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Scottish athletics had many very talented runners in the period between the wars who are not remembered at all now.   This seems to me to be more than a pity, it is almost a disgrace.   We are less aware of our athletic inheritance than any generation before us.   Alex Wilson is an expert on this period and a very good writer into the bargain.   He has made several contributions to the Scottish distance running history website and he has now written this excellent account of the career of Peter Allwell – one whose athletics were unfortunately curtailed by the 1939 – 45 War.    

By Alex Wilson 

In the 1930’s, Scottish athletics was blessed with a surfeit of gifted middle and long-distance runners. This was a veritable golden era during which national records went by the board at practically every distance from the half-mile to the Marathon. In fact, a number of records created in the decade of the Great Depression would remain unbeaten until the 1950’s; performances such as James Stothard’s 1 min 53.6 secs for the 880 yards, Bobby Graham’s 4 mins 12.0 secs for the mile, Jimmy Woods’ 30 mins 34.0 secs for six miles, Dunky Wright’s 2 hrs 32 mins 41 secs for the Marathon and Peter Allwell’s 9 mins 13.4 secs for two miles. The last-mentioned runner is arguably the least well known of these record holders, due mainly to the brevity of his fame. This is the story of Peter Allwell, the soft-spoken Ayrshireman whose short but brilliant career was by definition meteoric.

The Allwell family were from the Lochwinnoch/ Kilbirnie area but Peter Allwell first saw the light of day in London on 1^st October 1913 owing to the circumstance that his father, John Allwell, had moved south to work as a groom and married an Englishwoman. Allwell was a toddler when the First World War broke out the following year, but for him the real upheaval occurred in 1916 when his father enlisted in the Army and he was sent to live with his grandparents in Kilbirnie. His grandfather Peter Allwell, was the long-serving coachman to Mr. Bryce Muir Knox of Redheugh, Kilbirnie, proprietor of Knox Threadmills. Allwell’s upbringing in Kilbirnie was, by his own account, a happy one, and he did not return to live with his parents in London after the war. In fact, sadly, he would not see his mother again until the 1950’s. When the death of his grandfather occurred in 1926, he went to live with his aunt and uncle. However he had to leave school at the age of fourteen and did not get the opportunity for higher education. To earn his keep, Allwell started at his uncle’s business, Watt’s Rope Works in Kilbirnie, but was always keen to improve his lot in life and later left to work in the building trade before seizing a job opportunity at ICI Ardeer.

As he told the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald in 1990, Allwell took up running at an early age. “It all began for me when I was a hamper boy for Kilbirnie Ladeside. Two famous runners at the time, Jock Calder and Willie Murdoch of Beith Harriers, came to train at the park. Someone said that they had a boy who could run the legs off both of them. We did 25 laps and I did seem to have them puffing a bit!” The youngster was promptly recruited by Beith Harriers, where he came under the auspices of trainer Tom Maxwell. Jack Millar, National Novice Champion of 1929, once told that Allwell would leap over high fences even though leading by half a mile. It obviously helped that he was relatively tall for a distance runner (5 ft 10¾ in or 180 cm), lithe and long-limbed. In 1990 Allwell also recounted how he began to make his mark as a young runner at Beith. “I remember running against Tom McAllister [a founding member of Beith Harriers in 1923 (sic)], who was one of the best athletes at that time, in a handicap race at Bellsdale where Beith junior football club play today,” he said, adding: “I recall enjoying a victory, but they did give me 100 yards of a start!”

Allwell’s athletics career really began to blossom after he joined Ardeer Recreation Club AC as a first claim in 1937, having started training seriously in 1936. Like a number of other runners from the area, he was attracted to Ardeer Recreation by the offer of a job at the I.C.I. Ardeer factory. Ardeer Recreation Club was formed in Stevenston, Ayrshire, in 1929 as the workers social and recreation club of the Noble’s Explosives Factory (which later became I.C.I.). At that time, the company was in the process of expanding its operations at Ardeer and taking on hundreds of new workers. Ardeer Recreation Club catered to a variety of sports and pastimes and was central to the community. During its 1930’s heyday Ardeer Rec. had notable success in junior football, rugby and athletics. The Athletic Section of Ardeer Rec. was formed in October 1936. In keeping with the times, there were men’s and ladies’ sub-sections; they trained on a grass track at Ardeer Recreation Ground, Stevenston, a place described by one contemporary as a “thriving hub of activity” in those days.

1937 also saw the emergence of Ardeer Rec. as a rising force in athletics. Thanks to fresh intake from Eglinton and Beith Harriers, Ardeer came literally from nowhere to place 12^th in the team contest in the “National” at Redford Barracks. As a knock-on effect of Ardeer’s emergence, Eglinton Harriers became defunct in 1935 and their members joined Ardeer Rec., as, incidentally, did athletes from Beith and Irvine.

In addition to Peter Allwell, Ardeer Rec. had several other well-known athletes in their ranks; notably Willie Fulton, a former winner of the South-Western District cross-country championship; Dan Mulholland, a noted hill and cross-country runner; Charlie Wilson, formerly of Irvine, a four-time winner of the Ben Nevis Race; and Margaret Monie McDowall, who was just 17 years old when she represented Scotland at the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney. McDowall won a string of S.A.A.A. sprint titles between 1937 and 1939 and set up Scottish records for 100 yards and 220 yards of 11.2 secs and 25.8 secs respectively. In fact, it is thought that she was coached by Peter Allwell whose role-model status and teaching aptitude saw him elected trainer at the Ardeer club’s 1937 A.G.M.

 Pictured at Ardeer Recreation Ground (left to right): Willie Fulton?, Margaret McDowall and Peter Allwell.  

Cross-country 

With no more than a couple of pack runs a week with the Beith Harriers, Allwell was never going to set the athletics world alight. Even so, he gave a glimpse of his potential when he finished 10^th in the Scottish Novice Cross-country Championship at Hamilton on 3^rd November 1934. Then, on 26^th November, he ran the third fastest lap in the South-Western District 10 miles relay championship at Largs and, in doing so, helped Beith Harriers wrest the coveted title from Greenock Glenpark Harriers.

On 2^nd February 1935, Allwell continued his form by running 2^nd to Alec McDonald, Auchmountain Harriers, in the South-Western District Cross-country Championship at Beith, 40:23 to 40:41.

However his form was up and down that season, mostly down in fact. After a spell with the Beith Harriers’ “B” team, however, he bounced back to form late in the season to finish 2^nd behind Willie Murdoch in the Beith Harriers’ annual seven-mile championship.

Beith Harriers officially opened their 1935/36 cross-country season with a five-mile cross-country race for the Crawford Cup, and Allwell became the first holder of the trophy.

On New Year’s Day 1936, he finished only 16^th in the 1936 Beith Harrier’s race, some two minutes behind Jimmy Flockhart, Shettleston Harriers, who covered the six mile course in 33 mins 34 secs, but won first prize in the open ballot team race. In those days teams of three were selected by ballot, which meant that luck of the draw ultimately decided who won the team prizes – an egalitarian idea which then was quite popular as it gave slower runners a shot at glory. The race still exists to this day and is one of the longest-running annual fixtures in the Scottish racing calendar. In Allwell’s day it was a prestigious event which was always well-attended by runners from big Glasgow clubs like Plebeian, Shettleston, Bellahouston, Maryhill and Victoria Park. A list of winners can be found here: www.arrs.net/HP_Kilbirnie4.htm

Ten days later, Allwell was in the running for victory in the Ayrshire Cross-country Championship at Ayr Racecourse, which proved one of the most exciting on record with just 47 seconds separating Maxwell Stobbs, the winner in 43:11, from J. Calder the twelfth man. Beith’s Willie Murdoch was 2^nd past the post in 43:12 and Allwell 5^th in 43:21.

On 10^th February 1936, Allwell showed further improvement by finishing runner-up to Kilbarchan’s Willie Kennedy in the South-Western District cross-country championship at Inchinnan, and over half a minute ahead of Willie Murdoch. Beith Harriers, led home by Allwell, became the first club to win the team contest since the race was instituted in 1930.

The 1936/1937 cross-country season got off to an auspicious start on 5^th December 1935 when Beith Harriers returned victorious from the Ayrshire Cross-country Relay Championship at Ayr. Allwell ran the first leg and recorded the 7^th best individual time of 18 mins 2 secs to give Beith a 75-yard lead over new club Ardeer Recreation which they never reliniquished.

Later that month, Allwell finished 2^nd in the Beith Harriers’ club championship for the Watson Cup, which was run off on Boxing Day. He finished about 150 yards behind Jim Barr who covered the 8 mile course in 46:16 to 46:44 for Allwell.  

 The winning Beith Harriers team in the 1936 Ayrshire cross-country relay championship (left to right): Jim Barr, George Murdoch, Willie Murdoch, Peter Allwell. 

Although this performance was solid enough, it gave little indication of the breakthrough Allwell was about to achieve just six days later in the 1937 New Year’s Day race at Beith which was run over a two-lap, six-mile course starting and finishing at Gateshead near Kilbirnie. Allwell went straight to the front and made a hot pace which not even the Scottish champion Jimmy Flockhart, of Shettleston Harriers, seemed able to follow, with the result that he had a 40 yard lead over Flockhart at the end of the first lap. The Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald explains what happened next: “Although Allwell held a commanding lead at half distance, and still had when crossing the road a mile round on the second lap, few of the spectators considered he would hold it till the finish against the more fancied Shettleston runner who was looked on as a sure winner. When the runners came into view less than half a mile from the finish, it was seen that the local man had increased his lead, and he broke the tape 150 yards ahead of the champion.” Individual placings: 1, P. Allwell (Beith H.) 32:56; 2, J.C. Flockhart (Shettleston H.) 33:17; 3, W.C. Murdoch (Beith H.) 33:18; 4, W. Nelson (Maryhill H.) 33:50; 5, G. Murdoch (Beith H.) 33:59

What a turn-up for the books that was! “Allwell’s performance,” wrote the Herald, “was a revelation of speed and stamina which surprised Flockhart”.

It is worth noting that Flockhart would go on to win the International Cross-country Championship a few months later. A crushing defeat on Ne’ers Day at the hands of a relative unknown may have been just the spur he needed!

After that bombshell, Allwell’s only early-season result of any note in 1937 was a 15^th-place finish for Beith Harriers in the Ayrshire Cross-country Championship at Irvine on 20^th February. Beith’s Willie Murdoch won the individual title and Ardeer Rec. the team contest on that day. It was to be his last race in the Beith Harriers’ vest before he switched allegiances to Ardeer Recreation Club AC because, for some reason, he was not in the Beith Harriers team which finished 5^th equal in the national cross-country championship at Redford Barracks the following month.

When the 1937/38 winter season got under way on 2^nd October 1937, Allwell led the Ardeer team to 3^rd place in the Victoria Park AAC McAndrew Trophy road relay race at Whiteinch. He shared with S.A.A.A. six miles champion Willie Donaldson (Shettleston Harriers) the honour of recording the fastest individual time, both men being credited with 15 mins 53 secs. The much-fancied international champion Jimmy Flockhart was only 10^th with 16 mins 32 secs.

On 21^st November, Allwell led Ardeer to victory over his former club in the South-Western District relay championship at Stevenston, returning the third fastest individual time.

Then, on 10^th December, Allwell helped Ardeer lift the Ayrshire 10 Miles Cross-country Relay Championship title at Kilmarnock. “P.J. Allwell,” wrote Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald , “ran a magnificent race and virtually won for Ardeer, for, when he handed over to his team mate, he held a lead of 300 yards over his nearest opponent. He also secured the fastest lap honour.”  

Ardeer Recreation Club, 1937: SW District Cross-Country Relay Champions: Willie Fulton, JG Wilson, Peter Allwell, G Maxwell

 On 1^st January 1938 Allwell retained his title in the Beith New Year’s Day race, which for the first time since its inception in 1928 was run as an open ballot relay team race. There were 13 teams competing and, in all, 39 runners were engaged. Allwell ran the first lap for his team and, finishing 80 yards ahead of Alec McDonald, Auchmountain Harriers, clocked 12 mins 36 secs for the 2 miles 955 yard (4.1 km) course, to smash the previous record of 13 mins 20 secs, held by George Murdoch, of Beith. As far as is known, his course record was never beaten.

Four weeks later Allwell won his club’s cross-country championship at Stevenston, and followed up on 19^th February with a hard-earned victory in the Ayrshire Cross-country Championship over a distance of seven miles at Benwhat, the remote hilltop village near Dalmellington where Doon Harriers were based. Beith won the team race and in a close finish Allwell beat 18-year-old prodigy Bobby Reid, of Doon Harriers, for the individual title by the slender margin of two yards. A couple of weeks later, Reid would defend his Scottish youth three miles’ championship at Ayr with embarrassing ease. Incidentally, anyone trying to find the village of Benwhat on a current map will look in vain. The villagers were resettled in the early 1950’s and later all the buildings including the school were demolished. Today, the only traces of this once thriving mining community are some scattered remnants of building foundations and a war memorial on the hillside above Dalmellington. 

Start of the 1938 Ayrshire Cross-country Championship at Benwhat. Bobby Reid (40) and Peter Allwell (1) are already well to the fore.

 This relatively minor win aside, Allwell sprung a big upset in the Scottish Cross-country Championship at Ayr Racecourse on 12^th March. Running with the confidence of a seasoned campaigner, he was in the leading group right from the go and cut out the pace for stretches of the gruelling 9 ½ mile course to claim 3^rd place behind Emmett Farrell, of Maryhill Harriers, and Alec Dow, of Kirckaldy YMCA. Allwell was on his last legs at the finish, the distance being the furthest he had ever raced, but what a breakthrough it was!

Result: 1, Emmett Farrell (Maryhill H.) 52:26; 2, Alec Dow (Kirkcaldy YMCA) 52:55; 3, Peter Allwell (Ardeer Rec.) 53:18; 4, Tommy Gibson (Bellahouston H.) 53:25; 5, Tommy Lamb (Bellahouston H.) 53:32; 6, Jimmy Flockhart (Shettleston H., holder) 53:40; 7, James Freeland (Hamilton) 53:44; 8, Archie Craig (Shettleston H.) 53:46, 9, Alex Donnett (Dundee Thistle H.) 54:01, 10, David Cockburn (Dundee Thistle H.) 54:23, 11, Willie Fulton (Ardeer Rec.) 54:28, 12, Jim Ross (Shettleston H.) 54:28

Ardeer Rec. were the surprise package, finishing 4^th in the team contest behind Maryhill, Shettleston and Bellahouston and ahead of well-established harrier clubs like Springburn, Plebeian, Victoria Park, Garscube, Edinburgh Southern, Clydesdale etc.  

(Left to right) Peter Allwell, Emmett Farrell and Alec Dow (Ayr, 1938).

A couple of days later, Allwell was duly selected by the Scottish Cross Country Union to wear his country’s colours in the International Cross-country Championship at Balmoral Showgrounds, Belfast, on 2^nd April 1938. A second Ardeer man, Willie Fulton, 11^th at Ayr, was named as a non-travelling reserve. The under-strength and largely inexperienced Scottish team went to Belfast with only outside chances of a team medal given the absence of experienced Anglo Scots such as Robbie Sutherland or W.C. Wylie and the fact that reigning international champion Jimmy Flockhart was not fully fit. Scotland, led home by Emmett Farrell in 8^th, in fact finished only 5^th in the team contest – their worst showing since the inception of the championship in 1903. The performance of Jimmy Flockhart was symptomatic, the Scottish captain running one of the poorest races of his career to finish only 37^th. Allwell was said to have been very nervous, which was understandable given the circumstances, but acquitted himself well in heavy conditions unsuited to his loping running action and was the fifth counter for his team. England once again provided the individual champion in Jack Emery , who won by 19 seconds in 49:57.

The placings and times of the Scots were: 8, Emmett Farrell, 50:59; 24, Archie Craig, 51:57; 24, Alec Dow, 52:07; 27, Tommy Lamb, 52:21; 36, Peter Allwell, 52:35; 37, Jimmy Flockhart, 52:38. Unplaced: 44, James Freeland, 53:02; 45, Tommy Gibson, 53:03; 47, Alec Donnett, 53:19. 

When the 1938/39 cross-country season began in earnest on 3^rd December 1938, Ardeer were beaten into 3^rd place in the South-Western District 10 miles relay championship by Beith and Doon Harriers at Benwhat. Allwell (15:37) returned the second fastest individual time behind Bobby Reid (15:29), the Doon youngster of whom great things were already being predicted.

Allwell had little difficulty retaining his senior club championship at Ardeer House on 28^th January 1939. Covering the seven-mile course in 35:37, he defeated Willie Fulton by a margin of 1 min 34 secs. “Allwell is running well at the moment,” wrote the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, adding “and on present form stands a good chance of winning the national event in March”.

But as Allwell found out in the county cross-country championship at Ardeer House on 11^th February, his main rival for national honours was a fellow Ayrshireman. The Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald takes up the story: “Before the start of the race there were many, including myself, who thought that the individual championship would be won by P.J. Allwell, who has been running very well this year. These ideas were shattered when R. Reid, of Doon Harriers, ran a brilliant race to win comparatively easily from Allwell, who finished about 100 yards after the younger man. Reid`s victory over a runner of Allwell’s calibre shows what may be expected from this brilliant youth. He is definitely amount Scotland’s best and should win the national title at Lanark to-morrow week. Of course, Allwell will be there also.”

The 1939 Scottish Cross-country Championship, held over a course of 9 ½ miles at Lanark Racecourse on 4^th March, went by the form book. Allwell produced an outstanding run to finish 2^nd behind his new-found nemesis Bobby Reid, who annexed both the junior and senior titles. The young Doon Harrier produced a phenomenal performance, making light work of the heavy turf to win by some 200 yards. It actually was the first time that Reid had raced a greater distance than seven miles and his first test against the entire array of Scotland’s experienced distance runners. Allwell in turn passed the finishing post about 200 yards ahead of the holder, Emmett Farrell, and in so doing added a coveted S.C.C.U. individual medal to his growing collection.

Result: 1, Bobby Reid (Doon Harriers) 53:07; 2, Peter Allwell (Ardeer Rec.) 53:44; 3, Emmett Farrell (Maryhill H.) 54:23; 4, Archie Craig (Shettleston H.) 54:27; 5, Jim Ross (Shettleston H.) 54:31; 6, Bob McPherson (Maryhill H.) 54:39; 7, Willie Kennedy (Kilbarchan AAC) 54:45; 8, Jimmy Flockhart (Shettleston H.) 54:46; 9, Willie Sutherland (Shettleston H.) 54:49; 10, Alec Donnett (Dundee Thistle H.) 55:01; 11, Tommy Gibson (Bellahouston H.) 55:05, 12, Alec MacLean (Greenock Glenpark H.) 55:19

After the previous year’s 4^th-place finish, Ardeer Rec. produced another strong team performance to place 7^th out of 23 teams.

“Versatile P.J. Allwell, of Ardeer, who was second,” prophesied “D.B.R.”, “gave a fine display, and one that deserves high commendation. On track and across-country, Allwell is a power to be reckoned with in Scottish athletics.”

Left to right: Archie Craig, Emmett Farrell, Alec Dow and Willie Sutherland (Lanark, 1939).  

 The first nine runners to finish in the national formed to the Scottish team for the international contest at Cardiff on 1^st April 1939. The atmosphere was somewhat more upbeat than in the previous year, with Scots hopes largely resting on the shoulders of Bobby Reid.. “Scotland’s men,” wrote W.B., “are out to regain prestige after the collapse which last year left them in fifth place. We have a hopeful team, with good leaders and able supports. All are more than plodders, and have the pace for the light going such as the Ely Racecourse is expected to give.” Allwell, in particular, found the light conditions to be in his favour and produced a storming run to finish 23^rd. The Scottish team, led home by Emmett Farrell in 7^th, packed well with all six counters finishing in the top thirty, but were unfortunate to miss out on a team medal by a tantalising five points. Luck was not on their side: unfortunately, Scots prodigy Bobby Reid was well below par after sustaining nasty burns in the Dallmellington Co-op bakehouse where he worked as an appentice and failed to even make the counting six. England’s Jack Holden won the individual title for a record fourth time in 47:19.

The placings and times of the Scots were: 7, Emmett Farrell, 48:21; 12, Jimmy Flockhart, 48:48; 22, Bob McPherson, 49:17, 23, Peter Allwell, 49:20; 27, Willie Sutherland, 49:31, 29, Jim Ross 49:35. Unplaced: 31, Bobby Reid, 49:43; 54, Willie Kennedy.

Left to right: Jim Ross, Willie Sutherland (captain), W.S. McCarthy (President S.C.C.U.), Bobby Reid, S.C.C.U. official, Archie Craig, Emmett Farrell, Jimmy Flockhart, Willie Kennedy, Peter Allwell (Cardiff, 1939).

 The outbreak of the war later that year mean that Allwell was regretably unable to gain any further Scottish cross-country caps. Ironically, the 1940 International Cross-country Championship had been awarded to Scotland and would in all likelihood have been decided virtually on his doorstep in Ayr. 

On the track

Despite Allwell’s record of success in cross-country, he rarely raced beyond two miles on the track. Nevertheless, his track career merits special attention.

Allwell’s earliest track result of any note was a 2^nd place finish in the 1936 Ayrshire mile championship. However his track career did not begin in earnest until 1937, and it was meteoric.

On 12^th June 1937 he produced an outstanding performance in the Babcock & Wilcox Athletic Club sports at Renfrew. The Scotsman led with the heading “Ardeer man’s fast time in the mile handicap” and wrote, “Running off the short mark of 65 yards in the open mile handicap, P.J. Allwell, Ardeer, worked through a large field, to win the fast time of 4 mins 13.7 secs.” This incidentally works out at 4:06.4 for 1500 metres.

Two weeks later he made his mark in the S.A.A.A. mile championship at Hampden Park where he ran in the mile representing Beith Harriers, and not Ardeer. There were eleven entries and Allwell finished 2^nd sixty yards behind Maryhill`s Bobby Graham in around the standard time of 4 mins 30 secs.  

On 3^rd July, Allwell notched up another win in the confined mile handicap in the Ardeer Recreation Club’s annual sports with a 4:34.8 scratch clocking in rough conditions.

Then, on 8^th July, he took on, among others, James Stothard in a mid-week mile race at Craiglockhart and gave the Scottish half-mile record holder something to think about in returning a time of about 4 mins 28 secs. “Allwell,” wrote the Scotsman, “cut out the pace until the last , when Stothard took command to win by about eighteen yards. Time: 4 mins 24 7-10 secs.” Two days later, Allwell was back in action in the invitation mile in the Ayr A.C. sports. The Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald reported: “P.J. Allwell, who has been hitting the high spots of late, ran a splendidly judged race to finish first in 4 minutes 20 1-10^th seconds”. Then on 19^th July he continued his winning form with another strong performance in the Maryhill Harriers’ Sports at Largs where he won the 3000m handicap at a canter from Beith’s Willie Murdoch in 9:00.5 off 84 yards.

These performances earned Allwell an invitation to run in the invitation mile at Clyde F.C. Sports, held at Shawfield before a large crowd of 12,000 spectators on Saturday 31^st July. Allwell (off 20 yards) proved his worth by finishing a close 3^rd behind England’s Reg Thomas (who ran on to complete the full mile in 4:15.0) and 12 yards behind Bobby Graham (4:18.5) in around 4 mins 21 secs. The invitation events were the feature of the major athletics meetings held in Glasgow between May and September and were run separately from the open races. For Allwell to have reached this standard within such a short space of time was pretty remarkable in itself, but also indicated that there was more to come.

Allwell kicked off the 1938 track season with an impressive win in the invitation three-quarter mile handicap in the Maryhill Harriers’ Sports at Firhill on 23^rd May. Starting with an allowance of 20 yards, he won by 25 yards from Springburn’s W.R. Struthers (38 yds). His time of 3:13.8 was an excellent performance considering the six-laps-to-the-mile grass track. Bobby Graham, making his first appearance in an open meeting since his return from the Empire Games in Australia, was still a little rusty and finished 3^rd off scratch in 3:16.8. “Graham showed up well for two laps and at one period looked a probable winner,” wrote athletics columnist Ggroe, “but P.J. Allwell, Ardeer, to whom he was conceding 20 yards, opened out over the last lap to finish strongly, fully 25 yards in front of Graham.”

Five days later, Allwell posted a 9:10.0 off 45 yards in the two miles handicap in the Monkland Harriers’ sports at Coatbridge, prompting speculation that he could be in the running for a Scottish two-mile record. The Daily Record identified Allwell as “the pick of the runners in the two miles,” adding: “From the short mark of 45 yards he sailed along with consummate grace to make short work of the generous handicap allowances given to men like J.E. Farrell, W. Sutherland and A. Craig (Shettleston), and J.N. Lapraik (Glasgow University). He had all his field practically at a mile to go, and ultimately raced home a victor from A. Craig (to whom he conceded 105 yards) in the excellent time of 9 min. 10 sec. Given an early opportunity on a good track, Allwell is certain to get close to the present two mile record figures of 9 min. 17 sec.” “P.J. Allwell, Ardeen Recreation Club,” wrote The Scotsman, “revealed unexpected improvement on last year’s form when winning the two miles handicap at Monkland Harriers Sports, held at Cliftonhill Park, Coatbridge, on Saturday. Allowing for his 45 yards start, his time of 9 mins 10 secs is almost equal to the Scottish record set up last year at Cowal Games by Robert Graham (Maryhill Harriers). The Ardeer man’s feat was more exceptional in view of the conditions. Rain fell heavily, and the track, on grass, measured six laps to the mile. If he concentrates on the three miles, Allwell holds outstanding prospects in the Scottish A.A.A. championships.”

On 2^nd June in the Atalanta v Western District meeting at Westerlands, Allwell finished the length of the straight ahead of Bellahouston’s Jack Gifford in the mile in 4:33.5.

Two days later he was back in action at the Balmoral Grounds in Belfast, having been invited to run for Scotland at the Royal Ulster Constabulary international sports meeting against athletes from England, Scotland, Germany, Eire and Northern Ireland. The event was broadcast live on radio and Allwell added to his new-found celebrity by achieving the only Scottish victory in the mile in which he defeated, among others, England’s Bernard Wright in 4:30.4. The Herald ran its report on the meeting with the heading “Scot’s victory at Belfast, P.J. Allwell wins mile race”. “P.J. Allwell, the Scottish athlete who recently won the three-quarter mile handicap at Maryhill Harriers’ sports and the two miles invitation race at Monkland Harriers’ sports, further distinguished himself on Saturday by winning the mile. That was the only Scottish success.”

Allwell ran the three miles, and not the mile, in the S.A.A.A. championships at Hampden on 25^th June. Despite having no prior form over this distance, he was regarded as one of the favourites alongside holder George Carstairs, Edinburgh University; and the in-form Jackie Laidlaw, Edinburgh Northern, who had clocked a fast 14:41.2, missing Tom Blakely’s native record by just 8.2 seconds, at Craiglockhart only ten days earlier. Here is how the race unfolded according to the Herald: “Expectations of spirited challenges and counter-challenges in the three miles were realised for half of the distance, when P.J. Allwell and J.P. Laidlaw endeavoured to outmanouevre G.M. Carstairs, Edinburgh University. Neither of his rivals, however, had the pace to equal the champion, and when he applied pressure in the third mile he soon disposed of his challengers. Running on strongly on his own, he won by fully 150 yards in excellent time indeed, when the force of the wind against him in the home straight is considered.” Ultimately, then, it was a cut and died decision in favour of Carstairs, who clocked 14:40.8. Laidlaw was 2^nd in 15 mins 6 secs. Allwell, 3^rd, gained a standard medal by running exactly 15 mins 15 secs.

 Allwell clearly did not produce his best form in the national championships but rediscovered it three days later in the Glasgow Transport Sports at Helenvale Park where he defeated S.A.A.A. mile champion Bobby Graham for the second time that season to win the mile-and-a-half mile scratch race by five yards from Graham in 6:54.8. But for adverse weather conditions (heavy rain and a sodden track), the British record of 6:36.5 set by Tommy Riddell at the same venue in 1935 would have been in jeopardy.

On 2^nd July, Allwell defeated Emmett Farrell, the S.A.A.A. six miles’ champion, by almost fifty yards in a two-mile team race at Ardeer Recreation Club’s annual sports in a good time of 9:35.5.

On the evening of Tuesday 5^th July, after work, Allwell dashed up to Glasgow for the 7 p.m. start and did what he had been threatening to do all year. Running off scratch in the two miles handicap in the Shettleston Harriers’ meeting at Helenvale Park, he made up big handicaps on the entire field but was just beaten by Shettleston’s Jim Ross, off 120 yards, who produced a great burst approaching the line and just managed to overhaul Allwell. Allwell’s time of 9:13.4 was a Scottish record, 3.9 seconds inside Bobby Graham’s national record set at Dunoon the previous year.

Allwell maintained his form streak in the invitation mile handicap in the Dundee Police Sports at Den’s Park on Saturday 9^th July. Running from a virtual scratch mark of 10 yards and conceding Jackie Laidlaw 20 yards, he worked his way through the field to take 2^nd, five yards behind Laidlaw, 4:20.6 to 4:21.6. “Considering the five laps to the mile grass track and the stiff wind blowing down the home straight,” wrote the Evening Telegraph, “these performances are very good indeed.”

On the evening of Tuesday 12^th July, he rounded of a few hectic weeks by running a leg in the winning one mile medley relay in a triangular contest at the Ardeer Recreation Grounds between Ardeer Rec., Ayr A.C. and Kilmarnock Harriers.

On the strength of his performances Allwell was subsequently selected to represent Scotland in the mile in the triangular athletic contest against England and Ireland at Dublin on 23^rd July. It was his biggest track race to date, and he rose to the occasion by finishing a close 3^rd behind England’s Jim Alford and Jack Gifford. The times were excellent: 4:20.6 for Alford, 4:22.0e for Gifford and 4:22.4e for Allwell. Despite stand-out performances by Dick Littlejohns in the half-mile, Jackie Laidlaw and Peter Allwell in the mile and an Irish record of 14:29.8 by George Carstairs in the three miles, the Scots team was missing a number of leading athletes and unfortunately finished last.  

Allwell was later invited to run in the Glasgow Rangers’ Sports at Ibrox on 6^th August, where he started off 54 yards in a specially framed 1500m handicap, which had been billed as an attempt by Sydney Wooderson on Jack Lovelock’s world record of 3:47.8. The bespectacled Englishman failed to get the world record after running the first lap too quickly, but salvaged a British record of 3:49.0. Allwell was unplaced.

On the strength of his performances in the 1939 national and international cross-country championships, it had been widely anticipated that Allwell would be a contender for the S.A.A.A. 10 miles’ championship. What the pundits didn’t know, however, was that Allwell had enlisted with the Territorials – The 6th Battalion, The Royal Scots Fusiliers, to be exact – on 18^th March 1939. During the spring and summer of 1939 with war clouds gathering, recruitment drives were a common feature across the country and taking in volunteers in record numbers. It was a difficult decision made by conscience, and it effectively stalled his running career and put paid to any hopes he made have had of winning an S.A.A.A. track title.

Allwell continued to work as normal at I.C.I. after undergoing basic training with the territorials, and attended for military duty as required. Even after his enlistment, he managed to get a few races in before finally being called off to war. His first competitive track outing of any note in 1939 was in the S.A.A.A. three-mile championship at Hampden on 24^th June where finished outside the medals behind defending champion George Carstairs, who claimed his 3^rd successive title in 14:41.2. As in the previous year, Allwell gained a standard medal by beating 15 mins 15 secs. His only other notable track appearance that year was in the Ardeer Recreation Club’s annual sports, held in atrocious conditions at Stevenston on 8^th July. Here, Allwell made up some big handicaps to win the confined mile handicap off 5 yards in 4:35.8. Later he placed 2^nd behind Bobby Graham in the two-mile team race, where he led until the last lap when Scottish mile champion sprinted away to win by 50 yards, 9:40.4 to 9:50.0. The Herald reported that Allwell had just returned from the fusiliers’ annual camp, where he had gained quite a collection of awards at the camp sports, but otherwise gave no details.

The war and after

The 6th Battallion, Royal Scots Fusiliers 1939-46 by T.M. Gemmell contains an anecdote about a cross-country run involving Allwell in basic training: “It was decided that with a few hours’ training the duplicate Battalion would mount a guard before the end of camp. It must have been the crushing win of a slim young Fusilier from Saltcoats in the cross-country race that gave them this presumptious idea. Long before anyone was expected a figure appeared all by himself on the brow of a hill; “he must have cut a corner” was everyone’s reaction, for it was not realised that Fusilier Allwell was a Scottish two mile record holder. Minutes later the rest of the field appeared.”

After the declaration of war against Germany in September 1939, the 6th Battalion, RSF were among the first units to see action in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force and fought a rear guard action after the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940. Allwell suffered a bullet wound which left a nasty scar but otherwise survived unscathed. His skills as a Bren gunner saw him promoted to Corporal in early 1940, and then to Sergeant a few months later. On his safe return to England, he was stationed at Colchester, where he met Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who was accompanied by his wife when he visited the barracks in February 1941. Allwell was subsequently seconded to train the RAF Regiment at Grantham, Lincolnshire, where he spent the rest of his service as a Bren gun instructor. This was a more dangerous occupation than it sounds, because the new recruits trained with live ammunition!

During the last years of the war with the Allied advance well under way in Europe, Allwell represented his battalion with distinction in athletics. There being a keen rivalry between service units, and especially between the British and other Allied Forces, his services as a runner were highly valued; in fact, he was something of a legend within the RSF. His win in the mile flat race in the Infantry Division Army Athletic Championships at Balmoral on 1^st August 1945 is particularly noteworthy. 

 Peter Allwell photographed in c1945  

After he was demobilised, in 1946, Allwell turned professional. In any case, Ardeer Recreation AC was no more. For the next couple of years, he competed variously as “P.J. Allwell, Ireland” and “P. Allwell, Kilbirnie”. In these times of hardship and austerity any prize money winnings would have been a welcome addition to the family finances. Even though well into his thirties, Allwell showed that he still had a lot of running left in him. Despite starting almost invariably from the scratch mark, he won a string of races, such as the two miles handicap at the 1946 Strathallan Games. Times were seldom kept, let alone reported, for the footraces at professional meetings, which is a shame because he is said to have eclipsed his Scottish amateur two-mile record. This, incidentally, stood until 30^th June 1953 when Alex Breckenridge, of Victoria Park A.A.C., lowered it to 9:05.6 at Helenvale Park.

His great rival Bobby Reid settled in Birmingham after the war, where he joined Birchfield Harriers, and competed for Scotland in the International Cross-country Championship for another seven straight seasons between 1946 and 1952.

Allwell’s Army Medals

In 1946 Allwell began training physiotherapy and chiropody in Glasgow and subsequently opened a chiropodist’s salon in Saltcoats, which he ran until the 1960’s when he joined the Health Board and became chief chiropodist in Paisley, retiring in 1978.

Even after his retirement from competitive athletics, Allwell kept up an avid interest in the sport and captained the Boys Brigade in Saltcoats in the late 1950’s and 1960’s, organising races and officiating at B.B. cross-country championships across Scotland until the 1970’s.

In addition to his involvement in athletics, Allwell lent his expertise as a runner and physio to training Saltcoats Victoria F.C. and Irvine Meadow F.C. during the 1950’s and was instrumental in helping the Saltcoats Vics to lift the Irvine & District Cup in 1953.  

Allwell was married to Dorothy Young at Troon in 1941 and the couple had two children. The sporting gene evidently ran in the family for although neither of his children took up athletics seriously, his son was an international sea angler in the 1970’s. A versatile man, Allwell became treasurer of the Saltcoats Sea Angling Association.

Allwell kept his ties with Beith Harriers and often presented the prizes when invited by the club’s Secretary, Jim Swindale. The people of Ayrshire never forgot his services to athletics. In 1990 he was invited to attend the centennial celebration of the Scottish Cross Country Union at Irvine as a guest of honour and, despite his failing health, happily attended just months before he passed away at Saltcoats a couple of months after his 77^th birthday. Thus ended an eventful life of a man whose meteoric athletics career marked a still under-documented chapter in the history of the sport. 

Alex acknowledges the assistance given by Kenny Phillips of Beith and Peter Allwell, son of the athlete.

Walter Calderwood was a Maryhill Harrier whose involvement went from the very early 1920’s right through to the pre-war teams of Emmett Farrell and McNab Robertson.   A whole hearted clubman and always an honest racer, he was an internationalist on track and over the country.

He first came to the notice of the Scottish athletics public as a cross-country runner and we will start with his international debut.

Running in the Scottish Cross-Country Championships at Musselburgh in March 1922 Calderwood did well enough in the Maryhill Harriers team that finished fourth to be selected for the International to be held at Hampden later that month.   The race started at half-time in the Queen’s Park v Celtic FC football match and, possibly as a consequence, 10000 programmes for the race were sold.   Calderwood finished eighteenth in the team that finished third: this was to be the only time in four outings in the International Cross-Country Championship that he was to be a scoring runner.    Finishing as fourth Scot, he was preceded by Wallach (4th), Craig (8th), Wright (10th) and followed by Cuthbert (21st) and Riach (26th).

The following summer, the sport was well supported – eg at the Shettleston Harriers meeting at Celtic Park at the end of May, there were 143 entered for the half-mile, 101 for the three miles, 122 for the 100 yards, 115 for the 220 yards and 75 for the quarter-mile!    Given the handicapping system in operation, it was difficult for runners to make any impression unless they were friendly with the handicapper or of exceptionally good quality.   The coverage in the Glasgow Herald was scanty: there was a weekly column entitled ‘Notes on Sport’ with a sub-heading ‘Cricket and Athletics’.   Cricket took up two thirds of most columns and athletics was always the second sport to be covered.   There was only room for the winners (a state of affairs that obtained for the SAAA Championships) and in most cases only the winners were noted.    This is a roundabout way of saying that Calderwood was not noted in the results at any meeting during the summer of 1922.

In season 1922-23, there was no Maryhill team in the District Championships, but Calderwood ran in the National and ran well.   The report in the Glasgow Herald read: “The race was over a 10 miles course in the policies of Bothwell Castle and there was an entry of 21 teams of 12 runners (6 to count), with 6 aspirants for individual honours.    The field got away to a good start, and early in the race AB Lawrie (Glenpark) went to the front followed by D Wright (Clydesdale) and WH Calderwood (Maryhill).   At the beginning of the second lap the leaders were D Wright, JG McIntyre (Shettleston) and A Craig (Bellahouston)   with W Neilson (West of Scotland), JMcIntyre (Garscube), AB Lawrie and WH Calderwood close up.   When the final lap was entered, Wright had a lead of 50 yards from McIntyre (Shettleston), and Lawrie had moved up to third place.   Wright increased his lead to 100 yards when the final straight was entered, running out a popular winner.”   Calderwood was seventh or eight and was selected for the Scottish team.   The international was held later in March, and Calderwood did not finish the race.

On into the summer of 1923 and the first SAAA Championship medal.    In the SAAA event on 23 June at  Celtic Park  he was 3rd in the 4 Miles.  He had shown some form in the weeks leading up to the event.   In the Queen’s Park FC Sports on 2nd June he led the Maryhill Harriers team to second place in the Two Miles team race.    On 3rd August he ran well at Ibrox in the Rangers Sports in the one-and-a-half-mile invitation handicap where, after Duncan McPhee dropped out of the race, “T Riddell of Glasgow High School almost provided a rich surprise here but the reserve power behind the Maryhill man, WH Calderwood, was too much for this youthful runner.”       It was the best run of the summer for the Maryhill Harrier.

Calderwood is not noted in any of the major championships during winter 1923-24 but he was in serious action the following summer.   On 19 April 1924 at Celtic Park in the SAAA 10 Miles championship, he was  third.   The race was won by JG McIntyre from Dunky Wright by 20 yards and ‘fully 100 yards’ between Wright and Calderwood, who had run at the elbow of the leader for six and a half miles.   At the Shettleston Harriers Sports on 31st May, Calderwood won the Two Miles in  9 min 47 1-5th sec from D McLean (Wellpark).   The Queen’s Park Sports on 7th June held what were grandly called Olympic trials and in that for the 880 yards, Calderwood won by a yard from JD Hope and RB McIntyre.   The SAAA Championships in 1924 were held on 14^th June at  Hampden Park where Calderwood, running in the Mile finished third and was a member of the winning relay team.   Two weeks later, 28th June, he won the Mile at the Glasgow Police Sports by one yard from J Mitchell of Mauchline Harriers, having started from a mark of 40 yards against Mitchell’s 48.      He was not recorded as winning anything at the Partick Thistle or any other sports over the following weeks – cricket was the sport which was receiving all the coverage over the sumer season –  pages and pages of it reporting on Scottish and English cricket plus Test Matches while athletics was often reduced to half a column of close print.   Then on 12th July he was noted as being third in the Mile at Lochwinnoch AAA Sports.    One week later after ‘an exciting race’ he dead-heated with RR McIntyre at the West Kilbride AAC Sports over the Mile for the championship of Ayrshire in 4:30 sec.   Glengarnock Works Social Club held their sports on 27th July and although he was probably racing as an individual, he only appeared on the prize-list as a member of Maryhill’s winning one mile relay team.   Thereafter, despite there being several meetings most weekends there is no sign of Calderwood among the prizes – he was maybe handicapped out of it, of course.

March 7th, 1925 saw the National Cross-Country Championships and Calderwood was part of the Maryhill Harriers team that finished third.    Sixth scoring runner for the club he was forty seventh.   Straight into the summer season.    On 6th June at the Queen’s Park Sports he was running in the three miles team race where he finished third individual behind Tom Riddell and D McLean.   20th June at the Glasgow Police Sports, he was in the winning One Mile Relay team and no doubt took part in other events where he was not among the prizes.   Nor did he seem to have competed in the SAAA Championships at the end of the month with his name not being listed among the medallists.   Second in the half mile at Firhill in the Partick Thistle Sports, it was hinted that the handicapper had not been kind to him.   The main talking point at the West Kilbride Sports was the non-appearance of WH Calderwood who had dead-heated the previous year for first place in the Ayrshire Mile Championship.   In fact he does not seem to have picked up prizes anywhere thereafter, not even at the Rangers or Celtic Sports which were held two weeks apart in August.

The winter started with the cross-country relay in November.  Maryhill was unplaced but Calderwood was fifth fastest of the runners taking part.  The National confirmed his fine form when he was fourth, two places ahead of Alex Pirie of South London Harriers.    This gained him selection for the International held in Brussels later in March where he failed to finish.   The track season coming up was to be another good one for Calderwood who would win his first Scottish track championship.     He started championship month by not winning anything in the first three weeks and then on 26 June 1926 in the SAAA championships at Hampden Park he won the Four Miles in 20:31 4-5^th   sec from Frank Stevenson and Dunky Wright.   His first championship victory and some very good scalps!   On 10th July in the International against England at Hampden Park, he ran in the Four Miles but was not in the first three finishers.

In winter 1926-27, and Calderwood was one of four runners tied for third fastest time over the course in the District Relay.   In the National at the other end of the season, he was third Maryhill counter when he finished eighth.   The championship month of 1927 his first award was in the Four Miles at the SAAA Championships on 25 June at Hampden Park where he could only finish third.   He was one of four champions to lose his title, “WH Calderwood turned out in the Four Miles, after all, and up to three miles appeared to have as good a chance as J Suttie Smith, the Eastern District champion, and F Stevenson, the ten miles champion.   When the latter pair crowded on the pace there however, the holder gradually fell behind and was well beaten at the finish.”

He was known to finish the season well, and on 2nd July, at Celtic FC Sports there was a special handicap over 880 yards to give D Hope a chance of breaking the record but “Hope ran well and failed by three yards to give WH Calderwood twelve yards.   The winner’s time of 1 min 57 4-5th sec is the same as the Scottish record.”   Three weeks later in the Ayrshire Championships at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, Calderwood the most exciting race of the afternoon, the half mile, in a slow time of 2:04 after a tussle with J Calder of Beith and P Nicol of Kilmarnock.     At the Rangers FC Sports on 6th August, Calderwood was second to England’s C Ellis in a ‘first class mile’ in which he had been given 40 yards in the handicap.

In cross-country season 1927-28, There was controversy right at the start.   In the District Relays at Shettleston, the scrutineers took exception to the inclusion of one of the runners in the Maryhill Harriers second team; the club retaliated by pulling both teams out of the event.   This meant no race for Dunky Wright, Tom Blakely or WH Calderwood.   They were in better humour by the time of the National, had the teams entered properly and won the title.   Calderwood ran very well indeed and finished third and first counter for the winning Maryhill team.   If we pick up the ‘Glasgow Herald’s’ report at the end of the second of four laps we read, “At the end of the next lap – time 19 min 06 sec – the leading group included Suttie Smith, Calderwood, Stevenson, Henderson, Wright, Wood and Mitchell.   During the next lap, Smith and Stevenson gradually pulled clear of the field.   At seven miles or thereby, both were together, about 40 yards in front of Calderwood.   Several yards behind Calderwood came JF Wood and Cpl Sutherland.   At this time it was evident that the individual race rested with Smith and Stevenson, the Junior championship for Wood or Sutherland and the team race for the holders,  Maryhill Harriers.      Going for the last lap the leaders steadily increased their pace and tenacious as Frankie Stevenson usually is, he had to allow Suttie Smith to go ahead.   ….  Frank Stevenson beat Calderwood (who also ran very well) for second.”    The difference between Suttie Smith and Calderwood was only 26 seconds and between Stevenson and Calderwood 18 seconds.    Behind him came Sutherland, Wright, Tombe, Gunn and Wood – all very good runners indeed.  Later in March 1928  in the International Cross-Country Championships he finished 37th and not a counting runner.

On 2nd  June St Peter’s AC held an inter-club team contest which included six relays!    Maryhill Harriers won four of them.   The events were the 440 yards relay, 880 yards relay, Mile relay, Two Miles relay, Four Miles relay and 440 yards hurdles relay.   Maryhill won the 880 yards, Two Miles and Four Miles relays and also the Three Miles team race.   Calderwood ran in the Two Miles and Four Miles relays and finished fifth in the Three Miles team race.   A strenuous afternoon running for points for the club in the same month as the National Championships.    On 23rd June 1928  in the SAAA Championships at Craiglockhart, he was second in Mile to clubmate D McLean.   Seven days later he ran as a substitute for McLean in a medley relay race against Edinburgh University and was second after his two lap stint, a gap his team mates were unable to claw back.   On 14th July he was back in action at the West Kilbride Sports where he won the Ayrshire Mile Championship in 4:49.8.   At Greenock on 28th July, Calderwood won another open mile quite comfortably.    Then came the Rangers Sports on the first Saturday of August where he was entered in the special three quarter mile race featuring Ray Watson an American middle distance star.   It was said to be the race of the meeting.

“Watson who was on the scratch mark and conceding starts of up to 77 yards, ran so well in the early stages that he was on terms with the field in the final lap and was apparently under the impression that lying behind the leaders he need only make his effort entering the final straight to win easily.   He however was unaware that during the past month WH Calderwood had been specialising in sprinting in the company of C Ellis, the AAA champion, and although the American was out on his own sprinting to the tape, he was unable to resist the overwhelming challenge delivered by the Maryhill man in the last 80 yards and was beaten at the tape by a clear two yards.   Calderwood’s winning time was 3 min 4 2-5th sec from 22 yards and so well was he moving that it is just a pity that he did not run out the full distance, as D McPhee’s Scottish figures of 3 min  12 2-5 sec seemed well within his grasp.   Although defeated Watson had the satisfaction of returning the excellent time of 3 min 4 4-5th sec which is 1 sec faster than the previous British record created by  AG Hill, the double Olympic winner, at Salford in 1921.   Calderwood’s judgment in this race was perfect and it is questionable if he has ever run a better race in his career.   It was refreshing after some of the performances he has given this season.”     Very complimentary even if the final sentence could be rephrased as “And about time too.”    Maybe a wee bit off after the results noted above.

And so the summer season drew to a close and the new competition season of 1928-29 started.   In the Midland District Relay in November 1928, Calderwood had the third fastest time of the afternoon for the Maryhill team that was fourth.   The men in front of him were Girvan (Garscube) and Stevenson (Monkland).   Came the national in 1929 and he was eleventh – not good enough for selection for the international but good enough to be third counter for the Maryhill team that finished first.   Another gold and bronze for his medal cabinet.   This set him up for a good summer to follow and another SAAA gold medal.

In the Queen’s Park FC Sports on 1st June, Calderwood won the first class mile.   At the time it was not uncommon for popular meetings to have two races in well supported events: the mile was one of the more popular and so the runners were seeded and races held for the Mile (first class) and Mile (second class).   Calderwood was invariably in the first class races.   St Peter’s AC Sports were held on 8th June and again there was a series of relay races involving the top clubs.   Maryhill won the Two Miles Relay and the Four Miles Relay with Calderwood in both teams.   His next outing was in the SAAA Championship at Hampden on 22 June where he won the Mile in  4 min 29 4-5th sec.    The report read: “His previous performances this season had shown that Donald McLean had lost much of his form, but it is questionable if at his best he could have given anything to WH Calderwood, the victor in last Saturday’s mile.   Calderwood not only ran with the better judgment but carried the stronger finish and his time, 4 min 29 4-5th sec represented good running.”    Selected for the triangular international in Cork on 13th July,  he was unplaced in the Mile.   On 20th July at the Beith Harriers meeting, he was third in the 880 yards, running off 5 yards, behind Edmiston of Maryhill (58 yards) and Govan of Shettleston  (47 yards).   He finished his season on 24th August in Yorkshire at the Leeds Cross-Country Association Sports where Maryhill Harriers won the team race with Calderwood being fifth and first club runner home.

In November 1929, the club  relay team in the District Championship was fifth and Calderwood was fourth fastest over all when he ran the last stage.   When the National was run at Hamilton in 1930 there was no WH Calderwood.   The ‘Herald’ noted “Many of the competing clubs started with sadly depleted teams because of illness and other causes.   Among the biggest sufferers were the champions who had to start without WH Calderwood and AH Blair.”  

On to the track and on the first Saturday in June, at Tynecastle, Calderwood two miles team race and finished fourth, first for Maryhill.   On 7th June, he ran in the two miles team race where Donald McLean was first, he was third and Tom Blakely was fifth giving victory.   ran in the relay where the team finished second.   The following weekend it was again the inter-club meeting organised by St Peter’s AC, this time at Celtic Park, and there Maryhill again won the Two Miles Relay and Calderwood was in the team.    The report is worth visiting: “The finest race of the afternoon was the Two Miles relay and it was brought about by the fact that Donald McLean and HC Maingay were in opposition over the last half mile of the race.   In the earlier stages of the race it looked as if the Edinburgh team could not be concerned with the finish but CM Wells put in an excellent race in the third section and made up a lot of ground.   In the burst for the handover however he could not hold WH Calderwood and as a result Donald McLean set out on the final half mile with a lead over Maingay of over 30 yards.   The Scottish champion however was not dismayed.   He went after McLean in fine style, caught him in the back straight of the concluding lap and entered the straight a yard or two ahead.   The effort however had taken too much out of him and McLean had something in reserve and Maingay was beaten in the final burst by three yards.   Maingay was timed as doing 57 1-5th for quarter and 1 min 58 1-5th for the full distance. “

In the Glasgow Police Sports the following week, he ran well in the Mile (first class) buit was not involved in the finish of the handicap race although he ran the full distance in 4:25.

In the SAAA championships on 28th  June Calderwood turned out in the Mile and finished third.     The Glasgow Herald reported on the three races in which he took part as follows.   “Tom Riddell’s victory in the Mile was decisive and the form he displayed indicated that despite his comparative inaction during the past two seasons, he is just as good a runner as when he lived amongst us.   He cut out the pace himself from the start, and only on one occasion did Donald McLean get on terms with him.   Riddell did not run in the half mile but we had an inkling of what might have happened had he had, for he met HC Maingay and WH Calderwood in the half mile of the relay, and decisively defeated them both by the same cutting-down tactics.    The victory of Maingay in the half mile was easily gained as, though both WH Calderwood and Donald McLean turned out, they were obviously using it as a pipe-opener for their main event – the mile. ”     WH Calderwood finished behind Riddell and McLean in the Mile.    That and his form throughout the season was good enough to gain selection for the Triangular International with England and Ireland in July when he was third behind C Ellis of England and T Riddell of Scotland.    Between the Championships and the International, he was to run in an invitation half-mile at the Partick Thistle Sports at Firhill where he finished second ‘after his characteristic finishing burst’.  

Calderwood did not appear in any championship in the winter of season 1930-31, but he did run in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay held in April.   Running on the first stage, he was second, only 13 seconds behind Clarke of Plebeian Harriers who set a stage record.    However he was active as usual over the summer of 1931.   Glasgow held a Civic Week in the first week of June that year with athletics meetings being spread over six days.    The experiment was not a success – it was maybe too much to hope that athletics fans would turn out on ever day of the week –  but Calderwood ran in the invitation 880 yards where he was beaten for first by five yards, his conqueror being a new young athlete named CW Wells from Edinburgh.   On Saturday 13th June, St Peter’s AC held their inter club contest at Celtic Park once again and this time Maryhill Harriers made a clean sweep of the track races, except for the Junior One Mile team race where they had not entered a team.   In the One Mile team race, those keen rivals WJ Gunn, Donald McLean and WH Calderwood were again arrayed up against each other, and again they served up a thrilling finish.    Gunn once again proved the better tactician and his final effort proved too much for his Maryhill rivals.   The placings between the Maryhill and Plebeian clubs in this race, were very close – 12 to 13 in favour of the reigning champions.”      He also ran in the Two Miles relay which, of course, Maryhill also won.   The following week, at the last meeting before the SAAA Championships, Calderwood ran in the Glasgow Police Sports over the first half mile of the Two Miles Relay Race against James Hood.   Calderwood won that battle with a time ‘2 -5th sec over even time’ .

The Championships were held at Hampden on 27th June and Calderwood’s target was the 880 yards.   Calderwood won his Heat – held in midweek – before the championship proper on Saturday 27th.    There he was second to James Hood of Shettleston and then in the final won bronze behind Hood and Wells in a slow race, won in 2:04.2.   The report in the ‘Herald’ read: “The necessity of having stewards at the bends was emphasised in the half mile final.   From the stands, it was observed that there was much unnecessary jostling taking place and it culminated when JP Laidlaw was brought down.   It was a slow run race this, the slowest in twelve years.   The first quarter was covered in 64 seconds and the whole in 2 min 4 1-5th sec.   But the final, fought out between James Hood of Shettleston and CM Wells was the keenest for a long time.   Wells was in front entering the straight, but after a stirring finish Hood managed to get on terms 20 yards from the tape to win by inches.”   Calderwood also ran for the Maryhill Harriers team in the Relay where they were second behind Shettleston Harriers.   In the Catrine AAC Sports in early August the report tells us that although Calderwood did not shine in the open half-mile (he was unplaced), he was much too good for others in the relay and his club went on to win.     

Summer over,  Calderwood missed the District relays and the National Championship but he was back in action the following summer.   On 4th June he ran in the inter club event at Celtic Park in the team that was second in the Two Miles Relay and also in the one mile team race where h was the winner in 4 min 36 4-5th sec.   One week later and he was competing at Hamilton where (off a mark of 5 yards) he was second to T Rae of Monkland Harriers (running from 65 yards).     The Glasgow Police Sports were held on the 18th June where the finest relay ever seen in Scotland took place.   It was the One Mile relay where Glasgow University defeated Maryhill, the runners on the first stage being Morison for GUAC, Calderwood for Maryhill and Scott for Springburn.   Following this race, the reporter looked forward to the SAAA Championships the following week: “The half-mile is the most open race on the Championship programme.    On his showing in Saturday’s race and his indifferent form during the present season, James Hood the reigning champion is not likely to repeat his victory but JC Scott of Springburn, WH Calderwood and N Morison, if he reproduces the same form, are distinct possibilities.   JC Scott has made a rapid advance during the season.   He ran a very strong race on Saturday, and although beaten by both Calderwood and Morison it must be recollected that earlier in the afternoon he had won the police half-mile in 1 min 59 1-5th sec.    Calderwood finished so strongly, as he always does, that he too must possess a decent chance.”    

In the SAAA Championships on 25th June, the section of the report dealing with the half-mile was headlined “A Thrilling Finish“ and read “The half-mile was a fast race, and although scarcely as thrilling as the quarter-mile, was always interesting.   The winning time 1 min 58 1-5th has only twice been equalled in the history of this race – once in 1926 and again in 1929 – and the seeker after coincidence will be interested to note that the three victories have been associated with victories by WH Calderwood.   It was in 1926 that he gained his Four Mile medal, and in 1929 when he gained his Mile title.   In the half-mile n Saturday, Calderwood’s stamina and finish were excellent and he owed something to the cutting-down tactics of TJ McAlister.   The Beith Harrier set and maintained a pace that upset the others but suited Calderwood.”    Following the meeting, the SAAA selectors picked the team to compete against Ireland at Powderhall on 16th July.   The men for the 880 were WH Calderwood and JP Laidlaw with TJ McAlister as reserve.

In the International all the races were run on grass and the report said that Calderwood ran very poorly – a comment that no writer nowadays would make and maybe the sport’s the poorer for that!    “He lost yards on the bends and his usual strong finish was not there.   The time 2 min 2 2-5th sec should have been well within his compass.”   Maybe the scribe should have noted his comments that (a) the race was run on grass and not on the cinders that were more common.   He said earlier in the report that “this was said to favour the visitors, and no doubt it did”, and (b) that Calderwood lost yards on the bends and put the two together!   A ‘home’ international using a grass track which favoured the opposition, when there were good tracks in Glasgow and Edinburgh there for the using.

Then on 23rd July he was back on club duty at the Eglinton Harriers meeting at Saltcoats where he ran the first stage for the winning Maryhill team in the One Mile Relay.   In the Rangers Sports on  a wet 6th August the quality of his running in the 1000 yards race was remarked on right at the start of the report.   The actual race report came later and said: It is questionable whether WH Calderwood has ever shown better track sense than he did in the 1000 yards.   He was given the mark of 15 yards, a surprisingly large concession in view of the quaklity of his running over the same distance at Celtic Park early last month, but even without it he would have proved the winner for his finish, excellently timed, was so powerful that it left the others standing.    His time of 2 min 15 2-5th sec was, under the conditions, splendid and it would have been interesting had he run out the full distance.    The two scratch men in the same race, Tom Riddell and Cyril Ellis, disappointed.   Ellis never at any time during the race appeared happy, and the Scottish champion, although at the elbow of the leader at the bell, did not show much judgment.   He covered the first quarter in 55 2-5th sec, the half-mile in 1 min 58 sec, and seemed like getting there but weakened visibly a furlong from home and faded out.”    Calderwood also ran the first stage of the mile relay which Maryhill won.

On 30th July at Sanquhar, running from scratch he was third in the 880 yards to me running from 3 yards and 50 yards and also took part in the mile relay which was again won by Maryhill.

Season 1932-33 began as usual with the relays in November but Calderwood did not appear in any of them, nor did he take part in the National but he was back in harness for the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay on 8th April where he ran on the third stage where, in running the equal sixth fastest for the leg, he maintained Maryhill in second place, although they were to finish third.     That summer.   On 3rd June he turned out in the Mile relay at the St Peter’s Inter Club meeting which Maryhill won but did not feature in any of the other events.   In the Mile relay at the Glasgow Police Sports two weeks later he was second on the first stage and it was noted that he had yet to find his best form.   And in the SAAA Championships there was no WH Calderwood mentioned at any point in the report or anywhere else in the results.   His next appearance in the results columnbs was not until 29th July when he took part in the Ross County AAC Sports at Dingwallwhere he won the Mile and was second in the 880 yards: this was meeting supported by quite a few of the best from the West of Scotland so the races were not an easy option!   He did not appear in the results of any subsequent meetings that season not the bigger ones such as the Rangers Sports nor in what were previously happy hunting grounds such as Darvel.   There was another Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay on August  26th but it is unclear whether Calderwood ran in the team which finished sixth.

Absent from all the championships over the ’33-’34 winter, we see Calderwood turn out again in the St Peter’s Inter Club Sports on 16th June in the Two Miles Relay.    The Glasgow Herald reported: “Three championship candidates – R Graham, D McLean,  and WH Calderwood –  ran for Maryhill in the relay but their fourth man was scarcely of the same calibre and the result was that Calderwood with the final sector had to put in a good bit of running to defeat N Morison, the old inter-university champion, who is apparently intending to retain his connection with the track although no longer a student. “

 In the SAAA Championships the following week, he appeared in the result for the Mile: the event was won by Tom Riddell from JP Laidlaw and W Strothers with WH Calderwood being listed as an also-ran.    His next competitive outing was on 14th July at the Coylton Sports in Ayrshire where (off 10 yards) he was third in the 880 behind H Malcolm (Kilmarnock – off 40 yards) and Davie Brooke (Garscube – off 44 yards).   Although he did not appearin the prize winners as listed in the Press, Calderwood continued to race ans was a popular athlete.   He turned out at the Cowal Gathering on 21st August 1934.   “It was pleasing to see the success of WH Calderwood, the back marker in the half-mile, for there is no more enthusiastic runner, week in, week out, than the ex-Scottish champion.”   He won from 10 yards from RP Phoenix of Garscube off 46 yards and RV Lyons, South Glasgow off 40.   Back in Ayrshire on 28th July, he was racing at Lugar.   “J Scott is running into form and he won the half-mile in fair time, while WH Calderwood, another winner who is always at his best towards the end of the season, also figured in the prize list at the end of this race.”   That was his last appearance in the prize-list for that season.

Winter 1934-35 started with no Calderwood in either the District nor Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays.   and finished wth no Calderwood in either District or National Championships.     His return to the track however was as part of a One Mile relay team in the Monkland Sports on the last Saturday of May, 1935 which finished second.   He won no prizes in individual events.   His next recorded appearance was at the SAAA Championships on 22nd June when, with Bobby Graham, TJ McAlister and others,  he was an ‘also ran’ in the half mile won by Stothard of Cambridge University in a new all-comers record of 1 min 53 6-10th sec.   On August 12th, they were starting to talk of Calderwood in the past tense.   When looking forward to a possible duel between Tom Riddell and Bobby Graham, they said that it should be the most interesting duel between two Scottish runners since Graham had raced WH Calderwood three years earlier.

Calderwood did not appear in any results as a prize winner in June, July or the start of August in 1936 and given his absence from any Maryhill cross-country team over the previous winter, his career as a top class runner was probably over.   It had been a remarkably interesting one – where most athletes start out with the shorter faster races and gravitate to the longer ones, Calderwood started with a medal in the 10 miles and worked his way down to the 880 yards via the Four Miles and the Mile.    A genuine racer he was involved in many top class races and his record of running in relays over One Mile, Two Miles and Four Miles plus Team Races at One Mile, Two Miles and Three Miles speaks volumes for his enthusiasm and value to his club.   He should be better known.