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.This programme was received from TC Hughes’s grand daughter and it was thought to be of a more general interest so it has been reproduced here in full.   

The four page programme below covers the athletic events at the Edinburgh Southern Harriers Sports held in connection with the Empire Exhibition in 1908.  

The photograph above is of Thomas Campbell Hughes of Edinburgh Harriers who was one of the best club runners of the early 20th century.   He emigrated to America not long after the above photograph was taken and his grand daughter, Laura Bartlett, has been in touch with some information about him that is of genuine interest to  all interested in the history of Scottish distance running.   Before we look at his records as far as we can follow them, it might be worth looking at the club running scene at the time he was running.   The following paragraph is taken from Colin Shields’ centenary history of the Scottish Cross-Country Union, “Whatever the Weather”.

“Edinburgh Harriers, a larger club and one of the powers of the sport at that time also had an interesting fixture list.   It included 10 inter-club runs, with away trips including Galashiels and Glasgow, and an inter-club run and football match with Watsonians at Myreside on Christmas Day.   Club races ranged from a two and a half mile handicap to the 10 mile club championships and teams were also entered in both the Eastern and National Championships.    George McKenzie, who was to be Honorary President of the Union and gain 10 international vests for Scotland in the period 1909-14, was always an enthusiastic advocate of cross-country running.   In a newspaper interview, he said “It is distressing to see the number of young men in our public parks on a Saturday afternoon watching a football match, blue in the face and shaking with cold.   Compare them with the athletes who, with blood coursing through their veins, are enjoying healthy exercise with a harrier pack.”   He explained that on Saturday afternoons three packs – slow medium and fast – covered the laid trail through the country with beginners naturally starting with the slow pack and working their way up as they felt more capable.   “Any young man who cannot run four miles with a harriers slow pack should see a doctor at once”, said Mr McKenzie.

Recommended training was road runs twice weekly, together with the usual country run on a Saturday with a long walk at a good pace on a Sunday.   Rubbing was regarded as important and this was usually done by the club trainer.   Regarding diet it was accepted that the athlete could eat almost anything though moderation was the watchword of the athlete.   Cigarettes and alcohol were tabooed by the wise runner.”

That was the kind of environment that Hughes and others of his generation were used to and the context in which his running should be seen.   It should be noted that the times and performances were of a high standard and would not disgrace any ordinary club runner today.   

Thomas had three brothers who were also runners: two of them were also Scottish international runners.  They were RE (Robert Edgar) in 1906 when he finished sixteenth, and JD (John Dunlop) in 1911 and 1912 when he finished 33rd and thirteenth.   The three mentioned above all emigrated to the United States but the fourth, Alexander, who also ran for Edinburgh Harriers, fought in the first world war with the British forces and was killed in action.   

The fine trophy above was the Edinburgh Harriers Challenge Cup which was won by Thomas for the first time in 1901.   The National Cross-Country Championships in 1901 were held in Glasgow and TC Hughes finished third leading the Edinburgh team to second place behind Clydesdale Harriers who only defeated them by one single point.   Edinburgh was second by only one point behind Clydesdale Harriers.   The following year Hughes repeated the act.   Winning the club’s 10 mile race for the second time, he followed it with a very good run in the National at Myreside in Edinburgh where he was always up with the front runners, second at half distance, and again finishing third.   This time he was again the first Edinburgh runner to finish and again they were second team.   The man was running well and, as far as cross-country was concerned, clearly the best that Edinburgh had to offer.   But it would get better.

If 1901 and 1902 were good, 1903 was even better.   There was no Challenge Cup for TC this year but there was a bigger target to aim for.   In early 1903 discussions were held by the Irish and Welsh associations regarding an international race were enthusiastically supported by Scotland despite opposition from England who held themselves apart.   Apparently they felt that an international championship would detract from their own championships.   Being English, they suggested that their own championships, open to all-comers, should incorporate the international.   When it was clear that the other countries were going ahead with it anyway, they agreed to send a team of 12 runners to the first ever international cross-country fixture.   It was to be held at Hamilton Park Racecourse in the west of Scotland on 28th March.   As one of the top Scottish runners of the day, Hughes must have been motivated by the prospect.      The season progressed and the Scottish National championship was held on 14th March at Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow.   The race was won by an Irishman, PJ McCafferty running for the West of Scotland Harriers, which caused some problems, but Edinburgh won the team race handsomely from Clydesdale Harriers with Thomas in sixth place.   This ensured selection for the Scottish team to face England, Ireland and Wales two weeks later.   In this race he finished twenty first of the 40+ competitors and was one of the top six Scots from their team of 12.   The medal shown here was the winning team medal from the National of 1903.   It should maybe be pointed out that although the history books list the race as having been held at Hamilton Racecourse, it was run in the grounds of the Duke of Hamilton’s Palace.   The race started in front of the Racecourse Grandstand and after 300 yards went in to the grounds of the Duke’s estate returning to the racecourse for the finish.

In 1904 the championships were held at Whiteinch in Glasgow and Hughes second, but first in the team race.   How did this one come about?   The race was won by J Ranken of the Watsonians club with Hughes second across the line.   However Watsonians did not field a team for the team competition so Hughes was the first runner in the team competition.   First and second in the same race.   Edinburgh won the team race again.   Earlier in the year, he had won the trophy illustrated at the top of the page for the third time and was allowed to retain it.   It was a common practice at the time and many quite valuable trophies were given to runners at open meetings and at some championships.   eg Clydesdale Harriers won a gold cup at Newcastle after they had won the two miles team race in three consecutive seasons.   The trophy above is engraved Edinburgh Harriers Challenge Cup.   Presented by Mr TD Crichton”.  This run should have guaranteed him selection for the international match but whatever the reason, he did not run on the day.

There were two Hughes brothers in the Edinburgh team of 1905 – TD was second counting runner for the club over the 10 mile course when he finished in thirteenth place and RE was 33rd for the team that finished second to the West of Scotland Harriers.   It was a good omen for Robert for, although neither was to be in the international in 1905, he was to be in the team in 1906.   The National was run in both years at Scotstoun and Robert, despite not being in the first eight on the day was picked for the team.   The national  was to be held there a fortnight later.   He ran well to finish 16th and be a scoring runner for the Scottish team.   he following year, 1907, the Edinburgh Harriers squad had three of the Hughes brothers in the club squad of twelve.   The page below from the 1907 Cross-Country Championship lists the team.   The championship was held at Portobello, Edinburgh,  on 9th March.   None of the brothers was among the first eight or nine, and the club team was also out of the medals in fourth place – they did however finish two places better than their local rivals of Edinburgh Southern Harriers.   

The full programme can be seen  here

At Scotstoun in 1908 there were again no members of the family in the top ten, and this was to be the case until the championships of 1911.   The club was now being challenged in its Edinburgh base by the Edinburgh Southern and Edinburgh Northern Harriers clubs but was holding its own and keeping them at bay as far as results were concerned.   Then in 1911, JD Hughes became the third family member to gain international honours when he finished fourth in the National Championships at Pollockshaws in Glasgow.   He was the second finisher for the club and the club won the championship for the first time since 1904.   At the selection meeting on the Saturday evening his selection for the international at Newport, Monmouthshire on 25th March was confirmed.   The fixture had changed since Thomas had run in the first ever international in 1903 – France had joined the competing teams and the standard of running was higher.   The race distance however remained at ten miles.   Hughes was 33rd finisher in the race won by Jean Bouin of France.   The National Championships were back at the Scotstoun trail that the athletes knew well for the 1912 version of the event and Edinburgh Harriers were third.    JD Hughes finished tenth and was selected for the Scottish team of 12 for the international to be held at Saughton Park in Edinburgh.  He ran a much better race than before, maybe because he was running in Edinburgh rather than in Wales, maybe because of the earlier experience, and finished 13th.   The six scoring Scottish runners were all in the first 22 finishers and the team was second.  JD Hughes therefore won an international team silver medal.   

The club did not enter a team for the 1913 championships at all.   The Hughes brothers had all contributed greatly to the cross-country successes of the club and had contributed also to the Scottish cross-country team for a ten year period.   They did of course run on the track but were not as successful with no national medals or international appearances to their credit.   This is understandable because there was only the one international fixture a year which had only two men per event, and because the standard of running in the endurance events at the time was very high indeed.  If we look at the extract from the SAAA Championship programme of 1909 we will see that.

The complete programme can be seen at this link

Look at some of the names here.   Tom Jack won the Scottish 10 Miles Challenge Cup seven times between 1904 and 1911, also  won the Four Miles title and represented Scotland five times in the cross-country international.   Alex McPhee won the Scottish Four Miles title twice, won many medals for the ten miles championship , won the cross-country championship twice and had three representative appearances over the country.   Sam Stevenson won the Four Miles title twice as well as the Ten Miles, ran in the 1908 Olympics, won the cross-country championship and represented the country in the cross-country championships.   DF McNicol won the track Mile championship twice and was one of the best runners in Britain at the time.   The standard was undoubtedly high and to stand on the starting line and challenge these men was an indication of his ability.   All three brothers would have competed in track meetings from April through to September at open sports meetings, in invitation races and in championships at local, district and national levels and a trawl through the newspaper archives would be an interesting exercise.   For instance we know that TC ran in the half-mile open handicap at the meeting organised by Edinburgh Southern in May 1908 but was unplaced in the handicap.   The programme for this meeting can be found at  this link

The above profile was completed and added to the website and then ….  Mrs Bartlett, his grand daughter, came up with another medal.   This was for the North East Counties Cross-Country championships.   I contacted Archie Jenkins in Alnwick who has written two books aboput the history of athletics in the north east of England and his reply reads: 

“The North East Cross Country Association Championships were first held in the 1894/85 season and this certainly is one of their silver medals, either individual or team. The 3 badges on the medal depict the original flags of Northumberland, Durham and Cleveland (not sure if it was called Cleveland then, certainly the Teesside region). The association covered the area from the Tweed to the Tees.
I myself have many of the medals, which have now changed design to the NECAA (North East Counties Athletics Association). The medal now depicts the region with NECAA added. This took place in the 80s, but the term NE Cross Country Association was still in use until 2001 and then incorporated the women’s association, although there had been joint championships since the early 1990s.
As is often the case the original medal was more eye catching. “

He followed this with:

“I think there could be the following link with Hughes and the North East of England. For whatever reason the family may have lived in the Gateshead area in the 1890s. I would imagine the silver medal is a junior team medal. In 1895/96 T Hughes (Gateshead Congers, Gateshead Congregational Church Harriers, who eventually folded in the late 1959s/ early 60s) won the NECCCA junior championship. Elswick H won the team, so possibly the Congers were second. The following year Hughes retained his junior title now competing for Gateshead St Mary’s, the future Gateshead H. Elswick again won the team title, so St Mary’s may have been runner up. “

Mrs Bartlett felt that the family could have been living in England at that earlier point.   I contacted Arnold Black, Scottish athletics historian, who said: ” I was looking up for info on JD Hughes and discovered he was born in England in 1892. ”   And as we know already, the two were brothers.   Their sudden appearance as very good runners in Edinburgh is probably explained by their running in England before a move to the Capital.   The search for information goes on.   

All three emigrated.   It was Scottish athletics’ loss.

….

George Dallas, wonderful runner and a great relay racer

The Scots loved relays – sprint relays, Mile relays, mile medley relays, 4 x 100, 4 x 110, 4 x 220, 4 x 440, – anything that started on the programme with 4 x …   was eagerly looked forward to.   Of them all, it is suspected that the medley was the most popular consisting as it did of short sprints, long sprints and middle distance specialists.   It is surprising to note then that although the SAAA was established in 1883, the first medley relay championship was held in June, 1919.  

The preview in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of 23rd June that year read:  “Next Saturday’s gathering will possess a special interest from the inclusion for the first time of a relay race.   This is an event that has been steadily growing in favour for some years past and it is likely to prove a permanent addition to the championship list.   The issue is not by any means a foregone conclusion as some are inclined to think.   At the Edinburgh University Sports the other week a team representing Maryhill Harriers beat the University quartette but on Saturday last, the latter reversed the order of the finish, and as the excelled in all four sections of the race they may retain their supremacy at the next time of meeting.   Greenock Glenpark Harriers are also to be reckoned with, especially if Hector Phillips is able to assist them; and a second Glasgow club have been mentioned as likely to make a strong bid for the honour of being the first holders of the title of relay champions.”

Came the day and the new champions in a close finish were Maryhill Harriers with a team of G Dallas, H Goodwin, G Hamilton and S Colberry in in 3 minutes 55 seconds; second was Greenock Glenpark Harriers (Sergeant Hector Phillips, HD Soutter, JK Neave and AR Bollini.   It was noted that ‘also competed’ were Bellahouston Harriers and Glasgow University.   Three of the entered teams did not turn out, the programme suggested that it was because the relay took place at the very end of the programme, but it was nevertheless one of the most interesting relay races ever run in the district.   It should be noted that in the half mile, Sgt H Phillips won from G Dallas, Phillips had also been second in the quarter, Bollini, Neave and Colberry had taken part in the 220 and Goodwin, Bollini and Hamilton had run in the 100 which suggested that the event coming late in the programme was not really a reason for not turning out a team.   Regardless, Maryhill were the first winners of the country’s relay championship. 

The following year a Maryhill team won again from West of Scotland in 3 minutes 47 1/5th seconds with three of the previous year’s winners out – the team was Dallas, Colberry, Goodwin and JB Bell.   Dallas had already won the 440y, Bell third in the 220y and second to Dallas in the 440y and Goodwin and Colberry had run in separate races without picking a medal.    

Eric Liddell

Maryhill were to dominate the relay with Edinburgh University over the first eleven years in which it was contested.   In 1921 Maryhill was going for a treble – two wins under their belt and a good team out that year as well.   Could they do it?  The weather was fine, the crowd at Celtic Park was approximately 5000 and the track was in good condition.   Their team consisted of Dallas, Bell, Colberry and JW Riach.   The treble was possible.  

The ‘Glasgow Herald’ report said “The Edinburgh University tem gave a fine display in the relay race, in which they displaced Maryhill Harriers of the honour that they had won on both previous occasions.   There was hardly any doubt regarding the outcome from the start.  McCormack established a lead of ten yards in the half mile, Liddell made an even greater contribution in the first furlong, GI Stewart lost nothing in the second, and in the finishing quarter, JM Davie made several yards, the Eastern team winning by a substantial margin.   The change of champions should still further popularise an event that is admittedly one of the most fascinating of athletic contests.”

Several of the relay men had run already: Liddell won the  100 yards and also took the 220 yards in which Colberry also ran, Dallas and RB Bell ran in the 440 yards.   The winning time was 3 minutes 43 seconds.

That was the first of a series of victories for the Edinburgh University students.   In 1922 the only man from the previous year to line up for them was Liddell and they won in 3 minutes 40 seconds – a bit quicker than in the previous year.   Held in Edinburgh in wet weather the report was brief to the point of dismissive:  “Maryhill Harriers failed to regain the relay honour which they lost to Edinburgh University last year.   It was not generally expected that they could field a team to beat Brown, Liddell, Dunn and IM Robertson and, as a matter of fact, they did not even get second place.”   That is the report in its entirety.   Second team was West of Scotland Harriers, Maryhill was third and Shettleston fourth..    

The following year, 1923, though, it came down to the big two of relay racing again with the championship held at Hampden Park.  “After winning the relay race for two years Maryhill Harriers have been outdone by Edinburgh University AC, who on Saturday , thanks largely to Liddell’s running on the second furlong, secured their third successive win.”   The Edinburgh team of Brown, Dunn, Liddell and Morrison defeated Maryhill’s quartet of Harrison, Davidson, Burns and JG McCall by five yards in 3 minutes 43.6 seconds.  

In 1924 the title was really up for grabs again because of the absence of Edinburgh University.  

Having won the 100 and 220 yards double in three consecutive years, Eric Liddell decided to go one better and in 1925 he won 100, 220 and 440 yards championships and this may have persuaded Edinburgh University to withdraw.   Certainly they could have fielded a good team but without Liddell it would not have been nearly as good.   “With Liddell running in the relay the chances of Edinburgh University were always obvious, but both RB Hoole (who ran the half mile), and AF Clarke made the champion’s task much simpler by their running.   Liddell’s time in this quarter was unofficially recorded at 51 sec..”  

The 1925 championships saw Maryhill win back the title by two yards and also the first run of the excellent Walter Calderwood in the championships.   They won by five yards from West of Scotland Harriers.   Their team being Calderwood, Duncan, Anderson and McCrae as against the West squad of McIntyre, Burns, Walker and Hope.   Edinburgh University (Finkelstein, Watson, Osborne-Jones and Knipe), Glasgow University (Milligan, Robb, ? and Graham) and Glasgow High School (Riddell, Ward, McLean and McLaren) also ran and the winning time was 3:44.

In the 1926 race five clubs competed and the race was won by Edinburgh University by fifteen yards from Maryhill Harriers in 3 minutes 41 3/5th seconds.   The University team was led off by Hugh Maingay   ,one of the founders of the Atalanta Club, and he was followed by RD Allison, AD McDonald and RB Hoole, while Maryhill was represented by LS Campbell, CH Cowie, DC Duncan and AH Graham.   Allison had already won the 220 yards and been third in the 100, and Hoole had been a close second in the 440 yards.   Other competing teams were West of Scotland, Glasgow University and Edinburgh Harriers.  

Despite the strong runners in other clubs, the battle between Edinburgh University and Maryhill was a hard fought one and it carried on into the next summer’s championship.   The event was held, as in 1926, at Hampden Park in Glasgow on 25th June.   There was no cricket held that Saturday because of the rain and that may be the reason for the longer than usual report on all events.   That on the relay read:  “The relay race was the most interesting since the series was instituted, and Maryhill Harriers thoroughly deserved their victory over the holders, not only because of their smartness in the hand-over but by the sound running of the four members of their team.   Most interesting was the duel in the half-mile between Donald Maclean and JD Hope, and the recovery of the first names after being outpaced entering the straight was one of the features of the meeting.   Not only did Maclean run well, but Andreoli and T Maclean performed so satisfactorily in the furlongs that AH Graham was left with several yards margin in his favour when he came to contest the last quarter with Hoole.   The quarter mile champion could make no impression on the Maryhill man who has within recent weeks appeared to find his old form.”

Earlier in the afternoon, Hoole had won the 440 yards, Hope the half mile and D Maclean the Mile.   The Maryhill team, already named, won by three yards in  3 minutes 45 3/5th seconds from Edinburgh University’s team of HC Maingay, RD Allison, AD McDonald and RB Hoole.   Glasgow University and West of Scotland Harriers were the only other teams forward for the race.

EUAC 4 x 440y Relay team, Hugh Maingay on the left.

In the lead up to the relay at the SAAA Championships in June 1928, HC Maingay of Edinburgh University ‘justified all the good things that had been said about him’ by winning the 880 yards title from Donald Maclean of Maryhill Harriers, who later won the Mile.   Even although Maingay won in a time much below his best, and Maclean had a very easy task in the Mile, a hard race was envisaged when they faced each other on the half mile starting leg of the relay.   However reports tell us that he relay race was notable for the fact that Maingay again defeated Maclean over the half mile distance’.   That distance was not decisive and Maryhill won with a team of Maclean, WP Andreioli, A Kennedy and AH Graham.   The EUAC team of Maingay, FP Reid,  RD Allison, and D Paton finished a mere five yards behind the Maryhill squad who returned a time of  3 minutes 41 3/5th seconds.  

The Glasgow Police Sports were held at Ibrox the week before the SAAA Championships and one of the attractions on the programme was a Mile Relay – a good run-out for teams the week before the National Edinburgh University had a good team out with Hugh Maingay, in excellent form with several outstanding runs to his credit already, ran the half mile against J Calder of Beith ‘who had shown himself the best of  the West half-milers’ he was timed at 1:59.0 and finished his stage only eight yards in front of Calder.   The University advantage was added to by Paton and the race was practically over when Howland took the baton.  FP Reid ran the quarter for them and they won in 3 minutes 50 seconds, 15 yards in front of Beith.    Howland was the subject of much discussion on his eligibility since he had run several races for the Achilles Club that season.    Beith Harriers, based on that and other performances were thought to be in with a chance of winning the SAAA Mile Medley Relay when it was held on 22nd June at Hampden Park.  

In the National the situation was different of course.   eg where the relay men had almost all raced before that event on both weekends, the standard was much higher at the National.   Maingay won the half-mile comfortably, Maclean had lost a lot of his form and was second in the mile and did not run in the relay being replaced by WH Calderwood who had already won the Mile and Calder was out f the medals in the 880y.   These three were representing their club in the half mile leg of the relay and Maingay was the ‘winner’ with Calderwood second.   Edinburgh went on to win with the team being completed by D Paton, RL Howland and FP Reid, by 10 yards from Maryhill (Calderwood, T McLean, AD Turner and HH Devlin) and West of Scotland (C Freshwater, JG Scott, W Taylor and AF Clark).   Beith?   They were fourth with Shettleston last.   The winning time was 3 minutes 43 3/5th seconds.

Introducing the relay to the championships had been a great success.  There had only been two clubs who had ever won the race in its eleven years but there had been many excellent races and there had been challenges from other clubs, notably West of Scotland, but the title had been swapped between Maryhill and Edinburgh University.   It was not a pattern that would remain throughout the 1930’s. 

Maryhill’s Donald McLean

Jim and Carol’s athletes at Summit High School are back in action for the summer season: first results are for the Madras meet which he says were held in a very cold 37 degrees F, ie just under 3 degrees Celsius.   Anyway, the result was a clear victory for Summit in both men’s and women’s groups.   They won the Men’s by 111 points to 34, and the women’s by 142 points to 2.   Which is the story of the meet: eg in the men’s 100m they had eight of the first ten finishers and in the women’s, there were also eight of the first ten, including the first four.   In the 1500m, they had seven of the first ten men, including the first four, and the women had the first five of the nine competitors.    One could call it a promising start to the season.

The second meet was against rivals Bend HS and it was a wee bit warmer – around 50 degrees and the result was a mixed one.   In the Varsity age group, Summit won both competitions, 104 to 41 for the Men and 97 to 48 for the women.   In the (younger) Junior Varsity Group Bend was victorious winning by 124 to 108 in the men’s and 106 to 103 in the women’s. 

Two meets then off on a spring break – Jim says most go to Hawaii where it’s a wee bit warmer at this time of year.

Break over, the biggest meet of the year – the Oregon Relays – came up on 13th and 14th April.   Jim himself reports:

“We entered three 14 year old freshmen in the 3000 and all ran personal best plus a VARSITY girl in the 3000 who also recorded a pb.   The boys DMR – our lead off leg (1200) got knocked on his backside after 450 meters – scrambled to find the baton and finished seventh.   That was on the Saturday, next day we came back to set a school record in the 4×800 finishing second to Wilson from Long Beach California.   In the Girls DMR Summit finished 2nd – Halliday from Mountain View is a 4:46 miler.   The girls won the 4×800 by 10 seconds.   More bad luck in the sprint Medley: the lead off leg dropped baton coming out of the block – our 800 runner moved the team from 7th to 3rd place overall.

All in all – good effort from the kids.”

The initials might seem strange to Scottish athletics fans but put simply the DMR is the Distance Medley Relay where the runners cover 1200 – 400 – 800 – 1600m  and the SMR is the Sprint Medley Relay of 200 – 200 – 400 – 800 metres.  The latter is quite like the Scottish version where the stages are run in the order 400 – 200 – 200 – 800m.

Full results are at   https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/318089/results

A week later came the Summit Invitational meet where they entered 20 – half a dozen were only 14 year olds – and they came away with 12 personal best times.   It was also a brighter and warmer day with the temperature in the 50’s.   Full results can be found at   https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/315957/results .

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The State Championship Qualifying meeting was held at the start of May and again the boys and girls from Summit performed well.   On a day when the temperature was 52 degrees F, and with an 18 mph wind, which was great for the sprinters and jumpers who had it at their back but nor so good for the distance runners, the relevant results were as follows.

Qualified – 2 girls – 800/1500/3000   – 2 boys – 800 and 1 in 1500

Table shows district times and seasonal bests

The high spot for most Summit athletes were the State Championships – where they always did well.   2018 was no exception with the girls winning their side of things.   The full results are   here    Note particularly the Girls 800, 1500 and 1500.

Eddie, second from right, with some of his runners and Springburn club mates:

John Fleming says of this photograph with many of Eddie’s best athletes included:

Ian Murray is behind the shield then it is me (wearing our Scottish Schools’ tracksuits) then Willie Paterson, Tommy Patterson with Harry Gorman behind them. Eddie’s son , Gordon is in front of Tommy and then between Tommy and Eddie is James Martin (Harry’s brother in law). Eddie’s 2nd son,Graeme, is next (in stripes)- Graeme sadly died. The final athlete is Johnny Buntain.  I think this was taken in 1974 outside Huntershill.. 
It was taken on a regular training night but for some reason the picture was missing National Gold team medalists:- Adie Callan, Graham Crawford Jim Lawson, Joe McLean, Donald McLeod, Robert Craig as well as seniors Eddie Knox and Iain Young. The lad between Graeme Williamson and Bill Ramage is Derek Connacher, who was 9th individual in the Scottish Schools Middles Race (more than 300 runners) and because he was the 5th Lenzie counter he didn’t get a team medal ! 

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Eddie was an excellent runner who ran for Scotland on the track and over the country.   His  range was wide – from 880 yards to six miles and steeplechase on the track, road racing including the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay and cross-country.   When his running days were over, he did not walk away – he stayed to coach generation after generation of young athletes and arguably did more for Springburn than he had done as a runner.   And that had been considerable.  The sheer numbers of trophies won was staggering.   For instance between 1962 and 1981 his Under 15 teams won medals in 16 national championships out of 19 – each team had of course four to count which meant at least five runners per race, so 80 individual medals at national level for the boys to take home.   Of course he had Under 17 and Under 20 teams under his care at the same time – the numbers not as great as the Under 15’s because at 15 many have to spend more time on their school work or are starting to earn their living in the workplace and the numbers inevitably fall for reasons unconnected with athletics or coaches.   The numbers were large but, another surprising fact, they almost all came from the same area of Kirkintilloch and Lenzie.   Arthur Lydiard said that you can find champions anywhere – Eddie found his almost all in the same small area.   We really need to find out more about him and his methods as far as we can.  

The Springburn team at Bute Highland Games Medley Race: Eddie on the right.

Eddie’e career as an amateur athlete was a relatively short one.   After coming through the ranks as a Youth and a Junior, his senior career lasted just three years – but it was meteoric.   On the track he had best times of  9:06 for Two miles, 14:05 for Three Miles and 9:27 for the 3000m steeplechase.     He won the SAAA Three Miles in 1960 and in the same year he was sixth in the National and was selected for the Scottish team for the International Championship.    As a Youth he had been fourth and sixteenth in the National and as a Junior in 1957 he was eighteenth.   As a Senior it was 6th/36th/15th.    In the Edinburgh to Glasgow, his first run was in 1957 when he was on Stage Seven and moved the club from eight to fifth with second quickest time of the day.   We know he ran the same stage the following year but no details are available about his performance.   In 1959 he was sixth on Stage One and in 1960 – his own personal annus mirabilis – he took over in fifth place on Stage Two after Tom O’Reilly had run well on Stage One, and moved through to second with the third fastest time of the day.   His last run in the E-G was in 1961, again on Stage Two when he took over on Stage Two in eighteenth and held that position – by the time Tom came to run on the last stage the club had climbed to fourteenth and that was where he kept it.   He ran as a pro after that for a while but crept back into amateur athletics soon after.    That’s when the coaching started.

We can begin by looking at the record.   He started coaching in the mid 60’s and we take the years from 1963 to 1986.  At National Championships level his teams won a total of 35 sets of medals, of which 12 were gold championship medals.   In the individual championships, his runners won 29 medals, of which 14 were gold.   The best year was arguably 1973/’74 when Springburn Harriers won the Under 13, Under 15, Under 17 and Under 20 team championships.   The results were of course even better in the Midland Districts (until 1975) and Western Districts (from 1976) where the opposition was less numerous but contained all the strongest clubs such as Victoria Park, Shettleston and Cambuslang.   In fact when the West District started their Young Athletes relays (under 13, under 15 and under 17 running in that order, Springburn won for the first six years in succession until Clydesdale Harriers took the title in 1981/82.    There were also many titles won on the track in all the age groups as well as in the Scottish Schools championships.   Graduates from the Eddie Sinclair Academy of Excellence, had their been such a thing, included Eddie Knox, Duncan Middleton, Graham Williamson and Steven Begen.   We could go on quoting similar statistics but the point is made.   One more point has to be made however: many coaches who have success with boys teams, fail to deliver senior athletes at the end of the process.   Eddie’s record is better than that – the four above were all senior internationalists, three of them won British Championships and one won gold, silver and bronze at world cross-country championships.   If the team/individual medals in the national cross-country championships are looked at we see that there were 5 team and 9 individual medals won at U20 level compared with 8 team and 2 individual at U13.   There were more U20 individual golds than at U13 or U15.   

It was really a quite remarkable record, made the more so by two more facts –

• that he worked on his own – there was no team of supporting coaches following his guidelines.   
• that his athletes came from the relatively small communities of Kirkintilloch and Lenzie with a few from Bishopbriggs.

Graham Crawford

First-class athlete and member of Springburn Harriers Graham Crawford, who was coached by Harry Gorman at the club and says that he learned a lot from Harry, has been a member of the club for a long time, says of Eddie:

“I have strong memories of the man from club nights and races and I’d sum him up in one word- passion.

“Eddie spoke with conviction. He was like an old style tough football manager who could get his team totally fired up. When he talked you listened. He held the stage. When Eddie roared at you in the final stages of a race you always somehow dug deeper, no matter how tired you imagined you were at that point.

As I’ve grown older I’ve found myself thinking more and more that if he had been my coach I’d have run over broken glass for him. I go to races these days to support the sons of a friend and I find that I remind myself of Eddie, chasing the lads around different parts of the course roaring them on. I get completely caught up in the moment, willing them to get everything out of themselves. That was Eddie, he just wanted you (demanded, expected?) to go to your very limit, ask every question of yourself. Why run if you don’t do that? That would have been his bare boned philosophy.

Eddie trained his athletes like most serious runners of that era, no fancy methods just straightforward hard work with a healthy mix of good sustained runs, often with a burn up at the end, and plenty of intense, quality and high rep track work. No – or little – gym work as far as I know.

He had a reputation for training teenagers very hard. It produced strong contenders and champions, and brought accusations in certain quarters that lesser runners were used as cannon fodder for Graham Williamson, ultimately to their detriment. I remember the same being said about Naylor and Nat Muir at Shettleston.

It was also said that during a period of doldrums for Springburn, nobody really turned up except Eddie, Jack Crawford and Williamson. And ask me to name the three most significant people in the club in my lifetime, and I suppose I may have the longest ongoing continuing connection, and it would have to be those three for their constancy, work and impact.

What Eddie did with Williamson was immense. Eddie asked everything of Graham and Graham had the makeup to respond to those demands. The teenage Williamson trained extremely hard under Eddie, with a heavy emphasis on frequent quality training.

Graham was a hard as nails, a ‘leave nothing behind’ racer because that is how Eddie trained him all through his teens. I’ll leave others to argue over the merits of that but I find it very hard to be critical of Eddie. I know stories, and I know he had his flaws and failings (as I acknowledge my own), but to me, his positives – his passion, commitment, drive, and motivational qualities – overrode everything else. He was a force of nature who had very strong views, a cutting tongue and a strong sense of humour.”

[Graham is quick to point out that “anything I have said about my regard for Eddie takes nothing away from the marvellous support and encouragement I got later from Harry Gorman when he coached me for a number of years. Harry gave me a lot.“]

Eddie Knox

Eddie Knox was Eddie Sinclair’s first international champion: in his first run in the ICCU World Championships he finished fifth, then next time, in 1967, he struck gold.   Colin Shields, in his history of the SCCU, says: “Eddie Knox followed Ian McCafferty as Junior international champion in an exciting race.   He was in the leading group throughout and edged his was into the lead 400 yards from the line, holding on for a two second victory over a Belgian.”  

   In the early/mid 60’s Eddie had a quartet of Eddie Knox. Duncan Middleton, Harry Gorman and Ian Young.  Knox won the International Cross-Country Championship, Middleton was one of the best 880 yards runners in the United Kingdom, Gorman was a very good middle distance runner  who was unfortunate not to get a SAAA title and after leaving school, Ian Young was a member of the really great Edinburgh University team.    Knox confirmed all that Graham Crawford said above about Eddie’s passion and determination but added that ‘you didn’t question his sessions’, you did what he said to the letter or you moved out of the squad.  He was quick to add, however, that Eddie did a lot for him personally.  However this first group that he worked with all achieved wonderful things in their career and one of them, Harry Gorman, went on to coach new generations of Springburn Harriers to success himself.  

From Eddie Knox, the first of his international runners to the man who was probably his last: Steven Begen.   Steven says

Steven Begen winning the Junior National

Was there any single thing that marked out Eddie’s runners from the rest of the scene, that accounted for the tremendous success of his runners?   Yes, there was, and it reflected the coach’s values in a very practical way.   Eddie’s runners always gave 100% effort.   They never eased up. This was, to me, most easily seen in the Under 17 age group  probably because I was coaching some runners in that age group at the time.   Races for Under 17’s generally started with a bit of a rush and went pretty hard for the first third of the distance, then eased up for the middle third before starting to race properly again for the last third of the race.   The Springburn youngsters just didn’t run that way: there was no steadying up in the middle of the race, there was no wee ‘sleep’ anywhere after the gun went.   They started hard and kept going hard all the way to the finish.   Others learned from that and soon everyone was trying to get their athletes to go from gun to tape.   But  they had a job on their hands. 

Eddie, second from the left with some of his runners in the early 60’s – Ian Young is fourth from the left 

Ian Young was one of his best athletes in the 1960’s who went on to become one of the Edinburgh University team that is generally recognised as being the best University distance running squad ever.   Ian has this to say about training with Eddie.

 “I joined Springburn Harriers as a 15 year old in 1960 because I was beating fellow pupils at Lenzie Academy in cross country and track and wanted to progress.  There was no athletics club in Kirkintilloch at that time and local boys tended to go to Springburn as their nearest athletic club.  At that time. Springburn had 2 significant figures in Scottish athletics in Tommy O’Reilly, 2-time Scottish 3000 metres Steeplechase champion and National Record Holder and Eddie Sinclair, Scottish 3 Mile champion in 1960.  The club also had a wider spread of athletes in those days with sprinters, notably John Young, a 10 sec 100 yards performer and field eventers like David Cairns, Scottish champion high jumper and GB internationalist behind Crawford Fairbrother.

I have no great memory of when Eddie specifically started coaching me, but he trained every day and because we lived fairly close to one another in Kirkintilloch, I tended to go to his house in Eastside after school and we would go out for a run from there.  In the summer we would do interval training, firstly at St Augustine’s School in Possilpark where Springburn Harriers met in the summer months and later at Huntershill when the local authority took over land which the Harriers owned and laid out a track with changing facilities.  Eddie tended to work us on 220 or 440 yard repetitions with a jogged recovery in between as per the Franz Stampfl regime.  Such success as I had, winner of many Dunbartonshire schools half-mile and mile races, culminating in the Scottish Schools mile championship in 1963 was as a result of his coaching these sessions, stop watch in hand and keeping his own meticulous notes of progress or lack of it, throughout the season.

It was during the winter season of cross-country and road races that Eddie came into his own.  He had a number of measured road runs around Bishopbriggs and Auchinairn which he led out, initially as a group run but then at an appointed spot as a ‘may the best man win’ race to the finishing point, then a jog back to the club house.

He had a favourite route in Kirkintilloch of 5 miles called the ‘Milton – Auchenreoch’ starting and finishing at the corner of Milton Road and Kilsyth Road, ironically outside the cottage where Johnny Stirling, the renowned Victoria Park and Hugh Barrow coach lived.  This was used mainly to check progress and improvement amongst his runners.  He would start us off at staged interval, all handicapped according to current performance so that the weaker runners could have a chance of beating the backmarkers who were always champing at the bit to get off in pursuit.

Another favourite training ground of Eddies was a hill called ‘Skimmers Brae’ at Birdston farm near Kirkintilloch.  This could be ploughed field or heavy grassland depending on season and he judged individual fitness by whether or not you could run from bottom to top without stopping.  This trial was only slightly less of a hardship than the Sunday training runs from Eddies house which involved 10-12 miles on the foot of the Campsie Hills.  Outwith the stamina building and speed building training methods which Eddie used, he also adopted a number of practices from the methods used by the professional or ‘pedestrian’ athletes of th time who were banned from amateur athletics, but where the town of Kirkintilloch had a good few exponents, including latterly, Eddie himself.

He used to have me train with lead sheet cut like an insole inside my trainers to strengthen my legs and make me feel like I was ‘flying’ when I took them out to race.  He would have us do 50 -100 yard sprints along the canal bank wearing lead insoles or carrying a 5lb dumbbell in each hand (my father’s foundry was useful for making these) to build up the ability to put in a sudden break in a race to demoralise the opposition.  Other tactics which he taught his runners were to make your break during road or cross country races as you neared the top of a hill, no matter how you were feeling, because you would demoralise the opposition and be gaining ground by racing down the other side while they were struggling to the top and then saw the gap you had opened up!  Another simple instruction was to run close to a wall if there was one bordering the route in a road race because you got a psychological lift from the feeling of speed that that gave you.  Again, recognising that his training built strength rather than speed, Eddie always encouraged us to break in the 3rd lap of a mile race or the second last lap in 2 or 3 mile races and make it a long run for home to kill off the ‘speed merchants’.

Eddie was passionate about the sport and gave his time and knowledge unstintingly to those who would take it on board and work to improve.  He did not limit himself to one age group, tending to use the same methods for all ages but limiting the distances run in training or repetitions or speeds on the track depending on age group, so in this way he could be coaching runners at different stages.  No one wanted a rollicking from Eddie which came if he felt you were not putting in the work or trying hard enough.  Much has been said about Eddie’s methods ‘burning out’ young athletes at an early age or causing them to have injuries which ended their running careers.  I tend to view such examples as guys that had achieved what they wanted to do then moved on to other things or physically had got to the point at which they were not going to develop further and gave up with at least some notable achievements behind them which they would not have had without Eddie’s support, encouragement and training methods. 

Eddie’s skill was in enthusing and bringing on young athletes to develop their talents.  When we reached senior level, for example when I went off to Edinburgh University, we tended to know what we needed to do to run at a high level and had the maturity to know what had to be done to maintain this – hence the significant number of Springburn Harriers who went on to achieve honours as seniors because of the knowledge which Eddie had generously imparted to every one of his protégées, not least of which was the inherent belief that, on the day, you could beat anyone.  A generous person and a great motivator.”

Eddie Sinclair’s contribution to coaching, to Springburn Harriers and to Scottish athletics deserves to be better remembered than it is.

..

It is well known that football clubs were responsible for many athletic meetings from the end of the 19th century until well int the 20th.   The range of these sports was wide – from those held by village football clubs, via those by middle ranking clubs such as Ayr FC right up to the more glamorous ones held by top teams such as Queens Park, Rangers and Celtic.   Most were by 1913 amateur events but this was by no means true of them all: two such meetings were those held by Glasgow Police at the start of June, and that of Clyde FC at Shawfield.   On this page we’ll look at all Sports held by Football Clubs in 1913 as reported by the Glasgow Herald.   Since the comments of the reporter in the Herald on the Police Sports have a general interest they will be included too.   There were several ‘joint meetings’ held around the country – eg Heart of Midlothian and Edinburgh Southern Harriers held an annual fixture, and in Glasgow both Celtic and Rangers held such meetings with athletic clubs, Celtic maybe more than Rangers.   We start with one such.

Monday, April 21st:    The Celtic FC and West of Scotland Harriers are holding a joint sports meeting at Parkhead on May 17th, and it will be historically interesting as the last of these mixed – athletics and cycling – functions which have given that enclosure a world-wide reputation.   The reason for this is that the Celtic directors have come to a decision to demolish the cement track, which is now practically useless, as cycle racing is, to all intents and purposes, a thing of the past – something merely to be recalled as an incident in the sporting life of our great city.   The Celtic are expanding the holding capacity of their ground and this they can do to te extent of at least 20,000 by converting the track into terracing.   Harry Martin, the popular motor-cyclist, will do his best to ensure the “farewell” function with a series of sprint performances which will still further perpetuate the fine sporting traditions of the Celtic cement path.”

The subject of professional athletics will pop up from time to time on this page and in that connection, we can digress and look at this item and wonder what it tells us about amateurism in 1913.

April 28th, 1913:   The AAA of England is  setting its face more determinedly than ever against what is called the “hippodromy” athlete.   This class has been multiplying of late years, and there has been much talk regarding the peregrinating propensities of certain well known runners.   These in the future are to be better controlled, and it is just possible that fewer English runners will be seen at Scottish meetings than in previous years.   The AAA is sending a team  to South Africa at the end of September.   It will consist of half a dozen picked runners who can afford to leave England for four months.   This is an interesting Imperial movement and must have beneficial effects on athletics in South Africa.”

28th April, 1913: “….  in this context it may be mentioned that the Rangers have granted Bellahouston Harriers  training facilities at Ibrox on easier terms than in previous years and it is believed that this and other concessions will help t increase the activities of the club.   … “

Football and athletics enjoyed a close relationship at this time from which both parties benefited.   

*

An interesting note at the start of a report on Bellahouston Harriers Sports at Ibrox, reported  on 12th May, 1913:

“The Bellahouston Harriers held a confined meeting at Ibrox Park the other evening.   Owing to the fact that the track is being lowered at the corners – another indication that cycling is not worth catering for – the races were run on the grass. …”  Note the comment on cycling – we will come back to that!

*

There were many meetings held midweek by athletics clubs at the various football grounds – Bellahouston and Clydesdale tended to hold theirs at Ibrox, West of Scotland and Maryhll at Parkhead.   That was the generality but no connection was exclusive – eg Clydesdale also held meetings at Parkhead, no doubt encouraged by former member Willie Maley.   There were of course still joint matches such as the one held at Parkhead sponsored by Celtic FC and West of Scotland Harriers on 17th May, where the report “Additional interest attached to the meeting from the fact that it formed the last occasion on which the cement cycling track will be used, the Celtic FGC having decided on its removal to provide more accommodation for spectators at football matches.   The demolition of the track is to be begun immediately so that the added area may be available for next football season.   The decision to remove the track, which was opened 16 years ago, suggested the idea of a parade of veterans which brought out eight well known competitors of former times.  …”

Saturday, 24th May, saw the Morton Football Club Sports, reported elsewhere on this website, took place at Cappielow Park, Greenock.  Then on 31st May the Clydesdale Harriers Sports took place at Ibrox.   The clubs had a very close connection which had lasted since the Harriers club was established in 1885 and they had many members in common.   Rangers Sports at Ibrox were supported by the Harriers, and the Harriers events were supported by the Rangers.   On this occasion one of the attractions was a schools relay race with teams from Allan Glen’s , John Street Higher Grade School, Dumbarton Academy, Bellahouston Academy, Paisley Grammar School and St Aloysius College.   Allan Glen’s was the favourite to win and they did so ‘easily’.   There was also a schools relay race at the Police Sports the following week but it had a problem.

*

Friday, June 6th, 1913:   “Glasgow Police Sports:   Being an important factor in the corporate life of the city, the Glasgow Police never appeal in vain for support on the occasion of their annual Sports.   From modest beginnings these Games have grown into a great national function, so much so that a cup or medal won under the auspices of the Glasgow Police Athletic Club has a significance almost as great as a medal or cup won at the championships of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association.   An effort was made during the winter months to bring the Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Leith Police athletic clubs into the amateur fold ; to the regret of many it was not successful, but from the impression which the various conferences produced, there is good reason for believing that in the near future the leaders of police athletics will come to recognise that it is better, in many ways, to be under the discipline and control of a governing body such as the SAAA.    There are 31 events on tomorrow’s programme.   A dozen of these are confined to the Glasgow Police, five are open to police forces in Scotland, and the remainder are for all-comers.   Besides these there is a five-a-side football competition with prizes to the value of £20.   The invited teams are Rangers, Celtic, Clyde and Partick Thistle.   

Unusual interest seems to have been aroused by the events open to the Police Forces of Scotland, no fewer than 50 having entered for the 100 yards, 40 for the half-mile, 40 for the obstacle race in uniform and 16 for the cycle championship.    …….    There is also a relay race for schoolboys, and it is said no fewer than 40 schools will be represented.    Unconsciously of course, the Police Sports do those who take part in this race a bad turn.   The meeting is an unregistered one, and all who compete are debarred from running under the SAAA rules.   It is well said that this should be made plain as, in after years, any of those who figure in the races for Youths at Parkhead  tomorrow may, in the event of entering for amateur meetings, be disqualified.”   

Maryhill Harriers was the next club to hold a sports meeting at Ibrox Park, this was on 8th July and contained both confined and open events.  Beith FC and Hamilton Academicals FC each held their own sports on 5th July at their own grounds, and West of Scotland Harriers organised a Sports at Somerset Park, home of Ayr United on Glasgow Fair Friday, and Clydesdale Harriers held a meeting at the Clydebank FC ground.  On 28th June the SAAA Championships were held at Celtic Park and on the same day, Vale of Leven held their sports at Millburn Park, Alexandria and Bellshill Highland Gathering took place.   The links between football and athletics were strong – and not just at the top grounds in the country.   Both sports benefited.

21st July, 1913:  

“The Clyde Football Club are apparently “whole hoggers” as far as professionalism is concerned, and in this respect  they are at least consistent.   Instead of running amateur sports, as so many professional clubs do [amateurism in Scotland is practically subsidised at the expense of Association football] Clyde are running a purely professional gathering on Saturday first.   Of course football is the trump card, but in addition they are introducing Jack Donaldson, the eminent sprinter, and a runner of his impressive accomplishments should attract many to Shawfield on Saturday.   Largely through the influence of Struth, several of the best professionals in Scotland will take part in the proceedings.   Professional running in Glasgow has been pretty low in the water for years, but the Clyde are serving up in an attractive manner on Saturday, and will no doubt be rewarded for their enterprise. “

29th July, 1913:

As already indicated, Celtic Football Club are spreading their sports over two days, Saturday and Tuesday, the latter day being for the convenience of shopkeepers who seldom have a chance of seeing first class running.   Besides football there will be at least two open handicaps, 100 yards and 1000 yards, and should any of the top strangers who are coming to Parkhead remain over  there may be an invitation race.   Certain it is however that Mr William Maley will see that the shopkeepers are provided with a programme that will both instruct and amuse.   With the cement track removed, there will be no more motor thrills to stir the emotions of the Saturday crowd.   This of course willl be a big blank but there will be other novelties, one being a steeplechase with more obstacles and water jumps than hitherto.   This is always a side splitting race but it will be even more so at the forthcoming meeting.   Another novelty will be a three miles distance handicap race with record breaking inducements .   There will be the favourite handicap events, the 100 yards, the 220 yards, the 880 yards and the mile.   The invitation races which are always a prime feature at the Parkhead meeting, will not be determined until it is known who are coming from England and Ireland.  All the same we are safe in assuming  there will be at least two special sprints with a strong international complexion.  Mr Maley is well advanced with the preparations, some of which for obvious reasons can not be made public.  

Still on 29th July:

The Rangers FC are anticipating a big success on Saturday on the occasion of their amateur sports.   These are now limited to one day.   Many will regard this as a false step but of course the Rangers directors know their own business best.   Still, it will be seen that the Celtic directors are nowin favour of the two-fold gathering, and they are regarded as pretty sound judges of public taste in the way of athletic entertainment.  Perhaps in another year the Rangers may revert to the old arrangement of having a supplementary function on the Monday following their sports day proper.   Mr Wilton has arranged a very interesting programme.   WR Applegarth whose great sprinting achievements have  formed  the chief feature of the season’s running in Britain, will be the leading “star” and several minor ones will also be present.   There will be an invitation sprint handicap, and no doubt there will be some exciting sport in the other events holiday form, which always produces sensational results will, as in previous years,  shine out conspicuously at Ibrox Park on Saturday.”

Still on 29th July:

 “Scottish Cyclists Union Officials who were at Ayr on Fair Saturday  expressed themselves as well satisfied with the racing in the two handicaps set apart for wheelmen.   Of course these are the days of small things in that department of sport, nor is there any inclination, as far as we can divine, of richer results.   The Celtic path is no longer in existence.   Ibrox, never at any time safe,  is now out of the question for first-class cycling.   Hampden Park therefore is the only ground in the city where cycling can take place.”  

4th August, 1913

The Rangers Sports were held on 2nd August and the report is elsewhere on this website.   They were a big success with an attendance estimated to be at about 25,000 and many competitors from England.   The Aberdeen Police Sports were held at Pittodrie.   The lead-in to the Celtic FC Sports the following Saturday appeared in the “Sporting Miscellany” column.  

“There is always a strong Hibernian flavour to the Celtic FC Sports and the forthcoming meeting will be no exception in that respect if Mr William Maley’s hopes are realised.   When at Belfast he had a promise from FR Shaw of Dublin University to run in the sprints.   In that case the short distance handicaps will be of an international complexion.  Shaw is the greatest sprinter that Ireland has ever turned out; at all events he has accomplished “times” that no Irish sprinter has ever accomplished, and there is no better test of merit in the sprinting domain than the watch.   Applegarth and others who were at the Rangers Sports on Saturday will also be at Parkhead, and excellent as the sprinting was at Ibrox, it should be even better at the Celtic meeting.   It is to be hoped that Mr Maley will extend the invitations to more than one heat, as at Ibrox.   The public like to see the “big men” often, and in handicaps with heats there is in nine cases out of ten the chance of seeing them twice at least.   Besides it will allow Mr Maley to draw more on home resources, and after all it is an experience which many would cherish to be permitted to run in the same handicap as Applegarth and others.”  

At the Celtic Sports on 9th August, The weather was dull but dry and 36,000 spectators saw Applegarth set a new record for the 220 yards and the meeting itself is reported elsewhere on this  website.   Dens Park, the home of Dundee FC, was the venue for the Dundee Police Sports which like all police sports in the country was a professional meeting.   

The following week the football season opened and most sports at football grounds were at an end.   

This very quick look was in part prompted  by an article that said amateur athletics was subsidised by football.   Certainly we see even from this small sample that many clubs (Clydesdale Harriers, Maryhill Harriers, West of Scotland Harriers, Bellahouston Harriers, Glenpark Harriers) held their own sports at football grounds.   It is not as though they were the only sports grounds available – there were rugby clubs which were older than any open amateur athletic club, similarly there were cricket grounds that could have been used.   Pat of the reason may be that there were many football players who took part in the athletic contests and both sets of clubs had members in common.   Many clubs had their own sports of course – the Ayr United Sports were said to be more important than the SAAA championships, Rangers and Celtic Sports were maybe the biggest and longest lasting, Partick Thistle sports went back before the amateur era and the St Mirren sports at Love Street were always well attended.   The Queen’s Park sports too were looked forward to with enthusiasm.   It is certainly a subject worthy of a more detailed investigation than is presented here.   Maybe a PhD for a Sports degree candidate???

Peter Hoffmann leading Paul Forbes in a Training Session at Meadowbank.

Wish upon a star

‘…Questions unanswered

Questions not asked

Some are worth knowing

Some left in the past

Go in with eyes open

Your life will be grand

Just give it your damndest

And go lead the band…’

Roger Turner

Forty years ago I ran a half mile in 1 minute 46 seconds, still a respectable performance today. At one time I even had an ambition to have raced Coe and Ovett down the home straight in the race of the century at the 1980 Olympic Games 800 metres final in Moscow.

Most runners look back on their careers feeling they never quite fulfilled their potential. As the old saw goes if is the saddest word in the English language. If only I had…Like many of you out there, from a distance of forty years I discern many good patterns of what we did well, but also some key mistakes too, which of course tear at the soul. And talking of souls, Father Gianni in the recent BBC series set in Tuscanny, Second Chance Summer, expressed it rather beautifully when he said: ‘…the problem is you only learn with age and experience, so by the time you realise you have learnt a lot of things unfortunately a lot of time has passed and many chances have been lost.’  

But for others-today’s and tomorrow’s young athletes it is not too late. Ben Jones, M.D. said ‘The saddest thing about dying is that all the stuff you’ve learned goes in to the ground with you. Make sure you pass it on before you croak.’  Following Ben’s advice, here’s my starter for ten. 

But first, a health warning. I’m neither a coach; nor a sports scientist; nor an academic, but instead someone who has run for almost 60 years – a reflective practitioner. This is not an academic nor a scientific treatise which works back from the demands of the event, relating them to your strengths and weaknesses and accordingly tailors a training programme, based on lactate tolerance or VO2 levels etc. Instead, it offers some practical, simple, common-sense tips garnered from a lifetime’s running experience from beginner, to international, to fun runner. I’m advocating a simple approach, but one which I sincerely believe will help any half miler run a best performance. I’m targeting it at international class athletes, but it’s equally applicable to aspiring youngsters wishing to run a great half mile or any master’s athlete out there too-just apply the principles and alter the times.

Peter preparing for a Track Session

1. Dream Baby, Dream

In the 1920s, the writer and mythologist, Joseph Campbell (who also happened to be one of America’s finest half milers) wrote of following your bliss:

If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be. If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that wouldn’t have opened for anyone else.

You need to have a dream to sustain you over the years; find out what motivates you to get out there season in, season out, to train in all weathers. Find your dream, then follow it; and remember   Festina lente – Make haste, slowly.

Peter in a 200m race: note the GB vest

2. Control Your Weight

Ensure your weight is at its ideal level. If it’s not, you won’t fulfil your potential. Simple fact. But that doesn’t mean being as light as possible. Too often I see good international runners who are actually too light. Don’t sacrifice lightness for strength. Instead, what you’re really after is the optimum power to weight ratio. So it’s better to be two or three pounds heavier with good power than to be too light with little power. The best athletes glide effortlessly over the track. Think Ovett at his peak over 1500 metres at the 1977 World Cup.

Control and monitor your weight; if you need to lose anything, do so, but very slowly. Be patient. If you’ve gained weight you will have done so over a period of time. To lose it, do so similarly. A pound a week is aplenty and you will hardly notice the effort; yet over 6 months that would add up to almost two stones! Eat regular, balanced, healthy tiffins every few hours. Drink plenty of water. Most people know what they should be doing. At the end of the day, retire to bed in the evening knowing that when you awake the following morning you will be very, very slightly lighter.

Peter and Paul Forbes

3. Practice Running FAST!

By running fast, I mean sprinting flat out several times each week. Be honest with yourself-when did you last sprint as fast as you could, putting the pedal flat to the floor? For most athletes it will be months-probably years! Unless you’re a 60 metres indoors specialist or a 100 metres sprinter, 99% of runners never practice running flat out, so how can you expect to suddenly turn on the turbo-jets come a race, especially if it’s a year on from the previous summer? So, incorporate sessions over 30-50 metres several times each week e.g. 2 x 4 x 30 metres with a good recovery. And that’s just to maintain your speed. By the time you get into your early 20s your performance will deteriorate. Incorporating pure sprints into your training programme will help make the key middle distance sessions easier andswifter too.

4. Strength and Power

But better still, rather than just maintaining speed, let’s improve it by improving your power. Get in to the gym twice a week. Do plyometrics; weights; gym work and bounding. In the off season run fast 20 seconds hill repetitions up a slight incline wearing a weights jacket. Do a Togher body weight circuit or get along to a Metafit session which is also a valuable cardio workout too. Work your glutes. Do squats. Do step-ups. If time is scarce run a few sprints followed by your strength work; it makes for good sense. Develop a strong core-everything comes from there. Buy a pair of 1lb barbells and practice fast arm action in front of the mirror for 2 minutes each evening.

But, on top of that here’s something different. Many athletes’ performances tail off toward the end of the season. Commentators say this is due to tiredness or getting stale and lacking motivation. I believe it’s more to do with the fact that after the spring most athletes neglect strength-work through the summer months. A radical proposal-keep the strength-work going throughout the track season. In 1984 Coe was still in the gym a week before the Los Angeles Olympics. Similarly, Salazar likes to see Farah et al keep that snap going throughout the racing season. You won’t need to do so many repetitions-just do enough to maintain your power to weight ratio; and perhaps ease off altogether ten days before your main competition of the season.

5. Cardiovascular System

To run a good half mile you need a reasonable aerobic base; equally importantly, you need to be fit enough to undertake the key middle distance track sessions. I recommend doing a steady run every third day. But you will end up supplementing this when you warm up and warm down for your track and gym sessions on other days adding another half hour of daily aerobic running. Every couple of weeks incorporate into your schedule a long, steady run of between 60 and 90 minutes. If a 5k Parkrun happens to fall on such a day, give it a go-it will give you a useful base line as well as motivating you to run fast and hard on occasion. But quality and speed and tiredness should never be sacrificed at the altar of high mileage. There’s a trade-off and that needs to be in favour of track work and gym. If high mileage was the key to running fast half miles then all those millions of runners churning out 70 mpw would be running them. Generally, they don’t. And when they do, it’s the exception that proves the rule.

6. Box Clever

There are lots of little maxims out there; some of them are wise. Amongst them, less is more, is excellent advice. The Greeks had a word for it-practice the golden mean-nothing in excess, everything in moderation. Train only once a day and rest up for 24 hours before your next session. It will prevent injuries in the long term; help you recover from the previous day; and equally importantly you’ll have a zest for the next session. Similarly, it’s better to under-train than to over train.

Try to always run with the wind-practice running quickly and with good technique. And talking technique, if you don’t have it, identify with someone who does and copy them. El Guerrouj was the most beautiful runner; as is Bernard Lagat.

It’s still useful to have heroes; adopt a phenomenological approach; identify with someone you admire and respect and when those key moments of choice come along, ask yourself how they might behave or react in this situation. What would they do?

Closer to home, find a good mentor. When my good friend Paul Forbes (a 1 minute 45 seconds half miler) and I were teenagers we trained regularly with Adrian Weatherhead, a sub 4 minute miler. He was a decade older and taught us much, mainly informally, often when we were warming up or warming down after a session.

Get into a good training environment and squad. Training should be hard, but fun. Try to run sessions where sometimes you’re the top dog-it’s good to be confident and to reinforce this attribute; on other occasions run with peers to introduce a little bit of competition and edge; and occasionally train with people who are better than you at some sessions-but not too often, as you want to be a very positive athlete and racer. But such sessions will help push you and take you out of your comfort zone.  At weekends we had the best training squad in the world featuring World number 1 David Jenkins; World Student Games silver medallist, Roger Jenkins; 8 Nations gold medallist, Paul Forbes; GB international, Norman Gregor; sub 4 minute miler, Adrian Weatherhead; as well as myself, an Olympian and European Junior silver medallist. It meant that if we were running 6 x 500 metres, each athlete would take one run from the front, with Adrian on the last rep. It meant for a much higher quality session than we could have managed alone. But, it was important to get away from that elite squad at other times to prevent burning ourselves out.

Listen to your body. What is it telling you? Athletes tread a fine line-it’s like being a tightrope walker, making continuous fine adjustments to achieve that elusive balance between two polarities-being honest with yourself and staying disciplined-getting out there and just doing it, but also being sensible and taking the occasional day off too when you’re feeling exhausted or coming down with a cold.; as mentioned above, it’s always better to under train than to over train.

And as in all important areas of life, prioritise. You only have so much energy and those aspects of training that are most important should never be at the mercy of those areas which are less so. Distribute your energy as if it’s gold and allocate it wisely. Be at your freshest and at your very best for the key middle distance track sessions of the week. Make sure you’re turning up for these sessions with an eagerness-with an appetite-you’re excited and slightly nervous and apprehensive and not knackered, tired or unenthusiastic, where you end up just going through the motions. In other words don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. And talking of quality here’s some radical advice-simulate half mile racing-regularly. 

7.   Simulate 800 metres running-regularly

That begs the question what do I mean by quality. Similar to athletes ignoring sprinting flat out, most half milers only ever run occasional flat out 600s throughout the year; perhaps on fewer occasions than on the fingers of one hand, usually in the late spring. And yet this is what they’re expecting their bodies to do in a race! It’s crazy. Get your body used to doing what it’s expected to do come race time. Surely, it’s common-sense to practise this key aspect much, much more regularly so that you not only do you get used to running like this, but so that you become better too?

Each new season you hope to improve on what you’ve run the season before, yet you’ve spent up to a year avoiding doing so! So, here’s a radical proposal-if you really want to run a fast half mile in 1.44 or better, start running very fast 600 metres or similar every ten days throughout the year. Ideally you should be aiming to run them in 75 seconds or better. Otherwise, how can you expect to turn up for an international meet 800 metres and run relaxed through 600 metres in 78 seconds and maintain that pace if you haven’t been practicing it throughout the year; get your body accustomed to how it feels allowing it to make the key physiological adaptations. So, use pacers and aim to run two or three in training at around 75 seconds; come race day you’re more likely to be able to flow through the 600 metres mark in 78 seconds with a speed reserve for the last quarter of the race. An alternative good session which we used to do was a 600 metres (78 seconds); 500 metres (63 secs); 400 metres (48 secs); 300 metres (34 secs); and a 200 metres (22 secs) with a good recovery. Don’t shy away from these sessions. By incorporating this regime into your training programme you will steal a march on your rivals.

8. Bread ‘n Butter Half Mile Sessions

To run a great half mile you also need to run bread ‘n butter half mile sessions; run 5 x 300 metres with a rolling start with a one minute walk 100 metres recovery, kicking off with 36 seconds. Or, 8 x 300 metres with a 3 minutes recovery starting with 37 seconds and try to hold the pace for as long as possible. 5 x 500 metres in 65 seconds with a 5 minute recovery is good as is 2 x 4 x 200 metres (30 seconds recovery) kicking off at 24 seconds. Clocks are excellent for gradually bringing on a jaded tiredness as you try to maintain speed endurance and quality-100-150-100 and 150-200-150 clocks (up and down in 10 metres) with a jog back 90 seconds recovery are excellent-they’re niggly little sessions. There’s no harm in occasionally joining the milers pack for one of the more traditional middle distance sessions-8 x 400s (1 minute recovery) or 4 x 600s (4 minutes rest) but they should be just that-occasional.

9. Quarter Miling

To run a fast half mile you need to be able to run a great quarter too. Sometimes I ask good half-milers what they can run for 400 metres; they will reply vaguely, Oh! I’ve run sub 48 seconds-but when you ask what they can run right here, right now, there’s a world of difference. So don’t kid yourself. To run fast over a quarter you need to incorporate regular quarter-mile sessions e.g. 3 x 300 metres flat out in around 34 seconds. Or, 8 x 100 metres rolling with an easy 5 minutes’ walk around the track recovery.

10. Resilience and Racing

Training and competition requires resilience. A few people have this quality in spades-a rod of steel running through them. I’ve trained with former world 5000 metres record-holder, David Moorcroft, and regularly with Adrian Weatherhead; with them it’s something inherent. I’ve seen it too with many of the distance runners-the iron men of the iron ground, who churn up the laps in cross country running. But the rest of us aren’t quite so hardy. However, you can help to overcome this with clever stratagems. Remember that dream. Use it to motivate yourself. Ask yourself what your success would mean to others who help you-your family, your friends? Develop mantras for when the going gets hard-First to the tape, First to the tape    or   Never give in, Never give in.

As usual, Kipling is good:

If

‘…If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son…

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!’

If you’re doing a hard reps session don’t think too far ahead; leave the next run until towards the end of the recovery period-often people throw in the towel far too early. Take one run at a time. And when it becomes painful either embrace the pain-associate with it or alternatively disassociate from it by deploying some distraction techniques.

Some of you will recall the great BBC athletics commentator for forty years, David Coleman, and how he brought to life David Hemery’s stunning Olympic run in Mexico, 1968 or Ian Stewart’s magnificent 5000 metres win at the 1970 Commonwealth Games. On occasion,when I struggled through a tough training session wanting to give up, come these last few repetitions, in my imagination I could hear Coleman’s voice in my mind’s-eye ‘…and it’s Hemery (Hoffmann) gambling on everything…he’s really flying down the back straight…Hemery (Hoffmann) leads…it’s Hemery (Hoffmann) Great Britain…it’s Hemery (Hoffmann) Great Britain…and Hemery (Hoffmann) takes the gold…he killed the rest…he paralysed them…Hemery (Hoffmann) won that from start to finish…’ And before I knew it, the session was over and I’d run as best as I could and got through another tough work-out. I guess it’s called motivation-self-motivation. Find it where you can.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 says ‘…I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all…’ so grab the opportunity in any race-be brave-show some chutzpah-seize the day; sometimes a smarter, more confident athlete can beat a better one-Matt Centrowitz ran a great race at the Rio Olympics in the 1500 metres. Races are nerve wracking so get used to handling them well by racing often-race under distance events such as 400 metres where there is slightly less pressure.  

Rest up before you race, making sure you taper your training. The people who knew best how to bring athletes to their peak were the old Pro schools in Scotland training athletes for the famous century old Powderhall Sprint. Money talks. And some of those schools stood to make significant monies from the bookies.  Come the race, if you can and have the confidence to do so, aim to distribute your energy wisely in half-mile races. Run the shortest distance and run even pace.

My final thought on racing is ensure you’re thoroughly warmed up having blown the carbon out of the engine! Too many athletes don’t warm up sufficiently; and when the race kicks off it comes as quite a shock to the system and naturally, negatively impacts mentally on their confidence too. How often have you found in training that it’s the second or third repetition that’s the easiest? The first few runs feel hard because of the systemic shock; the latter runs are hard because you’re beginning to tire. Whereas, on the intermediate repetitions you glide along, often effortlessly, because your body is completely warmed up; make sure you go to the line having struck the optimal balance so that you’re ready to race from the bang of the gun.

Whether, you’re an international athlete, an aspiring one, or a master runner, adopt the above and you’ll fly a half mile. Good luck with your adventures and seize the day.

A Hypothetical 800 metres Training ‘Week’

Day 1 3 x 600 metres flat out (15- 20 minutes recovery)

Day 2 60-90 minutes steady run

Day 3 5 x 300 metres (walk 100 metres recovery)

Day 4 2 x 4 x 30 metres (3 minutes recovery; 15 minutes between sets) followed by strength-work

Day 5 8 x 100 metres fast (walk 300 metres recovery)

Day 6 Parkrun 5k

Day 7 8 x 300 metres (3 minutes recovery)

Day 8 6 x 50 metres flat out (4 minutes recovery) followed by strength-work

*Peter Hoffmann partnered Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe as one of Great Britain’s three 800 metres athletes at the 1978 European Championships and was also part of the 1976 Olympic 4 x 400 metres squad at Montreal. He is the author of several books including A Life In A Day In A Year-A Postcard From Meadowbank which follows a ‘year’ in the life of an athlete. He is available for athletics advice on 400 and 800 metres running.*

Jack racing on the track in Bellahouston Park

Jack MacLean is a well-liked, much respected athlete who has been seriously involved in middle and long distance running since the 1950’s.   A life member of Bellahouston Harriers, he joined the club in 1950 after his National Service was over.  Jack has run all distances from 880 yards up to marathon in his career and has even won a medal, as part of an English team, for walking.   Known throughout Scotland, he was a member of the Scottish Marathon Club, the British Marathon Runners’ Club and a founder member of the Scottish Veteran Harriers Club.   He is currently in his 68th year as a member of Bellahouston Harriers and to find out what has kept him in the sport so long we asked him to complete a short questionnaire and we can look at his responses before going on to some detail about his involvement in the sport.

Name:  Jack MacLean

Date of Birth:  20th June 1929

Occupation:   Newspaper printer

When did you get into the sport:  In 1950 after an introduction to Davie Corbett

Personal best times:   Two Miles:  10:03    Three Miles:   16:29      Six Miles:  33:20     Ten Miles  54:00

                                        Half Marathon:   1 hour 16 minutes     Marathon:  2:40:00    

Has any individual or group had a marked influence on your times or attitudes:  Davie Corbett, Bob Climie and Harry Fenion

What has athletics brought you that you would not have wanted to miss:  Good health, good friends, camaraderie and a feeling of well being.

Have you ever been a member of a club other than Bellahouston Harriers:  Scottish Marathon Club (Jack was captain and president of the club), British Marathon Club, founder member of the Scottish Veteran Harriers Club.

Have you any thoughts on the sport in Scotland at present?   Generally the times are slower now with several outstanding exceptions like the Hawkins brothers and Andrew Butchart.   In general terms, when I was running we had a golden period for a number of years but we did not realise it at the time.   There were many runners running 2 hrs 13/2hrs 15 for the marathon or 28 min for the 10000m,   These were great times and many were run in Scotland.  

Jack mentioned three people as being influences on him when he joined Bellahouston Harriers.  David Corbett and Harry Fenion are well known, but Bob Climie is not a name that means much to modern athletics people.   Bob was a top class runner who came through the War and was a very good athlete for several years thereafter.  I quote only his record in the Edinburgh to Glasgow [remember that stages two and six were the toughest of the tough].   In April ’49 he ran second and moved from eleventh to sixth, in November ’49 he again ran second and held on to second place and  in ’50 he held 7th on the sixth stage.   Jim Irvine says: 

Bellahouston Harriers Club Group in 1958: the year they won the Edinburgh to Glasgow:

Jack is third from the right in the back row, half hidden.

Jack continues and says “I always loved running.   Born in the Gorbals in 1929, there was little traffic on the street so all the children played outside.   Being Glasgow, there was a lot of football but numerous other games whose base was running.   The Co-op had a Youth Club and there were many branches in Glasgow.  I joined up and played football for them.   One night the committee annnounced a sports night for all the co-op clubs in Glasgow and asked for volunteers to take part in the meeting at Helenvale Park.   Three hands went up – me and my two pals.   But they needed four runners because there was a medley relay, so one member said he would run 220 yards but no further.   The night arrived and my big pal, who was 6’2” tall, won the hop, step and jump as it was called then, and my other pal won the high jump which was stopped to allow him to run in the 440 yards where he finished second.   I ran the half-mile and finished second.   Then came the medley relay: I ran another half-mile and the team finished second.   I then ran in the mile where I was beaten by the boy from Shettleston Youth Club: he was in fact a ‘ringer’.  He was the Scottish Junior champion, not a member of the youth club, and his name was Eddie Bannon.   He later ran many times for Scotland.   Overall our team of four boys were runners-up in the competition, all on football training.   That was my introduction to track running.   

The football continued and I played for a team from Kilbarchan called Glentyan Thistle.   Like everyone else I went into the Army for two years National Service in 1948 and ran in cross-country races.   I won a couple of these plus some three mile track races.   After leaving the Army and playing a couple  of games for my old club, I decided to run seriously.   Having been introduced to Davie Corbett, I joined Bellahouston Harriers in 1950.   Such was the standard at Bellahouston with runners like Harry Fenion and Joe Connolly that it was difficult to make the team.”

Start of the SAAA Marathon Championship in 1969: Jack is seventh from the left in the headband

When Jack mentions the standard of running at Bellahouston Harriers in the 1950’s, and mentions particular runners, he was telling 100% of the truth.   Scottish distance running at that time was of a high standard – a fact not realised now.   The Victoria Park road running team with Scottish title holders and record breakers such as Andy Forbes, Ian Binnie and Bob Calderwood  was quite superb, the Shettleston team with Eddie Bannon, Hugo Fox, Harry Howard and Clark Wallace was also at a peak and Bellahouston Harriers was always right in the mix.   They had gold, silver and bronze in County, District and National events and when they won the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight man relay in 1958 it completed the set of gold, silver and bronze for that race too.   Harry Fenion won the National cross-country title as well as winning the SAAA Marathon championship, Joe Connolly ran internationally on the country and  in the Empire Games on the track.        Nevertheless Jack ran regularly for the club in all the major championships – county, district and National relays, county, district and national championships.  Given the high competitive standards at the club he only ran in one Edinburgh to Glasgow relay, but given his fitness and reliability he was always one of the runners and reserves entered on the programme.   He appeared in the programme in 1958 (number B17) with such runners as Joe Connolly, Harry Fenion, Des Dickson, Gordon Nelson, Fred Cowan, Tommy Mercer and Gavin Bell; sixteen years later, in 1974, he was again in the list (C13) with runners like Jack Adair, Brian Goodwin, Campbell Joss, Iain Kerr, Alistair McAngus, Murray McNaught, Rab Marshall and Jim Russell.  He was in every programme in between. The only other man in both squads was Jim Irvine.   I would hazard a guess that he appeared prior to ’58 and subsequent to ’74 too.   

Jack in the centre of the picture (0570) in the Glasgow Marathon with club mate Jim Russell on the right.

Jack started to run in longer races and discovered that he was better on the road than on the country.   His best position in the National was a commendable 44th.   “I joined the Scottish Marathon Club and ran the first of many Clydebank to Helensburgh 16+ miles races.   My personal best for the course was one hour and 30 minutes.   I also ran in the Ben Nevis race twice – in 1956 and 1958.   In the first of these, I had a bad fall descending, cutting my hand.   I was in 9th position at the time and after getting a handkerchief from a walker to wrap around the wound, I continued  and finished 19th out of 95 runners in 2 hours 15 minutes.   I then had to go to Belford Hospital to get the wound stitched. 

I ran a total of 64 marathons and two ultra marathons – the Two Bridges 36 miles race in 4 hours 11 minutes, and the Edinburgh to Glasgow 45 miles in 5 hours 20 minutes.”

The Scottish Marathon Club of which Jack was a member had been set up in 1944 ‘to foster marathon running in Scotland’.   To this end they helped organise many road races the length and breadth of Scotland.   They had a club championship with points awarded for positions in three out of four races, one of which had to be the Scottish marathon championship.   The races were the Springburn Harriers 12, the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16+, the Strathallan Gathering 20+ and the SAAA marathon.   Jack ran in them all from time to time.  He has mentioned the Clydebank to Helensburgh as one that he ran in a lot.   It was a very high standard of competition.  In 1960 Gordon Eadie won in 1:32:22, in 1962 Andy Brown won in 1:27:31, 1but other than that the winning time was usually in the low/mid 1:20’s.  The course record was under 1 hour 20 minutes set when the prevailing wind, which was usually in the runners faces almost all the way, was in the other direction and almost threw the runners to Helensburgh.   Gordon Eadie’s win in 1960 in a time that Jack and I could and did beat didn’t mean that we could have beaten him.   It was down to conditions.   Jack’s personal best of 90 minutes for the 16.25 miles works out at 5:57 a mile pace on that trail is not bad running at all.   Jack was a good solid club runner and an almost ever present in races like that.

Jack’s marathon running took him to  many parts of the globe in addition to the Scottish venues, he ran in London six times, as well as in Toronto, Hanover, Cologne, Paris and Viareggio where as a vet he ran a time of 3 hours 07 minutes in a temperature of 90 degrees.   Jack’s wife comes from New York and they travelled there for the marathon in 1980 when he was timed at 2:55.

Jack, second left, front row, at the club’s Centenary Dinner

Jack has been a member of three other clubs in addition to Bellahouston: we have mentioned the Scottish Marathon Club in which he filled the roles of President and Captain at various times, he was a member of the British Marathon Runners Club.   On 19th October 1968, the year before he became a veteran runner, Jack ran his longest race ever – the 44 mile Edinburgh to Glasgow.   Seventeen men faced the starter in Edinburgh for the eighth running of the race which featured many well known ultra-distance runners such as Bob Meadowcroft from Bolton United Harriers, Geoff Stott of Warley in the English Midlands, Hugh Mitchell (Shettleston), Bill Stoddart (Greenock Wellpark Harriers), Gordon Eadie (Cambuslang Harriers) and Don Turner (Pitreavie AAC) who were all real competitors over the longer distances.   Foley and Meadowcroft from Bolton both started six minutes behind the field.   The first man dropped out at 15 miles, another at 20 miles, one more at 25 and yet another at 30 miles.   Among the well known runners to drop out were cross-country internationalist John Stevenson of Wellpark, Willie Russell of Shettleston and Jimmy McNeil of Shettleston.   Jack worked away and finished eleventh in 6 hours 6 minutes 14 seconds: he was less than three minutes behind former winner Stott (6:13:17) and just over ten minutes behind David Anderson of Wellpark.   It was a very good run over a longer distance than he had ever done. 

The club in which he been most active has been the Scottish Veteran Harriers Club, of which he is the only surviving founder member.   The other members of the group were Walter Ross  of Garscube Harriers, Jimmy Geddes of Monkland Harriers, George Pickering, Roddy Devon of Motherwell and Johnny Girvan of Garscube.  How did that come about?

After the Midland District Cross-Country Championship at Stirling University in 1970, Walter Ross spoke to me.   He wanted to form a veterans club with a minimum age of 40 years, and paid me the compliment of being one of the enthusiasts of the game.   The committee was formed of Walter and six others, and we held our meetings in Reid’s Tea Room in Gordon Street with a regular starting time of 7:00pm.   We all put forward our ideas and Walter drew up a constitution.   In the beginning the age groups went up in ten year intervals. 

I organised the very first Veterans race.   It was in Pollock Estate on Saturday 20th March, 1971.   We had very few officials at that point: Davie Corbet of Bellahouston started the race and shouted the times to George Pickering of Renfrew YMCA.   I had laid the trail in the morning with markers of wee pegs with paper attached.   33 runners started and 32 finished.   As I worked in the “Daily Record”, I arranged for a reporter and a photographer to attend.   There was a wee piece in the Daily Record about it.      The race was run over about 5 miles and the winner was Willie Russell of Shettleston.   He was followed by Hugh Mitchell, Willie Marshall, Tommy Stevenson, Williue Armour, Chic Forbes, Jack McLean and Andy Forbes in that order.   

Within a year we had 1000 members from the whole of Scotland.   Internationally we had great success as a small country.   The first World Championship for the marathon was held in Toronto in 1976.   I took part.   There were about 750 runners.   The race started at 7:30 am to avoid the heat.   I started well and was twenty second at two miles.   Then I started to be sick, I kept running and vomiting but I recovered at about 8 miles and finished 27th in 2 hours 43 minutes.   Gordon Porteous finished not long after me, smashing the world record for the sixties age group. 

After that I put it to Walter that ten year age groups were too much, so Walter put it forward at the World Committee meeting.   Vets were well established by then and five year age groups were adopted.   I also put forward the idea of colour coding for groups which was also adopted.   In the beginning the Scottish Vets took part in all the World Championships.   

•   In Cologne I ran the marathon, Bill Stoddart ran in the 10000m.   The Australians were boasting that they had the winner in Dave Power, double gold medallist (six miles and marathon) in the Empire Games in Cardiff.   Stoddart beat Power in just over 30 minutes.  
• Walter organised a large group to go to Paris for the World Masters Marathon in 1970.  There were between 600 and 700 runners.  On a day that was great for the spectators with a temperature of 88 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, Alastair Wood won the men’s marathon in 2:28:40 and Dale Greig won the Ladies marathon.   Charlie Greenlees of Aberdeen was 23rd and I was 33rd,  We won the team race and I was 7th British runner to finish.   
• In 1980 the Scottish Vets staged the World Championships for 10,000m and the marathon.   I, along with Willie Armour set out the course: Willie in his car with the clipboard, me walking with a surveyor’s wheel measuring the course.    On the day, the whole thing went off very well with the Glasgow Corporation giving a great meal to the competitors in the City Chambers.   

Having been one of the founding members of the Scottish Veteran Harriers Club, I served on the Committee for 10 years before giving it up.   One of the unsung pillars of the organisation was Dale Greig,   She worked for Walter in his printing business and, as well as typing the newsletters, she did a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes.   

I ran my last marathon in London when I was 65, and it took me three hours and twenty two minutes but I continued running until I was 80 in 2009.   After that I kept on jogging.   I didn’t get many prizes or tangible returns for my  100 miles per week, but I got good health, great camaraderie, a feeling of well-being for years and many friends.”   

Jack with 200 yards to go in the New York Marathon where at the age of 51 he ran a time of 2:55

Jack has spoken of Cologne and Paris but there were other vets international races in which he took part.   For instance in Toronto in 1975 he ran in the Marathon, in the 45-49 age grouping and was 10th in 2:47:09.

Hanover 1979 was a bigger tale altogether.  At the start of the meeting he raced in the 10,000m in the 50-54 age group where he was 26th in 37:33.3.   Donald Macgregor was watching and he was approached by some English race walkers who lost the 10K road walk because they only had four runners while the race rules required ‘five to count’.   They asked Donald if there were any Scots who could fill in as a walker at the 20 km distance!   He suggested Jack.   They then approached Jack and, despite his protests, entered him for the race.   He was given a lesson in the car park in how to walk by English international Judy Farr and Athletics Weekly correspondent Colin Young.   Warned before the race not to get disqualified, he took part and finished in the first third of the field.   The team of Eade, Withers, Jacques, Goodwin and McLean finished second behind France and Jack had a silver medal.   The trail was around a lake for leisure boating and a large plaque on the wall said that Hitler had opened the venue in 1936. 

Of course, Jack continued to run in vets races at home and in the course of these he has beaten some notable athletes, eg he once defeated Ben Bickerton of Shettleston Harriers in the 10000m championships at Bellahouston Park.   Ben  was always a quality athlete and you can read about him here .    Always a good advert for the sport, Jack recruited other runners to the sport.   These include Hugh Currie who worked on the ‘Daily Record’ when Jack was there.   Hugh had been a member of the Creag Dhu Mountaineering club and was very fit so that when he came into the sport as a veteran he was immediately very successful and set the M65 record for the London Marathon.   

It is clear from the above that Jack has had a wonderful career in the sport.   A career in which he ran hard and well for many years before putting a lot back in the form of his work with the veterans movement worldwide.   Always the same to speak to, Jack was always even tempered and good natured and never had a bad word to say about anybody.   Jack died in January 2020 at the age of 90.