Admin – Page 63 – Anent Scottish Running

Colin Donnelly

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Admin

Colin Donnelly was born in 1959 and has excelled in two branches of long-distance athletics: cross-country and, especially, hill running. An internet debate about who is Britain’s best-ever fell-runner comments: “Colin Donnelly had (and still has) the speed and endurance to set even more records. He has more or less soloed every long-distance challenge there is, without support or route advice. If he was better organised, he could have achieved more than anyone else. Perhaps that is the way the great man likes things to be: out there on his own, doing things his own way”. While I agree that Colin has always been a very unusual individual, he has also been an exemplary team-man for his only cross-country club – Cambuslang Harriers.

According to the club history, Colin Donnelly joined around 1976 as “a novice runner with lots of raw talent”. He ran for them in the Scottish CC Relay in 1977 and in 1978. I well remember the latter occasion, at Beach Park, Irvine. Despite the distance being too short for me, somehow I had squeezed into the talent-loaded ESH team and Allister Hutton had handed me a seventeen second lead. Young Colin scorched after older Colin and very nearly caught up before his impetuousness and my stamina took effect. As I edged clear again, before handing over to the flying Ian Elliot who ensured victory, the bellowed insults of a Cambuslang ‘supporter’ rained down on the poor tired youngster. He still gained three seconds and handed over second, although his team was eventually edged out of third. Not surprisingly after such an unfair ear-bashing, Donnelly avoided this event thereafter; but his record in the National CC was to be truly amazing.

Around the same time, Colin Donnelly studied at Aberdeen University and once or twice I kept him company on a training run. Apparently he ran sixty miles per week, as hard as he could. When I suggested that a few slower recovery sessions might be a good idea, he ignored the suggestion completely. He also turned up on a trip to the Isle of Man Easter Running Festival. No doubt he ran well, but what I remember is his total innocence about the probable effects of beer-drinking on an inexperienced young fellow! However before very long he became a mature, disciplined, teak-hard competitor.

Colin’s first appearance in the Scottish Junior CC National was in 1979, when he finished a respectable 20^th. His debut in the Senior National took place in 1981, when he was third counter for Cambuslang in 29^thplace. No sign of what was to come!

For several years, Colin was in the RAF and based in Wales, where he made a considerable mark on the hill-running world, as will be described later. Consequently it was 1987 before he featured once more in the Senior National for Cambuslang Harriers – a team which was to dominate the event utterly for the next twenty years.

Perhaps the quickest way of communicating details of Cambuslang’s fantastic run of success is a simple list. 1987: Colin 12^th, team bronze. 1988: 6^th, team gold. 1989: 12^th, team gold. 1990: 15^th, team gold. 1991: 5^th, team gold. 1993: 8^th, team gold. 1994: 9^th, team gold. 1995: 8^th, team gold. 1996: 22^nd, team silver. 1997: 24^th, team gold. 1998: 11^th, team gold. 1999: 7^th, team gold. 2000: 11^th, team gold. 2001: 17^th, team silver. 2002: 11^th, team silver. 2003: 16^th, team gold. 2004: 21^st, team gold. And finally, at the age of 48 in 2008: 20^th, team gold. Colin Donnelly amassed a total of no less than 14 team gold medals (plus three silver and one bronze) during a period in which Cambuslang Harriers won 16 titles. Has anyone ever shown such consistent team spirit and excellence?

Not surprisingly, Colin continues to run very well indeed as a veteran. In Scottish age-group cross-country championships he won M40 titles in 2000 and 2001; M45 in 2007 and 2008; M50 in 2010; and (of course) a number of team gold medals. Perhaps his finest race as a ‘Master’ was a superb win (M40) for Scotland in the 1999 Five Nations Home Countries CC International at Grenville College, Bideford, Devon.

However Colin Donnelly’s main claim to fame isn’t cross-country at all! He burst onto the hill-running scene with victory in the Ben Nevis Race in 1979 – the youngest man to win this famous event. He won it again in 1986; and lost to Gary Devine by only five seconds in 1988. In the interim Colin Donnelly had dominated fell-running, especially near his home in Wales, where he set many records, some of which have never been beaten, for example the Welsh 3000s (26 miles from the top of Snowdon to Foel Fras, including some 13,000 feet of ascent and fourteen summits). In 1988, when he was a local Eryri Harrier, Colin’s time was an astounding four hours 19 minutes.

Colin Donnelly’s hill race victories are countless, but include the Snowdon Race, Cader Idris (6 wins), Buckden Pike, Shelf Moor, Carnethy, Kentmere Horseshoe and the Manx Mountain Marathon (31.5 miles, 8000m ascent).

Colin Donnelly was British Fell-Running Champion three times in the late 1980s. In the WMRA World Mountain Running Trophy, he represented Scotland in eighteen successive races between 1985 and 2002 (plus another one in 2004): an almost unbelievable record. Colin’s greatest run, which displayed exceptional descending skills, secured a silver medal in the 1989 men’s individual short race at Chatillon-en-Diois, France. In addition, he was in the Scottish team (Tommy Murray, Bobby Quinn, Colin Donnelly and Graeme Bartlett) that won silver medals in 1995 (Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh).

On the 22^nd of September 2001, in Ustron, Poland, Colin Donnelly won the M40 Masters World Mountain Running Championship by an enormous margin of 91 seconds. In 2002 (Innsbruck, Austria) he was third; and in 2005 (Keswick, England) second M45 to Dave Neill of England.

Colin Donnelly shows no sign of retiring or even slowing down much. He is based in Lochaber and in 2011 ran eight hill races. This year (2013)he had competed twice by mid-January. He is a truly remarkable runner and it seems likely that there are many triumphs to come

Stuc a Chroin

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Admin

Many years before moving to Lochearnhead in 1996, I came up to walk on the hills – a friend and I walked from Brig o’Turk up over Ben Ledi, to Strathyre, over Ben Sheann to Balquihidder and then over to Loch Katrine before returning to the start. My wife and I and various friends walked the Glen Ogle Trail quite often too. It’s an area we like very much. So when the Stuc a Chroin race started in 1988, we would come up, if there was no track league match that required our presence, to spectate. We would walk up to the point where the trail drops down into Glen Ample, sit with our picnics and watch the runners come over the top and , leaving rucksacks and backpacks of all sorts, head down into the glen. An excellent viewpoint. Or we would walk into Glen Ample from the carpark south of Strathyre and have our picnic watching the runners come down one side and head up the other. Or we’d just wander up and down the track encouraging the runners. It’s a wonderful course, albeit one that I would never have attempted to run. I have walked to the top starting from the car park at Bracklynn Falls in Callander, via Braeleny Farm

The race itself is described on the website (www/stucachroin5000,org.uk ) as follows:

The race starts and finishes at the outskirts of the village of Strathyre beside the A84 at the South entrance to the village. (grid ref. 561167) The route follows a track uphill behind the start area & joins the forest road after about 500 yards in a South direction. After about 2 miles the edge of the forest is reached (grid ref 577145). Turn left in a N.E. direction – rough ground – no path – follow edge of forest to (grid ref 583160) cross Meal Mor (550m) to point (grid ref 585160) overlooking Glen Ample. Down the hill to cross the hill-walkers’ path through Glen Ample (350m) grid ref 591160).

The climb up a steep heather slope to the top of Beinn Each (grid ref 603158) is a bit more testing until you reach the summit at 811 metres. From Beinn Each the route follows a hill walkers path along an undulating ridge to Bealach nan Caber (grid ref 603165) (Cross-over Point) then follows the same path for a scramble to Stuc a’ Chroin (972m)(grid ref 617175) via Bealach Glas (grid ref 606171).

The Return: An ascent to Bealach nan Cabar (Cross-over Point), down long grass slopes to cross Glen Ample path (grid ref 591158) then follow the forest track to the welcoming crowds to return to Strathyre.

It is often included in the British Fell Running Championship and is classed as a long race. It is very hard beginning as it does with the short, steep climb up from the start at Strathyre to the forestry road which takes you up almost to the drop into the glen. The wee bit over tussocky grass before you can see over the edge is also pretty steep before the different challenge altogether of the drop down. As a walker I used to hate the rocky scramble up to the to and hated the coming back down even more.

A well supported race, there are usually a lot of English athletes taking part because of the nature of the event – and possibly as a recce for the following years. The campsite south of the village is usually jam packed as are the local B&B’s and hotels – this year (2014) will be more difficult because two of the hotels, the Munro and the Ben Sheann, are closed which means two restaurants and bars fewer as well. Two sets of toilets fewer too! It is also well supported by the locals who turn out to welcome the athletes home at the end.

It’s a great day, a wonderful event and deservedly popular with all connected with it. This is maybe more remarkable because it is one of very few hill races throughout the British Isles which is not organised by a running club or combination of clubs. Organised entirely by local volunteers it is a model for all other races.

Henry Summerhill

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Admin

Henry Summerhill, second from right

Henry Summerhill, a tall, easy-to-recognise runner with his spectacles and head to one side running action, was an interesting athlete. He never served on District or National committees, never held major office within his club but nevertheless was an outstanding clubman. Henry Summerhill and Shettleston were synonymous. It is common to assume that good clubmen are automatically also multi-task people. This is not automatically the story – eg Doc MacPhail was never a top class runner, but he WAS a top class club man. Henry was a runner, pure and simple but a superb and loyal member of Shettleston. He has earned his place in this section.

He spanned at least two generations of Shettleston Harriers and ran with the best of both generations of stars, earning his place with them both. He turned up at the club’s Christmas Handicap in 1955 as Eddie Summerhill’s wee brother and went on to out-do Eddie as a runner. He was spoken of above as ‘spanning the generations’; for proof we only have to look at his record in the Edinburgh to Glasgow where he ran 15 time including a streak of fourteen right off the reel.

Year	Stage Run	Team Position	Year	Stage Run	Team Position
1959	Five	First	1967	Eight	Second
1960	Four (Fastest)	First	1968	Eight	First
1961	Four	First	1969	Seven	Fourth
1962	Two	Fifth	1970	Five (Fastest)	First
1963	Six	Fourth	1971	Eight (Fastest)	First
1964	Two	Six	1973	Eight	Six
1965	Four	Seventh	1975	Eight	Fifth
1966	Six	Seventh

15 runs; Six gold, One silver; Three fastest times on stage.

Over the country, he was the same reliable, hard working, club runner but it was 1962 before he broke into the top team and finished twelfth and second counter (behind Joe McGhee) in the winning team. In 1963 he was first counter when he was tenth in a team that was fifth; in 1965, he was first counter when he finished seventeenth in the fourth placed team; in in 1966 he again led the team home (twenty sixth) into fourth; in 1967 the order was Summerhill 19th, Wedlock 21st … with the team again fourth; 1968, Henry was twenty seventh, third counter and the team was fifth; 1969, he was twenty third, third counter in the second placed squad; 1970, he was twenty first, fourth counter in the third placed team; 1971 he was sixteenth in the winning team; 1972, twenty fourth and the team won again; 1973, fifty seventh and last counter in the silver medal team; 1974, nineteenth in the fourth placed team; 1975, twenty fifth in the third team and in 1976, Henry was fortieth and the team third. Thirteen races, three golds, two silvers, three bronzes. Not a bad haul. And then there was the quota of District and County awards. And the four London to Brighton relays. And being in the winning team in the first Allan Scally relay, and in the winning team in the third Scally Relay. Oh yes, and he was club champion five times! Henry Summerhill was a very valuable member of several Shettleston teams.

On the track Henry raced in many team and open races and was ranked eleven times over seven years in the 60’s with best times of 9:20 (2 Miles), 14:29.0 (3 Miles) and 30:38.0 (6 Miles) with a third place in the SAAA Six Miles in 1962, but it is as a cross-country and road runner that he will be remembered by most of us.

When I asked around about Henry the word among those who really knew him was the same – a hard running, hard training, good guy. First John Wilson, who trained with Henry for a long time before he moved to England said that Henry worked in a printers office, he thought it was somewhere off St Vincent street (or thereabouts) where he only got something like a 40 minute lunch break so he had a tight schedule if he was to fit a run in. John worked in Dial House (next to the Kingston Bridge) and would jog down to meet Henry at his work place so that there was no waiting. Henry would be on pace from the start. The route was often up Argyle Street, turn at Kelvin Hall and loop back via Sauchiehall Street and finishing with a series of short sprints up several steep hills in the Heron House area. Henry was relentless and if the streets were busy he’d zig- zag his way through people, cars but not slow up. Once a car nearly ran into them and, so the story goes, Henry, placid as he was, almost punched the windscreen in to tell the driver off. This could have been kind of hazardous given that you never knew who the driver was but Henry was undeterred as he was in the right!

John reckons that this gave him an insight into Henry’s commitment to quality training no matter what. Limited time, traffic and pedestrian congestion, obnoxious drivers or the Glasgow weather as he always finished with the short hill reps even when there was ice or snow – no doubt he would also be running that evening whereas often for John the 3 miles with Henry was like a race and all he could reasonably do that day!

Then there is this comment from Tony McCall who trained with Shettleston Harriers for several years and was an admirer of Bill Scally as well as of Henry. I reprint it as Tony gave it to me:

I trained at Shettleston for a couple of years. Henry had been injured and started back a few months after i ahd been there, training with Bill and a few others.

Henry did not mess about; having been injured or no, he was into fast long sessions almost immediately. He ran a pace I struggled to keep up with but being a gentleman he would wait for me (and others) if a significant gap had developed. From the hut at Barrachanie we covered Lenzie, Steppes, Chryston, Cambuslang, Dechmont, and bits of East Kilbride all at a good pace . Some of it on the road and some of it over the country. Most of time, these runs were at the weekend. Steady but fast; I certainly benefitted from them. The distance would vary between 13 to 20 miles depending where we went.

During the week normally Tuesday and Thursday the runs would be between 8 an 10 miles and the last few miles were very pacy particularly if Bill was along. I was always blown away no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t live with them nor could anyone else.

Henry talked a fair bit on the run; mainly about running! one of his favourite expressions was – ‘Youv’e got to gut yourself in training to get the best out of yourself – always remember that’. He gutted me a few times.

Sometimes we would do a paarlauf arounf Barrachnie on a Tuesday. It was a mile circuit and there was two teams of half a dozen or so. Bill and Henry headed the teams. If my memory serves me it was 5 or 6 miles pretty well flat out. I was always in Bill’s team. Bill always paced it to keep the team together for as long as possible. Henry being Henry ‘gutted’ it from the start and his team were all over the place within a couple of laps. Some even gave up. ‘He’s murdering me’ was quite common. He never finished with a full team. Some of the boys called him Henry the Horse – but not to his face!

He always believed, like Bill, in a high mileage training regime. Hard sessions were always the order of the day. He took his cue from Andy Brown. He admired Andy a lot. ‘The first guy in Scotland who was running 100 miles a week’.

I remember once at the University race Bill and Henry were warming up around the track together. If they ran a mile they ran 4; the sweat was running off them like a wee stream. The laps got faster the longer they went. I watched this and thought to myself -‘your knocking lumps out of each other on a sort of personal I’m no giving in to you basis’. I thought ‘ Your leaving your effort behind on the warm up track’. But I was wrong I had a decent run that day but they ran a good race and finished pretty high up the field. Theri fitness levels had coped with what I thought was an excessive warm up. Henry was right about his ‘gutting theory’!

I remember the Western District Relays took place at East Kilbride one year in the early 80s. The Shettleston team was Henry, Nat, Laurie Spence and Bill and Shettleston won it with two vets in their team and won it well. Bill ran the last leg I always remember watching it and was really impressed. I was training with these two guys and they had just beaten some of the best runners in the west area and they were vets!

i can’t tell you much more about Henry. He was a very likeable guy, he admired effort from others no matter the level they achieved and gave out encouragement when he thought it was warranted. his attitude like Bill’s was nothing will be achieved without hard work and he certainly knew all about that. He didn’t have time for people with a half hearted approach to training or racing and he probably upset one or two along the way. But he was club man and always wanted the members to do their best for the club.

He never went near the track when I trained with him, neither did Bill. Road and country only. He eventually suffered from internal bruising in his calves probably caused by his printer’s job as he stood at his machines all day. He never really got back after that; I’m sure he suffered from cramps quite a bit and then he had his heart problems as well. He reckons caused by running the E to G with a virus. ‘ I gutted myself but was 2 minutes slower than I expected’-. Because it was the E to G he ran because he didn’t want to let the team down – that was typical of Henry.”

The picture is of a man who would run anywhere, anytime, no matter how he felt at the time, for his club. The expression “he would run through a brick wall for his club” certainly applied to the outstanding Henry Summerhill.

Powderhall

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Admin

Also on site: the complete text of the wonderful book “Powderhall and Pedestrianism” Just click on the title.

George McCrae winning the 10 miles at Powderhall

The great annual professional meeting on 1st January was for many years known simply as ‘Powderhall’ since that was where it took place. It is now known mainly as the New Year Sprint and although it is deservedly a real festival of sprinting, the programme is much bigger than that and for many years professional runners (‘peds’) have had good races and won lots of prize money there. A fixture since 1870, it has always attracted the attention of the Press, even when the amateur athletic code dominated the scene: as a child I remember Scottish sports annuals including a bit about the event amidst all the coverage of football, rugby, cricket, motor cycle racing, boxing and athletics. The event itself is described and its history recounted in two books. The first is “Powderhall and Pedestrianism” by David A Jamieson, published by W & AK Johnstone, Edinburgh, and takes the event up to 1943 and the other is “Gold at New Year” by John Franklyn, published by Tweedbank Press which covers the sprint up to 1970. This account of the event has been compiled using two contributions by Shane Fenton to the unofficial sal website and the official New Year Sprint website (www.newyearsprint.com)

Endurance events have been a feature at Powderhall in all of its incarnations with races at half mile, mile, two miles and long distance. For detailed results for all events over the entire history of the event go to

http://www.sportingworld.co.uk/newyearsprint/rollofhonoursupportingevents_21.html .

Among the names to feature among the winners are Michael Glen, Alastair Macfarlane, Glen Stewart and George McCrae (seen above winning in 1913) was the 145th running of the event which uninterrupted by war or weather the sprint handicap race has taken place on or around New Years Day every year since it was first won by Jedburgh’s Dan Wight in 1870. Throughout the years the race has had a few different venues but no matter where it is run, it is always referred to as the ‘Powderhall’. The race took place at the Powderhall Stadium in Edinburgh up until 1957 with the exception of 1953 when it was held at Old Meadowbank, from 1958 until 1964 venues at Hawick, Tranent and Newtongrange hosted the event before it returned to Powderhall for a further six years culminating in 1970 with Scotland’s greatest ever sprinter George McNeil winning the Centenary running of the race in 1970.

The following year, Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh with it’s then novel ‘Tartan Track’ surface played host to the race and that’s where it stayed until 1999 when it moved to it’s current home at Musselburgh Racecourse. The race has a unique history, only five men have been dual winners with only two retaining the title, there have been a father and son winner and brothers have also won the race, there has also been one ‘dead heat’.

The Mile race has been held since 1870 with only three individual years omitted plus the five years of the second world war. It has been won off scratch only three times in its history, the first was in 1870 when JS Ridley of Gateshead won the race, in 1975 WS Gray of Livingston was the victor and in 1994 C May of Liverpool was first finisher. Other than that The only winner off less than 10 yards was Michael Glen of Bathgate in 1953 off 5 yards at Old Meadowbank. The race has taken various formats but the strangest feature for me is that it has not always been a Mile! It is listed as over 880 yads/800m up to 1 Mile/1600m and for the first 100 years it was a Mile Open Handicap race. Then in 1971 there were two races – one a 1600m Open Handicap and the other a 1000m Open Short Limit Handicap. The first was won by D Minto and the second by RM Cuthbertson. They were held at Meadowbank and the fast track ensured fast times of 4:08.4 and 2:28.05 off 80m and 10m respectively. This pattern of two races continued until 1990 whereafter it became a 1600m open handicap and it has remained so.

The Half Mile has, apart from two years – 1871 and 1880 when it was a 660 yards open handicap – stayed as an 880 yards until 1970 when it became an 800m open handicap race. The race in 1971 was won by RM Cuthbertson off 35 yards in 1:51.05 – the same RM Cuthbertson who won the 1000m that same year at Meadowbank. There was a gap between 1871 and 1880 when it was not run, and it was then kept at that distance although I note that in 2013, it is a ‘four furlongs race’.

If we go up to Two Miles, which is described as over 1600m/1 mile up to 3200m/2 Miles, it was first run in 1871 and there are only 35 results for the distance listed on the official website of the New Year Sprint. It jumped from 1871 to 1916 for the second race then to 1923 for the third running. Thereafter it went to 1924, 1925, then 1946 and then 1972 when (apart from 1993) it continued to date. The race itself was a Two Miles Open Handicap until 1972 when it was a 3200 open short limit handicap and the following year it was a 3200m open handicap race. This stayed the case until centenary year of 2000 when it became a ‘One Lap’ race.

Up a distance again, and we get ‘Long Distance (Over two miles)’ races. These events had a comparatively short life in that the first, a 15 Miles, was in 1913 and the last, a 10 Miles, was in 1942. These races were all called Marathons. George McCrae won the first race but no time was given, The following year, the race was won by J Smith of Peebles in 1:28:43 and no time was given for any winners until 1919 when in the first year that the race was run at 10 miles, the victor was TG Shaw of Edinburgh in 49:49 with a start of 3 laps 350 yards. A bit daunting for anyone more than three laps behind at the start! The following year the winner was timed at 50:47 off 4 laps 50 yards. Thereafter they organisers went back to time handicaps rather than distance handicaps. No time was given for the winner of the marathon from 1922 to 1942.

One of the attractions of Powderhall has been the fact that it is purely a running meeting. When I first persuaded the British Milers Club to hold one of their Grand Prix meetings at Scotstoun, I was approached by several who said that they really enjoyed a meeting where there were only middle distance races – 8 x 800m for men, 3 x 800m for women, 5 x 1500m for men, etc, and there is no doubt that track events with the clear-cut immediate winner has a different attraction from the extended and often fascinating field event duels. The New Year Sprint had only running events. They were all open handicap races where everyone had a chance to win. It was also helped by the timing of the event – midwinter has always been a time for festivals of various sorts from the Roman Saturnalia to the Christmas celebrations and in Scotland the New Year was the high spot of the winter. People in a good mood, with the betting associated there was a chance to win back some of the money spent over the holiday period – so long as you had some spare change to invest with the bookie.

For the professional runners used to running on grass or rough cinder tracks of doubtful measurement, Powderhall was an opportunity to run on a good track. The Edinburgh track was always a good one – the SAAA Championships were held at Powderhall in 1883, 1884, 1886, 1888, 1890, 1894, 1894, 1896, 1900, 1901, 1904, 1906, 1907, 1910 and 1914 as well as twice after the First World War. International matches were also held there – 1897, 1899, 1903, 1905, 1913 and 1935 for the Scotland v Ireland internationals. The size of the purse also attracted the top runners and there were athletes from England, Wales and Ireland coming to Scotland to compete.

Good crowds, good tracks and good athletes – a recipe for a cracking good sports meeting. The fame spread and in 1903 a Welsh Powderhall Sprint was inaugurated, named after the Edinburgh event! Wikipedia says: “In 1903, the Welsh Powderhall, named after the famous track in Edinburgh, was established in Pontypridd and held at Taff Vale Park. The first Welsh Powderhall had a first prize of £100, and the venue became the home of Welsh professional running until its final contest in 1934.”

GM Carstairs

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Admin

George Morrison Carstairs, was born in Mussoorie, India on 18th June 1916 where his father the Reverend Doctor George Carstairs was a Church of Scotland missionary. James Keddie in his excellent centenary history of the SAAA refers to him as Morris but many others use his first name of George while the gbrathletics website calls him Morrison ‘Jack’ Carstairs . For the sake of convenience he will be referred to here as Carstairs! He was educated at George Watson’s College and Edinburgh University. When he had completed his running career, Carstairs had a brilliant academic career in Medicine and Psychiatry and became Professor of Psychiatry at Edinburgh University from 1961 to 1973, Vice Chancellor of York University from 1974 to 1978, and between 1969 and 1971 was President of the World Federation for Mental Health. He gave the Reith lectures in 1962 (accessible via youtube), and wrote many academic papers.

The SAAA standard distance up to 1934 was the Four Miles but in that year they changed it to the Three Miles and Carstairs was the outstanding Scottish runner at that distance until the War started in 1939. He ran well in 1936 winning the Mile by 50 yards in 4:31,1 running for Atalanta against Aberdeen University.

On 15th May 1937 he started his season with a victory in the UAU Championships. The ‘Glasgow Herald’ said: GM Carstairs, of Edinburgh University established one of five new records set at the Universities Athletic Union Championhips at White City, London, yesterday. With a time of 14 min 36 4-5th sec, Carstairs was a comfortable winner in the three miles event, taking the lead at the end of the first mile-and-a-half and maintaining it right to the finish.” Eleven days later at Craiglockhart in Edinburgh he won by three yards from his local rival Jack Laidlaw in 14:50.8. Laidlaw, who had won the SAAA title himself in 1935 in 14:46.4, had the upper hand next time they met, also in Edinburgh, on 8th July. Carstairs time was 14:39.5 to Laidlaw’s 14:37.5. Carstairs went on to win the SAAA title at the distance in in 14:35.6 and in the same year was second in the World University Games. The Glasgow Herald reported on the SAAA race as follows: “Indications that GM Carstairs would not be strong enough to stall off Laidlaw, Gifford and Farrell in the Three Miles proved quite groundless. The Edinburgh student, who holds the titles and the records for British and Scottish Universities, set out – very wisely – to set a pace that proved beyond the powers of his rivals and he succeeded beyond expectations.

It was JE Farrell who showed most fight, but even he was tailed off three laps from the finish and Carstairs ran on without challenge to finish 150 yards in front of Farrell and only 2 8-10th secs outside Tom Blakely’s 1933 record. Officials spurred him on round the last lap when it was seen the record was within his grasp, but the information was shouted at him rather late. Carstairs’s improvement has certainly been an outstanding feature of the present athletic season.”

Selected for the Triangular International in Dublin that year he ran 14:29.8 on a grass track in heavy rain, a time that was 17 seconds inside the Irish record. The photograph below shows him during the race.

Dublin in the rain, 1937

His best single year was probably 1938. In the Inter-University contest on 7th May at St Andrews he won the Three Miles in 14:39 to start the season well. He then stepped down a distance or two to win the half mile at Craiglockhart on 12th May also against St Andrew’s in 1:59. 8. On May 21st, he retained his UAU Three Miles title at the White City in 14:53. On 11th June in the Inter-Universities Tests at Aberdeen, he was second to JAM Robertson in the half-mile after leading most of the way: Robertson’s time was 2:09. In the Three Miles later at the same meeting he won in the slow time of 15:20.5 to ‘make amends for his failure in the half mile’ . On 18th June he raced a hard half-mile where after leading for most of the race finished fourth, after leading virtually to the home straight. He repeated his SAAA victory in the Three Miles on 25th June, again at Hampden Park in Glasgow, this time in 14:40.9 . The Glasgow Herald reported: Expectations of challenges and counter-challenges in the Three Miles were realised for half the distance when PJ Allwell and JP Laidlaw endeavoured to out-manoeuvre GM 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 150 yards in excellent time indeed, when the force of the wind in the home straight against him is considered.” Three weeks later at the White City, Carstairs ran for the only time in his career at the AAA’s Championships. The ‘Glasgow Herald’ report read: “The best race of the meeting was the Three Miles in which GM Carstairs, the Scottish champion, made a valiant attempt to win. In the last lap, Carstairs had not the pace to last, but he clocked the fastest time of his career, approximately 14 min 26 secs.” Fourth finisher, but how close was he? Well, the winner was CAJ Emery in 14:21.

This running was good enough to see him selected to run for Great Britain three times that year, winning v Norway at White City over 5000m (14:58.4), 2nd v France at same venue on August 13th behind CAJ Emery over 3 miles (14:45.8), and 6th at the European Championships 5000m on September 5th at Paris (14:51.3), where the ‘Glasgow Herald’merely said “Sixth place in the 5000m went to GM Carstairs, the Scottish Three Miles champion.” The only Briton ahead of him was CAJ Emery in 14:46 in fourth place.

Emery’s role as Carstairs nemesis throughout the 1938 season was confirmed on 17th September in Oslo when he defeated him by 20 yards over 5000m. The report said: EMERY BEATS CARSTAIRS BY 20 YARDS. CAJ Emery (Achilles) won the 5000m race on the last day of the International Athletics meeting here today. His time was 15 min 5.4 secs and he beat another British competitor GM Carstairs (Edinburgh University), the Scottish Three Miles champion by 20 yards. Rain throughout the day had made the track slow, and Rochard of France was the only other competitor. From the start Rochard took the lead, which he steadily increased during the first six laps, with the British pair constantly changing positions. In the eighth lap Emery and Carstairs both passed the Frenchman and then it became a duel between the British pair. Emery however put in a fine burst and won by 4.8 seconds. Carstairs time was 15 minutes 10.2 seconds and he finished eight yards ahead of Rochard whose time was 15 minutes 12 seconds.”

Two weeks later, the German troops occupied the Sudetenland, and the Herald tells us the occupation went smoothly. The possibility of war was discussed at great length throughout the papers, even the women’s page of the paper by Ann Adams made frequent reference to it, the letters pages were almost single-topic and Air Raid Precautions were being printed. Nevertheless the Victoria Park McAndrew Relay was held on October 1st and Bellahouston Harriers won from Shettleston Harriers and Plebeian Harriers. Runners prepared for the next year – they could do little else – and Carstairs was heading for his biggest title win in 1939.

Right at the start of 1939’s athletics season, Germany and Italy upgraded the Axis into a military alliance. If ever a season started with an indication of its relative importance in the world, this was it. In athletics, GM Carstairs began in on 13th May in the annual Edinburgh University v St Andrews by winning the half-mile in 1:59.8 and on 27th May he retained the Three Miles title at EUAC sports in a new record time. On 10th June, he ‘deserted’ the Three Miles in the Edinburgh v Glasgow University match to win both half mile and mile. The ‘Glasgow Herald’ was fulsome in its praise of the Edinburgh man.

“Most thrilling of all was the half mile, in which JAM Robertson was expected to retain against Carstairs. In the first lap, JA McGlone, Glasgow, made the pace and down the back straight Carstairs took up the running. Robertson was obliged to make his effort to pass the Edinburgh leader on the bend, and he overhauled him with 70 yards to go. From that point the struggle was tense; it seemed that Robertson would prevail but he had run himself out, and Carstairs, making a desperate lunge in the last stride, won with only inches to spare.

CARSTAIRS IN LIMELIGHT

Carstairs was the athlete of the meeting, following up this splendid win by dethroning another champion, J Muir, in the Mile.

The Glasgow runner’s policy was to race all the way and he got clear of his rival before the bell, but Carstairs finished stronger to set up a record of 4 min 25.5 sec – excellent under the conditions.” So Carstairs was clearly in good form going in to the championships.

He was winner of the SAAA Three Miles for the third successive year, this time in 14:41.2, but no comment on it appeared in the Glasgow Herald report on the meeting but the results indicate that he won by 60 yards from Tommy Lamb of Bellahouston Harriers with another from Bellahouston Harriers, SA Kennedy, third. Carstairs also won two titles at the UAU Championships – the Mile and in the Three Miles.

His big moment that year, however, had to be winning the World University Games 5000m title in 14:51.3. The SAAA race had been at the end of June and after the team for the games had been selected, there was a ‘try-out’ for the Scottish athletes on Monday 14th August and the report said that “GM Carstairs in the 5000m men’s race finished in better time than has previously recorded at the World Games.” His winning time was 15:13. Came the Games themselves on 30th August, his time was slower at 15:20.2 but it was good enough to win the gold. Unfortunately the political situation was such that there was very little in the way of reporting on sport – the Games started on 30th August which was when the surge to war was reaching a crescendo and the papers were full of the arguments between countries (complete with maps), suggestions for those at home with regard to economising and making the most of rations, the sinking of the Athenia and so on.

He is recorded as having two races at his specialist distance in 1940 – Carstairs ran 15:15.6 at Craiglockhart on May 15th, and 15:17.3 at Glasgow, in the Inter-Universities Championship on June 8th, where he won the Three Miles by 150 yards as well as the Mile in 4:32.5 where the margin was 35 yards. However, his career, like that of most athletes at the time, was effectively over.

Many athletes saw their best years missed due to the War, but Carstairs was only 23 when the shooting began and had his last two competitive years over shadowed by the lead in to the hostilities. The obvious but ultimately futile question of what he might have done could be asked but it is certain that unlike many a top class athlete, he derived tremendous satisfaction from a brilliant medical psychiatric career subsequently. You can hear him delivering the 1962 Reith lecture on ‘The Vicissitudes of Adolescence’ here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00hbdb5 and several of his papers are available on the internet.

He died in Edinburgh on 17th April 1981.

Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay 67

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Admin

[Show as slideshow]

Westerlands

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Admin

[Show as slideshow]

1967 and 68 Nationals

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Admin

[Show as slideshow]

Paavo Nurmi Comes To Ibrox

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Admin

Many of the world’s best athletes have run and raced in Glasgow. The Rangers Sports attracted stars in all events, the SAAA Championships have had some top stars appearing in the 1990’s when the ‘open’ nature of the event was being emphasised. We have had our own top runners of course – from Halswell and Liddell to Wells and McColgan. But there is one of the very, very best of all time who ran in Scotland and we are by and large ignorant of the fact. I speak of Paavo Nurmi the famous Finn. He did come to Glasgow and did run here with distinction – it was not for the appearance money. Alex Wilson has written the following article about the visit and provided the photographs. I’d like to thank him for the work done to produce this fascinating piece of memorabilia. .

Glaswegians have witnessed some iconic athletic moments down the years, such as at Ibrox in 1904, when Alfred Shrubb, the little Horsham wonder, demolished the world hour record as well as all amateur records from six to eleven miles.

This year (2013) denizens of Glasgow relived some of the excitement of earlier days when the amazing Ethiopian runner Haile Gebreselassie visited a revitalised Glasgow for the first time and won the Great Scottish Run in a new master’s world record for the half marathon. Altogether Alfred Shrubb set 28 world records during his career, including two world cross-country titles, but unfortunately never had the opportunity to cover himself in Olympic glory.

Haile Gebreselassie, between 1994 and 2009, set 27 world records at distances ranging from 2000 metres to the marathon, not counting the three masters’ world records which he set this year in the 10k (28:00), 10 miles (46:59.9) and half marathon (1:01:09). Many now consider the Ethiopian to be the greatest distance runner who ever lived, and this may be so, but like every generation of distance runners past, present and future, he stands on the shoulders of giants.

Without doubt, Alfred Shrubb and Haile Gebreselassie were the world’s foremost long distance running exponents of their day. They dominated their event like few others have before or since.

One of those few others is, of course, the great “Flying Finn” Paavo Nurmi who, like Haile Gebreselassie, came to Glasgow in the twilight of his career and, like Alfred Shrubb, left an indelible footprint on the cinder track at Ibrox Park.

Athletics is based on facts and figures, and on that basis Nurmi arguably ranks equal to Haile Gebreselassie.

Paavo Nurmi was undoubtedly the most successful of this stellar trio in the Olympic arena at least, amassing an incredible nine gold medals and three silver medals between 1920 and 1928. He might well have increased his unprecedented gold tally in Los Angeles had the IAAF not intervened and prevented him from running on trumped-up charges of professionalism.

Nurmi was no less prolific than Shrubb or Gebreselassie, setting 29 world records at distances racing from the mile to 25 miles between 1921 and 1932.

However neither Shrubb nor Gebreselassie had as profound an impact on racing and training methods as the Finn, who was truly ahead of his time in several respects. Nurmi was the first runner to adopt a scientific and holistic approach to training and race preparation. It is thought that he was the first runner to do interval training as part of a systematic twelve-month training regimen. His easy stride, high arm action and clockwork regularity were the product of years of hard training and meticulous attention to detail. He also pionereed the even-paced approach to racing and was famous for running with a stopwatch in hand. Many of his world records reflect his extraordinary pace judgement. He even had a special diet and practised vegetarianism for a while.

Nurmi (centre), Struth (right)

After it was announced in late July 1931 that Nurmi would compete in the Glasgow Rangers Sports on Saturday 1 August, the city was buzzing with excitement. Just the previous weekend he had established a new world outdoor record for two miles in Helsinki, in the process becoming the first man to break the nine-minute barrier. The Rangers’ manager “Billy” Struth had truly surpassed himself by bringing the world’s greatest distance runner to Ibrox.

Imagine the impact Usain Bolt might have next year if he comes to Glasgow and competes for Jamaica in the Commonwealth Games.

Nurmi arrived in Glasgow on the eve of the Rangers Sports and was suitably impressed by the condition of the track after a two mile canter complete with stopwatch and dressed in a loose fitting sweater and training pants, declaring it the best track had yet set his eyes on in Britain.

A huge crowd of 50,000 spectators – a record for a Scottish meeting – turned out the following day. Afterwards athletics aficionados would be unanimous in agreeing that there had never been a finer meeting in the long and successful history of the Rangers Sports. Four records went by the board that afternoon.

First, Tommy Riddell, of Shettleston Harriers, broke his own native record for the mile by 3 seconds with a time of 4:18.0 set when winning the handicap off twenty yards, then running on to complete the full distance, while in the same race Cyril Ellis , of Birchfield Harriers, returned 4:15.2, which was three-fifths better than Albert Hill’s all-comers’ record at Parkhead in 1919.

For all that, Paavo Nurmi was undoubtedly the main attraction, his event being a specially framed four mile handicap. Alfred Shrubb’s British and Scottish all-comers’ four mile record of 19:23.4 was Nurmi’s chief goal, and it was expected that the would probably come close to his own world record of 19:15.6.

The track had been specially prepared for the record attempt and the weather conditions were ideal.

Nurmi covered his first mile in 4:45.4, during which he failed to made much impression on Jimmy Wood, with 200 yards start, who was busily pounding his way round the track, himself intent on setting a record. The Finn passed the two mile mark in 9:41.6 and on completion of three miles in 14:36.0 had only made up 8.2 seconds on Wood. The Heriot’s F.P.A.C. runner put up a brilliant performance to take two-fifths of a second off the previous native record for the distance, set in 1904 by John McGough (Bellahouston Harriers), the former Greenock postman and now a farmer in Ireland.

Realising that he was behind record schedule, Nurmi piled on the pace in the last mile, to such effect that he made up twelve seconds on Shrubb, clocking a new British all-comers’ record of 19:20.4. Meanwhile, Tom Blakely, of Maryhill Harriers, took full advantage of a 400-yard start to win the handicap in 19:11.6, beating Walter Beavers, of York Harriers & AC (200 yds. start), by 15 yards.

Wood, beating 20 minutes for the first time, ran home third in 19:50.4, ten yards ahead of the the fair-haired Finn , but 5.2 seconds outside the Scottish record by Arthur Robertson, of Birchfield Harriers.

Later in the afternoon Nurmi went out for the record at two miles, but was clearly tired after his earlier exertions and never got anywhere near the leaders or the record.

The following year Nurmi elected to do the 10,000 metres and marathon at the Los Angeles Olympics. In late June he smashed the world record for 25 miles in the Finnish trials with a time of 2:22:03.8. He was made a strong favourite for gold in LA, but was denied the opportunity to win a tenth gold medal by a rather dubious and politically motivated eleventh-hour ban passed down by the IAAF on grounds of professionalism.

The Ibrox sports of 1931 were the last time Britons would see Nurmi running in their country.

You never know, maybe there are still a handful of nonagenarian or centenarian Glaswegians around who can still remember when the great “Flying Finn” caused a furore in their city.

Nurmi signs the drummer’s big drum

Thanks, Alex, for a fascinating report on a great, but virtually forgotten, occasion.

Alex Dow

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Admin

Alex Dow should be better known than he is. He ran for Kirkcaldy YMCA in the 1930’s, won the SAAA 10 miles track race, ran for Scotland in five international championships and was always in the first three counters at a time when the Scottish team won more medals than in any other decade. The fact that his club was never ever right up there in the rankings or championships of course might have contributed to the ignorance of his career – nowadays he might well be recruited one way or another to a more fashionable club, but in his day good runners ran for their own clubs and were happy to do so. A native of Collessie, he lived in Dysart and died comparatively recently – in 1999 at the age of 92.

A local paper remarks on his start in the sport: “He had rather an amusing baptism in the sport. While with the Black Watch at Perth, he was sent out with a squad to the North Inch and told to run a mile. He won. After that, Dow won several races in the Army. After his discharge from the Army, Dow joined Kirkcaldy YMCA and speedily made his mark.”

He ran cross-country running in the winter of 1933/34 where he did well enough to win the Eastern District title and also took the Scottish Junior title. Colin Shields in “Whatever the Weather” comments that “Alex Dow (Kirkcaldy YMCA) ran away from his rivals to win the Eastern District title by almost a minute at Musselburgh racecourse, the first of many successes that included an ICCU international bronze medal just two years later.” Of the National he commented that he ran well to finish fifth and win the National Junior title. The international that year was held on home soil – at Ayr – and there were hopes for a Scots victory but according to Shields, they were simply ‘run off their feet ‘ after a fast start. Dow in 12th place was the third Scot to finish behind Flockhart (6th) and Sutherland (11th) to gain a bronze team medal.

He really sprung into prominence, however, on 14th April 1934 when he won the SAAA 10 Miles Track title. The “Glasgow Herald” reported on the race as follows: “J Suttie Smith, the champion was indisposed and did not defend his honour. A Dow, Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers, the Scottish Junior and Eastern District Cross Country Champion, gave further evidence of his capabilities by winning rather easily. The champion was the only absentee of the 12 entrants for the 10 Mile Race. Once the runners settled down, it was seen that JC Flockhart, the Scottish Cross-Country Champion, A Dow, SK Tombe and JF Wood had the title in their keeping. They ran in the above order for seven and a half miles, at which point Dow went to the front for the first time. Flockhart and Tombe were close up at this stage but Wood had dropped back and seemed out of the running. Once in the lead Dow drew steadily away. Running strongly and in effortless style, the Kirkcaldy man went on to win his first SAAA title by some 200 metres. Tombe also finished strongly to beat Flockhart by 50 yards. The intermediate times were:-

One Mile 5 min 11 2-5th sec; Two Miles 10 27 3-5th; Three Miles 15 min 46 2-5th sec; Four Miles 21 min 07 sec; Five Miles 26 min 27 1-5th sec; Six Miles 31 min 32 2-5th sec; Seven Miles 37 min 13 1-5th sec; Eight Miles 42 min 36 sec; Nine Miles 47 min 51 4-5th sec.

1. A Dow 53:12; 2. SK Tombe 53 min 40 2-5th sec; 3. JC Flockhart 53:49.

Alex Wilson, who gave me a lot of the information for the profile (and who in turn owes a debt of gratitude to Don Macgregor, who is not only a great runner but an athletics historian), has been good enough to send me a copy of Dow’s own extract from the race programme with splits taken on the day by one of his entourage.

As Alex says, with splits of 26:27 and 26:54 he wasn’t a bad judge of pace. When it is borne in mind that his club did not have access to proper track for training, it is remarkable that the pace should be so even – the YMCA trained in the Beveridge Park, on grass, meetings were evidently held in Stark’s Park too in those days, but the harriers obviously didn’t have access to a cinder track.

In the following cross-country season, 1934-35, he won the Scottish YMCA championship, and then Dow was seventh in the National behind Wylie (Darlington), Flockhart, Suttie Smith, Freeland, C Smith and William Sutherland. Excellent company to be in. In the International on 23rd March in Paris, he was second Scot to finish when he crossed the finishing line in tenth place with only Wylie (second overall) ahead of him. Flockhart, Suttie Smith and the rest were behind him: the “Glasgow Herald” simply said “Alex Dow (Kirkcaldy YMCA and 10-mile champion) again rose to the occasion, gaining ground steadily to finish tenth.” The local paper described it as a “Splendid, judicious race.”

Into summer 1935 and Alex was again competing in the SAAA 10 Miles track championship: this time he finished third behind Willie Sutherland and Jimmy Flockhart. He gained another medal in the National Championship at the end of the cross-country season when, according to Shields, he was as far back as thirteenth at one point but came through to be third at the finish. About the International in Blackpool, we read , “Alex Dow in all his five Scottish international appearances in the 1930’s, was never outside the first three scorers for the Scottish team, displaying a natural ability that gained him many victories without any great training schedule or hard work behind him. In the 1936 international Dow was at his best over flat fast course with scattered artificial obstacles. He was part of a team that included three men – J Suttie Smith, RR Sutherland and WC Wylie – who had all finished runner-up in recent years, but the main Scottish hope lay with James C Flockhart who was undefeated all season. The race was run in blazing hot sunshine and Dow, accustomed toi the torrid heat from his Army service in the Far East, was more at home with the weather than his colleagues. Starting in tenth position after the opening rush, he was eighth at half distance, sixth at 6 miles, and a relentless surging finish brought him home third, just six seconds behind Jack Holden, a three times winner, with British 6 and 10 miles record holder William Eaton finishing a clear winner by a 150 yard margin.”

1936 International Cross-Country Championship: Dow is Number 55

A local paper at this time described his training: “Dow trains on Tuesdays and Thursdays over the road varying his distances from three to five miles, and covers seven miles over the country on a Saturday. Dow does not bother himself unduly about diet, and ha so far failed to set for himself any special course of training for big events – more proof of his natural ability. No present day runner covers the ground with less effort. If one carefully watches his striding methods, it will be observed that his leg lift is of the minimum height, reminiscent of the style of the great Arthur Newton of South Africa who holds many long distance road records.”

If his selection for international duty so far had been eminently clear cut, this was not the case for 1937. He finished 102nd in the National at Redford Barracks in Edinburgh and was selected to run for Scotland. It had been the case that the first six were automatically selected and I don’t know of any runner finishing outside the first 100 to be picked for the International. Alex Wilson has looked into this carefully and has this to say: I have found some interesting stuff on Alex Dow’s selection for the 1937 ICCU Championship. It seems that it was the subject of heated debate. Many felt that the running order in the national championships should be the sole criterion for selection rather than the, in part, discretionary selection method favoured by the SCCU. According to Athlon (an athletics journalist) ‘This year the Scottish officials accepted the first three men – Flockhart, Farrell and Sutherland – without discussion, but all the others were put to the vote.’

One item (source unknown) re the Scottish Cross-Country Championships states: ‘The most remarkable failure was that of Alex Dow of Kirkcaldy YMCA. During the season Dow has hardly shown the form expected of him, but few looked to see him fail to finish inside the first 100. The Union, by including him in the team for Brussels, have shown they keep their confidence in him, and certainly his distinguished service in the past gives a guarantee that his form on Saturday was a temporary lapse. Dow may make a good recovery at Brussels.’

Another item states: ‘One of the most distracting features of the Redford race was the running of Alex Dow, Kirkcaldy, who finished only 102nd. His loss of form seems inexplicable, but bearing in mind his brilliant running for Scotland in previous races, the selection committee has given him a place in the team again.’

Athlon wrote re the ICCU selections: ‘I do not think the team is open to much criticism. the selectors have evidently chosen A Dow on the strength of his last season’s running, when he finished third in both Scottish and International championships. I believe the Dysart man has been troubled by a leg injury, obviously he was not fit on Saturday, for more than a hundred competitors beat him. I am not finding fault with the Union selectors in finding a place for Dow, but I think they are being rather inconsistent. Only a couple of years ago they left out RR Sutherland because he only finished 26th in the national event. Last year however, they chose WC Wylie after he had run 44th in Lanark, and he did not let them down in Blackpool’.

The 1937 International team – Dow on the extreme left

So how did he do in the international after so much ink had been spilt over his selection? Second Scot across the line, in 17th position, beating RR Sutherland by three places! The story of the day however was not his return to top form but rather team mate Jim Flockhart’s victory. Read about it here. The “Glasgow Herald” after devoting almost all of the report to Jim Flockhart had a paragraph that said: “Alex Dow fully justified the confidence of the Scottish selection committee. In finishing 17th he was second counting man for his country, beating RR Sutherland by three places. JE Farrell “stitched” badly at one point of the race but hung on grimly and eventually finished 23rd and fourth for Scotland.”

Alex Wilson’s comment is that “in the 1930’s at least the Scottish selectors had an uncannily good hand. These were clearly people with their ears close to the ground.” My own perspective is that at present selectors find many ways to avoid actually having to select a team – automatic qualifications, rigid trials, etc – and the thought of picking a runner who had been out of the first 100 in the national would be a boldness too far!

1937/38 was Dow’s last year and the 1938 international was his last. The national was to be held at Ayr in 1938 and 30 prominent runners were invited by Captain WH Dunlop to go for a training run over the course to familiarise themselves with it before the actual race. The race was on the same day as the English national so RR Sutherland missed it as did WC Wylie. John Emmet Farrell won the title by 150 yards from ‘a fresh looking Alex Dow‘ and PJ Allwell (Ardeer). The international was held at the Balmoral Showgrounds in Belfast where the Scots all ran poorly. Dow was 27th and third Scot. Some Press reports said that he had been second in the national despite not having trained hard and the Glasgow Herald report on the international, after lamenting the poor form of the Scots generally and the disappointing team performance had this to say of Dow: “A Dow found conditions against him and, in extenuation of his failure, it is remembered that he rarely does well except in fine weather and on firm ground. The race at Belfast was run in driving rain.” That is consistent with the reports of his run in 1936 where it was reported that the hot weather and blazing sunshine had suited him after his Army service in the Far East. He was however third Scot to finish.

He ran in other races – eg two weeks before the international he ran a fast time for his club in the Perth to Kirkcaldy Road Relay – but his international career was finished. If you look at any of the team photographs you will see that, along with RR Sutherland, he was the tallest in the team – probably over six feet – and it is no surprise to find out that he was a policeman. He took up a post in Palestine in 1939 his running career, as far as we know it, was at an end.

Like many of his generation, Dow was a very talented athlete who had a short career – the length of which was dictated by his occupation, it was terminated by his occupation too. If we look back at his ten miles triumph in 1934, the pace judgment was immaculate and in most of his races he tended to run steadily throughout and come through dramatically when others were tiring. This was done without the assistance of pace training on a track although it is possible that his road runs were what we would today call ‘tempo runs’! The country was blessed with many fine athletes in the 1930’s – possibly a golden generation?