Motherwell YMCA Harriers – who had had many good athletes all through their existence – went through a real ‘purple patch in the 1960’s.    They won the Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1962, 1963, 1964,  second in 1965 and third in 1961 and 1966.   They won the National Cross Country Championships in 1961 and were third in 1963 and won the West District Cross Country Championship in 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967 – seven times in all.    I haven’t mentioned any of the relays either but it was a quite remarkable spell.   They had many good or first class athletes and names like Bert MacKay, John Linaker, Ian McCafferty, Alex Brown (AP Brown)  and many others are very well known to all followers of the sport.    But the common opinion is that Andy Brown had more than most to do with it.    A natural leader he was also captain of the Scottish Cross Country team and was highly regarded by all in the sport whether officials or, especially, by other runners.   In this first section we can look at his rise to prominence up to early 1956.

Born on 11th December 1932, he was known on the programmes as AH Brown to distinguish him from his brother Alex.    So he was not the first A Brown to run for Motherwell – his father was a good class road and marathon runner and this was picked up by Emmet Farrell  in ‘The Scots Athlete’ of August 1952 as follows: “Father and Son Rivalry”   There’s a very interesting and friendly rivalry between the two A Browns, Junior and Senior of Motherwell YMCA H.   The son is a fairly prolific prize-winner on the track.   But his wiry, 47 year old father is not far behind him.   He has had several notable wins and places in road races and at Dunoon even managed to gain the scratch award.   Even though most of the notable road runners were absent it is still a remarkable feat to beat runners some nearly half his age.   That year he had run two marathons and finished in the middle of the field and at the Victoria Park Relays in October they both ran in the same team with Tom Scott and Bryce McRoberts making up the team with Andrew Junior being second fastest, 21 seconds slower than McRoberts.   The club had a team in the Edinburgh to Glasgow that year  but only one A Brown was in it and I’m assuming that it was Senior who ran the fifth stage but on the Midland  Cross-Country Championships it was AH Brown who led the club home with his twenty first place.   He was still a Junior though and in the National Junior Cross-Country Championships at Hamilton in 1953 he finished eleventh with his Dad being exactly 100th in the Senior race.   Later that year it was AH Brown who turned out for the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay on the second stage and after taking over from Tom Scott in 17th place he handed over in 15th with the final team position being 18th.   He did however run the same time to the second as CD Robertson running for Dundee Hawkhill and they were equal seventh fastest.   For an Under 20 runner to do that running so far down the field is indeed commendable.   In the National at Hamilton in 1954 he finished third, having been eighth in the Midlands Championship, behind John McLaren (Shotts) who won in 32:42 and Adrian Jackson, a star English runner running for Edinburgh University, in 32:46.   Andy’s time was 33:01 and Emmet Farrell had this to say: Surely the best race of the day was on the Junior Championship over 6 miles.   The race between McLaren of Shotts and Jackson of Edinburgh was a classic.   With incredible grit and courage, McLaren fought off his renowned adversary to win with little to spare.   This race was an exhilarating spectacle and while McLaren deserved the spoils of victory – great credit is due to Jackson who moved up to the from from about tenth place.   AH Brown of Motherwell YMCA also had a grand race and actually assumed the lead with two miles to go.”

A year later and he was ninth in the 1955 National Cross Country Championships and had his first run for Scotland in the International Cross Country Championships.   Colin Shields in the official history of Scottish Cross Country remarked “In the early days of 1955 Andrew Brown won the Beith race having earlier been just nine seconds slower than Bannon in the Midlands Relays.   He was showing the benefit of the extra training he received during his National Service in the Royal Air Force and was beginning to display the form which was to gain him twelve international vests in the next fourteen years.   An interesting feature of this National was that the Irishman Cyril O’Boyle of Clydesdale Harriers finished in sixth place and the selectors debated whether to include him in the Scottish team.   The vote went against him with one of those opposed to O’Boyle’s selection being the Clydesdale Harrier on the selection committee!   In the International that year the Scots team disappointed but Andy Brown was fifty second and a counting runner in the event.   This was just a year after being third in the Junior Championship.

In the list of Scottish Best performances printed in the ‘Scots Athlete’ in June 1955, he was ranked third in the Three Miles with 14:40.4, a time run in Withdean in May that year.   the significance was that although these Best Performance Lists were published every summer every month this was his first appearance in the rankings as published in the ‘Scots Athlete’.   By the time new lists were published in August he was second to Ian Binnie with 14:12.6.   Before they came to the actual results of the SAAA’s Championships, Emmet Farrell commented – “A Brown Surprise: Ian Binnie retained his 3 and 6 miles titles creditably though not up to the best Binnie standards but Motherwell’s Andy Brown by his second place in both events revealed himself one of the most improved runners in the country.   In the 6 miles in particular he gave Binnie some anxious moments till the latter’s extra class prevailed and his time of 30:03 was excellent.”   Farrell went on in the same Commentary to report on the AAA’s of England Championships and had this to say: Brilliant too were the 4th places won by Don Gorrie in the 880 yards and Andy Brown in the 6 miles.   Gorrie’s time, unofficially assessed at 1:52 compares favourably with the winning time of 1:52.2, as does Brown’s grand 29:35.2 with Norris’s 29:06 in the battle of the heatwave.”     The results of the two races at the SAAA were Binnie first in both with 14:18.9 and 29:40.4 and Brown second in 14:31.1 and 30:03.

Came the cross-country season and the ‘Running Commentary’ in the ‘Scots Athlete’ said:    “Rise of Andrew Brown.   Motherwell’s Andy Brown is surely the most  promising and improved runner in Scotland.   Starting with his two seconds to Binnie in the Scottish 3 and 6 miles he ran the race of his life in the AAA 6 miles to finish fourth in 29:35.2.   He had other great races at various distances subsequently winning several mile handicaps in fast time.”

In the first two races of the winter 1955/56 season he had second fastest time in the Victoria Park Relays of 15:03 – only one solitary second behind Eddie Bannon of Shettleston; he followed this up with fastest time in the Lanarkshire Relays ahead of all the Shettleston runners who filled the first two team places.      The picture below is from the Scots Athlete of the time and shows Brown in the RAF running vest.

In the ‘Scots Athlete’ for December 1955 Emmet Farrell was saying that if there were an award not for the best runners of the year but for the most improved in the fashion of the E-G’s most meritorious award, he would have to choose between three runners of whom Brown was one.   In the Midlands District Championship that season Brown was second, six seconds behind John McLaren and thirteen ahead of Bannon.   In his annual preview of the National for 1956, Emmet Farrell predicted the first three as John McLaren, Andy Brown and then Eddie Bannon.   He reckoned that Brown seemed to be reaching his peak at the right time and might even start as a slight favourite before talking about the amazing advance  the ‘little Motherwell runner’ had made.   (the references to the ‘little’ Motherwell runner seem odd – I don’t remember him as particularly wee: that was Dunky Wright and Harry Fenion!)   As for the forecast – well he got one right!   The result was a victory for Eddie Bannon with Andy second and Tom Stevenson of Wellpark third.    In the International match that followed, Andy Brown finished fiftieth and out of the counting six for the team which was fourth, one point in front of Portugal.

Into the summer of ’56 the Scottish Best Performances at 3rd June had Andy fourth in the Two Miles with 9:23.4 and he had his usual good season culminating in victory in the Scottish Six Miles Championship in 29:47.6 and then being second in the Three Miles the following afternoon in 14:40.6.   The second athlete in the six was Pat Moy of the Vale of Leven in 31:10.2 so it was a convincing enough win over a Scottish cross country internationalist.  As usual Emmet had something to say in his review of the championships: “Much improved Andy Brown also deserves commendation for his grand Six Miles in the Championships on his versatility.”  

Winter 1956/57 began with Andy running 14:56 and picking up eight places on the third stage of the Victoria Park Relays and setting a new course record of 14:56, one second faster than Graham Everett of Shettleston only to see Ian Binnie take it away from him with 14:53 on the final stage!   In the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay in November he ran the sixth stage and pulled his club from fourteenth to twelfth.  The final list of Best Performances for 1956 was in the January 1957 issue of the magazine and Andy was second in the Three Miles with 13:56 run at Pitreavie and first on the Six with 29:10.0 run at the White City in July.    According to the results as printed he did not run in the National Championships in 1957.   But a year later he recorded his only win in the event.

Colin Shields wrote of the Championships in 1958: “Andy Brown (Motherwell YMCA) won his first and only National title over a tough test of strength and stamina in which the course was extended to include the rough countryside between the Hamilton Racecourse and the River Clyde.   Brown finished three seconds in front of Graham Everett with newcomer Alastair Wood finishing in third position.”   This of course earned selection for the International Cross Country Championship in Wales and Colin reported on it.   “The 1958 International Championships, held at Portcanna Field, Cardiff, resulted in the now expected poor performances from Scottish runners.   Scottish National Champion Andrew Brown and John McLaren failed even to make the counting six for their country.”   (Andy when he won, but Andrew when he failed to count!)   In the 1958/59 season the report is from Colin Shields again.   “Andy Brown won the Nigel Barge Road Race in 23:02 but met his match in the Midland Championship when miler Graham Everett won the first of three consecutive titles.   Everett went into the lead at half distance and went on to win by 80 yards from Brown.”   In the National Alastair Wood won from John McLaren and Bertie Irving of Bellahouston.    (Bertie was said to have run only three races every season for four years – the E-G, the National and the International.   The records show that this was only the case in 1959, 1960 and 1962!)   “The feature of this race was the poor form shown by the previous year’s international team with six of the internationalists – Andy Brown, Des Dickson, Harry Fenion, Andy Fleming, Pat Moy and John Russell – all finishing outside the first dozen.”  

Regardless of the standard of running in the National and missing out on the International Andy had a good summer wiping Ian Binnie’s Three Miles record from the books by three and a half seconds with a time of 13:47.6.    Despite his relentlessly high standard of running and victory in the the Six Miles Championship no fewer than three times (1956 with 29:54.6, 1957 with 29>54.8 and 1963 with 29:53.8) he never won a national title at the distance.

Although by definition it takes more than one man to win a team title, one man is often a catalyst for great deeds done by a team and we can all think of men that we know who were in this category.   To everybody who ran in Scotland in the 60’s, Andy Brown was Motherwell, and this is not to decry the outstanding efforts of many members of their teams.   A natural leader He led his club to three consecutive victories in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay in 1962, 1963 and 1964, second in 1965 and third in 1961 and 1966.   There were also no fewer than seven Midland District titles, the National Cross Country Championship once – 1963, two National Junior Championships – Ian McCafferty in 1965 and 1966, five Midlands District individual titles – Andy Brown in 1962 and 1963 and Ian McCafferty in 1964, 1965 and 1970, Midland District Relay titles in 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1967 and many International runners over the same period:

AH Brown: 12 representative appearances; AP Brown 3 (1965, 67 and 68), John Linaker 3  (1963, 66, 68), I McCafferty 7 (1965, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70 and 72), B McKay 1 (1963), D Simpson 1 (1962).

Although they had had several internationalists over the years (Somerville, Fleming, Nelson and others) there had never been a flowering to match this before or since.    There were many other very good athletes turning out for Motherwell at this time such as long time member Johnny Poulton and Jim Johnston who joined from Monkland but the key figure was Andy Brown.   he was always involved – I was once at the two miles to go point on the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay when Andy appeared shouting to brother Alex – “Two miles to go, less than ten minutes running!”    Doug Gillon reported on Andy in the middle of Airdrie in the same race shouting at a woman to get her pram off the road to let Ian McCafferty through.    At the last Ibrox Sports I was on the same handicap as Alex (about 100 yards) in the Mile when Andy came across and told him to watch the starter and go on the puff of smoke and not wait for the sound of the gun: I used the advice as well.   At a New Year’s Day race at Beith I saw Andy telling the Motherwell runner not to do strides away from the start line – “they’ll start the race if you’re 30 yards behind the line; do your strides up the course, they won’t start the race if you’re 30 yards up on the rest!”    He was everywhere and that was as well as doing his own running.   Alex as very lucky to have such a brother and every club could do with and Andy!   Note that the 1968 International team had four from the club there – Andy, Alex, John Linaker and Ian McCafferty.   His own running was of such a consistently high standard – Colin Youngson has pointed out that his four runs on the fourth stage between 1962 and 1965 were quite outstanding – fastest time every time out by margins of 37, 70, 5 and 57 seconds and his record of 27:37 from 1965 was quite superb and lasted until the stage was altered.   His brother Alex had the fastest time on the same stage in 1966 – just a coincidence?

In the Edinburgh to Glasgow, Andy ran in 1956, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 and 66.   From 1959 to 1966 they produced 20 fastest stage times and two stage records with 1964 being the most prolific with 5 fastest times of the eight stages and a stage record by Bert McKay on the seventh stage.   For those who say it was not all down to Andy, the reply is that there is never a single cause and there were a lot of good guys out there but three years after his last race they were out of the E-G for a few years and never produced anything like it again.  So what happened in 1967 that the team dropped so quickly from the E-G and Scottish Championships?   Well, in 1967 the new club of Law and District appeared on the scene and many of the Motherwell runners moved there with another small group going to the new amalgamation of clubs, the short-lived Clyde Valley AAC.    For Motherwell YMCA, I and many others would take a lot of convincing that Scotland’s cross country captain had not done a great job with a team composed almost entirely of local lads.

John Linaker to Bert McKay for Motherwell  in 1962 at the end of the sixth stage

In the 1959-60 cross-country season, Andy was second to Graham Everett in the Midland Championship and then won the Inter-District at Hamilton over 9 miles finishing ten seconds clear of Joe Connolly, only to be defeated surprisingly by team-mate John Linaker in the Scottish YMCA Championships by over 600 yards.   The National in 1960 is always remembered for the ferocious and sustained race between two Shettleston Harriers – Graham Everett and  Alastair Wood, but third place was Andy Brown a quarter of a mile back but back in the team for the International.   In the international Alistair Wood led the team to fifth place – a team which included Englishman Bruce Tulloh making the first of two appearances for Scotland  – with Andy in 34th..   Came 1960/61 and the first real trial was the Nigel Barge race at Maryhill.    Graham Everett triumphed, and in the Midland Championship he again won over Brown and Connolly.   When it came to the National Cross-Country Championship at Hamilton he was again third behind winner Connolly and second placed Everett.   In the International race at Nantes, Scotland was sixth with Brown 28th.

Colin Shields reckons that the next season was definitely Andy’s best of his career.   He says: Although Andrew Brown had won the National in 1958, season 1961-62 was definitely the Motherwell harrier’s finest year in his long and distinguished career in Scottish and International athletics.   He led Motherwell YMCA to victory in the Midland relay championship, the first of seven consecutive victories; won the Nigel Barge New Year race and the Midland championship at Renton which had previously been dominated by John McLaren (4 wins) and Graham Everett (3 wins) and led his club to the team championship – a title they were to hold  on four consecutive occasions and five times in six years .    Brown’s happiness was enhanced when his young brother Alec won the Youths titles in the Midlands and Scottish National Championships.

Brown was out on his own at Renton and, although challenged in the early stages by John Linaker – a new Motherwell recruit, he forged ahead by half distance to win by over 100 yards.    Linaker who had a bad accident clearing a fence in the final stages of the race was overtaken by Bert McKay but held on to take third place ahead of the holder Graham Everett to ensure that Motherwell became the first club in the history of the race to have the first three athletes home.    At the start of the season, Alec Brown on finding that Motherwell YMCA were short of a full Youths team, coerced his friend Ian McCafferty to join the club and make up the team.”

Bert McKay defeated Brown in the Inter-District championship at Cleland Estate but when it came to the National Brown was a clear favourite with Everett and Wood also in the field.      Glasgow University student Callum Laing set the initial pace but after the first two miles or so Jim Alder went into the lead.   Brown had a go at about half distance but Alder held on and won from Brown by about 70 yards with Laing third.   Motherwell had three runners in the first nine but the drop-off was so great that the team could only finish fifth.   Colin Shields points out that Brown had his revenge over Alder two weeks later in the British YMCA Championships in Manchester before going on to say: “Seemingly getting better as the season progressed, Brown kept his best performance for the International championship at Graves Park, Sheffield.   After a bad patch during the middle of the race, Brown was back in twenty fourth position at the start of the last one and a half mile lap of the race.   With a strong finishing surge he tore his way through the field gaining fifteen places to eventually finish ninth, just 29 seconds behind the winner Gaston Roelants (Belgium)   Scotland was fifth just 8 points behind the fourth placed Morocco.”

His great form continued during the summer and he broke his old rival Ian Binnie’s Native Record for the 10 miles with a time of 49:58.8 against Binnie’s 50:11.    He also won the Shettleston marathon in the

very good time of 2:25:58 and was looking good for the SAAA Championships.  He had been running on the roads with some success since the Clydebank to Helensburgh in April 1957 when he was second to Harry Fenion in the year when he was really flying and won the SAAA Marathon.   His progress on the roads thereafter is illustrated in this table which takes us up to the SAAA race in 1962..

Alastair Wood also had designs on the 1962 title and they fought it out for almost 20 miles before Brown dropped out.   The splits were 27:29 for five miles ( a group of five running together at this point), 55:06 for 10 miles with the same group of five battling it out, 1:19:53 for 15 miles with Wood Brown and John Kerr running together.   Brown had to drop out and Wood won in 2:24:39 with Kerr , who had won the race in 1961 second in 2:26:54.   Andy kept on running on the roads that year with some distinction – in June 62 he not only won the Springburn 12 in 65:38 but also won the handicap award and in November 1962 he won the Brampton to Carlisle in 48:37.    There were other road runs and victories but there were to be no more marathons.

Motherwell, led by Andy Brown, won the Midlands Relay and team championships in winter 1962-63 and went one better than the year before by winning the National Cross-Country Championship.  Brown and Linaker had run almost all the way together in the Midlands until Linaker stumbled towards the end and Brown won by three seconds.   They did the same again in the National, ie setting the pace with Alastair Wood going with them.   They were well clear when Brown tried to break the others with a break at a mile to go but the others were fast track men and current track champions with the result that Linaker won, Wood was second and Brown third.   With Bert McKay fourth Motherwell won the championship with Johnny Poulton last counter in 44th.   That summer was another good one for Andy.    He won the Six Miles Championship in 29:53.8 and topped the rankings for the year with 28:53.8 which he ran in Glasgow in June.    Second in the SAAA Three Miles Championship behind Fergus Murray  (14:01.6) in 14:12.8 he was ranked fourth in the ratings with 13:57 run a month after the championships in Pitreavie.   He was also ranked at 11 in the Two Mile rankings with his best time of 9:09.4 – one place below young brother Alex who had the same time.

Winter 63-64 saw Ian McCafferty as a first year Junior win the Midland District Cross Country title for the first time with Alex Brown second, Bert McKay fifth, Davie Simpson sixth, Andy Brown seventh and George Henderson ninth for 30 points, well clear of Shettleston’s103 points.    In the National, Andy was fourth in a race won in commanding fashion by Fergus Murray with Jim Alder and Alastair Wood also ahead of him.    The International that year was at Leopardston Racecourse, Dublin, and the Junior race was won by McCafferty by a distance who was backed by Alex Brown, 7th, and Joe Reilly, 9th, for a second place in the team competition.       For the third year in succession, Andy Brown led the Senior team home when he was 29th, one place in front of Jim Alder and Scotland finished seventh.   Colin Shields adds: “The big disappointment of the day was the performance of Fergus Murray.  He started well, being up with the leaders in the early stages but drifted back as he ran without conviction or determination and eventually finished fourth team counter in fortieth position – the first of many poor races in the International where he never ran to his full potential.”    There was always something to detract from the Senior team performance.

1964-65 started with Motherwell winning their fourth Midland Relay Championship and McCafferty defeated Fergus Murray in the Nigel Barge race at Maryhill before winning the Midlands Championship with Andy Brown second.   New Motherwell recruit Dick Wedlock was sixth and they won the team championship – also for the fourth year in a row.   In a real cracker of a race at the National at Hamilton, Andy Brown finished fourth.  Let Colin tell the story:  “The National Championship at Hamilton Racecourse continued to grow in size and stature with 21 clubs finishing teams in the senior race, a record for the event, and seven former champions  – J Emmet Farrell, Andy Forbes, Andy Brown, Alastair Wood, Jim Alder, John Linaker and the holder Fergus Murray – lining up in the field of 350 runners.   Murray retained his title with a solo run throughout the seven and a half mile race.   In an unrelenting mood Murray set off at a gallop and by two miles had opened up a gap from the following group of Andrew Brown, Lachie Stewart and Jim Alder.   Alder set off in pursuit of the leader at three miles but made no impression on the flying Murray who eventually won by 24 seconds from Alder, with Stewart third a further eleven seconds behind and Brown fourth.”     Alder, fourth, Brown, eighth, and McCafferty, eleventh, had already won the Hannut international race in Belgium ahead of Belgium and West Germany.   In the International Championship that year in Ostend, Alder was first Scot in a team which finished sixth of the fifteen countries taking part with Andy Brown 43rd.    On the track in 1965, Andy was ranked eleventh in the Two Miles with 9:20 when finishing fifth in Glasgow in a race won by Ian McCafferty in 8:42.2, and eighth in the Three Miles in 13:58.8 at Ayr in the Land o’Burns Meeting.   The following summer, 1966, he was third in the Six Miles rankings with 29:04.2, a time recorded when finishing second in the SAAA Championship in Edinburgh.   He was also ranked fifteenth in the 3000 metres steeplechase with a time of 9:49.4 when finishing second to younger brother Alex at Ayr.

Motherwell won the Midland Relay Championship for the fifth consecutive year early in 1965-66 before Christmas and then the brothers, Andy and Alex, were third and fourth in the Nigel Barge race behind Lachie Stewart and Eddie Knox of Springburn.  Stewart and Knox were first and second again in the Midlands championship but Motherwell failed to  win the team title, losing to Victoria Park by 11 points.   Although out of the medals, Andy Brown again competed for the Senior team – finances made it a small team of seven seniors to Morocco where he finished 29th in a team which was sixth of thirteen countries – with Lachie Stewart twelfth, Ian McCafferty (who lost a shoe when leading at four miles) fourteenth, Jim Alder 16th – only 18 points behind third placed Morocco.

In the 1966-67 season,   Ian McCafferty won the New Year’s Day race at Beith with Lachie Stewart second and Andy and Alex Brown third and fourth.   McCafferty continued to dominate in the West of Scotland and in the Midlands championship at Bellahouston he won again, this time from Lachie Stewart with young Alex defeating big brother Andy for third place.      Three in the first four meant that Motherwell had their fifth title in six years.   In the 1967 National, there was a team of New Zealand athletes competing as guests prior to the World Championships in Wales.   Andy Brown was fourth but since the three in front were Eddie Gray (NZ), Lachie Stewart and Mike Ryan (ex-Scot, now NZ) he was really second Scot and again made the team for the International.

The big event for Motherwell YMCA’s cross-country, road and even track and field running section in 1967 was the founding of the Law and District Amateur Athletic Club.    We all knew about the connection between Motherwell YM and Law – one of their members throughout the Fifties and into the Sixties was Tom Scott.   Tom was an excellent athlete and marathon runner who had been in many teams with Andy Brown until he died in a car accident on his way to a marathon in the North of England.   Motherwell set up the Tom Scott Memorial 10 Miles Road Race covering the route that he ran every day to and from his home in Law to work in Motherwell.   From the very start it was a superb race, bigger fields than any (up until the 80’s marathon boom), better prizes and a top class trophy which attracted most of the top runners in the country.    When the Law team appeared on the scene in 1967, Ian McCafferty, Alex Brown, Andy Brown and several others who had run in the MYMCA colours in 1966, appeared in the Law and District outfit and right well did they do so.    But here’s a puzzle – in writing this I tried to get a contact address for Andy from the club and they didn’t have one and couldn’t help me.    The club records do not include any of the superb marks set by any of the men who were there in the beginning.    McCafferty’s wonderful times for 1500 and 5000 are not there nor are any of the others.   Motherwell YMCA linked up with Bellshill YMCA in 1991 to form Motherwell Athletics Club.

The formation of the new club and the change of vest however did not stop the good running done by the former Motherwell runners.   In summer 1967, Ian McCafferty won the SAAA One Mile Championship and led the Scottish rankings with 4:02.5 although Bert McKay was also listed under the Motherwell name – he stayed with the old club until the new Clyde Valley was formed by the amalgamation of five Lanarkshire clubs and then ran for it.   Andy Brown appeared in the Two Miles rankings (9:01.8) and the Six Miles (29:32.6);  and brother Alex appeared in the One, Two, Three and Six lists.   To continue with Andy though on the track he kept racing and recording excellent times although not of his own very high standard of previous years:.   Inn 1968 he appeared in the Scottish All Time lists for the Six Miles with 28:53.8 which he had run in 1963 and in the Ten Miles he was fourth with his 49:58.8 which had been a Scottish record when he set it in 1962.   For the 1968 season he was twenty fifth in the Two Miles with 9:12.4, sixteenth in the Three Miles rankings with 14:04.8 and fourteenth in the Six Miles with 30:18.2 but won no titles.  He put this right in 1969 when he won the West District 10000 metres championship in 30:51.4 which placed him thirteenth in Scotland for the year.

How did the new club do in the winter seasons thereafter?   Well the Brown effect worked so well that by November 1969 – one year after their first winter – they were running a team in the Edinburgh to Glasgow.  The team was ninth, then 17th in 1970, 8th in 1971 and 13th in 1972.    This last was the first time in all his runnings in the race all the way back to the late 1950’s that AH Brown had lost places in the event – he went from 11th to 14th on the second stage.   He did not run the following year and the Law & District team dropped out of the race after 14th place in 1973.    In summer 1968 he was twenty fifth in the Two Miles rankings (brother Alex was eighteenth), sixteenth in the Three Miles and fourteenth in the Six Miles in which he won the West District Championship with Alex in second place.   However, 1968 was the year when he was seventh in the National Championships and made the squad for the International where the Scottish team performed heroics with their points total at halfway being 172 and by the finish 137 and Colin Shields comment on Andy Brown was “35 year old captain Andy Brown drove the team onwards while pushing himself into the top 20 finishers.”  Ian McCafferty led the team home in tenth wth Lachie Stewart eighteenth and Andy nineteenth.    His appearances are in the table below.

He had been as inspirational a captain for Scotland as he had been for Motherwell YMCA and, briefly, for Law & District AAC and it is a rare gift.   So many top runners have such tunnel vision that they do not see the wider picture or have the gift of enthusing/encouraging their team-mates.   Even without it it his long and successful career on road, track and country would be worthy of the greatest respect.   Andy made a comeback as an M40 Veteran in 1981 and finished second to Martin Craven and with Bert McKay and Willie Marshall making up the Clyde Valley team they won the team race.  Not only that, when the Clyde Valley team finished second in the National in 1982, the six counters were Ron McDonald, Jim Brown, Brian Gardener, Peter Fox, Joe Small and Andy Brown.   Doing the sums we arrive at an age of 49 for Andy in that team.   One of his team mates that day describes him as ‘the hardest of hard men.’  He returned the following year and turned the tables on Martin when he was first and Martin Craven finished second.   He disappeared from the records for a bit and then as an M60 Vet in 1994 and won the Cross Country Championship in the Law and District AAC vest.   On the track the previous year (1993) he had  set the Scottish Masters M60 indoor record for the 3000 metres of 9:54.02 and in 1994 set the outdoors record for 5000 metres of 16:48.44.   However he had done his real running when it really counted, when he was a Senior athlete, competing against all-comers and his record, set then will last for a long time to come.    Currently an honorary life member of Law and District AAC he still lives in Motherwell and has agreed to present the prizes at the Tom Scott Road Race in 2012.

Sandra Branney was born on 30th April 1954 in Glasgow where she still lives.   She is also a member of a Glasgow club – starting with Victoria Park AAC, she moved to Glasgow AC and now that the two clubs have merged she is back with City of Glasgow Victoria Park.   She is identified with Glasgow every bit as much as Liz McColgan is with Dundee.      According to an article in the “Scotland’s Runner” magazine in November 1986, she took up running in 1983 on the prompting of her husband Donald and has had a most remarkable career since.   “When Sandra started running three years ago, Donald used to have to ‘drag her round the block’.   Now he has been left trailing gamely in her wake.”   Donald is clearly a major factor in her success and she admits as much when she says in reply to being asked about  anyone who has had an influence on her performances, “The one person who stands out is my husband Donald who, as he puts it, is ‘right behind me’.   Over the years I have read a lot and where possible spoke to people about training and competing.   When I decided to go back to track a few years ago, I joined John Montgomery’s group.  It was the best move I ever made and my recent track performances are down to John and the rest of the gang.”    Although others are mentioned and John is name-checked, Donald is the first mentioned and his importance stands out.  

She  really burst on to the scene in the Glasgow Marathon in 1985 with no background that anyone knew of.   At the age of 31 she ran 2:45.  

If ever the “What if …..” question were to be asked of an athlete, it would have to be asked of Sandra.   Clearly an athlete of talent, a gifted athlete, what if she had taken up running earlier?    We can’t answer that accurately, although there are formulae to calculate what her times might have been, but we can look at her career in a bit of detail and wonder.

*****

As a child between the ages of eleven and fifteen she was a competitive swimmer, she gave up for a few years and then took the sport up again when at University.  She started running after she watched the first Glasgow Marathons and she just felt that she wanted to be part of it.   She started running (very slowly, she says) just after the 1983 event and ran in the 1984 marathon in 3:40 or thereabouts.   After keeping going through the winter she started to get a bit faster and it took off from there.   When asked if she had any role models the name of Joan Benoit comes first – she had won the 1984 Olympic marathon when Sandra was just a self-confessed jogger.   In total awe of her, Sandra says she couldn’t comprehend how anyone could run so fast.   Everything was coming together to encourage her ambitions – The Glasgow marathons, Benoit’s Olympic success and the inspiration it generated and Donald’s support and interest.    The swimming background helped with her fitness and she was being coached by Ronnie Neilson at the time of the ’86 marathon.   Sandra comments “I ran ’84 and ’85 self coached.   I was only coached by Ronnie Neilson for a year or so – early ’86 until late ’87.   The quote below was after the ’86 Glasgow Marathon.    Her career as a serious runner probably began with that Glasgow marathon.    To quote again from the article in ‘Scotland’s Runner’: “Neilson is a keen supporter of the pre-marathon ‘bleed-out’ diet whereby the athlete is starved of carbohydrates for three days (eating mainly proteins) then starts ‘carbo loading’ for the final three days to give the muscles an extra top-up of the glycogen that fuels a marathon run.      Sandra, who normally weighs in at 7st 2lbs, had to undergo the withdrawal symptoms that a lot of athletes face during the carbohydrate -starving period.   “By the Wednesday morning before the marathon I felt terrible.   I was very irritable and didn’t feel much like running a marathon at the end of the week;, she says.   “But it worked”, says Neilson, “You only had to look at the way Sandra jumped over the line at the finish to see that she had everything right on the day.”   Although she wasn’t too sure about it herself, she says it worked and she incorporated a version into all her subsequent marathons although it was difficult for the overseas races.

Her talent was not limited to roads: track running has been and is a big part of her athletics and Sandra is a good cross country runner who twice won the Scottish championship.   Having made her debut in 1986 when she finished seventh there was a wee slip the next year when she slipped to eleventhn(“I had a cold but that’s no excuse!)    In 1988 at Irvine she won from Lynn Harding by over two minutes.   It was reported in ‘Scotland’s Runner’ as follows.   “Sandra Branney led Glasgow AC to a team victory despite the hazards of a poorly stewarded course.   The Strathclyde University librarian damaged a hip last autumn and had had only one track race – the Scottish indoor 3000 metres which she won – since October.   She sorted herself out largely thanks to running in a special jacket in the university’s swimming pool, and looks in good shape for the World 15K Road Race Championship in Adelaide where she will represent Britain.”    Not content with winning the Championship, she returned the following year and won it again.  This was the race that Donald thought might have been her best ever simply because of the pressure that she was under to win it again.   When an athlete wins anything twice, the question of ‘three in a row’ raises its head – unfortunately for Sandra a third win was not on the cards because she was injured and could not compete.   However she continued to race in the championships and remained a valued team member.

On the track, her standard of performance has been consistently high and her best times are also good.   These are shown on the table below – the road times are added to show the range covered in her early career and the times still stand as personal best performances.

(* The 72:22 from Ardrossan that appears on some ranking sites is an error.   My time that day was 77:22.   I have tried unsuccessfully several times to get this corrected.  SB)

She has run all over Britain and even further afield in her specialist track events and in all types of races – League Matches (in the Scottish Women’s League, the UK Women’s League, the UK League as presently constituted), Championships (Scottish and British), Masters/Veterans Championships (Scottish, British, European and World).   These track events have brought her some of her best moments in the sport and some of the worst too.   In the former category comes the National Track 3000 metres title in 1990.   She had been injured for quite a while beforehand and was lacking in confidence.   Any one of five women could have won the race and right at the start Annette Bell went off like a rocket and Sandra led the chasing pack.   They managed to close her down and with about 300 metres to go, Sandra picked the pace up a bit and got herself clear.  ‘ It wasn’t’, she says, ‘particularly fast (about 9:45) but as everyone would agree I don’t have much of a finish, it was quite a good run.’   Donald thinks it was possibly her best ever run.   Statistically she reckons her best run must be the W55 3000m record of 10:13.8 which has a score of 103.2% in the age graded tables.   It was also only 47 seconds slower than her personal best of July 1989.

As for the worst moment – well she is in no doubt about that!   “I was selected for a 3000m indoors in Athens which I think was a Small Nations International and it turned out to be the most brutal race I have ever experienced.   There was a lot of the usual shoving and pushing so I went to the front to try to stay out of trouble.   It was a temporary track and there was a drop of about five cm between the inside of the track and the floor of the arena and remember someone trying to push me off the track.   At one point a shoe went flying over my head!   When the bell went for the final lap, the others sprinted away (they were obviously used to this) and I finished scratched, battered and bruised.   I took a lot from this race and learned how to look after myself.

Unlike many who came into running via the mass marathons of the 80’s, Sandra has kept running and racing seriously and has now been competing on a very high level for over 25 years.    If there is any doubt about her continuing competitiveness or appetite for the sport, you only have to look at the table below.   It shows only her very best track results of the past five years.   Eleven first places and three seconds out of fourteen starts.   Some of the time she was injured or returning from injury: for example in 2010 she was not going to run because of time out but she went and passed on the 1500 metres because she was not fit enough to do that and the 5000 so settled for the 5000 – and won against the best that Europe had to offer.   But see for yourself.

*The 2005 time was in the BMAF 5K in Horwich and it was an age group record.

She even managed better times than some of those above in Seniors races at home: in the 3000 metres she ran 10:13.8 finishing third in a SWAL fixture, in the 5000 she ran 17:52.82 finishing sixth in teh SWAAA Championships at Pitreavie and in the 10000 she ran 37:09.27 at Bedford as a guest in the Sheila Fairweather Memorial

Having established that Sandra Branney is a quality endurance athlete on track and country we should go back to her first events and what many regard as her best – road racing.  She has run in many races in all parts of Scotland from the north to the south and even off shore (in Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae).   The 10K races in the Polaroid series held every year in Clydebank, Dumbarton, Helensburgh and the Vale of Leven are among her favourites – especially the one in the Vale which is traditionally the last in the series with the biggest fields and best competition.    The picture above is from the Polaroid Race in the Vale in 2008 where she was fifth Woman and first in her category and she had the same position in the Dumbarton race.   However the flowers were for more than just two races in that single year – she has won the Women’s championship (which takes in all four races) no fewer than four times (1990, 1991, 1992 and 1996) and was first Lady Vet in 1993 and 2000.    She adds that she set a course record of 34:09 in 1992 which was broken only by Yvonne Murray whose time was only a few seconds quicker.  A quite remarkable record.

In half marathons, she has had no less distinguished a career with the top possibly being in a race she didn’t win.   In the Glasgow Half Marathon of 1998 there was a tough battle between three able and determined women for first place with Lorna Irving, Sandra and Sheila Catford battling it out for the first ten miles before Sheila moved away – not far but enough and Sandra took second place in 73:04.    She herself reckons that her best run might well have been the Balloch to Clydebank race when it was over a 12.25 mile course in 1988 in 67:27.   A non-standard distance these days her feeling is that it was worth about a 71:00 half marathon time.      And of course there are the UK rankings that can also be used to indicate the quality of her running.   The UK 10 Miles Championship that she won in 1988 in 55:32 is at number 71 in the UK All time rankings and the half marathon best has her at number 43 (although two lists have her at number 32 using the 72:22 time).

The first three marathons have already been covered (3:40 in Glasgow, ’84, 2:45 in Glasgow ’85 and 2:37:29 in 1986).   She went on to run in six countries on three Continents.    The first of the foreign races was in 1987 when she was selected, along with Fraser Clyne and Lindsay Robertson on the Men’s side, to represent Great Britain in the second World Marathon Cup which was to be held in Seoul over the course to be used in 1988 for the Olympic Games in 1988.   It was a long journey there – over 30 hours in all.   The teams had four men and four women and John Brown of the SAAA was going on a fact finding mission for the BAAB.   They did not travel directly to Korea – there was a four day stay  at the Nihon Aerobics Centre  south east of Tokyo and was to be used as a holding camp for Britain’s athletes for final training before the Games.   The set up was rather luxurious with swimming pools, jacuzzi, saunas, golf course, tennis courts and an outdoor 100 metre pool.   Their accommodation was in log cabins on the wooded hillside.   They then transferred to the Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel  in Seoul over looking the Han River.   The course for the race was straightforward with few if any difficult uphill sections.   Sandra finished twenty sixth in her first full marathon and her sixth marathon in all so far in 2:40:44 in a field of 78 runners.   The British team was fifth with Sally Ellis (18th) and Carolyn Naisby (22nd) the other counting runners.   Sandra remembers that it was cold (Fraser Clyne reports the temperature as being about 11 degrees), add in  problems adjusting to the time difference and she felt that she was struggling at the end.    Nevertheless she was third counter for the team and a reasonable run – after all the men could only manage eight team!   The Scottish team on the trip is in the picture below.

The photograph above is of George Braidwood winning (for the second time) one of the most popular and highest quality half marathons of the 1980’s: choreographed by the team of Hugh Barrow of Strathkelvin District Council and Victoria Park AAC and Alistair McFarlane of the Scottish Marathon Club and Springburn Harriers with a team of willing and very able helpers, the Luddon Half Marathon was not to be missed.  The SMC 12 miles road race had been going since the 1950’s but had fallen off in numbers until the Starthkelvin – SMC team got together with sponsors Luddon Construction and the race started anew in 1983 as the Luddon Half Marathon with 1600 runners.   It was won by Peter Fleming and George Braidwood of Bellahouston Harriers and then in 1984 George was the clear cut victor.    The SMC Magazine reported on the race as follows: “The race this year was blessed with fine weather and the field of just over 2000 set off from Woodhead Park in ndeal conditions.   The Police had again requested a 9:00 am start and although this does not help in bringing out spectators it must be conceded that it does assist in avoiding the traffic problems that were encountered during the Milngavie and Bearsden Half Marathon which was run at midday on a Saturday.   The quality up front was maintained with George Braidwood being this time undisputed winner leading home Terry Mitchell and Andy Daly in a course record of 64:44.   Martin Craven won the Veterans race in 70:05 finishing twelfth overall and Liz Steele took the Ladies event with 83:45 in 221st place overall.   Results:   1.   G Braidwood Bella) 64:44; 2.   T Mitchell (Fife)   64:57;   3.   A Daly (Bella)   65:26;   4.   G Laing (Aber)   65:32;   5.   P Fleming (Bella)   65:52;   6.   A Douglas (VPAAC)   65:58.”  

His career was inspired by seeing Lachie Stewart win in Edinburgh in 1970 and it inspired him to take up running at school.   Then he joined Bellahouston Harriers and he remebers that his first race was cross country on a snowy course in tennis shoes!   Nevertheless, he loved it and his career as an athlete started from there.   George was initially a very good 800 metre and 1500 metre runner and this speed showed at the end of many races – note how close Terry Mitchell was at the end..    George was a class act with a wide range of talent from 800 right up to the marathon and in July this year (2010) he completed the questionnaire as follows.

NAME: George Braidwood

Date of Birth:   03/12/59

CLUB:   Bellahouston Harriers and then Springburn Harriers.

OCCUPATION?   Dental Technician

LIST OF PERSONAL BESTS:   3000:   7:58;   5000:   14:01     Marathon:   2:21

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE SPORT ORIGINALLY?   Influenced by Lachie Stewart

HAS ANY INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP HAD A MARKED INFLUENCE ON EITHER YOUR ATTITUDE TO THE SPORT OR ON YOUR PERFORMANCES?   I trained and learned from Frank Clement and mostly working with Nat Muir’s training regime.

WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU GET OUT OF THE SPORT?   The buzz of racing!

CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR GENERAL ATTITUDE TO THE SPORT?   Pretty negative at the moment.   The strucrure has always been wrong for promising young talent.   There are too many drugs in the sport and it is hard to believe outstanding performances.

WHAT WAS YOUR BEST EVER PERFORMANCE?   Finishing second to Nat Muir in the Scottish Cross Country Championships.

AND YOUR WORST?   Beating Lasse Viren to second LAST in the World Cross Country Championships at Gateshead.

DID YOU ACHIEVE ALL YOUR GOALS OR WAS THERE SOMETHING THAT YOU THINK YOU MISSED OUT ON?   I missed out on a sub-4 minute mile, sub-14 minute 5000 and most of all not getting picked for the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games despite winning the Scottish 5000 metre Championship the year before.   I suppose picking officials over athletes was more important.

WHAT DID RUNNING BRING YOU THAT YOU WOULD NOT HAVE WANTED TO MISS?   Countries visited, meeting and beating/losing against other athletes, World Cross Country Championships; Alex Naylor training group at Coatbridge during the Coe and Ovett era; training with some great characters too many to mention including my friend and rival Adrian Callan who suffered a disgraceful omission by the selectors for the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games.

COULD YOU GIVE SOME DETAILS OF YOUR TRAINING AND/OR YOUR TRAINING PHILOSOPHY?   Winter average was 90+ miles per week including two fast long sessions and Sunday long run.   Summer average was 80+ miles per week including three track sessions.   Taper down for Championships.   I liked to train hard and not let on!

So there you have it and I’ll comment on some of the replies over the next couple of paragraphs.   Let’s take the big one first and the big one for me is the non-selection for the 1986 Commonwealth Games which was indeed a fiasco as far as many of the runners were concerned.  Selection of the team was a disgrace.    Adrian Callan (Springburn Harriers) was a sub-four minute miler who had won the SAAA 1500 metres that year.   He had been assured by a prominent figure in the establishment that he would be selected if he won the championship no matter what the time.   He won and was not selected with the man in question denying that he had said anything at all.  Adrian was one of the nicest guys I have ever met in over 50 years in the sport and he was really upset.   He asked me (I was Scottish Staff Coach for 5000/1000 at the time) if I would take the Championship Trophy back – I refused, selections were not my responsibility but suggested that he return it to the President of the SAAA who lived near him.   This he did.   Adrian was the worst example but others such as George were entitled to feel really aggrieved.   Many athletes, parents and coaches had their attitudes to the sport soured at that time.   Very good athletes were not selected, good athletes were selected for events that were not their best ones and I know of two endurance athletes – one living in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh – who offered to pay for their own kit and live at home rather than in the Village to save money.   But even although there were places available in the events in question, their offers were turned down.

Back to the questionnaire, this time for cross country.   George was no newcomer to the sport when he finished second to Nat Muir in the National Cross Country Championship at the Jack Kane Centre in Edinburgh in 1983.   One of the famous very good group of Bellahouston Harriers he had won the Midland District Senior Boys Cross Country Championships away back in 1975 and won many medals on the track and over the country individually and as part of a team.   He ran for the Scottish team in the International Cross Country Championships in 1983, 1984 and 1985.   In 1982/83 he had already won the West District Senior Championships before Nat Muir defeated him by a mere six seconds in the Nationals with Fraser Clyne of Aberdeen another 12 seconds adrift.   In 1984/85 he anchored the Bellahouston team to second in the West District relays finishing only one second in front of Kilbarchan.   He started 1985 well by winning the Nigel Barge Road Race in Maryhill by one second from Graham Laing of Aberdeen.   George was a handy man if there was a sprint finish whether on road, track or country!   In the International at Cumbernauld he was second but led the Scottish team to victory.   The Bellahouston team of which he was a member won the McAndrew, Scally and National Six Stage Relays.    He went on running and racing well and in 1988 won silver in the Six Stage with a sparkling run – but for Springburn Harriers with Bellahouston in third place.   He had changed clubs about three months earlier and living in Bishopbriggs, it made sense to move to the local club.

On the track, his list of road and track pb’s is more modest than it need be!    My own opinion is that 1985 was probably his best year for track running with 3:48.71 for 1500 metres, 7:58.83 for 3000 metres and 14:01.17 to be second fastest Scot for the distance. The 5000 metres time was set winning the SAAA 5000 metres title.    I know that he was a very good 800 metre runner because he ran in several invitation races over the distance that I put on and was certainly worth better than his personal best of 1:52.

Having reported on his second Luddon win above, it seems appropriate to do the same for his first run in the event.   The report in the SMC Magazine by Alistair McFarlane is below.

“Despite the late call-offs by Graham Laing (saving himself for the European Cup Marathon in Spain two weeks later) and Colin Youngson (not wishing to risk a niggling injury 3 weeks before the Scottish), the field was of a quality seldom seen in Scotland.   The first mile was covered by the leaders in 4:55 and at 5 miles, just before Milton of Campsie, there was still a big group of Donald McGregor, Rod Stone, Peter Fleming, George Braidwood, Evan Cameron, Stuart Easton, Jim Martin, Dave Logue and Andy Daly in 25:50.  

This was obviously a bit slow for Andy Daly however as he stretched them out soon afterwards and took his two clubmates Fleming and Braidwood away from the pack.   Andy however couldn’t sustain it and allowed a gap to open around 8 miles.   Peter Fleming and George Braidwood looked relaxed as they went through the ten miles in 50 minutes dead with Andy now running a brave race all on his own and keeping the gap steady.   Logue, Easton, Stone and McGregor showed 50:30 at 10 miles as they staged their own private race while Terry Mitchell, Alan Wilson and Evan Cameron were close behind in 50:40.   Over the last three miles past Low Moss Prison to Lenzie and on to the finish at Woodhead Park, Kirkintilloch, the two leaders obviously did some talking and decided to finish together in the very fast time for the accurately measured course of 65:23, although the judges split them on the line.   Andy Daly took advantage of some slackening of the pace up front to close a little and got the gap down to 8 seconds at the finish.   Dave Logue shrugged off his challengers and looked strong as ever in fourth place while Stuart Easton had his best run for many a day to get the better of Rod Stone and Donald McGregor who of course lifted the first veteran’s prize of £40.   Janet McColl for once had some opposition in a road race although she made light of it to beat Liz Steele by 3 minutes.

Of the 1163 finishers, 195 were veterans and 112 were women.”

He ran many road races and ran well in them all.   Like all Scottish club runners of the time he did of course turn out in the Edinburgh to Glasgow for both the clubs he ran for.   He was unfortunate that in his first run in the event in 1977 he was asked to race the second stage which is very demanding for a first year Junior: he dropped from first to twelfth in a time of 31:46.   Most of his races were on this stage and his best run was probably 1982 when he was second fastest on the stage with 29:12.   The following year though he was third fastest on the fifth stage running in second position to see the young Bellahouston team finish second and pick up the silver medals.   In 1984 he was back on the second stage and running the second fastest time to move the club from fifteenth up an amazing ten places to fifth and in 1985 he was first on the first stage of the race.   After joining Springburn he ran in two E-G Relays (in 1991 and 1992)where he ran well: in ’91 he moved the team from 19th to 14th on the second stage and in ’92 he was sixth on the first leg.

George was always a good road runner – one of the best and he could have been an outstanding marathon man had he come to the event earlier.   He only ever ran the one marathon and that was late in his running career.   He recorded 2:21:27 in his first and only attempt at the distance in Glasgow where he finished tenth in a good field.   He reckons he would have liked to run in London but after 1987 the pressures of business got in the way.   We have looked at his performances on the country and they were excellent, we have looked at his performances on the track where he set first rate times and won a Senior Men’s Scottish championship in an era that was very good for endurance running in Scotland, we have looked at his running in the Edinburgh to Glasgow and in the two Luddon Half Marathons.   His range of talent was so wide that he could have excelled as a pure track runner had he concentrated on that, he could have really excelled as a marathon runner had he turned in that direction early in his career.   Where many are pushed in one direction or the other by restrictions on their ability, it was maybe the case that George had too many options open to him!

I have mentioned already the Bellahouston Harriers group of which he was a member and with whom he had grown up.   The table below indicates the range of and depth of talent in the squad.   I should note that the 10000m is track running and I would dearly love more information about Graeme Getty’s performances other than marathon.

His thoughts on why the Bellahouston group was so good with so many men under 2:30 for the marathon are simply that it was a good era to be running distance races and that there was a healthy competition in the club.   He always liked to race on Saturdays and so Sundays became a long recovery run of 17 –  18 miles in good company.

Ian Binnie was one of Scotland’s greatest ever distance runners.    He didn’t like cross-country although he was part of the great Victoria Park Cross Country team that won all there was to win in the 1950’s and twice represented Scotland in the ICCU Cross Country International.   He really excelled on the track and on the roads.   Unusually no one to my knowledge ever said that he should have tried the marathon although it is a common enough remark about most talented road runners.    It was probably realised that he was such a real gem in the longer middle distance races as we will see and he was appreciated for what he was.  He knew how good he was and times came across as arrogant but he knew his own mind.   He always kept his word – on the occasion when he ran his superb one hour run at Cowal, he was phoned at home on the Wednesday before the race by Jack Crump of the AAA’s telling him he had been chosen to run for Britain on Saturday at the White City.   he told Mr Crump politely that he couldn’t do it because he was running at Cowal Games that weekend.   Crump was furious that he had turned down a GB vest! More of that below but he told me the story himself.    He was easily recognised as he ran in the streets and roads around the West End of Glasgow and Dunbartonshire – in summer along the Great Western Road Boulevard with no vest or T shirt, the tan testifying to the amount of running done in that fashion, in winter he wore the VPAAC vest and I even remember seeing him running a la Gordon Pirie in working boots.   The last race I personally saw him run was a Three Miles at Scotstoun well after his best days and he broke away with Alex Brown of Motherwell YMCA.   Alex was leading and after seven or eight laps, still within a yard or two of Alex, he stepped off the track.    He wasn’t going to have a time as slow as he thought that was going to be recorded.   A loyal Vickie Parker he made several disparaging remarks about most clubs but particularly about local rivals Clydesdale Harriers – but in the mid 1990’s, when Clydesdale were running much better than VPAAC, he took time to come and speak to some of the CH runners in the Kelvin Hall: sitting on the floor in the gallery with six or seven young athletes (mid twenties) he talked about training and racing for over half an hour.   My first encounter with him was when four Clydesdale Harriers were having a meal at the old Whitehall Restaurant in Glasgow one Saturday night when another four guys came in and immediately the two tables were involved in banter throughout the meal.  I had just joined the club and was there with Johnny Maclachlan and Neil Buchanan and some other guy and the four at the other table included Binnie and Albie Smith.   It was an interesting evening.

There are many stories about him – for instance the fact that the rules for the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay were changed twice because of him.   One time he handed the baton to a small boy on a bike to carry while he ran, only taking it back in time for the changeover.   The rules were amended to state that ‘the baton must be carried’.   Fine, he then had a pocket sewn into his vest where he stowed the baton until hand-over time.   The rules were altered again to ‘the baton must be carried (ie in the hand).    There was the year when he took the E-G trophy back with a knitted VPAAC vest on it because they were going to retain the trophy and he wanted it properly dressed.   At another time he didn’t bother to bring a trophy because they were going to win it again! Anyway, we can start here with a contribution from club-mates of his – Hugh Barrow and finish with the obituary written by Doug Gillon in 1997.   The picture below shows Binnie running with the best in the world.

In 1985 Hugh Barrow wrote a tribute to him in the Scottish Marathon Club magazine and it is reproduced below.

Ian Binnie  –  Scotland’s Zatopek

By Hugh Barrow

Ian Binnie, of whom it was once allegedly said by Jack Crump “He looks like a swede but runs like a turnip.”

One of my earliest memories of the time that I joined Victoria Park in the late 1950’s was of this most enigmatic of runners, Ian Binnie.   Bin, as he was called by the other runners, had an approach to training similar to the attitudes to be adopted later by David Bedford.   Ian worked on the premise that you did more than your rivals and you did it faster.   At a time when most Scottish distance runners would train three or four times each week plus a Saturday race, Ian Binnie would train at times three times each day and these sessions were not done at what could be described as anything approaching easy running.   His idol had been Emil Zatopek and he modelled his methods on the same prodigious amounts of work.   When Ian had completed his evening track sessions eg 20/30 times 300 some body might question him about the fact that he had also been seen out at lunch times, but back came the reply that these sessions did not really count.   Always secretive about his training it is now sometimes difficult to distinguish fact from legend but what cannot be disputed is that Ian Binnie trained at a cruel level even by present day standards.

He set himself very high standards, some might have said unattainable standards, but that was the measure of the man.   He wanted to hold every Scottish Record from the mile to the marathon and he only failed by these two.   Possibly his finest run was in 1953 against Gordon Pirie at the White City, London, on the night that Pirie broke the World Record for Six Miles.   Ian recorded 28 minutes 53 seconds and how many Scots would today beat that time.   He only knew one way to run and that was from the front, often setting a suicidal pace.   His critics often drew attention to this and his lack of finishing speed just as the same people criticise Ron Clarke and Dave Bedford but they could not criticise his courage.

he was a member of the very successful Victoria Park teams of the 1950’s, a team that won the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay on eight occasions, the first Scottish club to win the English National Cross-Country Championships (only Shettleston Harriers have emulated this performance) and came third in the London – Brighton Relay.   Never keen on Cross Country running, Ian put in many brilliant Road Relay legs  against such as Joe McGhee of Shettleston and Joe Connolly and Harry Fenion of Bellahouston.

The records speak for themselves but to a young hopeful it was more the way he went about his running that remains in the memory.   On asking advice one evening, the reply came back, “If you can’t keep up, don’t come out!”   On reflecting back now over some twenty five years of running, that advice still seems quite sound.

IAN BINNIE’S SCOTTISH RECORDS

The comment at the end of the article to the aspiring runner is similar to some of Alastair Wood’s in Aberdeen (Do yourself a favour, go to the pictures) and Binnie was famous for such retorts: “No matter how much you polish a bit of wally glass you’ll never make it into a diamond” for instance and his “Sorry Mr Crump, I’m running at Cowal Games on Saturday!”  was a bit of lèse-majesté!   Remember that these times were run on cinder tracks and without all the improvements in kit – shoes in particular – that modern runners have.   In addition the SAAA Championships ran the 6 Miles on the Friday night and the 3 Miles on the Saturday afternoon.   So no time trials with pace makers at selected venues: in these circumstances, how would his times stand up 50 years later?   Well in the Scottish Rankings for 2008, he would have been placed fourth in the 5000 metres and first in the 10000 metres.   As David Coleman might have said, “Quite remarkable really!”   The best source of day-to-day information is ‘The Scots Athlete’ and I’ll be quoting liberally from that but first let’s look at his career chronologically.

‘The Scots Athlete’ first mentions him in the results of the Dundee Kingsway Relay and the McAndrew Relays in autumn 1950: he ran first leg in the McAndrew Relays under the name of G Binnie and had third fastest time of the afternoon; two weeks later he was in the Kingsway Relay for the A Team and finished third in the second fastest club time and fifth fastest overall but was listed as J Binnie.   In November he ran in the Edinburgh to Glasgow where he was on the first stage again and finished fourth but the comments on the winning eight said of him: “one of the up-and-coming youngsters of the team, and one who has shown distinct promise over country, road and on the track.   Joining the club just last winter he is one of this year’s winning ‘four’ in the McAndrew and Kingsway Relays.   A leading member of the club’s successful 2 miles track team last summer.   Keen and conscientious in training, Ian will go far in the sport.”   Not a lot more was written and  he did not run in the National at Hamilton where his club won the title.   Summer 1951 saw him win his first championship medal with a third place in the SAAA 3 Miles behind Andy Forbes (14:28.8) and Tommy Tracey (14:47.1) with Binnie timed at 15:5.6 – there were many comments about the heavy nature of the wet track and how it slowed all the times on the day.   The ‘Scots Athlete’ ranked him fourth in their 3 Miles ranking list behind Forbes (VP), Tracey (Springburn) and AT Ferguson (Highgate).

The following winter he had another good run in the McAndrews on the first stage for the winning team and then in the Edinburgh to Glasgow he won the first stage with a huge gap – 26:55 to 27:49 over Andy Brown of Motherwell.   Emmett Farrell had this to say in his ‘Running Commentary’ of January 1952 after the Nigel Barge Road Race where he was second and only ten seconds down (24:48 to 24:58) on Andy Forbes: “Binnie whose performance in beating Tracey (third in 25:13) was brilliant, is perhaps reaping the dividend of his sustained consistent training.   Zatopek appears to be the model of the young Victoria Park man who runs often and long in the slow fast tempo popularised by the great Czech.   At the moment Binnie does not relish cross country regarding which he has a complex: but he is building up to have a real go at the three and six miles track distance later.   It will be interesting ti see how he comports himself in the summer.”   Complex?   Maybe – he avoided the Midland Championship but when the Scottish Championships took place on 1st March at Hamilton Racecourse, he was seventh finisher and second club man behind Andy Forbes (fourth) in the winning team.   In 1951 Shettleston Harriers had been runners up in the English Cross country championship after being only second to Victoria Park in the Scottish, so in 1952 the Scotstoun club decided to go down to the event to be held in Birmingham.   In short, they went, they saw, they conquered!   They won with 241 points against Bolton United Harriers 255.   The team captain Andy Forbes knew full well the value of speed in cross country running and had particular knowledge of the very fast start at the English National.   So every Sunday they trained at Mountblow Recreation Ground in Clydebank – the home of Clydesdale Harriers at that time.   The venue had a 330 yards red blaes track but the grass perimeter was just over a half mile of mainly good but heavy grass running.    And they did fast half mile reps.   The result was that they coped well with the ‘blitz’ start and finishing positions were Forbes 11, Jimmy Ellis 32, Binnie 41, Chick Forbes 51, Ronnie Kane 52 and Johnny Stirling 54.   There are some comments on the economics of the trip below.   Ian Binnie was selected for the International Cross Country team that year and finished 62nd and out of the counting team runners.

The British winning team

Bobby Calderwood, Ronnie Kane, Ian Binnie, Donald Henson, Alex Breckenridge behind

Johnny Stirling, Andy Forbes, Chick Forbes and Jimmy Ellis in front

In the Six Miles at the SAAA Championships in June 1952, on a bitterly cold and windy Friday night he won the Six Miles which was reported as follows: “Undismayed by a leg injury acquired in training, which was well strapped, Binnie from the gun was out for a new record.   At 5 Miles with 24:59 he had a new Native record (prev. 25:12), but this went unnoticed by all present and at 6 Miles swamped JF Wood’s other Native Record 0f 30:34 with 30:04.2.   In the Three Miles on the Saturday he was third behind Forbes and Eddie Bannon of Shettleston in 15:9.1.   In August Emmet Farrell, said: “Ian Binnie, our six miles champion and record-holder looks the best prospect of our distance track men.   He has his own ideas of training, modelling himself somewhat on the lines of a miniature Zatopek and has even been known to run 12 miles on the day before a race.   With added strength and confidence there is no saying to what heights he may aspire.   He has his eye on Peter Allwell’s Native Record at two miles of 9:13 odds.   After seeing Binnie do a 9:24 recently on a loose track with ease he wouldn’t be far away on say the Helenvale track where the present figures were made.”    He finished the season fourth in the Three Miles and top of the Six.

Season 1952-53 for Binnie was maybe his best ever.   The winter season started without him in the McAndrew Relay and he did not turn out either in the Midlands Relay Championship.   Came the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay and VPAAC were again the winners and this Time Binnie was on the sicth stage head-to-head with Eddie Bannon of Shettleston and he was only three seconds quicker st the end – 33:37 to 33:40.    Emmet Farrell had this to say of the race: “Perhaps the finest intrinsic running was that of Ian Binnie’s 33:37 and Eddie Bannon’s 33:40 in the long seven miles stage.  Binnie’s time was only five seconds outside Jim Flockhart’s remarkable 1937 record.”   In February Binnie turned out in the Midland Championship where he was twenty fourth and last counter in the winning Victoria Park team.   On 28th February he ran in the National Championships at Hamilton Racecourse he was eighth and second VP runner with Andy Forbes second.

Previewing the 1953 track season the ‘Running Commentary’ had this to say: “The Three and Six Miles Records May Go.”   As I see it Andy Forbes should retain his Three Miles title and clubmate Ian Binnie his Six Miles, both in fast time.   Forbes still has the flair for the big occasion and if he has to be beaten then it will possibly take a time inside his own great record of 14:18.2.   Binnie, now training more often, further and harder than ever and already this season shown top condition and versatility with class 3 mile track and 15 mile road race wins would be most disappointed not to well beat 30 minutes for the 6 miles and eradicate the 30:04.2 record figures he established last year in windy conditions.   Binnie of course may try for the double but this is a very difficult feat unless the athlete is extremely robust and possessed of exceptional recuperative powers.”      Well, Binnie clearly had robustness and recuperative powers!    In the first paragraph of his report on the athletics, Emmett Farrell said :”Ian Binnie’s double victory in the 3 and 6 miles championships and his seven records made in these two races must surely win him the Crabbie Cup for the most meritorious performer.”   For the race:  “Running De Luxe.   The 3 Mile event was the piece de resistance of the meeting,   Ian Binnie displayed a brand of distance running rarely seen in Scotland.   After two or three laps during which Black shadowed him he was out on his own showing devastating sustained speed down the straights his artistic striding being a sheer delight to the eye.   First mile was reeled off in 4:33.3.   The two-mile stage took 9:16.8 and the tape was broken in 14:0.,4 for a new native and all-comer’s record thus displacing respectively the figures of club mate Forbes and Maki of Finland.”   The winning time in the Six Miles was 29:20.7 for new native and all-comer’s records as well.   Two weeks later it was the AAA’s Championships and John Keddie, in his official history of the SAAA, describes the race thus.  A fortnight later at the White City he went even better at the AAA Championship where his own front runing set the pace for a marvellous World Record by Gordon Pirie.   Pirie’s time was 28:19.4 and behind him Binnie finished a meritorious third with a superb 28:53.4, ever to remain his besr performance for the distance.”

For many however the one hour run at Cowal Highland Games was the highlight not only of the year but of his running career.   ‘The Scots Athlete’ again.

Scottish Native and All-comer’s and British National and All-comer’s Records fall like ninepins to 22 year-old Scot Ian Binnie

At half past two on Friday 28th August at Cowal Stadium track, Dunoon, Argyllshire on the first day of the famous two-day Cowal Highland Games, five competitors lined up for the start of a one hour run – the main purpose of which being to give the Scottish distance runner Ian Binnie of Victoria Park AACan opportunity of attacking the Scottish and British records.   Binnie’s running turned out to be one of the greatest athletic performances ever seen in Scotland.   At each stage from and including 7 miles – 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 miles and one hour he recorded faster than all previous native and all-comer’s bests in the British Isles and the Empire.

He had to contend with a stiff breeze and though the track was in excellent condition Ian felt the effect of the black coal-dust top cutting up and did not think it was as firm as the White City track.   he commented on being very badly stitched at around the 4 miles stage and feeling like retiring.   His 10 miles time, 50:11, was superb.   It broke the British All-comer’s record 50:30.8 standing to the name of Bill Eaton (1936) and far superseded that of any native Scot.   He went on to increase the British all-comer’s 1 hour record of Alfred Shrubb (1904) by 435 yards to 11 miles 1571 yards and continued to 12 miles which he reached in 60:34.2 beating the previous British best 62:43 created by S Thomas at Herne Hill in 1892.

Though Ian was pleased enough with his collection of records it was typical of him to express his disappointment at not covering 12 miles inside the hour which was his personal target.   he now holds every Scottish record from 2 to 12 miles.   We give his times at each mile stage along with those of Shrubb who established his in a similar race in 1904.   The performances shown recorded by Shrubb were the standing British all-comer’s marks.

It is not at all surprising that he was named ‘Scots Athlete of the Year.”

The 1953-54 season started as usual with the McAndrew Relays at Scotstoun.   Home team Victoria Park won their 12 miles relay with a record time of 62:43 which was 55 seconds inside the existing record while Binie broke Eddie Bannon’s individual record which was only half an hour old by six seconds with 15:01.   “Emmet Farrell again – “they also easily retained the Dundee Kingsway Relay Trophy finishing first and second teams.   By all-round work they had a sound enough win in the Edinburgh-Glasgow Relay although special mention must be made of young Norrie Ellis who built up a winning lead in the 4th stage and of Ian Binnie’s record-breaking sixth stage knocking 11 seconds off Jim Flockhart’s time set in 1937.   They suffered their only defeat on their only cross country outing so far (December 1953) – the Midland Relay at the hands of close rivals Shettleston Harriers.   Starting almost on level terms over the last two and a half mile stage, Ian Binnie was no match for international star Eddy Bannon.   Just as Binnie dominates and is such a tower of strength to his club on track and road, so Bannon is for his club on the country.”   So no mention of a ‘complex’ by now and in the preview of the National Cross-Country Championships in 1954, Emmet Farrell lists his contenders and outsiders without mentioning Binnie and then comes “The Position of Binnie:   I did not discuss Binnie’s prospects for the simple reason that the Victoria Park crack is allegedly not interested in selection for the International and may prefer to make a sterner bid in the English National a week hence.   Yet he is keen to help his club to another National team title and if he does not rate as Bannon’s chief rival for the title he should easily find a place in the top six.”   Binnie had not run in the District Championships where his club was again victorious.  Well, Binnie did run in the National but he did not ‘easily find a place in the top six.’   He did not even find a place in the VPAAC top six – he was thirty ninth and seventh club finisher in a race where Shettleston Harriers won by 23 points.

In the June issue of the ‘Scots Athlete’ there is a preview of the up-coming Scottish Championships with a section headed “Can Binnie Retain His Two Titles?”   Which goes on “Last year Ian Binnie literally ran away with both 6 miles and 3 miles and of course set up native and all-comer’s records in the process.   His recent form has been erratic and somewhat disappointing.   His hour run while good enough was not the Binnie standard and the Victoria Park crack is not regarded as certain to win both titles.   I find it difficult to oppose this mercurial but brilliant runner who by the time of the championships may have recaptured some of last year’s effervescence.   In the 6 Miles I see little opposition if Binnie is in good form.   Harry Fenion who is running well and Hamilton Laurence of Teviotdale should take place positions.   Binnie may have a harder task to retain his 3 mile title.   Chief opposition may come from little John Stevenson of Greenock Wellpark who has been showing excellent form over 1 and 2 miles.   Other likely candidates are Eddie Bannon, our cross country champion, Alex Black, now at Dundee, Springburn’s Tommy Tracey and Englishman Adrian Jackson.   If they are all lined up at the start what a thriller it will be all the way.”   The Scottish rankings at the beginning of May that year had Binnie second in the 3 miles with a time of 14:17.1 against John Stevenson’s 14:13.4 – Stevenson also topped the Mile list with 4:25.6.   Came the championships with the 6 miles as usual on the Friday night.   “Wintry conditions prevailed.   Ian Binnie was in great form for though admitting after the race to being continually blown off the track when against the wind he broke his own native record (19:28) and Paavo Nurmi’s 1931 all comer’s mark (19:20.4) at 4 miles and his own all-comer’s records (24:24.1 and 29:20.7) at 5 and 6 miles.   It was a superb effort.”   He also won the 3 Miles in 14:19.6 from Eddie Bannon (14:33.6) in a field of 20 runners.    By the end of June he led the rankings at 2 Miles (9:11), 3 Miles (14:04), 6 Miles (29:20.7).   As a result of his two wins he was selected for the Empire Games in Vancouver where every event was overshadowed by the Jim Peter marathon (see Vancouver 54 elsewhere on this website) and the Bannister/Landy Mile.   However Binnie was selected for both Three and Six Miles and competed in both.   There was very little coverage but he was seventh in the Three Miles in 13:59.6 and sixth in the Six Miles in 30:15.2.   The Three Miles time made him the first Scot under 14 minutes for the distance.

The 1954-55 season  saw a change in the usual pattern when Shettleston Harriers won after five years of Victoria Park triumphs.   Binnie started off on the last lap behind Joe McGhee and although he ran a brilliant new record of 14:58 for the course he could not catch McGhee who only ran 15:33.   The pattern of recent years had changed to such an extent that Shettleston were first, third and fourth!   In the Midland Relays, the result was the same with Binnie running 16:51 for the first lap.   However when the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay was run, Victoria Park again triumphed for the fifth successive year and with a new course record and Binnie set a record of 33:21 for the sixth stage where Joe McGhee was second quickest with 33:51.   He turned out for his club again in the Midland District Championships where they were second to Shettleston and Binnie was thirty first and fifth club runner.   The team result in the National – again at Hamilton – was the same despite Donald Henson of VP winning and Binnie finishing fourth – his highest ever in the National.

In the annual preview of the SAAA Championships in the June ‘Scots Athlete’, the headline wasIan Binnie hot “Double” Favourite.   The article read: After his brilliant 3 miles of 13:54.8 at Ibrox, Ian Binnie looks set to retain both 3 and 6 Miles titles.   Despite being unable to hold his killing opening pace and fading somewhat, Binnie must be congratulated on his wonderful time and after all, only Dunkley passed him on his way to the tape.   He kept his promise of running the race of his life though doubts concerning his tactics still prevail.   Modern standards are emphasised by realising that Binnie’s time was practically identical with that of Sydney Wooderson’s in his famous classic with Willie Slikhuis in 1946, and Dunkley best known as a miler did his 13:50.3 3 miles as an experiment and may try for top honours in the steeplechase because the mile and 3 mile fields are over-crowded with brilliant exponents.   

The report of the Championships said that Binnie won both races ‘creditably enough’ although not up to his usual standard but praised Andy Brown for pressing hard in both races and emerging with two second places.   The report on the 6 miles started as per usual by commenting on the windy Friday night for the race.   A fast start saw the one mile in 4:32 with Brown following closely but he was shaken off during the second mile (9:17.4) at which point the pace slackened with Ian winning in 29:40.4.

Victoria Park regained the McAndrew Trophy in October 1955 taking 15 seconds from the record for the race and Binnie?   Well the report was that where Binnie gave Joe McGhee a start on the last leg again, this time he was closed down very quickly and Binnie brought the club home victorious.   Binnie was 15:02 and McGhee 15:32 and the club difference was only 5 seconds!   Shettleston got their own back when they won both Midlands Relay and the Edinburgh to Glasgow.   In the Midland Relays the Victoria Park A Team could only finish seventh with Ian Binnie running second  and his run in the ‘News of the World’ was ‘non-vintage Binnie’ although he did have the second fastest time only seven seconds behind Bannon.  Bannon was 33:50 with Binnie 33:57.

In the annual Morpeth to Newcastle race Ian was fifth after leading for most of the way.   Emmet Farrell reported that it was ‘definitely not Binnie at his brightest’.   Binnie missed the Midlands Championships where VP were fifth despite John McLaren winning the race.    He was back in cross-country mode for the National where his club won from Shettleston and Binnie was eleventh.

Then in the ‘Scots Athlete’ of August 1956 – when he had already run 9:06.2 for 2 miles on 5th May and 13:58.9 for 3 Miles on 12th May, came the bombshell:   “Ian Binnie’s retirement from athletics, temporary or permanent as yet unknown, has been the recent Scottish talking point.   An erratic, controversial figure, Binnie could be brilliant.   Nevertheless repeated errors in judgement and a preference to race against the watch rather than against the man, lessened his competitive ability.   Nevertheless with Zatopek-like zeal in training and his uninhibited contempt for existing Scottish standards he materially assisted in establishing the new athletic deal north of the border.   With little interest in cross-country but brilliant on track and devastating on the road there is a whisper that he may make  a come back in road races.   His club will miss him as anchor man in the big relays and Scottish running will be the poorer without his great ability.   Let’s not hope that this is Binnie’s athletic epitaph.”

The answer came three months later when the cover picture of the magazine had Ian picture with the caption: “After a record run leg in the VP Road Relay, Ian Binnie finishing for Victoria Park AAC who won with a new course record.”      Ian’s own run on the last leg against Graham Everett of Shettleston saw him start with a lead and set off in ‘his usual hurricane fashion’ but Everett had no intention of letting him go and by one mile, had the lead down to five yards but with a mile to go Binnie was moving away again and although Everett came back at him, Binnie moved away and won with a record time.   Then in November VPAAC won their sixth Edinburgh to Glasgow and Binnie on the sixth stage had the fastest time by just over a minute but was well outside his own record time ( 33:20 v 32:32.).   He turned out for the club in the National Cross-Country where he finished fourteenth for the team which won with 93 points against Bellahouston’s 125.

In the summer of 1958 he became the first Scot to run inside 14 minutes for the Three Miles when he won the Scottish Championship in 13:57.6 and that was to be his last championship and his last record.    He went on running until into the twenty first century but there was very little racing in there after 1958 although he was an easily recognisable figure running along the Great Western Road with his vest squashed up in his hand.   His interest in the sport never waned – when the Kelvin Hall had its track relaid in the early 2000’s he took some of the off cuts to examine them and we discussed the composition of the track.   We had a chat one afternoon at the side of the road at the start of the McAndrew Relay where he had been such a star – and nobody interrupted us – no one recognised the spare, fit figure with the rucksack watching his club running round the familiar roads of Scotstoun.

Stories of his training are legion but what were the influences?   It’s difficult to find out but Hugh Barrow says that he was in contact with Franz Stampfl and Gordon Pirie – and it doesn’t take a long look to see something of Pirie in his attitudes.   Apparently he tried to make contact with Zatopek but in the days f the ‘Cold War’ it is not clear whether he was successful

*****

Colin Youngson of Aberdeen who ran with Victoria Park in the early 1970’s recalls that ‘Bin’ as he was known went out with the Victoria Park fast pack in the 1971-72 period “He would have been about 42 or 44 then.   He would not run away from us ( Pat McLagan, Alistair Johnstone,  Hugh Barrow, Albie Smith, young Dave McMeekin and I were hard to run away from) but certainly had no difficulty in keeping up or taking the pace, as we zoomed past the slow pack and into the non-wisecracking section of the brisk Tuesday or Thursday night 5 or 6 mile run round Knightswood, etc, in the dark.   He did drawl these condescending put-downs, particularly about Pat who was a good runner.   I guess for Bin it was a fairly justified superiority complex, and partly a slightly cruel joke, more subtle than Albie’s crushing comments!   We really did beg Bin to consent to inclusion in our very good E-G team, but he was not moved.   I suppose he had been numero uno and would not race below his best, even if he was helluva fit for a 42 year old and would have thoroughly justified his inclusion in the team.”   Colin then reflected “Binnie and Ally Wood!   What a pair!   To some extent they made me the callous joker that I remain today – certainly a good toughening up process for a secondary school teacher!”     

Colin has many good tales about ‘Bin’.   Elsewhere on this website (the E-G Section) Colin’s Edinburgh to Glasgow memories are printed in detail but I’ll quote the Binnie bits again here.   “Vague rumours of legendary deeds had reached my ears – mainly concerning the tussles on the ‘long leg’ between Joe McGhee (Empire Games marathon Gold medallist) and that uniquely relaxed character with the elitist attitude, Ian Binnie of Victoria Park.   According to Binnie he could give poor Joe several minutes start and still pass him before the finish.   I never heard Joe’s side of the story, but as Binnie never tired of telling newcomers to the Vicky Park team, “It’s hard to motivate myself, lad.   After all I have SEVEN gold medals already.”   Binnie’s best known comment (to a younger team-mate who was a deserving Scottish cross-country international) was “Ach, Pat, it disny matter how many vests you win, you’ll never have any class.   You see, a GREAT runner is always a GREAT runner  – and a DUMPLIN’ is always a DUMPLIN’.”    

Another Binnie quote was to a runner preparing to ‘sprint’ for the line in a relay, “Hamish, you’re wastin’ your time.   Cut your losses – sell your kit!”

****

When he died in 2007, Doug Gillon, who had been a runner for the same club at one time wrote the following obituary in the Glasgow Herald on 4th August 2007.

IAN BINNIE

Athlete:: born July 15th 1929; died July 26th 2007.    Ian Binnie who has died suddenly aged 78 was the greatest Scottish endurance runner of his generation with ferocious work ethic which to his death he played down.

In 1953 Britain had just lost the six miles in the international match against Germany when Norris McWhirter, of Guinness Book of Records fame, told the London crowd at the White City that a man who had turned down the chance to represent his country in that event that very afternoon had just broken two British records, the Empire record the UK All-Comers record plus six Scottish records  in the same race “…. running, if you please, at some place called Cowal.”   That man was Ian Binnie who always used to insist that “I was just a very lucky boy.”    So ‘lucky’ that he broke 21 Scottish records during his career.   He held the course record in virtually every Scottish road race.

Binnie was certainly blessed with talent.   Brought up in Oxfordshire by his grandparents because his father, John. was in India with the Foreign Office, Binnie excelled at cricket and had trials for the county before he moved north when the family returned to his parents’ native Glasgow.   He came late to athletics but soon made a prodigious impact.   He borrowed from the harsh regime of the Czech master Emil Zatopek who had won three Olympic titles in 1952.   Binnie would run up to 40 laps, sprinting for up to 300 metres then jogging 100.   No Scottish athlete had tried anything so extreme and it soon paid dividends.

The Scottish All-Comers mark for Six Miles had stood to the legendary Alf Shrubb since 1904 when Binnie wrote it out in 1953.   Then he paced Gordon Pirie to a World Record in the Six Miles at the AAA’s Championships, setting a Scottish best of 28:53.4.   Apart from Andrew Lemoncello who runs in the World Championships this month, no Scot has run that fast this century.   On the Cowal cinders that day in the summer of 1953, Binnie broke Scottish records at seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven miles, plus one hour (he covered 11 miles 1571 yards, narrowly missing the World Best with the third furthest ever. )   His 10 Mile time was a British record, and his one hour one was an Empire and UK All-Comers one.

Binnie went to the Empire Games in Vancouver finishing seventh in the Three Miles and sixth in the Six Miles.   he was the first Scot to break 29 minutes for the Six Miles, 14 minutes for the Three and 9 minutes for the Two. He won the Three and Six Mile double at the Scottish Championships for three successive years.   This gained him the prime Scottish Trophy, the Crabbie Cup.   The last person to win it thrice consecutively had been Eric Liddell.

Binnie was fiercely proud of his club, Victoria Park, and helped them to a unique record.   In 1952 he was a member of the Scotstoun club’s team which became the first from outside England to win the English National Cross Country title.   The team of nine wo travelled to Birmingham included Empire Games medallist Andy Forbes,  and his brother Chick,    Ronnie Kane, Bobby Calderwood and Alex Breckenridge who later served two tours as a major in the US Marines in Vietnam.   The whole trip including the railway return cost £65 including one guinea a head for bed and breakfast for all nine athletes.   These stalwarts monopolised the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay in the 1950’s.   One year Binnie arrived wit the trophy which had a silver running figure on the top.   He had knitted kit for the figure in his club’s blue and white.   They duly won again.

Binnie was a man who kept his promises, no matter what.   Bill Struth, the Rangers manager, invited him to compete in the Ibrox Sports and he accepted.   The phone rang one evening.   It was Jack Crump, secretary of the AAA’s.   He rebuked Binnie for turning down selection.   “England needs you.”    For a GB International no less.   Forty years on Binnie recounted the conversation with glee: “I told him I was Scottish and my mince was getting cold.”   Binnie duly raced at Ibrox and was leaving the ground when Struth appeared on the stairway.   “He complimented me on keeping my promise and presented me with a key to the ground.   He said I could use the track any time, providing the players weren’t training on it.   It was the best track in Scotland and the greatest gift any athlete could ever have had.”

Binnie was an engineering draftsman, mainly in Babcock’s.   A non-smoker he ran regularly until a year ago, always with a stopwatch.   But lung cancer, apparently asbestos-related, was diagnosed and he died at his home last week.

He is survived by his wife Barbara, daughters Shelley, Serena and Sheona, and two grandchildren Jessics and Jack.   The funeral service is at Comrie Church, Arran and thereafter at Sannox Cemetery.`

The Ian Binnie Memorial at Sannox Churchyard

Clearing a fence in the 1952 National

Eddie Bannon was one of the country’s best cross country and road runners winning the National Cross-Country Championship four times as a Senior including three-in-a-row from 1952 to 1954 inclusive.   In addition there were seven appearances in the World Cross-Country Championships between 1951 and 1956.  Eddie was also a class act on the roads with ten runs in the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay, turning in eight fastest stage times, two second fastest and setting two stage records in the process.   His career as an athlete was relatively short spanning only twelve years but at his best he was probably one of the country’s best ever cross-country runners.    Information for this profile has mainly come from ‘The Scots Athlete’, from the Centenary history of Shettleston Harriers by John Cairney and from Colin Shields’ centenary history of the SCCU, ‘Whatever the Weather’ with more statistical information from Ron Morrison’s website.

The Shettleston history describes his start in the sport as follows: “Eddie was brought up in Springfield Road, the eldest of five children.   After primary school at St Michael’s in Parkhead and secondary school at Sacred Heart in Bridgeton, he served his time as a coach trimmer with Rolls Royce.   Just before he got married in 1953, he switched jobs and became an agent with the Provident Cheque Company, taking over some of his father’s customers in the Bridgeton and Parkhead area.   His preference for an outdoor job may have been satisfied but the fog and smog ridden streets of Glasgow’s East End in the 1940’s were a poor second best to the hiking he did in the hills with one of his pals, Bill Preston.   He started running while in the youth club of St Michael’s Church in Parkhead, but he had many other interests as well.   His mother called him “a joiner” because he affiliated to so many organisations including a drama group, scouts and even Army cadets.   He first came to the fore at Gartocher Road when he won the Shettleston Youths cross-country championship in 1948 after being described in the press as ‘a 16 year old phenomenon.’      In the same year he won the Scottish Youths mile title and in April the following year earned his place in the Edinburgh to Glasgow team, helping the club to their first victory, and achievement repeated in November.    He won the club Junior championship in 1950 and 51 and then the senior title six years in a row until Graham Everett took it in 1957.   he competed in nine Edinburgh to Glasgow races and had the distinction of winning four medals while still a junior.   True to his mother’s description as ‘a joiner’ he served on the club social committee and on the recruiting and coaching committee, displaying a genuine interest in the welfare of members, the financial needs of the club and the development of new talent.   One organisation he did not joing was the British Army.   ‘Incredulous’ is possibly the best way of describing the feeling in Gartocher Road when the man who was one of the country’s foremost distance runners failed his army medical due to sinus problems.   The army’s loss was very much Shettleston’s gain.”

We’ll go over some of that ground again in more detail but it should be pointed out that ‘Gartocher Road’ refers to the Shettleston Harriers HQ which was on the road of that name.

He first appears in the columns of ‘The Scots Athlete’ in February 1949 when he was second in the Midland District Junior 7 Miles Championship.   The next season started as usual with the McAndrew four man road relays at Scotstoun and he ran on the second stage for the Shettleston Harriers team and ran the second stage for the second placed quartet.   Two weeks later he again ran second for the club in the Dundee Kingsway relay where the squad was again second.   There had been two Edinburgh to Glasgow relay in 1949 and the young Eddie Bannon had run in them both.   In April he ran on the eighth stage, maintained Shettleston Harriers in first place and recorded the fastest time of the day for the stage.   His reward was to get the same stage when it was held in November and again he maintained first place and again he had the fastest time on the leg.

On 7th October 1950 he ran the third stage of the McAndrew in the Shettleston team which finished second and then in the Midlands relay a fortnight afterwards  he ran fourth in the Shettleston team.   In November 1950, still a Junior he was switched to the fifth stage and took over in the lead, handed over in the lead and recorded the fastest time of the day.    On 2nd December he was third to Tom Tracey of Springburn, one of the very best in the country at the time and team-mate Ben Bickerton.   Bickerton was ahead of him again when he won the Inter-Counties at Stirling and Bannon was third with another Shettleston Harrier squashed between them – Clark Wallace was second.   In the Midlands however he was second to Tom Tracey – only 12 seconds down this time.   Then it was the Junior National. Third in 1950,  he won it in 1951 by 36 seconds and then went on to be fourth in a first class run in the English National championships.   If his running in Scotland was noteworthy before this, then this was the race that drew him to the notice of the wider athletics public – after going for the win when nearing the finish, he dropped back to an agonising fourth place.   For the ‘Scots Athlete’ report on the race click here    The National victory was enough to get him selected for the International Championships as part of the Senior team and he was a scoring runner when he finished in forty ninth place.    The ‘Scots Athlete’ in November ranked him ninth in the Mile in their annual track rankings with the comment ‘I believe that Bannon would improve if he did less cross-country racing.’    Maybe forgivable so early in his career, it would become apparent as time went past that he was not nearly as interested in track as in road and especially country.

At the start of season 1951 – 52, he ran on the third stage for Shettleston in the McAndrew Relays on 6th October.   On 3rd November in the Midland District Relays Eddie ran the fourth stage and brought the club from fourth to second in the fastest time of the day.   In the Edinburgh to Glasgow on 17th November he ran the vital sixth stage and moved the club from third to second with the fastest lap of the day.   In the preview of the National Championships, published in the same issue of the magazine,  Emmet Farrell said, “Scotland’s big three are undoubtedly Eddie Bannon, Andy Forbes and Tom Tracey, and of these Bannon is the bright particular star and on present form must be a strong favourite to win our National Cross-Country title.   Up to the present he has shown devastating speed, and in last year’s brilliant fourth in the English National demonstrated that he has the stamina to go with it.   He showed his ability yet again when on 2nd February 1952, he ‘jumped early into the lead and was never challenged’ when he won the Midlands District Championship at Lenzie.   He duly won the National Championship for the first time and went to the International where he finished fourteenth and first Scot.

[He had been regarded in all quarters, including in France and Belgium as a contender for the International championship and I can’t help observing that there were at this point many races in both of these countries to which many English athletes were invited and sent with never a one for any Scot.   Races were held at Brussels, Forstaise and Hannut in Belgium, and at Meridor, Chartres and Ghien in France in which the likes of Pirie and Sando took part.   When two decades later many Scots took part in these races with distinction, the quality of endurance runner produced north of the border improved immensely.]

That summer (1952), running in the Three Miles at the SAAA Championships in June, he was second to Andy Forbes in the championship in 14:29.3 with Ian Binnie (who had set a Scottish record for Six Miles the previous evening) third.   At the end of the season he topped the Scottish rankings for the Two Miles with 9:23.5 and was third in the Three Miles with 14:29.3.   On 5th July he competed in the Triangular International between Scotland, England & Wales and Ireland at the White City in London where he was fifth in the 5000m behind AB Parker (E/W) 14:47.8, John Landy (Australia – guest) 14:51.2, F Sando (E/W) 14:54.4 and Ian Binnie 15:23.6.   Prompted by his racing over the summer, Emmet Farrell remarked in his ‘Running Commentary’, “Eddie Bannon has not shown so far the form over the track that his running over field and fen would indicate.   Though more than useful over the track from 1 to 3 miles, Eddie’s heart really lies in the country.”

On to the 1952 – 53 season and he had second fastest in the McAndrew Relay when running the fourth stage for his club.   In the Midlands relays on 1st November he was duelling with Andy Forbes on the third stage and the report read: “Bannon was at his thrilling best and reversed a 33 second deficit to an exact half minute advantage” – he also had the fastest time by 26 seconds.   He was again asked to race the sixth stage of the Edinburgh to Glasgow and brought the team from third to second and had second quickest time behind Ian Binnie which encouraged Emmet Farrell to remark that “perhaps the finest intrinsic running was that of Ian Binnie’s 33:37 and Eddie Bannon’s 33:40 on the long 7 miles stage.”     In the Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championship in mid-December Eddie won in 35:03 (the second man home recorded 36:20!)   On 31st January at the Midlands Championships he was again the winner in 30:53 with second runner in 31:28.   Going in to the National at Hamilton he was clearly top dog.   “I take Eddie Bannon of Shettleston to retain the Scottish Cross-Country Championship with some confidence.   Up here in Scotland his class is such that he could win even with a lapse in form.   But he is running strongly and confidently and should prove too strong for his field.   Eddie is not likely to run in the English Championships this year, preferring to save himself for the Scottish and International races.”   In the event he won the National on 28th February by 47 seconds from Andy Forbes.   Then came the big one – the International.

The International was held in 1953 in Paris and Eddie Bannon was fourth.   Emmet Farrell waxed lyrical, under the headline “Bannon in World Class”, he said: “Eddie Bannon ran his greatest race to date and his superb fourth place surely places him among the elite of the great cross-country runners of the world.   Running a beautifully judged race, he was prominent throughout and actually led for a spell over the last lap.   I feel that Bannon, like Flockhart, is essentially a cross-country type and wonder just what would happen over a real country trail.   Could he have won?   This however is purely an academic question.    Next year the International will be at Birmingham over, we assume, a fair cross-country test and a fit Bannon must have an obvious chance.   Incidentally the Shettleston man will shortly receive an invitation to compete next February in the annual International test over 5 miles at Hannut, Belgium.”     This ended the cross-country season and it was on to the track.

Back to the club history, because by now questions will be appearing about the training he was doing to get these results.   I quote: “Going out with Eddie on a training run was a feat in itself, according to Graham Everett, as most people gave him a body-swerve because he was so good and so competitive.   At the end of one of the club trials for a place in the Edinburgh – Glasgow team, Eddie was in the lead followed by Graham and Joe McGhee.   Running down Hallhill Road, Joe suggested that it would be a good idea if he and Graham ran in together to finish the race.   Graham readily agreed, but when Eddie found out later he was not best pleased.   ‘Don’t ever do that again, was the response of Graham’s hero.   The same trio was involved in another incident that exemplified Eddie’s competitiveness.   During the Nigel Barge race in Maryhill, Graham picked up one of Eddie’s shoes after it fell off in a collision with another runner    Eddie ignored Graham’s offer of the shoe with a curt ‘throw it away’ as he sped off in pursuit of Joe who won the race.   Joe McGhee also had a great respect for Eddie, and his description of Eddie’s training methods gives an indication of the friendly but intense rivalry that existed within the club.   ‘He would lead our fast pack in a training regime that certainly toughened everyone up, involving an informal fartlek style with unexpected and apparently random bursts that left the rest of us trailing.   By the time we caught up with him, he was ready for another sprint.   I developed an eye for the type of terrain on which his bursts occurred, usually up hills, and I would hang on blindly until he slackened and then try to continue past him for a few more yards.’   Joe had the edge over Eddie on the road but beat him only oince over the country at the 1955 National Championships at Hamilton.”

The by now normal remarks about how well Eddie could do ‘if only…’ appeared in the ‘Scots Athlete’:  ” Eddie Bannon – Scotland’s hero of the International Cross-Country Championship – has the class to be a real live contender and a probable winner of either the three or six miles or both but his heart does not seem to be set on the track as it is on the country.   Still if he runs in either he must be reckoned with.”   But there was no Eddie Bannon in the track championships that year.   Scotland had to wait until winter 1953 – 54 to see him back in action.   He had the fastest lap in the Midlands Cross Country championship helping his club to first place and then in the Edinburgh to Glasgow in November 1953 he kept his club in second place when he ran the sixth stage and again had the second fastest time to Ian Binnie.   He did not turn out in the District Championships in February 1954 and the reason was hinted at in Emmet Farrell’s comments in the February 1954 issue of the ‘Scots Athlete’.   “A hat trick for Bannon?  ….”The main doubt and talking point is the champion’s toe injury which has been troubling him and retarded his training but now that he is back in full harness I find it difficult to oppose him.”      Came the championships and Bannon was again the victor in 50:19 from Tom Tracey in 50:43.   In the International, he was fourteenth to be first Scot and second Briton to finish.   In summer 1954 he was mentioned as a contender for the Three Miles as follows “Other likely candidates include Eddie Bannon, our cross-country champion.”    The message was getting through that he was not a committed track runner although he did run and record good times: for summer 1954 he was third in the Three Miles rankings with 14:21.2 and fifth in the Two Miles with 9:21.0.

Season 1954 – 55 was another where he ran superbly well and there was another collection of team medals.   They started with the McAndrew Relays with Eddie running first and Joe McGhee on the last stage.       The County Relays and the Midland Districts also provided team golds and Eddie had fastest time in the latter.   In  November in the E-G he ran on Stage 2 and brought the team from third to first, with not only the fastest time on the day but also a stage record.      Second in the District Championships he led the winning team home and in the National on 26th February, he was seventh. 7th which had him selected to run in the International where he was 35th.

In summer 1955 he ran in the SAAA Three Miles and was second to Binnie in 14:33.6 to 14:19.6 before getting ready for the cross-country season.   On the 1st October he was only in the Shettleston B team for the McAndrew but by the Lanarkshire Relays he was lead off man for the winning team .  He was fastest overall in the Midland District Relay when he ran the third stage for the winning team.    In the Edinburgh to Glasgow in November, he ran on the long leg (the Sixth) where hw as fastest of the day, beating Binnie by only one second.   He was however only third in the Midlands Championships proper behind John McLaren and Andy Brown.   But came the National and Eddie Bannon came good with another first place in 46:55 to Andy Brown’s 47:06 in second place.   Again a member of the Scottish team he was thirty third in the International held in Belfast.    That summer he was not track ranked at all for any event.

1956 – 1957 began with the McAndrews where he was again in the second team but less than a month later he had the fifth fastest time in the Midland District relay at Stepps.   In the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay in November he ran the seventh stage where he was fastest by over 90 seconds and he proceeded to the National where he was ‘only’ sixth which Emmet Farrell saw as a pedestrian performance – going on to say that this was of course relative only to his own past running: many would regard such a placing a a high spot.   He did however go to the International in 1957 which was to be his last run in this event and finished thirty seventh.

Not only was the 1957 his final run in the International but he disappeared from the National scene until 1960 when he was fifteenth in the National in March and then in the Edinburgh to Glasgow he was on Stage 7 where he maintained the first place that he was given and ran the fastest time of the day for that stage.   There were to be no more appearances as an athlete for Eddie Bannon after this last demonstration of his superb talent: no racing in 1958 or 1959 and then the fastest time on his leg of the E-G!   Amazing.

The following AW questionnaire replies are reproduced thanks to John MacKay finding them and sending them on to me.

The Shettleston Harriers history points out that he won all his National Championships at Hamilton Racecourse which was notoriously heavy and these were the conditions in which he excelled.    Ironically enough, his wonderful fourth place in the International in Paris in 1953 when he was only 23 was run on fast dirt track and grassland course where he was in the forefront throughout the event and actually led the quality field for a lot of the last of three laps.   He was forty six when he moved to Toronto where he found work as a streetcar driver.   “He remained a regular runner and with a combination of irony and tragedy, it was on a visit home to the East End to see his mother in Ardgay Street in 1986 that he collapsed and died in Tollcross Park while out on a run the day after arriving.   He was only 56.”

                                                                                    Lynda enjoying victory in an Aberdeen Marathon

Lynda Bain (nee Stott, born 1956) was the first recipient of the Scottish women’s marathon title. The quietly-spoken school librarian at Bankhead Academy, Dyce, outside Aberdeen, only took up running in 1981 but soon developed into one of the country’s finest distance runners. Her first marathon, at Aberdeen in September 1981, was run in gale force winds with driving rain, making conditions nearly unbearable. Stott showed great resilience in coming home third (3.21.12) behind Katie Fitzgibbon (3.07.46) and Priscilla Welch (3.08.55).

 In the 1982 Aberdeen Milk Marathon, Lynda Stott showed considerable improvement by taking second place (2.53.04) not far behind Jacqui Hulbert of Wales (2.52.20) but this time in front of future marathon great Priscilla Welch from Shetland (2.55.59). Then she was first woman home in the May 1983 Motherwell Marathon. Her good time of 2.46.47 made her third-fastest Scot over the distance.

  After her marriage, the North-East woman returned to Aberdeen in September 1983 to collect her first national title, clocking 2.50.29 to gain revenge on Welsh athlete Jacqui Hulbert (2.56.20) and Aberdeen AAC clubmate Morag Taggart (3.07.08). Lynda Bain was presented with the Scottish Ladies Championship Barratt Trophy.

 In 1984, Lynda made a rapid start in an attempt to defend her Scottish Women’s Marathon Championship. She knew that world-ranked American Gillian Horowitz had entered; but did not realise until ten miles that she had not actually turned up, due to bad weather stranding her plane in Edinburgh! Despite struggling briefly about the 18 mile mark, Lynda managed to hang on well to retain her title, taking three minutes off Leslie Watson’s Scottish Native Record with her time of 2.41.41. This was Lynda’s seventh personal best in ten marathon outings. Margaret Baillie of Fife AAC was second in 3.00.57 and Morag Taggart, now of Pitreavie AAC, picked up a second bronze medal in 3.10.03. For this performance, Lynda Bain was chosen to represent Great Britain by racing a 1984 marathon in Czechoslovakia.

 Lynda was part of Aberdeen AAC’s winning team in the SWCCU Scottish Road Relay Championships in 1985.

  Lynda Bain’s finest race was on 21^st April 1985 in the London Marathon. This was a particularly memorable edition of the event. Steve Jones of Wales set a course record (which lasted twelve years) of 2.08.16, not far in front of Charlie Spedding’s English record of 2.08.33 and Allister Hutton’s Scottish record of 2.09.16. Charlie and Allister continue to hold those records, 25 years later!

   In addition, the great Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway created a new world record of 2.21.06. She was probably helped by the fact that there was on this occasion a mixed field of men as well as women, providing shelter or targets to overtake. Sarah Rowell set a new UK record of 2.28.06 and Lynda Bain finished 7^th in an excellent 2.33.38, a new Scottish record. She was two places in front of Veronique Marot, who went on to win the race in 1989, when she set a new UK record (2.25.56) which lasted until Paula Radcliffe amazed everyone with 2.18.56 in 2002.

  On the 9^th of June, 1985, Lynda won the Marathon 16 mile road race in 1.30.27, eight minutes in front of 50 miles world record holder Leslie Watson. Lynda said this was “a good run over a difficult course in poor conditions” but stated that she intended in the near future to switch from marathon training to concentrate on trying to build up her speed over shorter distances like 10k. Even after her 1985 peak she recorded track PBs for 1500m (4.41.9 in 1988); 3000m (9.51 in 1988); and 5000m (16.51 in 1989). Her July 1985 half-marathon best was a fine 73.22 in Aberdeen.

   Sadly, injuries subsequently hampered Lynda’s running career; and she never fulfilled her dream of competing in the Commonwealth Games. However she was still good enough to win the Moray Marathon (3.06.49), representing Garioch Road Runners, as late as 1995.