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Bob Dalgleish

Bob Dalgleish was born in 1936 and died on 22nd October 1990.  He was only 54 and had only come into the sport in the early 1950s when he joined Springburn Harriers.   He achieved more in less than 40 years than many who had been involved for decades longer.   Writing this in 2015, it is very difficult indeed to realise that he has been dead for 25 years.   Always immaculately turned out, always pleasant and friendly, I don’t know of anyone who didn’t get on with Bob.

To start with a brief survey of his career I would like to reprint Tommy O’Reilly’s appreciation that appeared in ‘Scotland’s Runner for December, 1990.

It was with shock and a great sense of loss that I learned of the untimely death of Bob Dalgleish.   I first got to know Bob in the early 50’s when we both joined Springburn Harriers.   Bob represented the club as a sprinter and he would be the first to admit that he was never a star, but always ran with great determination and commitment.   In an administrative capacity, Springburn were indeed fortunate to have a man with the leadership qualities that Bob was to display time and time again over the years, both at club level and in the wider field of international athletics.   Bob will be remembered by many as the president of the Scottish Cross-Country Union, as the president of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association  and also as the Secretary of the SCCU, a post he was to hold for ten years.  

But it is the ordinary man and woman in the street who will remember Bob more than most, the thousands who ran in the Glasgow Marathon and the many who lined the streets of Glasgow to cheer on their own particular heroes.    To them Bob has left a wonderful legacy of personal achievement and undiminishing memories of their day of days, but my own memories of Bob Dalgleish, MBE, are more humble and unpretentious.   They are of a hard working club secretary, a diligent treasurer and a very distinguished club president.”

A Springburn club group, 1950’s: Bob Dalgleish second right, back row

Bob had come into the sport as a teenager and as a runner but the club quickly discovered his talents as an organiser and his predilection for hard work and he filled all the major offices in the club – secretary, treasurer and president.   These were positions that would hold for many organisations over the years to come.   The speed of his progress as rapid.

Bob (far right) on a Sunday training session from Johnny Ballantyne’s house with

?, Danny Wilmoth, Johnny and Tom O’Reilly

Elected to the SAAA general committee in 1966, by 1970 he was Officials Controller for athletics at the Commonwealth Games and his progress through the ranks to Grade 1 Track Judge was equally swift and by 1976, ten years after election to General Committee he was President of the SAAA.    Simultaneously he had been working with the Scottish Cross-Country Union and from 1972 to 1982 he was Secretary of the Union, handing over to Ian Clifton in 1982, although he was not to become President until season 1989-90.  Before Ian took over as secretary, he and Bob went to the world cross-country championships in Dusseldorf in 1977 prior to the World Championships being held in Bellahouston in 1978.   Lessons were learned that helped make the 1978 occasion a great success.   So much so that in 1979 Bob was elected to the executive committee of World Cross.

Springburn presentation, 1960’s: Bob, second right, front row

Bob held the post of Sports Promotion Officer for the City of Glasgow from 1978 until his death in 1990.   From what we know already, the late 1970’s were important, and very active, years for Bob.   Appointed to the sports promotion post in 1978, world cross championships in Glasgow in 1978, 1979 election to world cross executive, and in 1979 the first of the big Glasgow City Marathons took place with Bob very active in its planning and organisation.   It was the time of the ‘running boom’ with tens of thousands wanting to run the marathon distance of 26+ miles and the Glasgow event was one of the very biggest and best.   A lot of the credit for that must go to Bob, the committees he worked with and the structures that he put in place.

Bob was always affable and was so easy to get on with that many did not see the efficient organiser at work.   One of the essentials is getting the right people in place and delegating.   Alastair Shaw was one of his marathon team and he has this to say about his own experiences.

As an example of the influence that Bob had at that time, this takes a bit of beating.  Remember that he was also a member of the IAAF at this time, he was involved in the build up to the 1986 Commonwealth Games as part of his role with SAAA.

Bob, second left, watching leaders in an international 1K Road race that he had helped bring to Glasgow

A founder member of BARR (British Association of Road Races), Bob was also a member of AIMS.  AIMS was the ‘Association of International Marathons’ and became the ‘Association of International Marathons and Distance Races’, founded in London in May, 1982,  aiming at the establishment of a ‘World Circuit’ of marathons with representatives of New York, Honolulu, Boston, London, Frankfurt and many others including Glasgow.   

It was at the 4th World Congress of AIMS in Manila where Chris Brasher handed over to Bob Dalgleish that the Association expanded to embrace road races of distances other than the Marathon. The Berlin 25km and the Gothenburg Half Marathon were two of the first non-Marathon events to join.   This was one of the changes that Bob had to supervise.   He held the post of president until his death in 1990 when he was succeeded by Hiroaki Chosa of the Fukuoka Marathon.   Achieving this position was quoted by AIMS as being Bob’s proudest and most treasured achievement in athletics.

Bob on the right with Danny and Molly Wilmoth at Bonnybridge in 1954

Firmly established on the world stage was Bob did not forget Scotl and and was very active with the Glasgow Marathon and its successor the Great Scottish run.

Below – where it all started!   Bob as a runner in the early 1950’s, just after joining Springburn Harriers, back row on the left.   Tom O’Reilly is fifth from the left in the second row with Eddie Sinclair one place further along to the right and Tom Tracey in front.    Bob never really left the club and remained a member all his life.   For a time his affiliation was listed in the SAAA Handbook as ‘Bute Shinty AC’ – although the thought of Bob playing shinty seems a bit incongruous – this was purely a political move and to do with the rules of the association at the time.   There were several other examples of good club men representing other groups – eg Alex Naylor, as stalwart a Shettleston Harrier as you will ever find, represented Lanarkshire AAA, as did loyal Springburn man Eddie Taylor.    Clubs could not pack the SAAA and there was an upper limit of two per club and Shettleston were represented by Bob Peel and Eddie Taylor, when Bob came along Springburn had Jim Morton in place.   Nothing should be read into the ‘Bute Shinty’ connection: he was a Springburn Harrier!

I first met George Duncan in the mid-1980’s when I became team manager for the Clydesdale Harriers team in the Scottish Athletics League – it was a new venture for the club which went on to be a very successful squad over the following twelve or thirteen years.   George was a great help to me in all sorts of ways and I soon learned to respect in the highest degree the volume and quality of his work.   At a time when there were five divisions in the league, four of eight teams and one which sometimes had eight but often only six, and when all matches were held on a Sunday at two – or even three – different venues, George would have the printed results – individual positions and performances for every athlete in every division as well as team scores and league positions by Thursday morning’s post.   This was not a wee six-month flurry of enthusiasm, it went on match after match, year after year with seldom a break.   On its own that was a wonderful performance but there was much more to him than that.

To start at the beginning, George Duncan was not a lifetime athlete – in fact I can’t find any evidence that he ever ran a race in his adult life.   His involvement in the sport began when, in 1975, his daughter, Margaret, brought home a letter from Perth Strathtay Harriers containing a plea for volunteer help.   The club, as Doug Gillon said, “hit the jackpot, and so did the sport of athletics. Not only did George prove an outstanding club servant, becoming its secretary for 25 years, but he went on to coach a succession of outstanding competitors, and to hold just about every post of responsibility in the Scottish Athletics Federation.”   When he died in 2000, after a short illness, at the age of 63, Doug reported that “it will be keenly felt far beyond his own home and family. Few people are irreplaceable, but track and field will need to enlist a regiment to do what George did in addition to his day job as joint-managing director of the Tayside Grain Company in Perth.”  

Following on for a bit from Doug’s comment, George’s work-load was prodigious.  In reply to a query,  he once admitted to 40 hours a week was regularly done, unpaid, by his family on athletics business.   On another occasion he replied that he had once calculated his expenditure on the sport and reckoned that it came to approximately £2000.   But then like many officials, he was involved in the sport because he loved the sport.   An old club official in my own club once said that ‘you do what your club needs you to do.’   This was a precept that George, and many another official lived by.  His work went beyond the club and he did what his sport needed him to do.   But essentially he was a member of Perth Strathtay Harriers where he was committee man, coach, trackside helper – and whatever was needed.

Club mate Jim Hunter has this to say: “I joined Perth Strathtay Harriers in the late 1970s… George and Margaret Duncan were firmly established as willing parent volunteers in the club. Their three daughters, Margaret (jnr), Ialene and Morna were all members at one time or another. Margaret helped with coaching, George was already the Club Secretary – a role he held for the next 20+ years. George was tenacious in his approach to getting things done – if he couldn’t do it himself he knew someone who could help. He always put the athletes at the centre of what was important. His volunteering interests were wide ranging. He was involved in many youth organisations in Perth and Kinross: The Boys Brigade, Perth and District Badminton, Perth and Kinross Sports Council. As I embarked on gaining my athletics coaching qualifications alongside his wife Margaret Duncan – George went down an ‘officials’ route…. and ended up a senior Marksman with Scottish Athletics. Margaret developed a successful sprints group and ‘team Duncan’ supported coach and athletes all the way. Names like Graeme Lammie, Jimmy Nicoll, Richard McDonald all were helped by George to reach their full athletics potential. George seemed to be able to meet any challenge with ease: officiating, organising leagues, teams, meetings with local and national organisations… But he was always there for the athletes, sharing a joke at training or at competitions “.   Probably because of his deep involvement with his own club, George understood the feelings of members of other clubs – loyalty to Perth Strathtay did not blind him to the similar feelings held by others of their clubs.   One example of this.   Clydesdale Harriers started to take league athletics seriously in the mid 1980’s.   The club worked its way up to the first division of four (as it was at that time) and in that season finished sixth, seventh and sixth in the first three matches and were sixth, well clear of the seventh team, going in to the final match.   In that match, the club which was seventh ‘beefed up’ its squad by bringing in half a dozen athletes from a London club and so gained enough points to move up to sixth overall and we were relegated.   I’ve never seen so many senior men, including several Scottish internationalists so deflated.   George was not at that Meadowbank match but on the following Wednesday at an open meeting at Crown Point he put out a call for me to report to the admin room.  When I got there he said he was sorry for what had happened to our club, he thought what had happened was wrong and would bring it up at the AGM.   It was a thoughtful gesture.

 Yet you could never call him one of the blazer brigade. More usually George would be found in his immaculate white shirt, with sleeves rolled up, mucking in wherever work had to be done.   He  was always a smoker: during any lull in proceedings, he would be found having a quick draw.  Jim Hunter says that it was his infectious laugh and a cigarette in hand that remain firmly in his memory.   Doug reports that ‘the once-fickle fire-alarm system at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall was was believed to have been personally engineered for his convenience.’

George was perhaps best known to the athletics world as an administrator and official.  He was a grade one track referee who officiated at the highest levels within Scotland including the 1986 Commonwealth Games, where the rules are rigidly applied.  He cheerfully and diplomatically defused many heated moments, but his regard for the young was evident at one schools meeting where an Irish lad, on his international debut, stepped out of lane.   He should, indeed, have been disqualified, but George dismissed the protest rather than traumatise the youngster and perhaps lose him to the sport.   When the Scottish Athletics Federation replaced the former governing body, the SAAA, their first handbook had George noted in many categories: as an administrator he was convenor of the Track & Field Commission and secretary of Perth Strathtay Harriers, and as an official he was qualified as a Track Referee, a Wind Gauge Operator and Photo-Finish Film Reader.   Not noted in the book, he served variously with the national governing body as chair of the track and field commission, on the international selection committee, part of that also as chairman.   He was secretary of the Scottish men’s league for more than 20 years, chairman of the Young Athletes’ League for 13 years, treasurer of the Scottish Women’s League for 10 years, founder and secretary of the national indoor league, and a great friend of school athletics – most of that simultaneously.   He was grants co-ordinator for lottery awards, and a proponent of the grassroots Sportshall athletics programme for the very young.

Alex Naylor once described a member of an SAAA sub-committee as ‘an apology for somebody who couldn’t be there’.   We all know the kind of committee man he meant but George was far from that.   He always stood up for what he thought was the right thing to do, no matter who he was up against.   Some examples.  First I quote from an article in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of 6th November 1993.

” NOT for the first time, UK athletics rules have been changed for the benefit of English competitors to the detriment of Scots — but this time the English may have over-played their hand.   George Duncan, convener of the Scottish Athletic Federation track and field commission, has appealed to the British federation, asking that a vote by the UK Women’s League last weekend be declared unconstitutional.   The league voted 15-13 to exclude secondary first-claim members — namely, those who are members of one club for the purpose of local competition, but who also join larger clubs to compete at UK level.

The rule prevents large clubs monopolising top athletes and allows the smaller clubs which nurtured them to benefit locally. It is of particular benefit to Scotland, who have just three clubs in the UK league.   An unsavoury whiff of sour grapes hangs over the vote which changed the rules, for it was aimed at City of Glasgow, who have just won the UK league for the first time.   The English believe many secondary athletes were used. In fact, Glasgow used only one.

Duncan believes the league rule conflicts with BAF legislation which permits secondary competition, and fears that if the women get away with such a change, the men’s league may attempt a similar move at their annual meeting shortly. If successful, it would prevent many leading Scots from competing for their Scottish clubs next summer.   The league also voted to become a senior-only contest, following the inclusion of female competition in the previously all-male McDonald’s Young Athletes League.”

That was George in one role, arguing on Scotland’s behalf with the UK Women’s League.  This next extract speaks for itself:

“Athletics facilities in Glasgow cost almost twice as much to hire as the national stadium in Edinburgh or comparable facilities at Grangemouth and Greenock.   ”The Scottish men’s athletics league has not hired any Glasgow track this year, because the prices we were charged for their other facility last season, at Crownpoint, were too expensive,” said league secretary George Duncan.   ”The women’s league, of which I am treasurer, was presented with a bill for more than #500 for our first meeting this year.   ”We finally settled for #461, but will not be going back. We can get cheaper facilities elsewhere. If the same price structure applies at Scotstoun, we will not be using it all – the leagues would go out of business.”   Duncan, also chairman of the McDonald’s league for Young Athletes, confirms however, that they will use Scotstoun track this weekend.

”We will decide afterwards whether to continue,” he said. ”McDonald’s put #8000 into the young athletes’ league, so they can afford the charges, but the bank’s sponsorship is not a full commercial one – #1200 – so the women’s league certainly cannot afford such charges.   ”With another sponsor, TSB, withdrawing from district, junior, and schools athletics next year, I can see very little prospect of events at Scotstoun.   Both men’s and women’s leagues will continue going to Edinburgh’s Meadowbank, because it is far better value.”

Note that that’s George in three different league posts simultaneously – Men’s League, Women’s League and Young Athletes League.   Many, indeed most, would shy away from any one of the three, it takes someone a bit different to take on three responsible posts and do them so well that at the AGM the comment is to recommend no change!   And it was not just league issues that saw George Duncan spring into action.     In the following report he is taking on the British Athletic Federation on behalf of Scottish officials.  The BAF was threatening to remove many Scottish officials from their list of approved officials because they had not officiated in any match south of the border for two years.

“George Duncan, who regularly works more than 40 hours a week, unpaid, in 10 different roles from selector to coach, says: ”BAF haven’t staged a meeting here in all that time. Why should Scots suffer because of their failures? Driving to a BAF event in Birmingham, with no living expenses, means a 17-hour day. If BAF do not relent, I will withdraw from officiating at all events and serve only my club and schools.”

In Perth, on club coaching nights, he would be found with his clipboard, rain, hail, or shine. This continued even during the last months of his terminal illness.   Two generations of successful athletes have reason to be grateful to him, up to his most major success, Richard McDonald, whom he steered to the silver medal in the 400m hurdles at the European under-20 championships in 1999.  He was commended as Scottish Coach of the Year.   Richard was best known as a 400m hurdler with a best time of 50.7, but he also had a 110 hurdles time of 15.53, 47.67 for 400m flat and 1:51.48 for 800m.    Competitively, Richard ran in the Commonwealth Games of 2002, and domestically won the Scottish 400m Hurdles in 2002, was second in 2001 and third in 1997.   If we need more evidence of his coaching, then we need look no further than James Nicol from the mid 80’s.   James had a 400m pb of 47.11 and made the semi finals of the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games event at that distance.   James also had a 10.7 100m and a 22.02 200m.

It says something about George Duncan that he was twice (1991 and 1999) awarded the Tom Stillie Memorial Trophy, a massive claymore presented annually to the Scot deemed to have contributed most to Scottish athletics.    Only one other person has twice been the recipient – Olympic 100 metres champion Allan Wells.   Locally too, his contribution was not taken for granted: he was presented with the George Mortimer Memorial Trophy for lifetime service to sport by the Perth & Kinross Council.   He was himself a past chairman of Perth and Kinross Sports Council, and a driving force behind the establishment of the local sports medical centre.   He was a leading figure in the Boys’ Brigade, and was active as a youth club leader in Blairgowrie where he grew up, one of a family of three girls and two boys.

In 2008 when the new all-weather athletics facility was opened in the grounds of Perth Grammar School at a cost of one million pounds,  it was called the George Duncan Athletics Arena and a fine tribute to the man it is.   Eight lane track with facilities for all field events and as much equipment as such a centre needs.   Of course Perth Strathtay Harriers are proud to call it home.   To mark the opening an athletics event was held on 10th August 2008.   The Perth Common Good Fund Committee agreed to give a grant of £1000 to Perth Strathtay Harriers towards the cost of running the meeting – estimated to be about £7500, with a similar sum coming from the Corporate Financial Assistance budget.

Many compliments and appreciations were published after his death and a few are reprinted here.   First, we have statistician Arnold Black’s tribute printed in the Scottish Athletics Yearbook in 2000.

“As this book goes to press, I have learned of the death of George Duncan.   For the second time in preparing this book for publication, I am filled with emotion as I type a page.   Everyone in Scottish athletics knew George Duncan.  In my relatively short involvement in the sport, I have never come across anyone who worked so tirelessly for the good of Scottish Athletics, without looking for anything other than to benefit the people involved in athletics, whether they be athletes, officials or sponsors.

He has been a great supporter of the Scottish Association of Track Statisticians, by speaking up for s when he felt it necessary, by providing us with information, by selling books for us, often paying us in advance before the books were sold.   e had no hesitation in  inviting George to be the first Honorary Member of the S.A.T.S.    I hope he would have enjoyed this book, which contains a foreword by one of the young athletes he helped progress in the sport, Richard McDonald.

There are people in athletics who work to some hidden agenda.   George was not one of them.  He was always fair, honest and supportive of good causes.   He was tremendously helpful to me personally and i consider it a pleasure and a privilege to have known him.

I will miss him.   I feel sure everyone in Athletics will miss him.   One thing is certain – Athletics in Scotland will not be the same without him.”

Doug Gillon said that   “I found George a marvelous and highly intelligent enthusiast for the sport, whose work was prodigious. At a personal level I found him most helpful, approachable and encouraging, and that resulted in, I believe, a heightened profile for the sport.”I

Charles Bannerman from Inverness had this to add:

“In 1988, Inverness Harriers finished second in the SYAL behind Clydebank. This was the first year that the Scottish champions were invited to compete in the English Auxiliary Final but Clydebank had to turn the invitation down because, due to the ineligibility of a large number of their English second claim athletes, they didn’t have a viable team.
The invitation then passed to Inverness who duly went to Birmingham armed, among other things, with 130 sprigs of white heater to distribute as gestures of goodwill. Immediately after that final George, in his SYAL capacity, had a letter in the Inverness Courier praising the manner in which Inverness had represented Scotland at the event. That certainly did the club a whole lot of good on the local scene at a time when upgrading the Queens Park was an ongoing campaign.
My own recollections of George are that I simply could never understand how one man could put in so much top quality, high level voluntary work on behalf of a sport.”

Barry Craighead is one of the best known, best liked and most respected figures in Scottish athletics.   Known to most of today’s athletes as a starter, he has in his career been a top class cyclist, a runner with Edinburgh AC, an administrator, and an official operating to the highest international standard.

Many very good Scottish athletes such as John Kerr, Hugo Fox and Hugh Mitchell started out as cyclists.   Several athletes have turned to cycling too but few have achieved as much as Barry has.  He was a cyclist for 18 years and a good one at that.   He won the Army cycling championships when he was doing his national service and rode for the Army in the Tour of Britain race.   We have a gallery of some of Barry’s souvenirs linked to this profile which contains some evidence of this.   Seeing himself mainly as an endurance cyclist cyclo-cross competitor, in 1958 he covered over 235 miles in 12 hours on the bike, in 1959 aged 21 he won the Scottish Cyclo-Cross championship and there is also in the gallery a certificate he received when he finished third in the East of Scotland Championship after covering distances of 25, 50, 100 Miles and 12 hours  at an average speed of over 21 mph.

Barry became involved in the organisation and administration of cycling and in 1970 was a member of the Cycling Technical Committee for the Commonwealth Games as well as being involved in athletics at the same Games.   Indeed, such was his enthusiasm that he remained on the Commonwealth Games organising Committee for both sports – 12 years for cycling and 15 years for athletics.

Barry was also the first Scot to become a Commissaire – an official in competitive cycling who equates pretty well to that of referee at an athletics meeting: he supervises the organisation of the race, briefing the riders and officials, checking that all equipment complies with regulations, is responsible for resolving disputes and complaints and so on.   In 1970 after the Games at Meadowbank, he acted in that capacity at the World Championships in Leicester.  A talent that probably nobody in athletics knows about, is that of cycle wheel changing – read on.

“When the Scottish Milk Race sets of from Glasgow next Tuesday, the 52 world class cyclists competing will be relying on one of the most important men behind the scenes to keep their wheels turning – Barry Craighead from Edinburgh.   Service operator Barry will be responsible for on-the-road repairs during the 5-day 55-mile event aided by a team of six cycle mechanics.   Barry holds the world’s record for a complete wheel change – 23 seconds .   The spare parts for the race could fill a cycle shop but competitors will be hoping they won’t be needed.”   The article continues but the important part for me illustrates another of his talents.

While he was in the Army with cycling as his real competitive sport, he started cross-country running as a means of getting fit for cyclo-cross.   He ran well, won the Scottish Army championship and started to take running a bit more seriously.    On demob from the army he joined Edinburgh Athletic Club – again the aim was to get fit for cyclo-cross events.   He always saw himself as an endurance cyclist.   Running, however, increased in importance.   Barry only ever had the one club – Edinburgh AC – and he raced in their colours in many races such as the Ben Nevis and other hill races, road races, the Musselburgh Festival and the National at Hamilton.   On the track he ran in the steeplechase – at Westerlands in the SAAA Championship in a field of 12 runners, he went to the front with a lap to go and then caught his spikes in the water jump barrier, tumbled into the water, and that was the end of the race for Barry.   On occasion when the club was short of a runner, he turned out in the 800m.   Others training at the same time were Eric Fisher and John Fairgrieve, both very active in Scottish athletics and known throughout the country.   Doug Gillon, athletics journalist, was also a member of Edinburgh AC at this time and says:

   His running career merged into his career as an official and eventually the officiating took over.

Barry taking over in a relay for Edinburgh Athletic Club:

(Note Bertie Cox of Greenock Glenpark Harriers in the back ground, and Jim Keenan who started with Springburn Harriers before moving to EAC)

His running career merged into that as an official which eventually took over.  When he first became an official, there were not many starters about and his mentor was the highly respected Bill Fulton, and there was also help and encouragement from the legendary Fred Evans.  His first event as a starter was at a Forth Valley League match at Newhaven track in Edinburgh and he ‘served his time’ and honed his skills at many local events, before becoming a chief starter eleven years later.   Barry’s career as an official developed, and in 1971 he was appointed Chief Starter for Scotland.  A Chief Starter is qualified to take charge at all events of all standards up to and including Olympic Games.   At that time there was a Chief Starter and others graded 1,2 or 3.   There were approximately 25 starters in the country then.   But starting, although the main focus of his involvement in the sport, was not his only involvement.

As with all enthusiastic and talented individuals, he was soon on to the EAC committee and in 1975 was elected to the East District Committee of the SAAA.   A contemporary there of Oliver Dickson and Bob Greenoak he became District Secretary – a position which he still holds in 2015.   One of the genuine characters of the sport and a highly respected and capable man, Barry’s friend Claude Jones was a member of the national cross-country union and by chance they became Presidents of their respective bodies in season 1983-84 – Claude  the SCCU and Barry the SAAA.   This was the first time that two men from the same club  had held both offices simultaneously.

Meanwhile his progress as the country’s top starter continued and grew even more.   He was soon officiating at 48 – 50 events a year,  sometimes over 50 races at a meeting.   He worked on the hill race circuit, at road and cross-country races but mainly in track, including some highland games meetings.   Not only was he in demand for national and district championships, he was officiating at British events.   In 1986 he was chief starter at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh which he counts as a great experience.    It is really impossible to list here all the internationals in which Barry has started but two will serve as examples of the standard.   At Meadowbank in July 1989, he was chief starter at the Miller Lite/IAC International meeting where runners such as Merlene Ottey, Kris Akabusi, Paul Ereng, Johnny Gray, Linford Christie, Denis Mitchell, Said Aouita, David Moorcroft and Sally Gunnell were all competing,  and at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall in the McDonald’s International in February 1994, there were Kirsty Wade, Bev Kinch, Colin Jackson, Linford Christie, Jonathan Edwards (60m invitation), Katherine Merry, and others of similar calibre.

Between those events, Barry officiated at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, the only Scottish official to do so.   He had to go to Spain the year before the Olympics for three weeks to be checked for skills and competence, etc but also so that he could run the rule over the situation there.   Mainly involved in the rowing events, it was the first time in history that electronic timing had been used for rowing events.   The big events were happening with ever increasing frequency.

Barry has operated at local, Scottish, British, European, Commonwealth and Olympic levels.    A record that not many can match.

A list of events where he has been a key official would include –

* Chief starter at the Commonwealth Games in 1986;

* Chief starter at the World Cross-Country Championships in Edinburgh in 2008;

* Chief starter for the European Cross-Country Championships at Holyrood for several years;

* Chief starter for European Championships for People with a Disability;

* Chief starter at the Transplant Sport UK 3oth Anniversary event in 2007;

* Starter at numerous international fixtures – note the examples above.

* Among the top athletes who have ‘come under his gun’ but not noted already are  Allan Wells, John Walker, Ed Moses, Mary Peters, Michael Johnston, Calvin Smith, Carl Lewis, Sydney Maree, Seb Coe, Zola Budd, Liz McColgan, Yvonne Murray,  …    in fact virtually all of the top athletes for several decades would be included in any list pretending to be comprehensive.   When Oscar Pistorius set a world record in Manchester in 2010, Barry was the starter and as such had sign the record application form.

Some incidents stand out – as when he recalled the field at the International Cross-Country race in Edinburgh in 2008!   When asked about it he simply says that there was no doubt that the Frenchman and the Spaniard broke the line.

Barry still operates at the National cross-country championships, helps organise and officiates on the day at the Traprain Hill Race and at the professional New Year Sprint.   One of his remarks, quoted in an article in ‘My Race’, a Scottish running magazine, was “Starting races for youngsters is most enjoyable … it’s great to see 300 kids in a line.”   Not surprisingly he has officiated at the Scottish Primary Schools cross-country championships since they started in the 1980’s.

But people like Barry are seldom involved in one role in any sport and Barry has proved himself a more than adequate administrator.   Currently on his club committee where he is Honorary President of Edinburgh Athletic Club in succession to Donald Gorrie, while Moira McGuire is chairman and working club president, having taken over from Barry who has been twice elected as President and Chairman of the club..

But there were several careers going on at once as far as Barry and athletics was concerned.   His position on the SAAA led to further international experience as a team manager.   In this capacity, he took a Scottish team to Budapest for an international fixture.   As a member of the Hill Running Commission set up when the SAAA was re-formed as the Scottish Athletics Federation, he was their East Area representative on the Federation from the very start.   In this capacity he managed hill running teams in Austria, Italy and Zermatt in Switzerland.

There have been other tasks undertaken too – many of long duration.   Barry looks after Scholarships and Grant Applications for Fife, East and West Lothian which while not as numerous as in the past, is important and not taken lightly.   When the Thistle Award Scheme started up in Frank Dick’s time as National Coach, Barry and Jeannette Heggie were involved right from the start.   It was a job that was to carry on for 24 years.

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Like most of the officials of his generation, Barry had a working day well away from the sport that he loved and that was taking ever increasing amounts of his time.  Barry started out as a joiner but for the last 25 years he worked for the Northern Lighthouse Board which meant travelling all over Scotland and to the Isle of Man as well.   Back in East Linton, and a member of the Dunpender Community Council for 14 years, he is highly respected in the community where he has several responsibilities – he looks after the Community Hall, he is on the Police Committee (CAAP), helps with school sports meetings and works with the schools on Fairtrade Projects.   The organisers of the Musselburgh Riding of the Marches Festival are organising and exhibition to encourage children’s sport participation and will have Barry’s starter’s uniform and memorabilia on display.

Starters are such a common part of the scenery at athletics meetings that they are seldom given much thought.   If we take a minute and look at the demands made on them we look first at the most dramatic item of equipment in the entire arena – the gun.      The starter is not allowed to travel on public transport to the meeting and has to park his car as close to the entrance to the arena as possible.   He has of course to pay for the gun and the ammunition himself.   How much does a good gun cost?   Around £300, and remember that most starters have at least two because they often have to fire a recall gun.     He has to purchase his own guns and keep them safe.   The starter’s uniform until recently was red blazer, white shirt, tie, white trousers and white trainers, all purchased by the starter.   The rules have now been relaxed with dark trousers being worn with a red polo shirt, although Barry still likes to wear the red blazer at  track,  cross country and highland games   He also has to purchase wet weather gear which is essential in Scotland. On occasion Barry has been mildly twitted about wearing the full rigout to cross-country or hill races but that is what starters wear.   They wear it for a reason and there is no real reason NOT to have it at any meeting.

The reduced number of starters in the country gives Barry cause for concern.  There are now only 10 – 12 active starters.   When asked why this is so, he thinks that it is partly because of the increased bureaucracy but also because of the expense.   Remember that the new starter has to buy his own uniform,  buy his own gun,  buy his own ammunition.  There is a small fee from meeting organisers but that is small compared with what the new official has to pay out in hard cash to start with.  Barry does not make a big issue out of the expense, nor does any other official that I know, but it would be good were one of the sponsors of the sport take on the responsibilities of supporting the legitimate expenses of this dedicated body of men and women.   Field event officials for instance are seen with weighty bags of equipment which is necessary for efficient organisation but which is often in short supply or faulty at the venue, timekeepers have to have appropriate watches, etc.    These and other genuine expenses, including appropriate clothing should maybe have some priority in spending plans.

However, Barry’s contribution to the sport has been recognised by various bodies and the main awards have been

1996  Scottish Sports Council National Service to Sport Award

2008  Scottish Athletics Lifetime Achievement Award

2014  British Athletics Award

For the last one, the citation read that it was 40 years service – when in fact he had 54 years service behind him at that point.    He was also given the honour of carrying the Queen’s Baton for the Commonwealth Games in 2014 as the representative of East Linton.

Just reward  for a man who has been cyclist, athlete, administrator and official; as an official he has been starter,marksman, track judge, commissaire; he has filled the role of international team manager and also held various roles at club, district and national level.     Like others who have kept and keep the sport running, he demonstrates a level of efficiency and commitment across several roles without  demur.     You can see all Barry’s pictures at this link

Barry carrying the baton through Dirleton, East Lothian