colours of Clydesdale Harriers.

The Hawick Borders Games always drew a good number of athletes but these were mainly local from the other Borders towns with some few athletes coming from further afield. Most events were running events and there was not only a mile race, there were two races over the mile and a half distance. No times were given although distances were noted for the throws and jumps.

There were several meetings held over the summer that called themselves ‘National Games’. This particular weekend, it was the Greenock National Games. “Favoured by splendid weather the seventeenth annual tournament of national games at Greenock came off with great success at Academy Park on Saturday afternoon. The arrangements made by the committee were most complete and everything worked smopothly. It was estimated that 5000 people were in the park at one time. There were in all 27 “events” on the programme including exhibitions of tasks with sword, bayonet, Indian clubs and quarter-staff. ” It continued with comments on several events with the two miles race with 16 runners written up as the race of the afternoon. No teams, clubs orother organisations were listed – only the competitor’s town after the fashion of the professionals.

It can be seen from the meetings so far that there were plenty of openings for amateur athletes to get good competition before decent sized crowds. With no affiliation essential before competing, any grouping, be it a football club, a military regiment, a cycling or cricket club, could enter its members for these sports and games. It was not a situation that would last for much longer – the first ever SAAA championships would take place on 23rd June 1883.

DS Duncan: Winner of the Mile in the first ever SAAA Championships

On 23rd June, 1883 there was the usual weekly meeting at Shawfield Grounds plus two meetings organised by Pollok FC and Kilbirnie FC but the real story was the first ever National Championships organised by the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association. The report read:

“The first championship meeting under the auspices of the Association was held on Saturday afternoon at Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, and proved a very successful meeting. The weather being all that could be desired, about ? ladies and gentlemen witnessed the proceedings, which were greatly enhanced by the band of the Gordon Highlanders dispensing a splendid programme of music. Most of the events passed off without a hitch excepting the pole jump in which Mr Hodgson while attempting to jump 9′ 9″ came to grief, the pole he was using snapping when he was almost over. He fell heavily on his shoulder but soon recovered. The final of the 100 yards was a splendid sight. A capital start was effected, and Smith about half-distance was leading by a yard. Here Peterkin crept up and gradually reducing the space passed him just at the tape and won by 5 inches. …. ”

The complete results with a note on the events contested can be found at www.anentscottishrunning.com/track-championships. The amateur era had pretty well arrived although it would be another two years before amateur clubs were to take part.

Nevertheless on this day ‘an unusually large crowd of spectators’ attended the professional event at Shawfield where there were only two events on the programme – the sprint whose first round was held a week earlier (prizes £15, £2:15:0, £1:10:0 and 10/-) and a one mile handicap (£20, £5, £1 and £1) race. Given that the amateur movement was driven in part by the abuses of the pro system which included professionals impersonating amateurs, non-trying in races, betting while the races were in progress, it was clearly far from dead.

At the Pollok FC fixture where there were 700 spectators, the prize winners all came from football clubs – Queen’s Park FC members were the biggest winners, but others were Dumbarton FC, Abercorn FC, Johnstone Athletic FC, Govanhill FC and, of course, Pollok FC. And at Kilbirnie, no club affiliation was quoted, simply where the athlete came from which seems to indicate a professional meeting.

The month ended with a Saturday fixture at Shawfield but this time there was a difference. “The West of Scotland National Games and Athletic Sports took place at Shawfield Grounds on Saturday. The weather was splendid and between five and six thousand spectators were present. A very varied programme was provided, which in addition to the national games of quoiting, wrestling, hammer throwing, pole-vaulting, dancing, etc, also included a more than usually seen number of athletic events.” So far, so good but then it spoils things by saying that the prizes for the 120 yards hurdles were £3, £2 and £1. It would have fourteen heats with the final to be run the following Saturday. Read on through the report and the meeting, which was indeed varied and interesting, and you will see prize money listed for several of the races with the going rate seeming to be £2, 15/- and 5/-.

The only other meeting on the last Saturday in June was the Arthurlie Cricket and Football Club Amateur Athletic Sports. Unlike sports quoted earlier which featured the drop-kick for distance with a football, this sports had a place-kick which was won by D Cunningham of rthurlie with a distance of 154′ 9″. There were also several names on the programme who would feature as club members in another couple of years – eg W McAuslan from Dumbartion who would be a member of the Clydesdale Harriers Dumbarton section. Many football teams were represented and the furthest travelled prze winner came from Granton.

Was there a demand for athletics from the public in 1883? Certainly, we only have to look at the thousands who turned out to watch some of the meetings, whether they were amateur or professional. Was there a demand from the competitors for such meetings? With over a dozen heats in some meetings, een over two dozen in others, there was a clear demand for them. Now in 1883 there was a national amateur championship run by the SAAA. The competitors came from Universities and fee-paying schools, from football, cricket, cycling, rowing and other sports clubs. It was only a matter of time before purely athletic clubs would appear on the scene.

1883: May

Posted on May 17, 2017 by Admin

Trophy for the Drop Kick (football) for distance at the Glasgow Academicals Sports of 1886

The first Saturday in May, 1883, was the fifth of the month and sports/athletic meetings were held at Shawfield Running Grounds, at Kelvingrove where the Glasgow Police Sports took place, at Kelvinside where the Glasgow Academical Club held their meeting and at the Dollar Institution. Despite the heading being ‘Athletics’ the Shawfield programme contained two events: the final of the peds 300 yards, the preliminaries of which had been held the week before, and a One Mile Handicap. The Police Sports included, in addition to a selection of athletic events, Highland Dancing (won by John McCallum from Lanarkshire), wrestling, a ‘catch the thief’ race for policemen dressed in day uniform, three legged race and tug of war. The Police Sports were one of the very last to adopt the amateur code, being professional right up to the late 1940’s.

The ones most like current meetings were the two school sports meetings – all amateurs completing a programme of purely athletics events. The Glasgow meeting had many open races in which some university and cricket club members took part. The report on the Glasgow Academy Sports read: “The annual sports of the Glasgow Academical Club came off on Saturday at the ground of the club at Kelvinside. In consequence of the heavy rain in the forepart of the day the ground was in a soft condition – unfavourable for the work in hand. A large and fashionable gathering graced the field the whole of the afternoon and the various events were watched with evident interest. The band and pipers of the 51st Highlanders were present and dispensed selections of music between the various items on the card. At the conclusion of the meeting the prizes were presented to the winners by Mike Cross.”

There were over 20 events including several open events with competitors coming from as far afield as the Ulster Cricket Club and including such as 1st Lanark Rifle Volunteer Club AC and University and Old Boys clubs. The Academy Sports are one of the longest running in the country, having been started in 1866, only Edinburgh Academy (1858) and Royal High School (1864) with Merchiston also starting up in 1866.

In Dollar, other than a half-mile for FP’s, the events were all for school pupils. It should be noted that the programmes for the latter meetings were the longest while, true to form, the Shawfield meeting only had a couple of events but a crowd of approx 2000.

The Academicals Sports are one of the oldest in the country.

Several of the Academicals took part in the Glasgow University Sports at Gilmorehill on 19th May – they even had one of the four teams in the tug of war with the University, the Junior Clyde Yacht Club and the Southern FC, an event which the host team won. Events included a drop kick (football) for distance with the winner clearing 130′ 10″, putting the cannon ball, pole vault, two mile bicycle race, high jump, throwing the hammer, 100 yards flat, quarter mile flat, half mile flat, one mile flat, 120 yards hurdles and tug of war. All of the running events as well as the two miles cycle race had open races and confiend races. It looks like a very interesting meeting indeed.

At Shawfield, the professional meeting, there was the final of the 120 yards from the previous week, a half mile and a quarter mile race for a first prize of £18. The crowds at Shawfield are always given – this meeting had 3000 in attendance – but no figures are given for University or Schools meetings. Three events at Shawfield but around two dozen at Gilmorehill.

The last weekend in May had the Helensburgh Larchfield Sports and the Annan FC Sports. Organised by the Helensburgh Academical Club at Ardencaple, these were attended by a large and fashionable crowd. 21 events, all athletic events that we would recognise, were contested and the Bonhill Band played in the intervals between events. The annual Annan FC Sports were being contested for the second time and one might have expected the drop kick to be on the programme, but no, there were only running events plus a running high jump.

1883: April

Posted on May 15, 2017 by Admin

Before Clydesdale Harriers and Edinburgh Harriers were founded in 1885, the only amateur clubs were approximately a dozen Former Pupils and University clubs. But the arrival on the scene of the open athletics clubs was not the start of amateur athletics in the country. Not by a long way. Little is known of the sport pre-1885 and it might be instructive to look at athletics in Scotland before that. We can start with a look at athletics in 1883, before the clubs were gleams in the eye of anyone in either Glasgow or Edinburgh. Given that meetings were held on most weekdays as well as Saturdays, we can look at coverage in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of Tuesday and Saturday events for that summer beginning with the month of April.

On April 7th there were three athletics meetings reported including the Inter-Scholastic Games, under the auspices of the ‘Edinburgh University Athletic Club’, took place at Corstorphine in the presence of ‘ a large and impressive assemblage.’ In addition to the Edinburgh schools, there was representation from Blair Lodge, Polmont, Trinity College, Glenalmond, Morrison’s Academy, Crieff and the Dollar Institution. It was reported that ‘as in former years, a large proportion of the prizes went to Loretto . There were 25 events contested including pole vault, hurdles and a bicycle race. There was a mile handicap race at Manchester in which many Scots were involved including W Cummings of Paisley (scratch) and it was won by the limit man (off 150 yards), J Morgan of Manchester. Cummings was absent for the simple reason that he was racing in a meeting at the Shawfield Grounds and making an attempt on the Mile record. Approximately 5000 were present to see ‘the great match against Time’ by Cummings who held every British title from one to ten miles. He was attempting to break Lang’s and Richards’s record of 4 min 17 2/5th sec and bets of £20 to £40 were taken against him. Four timekeepers were appointed – one for each quarter and one for the final time. At half distance, odds of 3 to 1 were laid that he would break the record. His third quarter was a bit slower than required, and despite being loudly cheered in the finishing straight, he had paced himself too much in the first half (I quote) and returned a time of 4 min 21 sec. There was also a 130 yards handicap with five heats and a final – the odds against each runner were quoted for readers.

The following week – 14th April – the biggest meeting was the West of Scotland Amateur Sports. Not to be confused with the West of Scotland Harriers which appeared later in the 1880’s, this meeting was

“The promenade and amateur athletic sports held annually under the auspices of the West of Scotland Amateur Cricket Club came off on Saturday afternoon on Hamilton Crescent Cricket Ground, Partick. The weather, the all important matter in out-of-door proceedings, was dull but not unfavourable, and the turnout of spectators was numerous. The car was, as usual, a very attractive one and embraced a great variety of athletic work. The events included throwing cricket ball, broad, pole and high jumps, one mile and two mile bicycle races, hundred yards, quarter, half and mile races, wheelbarrow race, hundred and twenty yards hurdle, tug of war over water, and a steeplechase with four water jumps.

The sports were on the whole quite up to the standard of former years. Nearly all the crack amateurs were present, and some excellent athletic work was accomplished. The various races were timed, as usual, by a cronograph kindly supplied by Messrs George Edward & sone, Buchanan Street. “

The other meeting that aftrernoon was the Royal High School Sports in Edinburgh, held on the School Ground at Holyrood.

On April 21st, there were no meetings reported under the ‘Athletics heading’ but there was a single entry under the ‘Pedestrianism’ heading. This was a meetimng at the Shawfield Ground that had only one race. This was a 600 yards handicap with four prizes – £12, £2, 15 shillings and five shillings. These were to be competed for by some well known English peds as well as the local ‘cracks’. There were to be nine heats but a wee problem developed.

“Everything promised to pass off pleasantly until the final heat came up for decision. It was then apparent that something was amiss, and several of the bookmakers asserted that Hodgson of Hatton was running under an assumed name. This was positively denied and the race went on, but just when the competitors were nearing the goal the cry came that “the Englishman wins”. The crowd then swarmed onto the track, the tape was broken and the race declared void. The large prizes given by the proprietor have hitherto induced pedestrians from all parts of the country to enter the lists, and the running has been proportionately improved. It would therefor be cause for regret if these contests should cease owing to unfairness on the part of spectators towards strangers.

As far as the final heat was concerned, Hodgson was running and we read:

“Pye of Morpeth had brought Hodgson from England for the purpose of lifting the handicap and when heats were run off it was clear that the latter had the race at his mercy. When betting on the Final was opened, the Englishman was made a hot favourite at 2 – 1 on. But even this price was only taken for a short time and the bookmakers stopped further business. Latterly however a few bets at 3 – 1 were taken, when a rumour was circulated that Hodgson was not the pedestrian’s name. Mr Hanratty cautioned him that if he was not properly entered and passed the post first, he would be disqualified. Hodgson replied that he had just returned from America and that he was running under his own name. In these circumstances the men went to their marks and were sent on their journey with a capital start, Wilson leading the field for half the distance. At this stage it looked as if the Englishman had a poor chance of winning. On entering the straigh for home however, Hodgson gained considerably on his opponents and 60 yards from the post was almost certain of victory. But the crowd then broke in and considerably interfered with him; and the referee, Mr D Speirs, considering the state of matters, at once broke the tape and declared it no race. The proprietors took the same view and ordered the final heat to be run over on Saturday first.”

The following week, the last in April, at the same venue, there were preliminary heats of a 300 yards handicap and a three-quarter mile invitation sweepstake for which the prizes were £25, £3, £1:10:00 and £1. These were then augmented by 10/- for each acceptee. Cummings was entered for this race. The final heat of the 600 yards carried over from the previous Saturday, A Baird of Glasgow won with Hodgson not in the first three. Despite the big money, Cummings was again an absentee but there were eleven runners in the handicap. The report contained many details of betting odds throughout the afternoon and of the prize monery for the various events.

The preliminary heats of a 220 yards race were run off at the Royal Gymnasium in Edinburgh.

Hunter Watson

Posted on May 12, 2017 by Admin

Hunter Watson qualifying for the final of the SAAA Junior Mile in 1954

Hunter Watson has had a superb career in the sport – a good class athlete from the age of 15 at school in North Berwick, he went on to play a significant part in the world of athletics in Aberdeen. He ran with and against some of the very best, maybe particularly during his time at Edinburgh University, and at times defeated them. As a coach he has developed and worked with international athletes and as an administrator he was for many years an essential part of the Aberdeen AAC committee.

To start with, Hunter did not realise that he had any talent for running until, at age 15 in 1951, he won the half mile for fourth year pupils at the East Lothian inter-school sports. He had been surprised to be selected to represent North Berwick High School at this event because not only had he never run in a half mile race previously but he had not even finished in the top three in any race at the school sports in which he had competed! He assumes that he was selected to run in that half mile race as a consequence of getting back to the school first when on one occasion the fourth year boys were asked to run round North Berwick Law during a games period. Presumably that made the games master confident that Hunter Watson would not make a fool of himself, and hence the school, in a half mile race.

Having been given no advice about how to run the half mile, he had no race plan. He simply ran round with the other boys in the race. However, something odd happened half way down the back straight of the second lap: out of nowhere came a sudden urge to sprint for home and that Hunter did, winning in a time of 2:27. He himself says of this period: “Prior to winning the half mile for fourth year pupils at East Lothian’s inter-school sports in 1951 I had only competed in sprint races and had never finished in the first three since I had no great talent for sprinting. However, after winning that half mile I began regular training and trained for the full range of events at the school sports and not only for the middle distance events. That regular training does make an enormous difference to performance was proved at the school sports in my sixth year. In those sports I finished second in the 100 yards race but won each of the other races, i.e. the 220 yards, the 440 yards, the half mile, the one mile and the 100 yards hurdles. I also won the three jumps: the long jump (19 ft 6 ins = 5.94 m), the triple jump (39 ft = 11.88 m) and the high jump(5 ft =1.52 m). I was unplaced in both the shot put and the discus. Being greedy, that rather annoyed me!”

Wondering whether, if he could win an inter-schools half mile without doing any training, what he might capable of accomplishing if he did do some training. Three years later he found out.

As a student at Edinburgh University, Hunter had a very good cross-country season in 1953/54. He says that on the Wednesday afternoon of the first week of term there were trials for various sports. He was tempted to go to the trials for the rugby team since he had been rugby captain at North Berwick High School. However, he decided to go to the cross country trials instead. That decision had happy consequences since, during the 1953-54 cross country season, he won the Eastern District Youth Championship on 6th February and subsequently finished second in the National Youth Championship. In the February issue of the excellent ‘Scots Athlete’ magazine, Emmet Farrell commented that the National Championship in that age group would probably be between Gordon Kerr of Victoria Park and Ian Cloudsley of Shettleston but added, “yet there are good reports from the East of WH Watson (Edinburgh Varsity) ..” Hunter lived up to the billing by finishing second in the race to Cloudsley, being only two seconds down on the winner. and four seconds ahead of the third man in a very close finish. The 1954 track season was to be a good one and Hunter has no doubts that the training he did for the cross-country benefited him greatly.

Hunter did not win any individual events during the 1954-55 cross country season but was invariably a counter in the Edinburgh University Hare and Hounds team that did win several team titles then. As a consequence Hunter was awarded a blue from Edinburgh University for cross country.

In summer 1954 Hunter not only won the Scottish Junior Mile Championship but he also finished fourth in the AAA Junior Mile too. His time in that event was 4:21.6, a time which put him tenth equal on the list of the ten fastest British Junior Milers of all time. (At the same age Roger Bannister’s fastest time was 4:23.4.) The season had started well with a match against Victoria Park AAC at Craiglockhart in which Hunter won the Mile in 4:34.1 and when he won the SAAA Junior Mile at Westerlands on 3rd July, James Logan wrote in the ‘Scots Athlete: “The Mile was won easily by W Watson, the Scottish Youths cross-country runner-up, who strode out very strongly in the last lap. With developed confidence he is capable of a much faster time than his winning one, which was very good considering the wintry conditions.” The September issue of the same magazine listed Scottish best performances and Hunter was fifth for the Mile with 4:21.6, a time run at Birmingham on 31st July.

Finishing in first place for the University at the East District Relays in 1954

On 6th November 1954, all the Districts held their relay championships and the East District event was at Galashiels over a total distance of 10 miles. The team of Jackson, Horne, Miller and Watson won by 15 seconds from Falkirk Victoria with their second and third teams in fifth and seventh in a field of 19 teams. Later that month he ran in his first Edinburgh to Glasgow eight-man relay. The University had a good team out and Hunter was on the first stage where he finished sixth. The team finished fourth. Incidentally, between 1954 and 1971, Hunter ran for four teams in the Edinburgh to Glasgow – Edinburgh University Hares & Hounds, Edinburgh Eastern Harriers, Edinburgh AC and Aberdeen AAC. He remembers the race with affection and comments

I have fond memories of the early races which were sponsored by the News of the World. That sponsorship permitted 8 buses to be provided, one for each of the stages in order to transport the 20 runners who represented their clubs over these stages. There was very little traffic on the roads then so there were no hold ups and the buses had no difficulty getting to the start of each stage in plenty of time. This permitted runners who had already competed plenty of time to support incoming runners. When I began competing, each race began in St Andrew’s Square in Edinburgh and finished in Ingram Street in Glasgow. Eventually, because of the traffic, both start and finish had to be changed though I am not certain when that happened. When I first ran in 1954 there were still tram cars operating in Edinburgh and cobbled streets. In the early days after each race all the competitors and officials were treated to a meal by the News of the World in a large restaurant in Buchanan Street called Ca’d’oro. Unfortunately it was destroyed by fire in 1987.”

The University team in 1954 with runners like Hunter, Adrian Jackson, Horne and Miller was very successful winning the East District cross-country relay in November and the championship in January 1955. Came the National championship at Hamilton and Hunter was eleventh in the winning team in the Junior race.

During the 1955 track season Hunter’s principal achievement was his win in the mile at the East of Scotland Athletic Championships. His winning time was 4:18.1, a time that bettered the previous best performance of 4:23.3 by just over 5 seconds.

Between 1951 and 1953 there had been a steady improvement in Hunter’s performances which was a consequence of regular training. Perhaps the most significant accomplishment during that period was his win in the junior mile handicap race at Edinburgh Highland Games on 22nd August, 1953. Running from a handicap of 100 yards, his time was 4:26.9. Prior to that race, Hunter had not been a member of any club. Within minutes of his win, however, he was invited to become a member of Edinburgh Eastern Harriers. The invitation was accepted.

Hunter, second from right in the front row, with the Edinburgh University team which had been Inter-Varsity Champions and Eastern District champions in 1956

Injury had curtailed his participation in the 1955/56 cross-country season but he did finish eighteenth in the National Junior championship. The subsequent 1956 track season was to be Hunter’s best.

On 12th May 1956 in the regular match with Victoria Park, he again won the Mile, this time in 4:24.8 and a week later, 19th May, in the University championships at Craiglockhart, “WH Watson, a former Scottish Junior Mile Champion, returned a Mile record of 4 min 19 secs.” This was a feat that produced mixed feelings in Hunter. He had won the title in a time that had taken 3.3 seconds from the existing record, set by the wonderful Morris Carstairs, and yet the university trophy which went to the athlete judged to have set the best performance of the meeting. The cutting below seemed to think Hunter’s was the top performance. This went to Paterson who had set new championship records in the 440 and 880 yards. The half mile was interesting in that Adrian Jackson, whose eye was maybe on an invitation to an up-coming 5000m in Helsinki, ran and pushed the winner to the record. It is possibly the only half mile that Jackson ran but if it was part of his preparations for Helsinki, then it worked – he won there in 14:13.6. Hunter continued to run well and at the Scottish University Championships he won both Mile (4:34.3) and Three Miles (16:04.3) titles.

The performance which gave him most satisfaction, however, was the one in Manchester on 28th May when he finished second to Martin Walmsley, British Universities Mile champion, in a mile in a time of 4:14.6. That was a new Edinburgh University AC record and might have been the fastest mile time ever at that time by a student at a Scottish university. The purple patch continued when he had an excellent run in the Scottish championships on June 23rd when he was second to Graham Everett recording a time of 4:18.3. The report on that race read –

“In the much-publicised Mile, the less fancied men must have been surprised to find themselves in the company of the giants at an advanced stage of the race. With a very fast ‘half’ to his credit earlier in the season, JR Cameron, Thames Valley Harriers, might have been expected to make a very strong final challenge, but Everett commanded affairs immediately the break was made at the second last bend, and, indeed, it was WH Watson who came on in determined fashion to take second place..” The winning time was 4:16.1 and Cameron ran 4:21.0. It was indeed a very good run by Hunter if we note that Cameron had run a 4:07.0 Mile on 21st September 1955, and Everett had set a new Scottish record for the distance on 9th June, 1956.

Hunter’s performances on the track while representing Edinburgh University in 1956 led to his being awarded an athletics blue to be added to his cross country blue.

At the start of the winter in the East District league match at Dr Guthrie’s School on 20th October, the first three to finish were Jackson, Watson and JV Paterson and the team won comfortably from Braidburn. Paterson, Horne, Watson and Jackson also won the East District relay on 3rd November in Perth before the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay at the end of the month. Hunter ran the first stage, finishing seventh this time and again it was a forecast of the team’s final placing – seventh. Meanwhile in the same race, Edinburgh Eastern Harriers (whom he had joined in 1953 before starting at Edinburgh University) were making their first appearance, finishing fifth and picking up the medals awarded to the most meritorious performance by an unplaced team. Hunter missed the closing championships of the cross-country season – District and National – due to injury. He again represented the University in the Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1957 when he ran the difficult second stage against some of the very best men in the race. By 1956 Hunter was gaining experience of committee work as a consequence of having been elected to the club committee of Edinburgh Eastern.

When, on 27 March 1961, Edinburgh Harriers, Edinburgh Northern Harriers and Edinburgh Eastern Harriers amalgamated to form Edinburgh Athletic Club, Hunter was elected unopposed to be Edinburgh AC’s first cross country captain and hence to be a member of the Edinburgh AC committee.

Finishing third in SAAA 880y in 1960

In 1957 Hunter graduated from Edinburgh University with a First Class Honours degree in mathematics. and in 1959 he graduated from that university with a Master’s degree in education. He then taught secondary school mathematics for six years before moving to Aberdeen in 1965 in order to become a lecturer at Aberdeen College of Education. While in Edinburgh however he kept on running, and running well, over the country with Edinburgh Eastern Harriers and then Edinburgh AC. On the track the two medals in the East District championships were noteworthy. In May 1960 he was second in the 880 yards, behind Neil Donachie and in May 1962, second again, this time in the Mile which was won by Chris Elson. In the SAAA championships at the end of June there was another very good run when he was third in the 880 yards behind Morrison and Clark.

While in Edinburgh, Hunter had become a qualified coach – and an advanced coach at that. Under the system used at that time, this was equivalent to the Senior Coach award that came shortly thereafter. When he moved to Aberdeen, he relinquished the qualification since his new post as lecturer at Aberdeen College of Education allowed no time for coaching. While teaching at Ross High School in Tranent, he had further evidence that regular systematic training brought real and lasting improvement. He says of this time:

“While a school teacher I observed other boys who apparently only had a modicum of talent blossoming after they also started regular training. These included Billy Donaldson and Gavin Hay at Ross High School, Tranent, the school in which I first taught. In 1961 the best that Billy could do in the school sports was to finish third in the 220 yards for second year boys. I cannot recall Gavin, who was a year younger than Billy, being placed in anything. In 1963 Billy won the National Senior Boys Cross Country title and also the first of the Scottish Schools Cross Country titles for his age group. At the National he and Gavin helped Edinburgh AC to win the Senior Boys Cross County title at the National Championships. In the East Track and Field Championships, Billy won the Youths half mile and Gavin the Senior Boys half mile. Gavin’s time, which I do not have to hand, was a new championship record. (It was around 2:08, I believe.)”

Billy Donaldson (the winner) 22 and Gavin Hay 29 in the Boys National at Hamilton in 1963

Fortunately for the sport and for Aberdeen AAC, he did eventually find the time to continue coaching youngsters interested in middle distance and cross-country events. He did no courses for athletic official status, either track or field, but he has in his time so far officiated at every event on the calendar except the pole vault. He has even acted as starter and on one occasion officiated as such at a Young Athletes League final at Meadowbank.

Aberdeen AAC Men and Boys, taken in 1976

Hunter is extreme right of second back row. Also in that row are Fraser Clyne, 8th right, and Graham Laing, 3rd right, both ran in the Commonwealth Games: Graham in ’82 and Clyne in ’86. Also in the picture is Mel Edwards, 6th right.

By 1974 Hunter’s elder son was displaying an interest in athletics and that led directly to him beginning to organise events for youngsters within Aberdeen AAC, a club which he had joined immediately after moving to Aberdeen. Of this period he says:

“That led to me organising a few events for youngsters at Linksfield Stadium where the club trained. On two occasions I also, without club support, took youngsters to compete in events at some distance from Aberdeen. Their performances were such that it seemed obvious that much could be gained by establishing a Young Athletes Section within Aberdeen AAC. The club secretary gave me the go ahead provided that this section could be self-financing. On that basis I took the necessary steps to establish a Young Athletes Section. Parents were willing to assist me as were two senior members of the club.

On behalf of Aberdeen AAC, I applied to join the Scottish Young Athletes League. My application was accepted and, to the surprise of some clubs in the League, Aberdeen AAC won the North East Section and finished third in the League Final.”

The following year he was elected club secretary. He remained in that post for twenty years. After he stepped down as secretary he was made an honorary member of the club and he continues to take an interest in it though no longer plays any active part. While club secretary, however, Hunter spent a vast amount of time on club business. He not only performed the normal secretarial duties but he also coached athletes, acted as a team manager, helped to organise road races and convened both athletic and cross country meetings. As far as he was concerned, being secretary of Aberdeen AAC was as much a competitive activity as was being an active athlete.

1979. Coaching some colts (Under 11 years) in discus throwing: preparing to throw the discus is Duncan Matheson who represented Scotland in the Commonwealth Games in 1990 (decathlon) and 1994 (long jump)

Aberdeen AAC had several noteworthy successes during Hunter’s time as secretary and also produced some outstanding athletes, including some who gained international recognition and two who broke Scottish native records. However, while these successes gave him much satisfaction, he gained even more from the fact that the club thrived during his time as secretary and became far and away the largest athletic club in Scotland. SAF data reveals that, as at 12 March 1994, Aberdeen AAC had 493 members aged eleven or over whereas Scotland’s second largest club, Pitreavie AAC, had 337 members. (Edinburgh Athletic Club at that time had 312.) Aberdeen AAC numbers had peaked in 1988 when the club had a total of 606 members of whom 517 were aged eleven or over. (The club’s number of senior athletes fell slightly when several road runners left Aberdeen AAC to form a separate road running club.)

In 1991 the City of Aberdeen presented Hunter with an engraved rose bowl which is now displayed in his home.

That the work was appreciated is evidenced by comments from club mates Mel Edwards and Bob Masson. Bob says

“My first definite memory of Hunter was at a committee meeting in 73 or early 74 where Hunter had been invited to put forward his suggestion for a Young Athletes section in the club. At that time AAAC had a pretty small membership (probably no greater than 50), predominantly composed of seniors and mainly interested in running, generally of the long distance variety. His proposal was accepted and Hunter became the secretary of the YA section. In 1975 he was elected to secretary of the full club, a post he was to hold with distinction for 20 years.

Our paths almost crossed a few years earlier, as Hunter is fond of mentioning to others when we meet at the track. We both came to the fourth leg on the E to G relay in 1971 from opposite ends of the distance spectrum. Hunter was running for AAAC and I was representing Aberdeen University. We never saw each other during the race but Hunter recalls that we ran identical times for the four mile leg that day.

Over his tenure the club was to grow (about 500 members at its peak) and become more of track and field club and AAAC would regularly qualify for the Young Athletes final. The men’s team went on to win the Scottish Athletics League finally in 1995, much to Hunter’s satisfaction. On the team bus to the final match at Meadowbank that day went a team of athletes ( not a single one of whom was doubling up in an individual event), substitutes (just in case) and Hunter. When victory was confirmed, there was an overwhelming desire that it should be Hunter to whom the cup be presented. I seem to remember that we couldn’t find him in time but there will be a photograph of Hunter and cup surrounded by the entire team somewhere around.

Possibly his most important legacy will be that he managed to persuade Aberdeen City Council that a Track and Field club our size in a city of our size couldn’t hope to develop without an eight lane all-weather track. The University track at Balgownie had fallen into disrepair and had only been built with seven lanes anyway. The argument we hadn’t had a home match in the first fifteen years of the Men’s League, amongst others, seemed to have some force and the surface at Chris Anderson stadium was opened in1989.

Aberdeen AAC yearbook no 4 (1993) records that Hunter held several AAAC veterans’ club records. These were M40 bests for 800m (2-01.1) and 1500m (4-08.0) set in 1976 and 1977 respectively and the M50 800m of 2- 14.7 set in 1986. He did show me one of his training diaries, where he recorded the miles covered running (no surprise) but also interestingly in addition the distances he covered cycling and walking.

After retiring from his post as Secretary, Hunter continued to take a great interest in the activities of the club and in recognition of his many services he was to become one of the first four inductees as Life Members at the AGM of 2007. He still frequently attends home league matches, the latest the first meeting of the Scottish League just yesterday (06/05/2017). He would often cycle from home to the meeting (I’m not sure whether he still does), but if one were to look around the stadium and spot a yellow fluorescent jacket topped with a shock of silver hair then the thought would be “ Hunter’s here again”.

Words to describe the man? Enthusiastic, dedicated and meticulous aren’t really enough.

The times for the E-G fourth stage in ’71 was 32:47 . All sections of the club appreciated his work: Bob was very much a track and field man: a decathlete who for many years was Scottish national coach for the event while Mel was a top class road, country and hill runner who won what was probably the best cross-country race I ever saw Mel says clearly that Hunter deserves an MBE for his work. He speaks with some knowledge here – the club has two members with the award – Mel himself and Donald Ritchie. Mel points out that Alastair and Jean Wood ran the club and then Hunter set up the young athletes section before becoming secretary. “What a work he did”, says Mel, “His phone probably never stopped – and this was when he was still a Maths lecturer! He was also secretary and I remember many a well organised meeting with lots on the agenda.”

Denis Shepherd elaborates on Mel’s comments about Hunter as a committee man saying:

“Hunter kept a tight rein on the club’s finances in conjunction with the Treasurer. When preparing the agenda, he scrutinised past minutes and made sure that everything that needed to be decided or organised was brought up in good time. Everything he said or wrote was carefully considered before he said it: someone said that even when he spoke, his sentences seemed to be coming from a carefully constructed written document.”

More generally, Denis says of Hunter that “he was very pro the club and the athletes he coached. He was known to try to persuade team managers who had already selected their team to ask a selected athlete to give way to his athlete. At one Young Athletes League meeting he was appalled that a track official representing the club had done his job properly and disqualified Aberdeen for an illegal change-over.” The last bit makes him sound like any coach in that situation!

Hunter beseiged by youngsters at the end of a primary schools sports meeting in Aberdeen in 1994. He had initiated this event several years previously in order to interest youngsters in athletics.

That this reaped a bigger harvest than just bringing athletes to the club is seen by the recruitment of parents as top class officials. For instance one of those who joined as a consequence was Mark Davidson who was a silver medallist in the 1990 Commonwelath Games 4 x 400m relay. His own event was the 400m hurdles where he won the Scottish title three times, he also won the indoor 400 metres flat twice and set many records. His father – Jim Davidson – became a grade one timekeeper who officiates at local meetings. Similarly when Duncan Matheson (six Scottish titles outdoors, three indoors, 2nd AAA’s indoor heptathlon plus the two Commonwealth Games) became a club member both his parents got actively involved: father Miller is still a coach at the club, and his mother became a grade one field judge. She officiated at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. When Hunter stepped down, the club president Trevor Madigan took over the task of organising the Primary Schools Athletic Meeting, and this year (2017) Hunter’s daughter-in-law Ruth Watson, kept the family connection going when she was responsible for it.

At the conclusion of a girls international match in 1976. Hunter had persuaded the Aberdeen and Grampian Regional Councils to jointly make available the sponsorship. It went on to become the Celtic International. Hunter is standing beside the timekeepers stand.

Although Hunter was heavily involved with club organisation and administration after he became club secretary in 1975, he did manage to put in some useful performances at competitions. For instance on 12th August, 1973 at the age of 37, he ran 1500m in 3:59.5 which ranked him twenty second senior in Scotland. This was done while representing Aberdeen AAC in Division 1 of the Scottish League where he finished third A String and fourth overall – among those who finished behind him was Hugh Barrow of Victoria Park.

Thereafter, notably in 1976 he had a series of good runs. In that year, on 30th May, and having turned 40, he won the Scottish Veteran’s 800m title in a championship record time of 2:01.1. In the world rankings for 1976 that time of 2:01.1 placed him 9th equal in the 40-49 rankings for the 800m. It stood as a Scottish vets best for the distance until 1993 when clubmate Denis Shepherd ran 2:01.0 in Dundee. Now, in 2017, 41 years later, it remains the second best time by an Aberdeen AAC M40 for the distance. Later that summer he won the British Veteran’s 800m title in a time of 2:01.5. That season he also ran 55.7 for 400m at Balgownie on 4th April, and 4:12.2 for 1500 on 9th May in Dundee.

In 1977 he won the Scottish Veteran’s 1500m title on in a championship record time of 4:12.6. He ran 4:12.2 on 9th May 1977 when representing the club in a meeting of the North Eastern League and this placed him 19th equal in the 40-49 rankings for the distance. This was an official time but on 12th June 1977, he ran 4:08.0 in a Scottish League Division 1 Match at Coatbridge on 12th June. Here he finished out of the first three and the time is an unofficial one, taken by a club member. This, of course, meant that it did not count for world rankings.

Because of injury niggles he did not compete again in a championship event until 1986. In that year he won the Scottish Veteran’s 800m over-50’s title in a time of 2:14.7 at Dundee on 29th June. In ’86 he also ran a 1500m in 4:37.8 at Balgownie in the club championships on 30th August.

We have then three Scottish and one British veteran championship victories – three of those in two summers, and two of them in record time. One of the interesting things about these is that they are at the same distances as he was running as a schoolboy of 15 in 1951. Most endurance athletes tend to go up a distance or several as they grow older but Hunter must have looked after himself throughout his career to be able to set records at his original distances. In the picture below, we see him at the age of 47 in a race where he finished 23rd in a strong field of veteran cross-country runners.

Scottish Vets cross-country in Aberdeen in February 1983.

Although injury problems in 1987 led Hunter to conclude that it would be prudent to stop competitive running, he remained active. In particular, he continued cycling and was pleasantly pleased to discover that at 80 years of age he was still capable of going for cycles of up to sixty miles, albeit at a much slower pace than when he was younger.

The ability to still be able to cycle significant distances well after joining the ranks of the elderly is only one of the things that gave Hunter satisfaction. Another is that not only is his elder son, Bill, still an active athlete but Bill’s wife and both of his daughters are also. In fact, Bill’s wife, Ruth, is also a coach as is Bill’s younger daughter, Rachel. Athletics, therefore, remains one of Hunter’s great interests.

We finish with more comments from two of his club mates. First comes from Lynda Bain, former Scottish women’s marathon champion and record holder:

“Hunter takes a genuine interest in athletes. He took his position as secretary of Aberdeen AAC very seriously and made the effort to encourage me when I joined the club. He took the time to keep informed about athletes from the club and their performances. I have met him recently and he hasn’t changed a bit! He still looks pretty fit.”

Colin Youngson, former Scottish marathon champion, says

When I was a student at Aberdeen University, Hunter Watson once beat me in a mile race on the chunky cinder track at Linksfield, Aberdeen around 1967. He simply trailed me unobtrusively until unleashing a tremendous sprint! After that tactical lesson, I ran the first three laps as hard as I could and moved safely out of his reach. He had of course been a Scottish One Mile medallist in the 1950s; and won Scottish and British Veterans track titles when he turned 40. I remember him advising me to breathe only through my nose as I raced. However I continued to use mouth and indeed ears as well! As a middle distance coach of AAAC, he organised many track repetition sessions for athletes who performed very well over 800m and 1500m – but few had the stamina for 5000m! He was a well-respected long-time Secretary and had considerable influence on the club, due to his meticulous organisational skills and encouraging journalism in the club newsletter. Largely due to his influence, AAAC developed into a marvellous club for young athletes; the seniors won many national road and cross country team medals; and had great success in track and field leagues. In his early 80s, Hunter remains fit, healthy, clever and determined.

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