Eilidh Child doing her lap of honour in Glasgow, 2014 (See below)
Commonwealth Games 1970
I had thought I might have had an outside chance of making the team but it wasn’t to be but I really enjoyed watching them from the main stand with club mates from Epsom and Ewell H. I was working in Surrey at the time and we travelled up for the Games. .
There were lots of memorable moments for the Scottish Team , of course , nearly too many to list but I also saw Marilyn Neufville of Jamaica setting a world record for 400m (51.02) and Lawrie Peckham of Australia clearing the first 7′ HJ in the UK.
However , it was Lachie’s 10,000m Gold which set off what was to be a memorable week for the Scots. The outstanding memory however was to come later. After the day’s events , we went up to the competitors’ village at Pollock Halls to meet two Eprom girls , one who was competing for England and the other for Wales. Then over to the road to the Gold Medal Inn (don’t know what’s there now) where we saw Lachie celebrating his Gold medal with a large group of the Scottish team. I knew a few of them and was able to congratulate Lachie.Quite an honour.
Staying with the 1970 Games, Graham has abother tale to tell.
As I was home for the Games from working in Surrey , I wanted to go down to Pitreavie on a club evening to see some Pitreavie club mates.
However , by the time I arrived there was hardly anyone there as I discovered the club training time was much earlier in the evening than I remembered.
However , I noticed a girl over the other side of the track at the LJ pit doing some impressive short stride jumping. I thought maybe a new LJer had joined the club so I made my way over to the pit to find out. As I got closer to the pit , I recognised her from the many photos of her from AW , TV etc. I was surprised but it was an absolute privilege to come face to face with the 1968 Olympic Women’s LJ Silver medalist , Sheila Sherwood!
She told me that she had wanted to find a LJ pit away from the main centre of the Games activity to do some quiet practice.and someone had mentioned the track at Pitreavie. The following day , sitting in the stands at Meadowbank , I saw her winning the LJ Gold medal!!
Commonwealth Games 1986
We were busy with a young family at that time so only managed to be at Meadowbank on the final day.
We were seated in a section with many New Zealanders who had hung a very large blanket with AUCKLAND 1990 written on it in very large letters. It was only later that we found that the BBC cameras had focused in on it during the closing ceremony and there we were sitting in front of it for all to see. Photo attached – a bit blurred though.
Commonwealth Games 2014
There were many memories from the 2014 Games but there could only be one which was outstanding above all others for me.
Eilidh Child was doing her lap of honour to the Proclaimers following her Silver medal performance in the 400mH and Hampden was
jumping!
I went down a few steps to the barrier around the track as she was passing , shouting to her. She must have heard because she turned towards me and gave me a wave – a special moment as I remembered from at the club from a young age and now she she had a full Hampden crowd on their feet
*
Events of this level attract lots of those deeply interested and involved in the sport so it’s no surprise that many of the UK NUTS statisticians would be in town for the Glasgow event..
Arnold Black of SATS took the opportunity to invite the members of the UK NUTS , some of the top internationally recognised names in the field , to dinner one evening in Glasgow to meet up with their Scottish counterparts.. I was a member of the Scottish Records sub committee at the time and Arnold invited me along to join Colin and him to meet these well known names.
Along came:
Mel Watman (Editor of AW for many years and prolific author of many athletics books and journals)
Peter Mathews (one of the BBC team at these Games. Editor of the NUTS annual)
Stan Greenberg { Has been a Statistician to GB selectors and BBC commentary teams)
Bob Phillips ( Editor of the NUTS Track Stats and statistician to BBC commentary teams)
Ian Tempest ( Author of NUTS historical books)
It was a great evening being in such company with , not surprisingly , lots of discussion about our sport.
A memorable night.
A reminder from Graham that even Commonwealth Games can be wet!