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John Anderson

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JA PortraitEverybody in Scotland knows John Anderson, everybody in Britain and many further afield know John Anderson – or knows something about him.   John Anderson,  along with such as Wilf Paish, Frank Dick and Harry Wilson,  is one of the really great British coaches of the twentieth century and probably of all time.   Everyone knows about him – coach of athletes who have competed in Commonwealth, European and Olympic Games as well as World championships indoor and out, coach on several GB Olympic teams, fitness trainer and referee on the Gladiators TV programme, coach to famous athletes such as Dave Moorcroft, Judy Livermore, Sheila Carey, John Graham, Liz McColgan, Lynne McDougall and so on.    Impossible not to know he is a Scot and a Glaswegian,  he is immensely practical, down to earth, immensely knowledgeable and always prepared to share the knowledge with those willing to listen.   It was interesting talking to him, reading what I could find and listening to interviews about his career.   A brief summary of his career appears in Wikipedia and reads:

“John Anderson (born 28 November 1932 or 1933) is a former British television personality best known as referee and official trainer on the UK TV show, Gladiators. He has previously worked as a teacher and as a coach for Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games athletes, including Commonwealth Games champion and former World Record Holder David Moorcroft. John was National Coach for the Amateur Athletics Association of England and subsequently the first full time National Coach in Scotland. He was coach to an Olympian at every Olympics from 1964 to 2000 and has coached 5 world record holders and 170 GB Internationals in every event.

In 2008, John briefly resumed his role as referee on the newly revived Gladiators before being replaced by John Coyle after just one series.   Anderson went on to become mentor and coach for a number of recent international athletes, including Great British athlete William Sharman, who he helped transform from a decathlete to a world class sprint hurdler, and continues to coach at a local and regional level.”    

A very brief entry and, important as Gladiators was, in the context of his athletics coaching, it is not the high point.   He tells me he was born in 1931.  His fascinating career deserves to be looked at in some detail, from his start in athletics to date.   (NB: John only did one series after 2008 because he turned down the renewal because he felt it was changing in a way that he did not approve of.)

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As a young man, John wanted to teach and was passionate about all kinds of sport.  He represented Scotland as a schoolboy footballer.   This was in the 1950’s when there was no formal coach education structure available in the country.    The only way in to sport as a career was to train as a physical education teacher and there were only two options available to him on that front – Jordanhill College in Scotland or Loughborough in England.    Jordanhill College is now of course part of Strathclyde University in Glasgow.   John went to Jordanhill and subsequently did a degree at the Open University and went into teaching in  Junior Secondary School the east end of Glasgow.   Progress as a coach was then down to self study and self motivation – he read voraciously, mainly in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.   He was interested in all sports and went on the FA football coaching course at Loughborough.   He did so well that he became the first home Scot to gain the prestigious Full FA Coaching Certificate.  It should be noted that at that time only 4 were awarded every year and none had ever been awarded to a ‘home Scot.’   When he came back home with the qualification, football clubs didn’t want to know.   There was no desire to use his qualification from those in the sport in Scotland where the clubs all seemed content to do what they had always been doing.   He went on teaching and covered such sports as gymnastics and swimming as well as football.    He reckons that these helped his future coaching of athletes – all experiences are useful and teach the interested coach, it raised his awareness of the coaching process and taught him how to motivate all kinds of people in different sports, and much more.

He had been a pupil at Queen’s Park Secondary School at the same time as Ally MacLeod.    They became firm friends and played together for the Scotland Schools team then when John was  National Coach, Ally was manager of the Scottish football team.   At a personal level, John was best man when Ally was married.

John only came into athletics by purest chance.   He was a member of Victoria Park in the West of Glasgow where he trained for the sprints, but says he really wasn’t much of a runner.   Nor was there very much coaching going on at the club – like other clubs at the time there was no proper coach but older and senior members advised the others on what they knew about.   Then at school one afternoon the principal PE teacher asked him to take the senior girls for relay practice.   There were annual sports for the Junior Secondaries in the area (he taught in Calder Street, St Mark’s JS and Dennistoun JS) and their school was always invited into the meeting.  (At that time secondary education in Scotland was divided into Junior and Senior Secondary Schools, with the pupils being segregated at the age of 12)    To teach relays, he needed a track and he made a rough track on the ash football field for this team of 14/15 year olds.   Came the sports, they won the relay and several other medals: they enjoyed it and he did too but he still thought of himself as a football coach.   The girls then asked him if they could carry on with athletics when they left school.   He looked around and the only option was Maryhill Harriers Athletic Club and he took them there – the only transport being his own small car.  After a few weeks, Tom Williamson at the club asked him to help – after all he was a PE teacher!    Then Tom and May Williamson set up their own club, Glasgow Western LAC and John was left with the rump of a club, only half a dozen girls who wanted to keep going.   And so Maryhill Ladies AC was set up – you can read about the club and its progress at

http://scottishdistancerunninghistory.co.uk/Maryhill%20Ladies%20AC.htm

Many in Scottish athletics have stories about John at this time – for instance Helen Donald tells of the time she was running in the WAAA’s championships at Crystal Palace and, coming off the last bend in third place was encouraged by John, who was there with his Maryhill athletes, roaring her on and wearing his kilt!   Anyway, Maryhill Ladies AC took off and his initial goal of ‘best club in Scotland in three years’ was achieved – use the link and see how well they did.

Never a man to stand still and let inertia govern his conduct as so many do, he contacted his colleagues in other schools and asked them to send along any talented girls that they had and, while they were at it, to send along their parents as well!    They were all used and the parents who were helping with the coaching and training of the girls, used to attend classes that he held at his Mum’s house on Sundays   He always wanted to know more, and attended a summer school at Loughborough College.    In an attempt to test himself, he decided to take all the Senior Coach awards that were available.   This was a mammoth undertaking and I cannot imagine any coach doing it today: in fact I have only ever heard of John and Wilf attempting it.   He did this – as did Wilf Paish – and then when he heard that new post had been created, that of a peripatetic national coach in England and Wales, he applied.   He was given the job and travelled the length and breadth of England and Wales coaching and working with coaches.   He even collected some athletes who had no access to coaching or who needed help.   This was when there was no national TV, no emails, no mobile phones and communication sometimes took a long time.   There was in many clubs no scientific basis for what they were doing – they were doing what their predecessors had done for donkey’s years.   He didn’t like that idea.  So he started reading again – back to the Mitchell Library, and he wrote to people and sometimes there was a long time for a reply because he was dependent on the postal service.

Then he discovered Geoff Dyson’s book, “The Mechanics Of Athletics” with its scientific approach to the body, information that wouldn’t change , that was scientifically and mathematically based.   As he says, his coaching went from being hopeful to being scientific.   Later he found Tim Noakes and his work was also assimilated into the training process.   Already a voracious reader, he continued to be so despite the increasing levels of success that his athletes had.   If he was going to coach somebody then he had to have a scientific basis for what he was going to do or he would not do it.   That has not changed – all training has to have a scientific underpinning.

It was at this point that he was asked to do some coaching with the Glasgow High Kelvinside RFC by a rugby friend who was also into athletics.   John did some work with them but it was mainly sprints and speed development.   The sessions are still remembered by some of those who took part – one chap recalls doing pre-season training on the big pitch at Old Anniesland.  Rumour hath it that they disagreed over what constituted a warm-up!   The sessions were hard work as Kenny Hamilton, now director of rugby at Glasgow Hawks recalls “3!… 2!…. 1! – I remember him well. A fair amount of resistance-running – possibly the first I experienced which used tyres. I seem to remember a conversation about stretching He was very enthusiastic about stretching muscles – a comparatively foreign concept in rugby circles in those days. He was delivering a talk some place and was asked about how long each stretch should be held for ……. “8 seconds he replied” This then became a bit of a standard but he quietly admitted that there was absolutely no science behind it!    However, I can confirm that we were all bloody fit that year, except Cammy!”   Cammy Little who was a very good rugby player (he was one of Glasgow’s first contracted players and also played for the Barbarians) says he missed the sessions as it was summer and he played cricket: an old tactic that worked a treat!!   John says he was not really a rugby man but it’s funny how these things go around: he is now living near Leicester and since the Chief Exec is a friend he goes along to see the Tigers play and in 2012 even went to Twickenhan to see the Scottish match.   He also admits that he has done some work with the Leicester Academy boys and focused on sprinting.

Hugh, Duncan, Hamish

Hugh Barrow and Duncan Middleton training with Cameron McNeish in the foreground

The only thing that he reckons might be queried is whether his interpretation of what their (Dyson and company’s) work had been, was fair.   In response to that he can only look at the results of his work with various athletes.   With 5 world record holders and 170 GB internationals then there can be a fair assumption that his interpretations have been appropriate.  He always measures every coach on the basis of their output.   Not if they have only ever had one outstanding athlete – anybody might have an outstanding talent simply by chance – but have there been improvements in all of the athletes that they have coached.   John always had talented athletes who came to him who were improved further by his insights and methods.    Among those in Scotland to benefit from his coaching were Leslie Watson, Moira Kerr, Duncan Middleton, Graeme Grant, Hugh Barrow, Hamish Telfer (a notable coach in his own right), Craig Douglas, Lindy Carruthers, and the sisters Alix and Jinty Jamieson.   The set-up in Glasgow at the time was interesting in that coaches co-operated with each other and Tom Williamson and John worked together on some of the same athletes.

Of the five commonly agreed parameters used to measure an athlete, he feels that Speed is the key.   Not who is fastest over 100 metres or whatever, but who has most speed in their event.    A marathon runner needs stamina but once he has that then he needs speed for his race distance.   This informed everything that he did with his athletes thereafter – if you are in doubt, have a look at some of the sessions noted here and found at the links.   If you want to see an example of what John did with John Graham, sub 2:10 marathon man, then look at the profile at http://scottishdistancerunninghistory.co.uk/John%20Graham.htm .    Here was a man, John Graham,  who had all the stamina required, the move was then to develop the speed necessary to be at the very top of his chosen event.    There are also comments on his training methods in the Lynne MacDougall profile at

http://www.scottishdistancerunninghistory.co.uk/Lynne%20McDougall.htm

Graeme Grant

Graeme Grant

John’s first big national post was as noted above the National Coach in England and then came the post of National Coach in Scotland which he held from 1965 until 1970.   Very active, he covered every aspect of the sport in every part of the country.    He was the only National Coach that I knew of who even worked with Scottish Schools squad days (the Scottish Schools tend to have their own event coaches for squad days) and was also the man responsible for organising the Annual National Coaching Convention.    This was a superb innovation and brought world class coaches from all over the athletics world to speak and talk with Scottish, and indeed British, coaches on their own turf.   Every aspect of the sport was covered – technical aspects, fitness and conditioning, physiological testing – and star athletes were often present too.   At the end of the conference, all the papers presented were issued to those in attendance in spiral bound booklet form for further study and for dissemination within the clubs across the land.   Wherever he was, he was approachable.    The coaches were all on side.   He also spoke to other conferences and at one he met the Rangers FC manager Jock Wallace.    Many years later when Jock was manager at Leicester City FC and John was in Nuneaton, he asked John to come and work with him as a fitness coach.   He was also approached for advice by a young player called Gary Lineker.   He turned the job offer down but it is one of these intriguing questions – “But what if he hadn’t/”

Then he had the sessions with athletes.   For instance the lunchtime sessions at Glasgow University’s ground at Westerlands were legendary with many of the very best in the country training there.   The half milers Mike McLean, Graeme Grant and Dick Hodelet were there as was Hugh Barrow from Victoria Park; distance men such as Lachie Stewart were also attendees at the lunchtime training.   Runners really went out of their way to attend.    The routine, as described by Hugh Barrow, was:

Blue train from town; Warm-up jog out pavilion across grass; about 40 minutes max eyeballs out reps [8 300s or (6 600s) or …] ;
No warm down shower; Back on blue train to office.    It was there that I first spoke to John – I had gone along to see what this session that was spoken of was about and like everybody else was very impressed.   
Hugh, who had been coached for the previous eight years by Johnny Stirling at Victoria Park, switched coaches and began to train with John from 1966.    He had been AAA’s Junior One Mile champion, and was the world 16 year old mile record holder which was only broken by Jim Ryun and trained as noted with some of the best half-milers the country has produced under John’s guidance at Westerlands at lunchtime, as well as at the club.   John travelled a lot – unlike some National coaches.   I once formulated the theory that one particular national coach’s car always broke down at Ingliston – and a lot of his communication was done by letter.    An example of this is a letter sent to Hugh in 1970, reproduced below.
 
Hugh John A
 
The second half with the more personal correspondence is omitted but this does show the detail that he sent the runners, even at that relatively early stage in his career.   His first ever GB runner came from this period: it was Hugh Baillie of Bellahouston Harriers who had that distinction when he ran in the 4 x 440 yards relay.
I mentioned earlier that he worked with the Scottish Schools on their squad training days and he brought the very best of coaches with him.   For instance to one such day that he was organising at Scotstoun, he had Alex Naylor, Eddie Taylor, Sandy Ewen and professional runner Michael Glen,   plus from England and from the ranks of the best athletes, there were Vic Mitchell, Mike Lindsay, Peter Warden and Menzies Campbell with athletes such as Graeme Grant, Hugh Barrow, Sandy Robertson and Don Halliday as ‘coaching assistants.’    That is by any standards a remarkable line-up.   To have it for Schools athletes shows the priority given to appropriate development of young athletes.
 
John left the post of National Coach in 1970 to become Direction of Physical Education at Heriot-Watt University.   The job came up and it was a case of ‘take it or leave it.’    Always up for a new challenge, John took it on and his successor as National Coach was Frank Dick.   The year of course was Commonwealth Games year and Willie Robertson (a well-known Highland Games ‘heavy’ athlete) has this tale:   He had entered the Kinlochleven Highland Games in 1970.   After deciding to go and throw at these Games he came to the conclusion that it would be good to do some walking in the Highlands at the same time.   So he set off up the West Highland Way and recalls what happened as follows:  “Great weather, made good progress.   I camped at the top of Glencoe and I was flooded out during the night.   It rained non-stop for three days.   I was forced to take bed and breakfast in Kinlochleven and abandon the tent.   Day of the Games, it was still raining.   Realised the whole trip was a mistake.   Then along came a coach with a large part of the Australian track and field team in it.   They were a great set of lads.    A couple took part in the heavy events.    Their chaperon was John Anderson.   Had a great time and cadged a lift home.   The coach passed my home village of Kirkliston.”
John’s coaching career was really taking off and when I checked some figures with John he confirmed that he had indeed coached over 170 GB athletes as Wiki had said.    A look at some of them would be very informative.
john-anderson-with-dave-and-linda-moorcroft-in-1982
 John with David and Linda Moorcroft, 1982
The athlete with which he is most associated in the minds of many is David Moorcroft.   On a visit to see Sheila Carey at Coventry he had been asked to have a look at the young boys training and one of them was David Moorcroft.   The coach and physiotherapist at Coventry Godiva was Mick Crosfield who had to leave to concentrate on his business.   John had a phone call from Bob Moorcroft, David’s Dad, who asked if he would provide schedules for David to work to but John thought that he would have to know the athlete better.   He was then invited to stay with the Moorcroft family when he next went to see Sheila.  His involvement with David started in 1966.   It was a partnership which would lead to a world record for 5000m in 1982 and even a vets world record for the Mile of 4:02 in 1993.    David was a wonderful athlete and great role model for any athlete.   I heard him saying at a small seminar at Meadowbank in the mid 1990’s lthat they worked together so well and for so long that you could sit them in different dressing rooms, ask them to write a schedule for the next year and they would come up with almost identical programmes.      You can read of David’s association with John and his progress in the British Milers Club magazine for Spring 1999 at
 
 
When David started to work on his running with John as coach,  John was already coaching another Coventry runner who was very good indeed but whose name seems to have fallen from view.   She was Sheila Carey – a top class 800/1500/3000m runner who competed in two Olympics (1968 and 1972 in Munich where she set a new GB record for the 1500m), helped set a world 4 x 400m relay record at the Edinburgh Games in 1970.  John had met her at a training camp in Font Romeu when he was there with a GB team.   One afternoon he decided to take the men, for whom he was mainly responsible, up higher to a plateau where they could do some training.   He saw a woman climbing up with them – she was Sheila Taylor and then, on the way home, she asked John if he would coach her.    He was living in Hamilton at the time, she was in Coventry.   She was quite clear and determined and so the partnership was formed.   She ran in the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1970 where she was one of the fallers at the end  of the women’s 800m and was unplaced.
The story of the selection for Mexico in 1972 is interesting.   The selection for the Olympics was the AAA’s Championship.   Sheila wasn’t well on the day and failed to qualify.   The first two were selected and John had a phone call the following week.   he was told that there was to be a run-off for the third 800m place between Ann Smith, trained by Gordon Pirie in New Zealand and the third placer in the AAA’s.    Sheila would be part of rest of the field.   John had other plans and on the day of the race he told her that she was going to win and go to the Olympics.   Tactics were simple – John would wait at a particular spot on the trackside and when he shouted to her to go, she was to really go for it all the way to the finish.   She responded really well, left the other two in her wake and won.   She went to Mexico.    It is a little known fact that John spent some time coaching blind athletes, and Sheila went on to teach in a school for the blind where she also became involved in coaching blind athletes.   Still running as a V65, see her recent profile at http://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=1967  , Sheila was one of the Olympic torch-bearers in Warwick in 2012.
All the way through the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, John was coaching some of the best athletes in the country – and by the country, I mean Britain.   The decade started with Sheila Carey doing very well and David Moorcroft was outstanding.    David competed in three Olympic Games (1976, 1980 and 1984); in 1978 he won Gold in the Commonwealth 1500m and four weeks later, was third in the Europeans.   You can get the whole story of his career and training at the BMC link above.   In 1982, however, came his finest moment.   He broke the existing world record for the 5000m with 13:01.44 and he did so without the use of pace makers: at the Bislett Games in Oslo he simply ran away from the field.  There’s a nice video clip of the last 1000m at
 
It was the last time that world record was broken by someone other and African.   He also won gold in Brisbane at the Commonwealth Games and set a British and European 3000m record of 7:32.39.
David Jenkins
 
*    Liz McColgan won silver at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul
*  John Graham trained with him from 1982 to 1987 which included a second in Rotterdam in 1985 in 2:09:58, 2:10:57 when finishing fifth in New York in 1983 and two Commonwealth Games fourth places.
*   Judy Simpson won bronze in the 1986 European Games pentathlon and competed in three Olympic Games in 1982, 1986 and 1990, although her top achievement was winning gold in the Commonwealth Games at Edinburgh in 1986..
*   Glasgow’s Lynne MacDougall ran in the Olympic 1500m Final in Los Angeles 1984 the high spot of a career of top class running including European Indoor Championships in 1984 and 1990, Commonwealth Games in 1986 and 1990, and with a range of personal bests ranging from 2:01.1 for 800m in 1984 right up to 2:36:29 for the marathon in 2002.
*  David Jenkins 4 x 400 silver in Olympics in 1972,silver in Europeans in 1974,  USA 400m champion in 1975, Commonwealth gold in 1978.   His 1971 victory in the European Championships at the age of 19 was quite superb.
*  David Wilson:  Hurdler and High Jumper who took part in the 1972 Olympics as a sprint hurdler, in the 1970 Commonewealth Games as a high jumper and in the European indoors as a high jumper.   He had personal bests of HJ 2:05, LJ 6.90, TJ 13.15, PV 3.30, Discus 36.64, 60mH 7.9, 110H 14.0 but never competed in a decathlon as far as I can discover.
*   He coached John Robson for a time and there were so many more, one of the most interesting being
*   David Bedford who asked John to coach him.   David had just run in the European Championships in Helsinki where, after leading right up to the last lap, he was destroyed by a 54 second last lap by Juha Vaatainen and then finished sixth.   Video of the last two laps can be found on youtube at this link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfm_lTSOjhI  .   John had been there with David Jenkins and they met there.   The following week  John came along to Meadowbank to do his coaching when he saw this tall, thin chap in red socks jogging round the track.   Recognising him, he asked what he was doing there and Bedford replied that he was what had brought him – he wanted John to coach him.   They reached an agreement and worked together for many years.   When he came up to Edinburgh David stayed with one of John’s runners, Dave Hislop and the partnership worked both athletically and socially.
With over 170 GB athletes, there were obviously many, many more but you get the quality of the coaching from that sample. Women’s heptathlon to men’s marathon via sprints, hurdles and high jump.      And with hurdler William Sharman he is still in 2013 producing champions!   From Maryhill in 1960 to London in 2013 the span is heading to 55 years.If the figure in Wikipedia of 170 GB internationals is correct, it must be more than any other coach ever.

John Liz 88 Seoul

John with Liz McColgan after the Seoul 10000m in which she was second
 
John’s credentials as a coach are undeniable – but how well were they recognised by the administrators of the sport?    Well, at the start of his career, coaches were regarded as ‘add-ons’ to the team as opposed to administrators who were essential.   Coaches were taken to Games but as extras who had to be taken rather than as essential parts of the competitive team.   The result was that he went to the 1968 and 1972 Games as an official consultant; he was attached to the team as a coach in 1976 and again in 1980 he was ‘attached’ to the UK team, and he was an official attachment to the team in 1984 and 1988, and again in 1992.   So – seven Games as part of the team, regardless of the title bestowed by the powers that were.   But he was properly recognised when in 1988 he was inducted into the UK Coaching Hall of Fame and he also received the Mussabini Medal.    The Hall of Fame is almost self-explanatory but the Mussabini Medal (named of course after Sam Mussabini who coached Harold Abrahams to Olympic gold.   I quote from Wikipedia:

The Mussabini Medal celebrated “the contribution of coaches of UK performers who have achieved outstanding success on the world stage.” Along with the Mussabini Medal, there also existed The Dyson Award, for “individuals who have made a sustained and significant contribution to the development and management of coaching and individual coaches in the UK”.   This award was named after Geoff Dyson, the first chief national athletics coach, who died in 1981.

The Mussabini Medal was introduced in conjunction with the launch of the Coaching Hall of Fame. The medal and associated awards were launched to raise the profile of coaches, and increase the financial backing to enhance the profession, still seen at the time as a largely amateur vocation in spite of Mussabini’s pioneering example.   Speaking at the inaugural presentation the patron of the Foundation the Princess Royal  stated that “Coaching and the work of individual coaches lies at the heart of sport, Yet all too often the role and contribution of the coach remains unrecognised and unacknowledged.”

Quite an honour.

 

David Bed2
 
That would be more than enough for any man, but there was so much more to John than that.    For instance, he was an agent with connections all over the athletics world and used these connections to the benefit of his, and other, athletes.    He was also influential in the promotion of events.    The Princes Street Mile races in Edinburgh for instance –
 
 
in the early 1990’s utilised John’s expertise in persuading world class competitors to take part for the first race of the series.    Runners that he persuaded to come along included Fermin Cacho, Steve Cram, Jens Peter Herold, William Tanui, David Kibet, Jim Spivey for the Men’s Mile and Hasib Boulmerka, Ellie van Langen,  Kirsty Wade, Doina Melinte, Yvonne Murray and Sonia O’Sullivan for the women’s race.   A quality not really equalled in any of the following years.  Then there were the training days, squad training sessions and many other occasions when his help was requested.    And then of course there was ‘The Gladiators.’
 
He was even at one point an agent getting the appropriate races for his athletes.   This was at the time when he was coaching Liz McColgan.   It was difficult at times getting the appropriate races to fit into their carefully planned programmes, and some of the agents were out for themselves rather than for the athletes,  so he offered to act as their agent, free of charge, and find them the appropriate competition.   It did work rather well for his charges.
 
Then there was ‘the day job’.    After the Heriot Watt Director of Physical Education, he moved to Nuneaton as Deputy Chief Liaison and Recreation Officer where he soon moved up to be Chief Leisure and Recreation Officer before finally ending up as Director of Leisure Services in London with a staff of 600 to supervise.
 
He was never still.    And he thrived on it.   Many coaches only ever have one national standard athlete or one Olympian in their charge, many very good coaches never have either but John held down a series of demanding jobs while coaching athletes to the highest honours and performing the many other associated functions noted above.
 
Wolf 2
 
He was at that time working in the South of England and he received a phone call from a TV company who were going to do a Game Show programme involving big, strong muscle men and they needed somebody who was an expert in tests and measurements.   He was invited to come to Woolwich Barracks in London to help sort them out.   If they passed the tests then they were to report to the producer.   When he reported there were lots of muscles on display.   All the men were body builders but none of the women were – they were all dancers, gymnasts and so on.    He sorted them out and the word ‘Gladiators’ never came up and he didn’t know what he was sorting them out for.   The producer was Nigel Lithgoe, treated with all due deference by everybody but John was curious to see how they were going to be selected for the actual show.   He then encouraged Nigel to include one big guy in particular.  Originally doubtful, he did include the ‘big guy’ as a reserve.    The big guy turned out to be Wolf (pictured above)who became the most popular of them all.   John was then invited to come down as Director of Training.   He went down knowing nothing about the show and then Nigel asked him to be referee as well.   John accepted the job and that was the start of it.   The show was an instant and mammoth hit.   John had no small part to play in it: his “Gladiators ready” and famous countdown 3-2-1 were so successful that they were copied by the American version which was the original and biggest Gladiator show.    Another favourite member of the team was Nightshade – one of his own athletes, heptathlete  Judy Simpson – mentioned above.   There is a profile of him in his role as Gladiators referee at
 
The two comments below the article read as follows: “Back in the 90′s hey day of Gladiators, I was a working at the Pizza Express in Brindley Place, Birmingham, next door to the NIA where Gladiators was filmed.   For several weeks every year, the paths outside were thronged with foam handed punters, and we often saw the Gladiators themselves walking past. Wolf even belied his image and would wave and smile at the kids.   But the man himself, John Anderson was a regular customer. He would always come in by himself, and sit at table 13 and order two garlic breads for starters, and then a pizza. He was a really nice guy, and would happily sign autographs for the kids. Probably the nicest minor celebrity I met while working there, although it could be a tie between him and Bob Holness.” was the first and the second contrasts this with his on-screen appearance and reputation.   It reads “The wimp ref Sky employed was awful. We nicknamed him ‘dad ref’ because ‘Gladiators Ready!?’ sounded more like ‘dinners ready.’ ”   which clearly indicates that John was just a bit tougher than the US original!
 
There was even a set of toy gladiators produced with a six inch John Anderson figure: a toy firm called Character Options made and sold sets of the Gladiator characters – and of course there had to be one of John as well.  

And the script read: ‘One of the Gladiators 6″ Action Figures to collect from the hit show on Sky1.   This pack contains John Anderson 6″ action figure with Whistle and Stopwatch.   “Contender READY”, “Gladiator READY” are words that can only be uttered by one man. John Anderson is the man behind the whistle, in charge of keeping the Gladiators and contenders in check as well as preparing them for the challenges they face!’

Manufactured by Character Options

 
Judy Night
 
Into the twenty first century and John was still operating at a very high level indeed: a couple of examples.    As part of the ‘Flying Coaches’ with other coaches and athletes such as Paul Evans for instance.   What were the Flying Coaches?   They explain their set up like this –
 
“Who are the Flying Coaches?
A range of coaches have been identified on the basis of their experience and expertise in technical events. The Flying Coach Programme has seen the likes of former Chicago Marathon winner Paul Evans and World Champion coach John Anderson visiting clubs. Coaches interested in becoming ‘Flying Coaches’ should contact their area Club and Coach Support Officer to register interest.

What might a Flying Coach visit involve?While it is expected that the focus of the majority of Flying Coach visits will be the technical development of coaches, clubs are encouraged to address other areas of coach development using the Flying Coach scheme, such as:

  • Strength & Conditioning
  • Fundamental Movement Skills
  • Planning and Periodisation
  • Communication Skills
  • Sport Psychology

Flying Coach Programme: Disability

Wheelchair Racing: An introduction to basic push technique, chair set up and training programmes.
Seated throws: Advice and guidance on seated throws, including throwing frames, tie downs and fixings.
Coaching blind or visually impaired athletes: Advice and guidance on supporting blind or visually impaired athletes, to include guide running and competition pathways.
Coaching deaf or hearing impaired athletes: Advice and guidance on coaching deaf and hearing impaired athletes. To include information on effective communication, technology, Deaf UK Athletics and competition pathways.
Coaching athletes with a learning disability: Advice and guidance on coaching athletes with a learning disability. To include information on Mencap, Special Olympics and competition pathways.
Other impairment specific visits: Advice and guidance on coaching athletes with a specific impairment (Cerebral Palsy, amputees etc). To include information on National Disability Sports Organisations and competition pathways.

So it is not an easy option to follow for the coach – the last section is interesting with our prior knowledge of his work with blind athletes.

john-in-2011-with-hurdlers-at-cornwall-ac

John in Cornwall, 2011

In August 2011 for instance he travelled to Cornwall with Tom McNab and Alan Launder to work with the local Cornwall AC for what seems to have been really successful event.   There are links at the Cornwall site to two of John’s PowerPoint presentations.   The first is called “Most can run, many can race, few win!”  and the second is entitled “Preparation/Rehearsal for Sprints”.   While they are incomplete without John’s presentation, the headings are enough to make most people think a bit.   You can get them at

http://www.cornwallac.org.uk/content/NewsDetails.asp?ID=551

–  the links are just below the first picture of the three coaches!

As we said above he is still coaching a small number of top class athletes but he is not yet easing himself into retirement as a coach.

Success at the level he has enjoyed didn’t alter the fact that he was a coach who worked with athletes of all abilities.   With his personality and ability he would have been a success in any walk of life: we are fortunate that he chose athletics.

Tributes to John are many but I have some on a separate page which you can reach from this link.    Below is the latest photograph we have of John – received in May 2018

There is an excellent article on John on the Playing Pasts website at

Where Are They Now – John Anderson

 

Robert Anderson

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Robert Anderson

When it comes to hard working clubmen, Cambuslang’s Robert Anderson has few equals.   The living embodiment of the “You do what your club needs you to do” philosophy, he has served as athlete, official, administrator, recruiting sergeant and anything else that required some action.    I was told once when I asked where a new club member had come from that Big Robert had signed him up when he was on holiday in the Highlands, and the information was quickly followed by “Don’t laugh, we’ve got three members in Barra from the time he went there!”   As a runner he was very good but as Percy Cerutty once said of one of his stars, “He might run faster, but he doesn’t run harder than me.”   Robert always ran hard, none of the stars who ran for the club ever ran harder.   And yet despite all the stories, he remains friendly and affable – the only time he ever ignores anyone is when Cambuslang is racing and he has a man to shout on.    He was profiled in a magazine in the 1980’s but I didn’t recognise the picture painted.   The following profile is a tribute to an excellent club man and a lot of help was receibed from Dave Cooney, Cambuslang Harriers team manager for over two decades (and counting!).

Born on 12th February, 1947, Robert joined the club in 1963 at the age of fifteen and has had 50 years in the club.    Given what has been said above it might be best to look at his involvement in the various areas in which he has functioned.

Robert A

AS A RUNNER

It should be noted that Robert worked for many years delivering coal for the family business, even on a Saturday morning before competing later in the day – hardly the ideal preparation.   It did however make him stronger than almost all of the opposition.    His first individual medal was in 1965 when he was second in the Midland District Youths Cross-Country Championship.    The first six were Eddie Knox of Springburn, Robert, Colin Martin of Dumbarton, R Colvin of Springburn, Alistair Johnstone of Victoria Park and Martin Mahon of Shettleston.   He was in very good company indeed!     He went on in the same season to be ninth in the Youths National.    Eddie Knox won that one too with John Fairgrieve (EAC) second and Colin Martin third.   Finishing in the top ten was nevertheless a noteworthy achievement with several good runners left behind – eg Alistair Johnston was twelfth n this one.   Probably needless to say but he won the Cambuslang Youth championship that year and also won the Junior title.   In fact his run of club senior titles took in Senior victories in 1968, ’70, ‘ 71, ’72 and ’73.     He continued running in the National – and County and District Championships until the 1990’s and then went on to run in the veterans championships.  The 60’s were a good decade for Robert and he also competed on the hills well enough to win the tough Ben Lomond Race 1967 and 1968.   On the track he ran 6 Miles in 31:43.0 to be ranked 25th Scot in 1968.

Of course the biggest event for endurance runners in winter, other than the national, was the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight man relay.   Robert ran in this for the first time in 1970 when the club ran an incomplete team, turning out on the hard sixth stage.   The club missed out in ’71 but were back in ’72 when their twelfth place was good enough to win them the medals for the Most Meritorious unplaced performance.   Robert ran on the sixth stage again.   He ran on the eighth stage in ’73 pulling the team up one place.   Back on the long stage again in ’74, he kept the club in 17th position with another solid run.   ’75 saw him again on the sixth stage but in ’76 Robert was on the third stage where he picked up one place.    The talk that day was all of John Robson who, when running the third stage stopped altogether and reportedly threw away the baton.   No fear of that with Robert who would always do his very best for the club.    In ’77 he was again on the final stage for the team which finished eleventh.   In ’78 the team finished sixth and Robert was on the seventh leg for a team which was getting stronger all the time with Rod Stone, Colin Donnelly and the Rimmer brothers wearing the colours.   ’79 saw the team further strengthened by the addition of Eddie Stewart and improvement to fifth – it was Robert on the seventh stage who picked up from sixth to fifth.   Missing ’80, when the team was second, and ’81, he was back on E-G duty in ’82 when the team, minus the Rimmers and Rod Stone but with Eddie Stewart and new man Alex Gilmour formed the backbone, Robert ran the final stage to bring the club home in tenth.   That was to be his final run for the club in the Edinburgh to Glasgow but it had a noble stint on behalf of the club.

On the country in the 70’s he was a member of the first Cambuslang team to win a District team medal when they were third in 1976 behind Shettleston and Victoria Park and two years later he won the Lanarkshire County 10 Mile Road Running Championship.

So he was adept at cross-country and road running, then there was track running where in the 1980’s he returned to the Scottish ranking lists for the first time since that 6 miles in 1968.   This time it was in the steeplechase where h recorded times of 9:59.1 in 1980, 9:54.1 in ’81 and 9:53.1 in 1982.   The ’80’s were in general another good decade for Robert.   In 1981 he was a member of the team that took bronze in the Scottish 4 man cross-country championship running first in a team with Lynch, Stone and Stewart.   Incidentally the Young Athletes team of Sam Wallace, Pat Morris and David McShane won their race.   Becoming a vet in February 1987, he was a member of the Cambuslang team that was second in the Scottish vets cross-country championships in 1988 and again in 1989.   Unfortunately from 1990 he suffered increasingly from niggles and injuries that curtailed what running and training he could do.   They were beginning to take their toll and although he kept on running an turning out for the club, his last notable race was when he was  National M65 cross-country championships in 2013.    It was a long career as a runner an he is probably not finished with the vets scene even yet … the latest open race result I have seen is for the Cairnpapple Hill Race in 2012 when he was first M65 and 35th overall.

Robert Anderson CambuslangRobert, third from the left, unusually for him, in the background

AS A COACH

It used to be a common thing to go to any club on a training night and see older runners standing with a group of younger athletes getting practical advice from his experience.   It’s not such a common sight any more and the sport is the poorer for it.   Robert was an excellent role model for youngsters – he had run on the road, over the country, up and down the hills and on the track, all with some success.   How does he rate as a coach?   Well, first and foremost he is dependable.   It does not matter if an athlete misses a session, or even two, over the winter.    If a coach misses one it is a cardinal sin.   Robert would be an ever present.   Mike Johnston of course is currently top man and there is a great deal of assistance from Owen Reid and Jim Orr.

His approach is said by a clubmate to be a demanding one but he leads by example.   His two maxims are “There is no such thing as pain” and “You can always find time to train if you want to.”   The first is maybe a bit overstated but there is no doubt about the truth of the second.   Has he been successful?   Over the years he has helped to coach and mentor many Scottish individual and team medallists and has contributed greatly to the national success which Cambuslang has enjoyed since 1979 when the Under 13 team won bronze medals in the Scottish Cross-Country Championships.   Let’s just list them:

U13 Boys Scottish Cross Country Champions 1992 -96 (runner up by 1 point in 97), 98 – 2000, 2006 and 2013 when his grandson Drew Pollock was a counting member.

U15 Boys Scottish Cross Country Champions 1979, 1992 – 96, 2002, 2005 and 2008.

U17 Boys Scottish Cross Country Champions 1982-85, 1991 -93, 1995 and 96, 2003 and 09.

U20 Boys Scottish Cross Country Champions 1983-85, 1987, 2000, 2002 and 03 and 2013

Senior Men Cross Country Champions 1998 -1995, 1997-2000, 2003 and 2004, 2006 and 2008.

AT Mays Trophy for the Best Male Club at the Scottish Cross Country Championships

Inaugural winners in 1989, 1991- 97, 1999-2006, 2012 and 2013.

Cambuslang has won the trophy on 18 out of 25 occasions.

That is quite a formidable list of medals.   Although others did their share of the work, Robert is almost certainly the main driving force.

AS A RECRUITING OFFICER

Robert is famous as a recruiting sergeant for his club.   Always on the lookout for new members, he will often just stop runners in the street and ask them if they are interested in joining Cambuslang.   Over the years he has been responsible for attracting many new athletes to the club – names such as David Cooney (team manager now for well over a decade), the best known duo in the club of Alex Gilmour and Eddie Stewart, Scottish internationalist Jim Orr who was better than he himself thought he was, hill runner Colin Donnelly, the brothers Joe and Kevin Kealy and Mark McBeth.   Involved in the local primary and secondary schools, he was quick to latch on to the new phenomenon of parkruns and now gives out club leaflets at these events held in Glasgow every Saturday morning.

AS A COMMITTEE MEMBER  

Inevitably a clubman such as Robert has done more than his share at Committee level and in organising social events, away weekend training expeditions, club relays, Christmas handicaps.   He even has a role that not many know about as a GROUNDSMAN, mapping out and maintaining two grass tracks in the summer nights on the rugby pitches at the club since there are no local track facilities available.

Robert 1

 Robert on the left at a team mate’s wedding   

It was mentioned above that in May 1988 “Scotland’s Runner” published a club profile of Cambuslang Harriers and included in it was a pen portrait of Robert Anderson.   This extract says a lot about him.

“He lives, eats, breathes and drinks the sport.   As a promising youngster in the club in the 1960’s he would spend a hard morning carrying coal sacks up closes on a Saturday morning, finishing work well after one o’clock, before rushing off to a race at a time when Cambuslang had little hopes of any real success.   Like many traditional harriers, he is now suffering the injurious effects of more than 25 years in the sport – many of them spent pounding the pavements in inadequate footwear, something that many youngsters tend to forget in these days of hi-tech footwear.

‘I still manage about 35 miles a week.   More than that and I seem to get injured.   Who knows, maybe next year … ?’ he says wistfully.   But despite the seemingly constant injuries, he has managed a run every day this year.   

Anderson never gives up.  A current Member of Parliament (and Cambuslang Harrier) claims that Robert gave him the hardest run of his life.   It was the day after the Mamore Hill race when a Cambuslang pack, under Robert Anderson’s guidance decided to do a 90 minute run through the mountains.   Robert had the watch.   But, being a ruthless coach, he stopped the watch each time any of the hungover lads was compelled to visit the bushes.   Unfortunately, being hungover himself, he got the timing wrong.   All too soon Robert was starting the watch whenever anyone had a call of nature and stopping it whenever the pack actually started running.   A massive commitment to the Scottish mountains had been made before the dreadful truth emerged … the denouement involved two hours more than scheduled and a chest high fording of a mountain current.   They still talk about it at Cambuslang (in hushed tones) with the sort of admiring horror that every true harrier reserves for those killing days when, somehow against all the odds, you make it home.

Yet the Robert Andersons of this world claim that it was all part of their master plan to take the club on to winning the Scottish Senior Cross-Country title four years later.   Without them, our sport would drop dead.”

To finish with a heartfelt tribute, John Wilson who has known Robert for decades and remembers when he first started at the club pays him this compliment:

I joined the club as a boy in the 60’s.    Though this period the club’s fortunes waxed and waned as football was the predominant sport in the area and a constant drain on younger members.  Often it was Robert’s due diligence alone (chasing everyone up, making travel arrangements and even paying fares to get kids to events!) that kept the club going and being represented at events. 
 
The older stalwarts were invariably injured (Andy Fleming, Willie Kelly) and Gordon Eadie tended to train on his own.    For most of the decade Robert did not have consistent club competition or training partners at his level.    Charlie Jarvie was about the same as Robert but he and others moved away, Davie Lang and George Skinner made guest appearances on some club nights but in the main Robert was left to train with boys, youths and juniors.
 
To get some quality training Robert started to attend the Tuesday session at Shettleston Harriers (which was often a fast 10 mile with Bill Scally, Henry Summerhill, Dick Wedlock).   Our own club nights were Monday and Thursday and on one miserable winter’s night I went to the club and I was the only one there!    We had had several weeks of numbers dropping off and the fear was the club would just simply fold. On the Wednesday Robert told me he was thinking of joining Shettleston.
Firstly had he joined Shettleston Harriers (this was around 1969/70) with the undoubted step up in high quality training, Robert would  have fulfilled his potential and become an even better runner and secondly , in my view, Cambuslang Harriers would have ceased as a club as the members had dispersed and Robert was the main driving force to get people out at club nights and into running events. (As well as driving the training sessions)
 
Following his decision not to join Shettleston, Robert seemed to launch himself into an out and out recruitment mode targeting lapsed members, schools, and anyone he saw running in the area.   Obviously he kept this practice going.   In those days there was nothing to suggest Cambuslang Harriers would ever attain the success it has done.    Robert was the driving force at the clubs most critical time and there is no doubt he sacrificed his own running development to ensure the continuity of Cambuslang Harriers. 
I asked Robert to complete the questionnaire – unusual for this section – because I felt he would add a lot to the profile himself.   The replies are below
Name: Robert Anderson
Club:  Ronhill Cambuslang
Date of Birth: 12:02:1947
Occupation: Owner/Driver HGV (Retired.)
Personal Best Times:  800m   2:00;          1500m   4:04;          3000m 8:42;          5000m   15:27;          10000m   32:25
How did you get involved in the sport initially:   School sports.
Has any individual or group had a marked influence on either your attitude to the sport or your performances?  First Coach – Andy Fleming
Can you describe your general attitude to the sport?   I love the sport but find young ones now do not want to put enough time or work into it.
What do you consider your best ever performances?   28th October 1967 in the Midland District Relays.   I ran on the third leg and brought the team from eleventh to fourth – 33 seconds faster than Gordon Eadie who was going really well at the time.
What goals did you have that remain unachieved?   Since the late 1960s, my ambitions have all been club based.   I do not think there is anything left to win.   We have had individual champions in every age group (male) and have won every team title.   I would like to go back to proper coaching but no one is at present prepared to take the kids coming in the door.   My wins with your help as coach:
Junior Men (Under 20): 1983, ’84, ’85, ’87.   Youth  (Under 17): 1982, ’83, ’84, ’85.     Junior Boys (Under 13):  1992, ’93, ’94, ’95, ’96, (1997 second by one point to Law), ’98, ’99
***
Thanks, Robert – a lot of the Scottish athletics fraternity would agree heartily with your comments about the present generation and their attitudes.   I reckon this is true of new athletes in all age groups.    Keep up the good work!

 

 

 

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James P Shields

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 “Jim was one of the four pillars of the club with Andy McMillan, Dan McDonald and John Morgan”    (Alex Hylan)

Jim Crop

Jim Shields in the centre

Jim is in the dead centre of this photograph taken in the late 1930’s in the basement of the Bruce Street Baths in Clydebank.  behind and to the left of Little Johnny Morgan.   Jim did not appear in many portrait pictures or photographs where he was the main focus, but he was always there and always in the background.   Never a seeker of the limelight, he was one of the best and hardest workers in Scottish athletics at a time when it was blessed with hard working officials.   He is included here partly because of that but also because his time in the sport covered the immediate pre-war period when numbers in all clubs were low and Committees had to work hard to keep the clubs going, and the post-war period when the sport was starting up again, and on through to the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh and beyond.   His career is a kind of chronicle of the sport for that period.

Jim Shields joined Clydesdale Harriers in the 1930’s and was one of the men who kept the club ticking over during the hostilities.   He started as an office bearer during the war when he was club assistant secretary in 1939, after the war he was treasurer from 1946, and finally secretary from 1967.   You will note that both were serious working positions in the club and to my mind it was unfortunate that he did not ever occupy the position of club President.   His brother Arthur was also an office bearer in the club

 Jim was also one of the best and best known officials and administrators at National level in Scottish athletics.   He officiated at local meetings, Championships, international fixtures and at the Commonwealth Games.   As an administrator he would surely have been President of the SAAA had his job not sent him abroad when he was Vice President of the Scottish Amateur Athletics Association where he had also served on many sub committees.      A lot of his correspondence, notebooks and some commemorative medals are included in the Clydesdale Harriers archive in the Clydebank Public Library which will soon be available to the public.

Having been a committee member before the war he first held high office in the club when he was elected secretary in 1944 and at the first post war AGM in September 1945 he read his first secretary’s  report.   In it he said “he thought the club was definitely round the corner on the way to a revival.    There was now a membership of approximately 50 (excluding those in the services), about 18 of those being Juniors.   Attendances at the track had been quite good and a lot more like normal times.   We had managed to run a points competition for the Youths and the winner was Thomas Tait with 10 points ahead of Sam Wotherspoon on 9 points and two more on 8 points.   As regards the season coming on he said the SCCA proposed a full programme of races and he hoped the club would manage to run some of the usual races and he hoped for a good turn out at training and at Saturday runs.”   His career as an official would carry on from that point.   More used to being treasurer he was elected to that post the following year.

Described by one of his contemporaries as ‘one who was always there, not much of a runner but always turned out to support the club’   and described by Alex Hylan as ‘a real nice man, Jim was always polite and helpful to the members.’    The club in this period were always thinking of ways to raise money and Alex, as Assistant Treasurer suggested that the club get a Co-operative Cheque Number.   The Co-op had a system whereby regular shoppers had a number that they quoted when they made a purchase and received a receipt when they left the shop.   At the end of the year, each member received a cash dividend depending on how much they spent and what the percentage was that year.   Jim took it up with gusto.   He would harangue the members to use the number for the benefit of the club.   Jim Young apparently got into trouble with his Mum for using the Harriers number instead of the family number: they were short of cash too!  The club made some money from the scheme though.   Willie Wright bought all his training needs through the club number at the Co-op.

Post-War Group

This picture taken just after the War shows Jim with a group of club members at Mountblow – Andy McMillan is at the left in the back row with John Morgan, who was in Burma during the War, standing on the right with Jim in the white shirt on the right of the back row.     It is a remarkable photograph – taken on the spur of the moment with a simple box-camera immediately after the war with the sun shining, some of the men had been involved in the hostilities but the country had triumphed and spirits were high   A contrast with the dreadful atmosphere after the first war.

Jim was the club representative on the new Dunbartonshire Amateur Athletic Association committee for many years but he was a regular and well-kent face on the National scene as well.   He was the representative to the SAAA for several years and worked his way up to vice president and, as was the custom,  would have been the next SAAA President when in 1961 he was sent by the Singer Factory to their plant in India.   He had a very responsible position in Singer’s factory in Clydebank in the finance department.   He was involved in the introduction of the Time and Motion Study System to the factory which was not a popular innovation at the time.    When the Indian branch was opened up, Jim was the man who went and unfortunately missed out on the chance of the highest position in Scottish Athletics at the time.   The ‘Clydebank Press’ reported “On Wednesday evening at the monthly committee meeting a little ceremony took place.   Treasurer Jim Shields was present to say ‘au revoir’ to the club prior to his departure for India on behalf of the Singer Manufacturing Company for a period of possibly three years.   President D Bowman in presenting him with a fountain pen as a token of esteem from club members said that Jim had served the club faithfully for 27 years.   He was the perfect example of an enthusiastic club member, in his earlier days as an active club runner, for the past 17 years or so as first club secretary and then treasurer.  

 An additional job which he undertook was that of correspondent to the ‘Clydebank Press’ where readers will better know him as ‘The Whip’.   Mr Shields in replying thanked him and the club and assured them that the Clydesdale Harriers would always take highest place in his affections.   He also said that in his opinion we had one of the happiest clubs in the sport and as long as that spirit prevailed we would never fail.”     

When he had successfully worked for the company in India and Iran,  just like a multinational company, when he returned his job had been given to another and he was looking for work.

 Jim was very quiet and never pushed himself forward but if we look at his record in it totality we get the following remarkable record of service to the club – and note that it does not include time spent as Assistant Treasurer or Assistant Secretary:

 

Year

Office

Year

Office

1939

Assistant Secretary

1957

Treasurer

1940

Secretary

1958

Treasurer

1941

Secretary

1959

Treasurer

1942

Secretary

1960

Treasurer

1943

Secretary

1961

Treasurer

1944

Secretary

1962

India

1945

Secretary

1963

India

1946

Treasurer

1964

India

1947

Treasurer

1965

India

1948

Treasurer

1966

India

1949

Treasurer

1967

India

1950

General Committee

1968

Secretary

1951

General Committee

1969

Secretary

1952

General Committee

1970

Secretary

1953

Treasurer

1971

Secretary

1954

Treasurer

1972

Secretary

1955

Treasurer

1973

Secretary

1956

Treasurer

1974+

General Committee

Almost immediately on his return he was warmly welcomed back into the club – and on to the Committee for second stint as Secretary.   The lesson for all future Committee Members is maybe not to do a job too well or it’s yours for good!    The War Time Committee went on to organise a series of top class events and James P Shields was involved with every one of them.   When the SAAA held the international cross-country championships in Clydebank in 1969, Clydesdale Harriers was seriously involved and Jim was one of the men who helped make it so.   But the club was also involved in bringing to Clydebank such events as the Scottish Schools championships, the British Schools Cross-Country Championship, the Scottish Women’s Cross-Country Championships and and the Scottish Veterans Cross-Country Championships.    Jim was a lynch pin in the organisation of those.

On the track,he officiated at both Edinburgh Commonwealth Games, at several International and Invitation Meetings across Scotland and was at almost every track and field sports meeting or amateur highland games held in the country at one time or another – at many of them he was an annual fixture.

A good and conscientious club man and a superb administrator, the club was fortunate to have Jim as a member.   Even after he ceased work on the Committee through illness he still came to several club races and there were also donations to the club for many years.

In the picture below, taken at Whitecrook in the 1970’s, Jim is on the right with Jimmy Young (left) and Frank Gemmell at Whitecrook running track.   All three were top class officials at local and national level – Frank sorted out the cross-country trails for all the major races, including the 1969 international and officiated in the Games while Jim was club president when the Schools and other internationals came to Clydebank and also worked at the Commonwealth Games.

James P Shields, Frank Gemmell and Jim Young

Raymond Hutcheson

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Raymond Hutcheson and Cecil McPhersonRaymond on the right with his friend and fellow time-keeper Cecil McPherson

I first met Raymond at the SAAA Championships in 1966.    We both got off the train at Grangemouth at the same time, and although we didn’t know each other we fell into conversation and made our way to the Stadium together.   He had his haversack over his shoulder and I was to become familiar with the sight of Raymond with that rucksack over the years to come.     We weren’t great friends, we met too seldom for that, but Raymond got on well with everybody and I was to find out in the course of many conversations of his mountaineering and hill-walking (he climbed the Munroes twice!) and railway walking – he was interested when I moved to Lochearnhead because of the many old railway lines up here.   Born in 1930, he died in 2007 at the age of 77.    What follows is a personal tribute from one of his closest friends and colleagues, Graham McDonald.

“My early memories of Raymond were about 1957 at  Inter Club Meetings when Pitreavie AAC hosted many enjoyable friendly evening matches with Larbert AC, Tillicoultry & Hillfoots AC, St Modans AC as well as some of the Edinburgh clubs at the then very new cinder track at Pitreavie.

Raymond came through to do the timekeeping with Larbert AC where his friend Bert Allan tells me he had been a member since least 1948. Our club secretary was always pleased to see that Raymond had arrived because that solved the problem of having a good timekeeper.

However, I kept embarrassing him about one of the sprint relay races where there was a very close finish with Larbert just pipping Pitreavie. I was sure we must have beaten our club record but he had been so excited that his team won that he forgot to stop his watch on us. He kept apologising for many years.     

Raymond did compete at club level for a while but became more interested in timekeeping. Although not an official SAAA timekeeper at the time, his enquiring mind soon had him questioning the accuracy of times being returned by official SAAA timekeepers at some meetings.

After he became an official SAAA timekeeper he was concerned that there were no tests or exams for timekeepers in Scotland. Raymond got himself down to England to find out how the AAA conducted their timekeepers’ tests under their timekeeping guru Harry Hathaway who had written the AAA guide to ‘Timekeeping’.

I well remember in Oct ’72 when I working down south and had been persuaded to take a timekeeping test at Motspur Park, Raymond arrived on the overnight sleeper to take the test. He had already done the test the previous year but he wanted to take it again to make sure he was keeping up to standard

With support of others, he was instrumental in starting training courses, and introducing testing and grading of timekeepers in Scotland. When timekeepers wanted to buy a good quality stopwatch, they were told by their colleagues ‘see Raymond’ and he would advise on the best watches available and arrange the purchase for them. 

 He was Chief Timekeeper at many on the major meetings in Scotland at Meadowbank and Kelvin Hall as well often being invited to officiate at Internationals at Crystal Palace.   He officiated at the 1970 and 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

He had become involved in organising the first Scottish Men’s T&F League in the ‘60s and tried to get a Scottish Inter Counties T&F Championships off the ground around the same time but he didn’t get much support for the latter it only lasted a couple of years.

 One incident of controversy he was involved in was at Kelvin Hall when it was thought that Colin Jackson had broken the World Record for the 60m Hurdles and it was reported throughout the media. Raymond’s drive for accuracy made him re-check the photo-finish film several times which showed that Jackson had equalled the record, not broken  it. BBC news bulletins later in the evening had to retract their earlier reports.

Raymond told me he received an irate phone call at home from Tony Ward after midnight.  

When the early photofinish camera systems were introduced he became an expert in setting up and operating them. They were just ‘up his street ‘as it were. Being an Industrial Chemist with ICI in his working life and interested in photography he was in his element mixing up the chemicals in his white lab coat. However, the electrical connections in the system did not always work properly – not much change there – so Raymond was often heard to apply the high tech solution ‘gie it a dunt,  Jim’ and that solved the problem.

One story he told against himself was when reading the time off the photo-finish film of a ladies race, he had lined up the cursor against the ladies knee until a colleague informed him where the ladies torso was. His excuse was that he was a bachelor!

The Two Bridges Race.

This was the Ultra 36 mile Road Race starting in Dunfermline’s Pittencrieff Park and routed through Fife , over Kincardine Bridge, Grangemouth, Bo’ness and back over the Forth Road Bridge finishing in Rosyth as the Civil Service Club.

This became a major annual event for Raymond. He was Chief Timekeeper from the time it started in 1968 till its untimely demise in 2005. He also measured the course each year on his bicycle to make sure check on any new road works which might have affected distances.

The map of the course given to his timekeepers gave the precise location of each point to the nearest lamp post or manhole cover.

For 38 years he organised his team of timekeepers and recorders and after each race produced a booklet of results with photographs which contained not only the finishing times of each runner but also their 5 & 10 mile splits, average pace/mile, marathon time,  course record times and past winners. Every competitor and official was sent a copy.

The Two Bridges became a social event for his loyal team and the date was one of the first to be pencilled in the diary each year.

 Quiet and unassuming he gained the respect of the athletes and his fellow officials. He was meticulous in every way. For instance, Colin Shields tells me that Raymond attended the Olympics in London in 1948 and he wrote down every performance of every event for every competitor including wind speeds.

Although the modern term carbon footprint would be an unfamiliar to him, he must have had one of the lowest. He travelled everywhere by public transport. Who can forget the bundle of timetables he would pull out of his rucksack. 

Outside of athletics, he was an avid lover of the outdoor life and the Scottish Mountains.

The first weekend of every month was walking weekend. He had climbed all the Munro’s and later on had started walking and collating notes and details about the old abandoned railway lines. 

The Sport of Athletics should be grateful for the personal dedication Raymond gave to it but for most of us I guess that the most important thing is that it was our privilege to have known him. We are all the poorer for his passing.”

 That is Graham’s appreciation of and tribute to Raymond which gives a full account of his career as a timekeeper and of Raymond’s many interests.    There was some extra information in the obituary in The Scotsman and I will quote some of it here.   There will be some duplication, but I’ll try to keep it to a minimum.

“RAYMOND Hutcheson was a modest, unassuming Falkirk man who built a formidable reputation for his expertise, diligence and knowledge in a wide range of disciplines.   His working life was spent at ICI Grangemouth, where he was an integral member of the lab team, working initially on research into dyes and pigments, and latterly on the testing, trials and development of new products.

As a teenager, Raymond’s interest in science led him to build a laboratory in the family home at Kersehill, Falkirk.   There, he would conduct experiments and learned how to develop his own photographs, a skill which would later serve him well in his role as an athletics photo-finish expert.

As a teenager, Raymond’s interest in science led him to build a laboratory in the family home at Kersehill, Falkirk.   There, he would conduct experiments and learned how to develop his own photographs, a skill which would later serve him well in his role as an athletics photo-finish expert.

Raymond had a passion for the outdoors. His love of the Scottish hills was deep, and at an early age he joined the Scotsman Mountaineering Club, which in time became the Ptarmigan MC, with Raymond variously acting as club secretary and archivist. He attained the status of Munroist in 1980 – an achievement all the more impressive since he never held a driving licence, travelling to the remotest corners of Scotland on foot, bicycle or public transport.

He was enthusiastic and knowledgeable about trains, and active in many train-related societies, including the Railway Ramblers, a hardy bunch whose aim is to locate and walk the routes of abandoned railway lines.

Raymond was also the first-call for road-race measurement duties, a thankless but nevertheless vital task, if race times and distances are to be accurate.   He became a kenspeckle if not downright suspicious figure who was sometimes approached, or escorted, by the police in the wee small hours while undertaking these measurements on his bicycle, when the roads were quiet.  

He insisted on using solid rubber tyres for this task, an uncomfortable option, but Raymond did not want his measurements compromised by inaccuracies, however minute, caused by pneumatic tyres contracting and expanding due to temperature changes.

He was chief timekeeper for the Two Bridges Ultra 36-mile road race from its inception until its demise in 2005.   For 38 years he organised his team of timekeepers and recorders, and after each race he produced a booklet of results.    Every competitor and official received a copy of this booklet. 

In 2004 Raymond received a lifetime award for services to Scottish Athletics.

In conclusion an example of Raymond’s standing in Scottish Athletics.   In the early 1980s the Tom Stillie Memorial Trophy was donated by the family of a long serving Borders official.   It was to be awarded each year to the person considered to have contributed most to Scottish Athletics.   The first recipient of the award was Alan Wells the Olympic 100 metres Champion.   The following year it was awarded to Raymond Hutcheson.

I would like to add just a few comments of my own.   The Two Bridges race was a genuine classic and it was a serious loss to Scottish athletics when it went.    Runners came from all over the world – from the old world (with runners from several European countries running), from the new world (many good Americans took part too) as well as from the Antipodes and even Africa.    They came from all over the British Isles and the runners from Tipton, Wakefield, Bolton and Leamington  came among many others.   It was also a social weekend and many lifelong friendships were made.    Raymond and Graham were among those who made it so special.    Raymond’s results booklet was a wonderful creation – most would never have attempted it, some might have done it for a few years, but Raymond did it year after year after year.    He would remark to Graham after the race that he was away to wrap a wet towel round his head!   I will put one up in its entirety as a separate Gallery accessible from the Galleries page  here.

Raymond was also very approachable – there are officials who never reply to questions from runners or coaches during the afternoon, there are many more who are quite friendly and if approached in a civil manner will give them what information they can, some are notoriously irascible but Raymond was never like that.   Helpful at all times – I took a new sprint coach up into the photo-finish box at Kelvin Hall so that he could see what went on there and ask for a copy of the photo of the finish of the last 60m race: the photo was produced very quickly and with a pleasant manner.   That was always his way.

The 1975 Record Booklet can be seen via the Galleries page of this website.

 

Raymond Hutcheson

John Morgan

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John Morgan

John Morgan standing on the right.

Johnny Morgan, who joined Clydesdale Harriers in season 1936/37, was always easy to recognise because of his very small stature.  He maybe had to look up to Harry Fenion.   However his contribution was immense at a time when many such as Andy McMillan, James P Shields and David Bowman were also making big contributions.    John was one of the most respected men in the club when I signed up in 1957.   Like so many good club men of whatever outfit, he did some running but his main contribution to the club was as an official, an organiser and a coach – he was also the recognised club starter.   The club records for the period 1936 – 1939 have him turning out in only six races.   In October 1936 he was eleventh of eleven in the club Novice Championships, in October 1937 it was the same position (11th of 11), December 1937 he was twenty fourth of twenty four in the 5 Miles Handicap, on 25th December 1937 he was sixteenth of thirty in the Christmas Handicap, a year later he was fourteenth of 21 in the Christmas Handicap and in February 1939 he was sixteenth of twenty in the Seven Mile Handicap.   After the war started he was tenth of fourteen in the 1940 Christmas Handicap and that was his last race until he went into the Army in 1942.   What he was to do for the club and for athletics generally after the War cannot be over-estimated.

John was club secretary from 1939/40 to 1942/43 and 1946/47 to 1950/51.   The two spells in office were broken by his war time service in the Army.   John served in Burma with the Chindits so must have seen a lot of the action.   The Chindits were the Indian Division of the British Army in World War II and carried out guerrilla warfare on the Japanese in Burma (now Myanmar) under the command Brigadier General Orde Wingate.   The name came from the mythical beast half lion/half eagle that was placed at the entrance to Burmese temples to scare away evil spirits.   He also contracted malaria there and as is the case with the disease suffered off and on afterwards from recurrences.   Many other local athletes also served in the Far East: one of these was Alex Kidd a member of Garscube Harriers and well known and respected throughout Scotland.   He also came home suffering from malaria and although they made light of it, the disease had to be respected and showed itself from time to time.    After one race on a particularly bad day at the Woodilee Mental Asylum (as it was called at that time) in Lenzie, the Changing Room became flooded because of a burst pipe.    Alex was lying on a bench shivering and shaking and as the others all scrambled out with their clothes and gear leaving him there, he was saying, “it’s all right – it’s just the malaria!”

Although John joined the club as a runner he ran mainly in pack runs and inter club fixtures with no major trophies to his name.   His racing record has already been detailed.   His running after the War was seriously affected by the malaria but he used to turn out every now and then with Andy McMillan, James P Shields, Dan McDonald and Jim Murphy just for a run.   In my time in the club he was best known as the official club starter and kept the two guns and ammunition at his house.   He was an ever present at club fixtures and championships whether track, road or cross country

 His big contribution to the club and to the sport was as an administrator and official.   He attended a few committee meetings in the 1930’s before he was elected as club secretary a mere three years after joining the club.   This was not simply because no one else was capable of doing the job or wanted to do the job – it was because he was recognised as being a good administrator.   Came the war and he was elected as secretary to the war time committee whose job was to keep the club in good order until the cessation of hostilities.   He worked well in the job and only left the committee when his Army Service took him off to Burma.   This service left him as already noted with malaria and he had to take quinine for the rest of his life.   One story is that when he said he would have to go home to have some quinine, the others remarked that he meant “Queen Anne” which was a type of whisky.

As soon as he was back home, it was not long before he was back on to the committee and his second spell in the hot seat was possibly his best.  The club race results book opens a new page with the following:

SEASON 1946-47

In which it is hoped to carry out our full

Pre-war runs programme.

                                                                                                   (John Morgan, Secy)

 He was not only on the club committee but he was a member of the County Association and served on the Committee of the SAAA – the governing body of the sport in Scotland.   He not only sat on the Committee of the Dunbartonshire AAA’s but was one of the pioneers of the organisation and the club representative in the setting up of the association.   In addition to his committee work he did a lot of coaching and was the club’s official starter.  He had two guns of his own and the ammunition was supplied by the club.   The part he played in the organisation of the Clydesdale Harriers Youth Ballot Team Race when it started up in 1947 was such that the trophy awarded to the winner was named the Johnny Morgan Trophy and it is still in the club’s possession.    The picture below is of Eddie Sinclair winning the Johnny Morgan Trophy.

Eddie Sinclair winning the Clydesdale Youth race, 1954

Eddie Sinclair winning the Clydesdale Youth race, 1954

At that time he was always very helpful to the younger committee members and Alex Hylan said that he would come before the meetings and ask if he, in whatever capacity, needed any help in preparing for meetings.    John also donated the Zetland Trophy for the Ladies Track Championship and named it after the Zetland Estate where his parents worked – the earldom of Zetland was created in 1838 for Laurence Dundas (of Port Dundas fame).

In the mid 1950’s the club had a quite superb Ladies Section with many first class athletes including not only Scottish but also British champions and international athletes.   The section was led by Jean Struthers and John was the main coach.   Then in the late 1950’s Tom and May Williamson formed a new club to be called Western AAC and it would be based at Kirklee in Glasgow.   They attracted girls from all clubs and the effect on several clubs in Glasgow (Springburn Harriers Ladies, Bellahouston Harriers Ladies and Clydesdale for instance) was devastating.   When one of the best runners in Bellahouston Harriers joined up with Western, she was asked by her regular training partners in Maryhill Harriers Ladies why she had not joined them if she was leaving Bellahouston.   Her reply was that they had never asked her!   Virtually all the Clydesdale Ladies left en bloc to join this attempt to form a ‘club of champions’.   These outfits keep appearing – Sans Unkles’ and Dunky Wright’s Caledonia AC, the Robson brothers and their Edinburgh/Reebok/Leslie Deans/Mizuno Racing Club and so on – and seldom last long.   The damage inflicted on other clubs is at times considerable.   John Morgan was so upset that he gave up coaching on the spot and another coach had to be found.   He stayed to work for the club at Committee level and as starter and timekeeper at club and county races.

Runner, committee man, coach, official club starter – and one of the first class group of men who kept the club functioning after the war.   When he died in November 1967 the ‘Clydebank Press’ said: It is with deep regret that I have to announce the death of Mr John Morgan one of our older members.    Johnny as he was known to young and old alike served the club well in many official positions since the War and although he was dogged by illness in recent years he still turned out as an official SAAA starter when needed.   His services were not limited to Harriers activities as he was well known for the help he gave to local schools and Youth organisations and often at considerable expense to himself.   We in the club will miss Johnny greatly and extend our deepest sympathy to his family.”

 

 

George McCrae

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George McCrae

George McCrae

Alastair  Douglas (Victoria Park) was one of the best Scottish runners of his generation  and he got in touch about one of his relatives who was a professional runner in  the early 20th century.    His name as a ped was George McCrae.     Many, if not  all professional runners used false names right up to fairly recent times: not  as glamorous as in the 18th or 19th  centuries when they used false names and  had nicknames such as the Gateshead Clipper or Crowcatcher.  Read on until the  final paragraph where some information from Alex Wilson, a real student of the  period, in included.    Alastair continues with the story:

“George  McCrae was a postman from Banknock who was one of the best distance runners of  his time – he was running at the time of the First World War and the 1920’s and  he held the title of World Professional 10 Mile champion.       His real name was Gavin Sorbie and he was born in 1893.   During the war he was  working in the mines, which explained the fact that he was not overseas on war  duty.   He was a professional long distance runner, although a lot of the best  distance runners were amateur.   He used to compete in front of huge crowds  although the crowd was sometimes there for a football match.   People would  place bets on the outcome of races between these ‘pedestrians’.   He was the  first Scottish winner of the Powderhall Marathon and was champion 6 times.    Powderhall was a famous professional athletics meeting in Edinburgh and the  ‘Marathon’ was actually a 10 or 15 mile track race.   He also competed in many  handicap events (usually from scratch) and in several head-to-head encounters,  often over 10 miles, against other British or European long distance running  stars.

George McCrae 2

Lining up against RE Cole of  England at the start of a 10 miles championship at Powderhall Grounds on August  2nd, 1924.   McCrae won in 52:39 to retain his title of “World Professional 10  Mile Champion”.

1918 was  his best year in athletics.   That year at Powderhall he broke the world  professional 10 mile record (also breaking the 8 mile record during the same  race.)   The report on the race states that he would probably have broken the  amateur record also if the financial inducements had been worthwhile!       It  was common practice in those days to take a competition name.   Although most of  the top runners of the day were amateur it sounds as if he was probably still  one of the best distance runners in Britain, amateur or professional, at that  time.   His times are still respectable today.   He ran his last race when he  was about 30 and was forced to retire after an injury that I am sure he would  have been treated for nowadays.   Indeed he could have gone on in his 30’s to  better his times.   When he retired from athletics he became a football trainer  with Heart of Midlothian FC and eventually died in 1971.”

Alastair also  provided this link to a video clip which showed a brief glimpse of him winning  the Powderhall Marathon in 1923 where he led from gun to tape beating Willie  Kolehmainan of Finland (no relation to the 1912 Olympic champion) and Hans  Holmer of the USA.   His time was 1:20:30.        www.britishpathe.com/video/powderhall-marathon/query/Edinburgh

George McCrae 3

George McCrae winning at  Powderhall in 1915

There is a lot  to interest us here including the reference to the fact that in 1918, after he  set new world professional record, he could have broken the amateur record had  the reward been high enough.   ‘Peds’ went for the victory every time, after the  money of course, the contest was the thing rather than the time hence the fact  that in reports of many races no time was given.   Reading about the amateur WG  George racing the professional William Cummings from Paisley and other  professional matches, once the opposition was broken, there was no need to push  on too hard..   Alastair also mentions races where the principal attraction on  the day was a football match.   When I came in to the sport there were many  athletics sports meetings at football grounds and they almost invariably  included five a side football matches.   In the very late 20th century, Frank  Horwill of the BMC was  claiming a first for having races held at half-time in  big football matches.

Powderhall was  a purely professional meeting and was the highlight of the year for most  Scottish peds.  All the best men turned out there and to win the championship  there was a real mark of a man’s talent – George won six times!   I well  remember in the 1960’s many wanting a race between the Powderhall Champion Ricky  Dunbar and the SAAA champion WM Campbell but it was not to be – amateurs could  not race against pedestrians!   In addition professionals used to on a ‘prep’  before the meeting.   This often meant the runner going to stay with his coach  or trainer for several weeks of concentrated preparation for the race: no food  was consumed without the trainer having a spoonful first to ensure that it was  cooked properly; it was bed at the same time every night (often as early as 9:00  pm); training two or three times a day and daily massage.   It was said that a  man after such a ‘prep’ had a glow about him when he removed his sweats or  tracksuit; that he walked differently and had an air of confidence about him.    There’s no evidence that McCrae did it but it is an indication of how seriously  this meeting was taken.

Although this  is a website dedicated to the amateur endurance athletes of Scotland, we have  already a page dedicated to Paddy  Cannon who  was also a professional although slightly before McCrae’s time and it is felt  that George McCrae is a worthy addition..  Finally, Alastair has been a VPAAC  runner all his days, and although George was running before Victoria Park were,  have a look at this picture

George McCrae 4

Alex Wilson  from Fife, currently employed in Germany, who is writing a book about this  period has this to say about George.   “The  Sorbies were a famous family of distance runners from Draffan and today Gavin,  or George McCrae, is the best known of them.   I believe that a Sorbie won the  famous Red Hose Race in the mid 1800’s but I can’t say for sure.   He was  coached by his Dad who himself had apparently been quite a useful runner in his  day.   There are a couple of pictures of him in ‘Powderhall & Pedestrianism’ .   He won the Powderhall Marathon for the first time in 1914 the distance then  being 15 miles.   The Evening News finally gave him a trophy to keep in 1919.    His 10 mile world record of 50:55, set at Powderhall in 1918 was pretty amazing  given the circumstances.   He was lucky to have been in an essential occupation  or he would have been running from bullets.   He had a great race with John  Lindsay in 1923, winning just yards from the finish.   By 1926 the writing was  on the wall and he was eclipsed among others by Allan Scally who never got  anywhere near his times but who is better known today.”    He  went on to say, “Historically  I’d put him down as the successor to William Cummings and Paddy Cannon and the  last of the truly great Scottish professional distance runners.   He had a very  light frame and ran with a pitter-patter stride, a little reminiscent of Jm  Dingwall.   You can see that on the Pathe News film that Alastair recommended.    He moved to Edinburgh and took up a coaching post with Hearts.   Within a year  of him taking up the reins, Hearts did the double against the Rangers in the  League which back then was an amazing achievement.   After George/Gavin quit  running, his Dad emigrated to Canada and took up a coaching post there.   After  the War he ran a confectioner’s and tobacconist’s shop in Tynecastle with his  son John.”

 

 

Michael Glen

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The professional running scene in Scotland threw up many excellent athletes who went unrecognised despite very good performances, usually on poor tracks of variable distances.   Most of the better known ‘peds’ were sprinters such as Ricky Dunbar and George McNeill but many of the endurance runners were of a good standard – note how well Alastair Macfarlane performed when he switched codes in the late 1960’s.   One of the very best was Michael Glen from Bathgate who would have been a top class runner in any era and in any company.    I asked Alastair whether he had run against Michael and he replied:    

“Indeed I did compete against him. I first competed at the professional games in 1965 when I was 19. At that time Michael was past his best but was something of a legend. He was holder of the World Professional Mile record at 4m 7s which he did on a grass track at Keswick on August 1st 1955. During my time as a professional Michael didn’t compete very often, I suppose because of his  poor handicaps due to his reputation. He tended to run in scratch races and invitation short limit handicaps. I consider as one of my best ever races an invitation short limit mile handicap at Lauder in August 1968. I was off the back mark of 20yards and Michael was off 30. I was soon with him and we had a momentous struggle all the way to the tape as I won by a couple of yards. In July 1968 at Innerleithen, I paced Alan Simpson  to a new Scottish record when he won the British Professional Mile Championship in 4m 9.2s. I took him to just beyond the half mile and I remember that Michael was furious with me afterwards for doing it! His brothers Jimmy, Eddie and Cornelious were all useful runners also. ”   Clearly a top class athlete whose career deserves a closer look.

MICHAEL Glen was born in Bathgate in 1934 and still lives there in a street called Race Road.    He comes from a family of runners and his brothers Jimmy, Eddie and Cornelius were all useful runners too.    His running career began in 1944 when, aged 11, he won what was called a “boy’s marathon” at the Paulville Gala Day Sports at Bathgate and won a small amount of money.   That made him a professional – it’s a story that was repeated many times in Scotland during the amateur era and many very good athletes were lost to the sport as a consequence.   (Robert Reid  could have been one lost who applied and got reintsatement as an amateur)     The likes of Gus McCuaig and Alastair Macfarlane who were reinstated showed just some of the quality that was lost.

For 26 years, he competed the length of the country (but principally in the Borders and Lake District)  in many, many of races on the track and also in some of the hill races that were fairly common in the professional meetings.    He was undoubtedly the “king” of professional middle distance  running.   If we look at any of the records for the many Games he competed in, his name is studded all the way through.   eg some of his performances in the records of the Jedburgh Meeting we get first in the Mile and in the two miles in 1955, first in the same two events in 1956 (two miles in 9:25.3 on a heavy grassy track) in 1956,  won the British One Mile Championship in 1958 in 4:20.4.    It should of course be noted that the nature of the tracks and the distance round them was almost always inferior to the 440 yard cinder tracks used by the amateurs.    There were two results that emanated from his continued and high quality success.   The first was that he became well known to althletics aficionados of both codes and the second was that he was marked man as far as the handicappers were concerned and was know to have started as much as 30 yards behind the scratch mark in handicap races so that there were occasions when his Mile time was for 1790 yards!   A long Scots mile indeed.

Michael is third from the right in this group

What was his best ever run?   Well, the article “Monarch of the Mile” by Jack Davidson in the “Scotsman” on 27th July, 2013 (an article worth reading in its entirety), says that  “His “day of days” was at the Keswick Games in the Lake District when he set a new world and British professional mile record on grass. “That Bank Holiday meeting was a big event, part of the annual Keswick Show in Fitz Park in the town. Professional running was very  popular in the Lake District and had a long tradition. There must have been over 20.000 people there that day – a great atmosphere!

“The grass track was just laid out for that event and had a slight rise towards the finishing line. I hadn’t set out specifically to beat the record but I’d been in good form. I was the backmarker off  scratch conceding handicaps up to 250 yards to my 25 or so fellow competitors. I threaded my way through the field and crossed the line in 4min 7sec to set a new world and British record, beating the legendary Walter George’s mark of 4m 12sec set back in 1886.”

The obstacles posed by so many rivals and the deficiencies  of a rudimentary grass track surely detracted from his  performance?

“I reckon if it had been a proper track with a limited field of quality runners, including a pacemaker, I could have got the time down to about 4m 2 or 3sec.”

The top three Scotsmen in 1955 were 4:07.0, 4:07.8 and 4:13.2; in 1956 were 4:06.2, 4:07.6 and 4:08.6, in 1957 the men and their times were A Gordon (Achilles) 4:03.4, M Berisford (Sale) 4:04.8 and G Everett 4:05.3.   That was the best of the decade which ended with 1959’s top three all timed at 4:06.    Clearly not too far away.    The GB Mile championship winning times were: 1954: Roger Bannister   4:07.6;   1955:  Brian Hewson  4:05.4;   1956:  Ken Wood  4:06.8;   1957:   Brian Hewson 4:06.7;   1958: Graham Everett   4:06.4;   1959:   Ken Wood  4:08.1.    Even GB Championships were not too far away!

At about the same time, Ricky Dunbar was the top paid sprinter in the country and I remember another professional talking about the ‘preps’ tha the top runners had for major meetings, telling me that when Dunbar stripped off for a big race “he looked like Superman.”   There was a suggestion that a head-to-head be arranged between Menzies Campbell and Dunbar to determine who was Scotland’s top sprinter and both men were ‘up for it’, as they say.   The SAAA would not hear of it and that was that.   Were similar challenges on for Glen?   Whether or not there was, the answer would have been the same.   As Davidson says in the article already quoted,

“I would have loved to have run against  Bannister and in the Olympics but it was not to be. Discreet enquiries were made on my behalf after my Keswick record about me joining the amateurs, but the response was a curt “No”. You see, by then, I had been running as a professional for about 11 years.”

A local trainer, Jimmy Gibson, a friend of his dad, took him and some others under his wing and soon had them running at games across the country. As prizes were in cash, Michael and his young pals were all deemed professionals. In those days, there was a wide chasm separating the amateurs from  the professionals, with the latter being unable to compete in big international events like the Olympics.

“I never really had any personal issues with the amateurs of the time. We trained in our groups and they trained in theirs. I knew some quite well, including Graeme Everett, the top Scottish amateur miler of the time. He was a fine lad. Another top amateur I got to know was the famous Gordon Pirie, who was also a smashing guy. He turned professional not long  after the Rome Olympics and I actually ran against him – and  beat him – at Jedburgh Games in 1962. We got talking about the amateur/ pro issue and, when I told him my level of  winnings, he thought the “amateurs” did much better overall – first-class travel all over the world, all expenses paid and  “bonuses” thrown in.”

So he went on doing what he enjoyed doing – all endurance runners, whatever their background, understand the compulsion to run.   He ran in the Highland Gatherings in the North, on the Fife circuit, in some of the Midland events, at the Border Games and in the Lake District.

Brother John winning at Newtongrange in 1960

That was in the summer: what about the winter  when Graham Everett and company were running in the short road relays and over the country?   Another quote:

“In the winter, my main focus was on the Powderhall New Year events for which I would go on “special preparations” for six weeks at a time. In summer, on a good week, I could win up to about £60 or £70. Sometimes you’d also be paid petrol expenses and appearance money. It doesn’t sound much now, but then it was about two or three times a working man’s weekly wage. But competing and winning  were the really important things for me. I just had to be the best, that was what drove me.

“I think I got that from my dad. He’d been a miner and instilled that will to win in me. My three brothers Neil, James and Edward, and my sister Mary  were all good runners who had success at the games, but it was my will to win that made me better.”

“Special  preparations” have been mentioned already and mean nothing to anyone not versed in the professional game.   They were explained to me by a runner who had done several of them for Powderhall over the years.    His version (and they were not all identical but followed the same general principal)  lasted for two months when he went to live with his trainer.    He trained twice or even three times a day, each session followed by a massage; there was a nap in the afternoon; his  food would be specially prepared and tasted by the trainer before he was allowed to eat it; he would be in bed every night at 9:00 pm.    The end point was to get the man to the starting line as ready to produce his very best as possible.      (Any further information about the ‘preps’ would be well received)   He won Powderhall twice.

 

I have spoken to several sources about Michael and they all say that he worked with Bernard Gallagher, the golfer, working on fitness training.    In the late 1960’s Glen who had been self-coached formost of his career, begam a coaching career and in 1969 applied for and won a Churchill Fellowship Athletics Scholarship to travel to America to study coaching methods.  The late 1960’s and into the 1970’s was a period when professional training methods were being looked at seriously by John Anderson and then Frank Dick and former professional athletes like Jimmy Bryce were being questioned about their methods and there is no doubt that professional training techniques were employed by Allan Wells on his way to Moscow in 1980.   About the Churchill Scholarship he says, “That was a fantastic experience for three months in Los Angeles San Francisco and New York. I learned from top American coaches, including Olympic ones. Actually, at the end of my trip I was offered a coaching job in Los Angeles but family  circumstances prevented me taking it.”

In 1969, he was invited down to the Guildhall in London where he was presented with the Churchill Fellowship Gold Medal by the Queen Mother. That completed a nice double for Michael as, in 1955, he had been presented to the Queen at Braemar Highland Games.

Brother Eddie winning Innerleithen Youths Mile in 1959

Michael, at 81 years old,  had no active involvement in the sport, but still followed it closely. He was

  • Twice a winner at Powderhall,
  • winner of  countless championships and races at Highland and Border Games,
  • 14-times winner of the world’s oldest continuous foot race, the Red Hose at Carnwath, established by Royal Charter in 1508
  • and, of course, that Keswick race with his British record there still standing 58 years on.

During his career, the emphasis was on competing and winning, often as many as four track races and a hill race  the same day. As a result, times suffered. There was no opportunity to “peak” to achieve a special time in one particular race, nor were there pacemakers to facilitate that nor tracks as good as the amateurs’.

His talent waBs recognised in 2014 when Glasgow hosted the Commonwealth Games and he was asked to carry the torch on its way to Glasgow – his stretch, needless to say, was through Bathgate.   

He was undoubtedly a vey talented athlete who was the equal of most of the top middle distance men in the country and would almost certainly have been a Games competitor and track title holder as an amateur.   Michael died on 27th June 2017 at the age of 84.