The Evening Telegraph of 2nd September had the above notice tucked away at the bottom of the front page – a front page which had headlines like “WORLD AWAITS RESULT OF BRITAIN’S LAST WARNING,” “HITLER LEAVING BERLIN TODAY”, ” EUROPEAN STATES NEUTRALITY” There would be no more Games until 1946. What could have been expected at Braemar in a normal year? We can see by going back a year to 1938 and seeing what was happening there.
First of all the King and Queen were there, as per usual, it was a day of bright sunshine, many people (70) fainted because of the heat and were treated by the Aberdeen branch of the British Red Cross Society, there was a big crowd (20,000 in the ground by 11:00 am), it was a cosmopolitan crowd with visitors from all over the British Isles, Europe and this year there was a party from China, there were pipe bands (six in total), the clansmen marched and of course there was the Games.
The athlete of the meeting had to be Jim McLellan of Delny, Invergordon, referred to as the World’s Champion athlete, who twice broke George Clark’s record in the 22 lb Hammer. First he went a full six inches over Clark’s record of 94′ 2″ in the event, then after Clark had equalled the distance, he threw 95′ 5″ to win. The performance and competition of the day without a doubt. But look also at the result of Throwing the 16 lb Hammer – only one half inch separated the first two. Results of the meeting.
100 Yards Scratch Race: 1. W McFarlane; 2. W Gray; 3. J Kennedy; J Millar
100 Yards Handicap: 1. W McFarlane; 2. W Gray; 3. J Kennedy; 4. J Millar
220 yards Final: 1. J Kennedy; 2. W Gray; 3. J Millar; 4. W McFarlane
440 Yards Handicap: 1. J Millar; 2. W Gray; 3. J Kennedy; 4. R Louden
Half Mile: 1. J Bolton; 2.P Kennedy; 3. J Usher; 4. D Gunn
One Mile Handicap: 1. W Donaldson; 2. P Kennedy; 3. F Annandale; 4. D Gunn
Girls Race: 1. J McAndrew; 2. M Innes; 3. M Wright
Boys Race: 1. G Richmond; 2. G Gillespie; 3. Gordon Gillespie; 4. HT Gordon
Putting 16lb pound Ball (Society): 1. R Shaw 42′ 1″; 2. T Grant 36′ 8″; 3. H Fraser; 4. D Smith
Putting 16 lb Ball: 1. JH Anderson 45′ 2″; 2. R Shaw 44′ 0″; 3. A Stewart; 4. G Clark
Putting Heavy Stone: 1. G Clark 32′ 10″; 2. R Shaw 30′ 7″; 3. JH Anderson 29′ 10 1/2″; 4. A Stewart 29′ 0″
Throwing 16lb Hammer (Local): 1. R Shaw 107′ 10″; 2. F Grant 103′ 4″; 3.
Throwing 16 lb Hammer: 1. G Clark 116′ 5 1/2″; 2. J Anderson 116′ 5″; 3. J McLellan; 4. AJ Stewart
Throwing 22 lb Hammer: 1. J McLellan 95′ 5″ * record; 2. G Clark 94′ 8″ *record; 3. J Anderson
Throwing 28 lb Weight: 1. G Clark 68′ 4″; 2. AJ Stuart 64′ 7″; 3. J Anderson 61′ 2 1/2″; 4 H Murray
Throwing 56 lb Weight: 1. G Clark 36′ 3 1/2″; 2. AJ Stuart 32′ 4″; 3. (equal) J McLellan and N Murray 29′ 10″
Tossing the Caber (Society): 1. R Shaw; 2. D Richards; 3. F Grant; 4. H Fraser
Tossing the Caber (open) 1. J Millar; 2. W Gray; 3. J Kennedy; 4. R Louden
Running Long Leap: 1. H Banks 20′ 4″; 2. W Beattie 19′ 8″; 3 and 4 (equal) J Bolton and A Wilkie
Running High Leap: 1. J Wilkie and H Banks (equal) 5′ 7″; 2. Ogilvie and Marshall (equal)
Vaulting with Pole: 1. J Muir; 2. JL Spooner; 3. A Marshall; 4. TW Spooner
Wrestling Cumberland Style: 1. G Clark; 2. J Anderson; 3. NH Murray; 4. R Spoode
… and most of the ‘heavies’ took part in the Cumberland style wrestling.
22 events in total; Boys and girls, men from the locality and in the open category there were competitors from all over Scotland as well as from the North of England. It had been a very good day’s sport in brilliant weather, see the photograph below, with no hint about what was to come the following year or that there would be no more Braemar Gatherings until 1946.
