In the years leading in to the 1911 version of these championships there was a great play being made of the fact that many of the private schools followed the lead of Fettes College in ignoring them and not taking part at all.   What was to be the future of the event?   The ‘Scotsman’ and the ‘Scottish Referee’ both printed the list of entries which  showed a record number of entries.   The ‘Scotsman’ paragraph is reproduced.

Where there were in the first few inter-scholastic championships more entries from Edinburgh than from the west of the country, there were in 1914 three from Edinburgh, six from Glasgow and four ‘Provincial’ schools would be there.   Note too that not all were private schools.   Less than a third of the entered schools were from the capital.  The meeting might be saved from distinction despite the absence of some of the originators by the expansion across the country and to a wider range of representative schools.    However the trend was not welcomed by all.   Note the condescending tone of the following article in the Edinburgh Evening News.

State schools do not possess the same public interest?   The statement itself is interesting.  As is, “the business is in lesser hands, good of their kind . . ”   No further comment is called for.

The sports themselves went off well at Hampden Park in Glasgow on 20th May and the following report and results are from the ‘Scottish Referee’ of the following Monday.

The complete results  without comment reads.

It is worth noting that of the fourteen schools entered, the three from Edinburgh were all private, of the Glasgow schools three were private and three were not, and of the four from the provinces, Irvine Royal Academy ceased being fee paying in 1927, Greenock Academy was initially fee paying, while Rothesay and Dumbarton were not.    We do not have a note of any school winner.

The winners of the individual events were as follows

OPEN EVENTS

EVENT	WINNER	SCHOOL	PERFORMANCE
100 Yards	T Catto	Royal High School	11.2 seconds
440 Yards	T Catto	Royal High School	57.2 seconds
One Mile	W Cooper	George Heriot’s School	5 min 11 seconds
120 Yards Hurdles	AY Dick	Allan Glen’s High School	17.2 seconds
High Jump	AY Dick D Cunninghame	Allan Glen’s High School Allan Glen’s High School	5′ 2 1/4″
Broad Jump	A McLean	Hamilton Crescent Higher Grade	18′ 9″
Throwing the Cricket Ball	A McLean	Hamilton Crescent Higher Grade	96 Yards 0 Feet 7 Inches
Putting the Weight	A McLean	Hamilton Crescent Higher Grade	32′ 7 “

UNDER 16

EVENT	WINNER	SCHOOL	PERFORMANCE
100 Yards	J Falconer	Allan Glen’s High School	11.2
880 Yards	J Lawcock	Allan Glen’s High School	2 min 17.6 seconds
120 Yards Hurdles	J Judge	George Heriot’s School	20.2 seconds
High Jump	R Branks R Smith	Allan Glen’s High School Rothesay Academy	4′ 9 3/4″
Broad Jump	RJ Branks	Allan Glen’s High School	16′ 1 1/4″

UNDER 13

EVENT	WINNER	SCHOOL	PERFORMANCE
100 Yards	J Macrae	George Heriot’s School	13.0 seconds
300 Yards	J Macrae	George Heriot’s School	44.4 seconds
High Jump	D Fairbairn G Watson	Allan Glen’s High School Royal High School	3′ 10″
Broad Jump	J Macrae	George Heriot’s	13′ 0″

The teacher coaching high jumpers certainly knew his stuff – two pupils sharing first place in the Open events, another being equal first at Under 15 and one more being equal first in the Under 13 age group.    Allan Glen’s had six first places, George Heriot’s had fives,  Hamilton Crescent had four, Royal HS had three, and Rothesay Academy one .

It was a successful meeting with a record number of schools entered and a reasonable number of spectators.  Reports of its demise had probably been exaggerated.