Author: The Author

Tony Chapman had to himself quickly off the mark when he took over as Scotland’s National Coach in December 1948.   He was very busy – committed, flexible, enthusiastic and personable, he quickly became a recognisable figure at pretty well all athletics venues.   He could not however be everywhere and the requests for help were coming in from all over the country.   Fortunately the editor of ‘The Scots Athlete’ , Walter Ross, was very keen on broadening the scope of the new magazine and on reporting all aspects of the sport.   Chapman and Ross between set about informing and educating Scottish athletes, clubs and coaches via the magazine.   1948 had already seen the magazine publish a half page ad for a four day weekend course at Dunoon for athletes wishing to increase their technical and practical knowledge (Fee £2:15:6d), an article by Allan Watt on Coaching,  report on training weekend for Olympic ‘possibles’ , Emmet Farrell had a two page article on training for cross-country (he had won the SCCU Championships in 1938 and again in 1948) and shown great interest generally in coaching and advancing the development of the sport before Chapman was appointed in December.    

Appointed in December, 1948, his first article appeared in the December 1949 issue of the magazine under the heading: THE NATIONAL COACHING SCHEME and it deserves to be reproduced here in full.

Having set out his aims and challenges to clubs and athletes, he went on to do hid own bit in the process by having articles printed in the magazine fairly frequently and some were quite lengthy.   In January 1950,  Winter Training was the subject with the next one being ‘The Training Board’ which ran to four pages in September 1950 and can be seen at this link.   Before these articles the magazine published  articles on coaching by others including several in a short series called Peak Performance, and then after the Winter Training piece there was one in January 1951 by T Montgomery, Honorary Senior Coach, on Groundwork for Track and Field as part of a series entitled This Coaching, in May 1951 the Shot Putt came up for inspection with one article on great shot putters of the past and another on coaching and technique by T Montgomery.   The support for coaching from the ‘Scots Athlete’ was there for all to see.    In   1951 T Montgomery had ‘The Fundamentals of Sprinting’ published – it ran for two and a half pages – with a follow up on the same event in the Mid-Summer issue which came out in September.   Then there was one on Throwing the Discus by the same writer in July 1951.   By now, Montgomery was becoming the regular athletics coach writer for the magazine and in August there was a four pager on Middle Distance running.   

Chapman was back in January, 1952 with ‘A Training Guide for Coaches and Athletes‘   with a sub-heading reading ‘Suggestions for Formulating Schedules‘.    This one ran to no fewer than five pages and can be accessed via the link.          There was a follow-up article in February and one in March which have been added below the first part at the link above.   It continued in the April/May,  and June 1952 issues which are also at the link.   It is a very interesting look at what was the accepted best practice of the period – preparations, warming up, sessions, etc, etc – and well worth comparison with what athletes are doing in the 21st century.   Does it stand up to comparison?   Forget the terminology, terminology in all aspects of life changes all the time.   Look at what he is saying – how much, if any, of it still stacks up?   Whatever way you look at it, it is a significant addition to what was available to Scottish Coaches and athletes of the day.

Montgomery continued to write his coaching articles – Throwing the Javelin in August ’52 was followed by a study of javelin thrower M Denley (Great Britain) by Chapman a month later, the two articles being complementary.   The coaching articles seem to have been well received by readers as they continued to be printed – eg in August/September 1953 there was Basic Athletic Principles by JV Lyons which ran to two issues – 4 pages + 2 1/2 pages;  and there were others such as Distance Running Aspects by LH Weatherill, a former England Track and Cross-Country International, and the articles by Arthur Newton which had been running since 1947.   Percy Cerutty was another who had been and would continue to appear regularly until the very last issue of the magazine.   

One of the most thought provoking series in the magazine was Web Centre by Brian Mitchell which began in January 1947 and can be accessed via this link: 

http://www.salroadrunningandcrosscountrymedalists.co.uk/Archive/The%20Scots%20Athlete%20Volumes/Volume%2011/SA%20Vol%2011,9-10.pdf

‘The Scots Athlete’ ceased publication in  June 1958.   Tony Chapman’s last article was the one quoted above.   There is no doubt that it had been a good mutually beneficial relationship – he got his message across, the magazine got many interesting articles that broadened the scope of the magazine and possibly gained them readers.  It also worked well for the Scottish athletics public and that was maybe the point of the whole exercise.

The 1968 version of his book.

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There was an Easter Weekend Training Course at Dunoon in March 1948 which was apparently a great success – reported on in ‘The Scots Athlete’ below.

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After the 1945 War the Olympics were held in London in 1948.   Britain wanted to well and in 1945 FAM Webster was appointed by the AAA in England to develop and oversee coaching.   As one consequence of this, Webster appointed Geoff Dyson who brought other very good coaches such as John Le Masurier on board.   Webster had written the classic coaching book (see here) and then during this period produced smaller books dealing with the training and development of athletics.   Three of these are below.   They are reproduced with thanks to Chris Holloway.

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After the War (’39/’45) there was a great thirst for coaching and technical  information) that the athlete could use on their own or as part ot an athletic club’s training programme.   The official handbooks as well as booklets and articles in magazines such as Athletics Weekly, Athletics World, Scots Athlete and others were well perused and there were many books on the topic.   Older books were reprinted or resurrected from the attic.Just some of these books are here below.

Runners were always anxious to do the right thing books about running were about something they were familiar with but books on circuit training, yes and even ballet exercises were bought and used or attempted.   It was hard after 20 or so years of running to get into some of the positions suggested in the books.   One such book was the following, sent by Joe Small (as was the one above).

The BAAB Booklets with their bright covers and many illustrations were welcomed by clubs and coaches all over the United Kingdom – nowhere more so than in Scotland but they followed the pattern of the AAA’s publications which were produced in the period of post-war austerity and were plainer in appearance but no less attractive in content to the athletics public.   Note the following.  eg the Middle Distance Running AAA’s by J W Ll Alford (National Coach for Wales) is clearly a fore runner of the edition with Herb Elliott’s picture put out in the late 50s/early 60’s.   F.A.M. Webster was appointed by the AAA as coach from 1945 – ’48 and was succeeded by Geoff Dyson.   A few of Webster’s covers are shown here.

Some even bore the WAAA imprint –

Just as with the BAAB books there were booklets dealing with officiating, organizing sports meetings and so on which were frequently updated.

Graham McDonald tells us that this is the third edition of the book published in the 1970’s – the books all had information that you might find interesting inside the cover – eg when it dates from and pages two and three from this one are below.

Photo from Keddie’s Centenary History of the SAAA

For all that St Modan’s AC was a very well known cross-country and road running club, it covered track and field athletics too with teams competing in the Scottish track league and individuals turning out in open sports meetings and highland gatherings.   The most successful and  well-known was George McLachlan, a Scottish and British internationalist, who started as a sprinter and hurdler before taking to the Decathlon where he won titles and set records.     He was the first Scot to run under 15 seconds for the 120 yards hurdles without wind assistance.   He did this at Edinburgh Highland Games on 18th August 1962 on a grass track in a time of 14.6 seconds when finishing second to Nigerian Alfred Belleh.   He himself had a time of 15.2 waiting for ratification but this time took 0.7 seconds from the existing record and ranked him number five in GB for the event.   He had been competing well for several years before that and had won the SAAA.s high hurdles in 1961 (15.4), it was at this point that he turned to the Decathlon.

His career was summaries as follows by John W Keddie in the excellent centenary of the SAAA,   “Scottish Athletics” –

“In George A McLachlan (St Modan’s AC) Scotland had another decathlete who was to develop his potential in the ensuing years (ie: after 1960).   In 1961 McLachlan won the Scottish title with a record 5666 points , and just over a month later, at Loughborough on 10th/11th August, was runner-up in the AAA event with 5777.   His great adversary in Scotland, the enthusiastic and hard-working John Alexander Jones of Trinity Academicals AC was 3rd in these Championships after being runner-up in the Scottish event.   As the winner was a Rhodesian, D Burger (6343) it could be said with justification that McLachlan and Jones were the top Britons that year.   They maintained good form the following year, though McLachlan had to play second fiddle to Australian Z Sumich (Sale Harriers) both in the SAAA and in the AAA Championships.   In the former, held at Westerlands on 8th/9th June, the scores were fairly modest – 5744 for Sumich to McLachlan’s 5456 – but the AAA decathlon saw a closer and higher scoring confrontation.   It was McLachlan’s finest performance though his UK record score of 6184  (6579 based on 1962 tables) was finally 53 points adrift of Sumich’s total.   McLachlan did not compete after 1962.”

We asked Graham McDonald (Pitreavie AAC) who met George at meetings and he said that  

The ranking performances below are taken from the www.scotstats.net website and George’s competitive record is at the foot of the table.   The same website tells us that he competed twice for Scotland – on20th August 1960 against Wales where he won the 120y hurdles, and in the same event against Holland on 18th August 1962 where he was second behind Alfred Belleh, a Nigerian living and studying in Scotland at the time, with Scotland filling the first two places.   Both were home fixtures.

St Modan’s AC club champions, end of season 1959/60

The Cross-country teams in the younger age groups were going from strength to strength in season 1959/60.   In the District Championships held at Renton, Dumbarton on 23rd January, 1960, the youths team had the first two finishers in the formidable double act of Willie Fleming and Mike Ryan.   With three to count in the team race they were unfortunate to be beaten by the better packing of the Monkland Harriers squad.   Result below.   

The same duo led the Youths team into second place in the national at Hamilton on 5th March where teams had have four runners finish to complete the team.   It was the same three runners who led the field in as it had been in the Districts, but the order had changed.  Finn won this time round and although Fleming was placed second and Ryan third, they were both given the same time.   The scoring runners were Fleming 2nd, Ryan 3rd, Rutherford 25th and R Gourlay 54th.   R Howden was the back up runner in 61st place.   In summer at the West District Championships at Westerlands on 28th May, J Cameron was second in the Junior 880 yards behind Hugh Barrow (VPAAC) who won in 1:59.4 seconds.   A week later, 4th June, in the Lanarkshire Constabulary Sports at Shawfield, Mike Ryan won the Handicap Mile in 4:11.1 running from 90 metres.   Another week later and Ryan was third in the handicap mile at the Glasgow Police Sports at Ibrox Park behind Renton of Teviotdale and Bert McKay of Motherwell.   At that same meeting team mate Willie Fleming ran in the 3000m steeplechase where he too finished third, behind R Henderson  (Braidburn) and J McLatchie (Muirkirk).     At the SAAA championships at the end of June, Ryan won the junior mile in 4:20.8, defeating Jim McLatchie of Ayr Seaforth and Jim Finn was in third.   After the championship meeting George McLachlan was selected for the AAA’s Championships  at Welwyn Garden City on July 8th and 9th.   In that championship, McLachlan was third with 5583 points behind C Andrews of the Army who set a new GB record of 6176 points and J McKinney of the Irish club Albert Foundry who scored 5732. 

Having run at Shawfield Stadium and Ibrox Park, it was local Brockville Park in Falkirk that welcomed the athletes for the Falkirk FC & Falkirk Victoria Harriers meeting on 30th July and Mike Ryan (50 yards) won the handicap mile from Willie Fleming (100 ) in 4:16.8.   At the Strathallan Games on 6th August McLachlan won the 100 yards on a grass track off half a yard in 9.8 seconds.   

It was now into the new 1960/61 season and in the Midland Relays on 5th November at Stepps, the St Modan’s AC team caused a stir when they finished third ahead of Victoria Park, Bellahouston Harriers and Springburn Harriers.   The team was made up of Charlie Meldrum (14:34), M Ryan (14:28), JH Murray (14:54) and W Fleming (14:37).   There was also a second team that finished 21st of the 38 teams that started the race.   Their team was R Rutherford (16:13), A Muir (16:26), D Clelland (15:43), AT Roy (16:12).   The packing in the first team was excellent with Ryan only 7 seconds behind the sixth time of the afternoon.  The Midland Championships were held at Renton on 21st January 1961.   In the Senior/Junior race, the team was fifth with Meldrum 6th, Ryan 13th, Murray 26th, Fleming 49th, Clelland 65th and Roy 80th.   There were three more runners who completed the course – Muir 91st, Kielt 100th and Howden 108th.   The return of Clelland was interesting and he would prove to b very useful to the club again.   In the Youths race, there was a new find for the club when J McHattie finished second, 5 seconds down on Jim Finn and 7 seconds up on Lachie Stewart; he was accompanied by Christie in 45th.    Goldie (12th), Brown (17th) and Lochrie (16th) saw the team finish in third place with other runners being Stewart (26th), Lennon (42nd) and Duffy (44th).   It had been another good day for the club.  

It was a weakened squad of senior men that faced the starter for the national championships at Hamilton on 4th March 1961.   The Senior team was led home by JH Murray in 46th, new man from Vale of Leven AAC Jimmy Garvey in 47th, A Galbraith in 137th and new senior AT Roy in 155th.   The Junior team of Ryan in second behind McLatchie and one place ahead of Jim Alder from Morpeth, Rutherford in 58th, Curran 66th and Howden 95th finished ninth of the 20 teams entered.   There were three runners in the Youths race – J Cameron 27th, D Christie 86th and A Drummond 87th.   The boys team was eighth of the 17 who ran: Goldie 31st, Brown 33rd, Lochrie 43rd and Tasker 73rd.   It was a much better turnout than during the dark days of the mid 50’s but there were many expected names missing – No Meldrum, no Clelland, no Fleming, No McHattie.   

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Picture and details from Graham McDonald

We have had a look at the career of George McLachlan above and it is appropriate to have a look at another club stalwart, and more than that, Charlie Meldrum.   He had been running for the club as a Youth (U17) and after a spell at Jordanhill where he ran for the college on the track and the club in winter.   After his time at College he became a PE teacher at Riverside Secondary School in Stirling.   He returned to the club and the standard and numbers competing rose notably.   He served on the club committee reaching the position of President.   Athletically, he was often in the first 10 finishers in good quality cross-country races and there were other open races (eg 6th in the SAAA steeplechase, he won the 8 lap steeplechase at Ibrox in the Rangers Sports,, and the New Year’s Dar Race at Beith where he was second in the scratch race).   He also became an official starter and officiated at many good races on track and over the country.   Involved in official training he helped many new starters including the well known and highly respected Barry Craighead.   Barry says that apart from the legendary Fred Evans, Charlie “was my mentor and inspiration.”   Dick Littlejohn was the starter’s marksman for both of them.   Unfortunately Charlie died in a car crash far too soon on his way to officiate in an international match.   A very good clubman, a runner, an official, and highly respected.   If he was not working at a meeting he would be out cheering on and encouraging the rest of the team.    All clubs need members like that.

In summer 1961, the West District Championships were held at Westerlands on 27th May, and it was a good day for the club.   To start with George McLachlan was third in the 100 yards, and second in the 220 yards, Mike Ryan was third in the Mile, Charlie Meldrum won the steeplechase from Tom O’Reilly, WA Christie was third in the javelin, and J Cameron was second in the Youths Mile.   A gold, two silver and three bronze medals on the same Saturday.    The Glasgow Police Sports were held on 10th June at Ibrox and Charlie Meldrum was second in the 3000m steeplechase behind T Thomson of Paisley to whom he was conceding 35 yards in the handicap.   In the Junior 880 yards, JR Cameron was second.  Meanwhile on the same day Jimmy Garvie was third in the Scottish Marathon Club’s 12 mile road race at Springburn in Glasgow.  

The SAAA Championships were held at New Meadowbank on 24th June.   Mike Ryan continued his successful career when he was third in the Mile behind Graham Everett and Kenny Ballantyne – two really top class milers.   WA Christie was third in the javelin, G McLachlan won the 120 yards hurdles, in the Junior Hammer JR Cameron was second and in the Youths Shot Putt competition, H Cameron won with 44′ 5 1/2″   It had been probably the best AAA’s championships for St Modan’s AAC ever.   Two firsts, one second and two third place medals was a more than respectable haul.   

 George McLachlan won the SAAA Decathlon on 1st July at Redford Barracks, Edinburgh from JA Jones and RL Hay.   His best performances were noted by the Glasgow Herald as 10.9 for the 100 metres, 15.5 for the 110 metres hurdles and 10′ 8 1/4″ in the pole vault.   The first three were selected to compete in the AAA’s event at Loughborough on August 11/12th; McLachlan and Christie were picked to compete for the SAAA against Atalanta the following Saturday.   In that match, McDonald was second to Belleh in the 120 yards hurdles, and he was part of the relay team with the members of Victoria Parl that broke the Pitreavie arena record.   Christie missed the javelin but McDonald filled the gap and finished third.   On 29th July at the Falkirk Sports at Brockville Park, George McDonald was the star of the show with a victory in the special invitation 100 yards in 10.0 on the grass track.   The Strathallan Gathering was always held on the first Saturday in July and Graham McDonald inspected his programme for the 1961 meeting and tells us that there were no fewer than nine men from the club competing that day: 

It had been a splendid season for the club with almost every event from 100 yards to the marathon and several field events being contested at championship standard – or every event if you count George McLachlan on his own.   What would the winter bring?

Winter 1961/62 saw the club with two teams in the Midlands District Relay Championship with the A Team finishing sixth and the B Team 23rd.   Mike Ryan had the third fastest of the day behind John Linaker and Andy Brown of Motherwell.   The runners and their times were:-

A Team:  J Garvie  13:51;   M Ryan 12:26; D Clelland  14:21;  C Meldrum  13:32.      B Team:   A Roy 14:56; A Cameron  15:42; G Pearson  15:14;  I Howden  16:04. 

The reason for the two teams was soon in evidence: the club was taking part in the eight man Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay.   It was a prestigious event, entry limited to 20 clubs and by invitation only.   The race was held on 18th November, 1961, and the names on the programme from whom the team would be chosen were

The chosen runners, in order and place in the race were as follows:   

H Taylor  1st stage  16th; M Ryan   2nd stage  15th;   R Rutherford  3rd stage  19th; W Fleming  4th stage  19th;   AT Roy  5th stage  19th; J Garvie  6th stage  19th;  GG Pearson  7th stage  20th;  D Clelland  8th stage 18th.

It should be noted that the second and sixth stages are generally regarded as the toughest because they are the longest but, more importantly most of the very best runners in the country tackled them.   Nor is the race itself for the faint hearted – there were always lots of supporters in cars, team buses  or even on motor bikes following the race roaring their runners on.  The course wound through villages, along open roads with fields on either side, across busy roads, there were stewards at all corners and junctions (often enough there was a policeman directing traffic) and it was a daunting experience.   Very few runners could turn on their best performance in their first appearance in the race.   It is notable that the man who picked up most places was the man who had experience of the event when running for Falkirk Victoria – Dave Clelland.   The absence of Charlie Meldrum must have been a blow to the club’s chances too.   It was however a good solid performance – not in the last two so not an automatic bar to competing the next year.

The Midland District Championships in January 1962, were held a Strathleven on 20th January 1962 and in the Senior/Junior race, Mike Ryan was the first St Modan’s runner when he crossed the line in seventh to be first Junior.    The other club members to finish were J Garvey 37th and H Taylor 60th.   In the Youths race,H Lochrie was 10th, T Goldie 13th and J McHattie 14th to see the team finish 4th.   There was alsos a Boys race where the trio of J Fleming 6th, T Brown 7th and W Samson 13th was third team with the club also represented by H Tasker 21st and I McRae 22nd.   The National was held at Hamilton Racecourse on 3rd March 1962.    The senior men on the day were  J Garvie 89th, A Galbraith 126th, G Pearson 148th.   In the Junior race, Mike Ryan was the only club man and he was third,   In the Youth Race, J McHattie was ninth and, again, the club only had the one runner forward.   

In the Boys race, St Modan’s won a first national championship.   Newcomer Walter Eadie was third behind D Middleton and R Wedlock followed by Tom Brown sixth, Jim Fleming twelfth annd W Samson twenty eighth.

The summer came around and the club was represented in meetings as usual with championship performances noted here. First, in the West District Championships at Westerlands on 28th May, Mike Ryan ran in the Three Miles and finished second to Calum Laing of Glasgow University and George McLachlan won the 120 yards hurdles. and G Thomson was also second – in the discus.  Another promising young middle distance runner made his first championship appearance when he was second in the Junior 880 yards – Tom Brown was behind Dabney of Ayr Seaforth and ahead of Middleton of Springburn.

In the SAAA Championships on 23rd June, McHattie won the Junior mile in 4:23.1 to duplicate Mike Ryan’s victory and be the only St Modan’s athlete to win a medal at the meeting.   On 28th July, at Falkirk, McLachlan was third in the invitation 100 yards sprint which was hotly contested – all the top sprinters in the country had come along and three heats were required to get the finalists.   McLachlan was only beaten by WM Campbell and RW Whitelock.  Mike Ryan was second in the mile behind W Morrison of Larkhall.  In August, 10/11th, George McLachlan set  Scottish and British records for the decathlon when finishing second to Z Sumach.  Sumach was not eligible for the record since he had only come to Britain from Austraalia 18 months previusly.    He actually led until the second last event – the javelin – when Sumach went well ahead in points.   McLachlan was in front ot Sumach in the 1500m but not far enough to catch him or the title.   One week later at Murrayfield in the match against Holland, McLachlan was second to Alfred Belleh in the 129 yards hurdles to ensure maximum points for Scotland who won the match by only one single point.  

The winter 1962/63 Relays were held again at King’s Park in Stirling and the St Modan’s team ran well enough to finish sixth of 37 teams with the result as below:

Mike Ryan had the third fastest time of the day and the team above had a good blend of youth and experience – Jimmy Garvie had a few years of running experience behind on the road and on the track, and McHattie was at the other end as a Junior man while Mike Ryan was an experienced medal winner for the club on the track, road and country with Taylor a solid club runner.   The District Championships were held at Strathleven again on 19th January 1963 and again Mike led the team home when he finished eighth.   Jimmy Garvie was 41st, J Gray was 81st, Charlie Meldrum (now a PE Teacher at Riverside HS in Stirling) 88th, G Pearson 93rd, I Howden 105th and AT Roy 114th.   The Boys race was won by J Fleming of the St Modan’s team with J Sloan close up in fourth with D Aitken eighth.   Their 13 points won the team competition from Springburn who had 20.  Withe 7 finishers in the senior race, the club had more than any year for some time and with first individual and first team in the boys race, they had good cause to celebrate.   

The National Championships were held at Hamilton on 3rd March, 1963 and the in the Junior Men’s race Ryan was second and McHattie 13th.   In the Youths event there were several ‘new boys’ who would prove to be excellent athletes.   Tom Brown finished fifth, less than 20 seconds behind the third placed runner in a race won by Ian McCafferty from Ian Young of Springburn, R Carroll of Edinburgh and Jim Brennan of Maryhill.   The next club finisher was Walter Eadie in 18th and he was another talented runner who led the Strathclyde University team for several years, Alastair Macfarlane was 40th in his first ever National at Hamilton and he would go on to win many  races on track, road and country including the Scottish Marathon Championship, and Marshall Prentice in 46th completed the team which finished fifth.   In the Boys race, Jim Fleming finished fifth, D Aitken was 13th, I Sloan 19th, A Roberts was 38th, T McAllister 59th  to have the team finish third and go home with medals from the Scottish National Championship.  

Mike Ryan was running well and Willie Fleming was still running, there was a very good Under 17 team led by Tom Brown and young Jim Fleming was coming through in the Boys Under 15 age group.   Something else was happening – Allan Faulds was running very well for Glasgow University and in March 1963 he joined his local club – St Modan’s.   It was a massive gain for the club.   

.Allan Faulds winning the Springburn Cup from Mike Bradley, Paisley Harriers

Allan led  them to second place in the Springburn Cup race almost immediately thereafter.  In 1963 there was a Central League for young athletes run by a group containing Alex Naylor (Shettleston), Bert Winter (Bellahouston) and others and St Modan’s had athletes taking part in it.  There was no limit on the numbers entered by any club but only the first two scored any points.   Entries across the board were not required.   There was also a winter league and on 2nd March St Modan’s had athletes entered for the meeting which took place in Pollokshaws.  In the Senior Boys race, J Fleming won from Eddie Knox of Springburn by 17 seconds, with D Aitken third and since they also had the fourth finisher, they won the team race.   In the Youths race, Tom Brown was second to Ian Young of Springburn being beaten by 13 seconds.   The team was second with 20 points.   Springburn (10) and Victoria Park (26) were first and third.  

For the club, the track season again had its moments of triumph .   The Western District Championships were held on 25th May at Westerlands and J McHattie was second to Lachie Stewart in the Three Miles with Billy Murray of Glenpark in third and Hamish Cameron third in the Hammer in the Senior events.   Tom Brown was second to Hugh Barrow in the Junior Mile.       On 1st June at the Lanarkshire Constabulary Sports at Shawfield, Tom Brown won the 880 yards and J McHattie won the Mile.   At Falkirk on 27th July, George McLachlan won the special invitation 100 yards.   In the Open 220 yards, DV Smith of St Modan’s won in 22.4 seconds from 14 yards handicap.   Later in the season, at Shotts on 7th September, Tom Brown was third in the Two Miles behind Ian McCafferty and Jim Johnston (Monkland).

The West District Relay was held on October 26th, 1963 at Stirling and were responsible for the programmes and the trail stewards – these might have weakened the teams but were an indicator of a club with fairly healthy numbers.   The club did fairly well.   Ryan was fourth fastest individual and the team finished sixth.   The other runners in the team were McHattie, Prentice and Pearson.   There was a second team of Murray, Meldrum, Rutherford and Howden.   Reserves were Garvie, Galbraith, Gray and Faulds.   There were over 60 teams in the event. 

Allan Faulds kept running well in the colours of Glasgow University but young Walter Eadie was also running well – but in the club’s colours.   On 2nd November in the Garscube Harriers Open Races for younger age groups, Walter was third fastest Youth and the team finished second behind Springburn.   Eadie was also second fastest behind Knox on 23rd November in the Clydesdale Harriers Youths race.   Duncan Middleton of Springburn was third and Tom Brown was fourth for St Modan’s.   The race incorporated a Ballot Team competition to give all runners the opportunity to win a team prize and Tom Brown was in the winning team with Eadie in the second placed team.   

Away from the competition arena, at the SAAA AGM on 21st December, 1963, Joe Walker was elected Vice-President to the Association.   He would go on to be President for 1965/66.

The Midlands Championships were held on 18th January at the Renton Dumbarton.   The St Modan’s Youth team of Brown 5th, Eadie 6th, and Fleming 8th were second to Springburn’s team of Middleton 1st, Knox 3rd and McLean 12th.   In the Boys race, R Clarke was 9th, I McShane 17th, and I Harvey 28th.   Nationals were again held at Hamilton at the start of March and there were only three Boys – I McShane 65th, R McLean 80th, I Harvey 87th – when four were required for a team.  There was a team of Youths, a GOOD team too – of  W Eadie 4th, T Brown 5th, J Fleming 19th and A Macfarlane 31st – which finished second 10 points behind Edinburgh AC and 38 in front of Kirkcaldy YMCA.   Marshall Prentice had by now gone to Glasgow University and was running for them and finished 69th.   Allan Faulds was also running for Glasgow University and was 14th in the Senior race.     Only G Pearson ran in the Senior Men’s race and finished 157th.   Charlie Meldrum was among four noted as ‘Failed to finish’.   

How was the club faring on the track in summer ’64?   They were competing in the Track League (three clubs, each scored against the other two making it three two-club competitions) and the Glasgow Herald of 11th May reported like this.

 A very good start to the summer with two victories out of two and a significant number of victories.   One week later in a similar format match, they beat RCST by 58 to 49, and Glasgow University 58 to 44.   On 23rd May, in another three-club league contest they defeated Maryhill Harriers by 83 to 56, and Forth Valley 77 to 60.   Despite all this league success which meant turning out many athletes week after week, there was a disappointing number of club members among the medals at the West District Championships at the very end of May.   Tom Brown,  second in the Junior Mile was the sole medallist.   Walter Eadie was performing well for the RCST and won the Universities Championship Three Miles in 15:07.4 from Jim Bogan of Glasgow University on 6th June.   Distance seemed no object to Tom Brown who travelled to Kinlochleven HG on 4th July where he won the mile handicap race from Knox  of Shettleston.   

The SAAA Championships were held on 27th June   Again Tom Brown was second in the Junior Mile and H Cameron won the Junior Hammer Throw.   Cameron was really in form when on 8th August at the AAA’s championships at Crystal Palace he won the British Hammer Championship by four feet with a best of 183′  6 1/2″  .   The track season ended at the local Highland Games with Tom Brown winning the 880 yards and finishing second to Ian McCafferty in the Mile.   It was then on to the Cross-Country for 1964/65.

In the McAndrew Relay at Scotstoun on 3rd October, 1964, the club achieved its highest position yet when it was eighth, 14 seconds behind promoting club Victoria Park.   Motherwell won the race.   The test of the squad came at the start of November when the took part in the Midland District Relay.   This was really the first time Allan Faulds had run in a championship for the club.  The team of Tom Brown (13:04), George Jackson (13:15), Allan Faulds (12:50) and H McHattie (13:47) finished third – the first time they had won medals in a major championship as a senior team.   George Jackson was another interesting  runner.   He was a member of two clubs – a member of another club affiliated to the SAAA, he had to join another to run cross-country under SCCU rules.   The National was held on 16th January at the Renton and unfortunately, the club could only turn out four runners in the Senior race.   These were Faulds (10th), Meldrum (33rd), M Coyne (91st) and G Pearson (105th).   There were no Youths and only one one Boy, W Adam who finished third.   Not a good championship.  

In the National at Hamilton on 27th February, 1965, there were no runners from St Modan’s in any of the races at all, although in the Junior race Walter Eadie finished fifth in the colours of Strathclyde University and won a place in the Scottish Junior team for the ICCU Championships in Belgium.   There were five entered on the programme for the senior race- Faulds, Coyne, Jackson, Meldrum and Pearson, two juniors – Brown and Macfarlane, one Youth Fleming and no Boys at all.   Where was the club going from here?  They had many good runners and a complete Track & Field team in the summer just gone.   What was happening?

Mike Ryan emigrated to New Zealand in 1965 and subsequently won bronze medals in the marathon in the 1966 Commonwealth Games and the 1968 Olympic Games.

There were no medals for the club at either the West District or the SAAA Championships on 25th June, 1966.   In fact it was difficult to find nems of club members at any meetings that year including the Dunblane Highland Gathering, and there was no reporting at all of the track leagues.   

The following winter started with the McAndrew  Relay at Scotstoun on 2nd October and the team finished ninth with Allan Faulds turning in the fifth fastest time of the day.   Next relay was the Midland District event on 30th October at Stirling.   The team did exceptionally well and finished third for the second successive year.   Runners this time were Jackson 13:44, Meldrum 13:57, Faulds 12:57 and Brown 13:41.   Only the formidable Motherwell and Shettleston teams were in front of them.   They had B and C Teams out which finished 17th with J Fleming, G Pearson, K Henderson and F Flynn) and 32nd (M Coyne, J Murray, J Talbot and J McHattie).   Results from the Midland Championships on 15th January 1965 are not available but we do know that Allan Faulds was third finisher – ne place ahead of I McCafferty of Motherwell YMCA.    

The National of 1966 was quite significant for followers of St Modan’s AC.   There was no St Modan’s AC team entered but there was a Stirling AC team in the programme.   Their senior runners were 

Yes, St Modan’s had changed their name. to Stirling AC which would be a short lived club.   Their athletes would go on have good careers with other clubs but Scottish athletics was diminished – as it always when a good local club disappears from the scene.   It had done well by the people of Stirling and had produced in its short life since 1947 two British track & field champions – George McLachlan and H Cameron, and several Scottish champions in the mile, the 120 yards hurdles and the hammer throw as well as cross country champions across all the age groups.   The question of why it changed is asked, and the reply is that the club stopped using St Modan’s HS as its headquarters and moved elsewhere.   The new name maybe had added advantages.  

1947 – 52   1952 – 60

Above: The 1953 SAAA Marathon

Although the 1952 – 60 period started fairly well with the club with Joe McGhee being one of the best in Scotland, the decade as a whole was a poor one with the club losing their three best athletes over the period – Stewart Petty joined Bellahouston Harriers, Joe McGhee left for Shettleston and club captain Dave Clelland joined Falkirk Victoria Harriers in 1954.   Others were at institutions of further education  such as Glasgow University or teacher training college.    Petty joined Edinburgh Southern Harriers and was a member when Ian McKenzie joined in 1952.  Ian comments, “he was in Southern when I joined in 1952 and he remained a member for at least the next 40 years. He also married a fellow ESH member, living in Edinburgh for many years before moving to Dunfermline. When he finished his career as a half miler he took to running cross country for enjoyment rather than as a serious competitor, he established a group of fellow runners which he called “the scrubbers”. He was also a great supporter of SVHC, running in most club races, especially the Xmas handicap at Bishopbriggs which I don’t think he ever missed. In the summer he competed at the vets champs usually throwing the discus until well into his 50’s., such was his love of the sport.”   The club seemed depressed thereafter but things started to look up when Charles Meldrum really started working for the club.   A teacher who temporarily ran summer seasons for the training college, he was a good runner, a good club administrator and a very busy starter at sports meetings.   

Unfortunately the club championships and domestic races have not been recorded in the popular Press: paper was scarce, coverage of athletics was scanty and the only club championships covered were of the older established and successful clubs such as Shettleston Harriers, Victoria Park, Bellahouston Harriers and when it came to Stirlingshire, Falkirk Victoria Harriers got the coverage.  The pattern of the decade was (a) a promising start; (b) a disappointing meddle and (c) a really upbeat end to the decade wit District and National medals being won.  For this section we have to rely mainly on what can be gleaned from the pages of the ‘Scots Athlete’ and the ‘Glasgow Herald’ as well as the official Scottish Athletics historical archive at 

http://www.salroadrunningandcrosscountrymedalists.co.uk/Archive/index.html

1952/53 started off with the McAndrew Relays organised by Victoria Park AAC at Scotstoun in Glasgow.   Held on 4th October, there were 27 teams entered and the St Modan’s team finished 16th with the runners being J McCracken (16:47), A Galbraith (17:41), J McGhee (16:11) and D Clelland (16:49).   McGhee’s summer marathons had not blunted his speed but rather seemed to have enhanced it.   The annual Clydesdale Harriers Youth Ballot Team Race was on 1st November and was won by G Tierney of Cambuslang with St Modan’s being represented by D Kaney who finished 15th of the 47 runners and as part of the second placed Ballot team (the others were J McGregor of Greenock Wellpark in fourth and G Wallace of Shettleston in 18th).   One week later the Midland District 4-man relay took place at Stepps and Joe McGhee was on the first stage where he finished second to D Kennedy of Bellahouston in 13:24 before sending D Kaney (15:52) off on the second stage.   J Murray was next up (14:54) followed by J Kielt (15:14) to bring the team home.   McGhee had fourth fastest time of the day behind Bannon of Shettleston, Kennedy of Bellahouston and Calderwood of Victoria Park, and Harry Fenion of Bellahouston was fifth.   He was starting to be noticed by the athletics community at large – his opponents had already seen enough to convince them of his class.   

The Midland District championship were held at Lenzie on 31st January, 1953, and McGhee did indeed have a high place – fourth behind Bannon, Breckenridge and Fenion – unfortunately the St Modan’s team failed to finish the requisite number of runners for a place in the team competition.   The runners who did finish were A Galbraith 59, A Kielt 73, D Clelland 76 and P Donnelly 85..   Clelland was not displaying his usual high standard of running and the impression is that he was injured or could not get the appropriate training done.   Either way, it was unfortunate for the club.   In the Youths race there was only one finisher – FD Kaney was 23rd.     

Emmet Farrell in the February, 1953 ,issue of ‘The Scots Athlete’ had this to say in the course of his predictions for the national cross-country:    “McGHEE HAS STAMINA AND USEFUL PACE.   That promising young marathoner, Joe McGhee of St Modan’s may win his first International vest.   He has consistently taken high places in comparatively short distance events demonstrating that he does not lack speed, and the extra mileage of the National should suit a runner with his marathon background.”     The National was held on 28th February at Hamilton and in the Senior 9 Miles Race McGhee had a disappointing run to finish in 11th place and fail to make the team.   It must have been disappointing for him to be the only St Modan’s runner to turn out in the Senior National.    Farrell in his post race comments revealed that McGhee, who was doing his National Service in the RAF, had raced mid-week in a services race and that that had maybe affected his performance.   There were no club runners in the Junior race, and only one in the Youths event – D Kaney, who was 23rd.   

St Modan’s were still holding their annual open sports meeting and it was on 2nd May in 1953.   The first open sports meeting in the west of Scotland it attracted a large and high quality entry.   Their own runner Joe McGhee won the 15 mile road race in 90:49 from Harry Howard of Shettleston and Alex McLean of Glenpark.   A raw nerve may have been touched when JS Petty turned out for the winning Bellahouston relay team.   A note of the main event winners indicates the standard of the meeting.

100: JF McLaughlin (Bellahouston)  10.7 sec;   220: R Mill (VPAAC)  23.7 seconds;  880 yards:  RM Leslie (Tayside)  2 minutes.

Mile:  F Scally (Shettleston)  4:27;  Two Miles:  A Breckenrdige (VPAAC) 9:43.9;  Team race:  VPAAC 7 points.

Women:  100 yards:  E Hay (Q Club) 12.0;  220 yards: SS Turner (Bellahouston) 27.7;  Relay:   Ardeer Recreation Club.

On June 6th, McGhee travelled to Dundee and won the 15 miles round the city road race in 78:13 from Chick Robertson.

A Young Joe McGhee, front, right, starting in the Perth to Dundee Road RaceI

Picture from Bob Donald

In his preview of the SAAA Championships to be held in June, Farrell told us that JS Petty was in good form but that he was now a member of Bellahouston Harriers.   In his predictions for the marathon he forecast that it would fall to CD Robertson of Dundee Thistle although if there had to be a surprise, then it would probably come from J McGhee of St Modan’s ‘whose current form has been so good.’   The race was held on 27th June, 1953, and run from Laurieston (Falkirk) to New Meadowbank.   Always up with the leaders – Duffy of Hadleigh, McLean of Greenock Glenpark, P Collins of Edinburgh University – McGhee led at 5 miles in 28:20.   “The pace was a cracker and of the leaders McLean looked the fittest.   Duffy always gave the impression that he was punishing himself although he looked very sun bronzed and fit.   Joe McGhee looked his usual self.   At the 10 miles watering point McGhee still led by a few yards from Duffy with McLean training along.”     By 15 miles Duffy led in 1:25:09 with McGhee and McLean in close attendance.   McLean went in front at 18 miles and at 20 miles he led in 1:55.1, Duffy was on 1:55:50 with McGhee dropped to 1:57.0.   At 24 miles it was McLean 2:20:57,  Duffy 2:22:05  ,  and McGhee  “running well” in 2:23:32.   McLean unfortunately faltered and eventually, almost within sight of the stadium, started to walk.   Duffy passed him with a mile to go and won by 43 seconds with McGhee only 19 seconds further back.   A medal for McGhee but the feeling at the time was that if he had punished himself a bit more, he could have won the title.   

McGhee was in long distance action again on 29th August when he took part in the Perth – Dundee Road Race.   In a very competitive race he was second in 2:01:32 behind EI Smith of Leeds Harehills  (2:01:13) and ahead of A Lawton, also Leeds Harehills, (2:02:40).   The first two were inside the previous best time for the course.     

The Midland District relays were held at Millerston as usual on 7th November and the St Modan’s team, minus the top runners of recent years, was ninth of the 26 teams in the race with A McHugh (14:58), D Kaney (15:28), J Murray (15:24) and J Kielt (15:25).   It was a more evenly balanced team with all runners contributing an even share of the work.   The ‘Scots Athlete’ of February 1954 forecast that J McGhee would finish fifth in the National Cross-Country – running in the colours of Shettleston Harriers.   A huge blow to any club to lose such a talented athlete but McGhee had been coached by Allan Scally of Shettleston for some time and felt that he should join his club.   In the Midland Championship at Lenzie on 6th February, McGhee ran well enough to be fourth for his new club but could not count in the team race as his change of club had been so recent.   There was no St Modan’s team in the event.   In the National Championships at Hamilton, there was only one from the club in the Senior race – J Lynn who was 65th – and one  more J Murray, ran in the Junior race where he finished 36th.   

With no one running in the finals of the SAAA Championships of 1954, it was down to the Junior SAAA event and there J Irvine was third in the 440 yards in 54.3 seconds.   Although there were many open meetings across the country – amateur highland games, sports meetings such as Babcock and Wilcox, Singer’s, etc, although sports clubs promoted their own events, coverage at the time was scanty and so tracing the activities of individuals in an individual sport is difficult.   In the course of just over a year, St Modan’s had lost Stewart Petty to Bellahouston and Joe McGhee to Shettleston.   They had been far and away the best runners the club had produced and among the best in the country and their loss must have depressed the club somewhat.   

Into winter 1954/55 and there was no St Modan’s team among the 29 in the McAndrew Relay.   The Midland relay also came and went without a club team being forward.   By the Midland Championship at Lenzie on 29th January 1955, St Modan’s were back in action.   In the Senior race, C Meldrum was12th finisher – a very good run at a time when the standard was high, followed by J Lynn in  109th.   In the Youths race, T Gunning was 18th.   In the National on 25th February, Lynn was the only senior in action and he was 115th.   T Gunning was the sole representative in the Youths race, finishing 41st.     Note that the Falkirk Victoria senior team was led home by a  D Clelland in 15th with the team sixth.

There was an interesting finalist in the 1955 SAAA steeplechase – CM Meldrum of Jordanhill Training College finished fifth in 9:59.9.  This was the same CM Meldrum that had been racing for St Modan’s for several years – he still kept the club membership but while at the college took part in summer competition under their colours.   Numbers competing were still small and it is a tribute that the club continued to work as well as it did through these difficult times.   There was no club team in the McAndrew relay in October, nor was there among the 32 teams in the Midland District relay, there was one runner in the Clydesdale Harriers Youths race where M Roy finished 36th.   The next appearance by club members in a championship race came in the District Championships at Lenzie on 28th January, 1956.   In the senior race, entered as individuals, were Charles Meldrum in 28th, J Murray 71st and J Kielt 100th.   In the Youths race, joint sixth team with Glasgow University was the St Modan’s trio of A Gunning 17th, A Roy 23rd and DM Flaherty 30th.   Unfortunately in the National at Hamilton, there were no seniors entered although A Galbraith ran for Glasgow University and in the Youths race there were two runners – PM Flaherty in 50th and A Roy 59th.  

In the Youths Kingsway Relay Race at Dundee in October 1956, the St Modan’s quartet was seventh with AT Roy recording 8:04, M Conlon 8:22, GG Pearson 8:44 and PM Flaherty 9:07.   It was first time for the race and the team was 3 seconds behind the home team (Dundee Hawkhill) and exactly one minute behind the winners.    Then at Stepps on 3rd November in the Midland District relay, the team finished 15th with JH Murray on the first stage running 15:42, Charlie Meldrum being next up in 14:49, J McCracken 15:16 and JJ Kielt 15:58.   In the National, Meldrum was 67th  while Dave Clelland was 46th for FVH.   In the Youths race, the club was fifth out of 15 teams – GM Dewar 13th, AT Roy 27th, GG Pearson 49, Millar 38th (the scoring quartet), JA Turpie 62nd and TG Harrower 97th.   The team was again one place behind Dundee Hawkhill (3 points), one place ahead of Falkirk Victoria.   

There were several small clubs in and around Stirling in the 1950’s and in the  SAAA Youths championships on 6th July 1957 there were athletes who had already represented St Modan’s turning out for smaller clubs.   In the half mile championship for instance the winner was GM Dewar and second was GG Pearson.  They were both representing Tillicoultry & Hillfoots AC and the race was won in 2:05.7.    Other than the Scottish championships, the biggest track and field meeting in Scotland at the time was the Rangers Sports.  The standard of competition was high, the numbers of competitors was also high.   Held on the first Saturday in August every year, this was the year that Charlie Meldrum of St Modan’s won the handicap steeplechase held over 8 laps of the track.   Running from a mark of 230 yards he won in a time of 10:00.2.   The last meeting of the season was a local meeting for the club and the Dunblane Highland Games were held on 14th September.   The only club winner was G MacLachlan who won the 100 yards from a mark of 5 1/2 yards in  10.0 seconds.    1956/57 had been a good year for the club, but better was to come in the near future.

A Young Mike Ryan preparing to run at Springburn

Photo from Bobby Mills

1957/58 was the season when Mike Ryan started to show his ability as a distance runner with a series of good performances.   on 28th December in Pollok Estate he won the won the Richmond Trophy two mile event beating Lachie Stewart by 200 yards.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ named hio as favourite for the Midland title at this point.

In the Midland Championships on 25th January, 1958 the Youths team was third behind Shettleston and Springburn Harriers and ahead of Victoria Park AAC.   The runners were led home by GM Dewar in sixth place.   In the Boys race Mike Ryan was first club man home in third place and the team second.    Two sets of team medals plus one individual.   The best club performance in a major championship for several years.   The National at Hamilton would be even better.    

National Youths results, March 1958

In March 1958 the signs of the upturn in the club’s fortunes became really clear when,  on the first of the month in the National cross-country championships at Hamilton, there was another St Modan’s team competing which won medals in the nationals.   If we go through the age groups in order we see that C Meldrum in the Senior ace was 31st, with J Murray 56th; then in the Junior race, AT Roy ran as an individual and finished 70th.   and then came the breakthrough.   The Youths team finished second only 13 points behind Shettleston.   The runners were GM Dewar 7th, AR Brown 20th, A Cameron 27th and GC Pearson 33rd forming the team and WM Lumsden 59th as back-up.   There were over 100 runners.     For the first time ever there was a race for Boys under 15 in the National and there was a St Modan’s team out in it.   Mike Ryan was second, T Lavin tenth, F Simpson 19th, R Rutherford 20th for a team total of 51 points and second team behind George Heriot’s School.   The back-up runners were R Ross 52nd, J Howden 64th and J Ward 75th.    The club had been represented in all four races and won two team silvers and one individual silver too.   Far and away the best club performance up to that point.    

If winter ’57/’58 was good, ’58/’59 was almost but not quite as good.   In the Midland Relay at Stepps on 1st November there was a St Modan’s senior/junior men’s team of C Meldrum, (13:41), A Roy (14:03), J Murray (14:47) and G Dewar (14:45) which finished 15th of 33 starting teams.    In the actual championship, held in JamuaryRobin Gourlay was third in the Under 13 boys race and Willie Fleming was second behind Glasgow University’s Jim Bogan, in the Under 17 Men’s race leading the team to third place with 42 points behind Bellahouston’s 31 and the winning team (Vale of Leven) which had 23 points.   Detailed results for Senior and Junior races are not available.    In the National at Hamilton there were no seniors in action, but AT Roy turned out in the Junior Men’s race finishing 60th.   The Youths team was led home by Willie Fleming who won from Jim Johnston of Monkland Harriers but there were only three seconds in it.   The team was eighth of 16 starting teams and had five runners,   Fleming was first, Rutherford was 30th, AR Brown 47th, R Curran 67th and J Howden 71st.   There was also a team in the Boys race – and a total of 4 runners from the club.   They were  R Gourlay 16th, R Ross 53rd, S Drummond 58th and B Lauder 62nd for the team to be eighth of 20.   There was however a rather ominous sign in the summer of 1959 when GM Dewar won the SAAA Junior 440 yards title in 51.2 seconds – but he was representing Shettleston Harriers at the time.   The good news from the same championship meeting was that a St Modan’s member won the Junior high jump with a 5′ 7″ clearance and his name was I Campbell.   Graham McDonald has the programme for the Dunblane Highland Games in 1959 and there were several club men entered there.   

What would the Sixties bring for St Modan’s AAC?   

St Modan’s AAC 1947 – 1952       St Modan’s 1960 – 66

The above information comes from the Scots Athlete” of October/November 1947 and notes the first affiliation of St Modan’s AAC, noted as St Modan’s High School AAC.   St Modan’s High School was located in Stirling and the all-ages club affiliated in 1947  would produce many very good athletes as a school but also as a separate club within the SAAA fold.   Names Like Joe McGhee, Mike Ryan and Allan Faulds would wear the club vest with distinction.   

However St Modan’s AAC had been founded in 1933 by, among others, the highly respected and well liked Joe Walker and entered teams from the high school thereafter.  It would seem to have been a school club only since only teams in the Youths (Under 17) age group were entered.   eg at National Championship level, there were no teams in any age group entered in 1934, ’35 or ’36 and a team (J Doran 28, P Donnelly 41, P Cafferty 51 and W Power 55) from ‘St Modan’s School’ finished 13th in the Youths race.   In 1938 only two boys ran in the same age group – J Docherty 59th and P Donnelly 82nd.   

That the club in 1947 was well organised can be seen from some of the first results – we can look at some championship races over the first few years in the following tables.   Midland District Relays first

Midland District Championships

Among the names mentioned above, Charles Meldrum would become one of the real club stalwarts – a good runner, he was an excellent administrator and committee man and a well known starter at races all over the country.   Mike Ryan would win medals in every national championships at every age group until he emigrated to New Zealand in whose colours he won third place medal at the Mexico Olympics in the marathon.   

1950: Hamilton: SCCU Championship: Willie Fleming in front with Mile Ryan behind

Photo from Willie Fleming

It can be noted that the despite the fact that the school/club only officially registered with the SAAA in October 1947, 17 year old Stewart Petty won the SAAA Junior 880 yards championship at Rugby Park in Kilmarnock on 28th June, before only about 100 spectators.    James Logan, writing in the ‘Scots Athlete’ remarked that he won in the ‘very moderate’ time of 2 min 11.8 sec but he ‘has since proved his ability to beat this time by at least 11 seconds.’ 

If we go back to the beginning with the 1947/48 cross-country  season we see that the first mention of the new club was when C Girvan (St Modan’s AC) ran in the Clydesdale Harriers Youths two and a half mile road race on 8th November where he finished eighth of the 74 runners.   The first  championship held that winter was the Scottish Novice Championship at Pollok Estate on 22nd November, 1947.   Held over 5 miles in ‘adverse weather conditions’ and won by Joe Duffy of Garscube Harriers, G Pollock of St Modan’s AAC was 127th but there was no team from the club.    The Midland District Senior Relay Championships were held on 6th December at Dalziel Estate, Motherwell and there was  a team from the club running; unfortunately three teams including St Modan’s AAC and Victoria Park AAC  C  teams went off the trail ‘in the dusk’ on the third stage and turned up near the finish ay almost the same time as the winning Shettleston team.      The Midland Youths and Juniors title races were held  at the start of February and ‘the Scots Athlete’ reported on a good day for the club as follows.   “The Midland District Junior Championship and two and a half miles Youths race were held at Pollok Estate on 7th Feb., 1948.   The 9 teams and 14 individuals in the Youths race were sent off first by starter Mr D Corbet into a strong wind and uphill over a rain-soaked course.   In 15 minutes the leader came in sight, rather a surprise to most, in the person of newcomer C Hogan of St Modan’s, followed by RF McLean (Springburn) and E Bannon (Shettleston).   Bannon, however, led his clubmates Birt, Scoular and Chisholm to victory in the team race with a total of 40 points, with St Modan’s second, 46 points, and Bellahouston 3rd, 55 points.”

There was only one Junior from the club running and D Clelland finished 23rd.   The victory led Emmet Farrell writing his preview for the National Championships to say – “After his win in the Midland race the St Modan’s boy, C Hogan, will be the popular fancy for the Youths title, though placed men, R McLean (Springburn) and E Bannon (Shettleston) with W McKay (Victoria Park) must still come into the reckoning.   These boys will have keen rivals in Armstrong of Greenock Glenpark, pint-sized Harry Fenion of Lochwinnoch, Ian Ross of Glasgow YMCA, Lockhart of Castlehill, whom enthusiastic Jas. Watson of Carluke thinks will ultimately develop over the longer stretches, and last but by no means least, the fair-headed youth from West Kilbride, J. Adamson.”

Unfortunately the race did not go entirely to plan for Hogan but the team did finish among the medals – second team with 88 points they had six running.   The scoring runners were Hogan (9th), Girvan (20th), J Quinn (29th) and G Pollok (30th) behind Kirkcaldy YMCA.   Their two non-scoring athletes were J Mallor (32nd) and M Kaney (56th).   D Clelland was again their only senior competing and he finished 77th.   

The club showed their determination to assert themselves in Scottish athletics at the start of the 1948 summer season when they advertised a sports meeting in Stirling.

The meeting went well with several of the country’s best men taking part.   This report is from ‘The Scotsman’.   You will note the name of J S Petty in the winner’s list again along with SAAA champions like Emmet Farrell, Andy Forbes, McLennan and McLean.   It had all the ingredients for a successful meeting:  a schools race (it is well known that one school pupil runing brings two parents, probably a sibling or two and maybe an auntie oir uncle as well to swell the takings), a 5 a side football tourney (featuring the local side against one of the country’s top and best supported sides), champion track and field men plus a road race.   

Petty was running very well as a first year senior , born in 1929 he was still only 19, and mixing it with the top Scottish half-milers.   But although he did not run as well as expected in the Scottish championships in June, 1948, Emmet Farrell had this to say of his performance.   “JS Smart (Edin. Southern) had a merited and easy win in the half-mile.   There was a surprise in the heats when JS Petty (St Modan’s) the most highly thought of youth, only qualified by being fastest third.   He was even less impressive in the final.   There is no doubt of his sterling class, but was he past his peak or was he too youthful to stand the nervous strain of the scratch championship running?   His form was hard to understand though to our mindhe is still Scotland’s most promising half-miler.”

Although he had failed to get a medal domestically, he did get a bronze in the AAA’s Junior championships to go with the one he had obtained in 1947.   To show that he was still the country’s most promising half-miler, if any more proof were needed,  was shown in this report from the ‘Scotsman’ of  Monday, September 6th, 1948 – 

The winter season of 1948/49 began as usual in October and the club was keen to continue where they left off the previous winter.   On the first Saturday of October the club had two teams out in the Victoria Park McAndrew Relay at Scotstoun – the first team was 21st out of 41 complete teams to finish with the second team being 39th.   The National Novice Championship was held over Hamilton Racecourse on a two lap, 5 mile trail.   St Modan’s entered a good team which finished ninth of the 35 which had entered (31 finished).   Five men from the club took part – the first four being counting runners for the team:- A Crawford 26th, M Kaney 33rd, G McCracken 58th, P Donnelly 95th, A Lafferty 109th 155, 176.   This was followed by the Midland District Relay Championship, held at Stirling on 4th December, 1948.   Even though it was on a home trail, St Modan’s first runner captured significant inches in the national press.   ‘The Scots Athlete’ for instance covered his run in these words.    

“It was a dry and clear day favouring the runners and spectators both.   Internationalist G Craig of Shettleston Harriers ran a nice race to hand over a lead to his clubmate at the end of the first lap but honours of the first lap really went to practically unknown C Crawford of St Modan’s AAC (Stirling) who finished a very strong second ahead of A Kidd Garscube) who was second”   The club inevitably fell away against such strong clubs as Shettleston, Victoria Park, Bellahouston and Garscube to finish 16th of the 26 competing teams.   Runners this time were Crawford (whose 15:10 was eight fastest of the day – one place ahead of Jim Flockhart), M Kaney (17:15), J Wilson (16:21) and D Clelland (15:28).    Flockhart’s time was 15:13 with Bellahouston’s Bob Climie 10th fastest on 15:14.   

If we move on to the Midland District Championships, we see that there were    Seniors on the programme but there were none who actually ran in the race.   The Youths team however had M Kaney in 7th position, and A Lafferty 18th, both running as individuals.  As a matter of interest, they had six Youths entered – Kaney, Lafferty, J Quinn, J Kilgannon, J McCracken, C Girvan and G Shearer and C McGhee were listed as reserves.    The senior squad entered consisted of D  Clelland, M McGurr, JF Walker, J Wilson, J Kerr, P Donnelly and A Crawford.   Note the name of JF Walker – that would be Joe Walker who started the whole St Modan’s High School ball rolling and who would play a big part in Scottish athletics for decades to come.   The club had the numbers but not enough prepared to travel to Hamilton for the championships.   

Came the National on 5th March 1949 at Ayr Racecourse and the club had six youths entered but only tow seniors – Clelland and Donnelly.   The Youths team of McCafferty 9th, M Kaney 30th, G McDonald 41st, J Quinn 52nd was seventh with A Lafferty 57th and J Brown 79th as non-scoring runners.     Clelland was 19th in the Senior race, one place behind W Gallacher (Vale of Leven) and ahead of CD Robertson (Dundee Thistle), AC Gibson of Hamilton, J Ellis (VPAAC), T Tracey (Springburn) and H Howard of Shettleston.   Transport was not easy in those post-war days and in addition most men worked on Saturday mornings.   They were probably contributory factors to the small turn out of seniors, just not for St Modan’s alone.    

In  Summer  1949 Stewart Petty was again the top name for the club in track athletics and as a club they held their open meeting on 14th May, 1949.  The star of the afternoon was Ireland’s JJ Barry.     Lots of Scottish internationalists turned out and performed to their abilities – Donnie McDonald won the sprints, Petty won the half mile, Chick Robertson won the Road Race – to make the day a success.   To cap it all, there were two club successes – in addition to the half-mile, the club’s representative, A McLaren, won the high jump

Two weeks later on 23rd May at Ibrox in a really top class meeting with athletes like Olympian Tom Richards competing the report referred to Petty’s “excellent time for the half-mile” but didn’t say what it was.   It was Glasgow’s first ever Highland Games and the handicap 880 was won by J Reid of Victoria Park from a mark of 40 yards in one minute 55 seconds.   One week later on 30th May he ran in the Gala Sports where the report read “JS Petty (St Modan’s) last year’s Scottish half mile champion, ran a splendid race in the event at the Gala Harriers and Gala Cycling Club’s meeting.   “Running from scratch he overtook all but D Dick (Edinburgh Northern) whop had an allowance of 32 yards, and was beaten by only 3 yards in 2 min 1.5.”     There was a rare defeat for Petty on 11th June when in the Glasgow Police Sports at Hampden Park he was second to T Begg (Glasgow University) in the invitation 880 yards handicap race.   Running from the 36 yards mark (Begg was off 40) he defeated Boysen of Norway who started from 18 yards.   The SAAA Championships of 1949 were also held at Hampden Park on 27th June when running from scratrch of course he won the title in 1 min 56 sec from the same T Begg with J Smart in third.   Of this race, Emmet Farrell commented on “The darting, quicksilver finish of JS Petty in winning the 880 yards.”   

A few words about Petty are in order.   He was born Joshua Stewart Petty in Stirling in 1929 he died 2010 in Dunfermline.    His national rankings were as follows.

 1949:  880y 1:56.0,          1950 880y 1:55.3, 800m 1:54.6.          1953 1:59.0 est 880y.          1954 60.5 440yH.

Later in his career Petty went on to run for BellahoustonAlready noted are his two SAAA 880 titles as a Junior and as a Senior as well as his two bronze AAA medals..    

If we go back to the 1949 championships, the club was also represented in the Junior championship by T Smith who won the Shot Putt with a istance of  41′ 6 3/4″, and was second in the Discus.    It was not a one man club but the name Petty keeps coming up.   The Rangers Sports were held on the first Saturday in August and in 1949 there were approx  60,000 spectators who saw top class sport from athletes from the USA as well as from all the home countries.   There was even a story attached to this win.   The report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ told us all about it.    “GW Nankeville, who was to have run in the mile, responded to the appeal of the English team manager and ran in the “half” instead because of the absence of CT White.   Nankeville shaped well for a lap but the Scottish champion JS Petty, and a former champion, J Smart, running off12 and 18 yards respectively, resisted the challenge.   Petty with a superb effort, caught Smart on the finishing line and won in 1 min 55.9 sec which is probably one of the best performances ever by the St Modan’s youth.   Nankeville faded before the finish.” 

PETTY’S SEASON WASN’T OVER YET THOUGH.   He was given two different names on the same page in the ‘Scots Athlete’ of August 1949.   The first was with reference to the Open and Invitation Floodlight Meeting at Ibrox when the report said that  “Stewart Petty confirmed his recent great improvement by clocking 1 min 55.8 sec off 8 yards for the half-mile.”   In the very next column the reference was to the triangular international in Belfast when it said   “Joshua Petty ran a fine race for Scotland and finished a good third.”   

The opening race of winter 1949/50 was the McAndrew four man Relay at Whiteinch in Glasgow and there was only one team entered instead of two as in the year before.   The quality was higher this time though.    The team of A Crawford, A McHugh, T McGhee and D Clelland was seventh in afield of 43 teams.   The younger athletes were not forgotten either – on 3rd December 1949 at King’s Park, Stirling with 24 teams and 20 individuals competing.    They did not perform as well as might have been expected on what was basically their home territory.   The team was 20th of the 20 teams to finish with T McCracken (87th), A Galbraith (93rd), M Kelly (94th) and M Foxworthy (113rd) being the runners.

There was no National Novice Championship in 1949 – the event was discontinued after the 1948 race.  However the Midland District Relay was also held on 3rd December at the Inveresk Pavilion of Monkland Harriers in Coatbridge with a record entry of 37 teams.   The St Modan’s team was eighth – A Crawford (14:53), A McHugh (15:40), J Wilson (15:34) and D Clelland (14:44) were the club’s men this time.   The District Championships were held on 5th February, 1950, at Motherwell and were won by Walter Lennie of Vale of Leven from Tommy Tracey of Springburn.   The first St Modan’s runner was D Clelland who was 20th.   Clelland had been a very good club man having run in relays, open races and championships over all distances since the club was formed, often enough as the only club runner toeing the starting line.   He was accompanied by A Crawford in 36th, A McHugh 75th, J Wilson 106th, P Donnelly 122nd and J Keilt 136th.   The club was 12th out of the 19 entered teams.   Crawford is another interesting individual in that he ran well in relays year after year but seemed to fight shy of the longer cross-country races.   This is the first note of him in a long team event.   The other runners on the day were all good regular club servants who helped keep the club going.   There were 12 teams entered in the Youths race and St Modan’s was 10th finishing club.   They were represented by A Lafferty 35th, A Galbraith 41st, M Kelly 45th, and T McCracken 53rd with A McGhee as a non-scoring runner in 58th.        The local convener was JF Walker, making one of his first steps towards what would be a very good career in which he would give much to the sport.

The senior and junior national championships were held at Hamilton on 4th March.   St Modan’s Seniors were again scarce on the ground with D Clelland firts club man across the finishing line in 25th place followed for the club by J Wilson 90th – and that was it.   The Junior team was very interesting – 

Unfortunately none of them ran.   The first name is maybe significant – the first entry of Joe McGhee in the National.    It had been a good year for the club but when it came to the National championships, there were two seniors, no juniors and the Youths team finished 20th out of 20.   

What would the summer of 1950 bring?   On 27th May in the Glasgow Highland Games there were several of the club taking prizes home to Stirling.   JS Woods showed his versatility by having two third places – in the 220 yards and then in the 880 yards and A McHugh was second in the Mile.   When it came to the SAAA Championships on 24th/25th June at Hampden however, Petty made the Final where he was unplaced after a controversial race – “The half was an unfortunate affair.   At the first bend Hugh Hatrick was tripped (no, of course not deliberately, but tripped all the same) and stumbled.   It seems that the holder, Stewart Petty strained himself having a hasty look round and in any case had to retire to leave the others to fight it out.   Ex champ Jim Smart tried a jump on the back straight but hadn’t the strength of Tom Begg who raced powerfully home in 1 min 57.1 secs.   Though feeling sorry for Stewart (we don’t think Hugh would have been “in at the death”) let’s not detract from Tom’s grand win.”    There was a medal for the club however when Dave Clelland took second place in the steeplechase behind Burns of Kilmarnock and just in front ot Lamb of Bellahouston.   Petty was back in action soon and was third in the Invitation Hal-Mile at Rangers Sports on the first Saturfay in August behind Mal Whitfield who set an all-comers record, and Jim Smart.   Then in the Triangular match against England & Wales, and Ireland, Petty was third again in the half-mile with Smart in fourth place. the race being won by Arthur Wint (1:52.4)  from Roger Bannister (1:54.5) .

Above: The start of the 1950 Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay as shown on the cover of the programme for the 1951 race

The winter season of 1950/51 started with the McAndrew Relay where St Modan’s finished eighth of 49 teams completing the course.   Runners were McHugh  16:28, Kaney 16:43, Clelland 17:04 and J McGhee 17:04.   There was also a B team which finished 42nd with ‘that man again’ on the first stage – JS Petty in 18:00, then A Galbraith in 17:41, P Donnelly 17:45 and C Girvan 17:19.    The reason for two teams became clear in November when, on the 18th of the month, the club took part in the prestigious eight man Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay.   There were 13 runners listed on the programme which is listed below.   The names are all familiar to us by now and it is well known that competing clubs allused the short relays such as the McAndrew to prepare their potential team for the News of the World sponsored race.   

The runners in order were A McHugh who was 11th on the first stage before handing over to Joe McGhee on the very difficult second and who pulled the club from11th  to 9th running the tenth fastest time on the stage.   J Wilson ran third and dropped to 12th before passing the baton to A Galbraith on the fourth stage and at halfway the club was running 12th.   It should be pointed out that for a club as young as St Modan’s running for the first time in the biggest winter race of the year in the cut-throat rivalry, this was not a bad position to be in.   P Donnelly was next runner on the exposed fifth stage and he dropped to 17th before Dave Clelland faced the really competitive sixth stage racing against some of the biggest guns in the race. For instance Cick Robertson started the stage in 18th and finished the stage in 18th with Dave fending him off and running an excellent 6th fastest time of the day.   The club stayed in 17th all the way to the end with the last two runners being M Kaney and J Walker.    Would that J Walker be the Joe Walker who was such an important figure in Scottish athletics official and administrative circles for decades to come?   Almost certainly.    

The Inter-Counties Championship was held at Stirling on 16th December and there were several St Modan’s men in the Stirlingshire team – D Clelland was rewarded for his superb running in the E-G and led the team home in 5th place with Joe McGhee in tenth, M Kaney 15th and A Galbraith 21st.   The team finished third.   The ‘Scots Athlete published a list of the top Scots track and field athletes for the 1950 season and the top five were all fields events men, with JS Petty at number nine because of two half-mile times – 1:54.6 in England and 1:55.4 in Scotland.   Unfortunately the venues and dates were not included in the review.   

The Nigel Barge road race took place as usual on the first Saturday of the New Year at Maryhill in Glasgow and there was a St Modan’s team aming the 17 taking part.   D Clelland was 21st, M Kaney 32nd, A Galbraith 50th,  J Lynn 54th and J McCracken 65th.   In the February, 1951 issue of the ‘Scots Athlete’ magazine a letter was published from club captain David Clelland which highlighted two things – the need for coaching to spread further, faster through the country, and the difficulties of travel at the time.   HAL Chapman had been appointed national coach a year or so before the letter which read 

It’s not clear whether it was in response to the letter, but National Coach Chapman held a coaching day in Falkirk later that month.   The District Championships themselves were held at Stepps Stadium on 4th February 1951.     In the Youths race, the club was fifth of eight, with A Galbraith first man home in 12th followed by C Meldrum in 17th, G Gray  27th and K Murie 29th.    There were again very few senior men in action, possibly because of the travel difficulties in the country at the time – D Clelland was 23rd and M Kaney 49th were the only finishers.   The National was held at Hamilton again on 3rd March 1951.   Joe McGhee was first club man in 25th, David Clelland was 22nd and that was it for the Seniors.   For the Juniors J McCracken was 49th, J Lynn was 77th and B Maxwell 83rd.   The Youths race H Galbraith was 24th and C Meldrum 40th.   The season was now over and like other clubs, St Modan’s headed for the track.

The club was still holding its meeting at Annfield in Stirling but reports on it are difficult to find in papers that at the time were down to 10, 8 or even 6 pages at times.   We do know that there was a medal for the club in the SAAA Championships at Hampden on 23rd June – but this time it was not JS Petty but a man who repeated his run of the previous year. – Emmet Farrell describes the race thus.   “Bob Climie (Bellahouston) is a sporting athlete who is game for a race, be it a “220” to 10 miles cross-country was a sporting winner of the steeplechase.   He was just too strong for another “game” runner in Dave Clelland (St Modan’s) who made the pace most of the way.   The St Modan’s boy was runner-up also last year.”   The result was Climie first in 11:02.4, Clelland second in 11:05..4 and John Stevenson of Springburn in 11:11.0.   

We have mentioned Joe McGhee running for the club on the road and over the country but that he was destined for great things on the road as was shown on 25th August when he ran in the Perth to Dundee 22 miles road race, where he finished sixth in a very good field including Chick Robertson (Dundee Thistle), Harry Howard (Shettleston), RW McMinnis (Sutton), A Arbuckle (Monkland) and Alex Kidd of Garscube Harriers.   His time of 2:09:41 was less than 8 minutes behind Robertson.      He also ran in the City of Edinburgh Marathon where again he finished sixth – and again behind Alex Kidd – in 2:48:19.

The Winter 1951/52 McAndrew was held on 6th October with 55 teams entered.   The St Modan’s team finished 17th with Clelland on the first stage recprdong 16:31  followed by A Galbraith who ran 17:41, then McGhee on 1643 and J Lynn (17:23).   In the Midland Relays on 3rd November at Stepps, St Modan’s team was led off by Clelland in 15:03 who then handed over to McGhee (14:48 who was followed by J Lynn (16:08) and M Kaney (15:53) for the team to be 12th out of 26 finishers.   With no team from the club in the E-G relay, it was on to the Nigel Barge Road Race at Martyhill at the start of January where Joe McGhee finished 8th to lead the team of himself, J McCracken 20th and J Lynn 37th to sixth place – only two pojnts ahead of the Greenock Wellpark team of the Stevenson brothers and George King.   The Midland Championships were held at Lenzie on 2nd February, 1952 and run in atrocious weather conditions.   Nevertheless the day got off to a good start for the Stirling club when the Youths team finished in second place behind Cambuslang and Bellahouston – it was a very close run thing with the points being 24, 25 and 27!    The heroes were C Medlrum 2, D Kaney y6 and C Gray 9.   There were only two seniors who finished the course for the club – Dave Clelland, club captain and double SAAA track medallist, who was pretty well and ever present in championship racing, finished 81st in dreadful, wet and muddy weather  and Joe McGhee who was sixth finisher.   What company was he keeping?   the first five were Eddie Bannon, Dave Nelson, Andy Forbes, Bob Climie and Tommy Tracey.   Emmet Farrell remarked that his sixth place underlined once more that he is one of Scotland’s most improved runners.   He went on in the same issue of the magazine to note him as a challenger for international honours after the upcoming national championship.   Unfortunately, the results of the National at Hamilton that year, as published in ‘The Scots Athlete’ did not have a single runner from St Modan’s in any of the three races – Youths, Juniors or Seniors.   Rather surprising given the talent already displayed previously that winter.

Jim Peters set anew world record of 2:20:42.2 for the marathon in 1952 in the AAA’s championship with several Scots in the field and doing well.   One of them was Joe McGhee who finished 16th in 2:39:29.   Came the SAAA’s championship and Dave Clelland again picked up a medal – bronze this time in 11:05.6.   The SAAA marathon championship on 6th August was held on the Methven to Dundee course and was won by local man Chick Robertson in 2:38:07 from Duffy of Hadleigh in 2:38:32 with Emmet Farrell 3rd and Jack Paterson 4th.   Joe McGhee was fifth in 2:44:46 which was three minutes up on Alex Kidd of Garscube.   He had been with the leading pack almost all the way through the race – leading at 5 miles in 29:50 and splits of 57:28 for 10 miles, 1:26:30 at 15 and 2:00:34 for 20.   

St Modan’s AC 1952 – ’59      St Modan’s AC 1960 – ’65

There were BAAB booklets for all track and field events and they were all kept up to date with revised editions being written by new National Coaches.   In addition to be event specific, they were well produced to be long lasting and were available at very reasonable prices.    The selection below have the names of some of the very best coaches that the country has had – John Le Masurier, Denis Watts, Wilf Paish,, Jim Alford and Ron Pickering were only a few of those who produced them.  They were preceded by the AAA’s Booklets from just after the war and some of their covers can be seen here .    Before we start on some cover shots, the complete series in 1978 is shown:

You will note the huge increase in price over the years – Pickering’s book at 5/- (five shillings, 25p) as against £2:50 for the ’78 version

When Graham McDonald sent the Decathlon Training Guide, he thought that the note about Tom McNab was worth including – it certainly makes interesting reading.

… and there were even BAAB Books for officials …

The one above is the 1963 version, and below are the issues of 1969 and 1987

They were so popular that others tried coaching booklets for all sorts of games and pastimes .   Among those were the KTG series (Know The Game) –

These and others like them were preceded by AAA’s instructional booklets – maybe less polished in presentation but that was down to the times in which they were printed.   You can see some of the covers from the link below.

AAA Instructional Booklets