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This programme is the first we have from after the ’14/’18 War where the club lost so many men.  Both secretaries killed (T Barrie Erskine in June 1915, Harold Servant in the troop ship returning from the war), other like Gabriel Brock wounded and died in hospital, Ralph Erskine died in an air incident in January, 1918 and so on.   In the words of George Dallas of Maryhill, Clydesdale Harriers went from a National Club to a Village Club.   The latter was a bit harsh but the diminution in status was clear to see.   The annual sports conti nued – to start with at Ibrox but then in Clydebank.   It was still a big meeting as the programme shows, with full fields in every event, and a wide rang of events too.

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Clydesdale Harriers pioneered many things in Scottish athletics: the two day meeting was one of them.  Their first venture was unfortunately cancelled because the track and grounds were not completed in time.   There was then a spat with West of Scotland Harriers who leapt in and organised a meeting at the completed ground by submitting a very rapid plan to the SAAA for the permit.   However the two day meeting at Dunoon became a real feature of Scottish athletics.   

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Clydesdale Harriers have been associated with Clydebank from the very beginning with members in the town since before the 20th century.   They started hosting sports meetings in there – described as a hotbed of professiona athletics – in the early 20th century and this programme is of the 1914 sports held there.   Many of the competitors listed died in the hostilities of the 1914-18 war.

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The link between Clydesdale Harriers and the Rangers stemmed from the very beginning of the club.   Clydesdale appeared on the scene in May 1885 and many of their founding members were Rangers players and officials – that club dating from the end of 1872.   Many of the very best football clubs in the country were based on the south side of Glasgow – Queen’s Park, Third Lanark and Rangers being principal among them.   The Harriers trained initially at Kinning Park and then at Ibrox so it is not surprising that their sports were always held in the very beginning at the Rangers Ground.   This programme is from 1909.   Look at the adverts for a piece of social history, look at the endorsements of products by the sportsmen and ask your self if they were doing it out of the goodness of their heart, but most of all, look at the quality and number of athletes competing.

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The Clydesdale Harriers Sports were held at various times at Ibrox Park, Meadowside Park, Dunoon, Kilbowie Park and, of course since Willie and Tom Maley were club members, at Celtic Park.   The 1905 and 06 programme are interesting for a number of features:

The athletes were advertising – some were plugging Irn Bru, others were advocating Oxo.   

They were also the target of advertising – eg Nervtonine and Elliman’s as well as sports clothing.

The prizes were noted on the programme: eg in 1906, a 600 yards with Wyndham Halswell, WH Welsh, John McGough and many other top athletes had two flower pots for third, a silver ink and flower stand for second, and a gents leather fitted bag for first.   

The two timekeepers, A Ross Scott and A Hannah, were both timekeepers at the 1908 London Olympics and Ross Scott officiated at the infamous 400 metres race where the race was declared null and void because of the boring induged in by the American athlete at the expense of Halswell.

There were twenty four heats of the 100 yards

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The early connections between Clydesdale Harriers and the Rangers Football Club are well known.   The Harriers trained at Kinning Park and also at Ibrox until after the 1914/18 War.   Their club championships were also held there and they were quite remarkable affairs with very big numbers competing.   We are lucky that some copies of the events are still available and only two of them are reproduced here for general information.   The first is of a meeting in May 1914 and because of the numbers involved only two events were covered that day: the 100 yards and the half mile.   They were typed out on to foolscap paper which is a bit longer than A4 so the bottom line is missing from some of the sheets.   

Some scribbles on the outside of the programme – notes of prizes, etc with some details of the type, etc.   Below is a photograph of a rosebowl won by J Paterson of Maybole for winning the club one Mile handicap in 1918: I saw the bowl when I visited him in the 1980s’ when the rosebowl held pride of place in the front room.

Of course the Harriers individual members ran in the Rangers Sports too – witness the certificate below won by Charlie Middler for running in the Road Race in 1932 – he has another for the same race in 1933.

Note the signature at the bottom of the certificate.   There was another meeting later in the same year and 1914 was a significant year for the entire world.   Many of the men competing above would feature in the lists of wartime casualties – eg Thomas B Erskine would be killed in action in July 1915, his brother Ralph would die in January 1918, Gilbert Brock died in hospital after being injured in action, Harold B Servant would die on a troopship of ‘flu on the way home from the East in a troopship after the war was over.   By the time of the August meeting many Harriers had already enlisted.   

Charlie Middler’s certificate for the Road Race in 1933 –  

There wre also the Annual Sports Meetings: extracts from the 1907 programme:

The Summit track team started as they started the cross-country season: quietly but successfully and there was a clear progress as the season went on.   Have a look at these results.   

On 20th March, 2019: it was Bend  v   Summit.  The team did well but note Jim’s comments:  

“The team ran well in 40+ degree temperatures: they had 3 of the 800 girls in the 400 and the girls 4×400 team entirely made up of distance runners. In the girls 1500 – Jim told the 14 year old to to go out in 80’s  at the front but she went 34 for 200m and was approaching 400 around 71.   Jim had to stand in front of her in lane 1 to slow her down; her next lap was 84 seconds.   “She will be tough to beat when she learns pace”

The results are at  https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/370430/results

Came 22nd April and this was the Summit Invitational Meet.   A very good meeting, the results are at https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/348794/results .   This was followed by the Nike Jesuit Twilight Relays on 3rd May where Jim’s comments were:

District championships were next with two to qualify for the State Championships.   Unfortunately for the  runners the wind was strong, gusting up to 20 mph.   The men’s team did OK with sprinters Jaden Maydew and Dylan La,mbert doing well in the sprints but the result of the day for Summit had to be the girls 800m final: timed at first, second and fourth in the epreliminaries, they went on to be first, second and third in the final.

800 Meters  Varsity – Finalsx
1.	11	Isabel Max		2:13.39a	Summit
2.	9	Magdalene Williams		2:19.73a	Summit
3.	11	Azza Borovicka Swanson		2:20.40a	Summit

They also had the first two in the 2500m (Fiona Max and Teaghan Knox) with Ashley Boone also under 5 minutes in fifth place; and the 3000 metres saw three in the first five – Fiona adding the victory in the 3000 to that already taken in the 1500m.  Results at 

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/MeetResults.aspx?Meet=351855&show=all

We even have some pictures from this meeting: see them here

mpionships, 2019

Izzy with 100 to go

Teaghan (Number 6) 6 feet tall and 15 years old.   

Fiona with 300 to go in the 3000 metres

Fiona with 120 to go in the 1500m: she had won the 3000m and the other runner was fresh for the race but –

fear not – Fiona won!

Alex Jackson

Alex Jackson, runner, oficial, administrator, Life Member of Scottish athletics, British athletics official of the year in 2008 and much more besides says:  

“Dave Lothian was a name that came to my notice in the early 1980s when I became secretary of the East District Cross Country League. He was a prominent member of the strong Falkirk Victoria Harriers team which dominated in East Cross Country at that time.    An East League meeting at Hawick around that time sticks in my mind when the Senior points totals at the meeting were 1st Falkirk VH “A” ,2nd Falkirk VH “B”, this with 6 to count. 
In more recent times its been working with Dave as one of the principal course setters at the National Cross Country at Callender Park. The National has been there since 2006,a significant element of the  success of the National at this venue is down to Dave and his team at Falkirk Victoria for being host club ” 

Stuart Easton takes the baton for Falkirk Victoria in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay

A former team mate of David’s and a top flight runner in his own right, Stuart Easton has this to say: 

Grant Plenderleith

Grant Plenderleith, one of David’s athletes pays him this compliment:

“David was the man who pioneered and finalised my change in sporting direction when I returned to athletics from a lengthy period playing professional football. 

David was my fathers P.E teacher back in his teaching days so the family connection was already established. 

Through diligent planning of training sessions and knowing when enough is enough, David has helped me reached heights in my athletics career so far that I wouldn’t have ever thought would be possible…and there is still more to come. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the sport with a willingness learn and engage in discussions with other coaches in the international field to expand his own memory bank of the sport. Without his drive and willingness for me to succeed in the sport, I would not be in the fortunate position I am in today with my recognitions and accolades. 

We have established a balanced approach to the way we both tackle training blocks and competition phases to get the best out of every opportunity that is delivered. The mindset that David has installed in me is “always be ready, and the opportunities will follow”. 

David’s character is always admired and valued by all his athletes and fellow coaches at both club and international level. This shows the type of man he really is, a gentleman would be more accurate.” 

Leslie Roy quotes from the citation when David was nominated for Honorary Life Membership of Scottish athletics in 2017:

David has served athletics in Scotland for over 40 years, a measure of his interest and dedication to the sport.

•  As a promising young middle distance athlete, David was originally a member of Forth Valley Athletics Club. University years as a P E student at Jordanhill saw David join Shettleston Harriers. Upon graduating as a PE teacher David joined Falkirk Victoria Harriers (FVH) and became fully immersed in the club as an athlete; the Men’s team Captain organising very successful teams in track, road and cross country competitions; coach and committee member.
• As a talented athlete David was also a great team man, being a counter in several of the clubs National Cross Country medal winning teams of the late 70’s and early 1980’s. Cross Country relay medals were also won during this period and on the roads David managed the FVH team through an amazing period of success for a provincial club in the annual Edinburgh to Glasgow road relay which included two wins. Like many athletes David moved up the distances he competed in throughout his time as an athlete, running the inaugural London marathon in 1981 and returning a further nine years in a row.   As team Captain David has competed in every track and field event for the Club in Scottish Athletics League matches, on top of the years of dedication in selecting teams for, and attending, events the length and breadth of the country and abroad; 12 months of every year.
• Whilst still competing at the high level, David began coaching at FVH almost immediately upon joining. As a predominately middle to long distance running club at this time with few field event coaches, David worked at hard identifying athletes and then coaching them in a number of disciplines such as hurdles, sprints, high and long jumps and throws to strengthen FVH teams in track and field competitions. Many of these athletes were pupils from his schools where David set up training groups to encourage youngsters to become involved in our sport and join an athletics club. Several of these athletes went on to win national and Schools medals and gain representative honours. Now retired, David is still heavily involved in coaching, presently seven days a week concentrating mainly on sprints, middle distances and cross country. 
• Aside from competing and coaching David has been heavily involved in the organisational side of the club serving as a committee member for over 40 years, 20 of them as club president and maintains a continual involvement today as honorary President. David was instrumental in FVH becoming involved in organisation and administration of the annual Round the Houses 10km years more and. In the late 70’s and 80’s the club hosted a few national and district cross country championships, as well as regular East Cross Country League matches which David helped with. Since 2000 the club has been involved in hosting either an International or National Cross Country event at Calendar Park and David has been involved / assisted at them all. This hasn’t just been the on the day work, but also the hours of behind the scenes work planning, attending meetings, getting helpers and volunteers to turn up, etc. In recent years, David has been involved in the design of the course, with his input required in the minor revisions with were required from year to year. Following the change in race distances for this years championships, David made a large contribution to the redesign and measuring of the course. The incremental changes required many hours of work on the venue in liaison with all contributing partners over many months to result in a course and venue which ensured another successful championship with record breaking participation, not forgetting the challenges on the day caused by the weather.
• On a wider front beyond FVH, David has for many years served as a Committee member of the Scottish Schools Athletics Association (SSAA) including, again, a period as the President. This service to our sport exceeds 30 years and has included convening, organising and officiating at all of the various SSAA championships, be it cross country, road or track(indoors and out). David has also for many years been a team manager on the international trips attended by literally hundreds of athletes, many of whom had their first experience of international competition and competing for Scotland before going on to even greater achievements, aided by the experienced gained on these trips.