Author: The Author

The start of the 1970 SAAA Marathon: Alastair Wood leading with Bill Stoddart (61) on his shoulder and many well known runners, including Donald Macgregor, following

1970 was a very important year for Scottish Athletics with the Commonwealth games at Meadowbank in Edinburgh. Don Macgregor and other contenders requested an early date for the Championship marathon, which was to be used for selection purposes, and the race was run on May 16^th. This would give time for recovery before the Games event in July. The same course was used for both races – via Musselburgh and out the A1/198 to Cockenzie and then back to the stadium. Competitors included Wood, Macgregor, Alder, Stoddart and Fergus Murray plus Pat Maclagan (Victoria Park AAC), Jim and Alex Wight and Alastair Johnston (Victoria Park AAC) whose promising career came to a painful and premature end when his leg was shattered by a hammer during a race on the Meadowbank track in 1973.

There was a record field of 62, and over 50 started, but some were not at their best. Alastair Wood had been invited to run for Britain in the Karl Marx Stadt marathon, which turned out to be a fiasco. Short of sleep and jaded after a delayed journey, he reckoned that his place (4^th Scot) in the trial (2.19.17) was not bad considering. Later in the year he was second in Toronto (2.18.31) and won in Harlow (2.17.59). Bill Stoddart had been injured, but was still leading the pack until near twenty miles. Thereafter he wilted quite badly and considered himself lucky to finish 9^th in 2.23.33.

Five miles were reached in 25.51; ten in 52.18; 15 in 77.58; and twenty in about 1.44. As Donald Macgregor wrote “pretty even-paced stuff. Concentration kept the group tightly together until 21 miles when Jim Alder made a break and luckily I was the only one able to go with it. He allowed me to take up the running between 23 and 24 miles while he gathered himself for the run-in. Little did I know that Jim was having ‘un probleme digestif’ and that the running was not confined to the road. Photographs reveal that he had an ‘accident’ near the finish, but unfortunately my eyes were too feeble to notice or I might have run a bit harder over the last half mile. He sprinted in for a championship record of 2.17.11.” Donald himself was reported by Ron Marshall as “‘Very, very pleased,’ he breathed at the finish, head hanging characteristically to the left, ‘Now I’ve surely done enough to get into the team.’ His time was a personal best of 2.17.14.” Third was Fergus Murray in 2.18.25.

Jim Alder in his book ‘Marathon and Chips’ made clear that he was in an awkward situation in more ways than one, since he had agreed to Chris Brasher’s suggestion that the BBC ‘Look, Stranger’ programme make a twenty minute documentary about Jim’s build-up to defending his Commonwealth Marathon title. After a lot of filming home in Morpeth, the cameras followed him to the Scottish marathon championship. There was considerable pressure. Jim had to do well. Unfortunately, he chose for breakfast a cereal new to him and, unaware of its likely effect, ate ‘a whole big bowl’ of All Bran! Just as the race was about to get underway, he had the urge to visit the toilet, but there was no time for that. Fitness was never a problem, but ‘at twenty miles I made a burst in more ways than one’. After a difficult and embarrassing time, which Jim survived with typical determination, he ran straight through the finishing tape and down the steps ‘to clean up my confusion’. Then on with a tracksuit and out for the medal presentation. ‘Don Macgregor swore blind he could have beaten me but he couldn’t stop skidding.’

In a high quality championship, England’s Barry Wood was fourth; Alastair Johnston 6^th in 2.19.31; Pat Maclagan 7^th in 2.20.49; Jim Wight 8^th in 2.22.58; and Alex Matheson (EAC) 10^th in 2.25.27.

Jim Alder was rightly proud to be the mystery man who, carrying the silver baton, ran into the stadium at the beginning of the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games. He “handed the baton over to Prince Philip to signify the opening officially. HRH said with a smile, ‘Have you run all the way from Canada?” (This was where the relay had begun, when the Queen handed the baton containing her message of good wishes to an Indian runner in Yellowstone Park.)

Ron Hill, in his book ‘To the Peak and Beyond’ mentions that the main contenders were reckoned to be himself, Bill Adcocks, Jerome Drayton of Canada and Derek Clayton of Australia. When someone protested to Clayton, ‘What about Jim Alder?’ he replied. ‘Alder’s got no class.’ According to Hill, Alder got to hear of this and, not surprisingly, became angry and went around muttering how he would ‘show them’!

And show them he did. Although Ron Hill had a truly great day and after a supreme effort came home a clear winner in a lifetime best of 2.9.28 (European record), Jim Alder entered the stadium a very tired but brave silver medallist, holding off the challenge of England’s Don Faircloth by 15 seconds to set a new Scottish record of 2.12.04. Clayton and Drayton dropped out. Fergus Murray had a fine run (7^th in 2.15.32) as did Donald Macgregor (8^th in 2.16.53). Even now, more than 45 years later, the 1970 Commonwealth Games event remains by far the fastest marathon run in Scotland!

Jim Alder leads Don Macgregor on to the track at Meadowbank

A notable alternative to the results noted above was printed, at exactly the same time as the real event, in the ‘Victor’ comic, in which the illustrious Alf Tupper, inspiration of a generation of runners, represented Tristan da Cunha in the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games Marathon! Inevitably fortified by a big bag of chips at halfway, Alf passed two rivals on the track to claim the gold medal. Even Ron Hill would not begrudge Alf this peak achievement in a cherished athletic career.

In 1971 Don Macgregor had a less happy experience in the Scottish championship on a similar course when, attempting his fourth marathon in less than three months, he dropped out with weary legs at 23 miles, having reached 20 miles in 1.48.15. This was to be Pat Maclagan’s year. The Victoria Park AAC member’s personal best time (2.20.49) had been achieved when he finished seventh in the 1970 trial. He worked at the time as a production planner at J&P Coats Ltd in Paisley. Pat, like Bill Stoddart a Scottish Cross-Country International, had been ‘pushing his luck’ by doing three marathons in 1970. A stress fracture the following winter gave him an enforced but valuable rest! By April 1971, however, he was fit enough to run 48.15 for second place to Andy McKean in the lightning fast Tom Scott ten miler. Training amounted to 100-120 miles per week at this time, and was still at 90 in the three weeks before the Scottish marathon. Most of this heavy work was ‘fartlek running in the forests around Aberfoyle’.

Bill Stoddart remembered that ‘torrential rain greeted us as we prepared to warm up for the race and people could be seen dashing for cover. In a matter of minutes we were splashing around like ducks in a pond!’ In fact the weather was so bad that officials were forced to abandon (temporarily) the SAAA Championship Track events, while the road runners squelched onwards dourly. It was ever thus from a marathoner’s point of view – ‘track fairies’!

After six days of training totalling 58 miles, Pat Maclagan remembered starting the race running through standing water in his Onitsuka Tiger shoes with added foam padding under the tongue, and heel pads. Since he did not wear socks, he had also taped the soles of his feet. Unfortunately the soaking dislodged a piece of tape, to his considerable discomfort. Pat recalled complaining about this to Don Macgregor, who replied callously or helpfully, ‘Why don’t you stop and take your shoe off, then?’ Instead, Pat spent some time trying to manoevre the offending tape between his toes so it became no longer a problem.

Bill thought that no one was too keen to take the pace, due to the depressing conditions, so he led for most of 22 miles. By then Donald Ritchie had dropped back, as had Don Macgregor, and Willie Day (Falkirk Victoria Harriers) had come through. According to Pat, Bill and Willie tried to get away at this point but he hauled them back. Bill remembered Pat “speeding past me as if I was going backwards and he didn’t even say ‘Hello.’” Or indeed ‘Goodbye’! Pat Maclagan won by two minutes in 2.21.17, with Bill Stoddart second in 2.23.31 and Willie Day third in 2.26.07 – good times considering the weather.  Willie was pleased to win bronze and take 12 minutes off his best time in this, his second marathon. Donald Ritchie was fourth in 2.28.39; and Charlie Macaulay of Aberdeen University 5^th in 2.32.03. (Charlie was to emigrate to Australia and run 2.23 for fifth in that championship too).  Pat remembered being confident of winning because ‘in general, the longer I ran the better I was, relative to most others.’ In fact he covered the last lap in 70 seconds!

Pat Maclagan

Earlier in the 1971, seven of the first eight finishers in the Edinburgh to North Berwick marathon recorded personal bests, led by Alex Wight (2.15.27), his brother Jim (also EAC) in 2.15.43 and Donald Macgregor (2.19.00). In the Maxol Marathon Jim Alder ran his usual fine race (6^th in 2.15.43) but failed by 22 seconds to qualify for the British team for the European Championships. Alastair Wood was 8^th in 2.16.06 and his long-time training partner and Aberdeen AAC team-mate Steve Taylor was 17^th in a fine (2.19.28). Five weeks previously, in his marathon debut, Steve had won the Shettleston race in 2.23.25.

1972 saw the amazing Alastair Wood’s final victory (his sixth) in the Scottish Championship marathon – and a suitably crushing one it was too.

A tailwind produced a brisk pace and by eleven miles the leading group was down to five: Alastair Wood, Bill Stoddart, Willie Day, Davie Wyper (a marathon specialist from West of Scotland ) and Colin Youngson (Victoria Park AAC). The latter, an Aberdonian, was running his third marathon. Youngson was teaching English at Kelvinside Academy and training hard with the likes of Pat Maclagan, Alastair Johnston and that illustrious star of the fifties, Ian Binnie. Encouraged by second place to Andy McKean in the SAAA Track 10 (50.15), Colin was about to discover that marathons inflicted fresh levels of discomfort!

By the turn (and logically into a stiff headwind) Stoddart dropped back, followed in turn by Wyper and Day. Only the foolhardy Youngson sheltered behind the tough near-veteran Wood. This might have gone on for some time, but Wood glanced behind and barked imperiously something like, ‘Please do some work, you lazy good-for-nothing!’ Accustomed to being inferior to the great man, who had humiliated him so often (by tongue and leg-speed) during Sunday sessions back in Aberdeen, Colin obeyed instantly. After half a mile of battling the breeze he heard a brief derisive chuckle and could only watch vacantly as Alastair Wood, tactical mastermind, surged past and disappeared into the distance and out of sight.

Youngson’s training diary read ‘Kept going fairly well till 21; cracked up from there. Curious shivery increasingly weak feeling – must do the ‘diet’ next time. Detached observation of crack-up. Must have lost at least 600 yards on Davie Wyper in last three miles. Innis Mitchell shouting a warning outside the stadium was no use – or losing silver on the track. Couldn’t have cared less – extremely careful walk/jog up the final straight. Albie Smith timed my last 200 metres at 80 seconds! Surrounded by blankets, old nurses and eager stretcher bearers. Hot very sweet tea. Ally Wood’s ruthless but still very good. Determined but tired booze-up later.’

Finishing times were: first Alastair Wood in 2.21.02; second Davie Wyper in 2.26.14; and third Colin Youngson in 2.26.45.

‘Athletics Weekly’ summed it up brusquely. ‘Alastair Wood (39) scored a decisive sixth victory in the marathon, and from all accounts is ready for more yet. He was home and dry for more than five minutes before the next man.’

Jim Logan, a good supporter of Victoria Park AC, was more dramatic in the ‘Bearsden and Milngavie Herald’. ‘Unfortunately in the stadium there was a complete absence of progress reports on the marathon. With an exhausted Colin Youngson being passed on the final circuit by David Wyper (reminiscient of Tom Richards similarly overtaking the late Etienne Gailly at Wembley in 1948), there must have been an exciting chase over the later stages.’

When interviewed by Brian Meek in the Scottish Sunday Express, “the most popular winner’ of the SAAA Championships, Alastair Wood ‘fresh and relaxed after the race’ said, ‘I took the lead after 15 miles and was on my own from then on. These youngsters are getting slow nowadays. This is the tenth anniversary of my first marathon win. I intend to go on running as long as I enjoy it.’”

In a lengthy article in the following Monday’s ‘Scotsman’, Alastair was reported to have ‘given a ‘V’ sign to SAAA officials before he crossed the line five minutes ahead of his younger rivals, and then danced a little jig. He said that he was just running for the fun of it. “The miles are a wee bit longer now but apart from a blister on my foot and a thirst for a gallon of beer I feel great. And don’t call me a veteran until next year.”

He explained the jig by jesting, “I hoped the 1500 metres would be on when I entered the stadium and I could have joined in that.” The article continued, “Wood has an old-fashioned approach to the sport. ‘Not for me excessive training, weight routines, heart measurements and getting all keyed up. That seems to land many of them in hospital. To me, running is something to be enjoyed and savoured, pitting my strength against nature. That’s the great satisfaction I get.

I felt sorry for Jim Alder in a recent marathon. He does 200 miles a week in training then in this important race he had to drop out at 15 miles. That was sad. I just said to him, ‘Well, Jim, you’ll just have to step up your training!’”

Wood explained the ‘V’ sign. “As I passed the finishing line the first time some of the officials put one finger up to indicate that there was a full lap to go. I put two fingers up to ask if it was not two.”  But for a man who knows every inch of tarmac between Meadowbank and Longniddry, there were some who thought that in his impish way Alastair Wood was in fact having a little joke against officialdom.” That October, Alastair went on to produce a marvellous performance in winning the famous London to Brighton 52 mile race – in 5.11.00, a record by ten minutes, and still one of the three fastest ever in an event that ended in 2005. After this race he was heard to comment that he felt that his legs had been sewn on backwards!

          Alastair Wood after his superb 1972 London to Brighton victory.

Undoubtedly the performances of the year by a Scottish marathon runner were produced by Donald Macgregor of Edinburgh Southern Harriers – who shared the Scots Male Athlete of the Year award with sprinter David Jenkins.

In the Maxol Marathon in June, he finished third in a personal best of 2.15.06 (to head the Scottish ranking lists) and thus qualified for the British Olympic Team. In Munich he surpassed even this performance. Timing his effort brilliantly he came through to 7^th place, the highest achieved by a Scotsman in a final in the Munich Olympics. Furthermore he was less than four seconds behind the illustrious Ron Hill, who seemed severely shaken when Donald appeared at his shoulder! The winner of a memorable Olympic marathon was Munich-born Frank Shorter (USA) in 2.12.19; followed by Karel Lismont (Belgium) 2.14.31; Mamo Wolde (Ethiopia) 2.15.08; Ken Moore (USA) 2.15.39; Kenji Kimihara (Japan) 2.16.27; Ron Hill 2.16.30.6; Don Macgregor 2.16.34.4; and Jack Foster (New Zealand) 2.16.56.

In 1973 events were inevitably less exciting, but the Scottish Marathon Championship served as a trial for the Christchurch Commonwealth Games team.

Donald Macgregor remained the top man. He had been working in Dunoon and training with runners like young Graham Clark who later ran for Scotland at Cross-Country. They used to run up Glen Masson and round by Sandbank and Hafton Estate or over the hills to Achnafour or Glenkin. Donald’s other training partners on the long runs over a wide variety of courses included Tim Johnston, John Bryant, Fergus Murray, Stuart Easton and Ron Morrison (the future president of the SAF). After more than three months of good mileage (90+) and a successful series of races over distances from 5k to 16 miles, Donald ‘did the diet between Sunday lunchtime (I lost 4.5 lbs on the morning 14) and Tuesday p.m. (14/3; 7/3; 7/3) and then next to nothing on the carbo-loading phase (3/3; 4; 2).’

Donald remembered the Scottish Marathon Championship race itself as tough but he did not have much difficulty in winning in 2.17.50 by 34 seconds from Jim Wight (Edinburgh AC) with  Bob (or Rab) Heron (Aberdeen AAC) third in 2.21.15. Tony Moore, an Anglo from Hillingdon AC was fourth and Colin Youngson (VPAAC) fifth in 2.24.01. Martin Craven (ESH) was sixth, Willie Day (Falkirk VH) seventh and Bill Stoddart (Greenock WH) eighth. Alex Wight, Fergus Murray and Alastair Wood retired; Jim Alder was said to be suffering from anaemia and Lachie Stewart from food poisoning. The splits were 25.23, 51.50, 77.20, 1.44 and 2.11.

In fact this was a typical ‘trial’ race for the Commonwealth Games, in that competitors tended to hang on until all hope of selection was gone, and then consider dropping out. It was a very hot day, with a fast pace aided by a following wind on the outward journey. The headwind on return added to the strain for those who could not keep up with the leading group. Several drastic slow-downs occurred, with reasons (or ‘excuses’) such as blisters, cramp, sunburn, sickness, severe stitch caused by a wet vest and the headwind, and simple exhaustion. Just a normal marathon, in fact.

One newspaper report stated that the Meadowbank spectators ‘had to rely on five-mile reports about the leading group’. However ‘the entrance of Donald Macgregor into the stadium just before four o’clock brought back all the experiences, felt at second hand admittedly, that makes this race the finest of them all.

Macgregor, it seems, dropped Jim Wight between Portobello and the stadium, and in doing so won for himself not only a national title but surely the right to represent Scotland in New Zealand.’

Durable Dunky Wright wrote that at twenty miles, Donald was just in front of the Wight brothers and Bob Heron, but that after Portobello he “strode to a 500 metre win” (in 34 seconds ?) “and a sure place in Scotland’s Commonwealth team. ‘Plucky Jim Wight should come with me,’ was his charitable remark at the finish.” And indeed, both took part in the Games.

Donald Macgregor – K1

Rab Heron, originally from Dundee, had been paired with Alastair Wood during Aberdeen AAC’s successful attempt in April to break the ten-man John O’Groats to Land’s End Relay record. Having run a rapid 2.17.07 in May, he had followed his usual preparation for the SAAA trial. After six months averaging eighty miles a week, he had suffered the pre-marathon ‘diet’. He wrote ‘To this day I am not sure that form of carbohydrate loading was all it was cracked up to be – the positive points perhaps being eclipsed by its sheer unpleasantness’. After Macgregor and Wight moved away, he was alone for the last six miles, his nylon Reebok marathons bruising a foot and producing a big blood blister on a little toe. Liberal smearings of nappy rash cream were effective in preventing painful friction in other sensitive areas – such as under his wide-mesh, heavy-duty cotton string vest from Millets!

A glance at the SAAA instructions sheet for the 1973 race revealed the requirement for each competitor to send with his entry form a ‘medical certificate from a qualified doctor certifying his fitness to take part in a race of this kind’. Furthermore each runner ‘shall be required to take a physical examination before the race by Dr Robertson’. He could decide to withdraw ‘unfit’ competitors before or indeed during the race.

Water would be provided at 7 miles and every three miles thereafter; with sponges available halfway between Water Points. Otherwise ‘no assistance whatsoever from any person’ would be permitted.

A map of the marathon route includes precise measurements of ascent and descent all the way from Meadowbank through Portobello, Musselburgh, the Levenhall and Wallyford roundabouts, Tranent, round the turning point ‘beyond the Chance Inn Bridge’ by Aberlady, and all the way back, finishing with that gruelling drag up to the stadium and the final lap and a quarter of the track.

Apart from the championship race itself, there were a few other noteworthy performances in 1973. Rab Heron led the rankings with a winning 2.17.07 in the North Berwick marathon on 12th May. Jim Alder ran 2.20.41 for third in the prestigious Enschede race in Holland. Martin Craven’s time in Harlow was 2.22.03. Colin Youngson won two races in Sweden – the Stockholm championship and the Swedish Winter Marathon; and Alastair Wood was victorious once again in the Inverness to Forres event. Sandy Keith was third in the Poly (2.22.53) and Charlie Macaulay 5^th in the Australian championship (2.23.00). The Scottish Association of Track Statisticians writer comments “ When one considers that Wood, Steve Taylor, Ritchie, Keith, Youngson, Heron, Macaulay and Graham Milne are members of Aberdeen AAC, truly Aberdeen can be called the nursery of Scottish marathon running. Of the top twenty fastest times this year, thirteen were recorded by Aberdeen runners.” And all those named were well aware that this was due to the inspiring and exasperating effect of Alastair Wood and Steve Taylor, the leaders in one of the toughest Sunday runs in the world! No wonder that Aberdeen AAC twice broke the record for the John O’Groats to Land’s End Relay.

In Christchurch in early 1974, a fast-finishing Donald Macgregor produced another fine race – 6^th in the Commonwealth Games. This was to be his best ever time – 2.14.15.

Donald wrote that, after a respite period and a second build up, the SAAA Marathon on June 22^nd 1974 was ‘probably the easiest – if you can use that word about a marathon – of my victories’.  Donald’s best racing was off 4000+ miles per year, but he was below his average weekly mileage before this event. “I went off with Rab Heron – I had done the diet again – and we swapped the lead several times till 23.5 miles where he ‘gad a weakness’ and I kept going to finish in 2.18.08, he in 2.19.15. I remember coming into the stadium and feeling not too bad.” Heron’s Aberdeen AAC clubmates Colin Youngson (third in 2.21.36) and Sandy Keith (fourth) were next to complete the course.

1974: a silver medal for Rab Heron of Aberdeen AAC.

Rab Heron’s second son was born in the early hours of the day before this race. Rab remembers that the headwind on the outward journey encouraged ‘a fair-sized group of ruthless runners to shelter behind a protesting Sandy Keith. His pleas for clemency were met with mocking laughter and a comment that it served him right for being so big. After the turn, Macgregor and Rab eased away. ‘We ran together, trying bursts every now and again, until 23 or so where the wily Don finally got away to win. Afterwards in the pub opposite Meadowbank, I saw Scotland being eliminated from the World Cup’. In his build-up to the championship, Rab had been averaging 90 miles per week, including fartlek and repetition running three or four times a week. Later in the seventies he turned to ultra-distances, finishing second four times in the Two Bridges 36 and being up with the best several times in the gruelling London to Brighton – including a second place behind Donald Ritchie in 1977. Nowadays he has retired to West Yorkshire and enjoys caving!

1974: bronze for Rab’s Aberdeen club-mate Colin Youngson.

In 1974 Don Ritchie attempted his last Scottish Championship marathon until 1988! After going off with the leaders, he became very tired and at fifteen miles abandoned the race, deciding he was a victim of the carbo-loading diet gone wrong. His stamina was not in question – in October he finished third in the London to Brighton race (5.24.54) behind John Newsome (5.16.07) who just out-sprinted Cavin Woodward (5.16.13).

A good race for Scottish marathoners was the Harlow event on 26^th October 1974. Mel Edwards had won in 1967; and Alastair Wood in 1969 and 1970. But this was Jim Wight’s year. The Edinburgh AC runner romped away to an easy victory in a rapid 2.16.28, from Bob Lunnon (Gosforth) 2.17.36 and Don Macgregor (ESH) 2.17.46. Jim Dingwall (EAC) made a breakthrough to record 2.19.01 in fourth place; Colin Youngson (now working in Edinburgh and representing ESH) was eighth in 2.21.06; and Alex Wight (EAC) tenth in 2.21.53. Team winners were EAC, with ESH second (Sandy Cameron third counter in 2.38.18). An English team was allowed to win the Essex Championships however.

Jim Wight (58) heads for victory and revenge on Don Macgregor.

An especially fine performance in 1974 was Alastair Wood’s clear victory for Scotland in the World Veterans’ Marathon over a course near Paris. According to the winner, it was a very awkward route over cross-country paths, and he did well to record 2.28.40. When a vehicle carrying the film crew got too close to the irritable leader, he remembered waving vigorously and yelling, ‘Allez! Allez!’ to make them retreat to a reasonable distance!

The winter and spring of 1974/1975 was important not only for traditional road and cross-country team events, but also as a time to log heavy mileage in preparation for a summer marathon. The Edinburgh training scene was very effective at this time. Ten years earlier in the mid-sixties, Edinburgh University runners had set the pattern, and athletes like Donald Macgregor and Jim Wight had built their success on training starting back then. Colin Youngson and Sandy Keith were two newcomers to the city, the former joining Edinburgh Southern Harriers and the latter Edinburgh Athletic Club. They quickly discovered three key sessions which were open to runners from any club.

Monday meant the Meadows: four laps including no less than sixteen repetitions – short or long, on the flat, uphill or downhill on tarmac paths. Wednesday was a nine mile pavement fartlek through Colinton with a series of testing longer efforts. Saturday was race day in the 70s but no matter what state you were in, the Sunday run was compulsory – a basic sixteen miles from the Meadows through Colinton Dell and out the old railway line to Balerno. The route might be extended via the reservoirs and Bonaly tower. Anything between 16 and 25 miles might be covered (the latter with a sadistic little final lap of the Meadows, pretending not to be exhausted, until you parted from your companions/rivals with a cheery wave, turned the corner, and struggled wearily home.) If you added some recovery running or a few hill reps on the intervening days, you had about eighty miles of excellent training in the hilly city – worth a hundred in the flat south?

Colin Youngson had discovered an important fact two weeks after the 1974 Scottish Marathon Championship – Sandy Keith was stronger. Although Colin had been four minutes clear in the SAAA event, when both turned up for the Inverness to Forres race – ‘pot-hunting’ – the tables were quickly turned. After ten miles of a contest, Sandy’s superior stamina and powers of recovery became apparent, and he rolled away to win in 2.26 (only a minute slower than fourteen days earlier), whereas Colin managed only 2.33 (twelve minutes slower). Therefore throughout the following Autumn, Winter, Spring and early Summer, Colin was very careful to train with Sandy only when he felt fresh and competitive. Training every day with his friend and rival would lead to physical collapse for the Southern runner! Sandy, originally from Caithness, was an ‘iron man’ who had taken up marathon running while in the RAF. Martin Craven (who was to run 2.18.38 at Stoke in 1975) was an important training companion, and many others took part in the key sessions, such as Nigel Bailey, Fergus Murray and that rising superstar, Allister Hutton. The Scottish National Junior Cross-country champion, however, did not quite have the stamina yet to keep up all the way on the 25 milers with his more mature ‘friends’ Colin (27) and Sandy (29), who enjoyed their temporary slight superiority on Sundays – they certainly had no chance racing Allister over shorter distances! Hutton claimed he had no desire to try the marathon, and remained true to this for many years, concentrating on the track in the summer, and eventually breaking 28 minutes for 10000 metres, before winning a thrilling London Marathon in 1990 (five years after running the fastest marathon ever by a Scot – 2 hours 9 minutes 16 seconds).

However, back to 1975. Youngson kept up his 80 miles per week while Keith ran over the ‘ton’. Early season races suggested that the Scottish Marathon was to be a real head-to-head. Colin ran 29.33 in the East District 10000 metres – second to Jim Dingwall; was second again (49 minutes) to Doug Gunstone in the SAAA track ten mile championship; and won the Dunky Wright trophy, presented by the man himself, for the Drymen to Scotstoun 15. Sandy was second in the Airdrie Highland Games 13 and won the tough Fort William 10.

A fortnight before the event, Colin knew he was fit after his Sunday run. Wearing lightweight nylon Tiger racing shoes, he ran eleven miles by himself and then linked up with the group for the Balerno 16 on the old railway track.  Over the last three miles he simply eased away to finish, still fresh after 27 miles, at the Bruntisfield Links. Some cautious training, the pre-marathon ‘diet’ and he lined up with Sandy Keith and thirty others on the Meadowbank track on 28^th June 1975.

It was a warm sunny day, and Sandy Keith took the initiative from the start, racing away down the hill to Portobello into a slight headwind. Only Colin tucked in behind and tried to relax. It seemed a hard way to start 26 miles! Sandy’s ambition was to win a marathon from start to finish, from the front – and how he tried! Five miles in 25.30; ten in 51.30; the turn in 67.30. As the pair, on their return journey, passed Alastair Wood and Donald Macgregor who were approaching the turning point, Wood muttered that the young fools would destroy each other. Macgregor warned that they were about two minutes ahead already!

Since there was now a pleasant following breeze, and to show that he was feeling good in spite of Sandy’s efforts, Colin moved alongside and they ran together for the next five miles. Then, at nineteen, as the route swung into a lay-by to a drink station, an official was clumsy in handing up Sandy’s cup of water. Sandy swore, quite uncharacteristically, hesitated for the drink, and Colin, seeing that his rival was feeling the strain, simply surged away for a full mile, down the Wallyford hill: 20 miles in 1.43.45. A nervy glance back revealed a decent gap, fifteen seconds, and it was head down again and flat out for Musselburgh and Portobello. The pace was still fast, but tiredness and worry set in. To win the Scottish Marathon was Colin’s main ambition in the sport, and now it was a case of hanging on grimly. Up the long hill to Jock’s Lodge and then, at the twenty-five mile mark, Youngson’s right leg suffered cramp. Would Keith catch up, so near to the finish? Keeping the limb as straight as possible, Youngson bashed onwards, into the stadium and round the track. No sign of Sandy until the final bend was reached and it was safe to negotiate the straight and break the tape.

What a relief for Colin Youngson, who felt sure that he must have broken the 2.20 barrier at last, but was very surprised to find that Jim Alder’s ‘big bowl of All-bran’ championship record had been broken by twenty-one seconds. Finishing times were: Colin Youngson 2.16.50; Sandy Keith 2.17.58; Alastair Wood 2.21.14; Davie Wyper (West of Scotland) 2.25.44; Gordon Eadie (Cambuslang) 2.25.48; Alastair Blamire (ESH) 2.26.20; Ian Trapp (EAC) 2.28.26; Mike Logue (Victoria Park) 2.29.56.

The amazing 61 year old Gordon Porteous ran 2.51.35, a world over-60s record which he reduced by eighteen seconds later in the year by winning the world championship event in Toronto. His ‘Scottish’ time was three minutes fastest than in 1948! Gordon went on to break world records in the following age-groups: over-65 (2.57.00); over-70 (3.11.45); over-75 (3.23.12); over-80 (3.47.04). His first marathon was in 1945 and he showed no sign of his incredible potential when he managed only 3.00.14, since cherry pie for lunch produced severe stomach cramp at twenty miles, and he actually had to stand still for almost five minutes until the pain (and clubmate Andy Burnside) passed.

After the race, Alastair Wood said, ‘Well done, Colin. I think you’re at your peak now.’ To which Colin replied that he felt there was a little more to come. But in fact Alastair did turn out to be right since this remained Colin’s fastest time ever.

The rest of the season produced further success for Colin Youngson: second behind Allister Hutton in the 10,000 metres for Scotland against Iceland in Reykjavik; second behind Cavin Woodward in a fast ‘Two Bridges’ 36 miler; and  a close second to Danny McDaid of Eire in the International marathon in Berchem, Antwerp. This was Colin’s only race representing Britain (until he became a veteran), and he and Max Coleby (3rd) won the team event.

1975 Berchem International Marathon. Colin, Danny and Max on the rostrum.

Sandy Keith improved even more. He was an excellent second to the great Ron Hill in the Enschede marathon; and crowned his season with a lifetime best, which headed the Scottish rankings, of 2.16.12, recorded when winning the Harlow marathon in October.

Sandy Keith (56) on the way to victory in the Harlow marathon.

In the next few years, Sandy became a regular British International marathon runner, although he never ran faster than in Harlow. Colin, on the other hand, tried a hundred miles a week, got sciatica, and was never quite as good again. Sandy’s toughness, resilience and stamina, as suspected, did turn out to be superior.

The other fast times by Scottish runners in 1975 came in the AAA event at Stoke. Martin Craven’s eleventh place in 2.18.38 has already been mentioned. Other times were Rab Heron 2.20.40, Don Macgregor 2.20.50 and Doug Gunstone 2.23.56.

1976 was the year of the Montreal Olympics. All over Britain, marathon runners trained harder than ever for the trial at Rotherham on May 8^th. Some became super-fit and others over-trained. On a hot day over a hilly course, a pack of at least forty were still together at five miles. The pace was remorseless and the competition intense. Many cracked before the three medallists – and British Olympic representatives – reached the finish. Barry Watson (2.15.08), Jeff Norman and Keith Angus were ones who succeeded that day. Even Ron Hill and that other great Ian Thompson, European and Commonwealth champions, failed to make the team. Sandy Keith impressed in sixth place (2.19.02), with Don Macgregor 12^th, Doug Gunstone (EAC) 14^th, Alastair MacFarlane (Springburn H) 27^th, Jim Dingwall (Falkirk Victoria H) 30^th, Colin Youngson 40^th and Willie Day 42^nd (but still in 2.28.01). A particularly gruelling event.

The 1976 SAAA Marathon, over the usual course from Meadowbank, and in conjunction with the Track and Field Championships, resulted in a win for the evergreen Donald Macgregor (Fife A.C.) in 2.24.12; from Doug Gunstone (EAC) 2.25.23; and Alastair MacFarlane (Springburn H) 2.30.14.

Alastair, who later edited an excellent Scottish Marathon Club Magazine, wrote that he only ran the Scottish Marathon four times but won a medal on every occasion! He remembered that the summer of 1976 was one of the hottest on record, and that this race began at 1.40 p.m., the warmest time of the day. He shared the pace with Donald, reaching five miles in 25.48 – too fast for himself in the conditions. Consequently Alastair ‘came off the back’ and struggled for a few miles while Donald pushed ahead. Alastair recalled the tremendous heat as they passed Musselburgh racecourse and headed into East Lothian. He recalls scanning the road ahead and looking forward to a bit of shade from a row of trees – it was that bad.

Doug Gunstone, a Scottish International on track and cross-country as well as road, and Alastair MacFarlane’s training partner, passed him at eight and a half miles and went away, but Alastair rallied and started to feel better all the way to twenty miles. After that, he describes the final section as ‘a survival job’. Doug had peaked for the AAA seven weeks earlier, recording a good time of 2.21.45 on a very hot day, but had maintained his seventy miles per week since then.

Meanwhile, Donald won fairly easily since Doug, who had perhaps started too cautiously, did not get close enough to apply any real pressure, although he finished strongly. Alastair’s time was to remain his personal worst for the distance. Yet he was delighted to win a Scottish medal in the severe weather conditions. In fact he recovered very quickly, perhaps because he had used the Saltin diet of carbohydrate depletion pioneered by Ron Hill.

The 21^st of August 1976 was a sad day since Duncan McLeod Wright died at the age of 79. Many tributes were published. These mentioned his three appearances in the Olympic marathon, the first in the ‘Chariots of Fire’ Games in Paris 1924; his fourth place in Los Angeles in 1932, only 65 seconds behind the winner, Zabala; his Commonwealth gold in Hamilton, Ontario in 1930, and his bronze in London, 1934; his presidency of the SAAA in 1958; his writing and broadcasting; his encouragement of generations of young athletes. Yet Harry Andrew wrote for Dunky’s many friends, when he emphasised “to be a champion in the marathon, you have to have a heart of enormous size and quality, abiding optimism, infinite patience and a considerable sense of humour. All these qualities Dunky had in abundance. Plus an enormous unflagging zest for life right up to the end.

He was a warm friendly little man so interested in everybody and everything. A man just as happy reporting some minor affair as some great international sporting occasion. A man whose delight knew no bounds when he was able to help or advise one of Scotland’s young athletes. He had an abiding pride in what he had done as a runner and as an administrator. Yet it was a pride without a vestige of conceit.”

Jim Dingwall

1977 was to see the fastest-ever Scottish Marathon championship. Once again, it was over the usual Meadowbank course on a warm day. The main man was that schoolboy 100 metre sprinter turned middle-distance and road runner Jim Dingwall: ‘the Guv’nor’ as he was known at Edinburgh University; or ‘the Head Waiter’ as he was cursed by those who had suffered his famed ‘kick’ to the finishing tape. Jim wrote ‘I had been blown away so many times in the SAAA 5000 metres by Dave Black of England, that I thought I’d better try the marathon. I had always been fascinated by these hardy souls charging off to Longniddry, while the posers ponced around the Meadowbank track.’

Jim ran over four thousand miles in 1977, including many weeks of over eighty miles and no less than 96 in the week of the Scottish Marathon Championship! Team spirit in Falkirk Victoria Harriers was excellent at the time, and he trained with other club members on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays if there wasn’t a race. ‘Guys like John Pentecost, John McGarva, Joe Gibson, Willie Sharp and Willie Day made sure there were plenty of hard sessions.’ Recovery runs were from his home in Falkirk to his work in Grangemouth; and back. So he frequently ran three times a day. Rumour has it that, as in the case of Dave Bedford, Jim’s first session of the day was not intended to help with his fitness, but merely to offset the beer he occasionally sipped of an evening!

Despite a cold, Jim finished 8^th in the AAA Marathon at Rugby on May 7^th, having run to twenty miles with his training companion Willie Day. Seven weeks of steady training was excellent preparation for the ‘Scottish’, and a personal best 10,000 metres (28.55) in the UK Championships at Cwmbran, a fortnight before the SAAA Marathon, showed his good form. Jim decided that the ‘diet’ simply upset his digestive system, so did not attempt it on this occasion. His racing shoes were ‘Tiger Cubs – what else?’

Jim Dingwall, confidently but uncharacteristically, led from the start, passing 5 miles in 25 minutes exactly. By ten miles (51.12) he had opened a 2 second gap on Sandy Keith, who had 20 seconds on Colin Youngson, Willie Day, Martin Craven and Dave Clark, with Phil Dolan and Alastair Blamire another 30 seconds down. By half-way Willie Day had made a big effort and had caught Dingwall and Keith. The three leaders recorded 67.04, 50 seconds clear of Youngson and Clark.

Dingwall surged strongly after 15 miles and passed 20 miles in 1.43.08, more than a minute clear of Keith and Day. Jim wrote ‘My somewhat sentimental memory of the latter part of the race was passing my mother at the side of the road in Prestonpans, around 17 miles. We runners are very used to ‘encouragement’ ranging from the enthusiastic to the frankly abusive. But Mum said. ‘Bless you, son’ as I trundled past and for a few seconds my legs turned to jelly. However I kept pulling away.’

At Portobello, Falkirk Victoria spectator Tom Strange saw Jim and ‘panicked. Orangey-red stuff was dribbling from my mouth and he thought I had burst a blood vessel, but it was only the ‘Dynamo’ electrolyte drink I was downing! A cheery word from Don Macgregor as I passed the Piershill Tavern (25 miles) encouraged me. I would soon be back there for a pint. Into the stadium to rousing applause. Whoopee. The added thrill was to be followed home by Willie Day for a Falkirk 1-2.’

Jim had extended his lead all the way to the tape. He broke the Championship Record by 45 seconds with 2.16.05, which has never been beaten by a Scot. Jim reported that the previous record holder, ‘heartily congratulated’ him, too tired to throw a punch.

Willie Day won silver in 2.17.56; Sandy Keith bronze in 2.18.52. Colin Youngson ran 2.19.35; Dave Clark (of Verlea A.C. and Aberdeen) 2.21.18; Phil Dolan (Clydesdale) 2.21.59; Ian Trapp 2.25.46; R. Stevenson (Maryhill) 2.27.31; Martin Craven 2.28.10; and Davie Wyper 2.30.09.

Jim Dingwall concluded his account with ‘Beers at the Piershill. Happy days. I decided I would do the Scottish Marathon again once my record was broken. I’ve not been troubled!’ A week later, despite tired legs, he won gold in the SAAA 10000 metres!

1977: silver medal for Willie Day to make Falkirk first and second

After a promising start as a Scottish Junior cross-country International, and years of hard training, this was Willie Day’s peak. By now an experienced marathon runner, he was Jim Dingwall’s main training partner, and had built up for this race very seriously, running up to 110 miles per week. 20 miles on Sunday was followed by days of 10, 15, 20, 15, 10 and 15. Sometime he and Jim ran a ten mile Thursday night fartlek in 53 minutes! Two weeks before the Scottish marathon he broke the record for the Bearsden 10, so he was confident of doing well in the championship.

Willie Day remembered that, after Jim made a break at 16 miles, he stayed back with Sandy Keith, hoping that Jim had gone too soon. At 18, with Jim well ahead, Willie moved away in second place. ‘Cutting down the deficit became impossible – all I could see was this figure disappearing round corners. When at last I entered the stadium there was tremendous applause – I had a lap to go but glanced behind to see Jim coming up the home straight behind me. Yet I finished the race still fresh for my silver medal and a personal best.’

Willie related tales of his friend J.D. Jim thought that Sunday 25s might be slowing down the pair of them, so suggested fast 20s instead. The only problem was that he wanted to start them at 8 a.m.! This was because Jim sang in the church choir and had to be back, showered and dressed and ready for 11 a.m. Willie admitted ‘It was hard at first, but we got used to it, despite the fact that the runs usually took between one hour fifty minutes and one hour fifty-five.’

One time, Willie passed Jim running home from work. ‘He was on a fartlek. We stopped to say something, and when we had done so, I noticed Jim walking back the way he had come. He had obviously been just about to start a burst. That’s how he was – so meticulous at times’.

‘Another time he had been out on a ten mile run with Davie Lothian. At a junction they had to run between two cars. Davie looked back to see Jim lying on the road. Evidently, since he wasn’t wearing his spectacles, he hadn’t seen the tow rope between the cars! Could have been nasty but we saw the funny side of it later.’

What Willie refrained from mentioning was Jim’s prowess in sinking seventeen pints between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m. on the infamous ‘Water of Leith pub crawl’ between Balerno and Leith Docks – or indeed that Jim was world record holder for high peeing in Colinton Dell. What an athlete – and a gentleman!

1977 Enschede Marathon: Sandy Keith (45) ran well but other Scots faded in extreme heat.

The 1978 Scottish Marathon Championship was one which lived on in the memories of participants in widely varying ways. The quality of experience depended on your point of view. It was, as usual, at the end of June, in conjunction with the SAAA Track and Field at Meadowbank.

Donald Macgregor wrote ‘My training diary has been found but the pages are blank. That tells its own story. Was that the year Ian somebody from England (Ranelagh) ran away from me?’

Colin Youngson had a foolish but traumatic tale. Having run 2.23 in the AAA Marathon – reasonable but not good enough, he sought a way to run faster without actually having to train harder. The carbo-loading diet worked quite well; and a large cup of strong real coffee (hot or cold) half an hour before gave a jet-propelled start, but what else? Dr Ron Maughan from Aberdeen, a prominent research physiologist, confidently stated that half a pint of cooking oil (or cream) would provide fatty acids to burn as fuel in the latter part of the race. There should be no need to slow down at all!

The credulous (or insane) Youngson therefore drank (with difficulty) half a pint of cream half an hour before the race – and then, surprise, surprise, felt a little nauseous. He jogged a bit, went to the loo, felt unwell, jogged, went back to the loo, still felt unwell, and toed the line to start. Hopefully, his stomach would settle soon. This sick individual hung on to the leading group for six miles, and then had to let them go. The next twenty miles involved retching, pit stops, walking and struggling onwards, white-faced. Eventually he finished in eleventh place – 2.46.40, a lifetime worst. About five days later, he stopped feeling sick. When Colin mentioned to his ‘scientific friend’ that the plan hadn’t worked too well, Ron remarked coolly that a) the cream should have been ingested about three hours before the race and b) it was only a theory, after all. Moral of this cautionary tale? There are no real short-cuts to marathon success!

Other legendary errors by Scottish marathoners include the athlete who swore by the carbo-loading diet – and did it every single week, as part of his training. And the runner who was very disappointed by his slowest ever race performance. It was pointed out, after discussion, that he had undergone the ‘diet’ the wrong way round – carbo-loading first and only protein before the race! No wonder he felt a trifle weak! The names are known, but their identities will not be printed.

However, back in the world of serious marathoning, 1978. Ian Macintosh of Ranelagh Harriers had never considered himself an Anglo Scot because both his parents were Scots and he had been born in Glasgow, living in Govan until he moved to London in 1952. Ian had run Scottish Junior Cross Country races for Springburn Harriers. He also ran well in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay.

Ian Macintosh running for GB in the 1969 Enschede International Marathon in Holland

In April 1978 Ian had some dental work done and, within a week he was ‘flying’. His usual plan involved very little training (but a few cross country races) in January and February. He was only 5 feet 5 inches in height and weighed ‘eight stone and a couple of pounds dripping wet’. In March he went straight into several weeks of eighty to 120 mile weeks, all run at under six minute miling! He believes he got away with this because of his weight and natural style and cadence. He used to race the Finchley 20 and maybe the Inter-Counties 20 a few weeks later.

In the Ranelagh 10, over a hilly course, Ian surprised Bob Richardson, an English Cross Country International, beating him by a minute in 49.30. In the bar afterwards, Chris Brasher (of Bannister mile, Olympic Steeplechase and London Marathon fame) suggested to Ian that, since it was Commonwealth Games year, he ought to try for the Scottish Marathon team. Jim Dingwall had already been selected. Ian knew Bob Dalgleish through his Springburn connection, so phoned him up. Bob got him into the SAAA race as a late entry, telling him that he had to win the race and run 2.18 or faster to be considered.

He came up to Glasgow on the Friday, complete with a medical certificate that he was fit to run – the first time he had been asked to provide such a document. The conversation with his doctor went something like the following:

Doc     ‘How are you?’

Ian      ‘Very well, thank you.’

Doc     ‘Then why are you wasting my time?’

Unfortunately it was to be the hottest June day in 25 years, with the temperature touching 90 degrees – so fast times seemed very unlikely, despite the fact that Ian ran well in the heat. His kit at the time was a light pair of New Balance racers, a white thin mesh vest with the Springburn diamond badge, Ron Hill Freedom shorts and white socks with red and white stripes with the tops turned down to the ankles.

Ian remembered the route as probably similar to the 1970 Commonwealth route, which he had watched. At that time he and his friends camped at Musselburgh and ran up the hill to Meadowbank each day.

The Scottish Marathon in 1978 was ‘run at a fairly fast rate despite the heat. By the return journey, Don Macgregor had gained a couple of hundred yards on me and there was a large gap behind. It was a fairly lonely run back to Edinburgh but as we came through a built up area, there was Alan Storey (later to be London Marathon organiser) with a pint of beer in his hand. Alan told me that Don looked to be struggling and that I could catch him. They all say that, don’t they?

Yet that was exactly what happened. I caught Don on the hill before the stadium and won by a hundred metres or so. As I passed him he did question my parentage. I can remember that as I finished Leslie Watson was winning the Women’s 1500.’

The result was: first Ian Macintosh 2.23.07; second Don Macgregor 2.23.33; third Eric Fisher (EAC) 2.28.15.

Ian added that they had slowed considerably because of the heat. His shoulders were quite sunburnt. He didn’t realise that the finish was shown live on Scottish TV. His sister in law in Arbroath saw this and phoned Ian’s wife, so that when he got back to London he was greeted with ‘So you won, then?’

As predicted, the hot weather made Commonwealth Games selection impossible. And in fact, although Ian was promised a representative vest for Scotland in another fixture, the phone-call never came. From his Finchley 20 performances of 1.40 – 1.44, he felt he had the potential to run a marathon in 2.15 – but it was never to be. In retrospect Ian felt that SAAA officials were parochial in their choice of athletes for Scottish teams. He cited the more recent case of that fine marathon runner Karen McLeod, born in Skye, who spent a fortune travelling from Bath to represent ESH, before at last her performances were recognised.

Later on, Ian Macintosh helped with the City of Bath Half Marathon; and at the London Marathon Championship desk. In 1990 he was team manager (for England) at the Aberdeen Home Countries International (and SAAA) Marathon. The winner was Chris Tall of England. As he was presented with the Scottish Marathon Quaich, he shouted to Ian that the name of Macintosh was engraved for 1978. Ian didn’t even know there was a trophy – he’d only been given a medal. So the morning after the 1990 race, officials gravely presented Ian with the trophy – better late than never!

Further information on the 1978 race was provided by Eric Fisher who won bronze. He remembered that Willie Day, sensing a chance of Commonwealth selection ‘went for it’, in spite of the heat. On the return journey, an EAC team-mate told Eric that Willie was ‘coming back’. However, Eric simply couldn’t spot his rival on the long road ahead. Eventually, in Joppa, a distant view was achieved; and Eric succeeded in passing Willie on the big hill up to Jock’s Lodge. At the top of the rise, Eric finally dared to look back, and was relieved to find himself safe, 150 yards ahead. Willie wrote that he was impressed by ‘Eric’s excellent run’, but did say that his left knee had become painful because the gristle in his new Gola shoes had snapped at the heel, and was giving less support.  At the end, Eric followed tradition, unhygienically cooling his blisters in the Steeplechase water-jump, and sharing race tales with other knackered marathon survivors. Gordon Porteous once more set a World Record, this time for the over-60s. (He continued to do this until he was 75 years old, when he ran 3.19!)

Jim Dingwall, in excellent form, managed 2.13.58 for 5^th place in the AAA over the Sandbach course. Sandy Keith ran 2.18.15, and was unlucky not to be selected. Only Jim Dingwall represented Scotland on 11^th August 1978 in the Commonwealth Games Marathon in Edmonton, Canada. Sadly, he suffered during the flight to Canada and his training was seriously affected. Nevertheless, he led until halfway and then hung on bravely to the leading pack to 25km before he had to drop back. Paul Bannon, (formerly of Shettleston Harriers), a Scot who had adopted Canadian nationality, was in the lead at 40 kilometres, but eventually won a bronze medal in 2.16.51 seventy seconds behind the winner, Shahanga of Tanzania, and another Canadian, Jerome Drayton.

Sub-2.20 Scots in 1978 were: Jim Dingwall 2.13.58; Dave Clark 2.17.55; Sandy Keith 2.18.15; Don Macgregor 2.19.19; Alasdair Kean (Derby) 2.19.42; and Doug Gunstone 2.19.51.

1979 was to see an increase in the number of Scottish marathon races, with the inaugural Aberdeen and Glasgow races in the autumn. However the Scottish Championship Marathon from Meadowbank on the 26^th of May turned out to be a fine one. After a year of injury free training, a sensible blend of mileage and short or long repetitions, Alastair Macfarlane was in very good condition, having won the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16 by over a minute, and shortly afterwards set his fastest 5000 metres.

1979: Eric Fisher, Alan McGee, Macfarlane and Macgregor leading early on. Behind, left to right are Youngson (obscured), Ian Graves, Dave Lang and Jim Russell.

By five miles (26.20), the leading group included: Alastair Macfarlane (Springburn), Don Macgregor, Colin Youngson, Ian Graves (Fife AC), Graham Milne (Aberdeen AAC), Dave Lang (Fife) and the 1977 Fellrunner of the Year, 21 year-old Englishman Alan McGee (Bolton United Harriers). Gerry Gaffney (Greenock Wellpark H), making his debut, was there too. The pace was steady, due to a slight headwind. Halfway (70.23) was reached by a pack of six: Macfarlane, Lang, Macgregor, Youngson, McGee and Gaffney.

According to Colin Youngson’s diary ‘with the wind behind us, suddenly the pace of the return journey became suicidal – until legs dropped off’. Gaffney and Lang were left behind by 15 miles (80.30) and Alan McGee shortly afterwards.

1979: down to four – Macgregor, Youngson, Macfarlane, McGee behind.

Donald Macgregor slipped off the group at 18 miles, and in the words of Alastair Macfarlane ‘at a watering point opposite Musselburgh Race Course – around 20 (1.46.07) and a half miles, Colin went for a drink while I kept on racing. So I was on my own, feeling good and running well, and knew that, although there were still over five miles to run, I would not be caught; a tremendous feeling to have in the later stages of a marathon when you are normally suffering a bit.’ Youngson simply remembered that, on the day, Alastair’s relentless leg speed was impossible to match – he was really in great form. Macgregor, having paced himself more sensibly, passed Youngson, but all three finished strongly to beat 2.20.

The result was: first Alastair Macfarlane (Springburn H), relaxed and fresh in 2.18.03 (a PB by six minutes); second Donald Macgregor (Fife), two months from being a veteran, 2.19.15; third Colin Youngson (ESH) 2.19.48. Then came Alan McGee 2.21.26; Ian Graves 2.23.44; Gerry Gaffney 2.24.09; Graham Milne 2.26.25; Martin Craven 2.29.29; and Joe Small (Clyde Valley) 2.30.01. Gordon Porteous, now 65, produced another remarkable run – 3.03.24.

Alastair on his way to victory, Colin can be seen behind.

On September 16^th, the first Aberdeen Marathon was held. This turned into a battle between Jim Brown (Clyde Valley H) and Graham Laing (Aberdeen AAC). The former had beaten the latter by over a minute in the Tom Scott 10 miles; but over the longer distance, Laing, only 20 but very talented, and the 1979 SAAA champion over 10,000 metres, managed to defeat his illustrious adversary, an outstanding cross-country international and Scottish 10.000 metres record-holder. Graham won in 2.21.40 over a windswept, undulating course, with Jim 42 seconds down. Colin Youngson was a remote (2.27.44) but lucky third, after John Bigham  (RAF Cosford) had lost thirty seconds by being sent off course to finish fourth in 2.28.00. Willie Day, who had run a very fast first fifteen miles, was fifth, Doug Gunstone sixth and Evan Cameron (ESH) seventh.

On the 14^th of October 1979, Olympian Barry Watson (Cambridge H) won the first Glasgow Marathon in the fine time of 2.17.45 after a real battle with Sandy Keith (EAC) (2.18.08). Significantly, Leslie Watson, who had won in both Aberdeen and Glasgow, was 8 minutes faster in Glasgow. Doug Gunstone, 5^th in Glasgow, was almost 6 minutes faster than in Aberdeen.

Don Macgregor, meanwhile, had broken the record (30.04.2) to win gold in the World Veterans Track 10000 metres. He had been second in the marathon – a feat he was to surpass in 1980.

Alastair Wood

The 1960 Scottish Marathon, finishing once again at the Old Meadowbank Stadium, took place on a particularly hot, sunny day. Gordon Eadie started cautiously and ran an even-paced race, making steady progress and passing the leaders in the later miles to win convincingly in 2.36.40 from Johnny Kerr (Airdrie Harriers) and Charlie Fraser of Edinburgh Southern Harriers.

Gordon Eadie, a durable athlete who represented Scotland in the International Cross-Country Championships in 1961, won another silver medal in the 1966 Scottish Marathon and was still running good marathons in the 1970s. He was also a successful ultra-distance runner and was record-holder for the 44 miles of the solo Edinburgh to Glasgow race.

John Kerr had been a cyclist and was known as ‘Jack’ to fellow bikers, although his mother disapproved of the abbreviation. Hugh Mitchell, one of those cyclists, remembers that John had a low but very powerful running action. Jackie Foster remembered him as ‘Johnny’ Kerr, and “rather ‘fat’ for a runner, probably weighing over eleven stones, compared to the nine and a half of ‘normal’ scraggy competitors. However, his wonderful positive attitude made him state that his extra weight was an advantage, as he had something to lose, unlike ‘skinny rabbits’ like Jackie himself!” Johnny had a low shuffling stride, and sweated profusely, appearing to stretch his vest and nylon shorts to the maximum. When Jackie worried once about an apparently classy field of opponents, Johnny retorted, ‘Nonsense. They just have two legs each like you and I,’ and then went on to win.

One day the two of them were running the Strathallan twenty-miler on a red-hot day with black bubbles of tar forming on the road. They had broken away from the field at fifteen miles, and Jackie was highly chuffed at still keeping up with Johnny, and was looking forward to finishing second. With about half a mile to go, Jackie offered his rival one of the little refresher sweets he was carrying. Johnny Kerr stopped still immediately; and Jackie carried on to win in two hours two minutes. When Johnny did come onto the track some time later, he took off his peaked cap and jumped on it! He told Jackie later that he could not believe him fresh enough to offer him sweets after such a gruelling run. So for once, Johnny’s strong self-confidence was broken – although Jackie never beat him again.

A very well-known Scottish Veteran Harrier and, much later on, a British M55 and M60 Marathon Record Holder, Bill McBrinn of Monkland Harriers, took up the story of the 1961 Scottish Marathon Championship. Falkirk to Meadowbank yet again and very warm. Bill had been a miler who occasionally tried longer road races like Brampton to Carlisle or Morpeth to Newcastle. When he decided to train for a marathon, his job as a Locomotive Fireman with British Rail caused problems. Shift work meant he had to run before work one week; and after work the next one. Hardly ideal since the work itself was heavy.

                                Bill McBrinn

Bill ran ten milers mainly, with a 14 mile effort now and then, and once a month 22-25 miles. He raced most weekends. In April 1961 he was pleased to finish fifth, beating Gordon Eadie, in the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16, won by Ian Harris of Beith Harriers, a Cross-Country International that year.

Two weeks before the Scottish Marathon, Bill was second to John Kerr in the SMC 12. Johnny had been a member of Monkland, but joined Airdrie after a ‘fall-out’. Seven days before the Championship, Bill ran the Babcock and Wilcox 14, won by Andy Brown. Obviously, Bill did not ‘ease down’, and indeed ran ten miles two days before the race.

On marathon morning, Bill devoured a large steak at 11 a.m. – the very opposite of ‘carbo-loading’! Dressed in his club cotton vest, shorts and the traditional Dunlop Green Flash tennis shoes, Bill toed the line. The Press made Ian Harris (of Beith and the Parachute Regiment) favourite. Bill preferred John Kerr – his stamina was not in doubt since he had completed the Edinburgh to Glasgow and other ‘ultras’. Four English runners turned up, poo-pooing the Scots chances and saying they would all break 2.30! Bill himself intended to gain a standard medal for breaking 2.50. He was unbothered by the heat, which suited him well.

The gun went and the favourites shot off. When Bill took a drink of water at the first station (five miles) he ‘got dog’s abuse’ for doing so, since drinking that early was seen as ‘soft’! As Bill continued, running his own race, he was encouraged by Hugh Mitchell of Shettleston Harriers. Hugh was following the race on his bicycle, and started to relay information to Bill from the front of the event. Before Maybury Cross (20 miles) Bill was 11^th, and shortly afterwards Bill spotted two of the boastful Englishmen ‘lying on the road and another wrapped around a lamp post’. On Ferry Road, Hugh shouted that Bill was up to 7^th. By 24 miles he was 4^th. ‘They’re dropping like flies in the heat!’ Just after that, Bill spotted Jimmy Garvie and Jim Brennan, just in front of him. They were staggering from side to side, trying to negotiate the long hill to Meadowbank. This was all Bill needed to give him the will to run past them into second place. Looking at a clock on a building he saw it was four o’clock. He knew that STV was covering the Championships from that time, so he put on ‘a bit of a face for the cameras’, and won a silver medal in his first marathon in 2.37.32, behind the winner John Kerr who recorded 2.36.06. Bill writes ‘two runners from the Monklands on the track at the same time, and my son James (aged 7) shouting me on from my mum’s television.’

Third place was E.W. Holmes (Burn Road) – the surviving Englishman? Although Bill had to stop the car to be sick on the way home, that evening his wife insisted on a trip to the cinema, where a violent attack of cramp sent him ‘jumping in the air squealing, with everybody turning round thinking I was mad’. Next Monday, when Bill McBrinn reported to work, he had evidence that someone else must have watched the event – the board for engine numbers had been brushed clean and chalked up was ‘WELL DONE T.V. McBRINN!’

By 1962 Alastair Wood had moved up in distance and won the first of six Scottish Marathon Championships. Second was J. M. Kerr – a gold and two silvers in three years!

John Kerr, far left, racing in the Senior National Cross-Country

Tragically John Kerr’s successful running career, and his life itself, was cut short soon afterwards. He was a purification engineer on the Clyde and on a freezing winter’s day he was taking water samples near Bothwell Bridge when the bosun’s chair snapped and he fell into the cold dirty water. The task was meant to be a two-man job, but unfortunately his workmate had not arrived, and John had decided to do the work on his own. The fire brigade rescued him, and he walked to the ambulance, but died there soon afterwards, from hypothermia. Jackie Foster wrote ‘A sad end for a really tough guy’. Johnny’s widow put up a memorial trophy which for many years went to the winner of the Airdrie 13. Nowadays it is presented to the victor in the popular Monklands Half Marathon.

Alastair Wood, one of Scotland’s all-time best runners, should have written a book about his eventful athletics career, thoughtful training advice and controversial opinions. Mind you, he should have engaged a good libel lawyer first! Born in Elgin, he went to Aberdeen University in 1952 and worked towards a degree in Political Economy, also competing successfully as a miler and three miler.In June 1955 he ran a mile in 4.15.9 and followed that with a bronze medal in the SAAA Championships at New Meadowbank. From 1956 to October 1959 he was an officer at RAF Halton. Thereafter he spent a year at Oxford University doing post-graduate work in Economics and Statistics., and also gaining blues for Athletics and Cross-country.

In the RAF his commander was Bill Taylor, much later the president of the British Veteran Athletics Federation. Alastair remembered Bill as a really nice man and a great organiser – everything planned to the second. The 1948 Wembley Olympics red cinder track had been moved to RAF Halton. During his time in the RAF, Alastair did a lot of evening interval training in the dim light of street-lamps – sessions like 40 x 220 yards with a jog recovery across the centre of the track. He competed in Inter-Services competitions and (for Shettleston Harriers) 4^th place in the 1958 nine-mile Scottish Cross-Country Championship on Hamilton Racecourse. In 1959 he won the event! Perhaps his best cross-country race was in the 1960 International, also in Hamilton, when he finished 7^th beating that year’s Scottish champion, (and fine miler) Graham Everett, and the most unlikely ‘Scotsman’ Bruce Tulloh, who Alastair blamed for losing Scotland a team medal in a later event in Spain! Alastair ran for Scotland in the ICCU Championships for six years in succession – 1959 to 1964.

On the track, Alastair Wood won Scottish titles over 3 miles (1957 and 1959) and 6 miles (1958, 1959,1960 and 1961). He was Scottish Native Record Holder for both events. He ran in the 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games 6 miles on a very hot day, keeping up with the leaders for four miles before having to drop out. Alastair represented Britain at three miles, six miles, marathon – and in the steeplechase.

By 1960 he was living in Aberdeen and gradually changed his club from Shettleston to Aberdeen AAC, which finished second team in the ‘National’ of 1962. His main training partner, just out of the RAF, was Steve Taylor (Scottish 3 mile champion in 1961 and 1962, and a Cross-country International in 1960, 1961 and 1962); and Dennis Whiting and Peter Duffy also took part in the two hours long Sunday runs which became part of local legend in the 60s and 70s. Alastair swore that the early sessions were not as viciously fast and competitive as they later became! Repetitions were also an important training ingredient.

Alastair remembered that, on the Saturday of the SAAA Championships, he used to watch the marathon competitors trudging round the track to finish Falkirk to Meadowbank. Joe McGhee and Harry Fenion seemed like ‘funny little men in sandshoes’ to an unimpressed track athlete. Yet in 1962 he trained over a twenty mile course from Aberdeen out the North Deeside road to the Drum straight, across to Park and back in the South Deeside. One May evening he managed this in just over one hour forty minutes, which seemed ‘not bad’.

The 1962 Scottish Marathon Championships was to be run over a new course. Gordon Porteous, whose first marathon was back in 1948, also competed from 1961 to 1981 inclusive, apart from 1978, when he was ill before the race. He remembered the 1962 Championship as being the last one to finish on the ash track at the so-called New Meadowbank stadium. He hadn’t been doing much racing prior to the event, but that old campaigner John Emmet Farrell asked Gordon if he fancied having a go at the marathon. Consequently they trained together doing 40 or 50 miles per week with the odd 20 miler nearer the race. Gordon suspected ‘JEF of doing an extra run on the QT.’

The new course started outside the stadium, went towards Dalkeith, worked its way back towards the coast through Cockenzie and back into Edinburgh round behind the stadium to finish on the track. Since it was a warm day, the two (not so old) warriors ran steadily together. This was a wise move since John Emmet was notorious for going off course. Then with 50 yards or so to go, as Gordon wrote ‘the old b….. sprinted to hold me off at the line! I never let him beat me in a marathon after that.’

Alastair Wood (Aberdeen AAC) remembered the new course as being very hilly, with a headwind on the way back. He decided to go for a good time and not be content to ‘sit and kick’. Andy Brown (who had recently run 2.25.28, and was favourite) and he contested the lead until Alastair broke away at a roundabout (about 18 miles) which they had to negotiate before heading in London Road and onto the gravel behind Meadowbank pavilion, where a small boy was almost knocked over by the tired Wood, who reached the finish in 2.24.59, a championship record. Second was Johnny Kerr (Airdrie H.) and third Charlie Fraser (ESH). Charlie, who ran for years with a calf muscle strapped up, had a short pitter-patter stride pattern, and had been a good cross-country and six miles track man.

The 1962 AAA Marathon was in July at Welwyn Garden City, and Alastair ran splendidly to finish second to Brian Kilby. (Alastair won the prestigious Achilles Club gold medal for this performance, as he did again in 1967). Kilby, the best marathon specialist Wood competed against, went on to win the European Championship Marathon for Britain in Belgrade – a race in which Alastair finished a meritorious fourth. He remembered catching up on the bronze medallist in the later stages but ran out of distance, since he had followed the favourite, Popov, the European record holder, for too long before realising the Russian, who finished sixth, was having a bad day. Alastair is meant to have announced after the race that he was bored with the distance and would run no more marathons. However, for his fourth marathon of an arduous debut season at the event, Alastair Wood took part in the Commonwealth Games Marathon in Perth, Australia. It was the last day of the Games on a cold drizzly day quite unlike the previous roasting fortnight. Sadly Alastair was suffering from food poisoning, and the team manager Willie Carmichael didn’t hand out the pink pills to cure the problem. Brian Kilby was a convincing winner, with Dave Power second and another Australian, Rod Bonella, third. The unfortunate Alastair had to head for the bushes at 18 miles and subsequently spent three days in hospital.

Alastair remembered teaming up with Mike Lindsay, Martyn Lucking and Mike Hildrey and confronting chief official Willie Carmichael, who was allegedly hoarding a number of items contributed by Australian sponsors i.e. ‘a team car, oceans of Swan lager, whisky and cigarettes. Each competitor should have received 1400 cigarettes and a thousand cans of lager. These might not have been consumed during the games but could have been used for presents back home.’ However a pleasant memory of the Perth Games was jogging with legendary figures like Arthur Lydiard, Peter Snell and Murray Halberg. Nevertheless, Alastair Wood was not keen on ‘Big Games’ – he objected to uniforms, officials and hanging around forever waiting for the marathon to start on the last day.

In 1963, Alastair Wood did not compete in the Scottish Marathon. Instead, he tried the famous Polytechnic event, in which Leonard ‘Buddy’ Edelen of the USA broke the world record in 2.14.28. Alastair had dropped out and was annoyed to sit in a car watching Edelen indulging in some ruthless course and corner –cutting! Undoubtedly Edelen would have won the race, but the record may have been achieved unfairly.

Jim Alder leading Donald Macgregor

Enter Jim Alder of Morpeth Harriers and Edinburgh AC, the famous Geordie Scot who is undoubtedly one of the finest competitors and most memorable and admirable characters, ever to don the national dark blue vest. Jim had won the Scottish Cross-country Championships on Hamilton Racecourse in 1962, had represented Scotland (in Belgium in 1963) and Britain in a road race in Barcelona. He’d also won the Edinburgh to North Berwick 22 and, most importantly, the English 20 mile championship. His training could be as much as 130 miles a week! So this improving 23 year old was favourite when it came to his marathon debut, four weeks after the 20. The Scottish Marathon was from Anniesland in Glasgow in 1963. An official told Jim that the course was out and back and ‘dead flat’.

Jim described the 1963 race in his 1981 biography ‘Marathon and Chips’. “I took off from the gun and inside a mile was going away from the opposition. There were several gradual but long uphill stretches on the outer journey and at half way a small detour round a trading estate then the truth dawned! I had a similar terrain to negotiate on the return home! A two-minute lead was increased to three and a half minutes at twenty miles but I had slowed up appreciably over the last two miles……. The damage was done and the full penalty was yet to be exacted……..

At twenty-one miles I was barely at walking pace, everything ached, legs, body, mind. God! What had hit me? Approaching the outskirts of Glasgow I was just aware of shoppers , kids, dogs. All seemed to be looking at me – did I look all that bad? A Scottish athletic supporter shouting at me from the kerbside mentioned twenty-three miles – heavens more that three miles to go. My brain was numb – panic – but my aching body screamed to stop, mind and body in conflict. Decision, yes, I will walk one telegraph pole, jog one, God! Who is this passing me – a runner? I am beaten. Oh no.

Ian Harris (number 33), after the Spean Bridge 10

Ian Harris of Beith Harriers and the Parachute Regiment swept past me when I was walking, the indignity of the situation turned to horror – would the rest of the field catch me? What seemed an eternity eventually drew to a close, the stadium loomed up, into the entrance, 300 yards around a track and the end – bliss. As those officials were in sight, on the home straight a roar from the crowd raised me from my stupor – someone else was catching me. Careering from lane to lane over the finishing line only yards ahead of Clark Wallace, a respected veteran Scots runner. Oblivion! Next thing I recall is lying in the first-aid tent with three St. John Ambulance men looking down on me. Failure!

The journey back to Morpeth interrupted for a few beers en-route despite several attacks of cramp in my legs did little to raise my confidence. The weeks following led to much soul searching as to whether marathon running was a sport or a torture.” Many have shared Jim’s uncertainty on this point, but the answer depends on the precise nature of the questioner’s experience during the most recent race! That such a tough guy and successful marathoner should suffer so badly, must give great comfort to us lesser mortals! The official result in 1963 was: first Ian Harris, who had run well in hill races like Ben Lomond and Ben Nevis, in 2.25.23; second Jim Alder (2.32.04); and third R. Clark Wallace (Shettleston). Clark was an eccentric chap with a funny laugh, but essential to Shettleston’s success, since he coached younger athletes and was the club cross-country champion. Hugh Mitchell remembers ‘Everyone looked up to Clark.’

Hugh Mitchell (53) and Charlie McAlinden (138) leading the field at Dirrans Sports

The Scottish Marathon Championship in 1964 was over an easier course than in 1962. It finished at New Meadowbank, but went out through Portobello and Musselburgh, continuing until the turn about Aberlady. As usual, Alastair Wood (Aberdeen AAC) was not content to win, but pushed himself hard to break the Championship record for the second time in 2.24.00. Second was Hugh Mitchell of Shettleston in 2.35.01 and third Charles McAlinden (Babcock and Wilcox) in 2.39.22. By this time Alastair was running 80 to 100 miles per week including speedwork with Steve Taylor. Since Steve was faster, Alastair had to keep the recoveries short to ensure his superior stamina took effect! A notable feat in 1964 was by Jim Alder, who finished third in the AAA race in 2.17.46 to make him the first Scot to break 2.20.

Hugh Mitchell, like Hugo Fox and John Kerr, had been a racing cyclist. After competing in time-trials over 10, 25 and 50 miles, and road races of up to 160 miles, he turned to cyclo-cross and cross-country running. Since ‘you learn to suffer on a bike’, he soon turned to distance road racing, and trained on the cycling model: a period of heavy mileage; then hillwork; and finally speedwork. Not unlike Lydiard schedules. From 1959 onwards, he tried some very big training weeks: starting at 140 miles, he built up to 200, tried to keep this amount up for a fortnight, and then eased down to 140 again. He emphasised ‘If you avoided injury, you felt very strong and fresh when you reduced the mileage to only 140’!

Since Alastair Wood was a Shettleston clubmate for a time, Hugh Mitchell had several memories of this character. One is the pleasure of being in a winning Shettleston team in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay in 1959 – without either Alastair or Graham Everett, who were the best two runners in Scotland at the time. Hugh remembered Joe McGhee racing in at the end of leg 6, and being so excited that he set off without the baton and had to go back to fetch it! In a Shettleston Marathon he finished second, two and a half minutes behind Alastair, which showed Hugh’s stamina, since there had been the same time gap shortly before over the ‘Tom Scott 10’. He also remembers a long Dundee road race in which he was pursuing Wood on the outward journey. Eventually Alastair stopped and exclaimed ‘That’s Arbroath down there!’ It turned out that some children had moved the bollard which showed where to ‘turn back. Alastair swore he’d love to catch those kids, but would ‘kill’ the irresponsible officials! Alastair suffered even more later when he was sent off course near the end of the ‘Two Bridges’ when a clear leader, letting the Wight brothers through for first and second. Such problems are only suffered by fast front-runners!

As well as many marathons, and the North Berwick to Edinburgh race (note the original direction), Hugh Mitchell was a successful ultra-distance runner: second and third in the ‘Two Bridges’; taking part in the Isle of Man 40 (a close race with the legendary John Tarrant) and the Liverpool to Blackpool 48; and twice finishing fourth in the London to Brighton classic. Hugh broke Gordon Eadie’s record to win the Edinburgh to Glasgow 44 mile solo race.

Gordon Eadie

1965 was a tough Scottish Marathon – a genuine head to head between the reigning champion and a future one. That June, the course was out and back from Westerlands in Glasgow – a real switchback. Donald Macgregor of Edinburgh Southern Harriers, who lived and worked in St Andrews, had finished 5^th in the Cross-country ‘National’ and had run for Scotland in the ‘World Champs’ in Ostend. During April, in preparation for a debut marathon, he managed two training weeks of 100 miles each. Donald finished second to Alastair Wood in a hilly Dundee ten miler; and later at the end of April was given the verdict in the Clydebank-Helensburgh 16, after Alastair and he had run across the line together. This was not acceptable to one official who called the duo ‘a pair of sharkers’! Then, in May, Donald won the SAAA Track 10 in 50.23 – with Alastair second. The stage was set.

In the marathon, Alastair and Donald were soon in front and at five miles, when Jack White of ESH blew his bugle and shouted, ‘Keep up, Donald’, Wood replied out of the side of his mouth, ‘Surely they don’t expect you to be dropped yet?’ As Donald wrote ‘This confidence paid off, since at about 19 miles I could keep up no more and he drew ahead yard by yard, while I floundered feebly and would fain have given up. But I struggled on, finishing in the almost deserted stadium in 2.22.24.’ Alastair Wood won in 2.20.46 – his third Championship record. Alastair remembered how hard it was to drop Donald, but recalls that he finally managed to break away up a long hill. Donald added ‘ I have a great ‘Daily Record’ photo showing me propped up by wee Dunky Wright and a couple of others, with a ‘Never Again’ expression on my face. Over the full 26 miles, Alastair was too strong for me – as yet.’ (The six and a half years between them seemed significant – arguably Alastair reached his peak in 1966 and Donald in 1972.They also won World Veteran Marathons six years apart – Alastair in 1974 and Donald in 1980.) Later in 1965, Fergus Murray won the Shettleston event in 2.18.30 with Wood second in 2.19.03 – the first time that a marathon in Scotland had been completed in less than 2 hours 20 minutes.

In 1966 the course was an undulating course from Westerlands in Glasgow, out to Vale of Leven and back. The weather was sunny and hot. Charlie McAlinden (Babcock and Wilcox), Irish half-mile champion back in 1956, had hopes of being selected for the European Championship team. Although he had concentrated for most of his career on shorter track races, and had avoided running three and six mile events, he had been encouraged to try the 26 mile classic distance by Harry Fenion, the 1957 Scottish Marathon champion. In 1964 Charlie had won a bronze in the Scottish race, and in 1965 had finished 5^th in the AAA Marathon at Port Talbot, in which Bill Adcocks was the winner, followed by Brian Kilby, Juan Taylor and Alastair Wood. By 1966, Charlie was a much-improved athlete and on form capable of a very good run. Gordon Eadie of Cambuslang, the 1960 winner, was also competing along with his team mate Andy Fleming. Newcomers included Donald Ritchie (Aberdeen AAC) who was attempting his second marathon and only beginning his illustrious distance running career; and Jack MacLean (Bellahouston H) who took part in sixteen Scottish marathon championships in succession, starting with this one!

After a few miles the leaders began to stretch the field as they maintained a good pace. Hugh Mitchell (Shettleston), had been told before the race that sub-2.25 would be considered for the Jamaica marathon, so he moved ahead, accompanied by Charlie McAlinden. Further back, Gordon Eadie was running with a group containing Donald Ritchie. There was little change in the positions as Strathleven Industrial Estate, the half-way point, was reached. The runners completed a circuit of the grounds before returning to the roads. After keeping up 2.23 pace to twenty miles, Hugh Mitchell had to drop back, leaving Charlie on his own and feeling ‘hunted’. An extra problem he had to deal with was that he did not drink at all on this especially hot day. His friend Tony McManus was meant to hand him a special drink at twenty miles, but the officials of the time followed very strict rules about water stations, and Charlie had to carry on without refreshment. At 24 miles Hugh Mitchell dropped out.

Gordon made an effort to close the gap on the leader and chased hard through 20 and 23 miles. He moved into second behind Charlie McAlinden. However the strain of racing fast in hot conditions was forcing some runners to give up and even the leaders were slowing down. Gordon could not manage to take the lead from a struggling Charlie, who found some strength in the last two miles to move away and win the battle in 2.26.31. Gordon Eadie finished in 2.28.19 with Andy Fleming, his Cambuslang clubmate and advisor, third in 2.32.47.

The 1966 European Marathon was won by an Irish athlete – Jim Hogan, running for Britain! Although the Irish selectors sent home-based athletes to the European Championships, and ignored Glasgow-domiciled Charlie McAlinden, in later years he became a very successful veteran athlete, winning titles at 5000m, 10000m, ten miles, cross-country and marathon. In 1974 he was 9^th in the World Veterans’ Marathon in France (won by A.J.Wood). In retirement, he lived in Aviemore and enjoyed hillwalking.

Donald Ritchie with Hugh Mitchell as the ‘water boy’.

Donald Ritchie managed 2.45.58. He wrote that he had been training between 70 and 90 miles a week including two interval sessions. Racing shoes were Tiger Cubs, which cost 37/6 from Stan Eldon Sports. On this occasion the weather was very warm, 80 degrees Fahrenheit, under a cloudless sky. The tar was melting on the roads, his feet hurt and he felt sick. The World Record-breaking Ultra-marathoner was not yet the finished article!

Alastair Wood suffered once again in the Poly marathon, mainly due to extremely hot conditions, which affected all the top-class field of competitors, including Jim Alder, who finished not far in front of him. Before the race Alastair had put in his usual 80 to 100 miles per week including tough fartlek with Steve Taylor (efforts between a varying number of lamp-posts). Tired and disenchanted after the Polytechnic event, Alastair spent a month training differently – to fantastic effect. He is quoted as stating ‘The answer to fast running at any distance is to devote a considerable amount of time to moving faster than you plan to race’. He only ran every second day – and ‘to pass the time’ tried as many as sixty 220 strides! By the 9^th of July and the Inverness to Forres marathon, he was full of energy, his knees coming up of their own accord! That day he made history by romping away to win in 2.13.45 – later ratified as a British and European best performance. It was a day on which Alastair felt he could ‘run forever’ and local rumour has it that he claimed to be ‘the fastest white man in the world’ behind an African (Abebe Bikila), a Japanese (Morio Shigematsu) and a Mongolian! Ming Campbell, who was Britain’s best sprinter in 1962, once referred in an article to Alastair as ‘the sardonic Alastair Wood’. This was not entirely inappropriate – but what a runner! A newspaper wished to pay Alastair’s expenses to compete in the Commonwealth Games marathon in Jamaica, but Alastair suspected that Scottish officials wouldn’t select him, and in any case was not keen to compete in another ‘Big Games’ so he turned down the offer.

In Kingston on a predictably very hot day, Jim Alder triumphed, outsprinting Bill Adcocks of England after being misdirected and losing a fifteen second lead before reaching the track. A gold medal for Alder and Scotland!

1967 proved to be a peak year for Scottish marathon runners – who accomplished the fastest seven times by British runners that season! In the AAA Championships at Baddesley Colliery, Nuneaton, near Birmingham, Jim Alder won narrowly from Alastair Wood (2.16.08 to 2.16.21) with Donald Macgregor third in 2.17.19. Other Scottish stars were Fergus Murray (Edinburgh Southern Harriers); and Mel Edwards, (Aberdeen AAC) who won the Harlow Marathon in 2.18.25. Before his AAA run, Donald had completed three weeks of ‘intense hot-weather training in Vichy, France.’ He ran ten to fifteen miles in about six minute miles; and, on alternate days, a speed session, such as fartlek, or two miles of short sprints and short recoveries, or 30×200, or 4×600, or 4 times a mile in 5.00 to 5.30 with a 200 fast non-recovery! About seventy miles a week. This regime led to good track speed and a personal best in the marathon.

Donald refered to Jim Alder as ‘the excitable Morpeth lad. ‘Have yow ever run a marathon? Have yow ever run a marathon?’ he would ask ill-informed journalists.’ Donald also alluded to Jim’s occasional pre-race pessimism. ‘Due for a bad un!’ he’d moan. ‘Sardonic Alastair’, another friend of Jim’s, related the tale of asking Jim how far he ran every week in training. ‘A hundred miles exactly. Five minute miles,’ came the crisp answer.

‘Never 101 ?’ pressed Wood, ‘ How can you be sure? Five minutes for each mile? On the flat? Downhill? Uphill as well?’

‘Five minutes exactly. A hundred miles a week.’ Jim would not be budged an inch or a second. A champion’s determination! Most acquaintances have a Jim Alder anecdote, such was the man’s unique personality, which inspired humour as well as great admiration and affection.

The Scottish Championships were held in Grangemouth in 1967 and Alastair Wood won his fourth marathon title in 2.21.26 from Donald Ritchie, also from Aberdeen AAC (2.27.48) and Alex Wight (Edinburgh University) in 2.29.36. Colin Youngson, who had just competed in his first SAAA championship over three miles, remembered seeing Wood ease home without apparent effort, and then, bantering with officials and track competitors, wander slowly towards the entrance. He was standing there, sipping tea, ready to shout encouragement to his clubmate, when Donald chugged in, red-faced, to claim his silver medal. A press photograph captured the moment perfectly. In it, Alastair Wood, Rita Duffy (the wife of Peter Duffy – Motherwell YMCA and Aberdeen AAC – and her two daughters are cheering loudly. Earlier, the Duffy family had intended to spectate but missed the start of the 1967 event and drove out the course to the twelve mile point. They had driven past everyone except Alastair, and assumed that Donald must have dropped out. However when he saw the leader making his way back after the turn, Peter wrote “to my amazement and joy, there was Donald running alongside Alastair, who gestured to me and shouted, ‘Look at this!’ You could hear the respect and congratulation in his voice.”

Donald Ritchie reported that the out and back course started and finished at the stadium. It followed the A905 towards Stirling and was very flat. Feeling good, he kept up with Alastair Wood and Hugh Mitchell of Shettleston. Unfortunately they were misdirected by an incompetent marshall, and ended up at the back of the field again. Nevertheless, the two Aberdeen runners moved through and away, passing 5 miles in 26.12, 10 miles in 52.50 and the turn in 1.11.08. Donald was pleased to see a considerable gap to Alex Wight. Alastair moved away from the tiring Donald at about 14 miles. Donald stated that the remaining miles were tough, but he was delighted to hold on for second place. Other finishers included Brian Goodwin of Bellahouston in 2.29.56, the consistent Gordon Eadie fifth in 2.30.44, and Jim Wight of Edinburgh University in 2.34.34.

Alastair Wood applauding team mate Donald Ritchie at the end of the 1967 championship

The 1968 race, at Grangemouth again, was almost identical. First Alastair in 2.21.18 and second Donald Ritchie in 2.32.25, this time just in front of Don Turner of Pitreavie AAC in 2.32.42. Donald went off with Alastair once again, reaching one mile in 5.10 and 5 miles in 26.03. At this point Donald told his leader that he was finding the pace too fast, so Alastair slowed down, agreeing to run together until ten miles (53.01). Alastair reached the turn in 69.08 and Donald in 69.55.

Donald had a difficult time running into a wind and paid the penalty for the ambitious pace. He struggled through 20 in 1.52, aware that Don Turner was beginning to catch up. Donald Ritchie had cramps in his right leg and could not straighten it or bend it back properly. At the end he was only about 60 yards ahead of Turner, and ‘was quite sick once he tried drinking various liquids’. All this despite the fact that his training mileage was regularly over 100 miles per week by now. Yet no doubt Donald’s ability to suffer but fight on was to be crucial once he turned to ultras.

Don Turner, later president of the famous Road Runners Club, lived in Inverkeithing from 1959 to 1964, before returning south. He won the inaugural ‘Two Bridges’ race in 1968, from Hugh Mitchell, and was encouraged by his Pitreavie clubmate John Linaker, and outstanding cross-courtry and track runner (especially Steeplechase). Don organised two 40 mile track races, during one of which Alastair Wood broke the World Record. In the 1968 Scottish Marathon, Don remembered being told that Ritchie was struggling but ‘could never actually see the so-and-so’! Don Turner was another man, like Hugh Mitchell, who ran enormous mileages in training.

1968 produced a notable performance by Jim Alder who ran 2.14.14 in the Poly and was selected for the Mexico Olympics. Unfortunately, the high altitude forced even this toughest of competitors to drop out. However he returned to form with an excellent run in the 1969 European Championships marathon in Athens, winning a bronze medal in 2.19.05 over the hilly course from Marathon itself.

The Scottish Championship marathon in 1969 should be very easy to describe, since four participants have passed on information about the event! Jack MacLean of Bellahouston mentioned that the new course started and finished at the half-completed Meadowbank stadium in Edinburgh, which was to be the venue for the Commonwealth Games in August 1970. The track was ready but little else, so competitors stripped at the rugby ground Jock’s Lodge. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Sir Herbert Brechin, started the race – eventually – after two false starts since the gun wouldn’t fire. The 23 competitors were the first athletes to try out the £60,000 ‘tartan’ track, part of a two and a half million pounds sports complex. Alastair Wood supervised communications in the stadium, since the officials were anxious to make the race a proper try-out for the Games.

However Jack said that ‘the SAAA did not want to know about the marathon. The organisation was left to us in the Scottish Marathon Club to do everything: timekeepers, sponge stations, everything. The SAAA was only too happy to have the responsibility removed from them. The Secretary of the SMC for years was wee Jimmy Scott. He was the Club – an enthusiastic and tireless worker on behalf of road-running in Scotland and not always appreciated.’ Jack should have known since he was Club Captain and a committee member for years.

In part of a long and interesting letter, Jack mentioned that, although he remembered the days when competitors ran in ex-army sandshoes with foam rubber heelpads, by the 1960s superior footwear was gradually becoming available. Walter Ross imported Karhu shoes from Finland and Alastair Wood continued as agent. There were also EBs from Germany and Adidas Gazelles, although many people actually raced in Tigers, which were little better than sandshoes! Further evidence of masochism is that, after marathons in Edinburgh, Jack remembered vaguely being dragged round Rose Street pubs by the likes of ‘Henry Morrison, Wullie Lyall and my pal Heggie. I felt quite ill sometimes, but lots of laughs.’

Bill Stoddart winning the SAAA marathon championship in 1969 watched by Dunky Wright, fourth from left.

Jack worked for the Daily Record as a printer, but also knew lots of the Editorial department. “The week before the 1969 marathon, Alec Cameron, who wrote about athletics in the summer, asked me who was going to win the race. My reply was, barring mishaps, Bill Stoddart. Alec asked, ‘Is he articulate?’ and I said, ‘He sure is!’” Apparently back in 1957 Alec had not enjoyed a difficult television interview with that year’s winner Harry Fenion, who was a modest man of few words with a stutter when he was nervous. So Alec hoped that Bill, who possessed few nerves and many words, would win!

The runners covered one lap of the track and left the stadium to the cheers of a few workmen, since spectators were banned from the site. Donald Ritchie also took part and indeed shared the early lead with Bill Stoddart (Greenock Wellpark Harriers). The course was Restalrig Avenue, Joppa, Musselburgh, Seton Level Crossing, Longniddry and the Chance Inn Bridge, where competitors turned for home. At three miles they were joined by Jim Wight (Edinburgh A.C.), who later became an international marathon runner. Police, motor-cycles, patrol cars, ambulances and carloads of officials shadowed the runners through the city streets and out over the country course. However by five miles Donald felt the side of his right foot burning and nipping but decided to press on. Jim lost contact on a hill at seven miles. Bill put in an effort before ten miles and passed that mark six seconds clear in 54.10. Donald’s foot was giving him great pain so he stopped at eleven miles to investigate. A three inch blister on the sole had burst. Even Donald could not restart and had to return to the stadium in an ambulance. He had ‘modified’ a pair of EB racing shoes to reduce weight and increase breathability. That is, he had cut holes in them, succeeding only in reducing stability, allowing excessive foot motion, friction – and disaster.

Subsequently, Bill Stoddart became a veteran multi-world record-holder and world champion in track and cross-country as well as the marathon. In 1972, at the age of 41, he recorded 2.21.18. He reported that back in 1969 he was a 38 year old teacher of maths and physics at Reid Kerr Technical College in Paisley. Six weeks previously, he had been silver medallist in the SAAA Track Ten Miles, so he was in good form. However only a fortnight before the Scottish Marathon he had run his first 26 miler in the Shettleston event, starting too fast and fading during the last two miles. Perhaps he would learn better pacing for this championship. At half way (at Spittal, East Lothian) he swung round a policeman guarding a bollard first in 70.40, followed by Alastair Matson (ESH) and Hugh Mitchell (Shettleston) in 73.15. Then came Gordon Eadie, Jim Wight and Jim Irvine of Bellahouston. Bill found the headwind on the way back refreshing on a hot and humid day, but the course seemed boring, with long straights to endure. Still ‘when you win, what does it matter!’ At 23 miles, out on his own, climbing up the hill to the stadium, Bill remembered that ‘Willie Fulton the timekeeper was shouting out my time, which I couldn’t hear since I was a bit light-headed by then. I vaguely remember shouting back at Willie not to bother about my time, but would he please tell me (as in the song) how many miles to Dundee!’

Bill Stoddart’s winning time was 2.27.25. Second was Hugh Mitchell of Shettleston in 2.31.30; and third was Peter Duffy (Motherwell Y.M.C.A.) in 2.37.04. Other finishers inside the Scottish standard of 2.45 were Bill MacDonald (Inverness Harriers) 2.37.32; T.P. Russell (E.A.C.) 2.38.49; and Willie Russell (Shettleston) 2.42.28.

Peter Duffy became a very well known hill runner and represented Aberdeen AAC in umpteen veteran competitions, often overseas. He remembered that he ran the marathon very steadily since it was a hot day. At half way he was about 12^th and continued to make progress, somewhat surprised that he was not suffering too much in the heat. He passed four or five runners but suspected others must have dropped out, perhaps on the last hills towards the finish. When he entered the stadium there was some hand-clapping and he wondered why seventh or eighth deserved any recognition. It was an unexpected pleasure to learn that he had finished in the medals. Modestly, he remembered thinking that Scottish marathon running must be in a poor state if ‘a very average ability runner such as myself could be third in the championship’. (On a tough day, some talented athletes found the challenge too much. There are no easy medals in marathons! And anyone who was still fell-running in his seventies was not short of ‘guts’.)

Peter trained hard, both for Motherwell and when he was living in Aberdeen in the mid 1960s. From 1966-71 he was based in Motherwell and trained to and from work Monday to Thursday; ran a third daily session on Tuesday and Thursday (repetitions with Bert Mackay et al); an easy jog on Friday; racing or hill reps on Saturday; and up to two and a half hours on Sunday. That was thirteen sessions a week. He remembered (sympathetically, of course) that when Fraser Clyne started running about 1975, he came out with Peter and John Graham one winter Sunday and had ‘a bad day in the snow’. When the other two went back to rescue Fraser, he was found ‘holding on to a lamp-post at Newhouse’!

Alastair Wood had a good race late in 1969. The event was the First Canadian National Exhibition Marathon in Toronto. This started in the dark at 8.20 p.m. – to ensure that the finish would not interfere with stadium entertainment starring Bob Hope! Each competitor was accompanied by his personal police motor-cyclist! Alastair remembered being amused (and mildly embarrassed) by the parade before the start, featuring uniformed national teams from Mexico, USA and New Zealand. They looked slightly more professional than Alastair and his Scotland team-mate Pat Maclagan, in their ordinary warm-up gear. Team racing kit was also in evidence. Alastair remembered competing in a plain vest and a very small, frayed pair of faded red shorts. These suffered during the rigours of the race, and Alastair finished (in the merciful murk) wearing a small mini-kilt! Typically Scottish or what? Anyone wanting a flash of this patriotic garb should consult page 144 of the 1984 ‘Guinness Book of the Marathon’ which shows the race leaders in action – Jack Foster (NZ, first in 2.16), Alastair Wood (second in 2.18) and Jeff Julian (NZ, third).

[ Introduction ] [ The First Four Races ] [ The Fifties ]

THE SCOTTISH MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIP

THE FIRST FOUR RACES

The start of the Fiery Cross Relay: Donald Robertson centre with Dunky Wright on his left

Who were the stars of Scottish marathon running before the Second World War? In 1932, Duncan McLeod Wright (born 1896) had finished a close fourth in the Los Angeles Olympics, and Donald McNab Robertson (born 1905) can be seen finishing seventh in the marathon in Leni Riefenstahl’s epic film about the 1936 Berlin Olympics. These two ‘giants’ of Scottish Athletics (in Dunky’s case, the description can only be metaphorical) finished first (Donald) and second in the inaugural Scottish Championship event in 1946. Third was Andrew Burnside, who ensured a Maryhill Harriers clean sweep, like the good team man he was. (Later, Andrew became a well-known race organiser.) Previously, in 1930, Dunky, whose race diet was rumoured to be brandy with raisins, had won a gold medal in the Empire Games in Hamilton, Ontario, beating Sam Ferris of England by half a mile to finish in 2.43.43. As well as that, he had captured two AAA titles; and Donald Robertson, famed for his finishing sprint, no fewer than six AAA titles as well as a silver medal in the 1934 London Empire Games. He won his first AAA championship wearing a pair of shoes from Woolworths which cost 1/11 halfpenny – not much cushioning there, then!

Dunky Wright

Undoubtedly the SAAA marathon championship was started because of pressure from the Scottish Marathon Club, which had been founded in 1944, to foster marathon running in Scotland. The SMC itself derived from a sequence of events before and during the war. In 1936 Dunky Wright, who had run in the three previous Olympic marathons, won one of the qualifying races to be used for selection purposes for Berlin. He was told that it would not be necessary to compete in the others to make the British team – but unfortunately he was not selected and decided to retire from competitive athletics.

When war started in 1939 he was appointed Sports Officer in a Home Guard Battalion and tried to find ways of keeping himself and others fit. He had contacts with people who raised money for the war effort and convinced them to include road races in their campaigns. ‘Muster runs’ attracted enthusiasts to cross country races in the winter and to road races in the summer. Unfortunately it was difficult for individual athletes to obtain clothing coupons to replace the thin sandshoes which running quickly wore out. However Dunky supplied many with army issue sandshoes; and Jimmy McNamara got hold of pads which were used to reinforce Fire Brigade helmets. These pads, if smeared with Vaseline to reduce friction and blistering, reduced destructive impact when sandshoe struck road. The friendship between such rugged pioneers led to the formation of the SMC.

That fascinating magazine ‘The Scots Athlete’ started in April 1946 and continued until May 1957. Walter Ross was the inspirational editor, and George Barber wrote well on marathons. Perhaps best of all were Jim Logan’s athletics articles and John Emmet Farrell’s detailed, knowledgeable ‘Running Commentary’. The first Scottish marathon championship took place on June 8^th 1946, in conjunction with the Scottish Junior track and field championships at Meadowbank track, Edinburgh. The route was: Falkirk, Laurieston, Polmont, Maybury Road, Ferry Road, Pilrig, Easter Road and then into Meadowbank. Much of the credit for the ‘enthusiasm for road running at present’ was given to the personality and example of the famous ‘Dunky’. Donald Robertson wasn’t even demobilised yet but looked fit and, at 40 years of age, as a careful liver and keep-fit ‘faddist’ still rated as a probable Olympic competitor. Participants stripped in Falkirk Technical School and were conveyed by bus to Laurieston, where the race was started by the Provost of Falkirk. Seventeen runners started against a fairly heavy breeze. Neither Donald nor Dunky were too confident, since it had been many years since the tackled the full distance. However Dunky’s pace gradually dropped all the others apart from Donald, until the latter burst away up a stiff hill and won by about 200 yards in 2.45.39 from Dunky. Andrew Burnside moved up ten places during the last ten miles to finish third. ‘The winner was cheered loudly by the Meadowbank spectators.’ ‘Unplaced runners who finished the course are worthy of mention as the fact of covering the full distance was a feat in itself – W. Kennedy (Kilbarchan AAC), H. Duffie (Dumbarton AAC), R. Sime (Edinburgh Southern), J.E. Farrell (Maryhill Harriers), A. Gold (Garscube), P. Pandolphi (Maryhill Harriers) and R. Devon (Motherwell YMCA).’ A few well known future members of the Scottish Veterans there! The report finishes by commenting that, while refreshments, wet sponges, medical support and traffic control were all well organised, ‘surely arrangements could have been made to provide a nice meal for the runners after the race.’ ‘A mug of canteen tea and a bag of buns was not quite the thing. Catering facilities may have been difficult that day, but we peeped through a door in the Pavilion and saw fine tables set. Were the people invited to the spread more worthy of it than any of the runners? The pertinent question is not asked in any disparaging manner but in the spirit of fair play and with a thought for future races.’ Nevertheless ‘The first SAAA marathon championship will be remembered. It was a great occasion.’

John Emmet Farrell, best known as a cross country champion – on that surface he seemed to ‘come alive’ – won the National in 1938 and 1948. However he took up the marathon ‘as a challenge and because of its romantic and historical past’. He remembered that the rules were stricter – drinks were only permitted at specific and well-spaced out intervals. Although finishing times seem slower than nowadays, Emmet pointed out that competitors were hard-working amateurs running in their spare time and without sponsorship. His Maryhill Harriers clubmates and friends, Dunky and Donald, were remembered as contrasting personalities. ‘Donald was quiet and modest but ambitious. A marathon runner only, he reached his standard by hard consistent work. Dunky was more of an extrovert. He was more talented and versatile – on track and cross country as well as road. Yet Dunky’s sense of humour was not universally appreciated!’

Gordon Porteous, a Scottish cross country international in 1946, was another Maryhill Harrier who continued to run amazingly fast for an ‘ultra-veteran’, even in his 90s. What diet did his club members follow to ensure such longevity and fitness? After the war the problems were digesting dried egg and getting hold of enough food to sustain them. Runners lucky enough to be ‘possibles’ for the 1948 Olympics received food parcels from South Africa, courtesy of the AAA! Survivors of the Saturday long run replenished reserves with Bovril (served in special club Bovril mugs) and cream crackers or a pie. Gordon remembered that Maryhill road men had one advantage over their rivals. Dunky was a member of the Home Guard – ‘Dad’s Army’ no less. (This was entirely suitable for the future broadcaster called ‘the Daddy of them all’ by Scottish Radio announcers introducing his Saturday evening athletics reports!) The crafty fellow obtained a supply of heavy brown Army plimsolls, which had much thicker rubber soles than the usual ones! More cushioning and fewer blisters. The alternative was Dunlop Green Flash – a tennis shoe which would ensure blood on the road for its masochistic owner. This brand was still used in the early 1960s!

Other kit comprised shorts, a vest, grey flannel trousers for the warm-up and a jersey with long sleeves to be pulled down over the hands on cold nights. Training was usually thirty miles a week. Maryhill Harriers (motto – ‘Good Fun – Good Fellowship – Good Health’) ran together from Maryhill Baths on Tuesdays and Thursdays – about seven miles a night. There might be a slow pack and a fast pack, each one with a Pacer and a Whip (self-explanatory). A good deal of wisecracking could be heard, especially as the fast pack whizzed past, unless runners were breathless. On Saturdays, if there was no race, a pack of runners might cover fifteen or even eighteen miles over road and country, followed by tea, buns and a sing-song to the music of mouth organs etc. An alternative was some serious hiking. Victoria Park AAC changed for their Saturday epic at the West of Scotland dry-cleaners in Milngavie! How did they remove the mud afterwards? John Emmet Farrell said that the National cross country distance of nine miles suited him because it seemed ‘a good balance of speed and stamina’. He didn’t mention that it was only half the distance he covered on Saturdays!

Not surprisingly, Sunday was considered the day of rest. However Dunky and Donald (who was considered ‘a bit of a horse’ by Gordon Porteous) added a long Sunday run to the regime. Donald McNab Robertson was reputed to be the first of the ‘hundred miles a week’ men, perhaps twenty mile runs up to four days a week, 25 on Saturday, and a thirty mile hike on Sunday; and Dunky certainly used to put in more ‘six-minute miles’ than most of his contemporaries. Gordon remembered that Dunky absolutely hated to be defeated in races, and was known for scoffing at opponents with satirical comments like ‘I could have beaten you with my shoelaces untied!’ (Not unlike Ian Binnie in the fifties and Alastair Wood in the sixties).

Donald Robertson winner of the first SAAA Championship

The second Scottish marathon championship, on 5^th July 1947, resulted in another victory for the redoubtable Donald Robertson, in 2.37.49 – this time with a favourable wind – on a similar course to the previous year. The race was held in conjunction with the revived International between England, Scotland and Ireland. Donald went on to win the AAA title that year as well. Third place (2.56.05) went to a real enthusiast – the short-striding John (‘Jock’) Park of West Kilbride Harriers, who had dropped out in 1946. Thus he had the satisfaction of beating the standard times in both Scottish and British events, since he had finished a splendid 9^th at the White City in 1946. He was an Ayrshire farmer who showed great determination by training consistently and doggedly on his own. Tragically he was destined to die from kidney disease at the age of 29 in August 1948, and ‘The Scots Athlete’ printed heartfelt tributes from many friends in running.

In second place (2.42.53) was John Emmet Farrell, who went to win a total of three silver and two bronze medals between 1947 and 1954, when he was 45 years old. He remembered that ‘he lost considerable distance over the last three or four miles, where Donald’s experience and stamina proved the deciding factor.’ This sounds like a familiar syndrome to anyone who raced Donalds Macgregor or Ritchie in later years! Emmet’s finest marathon however was the British (AAA) event during a Loughborough heatwave in 1947, when he finished fourth in 2 hours 39 minutes behind Jack Holden (2.33), Tom Richards (2.35) and Donald Robertson (2.37) – three well-known Olympic contenders. Richards, in fact, went on to win the silver medal in the 1948 Olympic Marathon.

Emmet Farrell (centre) after winning the national cross-country in 1938

In August 1947, 26 Scottish runners, including Dunky Wright, Donald Robertson and Charlie Robertson, took part in a unique event – The ‘Fiery Cross’ Edinburgh to London Relay Run. Photographs were supplied by one of the athletes – George Mitchell of Edinburgh Southern. Another participant was Walter Ross, the editor of ‘The Scots Athlete’.

Willie Carmichael was team manager and his article explains that the idea was to advertise the ‘Enterprise Scotland’ Exhibition. The team wore blue vests bearing the lion rampant and tracksuits boldly lettered ‘Scotland’. Thousands thronged Edinburgh Castle to witness the ceremony of lighting the crosses and extinguishing them in goats’ blood according to ancient custom. The skirling of the pipes added to a background of medieval and barbaric splendour. Donald Robertson received the first cross from the Lord Provost and all the runners accompanied him for three miles along the High Street and Princes Street and out of the city. Then he continued on his own to complete the 25 miles to Peebles, in two hours forty minutes!

There were no fewer than thirteen hand-over ceremonies with waving flags and pipe-music – in Peebles, Galashiels, Hawick, Newcastle, Darlington, Northallerton, York, Doncaster, East Retford, Newark, Grantham, Stamford, Biggleswade and the City of London.

The most stirring part of the journey was the last ten miles through London to the Guildhall. As in other sections of the run, timing was important – runners had to hurry up or slow down according to the schedule. In this case they arrived right on time, despite the fact that London traffic was not delayed to facilitate the runners’ progress. Dunky Wright had the honour of presenting the message from the Lord Provost of Edinburgh. Fiery Crosses were handed over, each bearing the flag of the country for which it was destined. Every runner stepped forward, held aloft his cross, and loudly proclaimed the name of the country to which it would be sent by aircraft.

Quite an event! A memorable eccentric journey covering 406 miles in 47 hours 31 minutes.

1948 saw the emergence of a new Scottish talent – Charlie (or ‘Chick’) Robertson (Dundee Thistle Harriers), an ex-major in the Black Watch, who was advised by Dunky Wright and whose running style was particularly elegant. Charlie won the Scottish Marathon in 1948 and 1952, as well as being squeezed into second place in 1950. Previously he had been a good cyclist and had made an immediate impact on turning to distance running in the 1947 Perth to Dundee 22 miles road race, when he was second, less than two minutes behind his record-breaking clan member Donald McNab Robertson. Charles (Chick) Haskett, father of well-known runners Christine and Charlie, remembered that era well. During the War, Dundee Hawkhill kept going, and joined up with Thistle athletes, since the Thistle club hut had been bombed out! Perth to Dundee was the big event – occasionally a full marathon. Chick used to sell race programmes along the route, while the competition was actually on. Training in Dundee was similar to the Glasgow pattern, only some runners went rambling in the hills on Sundays. Of course several athletes were religious – especially the famous cross-country champion John Suttie Smith. He was even a non-smoker! Charlie Robertson himself was a keen churchgoer and hill walker. Mr Haskett remembers that he designed jewellery, being an art teacher, and was conscientious – a hard trainer. Charlie wore a small neat moustache and had a normal build, with a heavy chest – not as skinny as many runners. He gave the impression of ‘being in control’.

Charlie Robertson winning the Edinburgh Marathon in 1951

This impression is emphasised by Gordon Porteous who actually competed on September 11^th 1948 over the Perth to Dundee course (extended to full distance) during Charlie Robertson’s first success in the Scottish Marathon. Gordon wrote that ‘the first few miles wer wie rather sedate, there being a pack of six or seven runners, yours truly amongst them, none of whom wanted to take the pace, till Charlie decided to go at about five miles.’ The break was clean and Charlie (2.45.12) won by over three minutes from John Emmet Farrell.

Third in that 1948 championship, a young interloper from Edinburgh Southern Harriers, was Bob Sime, who felt like ‘a wee boy’ compared to the famous Farrell, (who described Bob in ‘The Scots Athlete’ as running ‘a remarkably fine and gallant race though desperately tired at the finish.’) However Bob remembers that (once Charlie Robertson was out of sight) he was running along with Emmet on a quiet part of the route when they passed a parked van and the driver called out, ‘Come on, Farrell!’ And then, ‘Come on, Sime!’ Bob was pleased to be recognised (probably because of one of Chick Haskett’s programmes) and admired Emmet’s sporting spirit when he confided, ‘That was my son.’ After the race, Bob Sime felt absolutely ‘jiggered’ and sick, especially after a ‘helpful’ first-aid man gave him something unpalatable. Dehydrated on the train home, he remembers lying slumped in a corner, sipping a flagon of iron brew, and worrying about what fellow passengers might think of him. Yet Bob was very pleased with his third place, since it was his first time near a medal. Unfortunately medals were presented only to the first two! But justice was done when ESH presented a special cup to young Bob. His club used to train from the Liberal Club in Buccleuch Place, running a route which took them through the Meadows and down Lovers’ Lane. On one occasion, running from Liberton towards Lasswade on a snowbound Saturday, the pack of runners combined to lift a lady’s trapped car right out of a ditch, before continuing their training – naturally. Sundays for Bob might mean a twenty mile walk in the hills, just to stretch the legs!

Charlie Robertson receives several honourable mentions in John Emmet Farrell’s excellent book ‘The Universe is Mine’. Charlie had two valiant attempts to make the Olympics. In the 1948 trial he led narrowly at twenty miles but was forced to retire at 23 miles ‘when his legs gave out’. The winner Jack Holden, later gold medallist in both the European in Brussels and the New Zealand Empire Games in 1950, admitted that ‘Robertson had him worried for a time’. Then in the 1952 trial, Charlie finished fourth, only one place off the team, in his best time of 2.30.48 – a gallant performance. John Emmet commented that when Charlie won that year’s Scottish Marathon, his time was 2.38.07 – so either the ‘Polytechnic’ Windsor to Chiswick course was faster, or the importance of the trial made runners try even harder. Other finishers in the 1952 Scottish event, all past or future notables, were J. Duffy (2^nd –2.38.32), J.E. Farrell (3^rd – 2.40.54), J. Paterson (4^th – 2.41.28) and J. McGhee (5^th – 2.44.46).

Everyone was shocked by the sudden death, from thrombosis, on 15^th June 1949, of Donald McNab Robertson, who was 43 years old. He had been training well for the Marathon championship and had finished only a few seconds behind Tom Richards, the 1948 Olympic silver medallist, in the 20 mile race from Greenock to Ibrox on May 21^st. Brian McAusland has written that Donald was ‘an ideal figure to hold out to youngsters as an example – modest, unassuming, dedicated and, although naturally proud of all that he had done, not boastful at all. He had made himself what he was by hard work and was a real credit to himself, to his club and to Scotland’. ‘The Scots Athlete’ article said ‘Donald, by virtue of his courageous spirit, the charm of his modesty, and the warmth of his smile and his friendship, endeared himself to every sports-follower in the country. He was a loved figure in Scottish athletics….Words fail to express the sorrow at his passing. He was good in every way. We bow our heads in deep and grateful remembrance.’

In 1949 over the Gourock to Ibrox course on a blisteringly hot day in July, the winner was 36 year old Jack Paterson from Polytechnic Harriers, who had been an excellent 4^th in the famous Poly marathon earlier that year. He also won the Scottish championship in 1951. In 1949 the runner up was from England, too – James McDonald (Thames Valley Harriers). Third was Harry Haughie, a Springburn Harriers stalwart who later emigrated to Australia.

According to Jack Paterson in ‘The Scots Athlete’ it was the sporting James McDonald who had ensured a) that after the Poly race Paterson knew about the existence of the Scottish event and b) that he himself would not finish first! After establishing what looked like a winning lead, Charlie Robertson the holder had to retire from the race with blisters and Paterson defeated McDonald by only four seconds (2.57.07 to 2.57.11). ‘This after he had nursed and advised me for the last 16 miles of the race. Truly a great sportsman and the gamest of runners!’

The victor enjoyed a good season’s running, which displayed his great enthusiasm, grim determination and resilience, based on long slow distance training as suggested by Arthur Newton, the great ultra distance champion. He was most consistent, finishing 6^th in the AAA Championship, but perhaps his best race was in September when he won the City of Edinburgh Marathon in 2.46.04, defeating in another sprint finish by five seconds Cecil Ballard, a well-known English athlete.   In February 1950, Jack Paterson went on to represent Scotland in the Empire Games in Auckland, New Zealand.

[ Introduction ] [ First Four Races ] [ The Fifties ] [ The Sixties ]

A HARDY RACE

THE SCOTTISH MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIP 1946 TO 2000

and THE SCOTTISH WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP 1983-2000

by FRASER CLYNE AND COLIN YOUNGSON

Above:   Leaders at the five mile mark of in the 1957 Scottish marathon championship: left to right, George King (22), John Kerr, Andy Fleming (16), Hugo Fox, Hamish Robertson (4), not known, Harry Fenion (17), not known, Ronnie Kane (24).

INTRODUCTION

The A.H. Blair Memorial Trophy is a fine piece of silverware which has graced many varied mantelpieces and trophy cabinets since being donated to the Scottish AAA for presentation to the national marathon champion in the austere days following the end of the Second World War. The engraved list of winners’ names commemorates the endeavours of generations of endurance runners. Glasgow’s Donald McNab Robertson leads the line. The Maryhill Harrier was the first winner in 1946. An Olympian in 1936 and six times AAA marathon champion, Robertson won the Scottish title again in 1947; but his life was cut tragically short two years later. He died of a thrombosis at the age of 43.

Time marched on. Other names emerged and the championship developed its own history and generated its own statistics, its own trivia. Joe McGhee became the first man to win the title three times in a row, between 1954 and 1956. His 1956 winning margin of 13 minutes 22 seconds was the biggest until Simon Pride’s margin of 14 minutes 32 seconds in 2000. Fraser Clyne emulated McGhee’s feat of winning three in a row en route to a total of five championship victories in five attempts between 1991 and 1999. Alastair Wood established himself as the most prolific champion with six wins between 1962 and 1972. John Emmet Farrell could claim to be the unluckiest competitor. He won five medals between 1946 and 1954 but never collected the gold. Colin Youngson won a record ten medals in thirteen championship appearances between 1972 and 1985 – three gold, three silver and four bronze. English runners occupied the top three places in 1990 – the first occasion ‘foreigners’ achieved this feat. London-born Jack Paterson (Polytechnic Harriers) recorded the slowest-ever winning time – 2.57.07 – when winning the 1949 championship over a route between Gourock and Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow. It was a very hot day.

And so the statistical tales go on. Donald Macgregor won three gold medals and six silvers – accumulated over a remarkable period of 21 years (1965-86). Jim Alder’s three second victory over Macgregor in 1970 is the narrowest winning margin so far. And Macgregor’s time that day – 2.17.14 – was the quickest non-winning performance until the overseas invitees appeared in 1999. Jim Dingwall’s time of 2.16.05 in 1977 is the fastest ever in the championship by a Scot.

The two fastest Scottish Marathon runners of all-time – Allister Hutton and John Graham – have never competed in the championship. This last fact is not surprising. Hutton, Graham and other top Scots of the 1980s were often criticised for not taking part in the national championship. But the reasons were obvious. The carrots being offered elsewhere were decidedly more tasty. When Evan Cameron won the national title in 1984 he received a jar of instant coffee as a prize. Hutton and Graham, meanwhile, were able to command thousands of pounds in appearance fees plus many thousands more in prize money on the international circuit.

The women’s championship is a much more recent addition. First held in 1983, it is still developing its traditions and history. Lynda Bain won the first two titles, and her time of 2.41.41 in 1984 was the championship best performance until Esther Kiplagat’s 2.33.09 in 1999. No woman has won more than two titles. Bain (1983 and 1984), Liz Hughes (1989 and 1990), Eileen Masson (1988 and 1991) and Eleanor Robinson (1993 and 1996) share the record for most wins. The biggest winning margin was in 1990 when Hughes finished more than 35 minutes ahead of her closest challenger; while the tightest finish came in 1987, when just 14 seconds separated Stephanie Quirk from Janine Robertson. The event, unfortunately, has failed to attract Scotland’s elite. Bain and Trudi Thomson are the only two of Scotland’s ten fastest women to have taken part in the championship. Like the men, it’s because of richer rewards on offer elsewhere.

ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT

Although a Scottish championship was not held until 1946, many ‘marathons’ took place in Scotland during the first four decades of the 20^th century. Many of these were of varying distances. The Edinburgh Exhibition marathon of 1908, for instance, was actually held over a distance of no more than 16 miles.

The first recorded marathon in Scotland over the now traditional distance of 26 miles 385 yards was held in conjunction with the Powderhall New Year professional meeting. The 1909 Powderhall marathon, run from Falkirk to the Powderhall Grounds in Edinburgh, took place in bitterly cold conditions with snow and slush lying on the roads. Frenchman Henri St Yves won but contemporary reports do not confirm the racing distance, stating only that ‘it was over a distance of some 26 miles’. The following year the marathon was certainly held over the full distance, but on this occasion the whole race was run round the Powderhall track – for 105 laps. Englishman Jack Price won in 2.40.07, with Lochgelly miner Frank Clark runner-up just 46.5 seconds behind.

The first official amateur marathon, held over a course between Fyvie Castle and Aberdeen, didn’t take place until April 1923. The decision to hold the race was inspired by the hope that it might, according to one contemporary newspaper account ‘reveal obscure talent capable of representing Great Britain at the following year’s Olympic Games in Paris’.

The talent it did reveal was that of Clydesdale Harrier Dunky Wright who would, 23 years later, take part in the inaugural Scottish Marathon Championship. Wright made his marathon debut in the Aberdeenshire race – and won by the narrowest of margins. The experienced cross-country champion held a big lead at 20 miles but then hit the wall and was almost caught by local man Jim Ronaldson in the closing stages. Wright gouged out a victory in 3 hours 13 minutes 12.4 seconds, with Ronaldson just 37 seconds adrift.

Dunky went on to take part in the 1924 Olympics but failed to finish. At the 1928 Games he took 20^th place but went on two years later to hit the highspots by winning the inaugural Empire Games title in Canada. In 1932 he came close to Olympic Gold in Los Angeles but eventually had to settle for fourth place.

Marathons have grabbed their fair share of attention in Scotland over the years since then. Perhaps the most notable performance in a domestic marathon occurred in 1966 when Alastair Wood set a European and Commonwealth best time of 2.13.45 when winning the Inverness to Forres race. The Association of Road Running Statisticians ranks Alastair’s time as fastest in the world that year. Wood also won the Shettleston marathon on a number of occasions during the 1960s.

But it wasn’t until the early 1980s that marathon running became a mass participation sport in this country. When Mel Edwards organised the first Norco Aberdeen marathon in 1979 it attracted 77 competitors, 62 of whom completed the challenging four-lap course at Bridge of Don on the northern outskirts of the city. It was reported as the biggest marathon field ever assembled in Scotland. Then came the road running boom fuelled by the success of the inaugural London marathon in 1981. Races popped up everywhere. At one time during the mid 1980s there were 14 marathons in Scotland – at Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fort William, Loch Rannoch, Black Isle, Galloway, Easter Ross, Motherwell, Elgin, Dumfries, Greenock and even Benbecula. Benbecula once attracted just four participants. The following year there were 16 and the organisers claimed it was the fastest growing marathon in the world! Nowhere else could claim a 400% growth rate!

Today, however, just a handful of marathons survive – and none of Scotland’s four cities holds such an event on a regular basis. (Actually, Edinburgh has reintroduced such a race.) The Glasgow marathon was the most successful. Bob Dalgleish got the event underway in the late 1970s but it was the 1982 race, sponsored by Scott’s Porage Oats and billed as the ‘Scottish People’s Marathon’ that really captured the headlines. An incredible 8242 folk entered and 5061 finished. The Glasgow Herald described the start of the race from Glasgow Cross as ‘one of the most amazing spectacles Scotland has ever seen’. The newspaper published a special 16-page souvenir pull-out the following day to mark the occasion.

But Glasgow was to grow even bigger. In 1985 the event attracted an amazing entry of 20,062 – although there was a significant fall-out rate as ‘just’ 11,417 started and 10,928 completed the course. The expectations for continued growth were unrealistic and when the inevitable downturn in interest occurred the great race was killed off, to be replaced by what is now the Great Scottish Run – held over the half marathon distance. The final Glasgow marathon took place in 1987 when the Glasgow Herald reported that 5516 took part with 5300 finishing – more than the 1982 ‘amazing spectacle’ but not enough to ensure the future of the event.

[ The First Four Races ] [ The Fifties ] [ The Sixties ]

Allister Hutton (2)