Category: Elite Endurance

Dick Wedlock (3) leading the international field at Elgoibar in 1972 including Lachie Stewart (1)

His record here was a good one: 1970  5th, 1971  8th; 1972  4th (10th M Gammoudi!)

Dick Wedlock was a superbly good athlete who was maybe unfortunate to be competing at the same time as Lachie Stewart, Ian McCafferty, Ian Stewart, Fergus Murray and Don Macgregor.   A Commonwealth Games competitor in 1970, his run was overshadowed by Lachie’s superb victory, a multi-international in the world cross-country championships and a very good road runner, he always found the spotlight on others.   In the twenty first century he would be an undoubted star of Scottish and British endurance running.   His unfortunate accident brought him headlines of the wrong kind altogether and to some extent ensured that he would be remembered for something other than his athletic qualities.   How good was he?   Let’s just list some of his achievements:

• 5 senior appearances in the World Cross-Country Championships and 1 Junior
• Dick won the Scottish cross-country championship as a senior in 1969, was second in 1970  and third in 1971, plus bronze medals in the Junior and Youth Nationals
• 5 gold and 3 silver team medals in the Edinburgh to Glasgow from 9 runs plus a gold, two silver and one bronze in the Senior National,
• Team gold in the English CC championships.
• Team silver in the European Clubs CC Championship twice
• Commonwealth Games 10,000 metres, 1970
• Best times of 8:17.8 (3000m, 1970), 8:59.4 (Two Miles, 68), 13:47.0 (Three Miles, 68), 14:21.6 (5000m, 70), 29:57.4 (Six Miles, 66) and 28:42.6 (10,000m, 70) as well as being an able steeplechaser.
• Three silver and two bronze medals at SAAA Track Championships.

Well-liked and highly respected he has been overlooked for too long.

Dick Wedlock (Born on 26th January 1946) started off as a Junior Boy in Shettleston Harriers.    The Shettleston Harriers Centenary History tells the story of his beginnings: “Allan Scally first spotted Dick as a 12 year old at the St Bridget’s Secondary School Sports at Maxwell Park, Baillieston, in 1958.   Within months Allan was predicting a great future for his new protege: ‘I have complete faith in this new boy.   His performances to date are comparable to any of the well-known athletes I have coached, even Eddie Bannon and Graham Everett.’   Perhaps the fact that coach and athlete shared the same birthday served to enhance the relationship.   For the next four years Dick was a regular member of the boys teams and by the age of 16 was Midland District Champion, Lanarkshire champion, Lanarkshire Mile and Scottish Half Mile record holder, culminating in the National Senior Boys title in 1961.   When he defended his title the following year he was beaten by Duncan Middleton, Springburn Harriers, his first defeat in two years, a result he reversed a few weeks later”

Dick was clearly very good right from the start and had dominated the Shettleston club championships winning the Senior Boys titles in 1960, 1961 and 1962 and the Youths title in 1963.   Not surprisingly it came as a shock when he decided to leave later in 1963.   Shortly after the defeat by Duncan, he joined Motherwell YMCA in a move that took many by surprise,   Barred from team competition for 14 months, he ran as an individual and won many races and titles before helping helping Motherwell win District and Edinburgh to Glasgow titles.   When he left, champion decathlete and staunch Shettleston man Norrie Foster is quoted as saying, “The first thing we must remember is that we are amateurs and if Dick feels that he can better his running by leaving, then he has every right to do so.   Instead of grumbling, let’s find out why he is leaving, and if the fault lies with us, put it right.”   This magnanimous attitude is possibly one of the reasons that Dick returned to Shettleston when the Motherwell YMCA club split on the formation of Law and District AAC.

He started his career with Motherwell in 1964 in the style that he left Shettleston: third in the Inter-Counties behind Springburn’s Knox and Middleton, first by 15 seconds in the Scottish YMCA Championships, third in the National, again behind Knox and Middleton all achieved in February before winning the British YMCA Championships (held at Paisley) by 200 yards.   Into the summer and in the Lanarkshire Championships he won the Junior 880 yards in 2:02.3, and finished second in the mile.   He was not placed in the West District Championships the following week and was also unplaced in the SAAA Championships – no disgrace with opposition like Graeme Grant (Dumbarton), Knox and Middleton in the same age group – but came the winter and he ran in his first Edinburgh to Glasgow in November 1964.   Motherwell and had no fewer than five best stage time – Alex Brown was first on the first stage, Andy on the fourth stage, David Simpson on the fifth, Ian McCafferty on the sixth, Dick on the seventh (32 seconds faster than the second quickest) and John Poulton on the final stage brought the team home.    Bert McKay and Willie Marshall made up the team.   It was an excellent debut.    At the start of the season in October he was in the second team for the McAndrew Relay, the Lanarkshire Relay (sixth fastest Motherwell man) and the Midlands District Relay at Cleland where Motherwell teams were first and third (he was fifth fastest Motherwell man) before the ‘big one’ – the E-G in which he performed so well.   Motherwell was so strong at this time that they were winning in virtually every race and although he probably raced in the Lanarkshire Championships, the Nigel Barge, etc his name does not appear again until the Midland District in mid-January where he finished sixth to be first Junior.   In the  Inter-Counties in February he finished third behind Lachie Stewart and A Carse of Edinburgh and fourth in the Scottish YMCA Championships.   On to the National Championships in February where he was a first year Junior who had been third in the Youths race the year before.    This time he was fourth in the Junior race behind McCafferty, Roger Young of Edinburgh University and Alex Brown.    This gained him selection for the Scottish team and in the International he finished twenty fifth to be a scoring runner for the team.

His only ranking the following summer was for the steeplechase where he recorded 9:49.4 to be fourteenth in Scotland but Dick’s name did not appear in any championship or open meeting but he was no doubt a member of several Two and Three Mile teams held throughout the summer because he came into winter 1965/66 in good shape.   We don’t know how well he did in the McAndrew since he wasn’t in the first team of McCafferty, McKay, Brown and Brown, but the following week when Motherwell mixed their first two teams to take first and second in the Lanarkshire Relays, he was in the first team of AP Brown, I McCafferty, R Wedlock and M McNulty who won with Dick’s 12:39 being the sixth fastest of this outstanding club squad.  Seven days afterwards he was lead off man for the second team in the YMCA relays and led the first team at the changeover – despite this he was still only sixth fastest club man in the event.   He was therefore not in the first team which won the District Relays at the end of October, and he may also have run in the Glasgow University Road Race but the big one was the Edinburgh to Glasgow in the middle of November.   This time the Motherwell club had to be satisfied with second place to Edinburgh University  described as the best University cross-country team ever assembled – with the students faster on six of the eight stages.   Dick ran the third fastest time on the final stage and took over over a minute behind Roger Young for the University: he had third fastest time behind Alastair Johnston (VPAAC) and Young who was ten seconds quicker than he was.   Thereafter it was back to the second team for this talented runner who had, probably without realising it, run his last E-G for Motherwell.   Motherwell won the Nigel Barge Road race at the start of 1966 (with the two Browns and Bert McKay the top team and the second team was sixth) and also the  District championship where Dick was probably among the counting runners but not among those named in the Press.   It was into the National Cross-Country at Hamilton where Dick did not figure in the results at all.    In summer 1966 he won his first SAAA Senior track medal.  It was in the Six Miles where he was third in a time of 29:57.6.   But, maybe more important, 1966 was the year when Dick left Motherwell and moved back to Shettleston.   He was now just coming up to twenty one and had had a very good career so far.   He had raced with and watched and learned from some of the very best athletes in the country at both Motherwell and earlier with Shettleston.    It was natural that his very best years were yet to come and would be spent in the blue and gold of that club.   The Shettleston Harriers history remarks “When some Motherwell members left to form Law and District AC, Dick returned to Barrachnie to play a key role as the club emerged from its fallow time.”

I am going to jump to the winter of 1967 which was when he was available for team duty and things really started to hum – for Dick and also for Shettleston.   The October relay season saw the Shettleston team unbeaten abd unbeatable – he had come from the totally dominant Motherwell YMCA to the equally powerful Shettleston just at the point of transition.   The results of October are summarised in the table below.

It was clear that this team would do well and in the Edinburgh to Glasgow in November the club, seventh in 1966, improved to second with a very good squad forward: Norman Morrison third on the first stage, A Blamire held third, Martin McMahon was still third at the end of the third stage, Bill Scally pulled the team up to second, Les Meneely on five dropped back to third, Dick ran the long and very competitive sixth stage and pulled the team back up to second with the third fastest run of the day, Bill Mullett and Henry Summerhill brought the club home in second. This was the famous race where there was a dead-heat awarded for second place.   Henry Summerhill for Shettleston and Terry Baker of Aberdeen were neck-and-neck heading for the line when a taxi cut across in front of the Aberdeen man; Summerhill took the chance and accelerated away to cross the line first.   The judges held a street corner conclave and announced a dead-heat.      Not only Dick’s first year back but he had already won three gold medals in the short relays and here was a silver one in the Edinburgh to Glasgow.   At the time of the Kingsway Relay, Ron Marshall of the ‘Glasgow Herald’ spoke to Dick who “attributed his big improvement this season to avoiding injuries and having a fast group of men to train with.   It has also been no disadvantage for him to set up home a mere sprint away from Shettleston’s track! 

On 25th November Dick won the match between the SCCU and the Army and was selected for the match against the Universities on 9th December.   On 2nd December in the Lanarkshire Championships, he was fifth – behind McCafferty, Knox, Brown and Brown!   Three of his former Motherwell team-mates in the first four.   In the match against the Universities he was fifth but moved up to fourth because in fourth place was a non-scoring reserve – the very good Jim Brennan of Maryhill.     At the start of 1968 he took part in the Nigel Barge Road Race at Maryhill and finished fifth in the same time as team mate Norman Morrison in the Shettleston team that finished third.   The following week, Dick won the Springburn Cup road race from Jim Brennan and the ‘Herald’s’ reporter suggested that the carrot of a trip to a European cross-country race had encouraged the vegetarian Wedlock.   He was listed as a reserve for these events which were frequent at the time.   There were several cross-country races held on the Continent every winter and the Scots three- and four-man teams were popular and successful with Lachie, Ian, Fergus Murray, Jim Brown and company all doing well and advertising the quality of Scottish endurance running.   One of these was in Elgoibar and on January 20th Dick finished fourteenth there in a team where Lachie Stewart was second.   In the National at the end of February, won by Lachie Stewart of Vale of Leven AAC, Dick was the first Shettleston Harrier to finish when he crossed the line in eighth place.   Shettleston were fifth placed team.   No place was found for him in the team when it was selected the following Monday evening.

In summer 1968, Dick was ranked in the One, Two and Three miles with best times of 4:11.6, 8:59.4 and 13:47.   In the Scottish Championships at Grangemouth on 22nd June he was second to Lachie Stewart in the Three Miles in 13:50.4 to Lachie’s 13:48.4 with Alastair Blamire third in 13:52.6.   Although running for Vale of Leven, Shettleston and Edinburgh University, they would soon all be running as part of a superb Shettleston Harriers team.   In general though, he kept a low profile over the summer season.

Winter 1968/69 started with the McAndrew Relays at Scotstoun, and the headline in the “Glasgow Herald” read ‘Easy Victory For Shettleston In McAndrew Relay’, and the text read “Shettleston Harriers gave notice on Saturday of what should be a succession of relay wins in the coming months when they led the field in the McAndrew Relay at Jordanhill from start to finish.   Their winning time, 55:20, was less than a minute outside Motherwell’s record set three years ago.    The move to Shettleston from Vale of Leven of Lachie Stewart certainly bolsters the formers strength but  as it turned out on Saturday, they could have won just as easily using their fastest man in the B team, Alastair Blamire.   He had been unable to run in the club’s trial the previous Saturday and so went automatically into their B quartet.   Blamire chased his clubmate Dick Wedlock spiritedly round the three mile circuit and finished only 16 seconds behind, well clear of any chasing runners.   For a long time afterwards, the B team looked capable of finishing second overall, but Summerhill who dropped one place and, more particularly Patterson on the third leg let the chance slip.   Stewart and Wedlock shared the fastest individual time of 13 minutes 30 seconds and fourteen seconds slower came Ian McCafferty”   Team and times:   R Wedlock   13:30;   M McMahon   14:09;   JL Stewart   13:30;   W Scally   14:11.      Seven days later it was the Lanarkshire Relays where the Seniors won again, thanks to a good team performance- Bill Scally’s first stage where he kept Alex Brown at bay, Lachie Stewart’s second stage where he increased the lead against Ian McCafferty and Dick Wedlock and Martin McMahon on the last leg.   .   The four fastest times were Stewart, Wedlock, McCafferty and Scally.    In the Midland District Relay Championship two weeks later they won again, this time the heroes were Tom Patterson 11:53, Dick Wedlock 11:47, Bill Scally 12:03 and Lachie Stewart 11:44.  It was a surprisingly good run by Tom who had been in the second team for all the other relays.

The short relay season over, all the ‘big’ teams – Shettleston, Law and Bellahouston – kept all their men out of the GU Road Race.   Came the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight-man relay the following week.   Martin McMahon was fourth at the end of the first stage and Norman Morrison dropped to fifth on the second stage, Tom Patterson on the third stage moved them from third to second and Dick Wedlock put them in front – from then on it was no contest and they were only two seconds (a quarter of a second per man, as Ron Marshall said in the ‘Herald’) outside Edinburgh University’s record.   On the very last day of the month, Dick ran in the SCCU v The Army and was third behind Blamire and McCafferty.   In the Lanarkshire championships on the first Saturday in December, he was second behind Lachie Stewart in the winning team.   Dick received a nice early Christmas present when he was chosen in December as part of a three man team – Lachie Stewart and Jim Alder were the others – to race in Hannut, Belgium, at the start of February.   In the Nigel Barge at the start of January 1969 he finished second, behind Lachie but in front of Andy Brown and Bert McKay.   The following week, in Lachie’s absence Dick won the Springburn Cup by almost a minute from Harry Gorman of the host club.   Then came the race in Hannut on 1st February: won by Gaston Roelants from Tim Johnston, the Scots runners were down the field a bit.   Lachie who had won the race the previous year, was clearly out of sorts and finished twenty fifth, Jim Alder was fifteenth and new boy Wedlock (referred to in the report as ‘Ron’) was eighth and first Scot.   Selection repaid!   On 8th February, Dick won the Shettleston Harriers club championship and the Nationals were not far away.   It was Dick’s chance to shine and he had a brilliant run to beat them all – McCafferty, Lachie (recovering from ‘flu to be fair), Myatt, Alder and all the rest.    Selection certain. for the international which, this year, was a ‘homer’ for the Scots being held over a  hilly course at Mountblow Golf Course in Clydebank.

The events are covered on page 138 of Colin Shields’ official history of the cross-country union as follows: Lachie Stewart defeated Mariano Haro (Spain) in the Elgoibar International race before being struck down by ‘flu.   He had barely recovered by the time of the National Championships at Duddingston Park in Edinburgh where the ground was icy, rutted and rock hard after a bad spell of weather.   Still suffering from the after effects of the ‘flu, Stewart had no chance of achieving his third successive win and finished a disappointing tenth.   Dick Wedlock shared the lead with Alder for three of the five laps before striking out on his own over the final three miles to score a deserved victory.   His only other National win had been in the Boys race eight years earlier and in the intervening years he had the misfortune to record good performances, which would have won races in any other era, behind such illustrious names as McCafferty, Murray and Stewart.   Alder faded in the last couple of miles and Fergus Murray sped through to take second place, 8 seconds behind the winner.   …..   The international championships, for the first time since 1960, were staged in Scotland and the Union, in conjunction with Clydebank Town Council, staged them at Clydebank.   A hilly picturesque course was laid out around Dalmuir Park and the adjacent golf course, that was acclaimed as the most testing course over which the championship had been held for a number of years.    Without any of the bad luck that had affected his performance in previous international championships, Ian McCafferty fiished third for the best individual performance by a Scot since Flockhart’s victory in 1937 in Brussels.”   Dick finished 36th to be one of the scoring men in a good Scots team.

Scottish team at Vichy: Weatherhead, Stewart, Stoddart, Falconer, Wedlock, Bryan Jones, in front: Morrison, McCafferty and Alder.

With the Commonwealth Games being held in Edinburgh in 1979, 1969 was a key year for all Scots track runners.   Dick started his season on 17th May with a win in the Land o’ Burns Trophy meeting Three Miles in 14:9.4 – three and a half seconds clear of Eddie Knox in second, but he didn’t appear in the first three in any of the middle distance events at the West District Championships at the end of the month..    He next appeared in the columns of the Press after his second place in the SAAA Championships at the end of June.   Held at Grangemouth, the 5000m race was won by Lachie Stewart 14:09.6 with Dick second in 14:24.8 and Bert McKay third in 14:30.8.  By the end of the season, Dick was ranked 14th in the 3000m with 8:27.8, third in the 5000m with 14:03.4 and twelfth in the 3000m steeplechase with 9:34.8.     The 5000m time was actually third equal with Michael Bradley who was better known as a miler/1500m runner, and they were both behind Lachie Stewart (first with 13:55) and Gareth Bryan-Jones (second with 13:56) and ahead of Jim Alder (14:03.6), Fergus Murray (14:06), Alastair Blamire (14:07) and  Ian McCafferty (14:13.6).    With scalps like these under his belt, the selectors had to take even more notice of Dick Wedlock in Commonwealth Games year.

The winter of 1969/70 started as normal with the McAndrew Relay race organised at Scotstoun by Victoria Park AAC.   Except that for Shettleston, Dick Wedlock did not run – he was substituted by Junior Man, Joe Brolly and the best they could do was second.   He was however forward for the Lanarkshire championships where he ran the third stage and came from 170 yards down on Law & District to hand over a winning lead to young Joe Brolly.   He ran the first stage of the Kingsway Relays at Dundee the following week, led the field home and shared the fastest time of the day (13:25)  with Fergus Murray.    The team could only finish third this time.   The West District Championships were held on 1st November and the Shettleston team were given a big lead by Dick Wedlock on the first stage over Andrew Brown of Law and District – this time he was fourth fastest over the course.   Shettleston’s top men all avoided the Glasgow University race and then in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay, they finished second to Edinburgh Southern Harriers – Dick was one of three club men who set the fastest stage time of the day when he was 19 seconds faster than Bryan-Jones on the fourth stage.

1970 started with a victory for Dick in the Beith race on 1st January and two days later,  the Nigel Barge road race where he was again second to Lachie Stewart in a very illustrious field.   After the race, the Scottish selectors agreed that the team for Elgoibar and for San Sebastian on the 18th and 25th of the month would be Lachie, Dick and Adrian Weatherhead of Edinburgh.    In San Sebastian, the Scots were fourth with Lachie Stewart fourth, Dick was sixth and Weatherhead twentieth, other than Lachie winning, the result of the Elgoibar race is not known.   His good running continued with a victory in the Inter-Counties cross-country championship on 31st January when he won by 9 seconds from  Ferguson of Ayr having led from start to finish and his second successive victory in the Shettleston club championships in the next two weeks.   In the National on 24th February, on Ayr Racecourse, was won by Jim Alder with Dick Wedlock second and Bill Mullett third.    The team in the photograph above was chosen with Bill Stoddart and Jim Wight as reserves.      In the race itself, the Scots team again were ‘so near and yet so far’ and their excellent team finished fifth with their last three scoring runners in 42nd, 4th and 46th – Dick was 45th.   It had however, been a very good winter for the Shettleston man and he went into the summer of 1970 in great shape.

His first appearance that summer was the West District Championships and in the 5000m on a slow Westerlands track, he was third behind Lachie Stewart (14:10) and Mike Bradley (Springburn, 14:20) in 14:30.   Bradley was the form man – he had won the 5000m at Meadowbank at the beginning of May and the 1500/5000 double in the Lanarkshire championships.   Dick made his big bid in a tremendous race with Lachie Stewart in the Scottish Championship at Meadowbank on 5th June when Lachie won in 28:33.4 and Dick was second in 28:42.0.   If you want to see how hard it was, have a look at the photograph below, which I obtained from Lachie.        They went into the Games as second and third fastest behind Jerome Drayton of Canada.   Most of  the English Press didn’t believe it: I remember watching the English 10000m championship and hearing the commentator (I think it was David Coleman) saying that “Lachie Stewart is said to have run 28:33 in Scotland”.    Mel Watman in the “Athletics Weekly” of 18th July 1970 had an article on ‘Who To Look Out For In Edinburgh’ in which he said about the 10000m: “I confess I shall be unable to view this race with professional detachment.   I badly want Ron Clarke to win.  Clarke is the athlete I admire most in the world and I feel that it would be a gross injustice should he pass from the scene without a gold medal to his name.    If he can’t make it, and there has been little evidence lately that he is anywhere near his very best form (which may prove beneficial as the “big one” may come at just the right time), then I hope it’s Dick Taylor who succeeds – just to shame the critics who kicked him when he was down last September.   Temu (the Olympic champion), O’Brien, Drayton and Matthews among others should make sure it does not develop into a private duel.   Mel Watman:   1.   Clarke;   2.  Taylor;   3.  O’Brien.   Stan Greenberg:  1.   Matthews;   2.   Clarke;   3.   Drayton.”    Two eminent statisticians and not a mention  of the men ranked second and third in the Commonwealth and no real reason for their prediction – Clarke because he ‘deserved it’ and Taylor ‘just to show them.’   A reminder of the top ten going into the race:   1.   Drayton (Canada)  28:25.8; 2.   Stewart   28:33.4;   3.  Wedlock  28:42.0;   4.   Clarke   28:43.8;   5.   O’Brien (Australia)   28:47.2;   6.   Caine (England)   28:51.0;   7.   Matthews (England)   28:59.8;   8.   Taylor (England)   29:05..0;   9.   Stephen (Tanzania)   29:15.6;   10.   Plain (Wales)   29:26.8.

The story of the race, and Lachie’s triumph is too well known to bear repeating here but in all the hullabaloo about the race, Dick Wedlock acquitted himself nobly in this, his first Games of any sort and at the age of only 24 in an event where athletes mature with experience.   He finished  thirteenth in 29:09.8.   The full results are at the Commonwealth Games website, just click on the link for a or the full list  http://www.thecgf.com/games/results.asp      Undoubtedly the high point of his career so far, Dick and his supporters were looking forward to even better things to come.

Dick and Lachie after the trial: they knew they’d been in a race!

Not surprisingly with both Stewart and Wedlock plus Norman Morrison in the team, Shettleston won the McAndrew Relay with Bill Scally the fourth man running only one second slower than Dick.   The club mixed the runners up a bit and won the Lanarkshire 10 Mile Road Relay with their B team in second place.   Dick ran the last leg of the A team and like the previous week, was not the fastest man in the team – even with Lachie Stewart in the B squad.   By the Midland District Relays on 7th November he had started to show his true form with joint fastest lap with Shettleston team-mate Norman Morrison.   As in the Lanarkshires, Shettleston had first two teams.   The Shettleston runners again avoided the Glasow University road race, preferring to prepare for the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay – it was clear that they had an outstanding team.   The very good quartet from the previous winter of Stewart, Wedlock Morrison and Scally were still there and arguably in better form than twelve months before and such as Henry Summerhill, Tom Patterson, Les Meneely and Tom Grubb were all looking sharper and were certainly a year more confident.     The team on the day in running order was Grubb, Wedlock, Patterson, Morrison, Summerhill, Stewart, Meneely and Scally and they were given a really hard time of it by Edinburgh Southern Harriers – ESH led for the first four laps and there were seconds in it all the way – indeed at the end of the third lap the were neck and neck with a time of 1:20:33 each, after the fourth stage the times were 1:50:32 and 1:50:33.  Even after the long sixth stage the gap was only 46 seconds and at the end of the race Shettleston won by 13 Seconds.   Dick had had a super run on the second stage, turning in the fastest time ahead of Fergus Murray, Hugh Barrow, Frank Clement, Jim Wight, Colin Youngson and Doug Gunstone.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ for 7th December had the headline, ‘Splendid Victory for Wedlock’ after he had beaten Lachie Stewart by 66 seconds in the Lanarkshire Championships with Tom Patterson third.

On 12th December the SCCU team was beaten into fourth place but Dick Wedlock had a superb run finishing second to  Andy Holden after a hard race.   The three top men were absent from the SCCU team since they were racing in San Sebastian.   The report on the race read: “Wedlock made a change of plan a few days ago as to how he would tackle the race.   A couple of weeks ago he had little intention of going all out.   As far as he was concerned the Solihull event would be just a workout at the back of the field.   He changed his mind however in mid-week and it was just as well for the SCCU as the nest Scot was Norman Morrison in twentieth place.   Andy Holden, an international steeplechaser from Preston, was the individual winner, but not before Wedlock had tested him to the utmost over the four-lap trail covering a total distance of 7 miles 600 yards.   At half-distance a bunch of about ten runners were setting the standard, when Wedlock, swiftly pursued by Holden, broke away.   The short striding Scot with the imperceptible heel-lift created a bit of space for himself but not enough to snap the thread of contact between himself and the man from Preston.   Towards the end of the third lap, being run over heavy grassland with  few undulations, Holden took over the lead and had about six seconds in hand.   He extended this to about ten seconds on the next lap but Wedlock came again on the run-in and was down once more to six seconds.   Alan Blinston bronze medallist in the European 5000m last year was eight seconds behind Wedlock”

In the second week of the New Year, He won the Springburn Cup ra e from Alastair Johnston of Victoria Park.  but a week later in the Nigel Barge Road Race he was beaten by Ronnie McDonald of Monkland Harriers who was still an 18-year-old schoolboy.   They, together with Alastair Johnston, were together until at about 200 yards to go, McDonald just took off.   “He was just too fast for me,” said Dick after the race.   The National was in February and on 31st January Dick was the highest placed Scot when he was eighth in the San Sebastian International Cross Country Race Don Macgregor was eighteenth and Gareth Bryan-Jones thirty fourth which set him up nicely for the National Championship at Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, where he was third behind Alder and Blamire to lead Shettleston to victory in the team race  and earn him selection for the world championships in Spain.   Before then however came the English Cross-Country Championships and Shettleston completed their wonderful unbeaten winter season by winning yet again.   Blamire (11th), Stewart (19th), Wedlock (24th), Morrison (32nd), Summerhill (64th) and Grubb (131st) were the men.   In a very muddy trail for the international championship in Spain, Wedlock was the second Scot behind Ian Stewart (9th) when he was twenty fourth.   He had been a counter in every cross-country championship he had run.

The 1971 cross-country team:

Back Row: Bill Scally, Henry Summerhill, Dick Wedlock, Norman Morrison and Alastair Blamire

Front Row: Les Meneely, Tom Patterson, Lachie Stewart and Tom Grubb 

In the West District Championships at the end of May 1971, Dick shared the pacemaking with Ian McCafferty before finishing second in 14:45.6 ahead of Hugh Barrow on 14:52.4.   It was a good start to the summer if a bit slower than the previous year and a week later in the 500m at Rawyards Park, Airdrie he was second to Jim Brown in an almost identical time of 14:45.8 with Paul Bannon third.       There were however no Scottish titles for him this year although he ended the summer with best performances of  8:33.4 for 3000m, 14:27.0 for 5000m and 29:42.6 for 10000m when finishing third in the SAAA Championships, won by Lachie in 29:00.0.

Winter 1971/72 started with the McAndrew Relay.   Shettleston won this yet again with Dick Wedlock on the last leg after Scally, Stewart and Summerhill had all done their bit.   In the County relay the following week, Paul Bannon of Shettleston was struck by a car on the opening leg; fortunately he was unhurt but the team could only pull up to third by the end of the race with Wedlock on the final stage after Stewart and Meneely.   In the Allan Scally Relay at Shettleston Dick had the unusual experience of dropping two places – to Pat Maclagan (VPAAC) and Alastair Wood (AAAC) and could only say at the end that it was just one of those days and he just couldn’t get going.   The team won however. The following week, he was back in form and running on the third stage he was the fastest of the Shettleston contingent and second quickest on the day ahead of Lachie Stewart and ten seconds behind Jim Brown.   The big one – the Edinburgh to Glasgow was the next race on the fixture list.   Shettleston triumphed but not without a serious fight.    However it was down to Dick Wedlock to get the team clear when he set off only one second behind Alastair Johnston on the long sixth stage.    He was content to run on Alastair’s shoulder right up until the last mile when he moved away to hand over a 70 yard lead and they were never caught thereafter.    Only a week later there was a televised cross-country race from Parliament Hill in London and Dick in 15th place was third Scot home, behind Lachie Stewart and Jim Alder.   Seven days after that, it was the Lanarkshire Cross-Country Championship which Dick had won the previous year.   This time he led until after the halfway mark before the ‘find of the season’, the prodigious Junior, Jim Brown and Ian McCafferty broke away with Brown the winner.    At the start of the New Year, 1972, Dick won the Beith race from clubmate Henry Summerhill but the main article in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ was about the European Clubs championship which Shettleston had won the right to contest having won the British championships.   It was to be on the 16th of January in Belgium.   On January 8th, not running in the Nigel Barge this time, Dick won the Springburn Cup race at Auchinairn by getting clear of club mate Norman Morrison a mere half mile from the finish.

Clearly in fine form Dick went with the rest of the Shettleston team to Arlon in Belgium, representing Britain in the European clubs championship.   He performed nobly finishing second to Karel Lismont, European marathon champion.   Shettleston, who were ‘set a marvellous example by Wedlock’ finished second with 41 points to the Belgian 17.   Dick missed the National because of ‘flu but he was nevertheless chosen for the international championships in Cambridge.   With an in-form McCafferty, Lachie Stewart, Jim Alder, Alastair Blamire, Ian Stewart and other first class athletes all chosen, the disappointing results of the previous years were expected to be over.   Great things were expected of the team.   Meanwhile back with the Shettleston team, if they were to qualify for the European championships they had first to win the English national.    Unfortunately 1972 was the year of the notorious Sutton Coldfield race.   A severe snowstorm started up as the race began and got steadily worse as the event went on.   Many athletes dropped out distressed, some developed frost bite and generally the race was a disaster – Shettleston finished down in 23rd place with1263 points..   Dick Wedlock however ran on and was their first finisher when he crossed the line fifteenth.   The Scottish team finished fourth the following week – not bad but everyone, athletes, officials, Scottish runners, the team themselves – all thought that this could be Scotland’s year.    Scotland’s long-suffering team manager Jim Morton was not just disappointed, he was angry and gave the team a real tongue lashing in the public prints.   He did however, exclude from his tongue lashing Dick Wedlock, who finished seventy second, as ‘this is the first time he’s let me down.’

In summer 1972, Dick appeared in two ranking lists: in the 5000m he was twentieth with 14:31.4 and in the 10000, he was seventh with 29:59.2.   He opened the season with a win in the West District Championships at a rainy Carluke in 14:31.4, exactly one second ahead of Alastair Johnston of Victoria Park.

Norman, Dick, Paul Bannon and Lachie won the McAndrew Relay in 1972 and set a course record but Shettleston lost their District Relay title in early November but with Lachie, Dick, Paul Bannon and Alastair Blamire were all absent, being rested by the club for the following week end’s race at Parliament Hill in London.    Shettleston did in fact win the team race and Dick was forty third.   The Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay of 1972 is remembered as ‘Ian Stewart’s Second Stage’ when the Anglo, running in the colours of Aberdeen AAC, smashed the record of that stage.   Dick took over from Alastair Blamire in second place on the fifth stage and Ron Marshall’s report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ read as follows: “Dick Wedlock chose the right day to turn it on.   Chasing after Aberdeen’s Steve Taylor on the five and a half miles to that oasis called the Forestfield Hotel, Wedlock smashed the course record of 26 min 19 sec by 21 seconds and , more important, sent lachie Stewart away with a lead of 48 seconds.   The race was over.”      Dick started 1973 with fourth place in the Nigel Barge Road Race behind Norman Morrison, Paul Bannon and Doug Gunstone but this time passed on the Springburn Cup race at Bishopbriggs and was also an absentee at the Midland District Championship.   It was in January 1973 that Ian McCafferty started talking openly about turning professional and of taking payments – sometimes as much as £100 – and by the end of the month he had burned his boats as an amateur by telling ‘Scotsport’ on STV that he had an offer from USA to join their pro group but he was taking his time about taking up the offer because he had other propositions put to him, such as working with sports goods firms, particularly Puma with whom he already had an ‘arrangement’.    The international team would no longer have McCafferty on board.    The team was selected after the National in February and Dick was again one of the runners having finished ninth in the championship.   The international itself was run in Waregem, Belgium, and in deep mud in some places, shallow mud in others and not very much in the way of firm ground.   It was the year that Jim Brown won the Junior Championship to give him the complete set of gold, silver and bronze medals for the event.   Dick was well down the field in 120th position.   Shettleston, as Scottish champions this time, again took part in the European Clubs Championship in season 1972/73, and again finished second – Norman Morrison won the race, Lachie Stewart was third, Alastair Blamire ninth but Dick, who had been second the year before, dropped this time to eighteenth which gave a total good enough to defeat English team Tipton but not enough to depose the home team.

Summer 73 and the opener for Dick so often in the past, the Lanarkshire Championships at the start of May, had not one single Shettleston Harrier among the competitors.   Ron Marshall in his column directing a word of criticism a those on the lookout for non-Scottish competition.   They are, he said, becoming so selective that dozens of Scottish competitions are becoming denuded  of   their presence and so devalued.   BY the District Championships at the start of May he still had not shown his hand – the District Championships were contested mainly by Lachie (the winner), Alastair Blamire and Lawrie Spence.   Nothing at all that summer on the track – and it was the summer before the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand in January 1974.   The official Shettleston Harriers history said that a long term injury had ruled Dick out of contention.   Summer 1973 was basically written off.

Into season 1963/74 and the ‘Herald’ report said that Shettleston fielded none of their top four runners and paid the penalty.   They were actually ninth in the race and then eleventh in the Lanarkshires.   There was some consolation when they finished second to Victoria Park in the District Relays.   Although the team did not do as well as the year before, they finished sixth, Dick was on the fifth stage where he pulled the team up two places from ninth to seventh with the second fastest time of the day behind Martin Craven.   He was not in either the Nigel Barge or the Springburn Cup or the District Cross-Country races in January.       In February, he did run in the National and finished forty first and was nowhere near selection for the international.   Summer 1974 was like summer 1973 with no medals or rankings.

When Ron Marshall came to report on the McAndrew Relay in October 1974, he wrote towards the foot of his piece, “one competitor conspicuously missing from the fray was Dick Wedlock who is ill in hospital after a road accident on Thursday.   So often in these four man relays, Dick was considered as one of the mainstays of the Shettleston team.   His absence on Saturday cast a cloud not only over his club colleagues, but over all of us who have watched his many fine performances these last six or seven years.”   The report sounded a bit like an obituary – and Dick’s running career was certainly over.   The story is told in the Shettleston Harriers centenary history.   “The main talking point at the McAndrew Relay on October 5th, 1974, had nothing to do with athletics – at least not directly.   Three days previously Dick had been taking part in a Fire Service sponsored run from London to Edinburgh.   As the group approached Newcastle, he was resting with other runners in the back-up minibus parked in a lay by.   In 2003 he recalled the seconds that changed his life forever.   ‘I was stretching out on one of those long seats with my foot against the door and my head resting against the back of the driver’s seat.   I had just been handed a cup of tea when through the rear window I saw a lorry heading straight for us at speed.   I was the only one to see it and though I shouted out a warning, it was too late.’   The force of the collision drove the rear of the bus towards the driver’s seat.   Of the three other fire-fighters on board, one was thrown clear, another wrenched his back and a third, Sinclair Watson of Maryhill Harriers, was badly cut by flying glass.   Dick sustained a broken foot and a broken neck, was paralysed from the neck down and in spite of early hopes would never walk again.”  

Dick was just 28 years old and at an age when distance runners are just about at their best and at a time when he should have had another fifty or so years at least of normal life ahead of him.   There is no way to quantify the enormity of what happened to this talented and likeable young man.  The running community did what they could to help – mainly by fund raising efforts.   For instance there was a 24 hour relay held on 28th December that year organised by the Fire Service from the Fire Station at Anniesland Cross round the McAndrew relay trail with runners from all the local clubs taking part.    International athletes such as Hugh Barrow, Alastair Johnstone and Norman Morrison all took part in this one.   There were also social events held for the same purpose.    Dick came about several races for a while after the accident and died on 16th August 2007.

(from The Observer, probably in early 1981, making her born in 1948?)

Leslie Watson is a beautiful woman with a magnificent shape which is famous throughout the world of long-distance running: famous because its beauty brings a smile to all men who run with her.

She is 32 years old, 5 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 8 stone, and she has run 47 full marathons, plus two London to Brighton races (each of 54 miles 460 yards), plus one 100 kilometres race. She has even run two marathons in the same weekend. Is it any wonder, therefore, that we men who occasionally venture into the supposedly muscle-pounding, gut-wrenching realms of marathon running regard her with awe and with love?

She comes from Glasgow, from Sauchiehall Street, the only daughter of a doctor and a dancer. Her father was a university boxing Blue, her mother a professional dancer who specialised in Russian Cossack dancing. Leslie does not know why she started to run. “When I was only five, I used to arrange races with my friends after school, or after dancing classes. They always beat me so I went on and on, race after race, until eventually I outlasted someone.”

When she was ten, one of her school friends who was a member of Maryhill Harriers told her that there was a girl as slow as Leslie in the club, so she joined and thus began her athletic career. There is no doubt that she was an athletic scrubber – a scrubber being a person with little or no talent. Bruce Tulloh was a scrubber. So was I.

Scrubbers need a certain amount of luck and Leslie was lucky to find that the scrubbers of Maryhill Harriers were looked after by a P.E. teacher called John Anderson. While others trained the potential champions in the club, John made his girls work hard – so hard that complaints were made to the Scottish Women’s Athletic Association that this man was damaging the girls permanently. The damage he caused was to get three of them – Margaret Crawford, Cathy Kelly and Leslie – into the Scottish cross-country team. Leslie, at the age of 18, became the Scottish Mile Champion. And John Anderson became the Scottish National Coach.

By now she was training also to be a physiotherapist and shortly after she qualified she came down to London to take a job at St George’s Hospital, Hyde Park Corner. Six months later she resigned because she found it impossible to live, and impossible to go training, on her Health Service salary. Now she has her own practice, hard by Harley Street and Wimpole Street: an independent, successful woman.

She ran her first marathon when hot pants were fashionable. “I wore them but really I was a little too fat, so one day when I saw an advertisement for the Masters and Maidens marathon it crossed my mind that marathon running might be slimming.”

At the time she was doing some running, but no more than 20 miles per week in a good week, although she did go for one very long run of about 20 miles, very, very slowly before the Masters and Maidens “just to feel what it was like”.

That marathon would have been the end for most people. She started out far too fast, recording a personal best for five miles (29 minutes), and she was wearing light unpadded shoes which covered her feet in blisters. But she finished in 3 hours 31 minutes “knowing that I had run a stupid race and knowing that I was unfit. But it was certainly slimming!”

That marathon, the Masters and Maidens marathon, was also a landmark in the history of British sport. It was organised by a man called Alan Blatchford, the originator of challenge walks in the south of England. His events were for everybody, male or female, honoured knight or street cleaner, professional or amateur. He set a challenge and hoped that everyone who attempted it would enjoy themselves. But some athletics officials did not like this approach, and besides, it was forbidden for women athletes to run against men.

So the second time that Leslie ran in the Masters and Maidens she entered as Julie Kemp. But by now she was becoming famous in the sport as the pretty lady who always had a smile on her face and loved marathon running. And so it was inevitable that her real identity leaked out. The result: a warning that if she did it again, she would be banned from all athletics under Women’s AAA laws.

She says that people in this country seemed to be frightened of authority. “I have a Canadian friend who says that if such threats had been uttered in Canada, the whole Canadian team would have turned out in the next race and challenged the authorities to ban them all.”

But now, thanks to people like Leslie Watson and Alan Blatchford (who died, tragically, three months ago at the age of 44) sense has prevailed and women are allowed to compete with men – sometimes. Medically there was never any reason for not allowing women to run whatever distance they chose. The American College of Sports Medicine has issued a statement recommending “that females be allowed to compete at the national and international levels in the same distances in which their male counterparts compete.”

The discrimination against women was a social relic of the Victorian age, when women were regarded as the weaker sex, always having the vapours. But now there are thousands of men in Britain who have proof that women like Leslie, utterly feminine and delightful, have bodies which can outrace them and minds which never give in.

So I, who have run only one marathon, asked Leslie, who has run 47, for some advice. She said, “Don’t be put off psychologically by the distance. It’s not such a phenomenal way if you start slowly. I can remember a friend of mine, Barry, saying to me before my first marathon ‘Anyone can run a marathon – it’s just a question of at what speed.’ I agree – anyone can run a marathon if they are healthy, wear good shoes, and do a little training.”

What sort of training is she doing for the Gillette London marathon in March? “The problem about the race,” she said, “Is that it is so early in the year. I tend to use early marathons as training runs, just because I am a very lazy trainer. That’s why I would advise everybody to try some races at various distances – especially women who seem frightened of racing.”

“And as to the training itself, it is always better when you have some company. I’m now doing some speedwork with another marathon runner, Caroline Rogers, but a typical week in August this year would have been: 12 miles on Saturday, 20 miles on Sunday, 6 miles on Monday, nothing on Tuesday, an easy 9 miles on Wednesday, 12 miles on Thursday, and 6 miles on Friday. Mark you, that’s about the best week I’ve ever done – 65 miles.”

“The basis of my training is to try to concentrate on two long runs – one on Sunday of 20 miles or over, and one on Thursday of up to 15. But I wouldn’t recommend that to anybody who is only doing 20 miles a week at present. Gently, gently does it, and never get put off by the thought of the distance.”

The picture above is of Leslie Watson, in her London Olympiads kit, winning the London – Brighton race in 1979.   It is typical of how she always appeared in races – elegant, long striding, hair flowing and she always seemed to enjoy every step of her running.   Leslie Watson was one of Scotland’s top specialist marathon runners of all time – of either gender.   Starting as a young 800 metre runner with Maryhill Harriers Ladies, she became also one of the most prolific and successful of Scottish marathon and ultra distance runners with 68 career marathon wins in Scotland, England and abroad.   In 1981 she had an astonishing seventeen races in the top twenty of the Scottish rankings, all inside three hours, with Rosemary Wright (2) and Priscilla Welch filling the other three places.    The following year she only had thirteen times in the top twenty!   Remember that these were early days for women’s marathon running and she was a regular in the world rankings too with the best year being 1979 when she had no fewer than five times in the world lists.   If we go back to 1981 and list the races in chronological order rather than in ranking order we get the following table.   Two a month were not uncommon and there was not a month without a marathon between March and the very end of November!

The marks with aa asterisk indicate that the time found a place in the World Rankings for the year.   It should be noted that in the year in question she also ran a world’s best time for 50 miles on the road and at the other end of the scale had a 10:15.2 time for the 3000 metres.  She had had a good career on the track prior to taking up the marathon – the earliest mention I can find for her in any ranking list is in 1963 when she was eleventh in Scotland in the 880 Yards  and two years later she won the SWAAA One Mile Championship.   She also had World Bests at 50K on both road and track as well as a British 100K record.   Over the country she was twice Scottish Champion.   These are just the headline facts from a remarkable career which needs and deserves to be looked at more closely.  

Leslie second from left at Westerlands in Glasgow, early 1960’s

How did she get into the sport of athletics in the first place?    An article by Chris Brasher in ‘The Observer’ in early 1981 explains it as follows: “She comes from Glasgow the only daughter of a doctor and a dancer.   Her father was a University boxing blue and her mother a professional dancer.   Leslie does not know why she started to run “When I was only five I would arrange races with my friends after school or after dancing classes.   They always beat me so I went on and on, race after race, until eventually I outlasted someone. ”   When she was ten, one of her school friends who was a member of Maryhill Harriers told her that there was a girl as slow as Leslie in the club, so she joined and so began her athletic career.   There is no doubt that she was an athletic scrubber – a scrubber being a person of little or no talent.   Bruce Tulloh was a scrubber and so was I.   (Tulloh won the European 5000 metres championship and Brasher was Olympic steeplechase gold medallist.)   Scrubbers need a certain amount of luck and Leslie was lucky in to find that the scrubbers of Maryhill Harriers Ladies were looked after by a PE Teacher named John Anderson.      While others trained potential champions in the club, John made his girls work hard – so hard that complaints were made to the SWAAA that this man was damaging the girls permanently.   The damage he caused was to get three of them – Margaret Crawford, Cathie Kelly and Leslie – into the Scottish Cross Country team.   Leslie at the age of eighteen became the Scottish Mile Champion.”

How did she progress under John’s regime?   In 1961 as an Intermediate (Under 17) she recorded 2:33.8 for 880 yards to be second Intermediate in Scotland and twelfth in the Senior Rankings.   This time came down to 2:31.6 in 1962, 2:30.5 in 1963, 2:23.3 in 1964 and 2:21.5 in 1966.   The 1966 time placed her seventh in Scotland but her Mile time was second in the country with 5:14.4 and she won the SWAAA Mile title as well as being second in the West District.  In 1965 she had topped the Scottish rankings for the Mile with 5:12.5 run in Wimbledon and she finished second in the SWAAA Mile Championship behind the English girl Tomlinson (5:15.6 behind 5:06.7).    She kept running well on the track but moving up when the opportunity arose – the 3000 metres for women was only introduced in 1969 but there was no mark recorded by her in the rankings at that point although she was to go on to run inside 10 minutes for the distance.

Like all endurance runners she competed in the cross country races that were held throughout the winter with considerable success.   One of the interesting features of this racing was the number of times she finished close to the original Scottish Marathon Pioneer, Dale Greig.   In 1964 Dale won the SWCCU title with Leslie down in fourth, in 1966 Leslie won leading the Maryhill team to victory with Dale second a mere eight seconds behind.   The result was repeated in 1967 with the difference ten seconds.   In 1968 Dale won with Leslie sixth. In 1969 Lesley was seventh with Dale eighth (14 seconds difference), in 1970 Dale was eighth with Leslie ninth (12 seconds difference), in 1971 Leslie was ninth and Dale tenth – three seconds separated them.  Leslie’s next appearance in  the National was 1974 and her placings were ’74: eighth;   75: sixth;   ’76: seventh;   ’77: sixth;   ’78: sixth;   ’79: ninth;   ’80:  tenth.    Sixteen years and never lower than tenth, and then only once.   The 1974 race was the first one that had her listed as ‘London Olympiads’ rather than Maryhill.

Had she stopped there, then she would have had a successful career – very few win national titles on the track or over the country but she had both.    Back to Brasher: “After she qualified as a Physiotherapist, she came down to London to take up a job at St George’s Hospital, Hyde Park Corner.   Six months later she resigned because she found it impossible to live ,and impossible to go training, on her Health Service salary.   Now she has her own practice hard by Harley Street and Wimpole Street, a successful woman.   (The picture below is from her Clinic website).  “One day when I saw an advertisement for the Masters and Maidens Marathon it crossed my mind that it might be slimming.”   At the time she was doing some running, but no more than 20 miles per week, although she did go for one very long run of about 20 miles very slowly before the Masters and Maidens “just to find what it was like.”    She started out far too fast setting a personal best for five miles (29 minutes) but she finished in 3 hours 31 minutes “knowing that I had run a stupid race and knowing that I was unfit.” 

XXX

She started running marathons in 1975 at the age of 28 and her first win was at Barnsley and she was timed at 3:18:46.   And a brilliant career took off.   If we look only at her marathon victories then she won 52 races in the period from 1975 to 1985.    In tabular form we have the following.

These are by no means all the marathons that she ran in this period – remember that in 1981 she had seventeen of the Scottish top twenty!   In 1978 she was third in the English WAAA Marathon which was won by Joyce Smith and then she won the event in her own right in 1981 in a time of 2:49:08.   I think, looking at the results that 1979 – 1980 might be regarded as her peak for endurance running magic.   She won 24 marathons (and ran and was placed in many more) in three years;

In 1979 three women ran unofficially in the London to Brighton race and Leslie won that in 6:55:11 (the picture above in the London Olympiads vest is from that race – no number because it was unofficial!) and in the following year when the first women’s race was held over the course, she won it again in a slightly slower time of 6:56:02.

* She set a world 100K Record of 8:15:50 in Grantham

* She set a new World Record 50 miles record on the road at Lake Waramaug in the USA of 6:02:37

* She set a new World 50 Mile Record of 6:20:42 at Barnet in 1983.

The American ‘Frontrunner’ magazine reported the Lake Waramaug 50 Miles as follows: “Leslie Watson (33) came over from London, England, with the intention of breaking the women’s world record for 50 miles.   She did with a sensational 6:02:37 to break the record by two minutes.   She was tenth over all in the race, starting fairly fast, slowed a bit, but ran steadily.   She finished strong and looked good.”

But she was not yet finished with the marathon and won in Maidstone again in 1988 at the age of 40 and in 1989 won in Adelaide, Australia; Rennes in France and New Milton on Humberside.   In 1989 she also won the Davos Mountain Marathon in 6:52:51.   In 1985 she had a marathon best time of 2:46:53 and, to demonstrate that she had lost none of her track speed, recorded 9:59.9 for 3000 metres.   In 1986 her top performance time-wise was 2:45:50.   When asked by Brasher about her training, she had this to say: “Training is always better when you have some company.   I’m now doing some speedwork with another runner,  Caroline Rodgers, but a typical week in August this year (1981) would have been 12 miles on Saturday, 20 miles on Sunday, 6 miles on Monday, nothing on Tuesday, an easy nine miles on Wednesday, 12 miles on Thursday and six miles on Friday.   Mind you that’s about the best week I’ve ever done – 65 miles.   The basis of my training is to concentrate on two long runs – one on Sunday of 20 miles or over and one on Thursday of up to 15 miles.   But I wouldn’t recommend that to anybody who is only doing about 20 miles a week at present.   Gently does it and never get put off by the thought of the distance.”

Her annual progression in terms of times was, starting in 1975 was 3:18:46, 1976  3:02:24, 1977  3:05:07, 1978  2:58:23, 1979: 2:50:58, 1980 2:47:07, 1981  2:45:46, 1982  2:46:18, 1983  2:45:47, 1985  2:46:53, 1986  2:45:60 and there was the wonderful year in 1989 when at the age of 44 she won Adelaide, Australia in 2:49:49, Rennes, France in 2:47:58 and New Milton, Humberside in 2:51:33!    Lifetime personal bests – so far! – are in the table below

Six years later, her best marathon was 3:05:52.   In 1993 she ran 3:00:25 at Windsor as a LV 45 and also ran 10 miles in 61:54.   In 1994 her best was 3:00:59 as well as racing to 2:11:31 in a 20 miler where she finished third.   I could find no trace of her running a marathon in 1995 or 1996.    She continues to run and it does not take too much scanning of the web to find results for Leslie in the 21st Century.    From the early 1960’s to 2010 she has had a running career of almost 50 years.   The table below shows her current (2010) UK  rankings.

She is still however a very competitive sports person.    She takes part in powerlifting as well as swimming and other physical fitness competitions.    A quick look at power lifting websites reveals that she is still winning.   eg in the Greater London Powerlifting Championships in 2007 she won the 48Kg Class.   With a Body Weight of 46.65 kilos she lifted 85 Kg in the squat, 65 Kg in the Bench Press and 105Kg in the deadlift making a total of 255 Kg.    If you want to see her in action, she appears in many clips on youtube: just go to www.youtube.com and type in Leslie Watson and there among the clips are several of her in action looking just as she did in all those marathons.   The picture below shows Leslie in her GB Tracksuit at a powerlifting competition in USA in 2007.   She has also appeared in all the various forms of the media from the covers of such as Athletics Weekly, Runner’s World and the now defunct Jogging Magazine to commentating on the London Marathon as part of the team, taking part in a programme with Ian Thompson advising newcomers on preparing for the marathon and in many news and sport features in the Press (such as the article by Chris Brasher quoted here).

If Dale Greig broke through the glass ceiling keeping women out of marathon racing – remember that it was only in 1969 that women were allowed to race as far as 3000m on the track – then Leslie shattered it so that it could never be put back together again.   As an athlete she was of the very highest calibre on track and country but on the roads she achieved feats that no other Scottish marathon runner of either sex did.

Here is another 1981 Interview, this time from ‘Athletics Weekly’.

The Brasher Interview

Alan Wilson in 1986

Alan was a tall, slim runner who, although of a naturally quiet disposition, was pleasant to talk to and a man who clearly thought a lot about his sport.   A member of Victoria Park AAC he seemed to be at his best in the 1980’s when the standard of road running was at its highest in Scotland – indeed arguably that was the case throughout the UK.   His best times as recorded by the statisticians were as in the table below.

I knew Alan slightly and it surprises me now looking back to see how seldom he appeared in the lists – but at that point the road races on the fixture lists were at all sorts of distances from 7 miles to ultra marathons and not the mass of 10K’s or proliferation of half-marathons that we see nowadays.

In May 1983 he set his own personal best for the half-marathon when he finished ninth in the Luddon Half Marathon at Kirkintilloch in a time of 66:48.   Later that year he was thirteenth in the Glasgow Marathon in 2:23:54.   The marathon for which he is most remembered, however, is the Glasgow Marathon at the end of September 1984 and his run was quite excellent – never mentioned by the ‘Glasgow Herald as one of the leaders, he was placed ninth of 9449 finishers.   The quality of runners in his wake was high: first vet was Donald Macgregor one place behind in 2:19:01, followed by Jim Brown (2:19:08) and many others of the country’s top men.

So – a very good runner who, in the days of the 10K would have been one of the highest rated in the country.   As it is, his times, especially the 2:17:40, would have earned him Scottish vests for at least the Commonwealth Games.  We also have a half marathon tine of 66:48 when he finished ninth in the Luddon Half Marathon in May 1983.  His former team mate and friend Alastair Douglas has this to say about him

“Alan did not initially appear to have a lot of natural talent but by sheer hard word, single-mindedness and using a scientific approach, he achieved some very impressive results.   He finished second in the Junior National in a very good year.   He managed to get himself very good personal bests for 10000m and the marathon and was a member of Glasgow University’s famous BUSF winning team in 1984.  

I remember hearing about one incident when he was running a cross-country race when it was very icy.   It was debatable whether spikes or road racers would be better.   He opted for the spikes.   Unfortunately for him he was winning the race going into the last 200m   However a road ran parallel to the finishing straight and he got outsprinted by somebody in road racers.   However he produced the rule book which apparently stated that he should have won under the rules of cross-country and he eventually got a share of first prize.  

Alan’s career seemed to span his University years.   It was probably wrong in retrospect to label him as somebody with a lack of natural talent.   He had the ability to absorb and benefit from a lot of hard training – something which a lot of seemingly more gifted runners could not do.”

Alastair is right in his remark that Alan’s career spanned his University years because we seem to have lost track of him since then.    The next contribution is from an article in the Glasgow Academy’s magazine by Hugh Barrow who also ran with him for Victoria Park.

“Alan Wilson of Victoria Park recorded 2:17:40 in 1984 and this earned him a British vest.   Alan also recorded good times of 3:34.0 for 1500m and 14:07 for 5000m running in the colours of Westbury Harriers, Bristol.   Alan also represented Scotland in the World Junior Cross Country Championships in 1983.   When you consider that the first Briton home in this year’s London Marathon, Andrew Lemoncello, recorded 2:13 it puts Alan’s performance of 30 years ago in perspective.”

The Junior National referred to twice above was in 1983 when Alan was second to John McNeil, an outstanding Junior from Law & District who had a very short athletics career and ahead of such as Alan Puckrin of Greenock Glenpark.  He didn’t do too much cross-country running, however,  In the previous year he had been twenty second in the National, as a Youth in 1981 he had been twenty fifth.   The best I can see as a Senior is for the 1984 race when he was twelfth – one place behind George Braidwood, and one place in front of Graham Laing and Neil Tennant.

Alan was a runner who developed as a University age athlete, who seems to have organised his own athletics career and who, had the career been a bit longer, might well have been even better.  After all, his 2:17 was run when he was just 20 years old (DoB: 3/03/64).  One of the tasks is now to track down some of his road and track races in the mid 80’s and record as many performances as possible.

Tommy Tracey of Springburn is almost a forgotten man as far as the Scottish distance running fraternity is concerned and this profile is an attempt, however slight, to put it right. He is very highly spoken of by those who knew him, and the reports of his running and racing indicate that he was a quality athlete. His career was almost all within the period 1948 to 1957.

Season 1948-’49 and Tommy’s first run was in the McAndrew Relay at Scotstoun and although there was no outstanding time this time, John Emmet Farrell in the ‘Scots Athlete’ commented that ‘Tracey, who proved best of a well-balanced Springburn quartette, looks a good prospect.’ Two weeks later he was in the team for the Kingsway relay in Perth as part of a Springburn team that finished second with McLean, Reid and Jim Morton (who was fourth fastest on the day). In the Midlands Relays in December 1949 he was in the Springburn team which finished down the field: he himself had a good run though and was equal second fastest in the race. In the Midland Championship on 5th February 1949 he finished sixth. Then in March, he was nineteenth in his first National in a Springburn team which finished fifth and not far from the medals. There were two Edinburgh to Glasgow relays in 1949 and Springburn only participated in the earlier race, in April. Tommy made his maiden run in this event running on the second stage and pulling the club from seventh to fifth time on the leg. Emmet Farrell reported in September 1949 when reviewing the summer season that “The steady running of the Springburn Harriers in the Two Mile Races was a feature. Jim Morton and company certainly demonstrated that good team running can often defeat brilliant individualism and a weak tail. In the Three Miles Scottish Championship, Tom Tracey and Jim Morton ran above themselves to finish third and fifth and handsomely beat the standard time into the bargain.” So he was not just a winter season runner – the times for the event were not published in the magazine which only gave the winner’s time.

In the McAndrew on 1st October 1949 the Springburn Harriers team was fourth with the team being McLean (16:18), McGill (17:10, Morton (16:25) and Tracey (16:10). Tom’s time was fourth fastest of the day. In the Dundee Kingsway Relay on 15th October, he had third fastest time and it was on into the Edinburgh to Glasgow. In the Midlands four by two and a half mile relay, and had the third fastest time of the day although the team was unplaced. In the Midland Cross-Country Championships in February 1950, Tommy was second and nine seconds behind Walter Lennie (Vale of Leven) leading his team to second place behind Shettleston but in front of Victoria Park. In his preview of the National Cross-Country, Emmet Farrell said, “Tommy Tracey of Springburn’s form over the shorter stretches has been little short of devastating and if he does not burn himself out before the National should come well into the reckoning.” In a separate item he said of Tommy and Ben Bickerton (Shettleston), “Bickerton and Tracey both have a brilliant turn of speed ranking second only to Forbes in that respect. How will they react to 9 miles of country?” A month later in his second National that he confirmed both form and ability with third place in a team which finished fourth. Emmet Farrell reported on it under the headline “Brilliant Youngsters Prove their Class”, Showing brilliant pace and judgment Tom Tracey of Springburn and Ben Bickerton of Shettleston removed any lingering doubts as to their ability to get to the full distance in class company. Both fully earned their first jersey. Tracey by finishing third proved himself to be the best home Scot, a grand and colourful debut.” First and second had been Bobby Reid of Birchfield and Frank Sinclair of Blaydon who had travelled up for the event. This was to gain him his first international vest and he ran for Scotland in the IAAF Cross-Country Championships where he finished seventy fifth. In summer 1950 he won the SAAA Three Miles Championship on 24th June at Hampden Park from Adamson of West Kilbride in 14:57. This prompted a a mini-profile in the ‘Scots Athlete’ of July that year, which read:

“With Victoria Park’s Andrew Forbes still troubled with his leg and out for the season, Tom Tracey, 22 year old painter of Springburn Harriers has stepped right into his shoes as king-pin of Scottish distance men. Delighting his clubmates most with his recent National 3 Miles championship win, he has been unbeaten in Scotland so far this season over 2 and 3 Miles. His best 2 Mile time yet is 9:32.8 at Helenvale, and at Belfast he clocked the equivalent of a 14:37 3 Mile when finishing second to H Ashenfelter (USA) in a special handicap on a grass track.

He started running at 14 and was sixth in a Scottish Youths Cross-Country Championship running for South Glasgow AAC, but gave up the sport for a couple of years with his club going defunct. Joining up with Springburn in 1947, he came under the eye of Jim Morton and nursed into the 2 Mile team the club were patiently building. Honours came over cross-country, winning his club championship in 1949 and 1950, and he gained his international jersey at Brussels by finishing third in the National.

Characteristic of the true spirit of amateur athletics, he recalls well his trial days of making the grade and without fail hands over his own team prize to his fourth and non-counting clubmate when taking an individual award. He has leg speed too as he proved when winning the Lanarkshire mile championship. “Wait a year or two” says Jim Morton, “he’s only beginning to show his running.”

In the McAndrew on 7th October, Victoria Park won from Shettleston with Springburn third and there were two Springburn runners in the top six times but Tracey led them all with15:42 followed by Andy Forbes on 15:45, the second Springburn runner being McLean in fourth (equal to Ben Bickerton) with 16:08. On 21st October in the Dundee Kingsway Relay, Springburn were second to Victoria Park with Tom Tracey having second fastest time of the day with 13:47 to Andy Forbes’s 13:44. Revenge for the senior athlete! After praising Forbes’s return to form, Emmet Farrell said that Tracey is going great guns showing form equal to Forbes himself and is proving himself a grand leader of a splendid Springburn team. he ended by looking forward to the Forbes Tracey duels. In the District Relays on 4th October, Springburn were second to Victoria Park, and Tommy had fastest time ahead of Andy Forbes. The Edinburgh to Glasgow settled into the place that would become its own in November, 1950, and Tommy ran the sixth stage for the team that would finish fifth. Second fastest on the stage behind Andy Forbes, he picked up one place from sixth to fifth. The report in the ‘Scots Athlete’ refers to Springburn Harriers deserving sympathy for their plucky and courageous fight back after the mishap to their first and incidentally one of their best runners. It goes on to say, “Tom Tracey of Springburn excelled in the long 7 miles sector”. Looking ahead to the Beith Harriers New Year race, Farrell said The individual struggle may be the high-light with Forbes and Tracey setting a merry pace in front of the others. Both men have been within seconds of each other for fastest lap times this season with honours fairly even except in the ‘News of the World’ race where Forbes had the edge. This will, however, be the first time this season that they have met in actual scratch competition and fit and well they should provide an epic race with the winner anybody’s choice. For myself, I have a feeling that Forbes’ experience will still prevail against the Springburn crack’s youth.” The Beith race was not reported on but the Nigel Barge Five Miles Open Road Race on 6th January 1951 was and victory did indeed go to the older man with Forbes winning in 23:41 to Tracey’s 24:31 with Farrell himself in third in 24:48. The Midland Championships in February 1951 were held at Millerston with “under Arctic conditions with 7″ of snow lying” according to the ‘Scots Athlete’. It went on to report on the race, “The seven mile race served up some surprises when it was seen that Bannon and Tracey were alternately setting the pace and slowly dropping Forbes. Tracey ran out a worthy winner with Victoria Park taking the team award, coming away in the second half to wipe out Shettleston’s earlier points advantage.” Springburn was the third team with their counting runners being Tracey, John Stevenson seventh, Jim Morton eighth, J Wallace twenty sixth, N McGowan Twenty ninth and A Stevenson thirty seventh. Looking ahead to the National, Farrell thought it would be between Forbes and Reid before saying, “I cannot just see Tracey and Craig as serious challengers for the individual title yet I feel they are reasonably certain of forward places and international selection.” The story is told of Tommy, a month later, virtually missing the start the National of 1951 because he was on the wrong side of the fence talking to some club mates when the gun went off! He was not the only one to be caught out – the start was generally reckoned to be a wee bit early.   Nevertheless, he made up enough ground to finish in second place behind Andrew Forbes who was also behind the line at the start.

XXX

The photograph above gives the first six places. Tommy went home that day with two silver medals since the club had been second team. The ‘Running Commentary’ said: Despite a most indifferent start which caught Forbes, Tracey and others napping a most engrossing duel ensued between these two runners which ended in a narrow 20 yards victory for the former in a nip and tuck finish. These two were really out on their own. Andrew Forbes ran superbly and with magnificent judgment. Tom Tracey’s display was equally impressive and it is obvious that there is little to choose between these two grand athletes. When it is considered how much Tracey lost at the start and how near he was at the finish it looks only a question of time before he adds the cross-country to his three mile title.” The international in 1951 was a good one for Tommy Tracey. He was twenty fourth and the first Scot to finish, but the race was not without incident – “Tracey – Scotland’s Star. Despite the loss of a shoe, Tom Tracey ran a grand and gallant race to finish twenty fourth.” Shortly after the International, there was an invitation Festival of Britain 9 Miles Race in which Tom Tracey ran a sensationally brilliant race to take third place beating among others ‘laughing boy’ Saunders the International champion. Even though Saunders may be suffering from reaction after his brilliant Newport victory, nothing can gainsay Tracey’s great performance. Tom Tracey and Eddie Bannon have both put up performances worthy of great intrinsic merit and could prove a great Scottish spear-head for next year at Hamilton. Their deeds should also instil into Scottish runners a greater ‘conceit’ of themselves, should supply them with that confidence which has been lacking.” .

The Forbes-Tracey duel carried on into the summer. The preview of the SAAA Championships contained this paragraph from Emmet Farrell: “Unless Anglo-Scot AT Ferguson enters, the Three Miles may develop into a tussle between present champion Tom Tracey and former champion and present record holder Andrew Forbes. The versatile Victoria Park man has up to the present revealed a slight edge over the Springburn man. But it should be a great battle between experience and youth. My preference is for Forbes who I believe has not entirely given up hope of Olympic selection next year. After Andy’s superb Three Mile win in 14:18 at the London Caledonia Games, he looked unbeatable but the Springburn star is ever-improving and has subsequently beaten Forbes over Two Miles in 9:25 and so this obviously looks the race of the day.” The race was at Hampden Park on 23rd June and the result was a win for Forbes. 1. A Forbes 14:28.8; 2. T Tracey 14:47.1; 3. I Binnie 15:05.0. The report read: “The Three Miles did not turn out to be the race it promised to be. Holder Tom Tracey who seemed off form a bit, could not match the pace of the machine-like Andrew Forbes who won it in the second fastest championship time of the series – and his own second best in Scotland with the time 14:P28. Andy complained of the track being slow and heavy.” The season’s rankings produced by the ‘Scots Athlete’ had Forbes first, Tracey second, Ferguson third, Binnie fourth and MacDonald (Maryhill) fifth. The actual best performances were first Forbes with 14:15, second Tracey with 14:45.5, third Binnie with 15:05.6.

The McAndrew relay signalling the start of the cross-country season was on 6th October and the result was a win for Victoria Park with Springburn second. On the third leg Tracey lowered the course record by seven seconds – only to see Eddie Bannon take it even lower on the last leg by another four seconds to 15:20! In the Midland Championships of November 1951, Springburn struck gold and won from Shettleston by 20 seconds. The report in the ‘Scots Athlete’ read, Showing a return to form, Harry Fenion handed over a surprise lead for Bellahouston, with a five second advantage over Springburn’s John Stevenson and eight seconds ahead of holders – and favourites – Victoria Park (I Binnie). Running sweetly through, Tommy Lambert (14:36) took Springburn into the lead. Meanwhile Johnny Stirling (VP) was not his usual and dropped six places to ninth, and was passed by the club’s second string runner, R Kane who kept his team in fifth. At the end of the third lap, Springburn still held the lead through RF McLean but Victoria Park made ground through young Syd Ellis moving through from fifth to second, returning with 14:38, and Chic Forbes bringing the A Team to fifth with 14:32. With the last leg in the capable hands of Tom Tracey with easily the fastest time of 14:01. Springburn were proud and worthy winners with the total time of 58:27. Times and places: 1. Springburn Harriers 58:27, (J Stevenson 14:57, T Lambert 14:36 , RF McLean 14:53 , T Tracey 14:01); 2. Shettleston Harriers 58:47 (J McNeil 15:12, B Bickerton 15:08, RC Wallace 14:40, E Bannon 13:47. Fastest times: Bannon 13:47, Tracey 14:01. Then in the Edinburgh to Glasgow later in November, the team was third at the end of the first stage after a good run by John Stevenson and they were third at the end of the final stage after Tommy Lambert had a good run home. Tommy himself ran on the sixth stage again and was third fastest behind Bannon and Forbes. The team was Stevenson, McFadden, Morton, Wallace, Rankine, Tracey, McLean and Lambert. On 5th January 1952, Tom was third in the Nigel Barge (25:13) behind Forbes (24:48 and Binnie 24:58 and won the Inter-Counties contest at Westerton from Nelson and Gibson – all three from Lanarkshire.

The Midland Championships were held in the extensive grounds of Woodilee Hospital in Lenzie on 2nd February, 1952. Bannon won again but Tommy was down in fifth position with the team third – they had three men in the top ten though – Tom was fifth, J Rankin was sixth and John Stevenson eighth with the their counters being Jim Morton, D Wallace and N McGowan. In his preview of the National Championships, Emmet Farrell said, “Coming to the individuals, Scotland’s big three are undoubtedly Eddie Bannon, Andy Forbes and Tom Tracey, and of these Bannon is the bright particular star and on present form must be a strong favourite to win our National cross-country title. Up to the present he has shown devastating speed and last year’s brilliant fourth in the English national demonstrated that he has the stamina to go with it. Andy Forbes, present National holder, despite some worry over foot trouble continues to reveal remarkable consistency of form and with his ability to rise to the occasion is a hard man to beat. Tom Tracey is also running well though perhaps not at the peak of his form.” In the National at Hamilton in March Tommy was third behind Eddie Bannon of Shettleston and AT Ferguson of Highgate Harriers in London but in front of Andy Forbes, Tom Stevenson (Greenock Wellpark) and Charlie Robertson of Dundee. He still qualified for the International Championship where he was twenty third and a scoring member of the team.

Having missed almost all of the summer, Tom Tracey was absent from the Springburn team for the McAndrew Relay. In November, there were many familiar faces absent from the club team for the Midland Relays, including Tommy’s. The best that they could manage was thirteenth. Tommy did not turn out in this one. Unfortunately he did not run in either E-G, the District Championships or the National in 1953. Season 1953-’54 made up for the disappointments of the year before. He again missed the entire summer but there was a wee paragraph in Emmet Farrell’s Running Commentary in the December 1953 issue of the ‘Scots Athlete’: Tom Tracey’s Welcome Return: It is very pleasing to note the grand return to form of Tom Tracey, off for over a year through illness. This should inspire his Springburn clubmates as well as considerably brighten the hopes of a good Scottish international team for Birmingham.”

In November 1953, Springburn were again out of the medals in the District relays, but that was not down to anything Tommy Tracey did or didn’t do! Fastest time of the day was by Eddie Bannon with 13:42, Tracey was second with 13:46 and Clark Wallace of Shettleston was third with 14:20. The Springburn team of McFadden, O’Reilly, A Stevenson and Tracey was seventh. In the E-G Springburn missed out on third placed medals by just four seconds to Edinburgh Southern Harriers. Tommy ran on the sixth again where he was third quickest behind Binnie and Bannon but picked the team up from ninth to fifth. S McFadden had the fastest time on the final stage but could not quite get to the Edinburgh runner. There were some new faces in the West District Championships at Lenzie in 1954 with the race being won by Harry Fenion of Bellahouston from John McLaren of Shotts with Tommy in third place leading the team to bronze medals. Emmet Farrell forecast the finishing order for the Nation thus: 1. E Bannon; 2. J Stevenson (Greenock); 3. R Reid (Birchfield); 4. T Tracey; 5. J McGhee (Shettleston); 6. H Fenion (Bellahouston; 7. WA Robertson (ESH). In the actual race, Tommy Tracey was second individual with the team in fourth position, only eleven points down on third placed Edinburgh Southern Harriers. After the E-G, then this – again losing out to ESH by the smallest of margins. How close was the individual race? 1. Eddie Bannon 50:19; 2. Tommy Tracey 50:42; 3. Harry Fenion (Bellahouston) 50:49; 4. R Kane (VP) 50:50; 5. F McKenzie (Shettleston) 50:51. His fourth and final run in the IAAF Championships was in 1954 and he was placed fifty first.

In summer 1954 Tommy had some good races but did not compete in the National Championships. His best times were good ones: 9:23.3 for Two Miles at Helenvale on 16th June and 14:25.6 for Three Miles at Ibrox on 2nd April

2nd October 1954 was the official start to the winter season because that was when the McAndrew Relays were held. Shettleston defeated home club Victoria Park as winners and had three teams in the first five. Springburn was third team and Tom Tracey was fifth fastest, behind Bannon, Andy Brown, Fenion and Russell. The 1954 Midlands Relays were held at Stepps Stadium again and the Springburn lost third place by six seconds to Shettleston B with Shettleston A and Victoria Park in the first two slots. Tommy Tracey ran the last lap in the fifth fastest time of the day (16:46) behind Bannon, Andy Brown, Harry Fenion, and Jim Russell. The exact same order as in the McAndrew. Tommy was again on the long sixth stage of the E-G in 1954 and again he was third fastest – this time behind Binnie and Joe McGhee. The team had been eighth at the end of the first leg but thanks to good runs by McLean, A Stevenson, O’Reilly and Futon, Tommy took over in third and handed over in third – from third to third in third fastest time – and the team was third in the race! In the Springburn team for the Midlands of 1955, Tommy Tracey was only second counter for the club: first scoring runner was Peter McParland who had had a glittering career as a Junior and on this occasion finished sixth with Tommy twenty first and the team again third. In his preview of the National, Emmet Farrell said: “Tracey, Fenion and Binnie: In normal circumstances, Tom Tracey, Harry Fenion and Ian Binnie might appear racing certainties and even now they could make up the first nine but leg injuries have severely limited the training of Tracey and Fenion and they may find their task of finishing in the first 8 or 9 by no means an easy one but they have class and the knowledge of past success to sustain them. Binnie on the other hand has rarely shown up well on cross-country but Hamilton race course should be made to measure for him.” But 1955 was the second time in three years that he missed the National at Hamilton and the team was fifth, probably regretting the absence of their top man. There were no appearances at all in the top rankings that summer for Tom Tracey.

Tommy Tracey was in the Springburn Harriers C team for the McAndrew Relay on 1st October, 1955, but his time of 15:45 was faster than any of the runners in the A team and only fifteen seconds behind Gordon Nelson of Bellahouston who was fourth fastest. In the Lanarkshire Relays at Cambuslang he ran the first stage for the Springburn team that was third behind Shettleston A and B teams. In Stepps on 5th November 1955, the race for the Midland Relay Championship brought the club more medals. It was a much closer race than the previous year with Shettleston first in 56:16 and then Garscube 57:13, Springburn 57:29 and Bellahouston 57:42. Tommy was third fastest in 13:53 behind Bannon 13:46, Brown 13:51 and in front of Everett 13:57 and Nelson 13:58. In November, Tommy had the four thirds again! Still the man for the sixth stage he was third quickest behind Bannon and Binnie – and this time Tom Tracey was only one second slower than Binnie – he maintained third place and by the finish that’s where the club was. Despite this fine running, he was down to third club counter in the Midland District championship with another new face ahead of him: the first three scorers for the team were John McCormack in sixth, Peter McParland eleventh and Tommy Tracey in twentieth. The team was second with more new names – John McGale ( a friend of McCormack’s) twenty second, Eddie Sinclair thirty fifth and John Ballantyne forty fifth. March, 1956 was to be his last run in the National and it was his lowest finish of all – he was twenty seventh, eight places lower than his first run in the event.

In the Midlands Relays in 1956, Tommy ran the last stage for his club team of O’Reilly (15:10), Rooney (14:28), McCormack (14:08), and himself (14:24). The team was fourth, missing medals by only fourteen seconds. He ran Stage Two of the Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1956 but was clearly injured or out of sorts because he dropped from the third place handed to him to thirteenth. The club was tenth.

For Scottish endurance running, the period just after the War was a high spot. There were good committee men who had some drive – the Scottish Marathon Club is an example of that – and the standard of running, maybe in part caused by the level of fitness in the general population after the War, was very high. Victoria Park in the 50’s were Kings of the Road, Shettleston nearly Kings of Country, both being hotly pursued and not at all held in awe by Bellahouston Harriers, Springburn Harriers and many other clubs. For Tommy Tracey to maintain his position in open competition for as long as he did, is quite remarkable – look at the list of names he was competing against and then see his second and third places in the National for what they were. When I asked why the career was so short, the word was that his occupation as a painter did not help because of the constant exposure to paint fumes in sometimes very confined spaces and was possibly the cause of his lengthy absence in 1952-53. Whatever the reason, Scottish athletics was the poorer for the departure of Tom Tracey.

Trudi Thomson was born on 18th January 1959 and first appears in the Scottish Ranking lists in 1992 when she was in her thirties.  The following year she had no fewer than six marks registered including two in the number one slot.   The distances range from the half marathon to the 24 hours race in Brechin.    Prior to that she had not appeared in any fixture list so the question right at the start has to be about how she arrived on the scene.    The story as told by one coach is that she worked as a postie (a wee clue to the basic fitness?) but was also a smoker and drinker who one day saw some women running.   She thought she was ‘fat’ into the bargain, so she just decided to start running.   She ran morning, noon and night and her career led her to race all over Britain, Europe and the world with races at Valladolid, South Africa, Japan and even Pyongyang in North Korea.    She last appeared in the rankings list as a Vet45 in 2005 with nine time over four events.    She has been described by other runners as “very slim, “very attractive”, “easy to talk to” and was clearly popular with fellow athletes.   So – where did it all start?

The Ultralegends website tells us that she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis – which may tell us something about why she stopped running – and that she took up jogging at the age of 31 ‘when her 5 ft 4 in frame topped 13 stone’.   In 1992 Trudi’s single appearance in the ranking lists was with a time of 3:05:43 – nine seconds in front of Leslie Watson – which placed her eighth in Scotland for the event.    Maybe more important is that in spite of the rather slow time, it was for winning the Black Isle Marathon.   She also won the SWAAA Marathon Championship for the first time in 3:14:30 when it was held in Elgin.  This was the furthest north the championship  had ever been held: starting and finishing in Elgin’s Cooper Park followed a series of quiet roads past Burghead and Lossiemouth.   She raced a lot and was known for being a serious trainer who normally trained twice a day: she is also known as an ultra distance runner and in 1992 she also won the Two Bridges 36 mile classic in 4:48:51 and was to go on and win it in ’93 and ’94 as well.    The work was paying off and in 1993 her appearances in the Scottish Rankings were as follows.

These were not of course her only races that year but one website indicates that she ran another 100K race in 1993 – at Eltham where she finished second in 8:36:53.    Selected for the British team for the World 100K Championships at Torhout, she was a member of the team which won silver medals and, as already indicated, won the Two Bridges for the second time – this time clocking 4:36:37.   She was being recognised as a world class ultra runner and an international marathon runner  but from here on in, she began to appear in the rankings for shorter races on the track as well as shorter road races.

Trudi ran the Lochaber Marathon in April 1994 and ran 2:52:12.  Later in the year, on 5th June, a report on the Dunfermline Half Marathon (which incorporated the five nations home countries international) contained the following: “Trudi Thomson of Pitreavie AAC emerged as the star home performer.    The 35 year old mother of three girls finished fourth (81:10) ten seconds clear of her nearest Scottish rival, Elaine MacKay of Shettleston.   The winner was Lesley Turner of England (79:02).    Thomson, who has already won the Scottish veteran cross country and marathon titles this year, thought that she had won a further two titles, her first open national championship, as well as the national veteran crown, and was stunned to be given only the winner’s medal for the latter since the National medals were given controversially to the English runners.   She displays an amazing appetite, having finished third in the UK Inter County 20 miles championship at Corby only six days earlier.   And only last month she placed fifth in the Two Oceans (Indian to Atlantic) 35 mile race in Cape Town.   A fortnight on Sunday she represents Great Britain in the World 100 kilometre championships at Lake Saroma in Japan.”    Both early events were maybe significant in her preparations for the big one.

She did indeed travel to Japan where she finished second individual in the 100K world championships in the wonderful time of 7:42:17 which is still the Scottish and British record for the distance.  Adrian Stott says “ Trudi Thomson of Pitreavie, having established herself as one of Britain’s best, had the race of her life to take the silver medal at the World 100K championships in Saroma, Japan.   She recorded 7 hours 42 minutes and 17 seconds  which still stands as the current Scottish record and third on the UK all-time list.”   She also won her third Two Bridges 36 Miles in a much faster time than before – 4:06:45 which is still the course record for this event which has sadly been discontinued..    The Edinburgh to North Berwick 22.6 miles road race was also won in a course record of 2:15:31.   Her top times of the year appear below.

It will be noted that not only has she more short fast races in her armoury, she has improved at almost every distance run by a fair margin – ten minutes from the marathon, two and a half from the half marathon, 30 minutes from the 100K .  *The actual distance of the 50K race in South Africa was reported to be 56 miles as no split was taken during the race!   It only makes the time more remarkable.   This mix of relatively short fast races mixed with her marathon and ultramarathon racing was to become a feature of her career.   The other feature to be noted here is the determination to travel in search of the appropriate races, no matter how far.   Cape Town was in April, Japan in June and Dublin in October.

She also officially became a veteran runner and her times are also ranked in the V35 category. At the end of her outstandingly successful 1994 season, ‘Runners World’ magazine named Trudi Thomson ‘Veteran Woman Runner of the Year’.  A wee diversion: although Trudi is better known as a road runner she is also an excellent country racer and this is perhaps best seen in her superb record as a veteran after 1994 when she was overall winner, regardless of age category, five times in seven years – the record is 1994 – 1st;   1995 – 1st;   1996 – DNR;   1997 – 1st;   1998 – 4th;   1999 – 1st;   2000 – 1st;   2001 – DNR;   2002 – 2nd.   She had not run in the National Cross Country often as a Senior – I can only find four runs in the National – but when she did, she ran well: 12th in 1994, 13th in 1995, 5th in 1999 and 4th in 2000.   But back to the main story.

In 1995 the statistics continued to improve.   The road 10K dropped to 34:59 in Coventry, almost a minute and a half from the half marathon to 74:48 at Montbeliard in France and five minutes from the marathon with 2:38:23 in Dublin for a time which was to remain her personal best and place her fourteenth on the Scottish all-time list.   Trudi was selected to represent Britain in the World Championship in Gothenburgh where she finished 22nd, three places behind Fatuma Roba who had won the Olympic Marathon in Atlanta.    Still improving, still travelling to get the races she needed.

In 1996 she returned to Cape Town for the 50K race and again it was over 56 miles with no split taken and she was a bit slower this time – 3:58:46 to 3:56:28 but she was third this time, two places higher.      It was reported in the ‘Herald’ by Doug Gillon under the headline “Thomson foiled by late attack”.      The relevant passages read as follows –

Scotland’s Trudi Thomson ran an impressive race in blustery conditions to finish third in Saturday’s 35 Mile Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town.   After lying second for the first half, the Dunfermline mother-of-three caught the early leader, Cape-based Jowaine Parrott, on the two mile climb to Chapman’s Peak (590Ft) but Parrott held the pace on the long downhill and continued in front as they passed the 25 mile  point.   Again Thomson used the hill and this time passed Parrott.   Although she led the field through the 30 mile mark at the top of Constantia in a time of 3:15:43, she was soon overtaken by German Maria Bak, who excelled on the hills.   The German had been content to stay in fourth place for the first half, before unleashing a surge that saw her go through 50K  in 3:22:56 which opened 27 seconds on Thomson in less than a mile.   Bak crossed the line in 3:45:16.   Parrott used the final three miles downhill to recapture second place from Thomson and finish runner-up for the third successive time in 3:47:07.   The Scot finished 1 minute and 39 seconds later .

“I really felt motivated when they played ‘The Flower of Scotland’ at the start and I saw the piper and the flags along the route,” said Thomson,”I was right on schedule for most of the race, but I don’t remember the downhills being so long when I last ran here in 1994.   Although I ran well on the uphills my legs were sore and didn’t respond when I tried to stay with Jowaine.   I am quite disappointed, I came here looking for a win.”   Despite this the record will show that her time would have won every event in 1990 and her times through 30 miles and 50-kilometres are likely to be ratified as Scottish and UK bests.     Result:   1.   M Bak   3:45:16; 2.   J Parrott   3:47:07; 3.   T Thomson 3:48:46.

Although it was run early in the season – in April – Trudi had already run a marathon in Las Vegas in February where she recorded 2:44:39.   Other notable times that year were a personal best for 5000m on the track at Coatbridge where she ran 17:43.4.   A 10,000 in 35:00 in July was followed, also in July with  74:34 for the half marathon in Helensburgh and in October 10 miles were covered in Portsmouth in 58:05.   The half marathon time was to remain as her personal best.

She seemed to like Cape Town because she was back there in 1997 finishing fourth this time in 3:51:02.    Otherwise it was a relatively quiet year – winning the Inverness half marathon in 75:18, 35:00 for the 10K at Strathclyde Park a week later, Cape Town in March and then twenty eighth in the London Marathon in April in a time of 2:41:45.   There were two trips to Ireland in 1998 – Newry in September  for 10 miles in 57:04 and Dublin for the marathon in October where she ran 2:52:19 for fourth place.   Two second places in good times were her only other ranking performances that year – 3000 metres on the track at Coatbridge in 10:27.26 and 10K on the road in Perth in 36:12.

Becoming a veteran V40 in 1999 seemed to suit her because Trudi appeared in no fewer than eight different lists from 3000 metres to the marathon.   Off road she ran in the World Mountain Trial, finished third behind Tracy Brindley and Sheila Armitage and was selected for the Championship which was in Mount Kinabalu Park in Borneo where she was  twenty second and second Scott in the team which finished fifth.  It was a very good year all round for her, in November she won the V40 British International Championship at at Grenville College, Bideford.   Apart from Trudi, only five Scots have won this title, the others being Christine Price, Lynn Harding, Janette Stevenson (an amazing four times!), Sue Ridley and Jane Waterhouse.      The local Press announced that she was first Vet in the Dublin race  And again off road she went to the English CAU Inter-Counties representing Scotland East and finished thirteenth to be second Scottish finisher, Angie Mudge being the first.  If you look closely at the table below you will see that in her first year as a V40 she set three  personal best times – for the  road Mile, 5K and 10K on the road – and all at the bottom end of her distance range.

In 2000 although there were no personal bests there were many fast times and she raced outwith Scotland on at least seven occasions of her ten best times of the year.   Her best 10K was when she won at Grangemouth in February in 34:53 and at ten miles she recorded 56:22 in Ballycotton when placing second.   Her four top half marathons were in Valladolid (May: 78:16), Bristol (Oct: 87:19), Glasgow (Aug: 78:29) and Glenrothes (79:00)   The Valladolid race was at the World Masters – Non-Stadia – Championships where she won the V40 race.   She had four marathons listed too, these were in London (April: 2:40:40), Stockholm (June: 2:45:35), Dublin (Oct: 2:49:37) and Dubai (Jan: 2:50:37).     These were all first class times and the distances that she travelled in search of the times were huge.   Clearly her appetite for new challenges had not diminished.

This is emphasised by her racing the following year (2001) when she started with a trip to The Hague for a half marathon in March finishing tenth in 77:40 – the time placed her second in Scotland.   A month later she had a marathon in 2:41:49 in North Korea in which she finished fourteenth.   The heavily politicised account of the race put out by the organisers began with the paragraph: “15 April 2001 – Pyongyang – At least 200,000 North Koreans wildly cheered 51 foreign runners allowed to compete in the groundbreaking Pyongyang International Marathon on Sunday, but they could not beat the best from the communist nation.”    For the women’s event it read “Chong Yong Ok won the women’s race in a course record of 2 hrs 28 min 36 sec, more than two and a half minutes faster than the previous best.   North Korean women took all top ten positions…….. In the women’s race Banuelia Mrashini of Tanzania and Trudi Thomson, a member of Scotland’s Commonwealth Games squad, were the only two foreigners in the top fifteen.”   An excellent result in what was essentially hostile territory, have a look at these quotes from the same article.   The race was one of the centrepiece events for the birthday of the North’s late founding leader Kim Il Sung.    There were 70,000 people in the packed Kim Il-Sung Stadium.   And the 500 runners raced past lines of Pyongyang citizens along the streets, playing traditional music and queueing for specially rationed food for the main holiday of the year.   Kim Jong On, the winner who won $3000 said, “I have trained every day for this race under the guidance of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung and I am now determined to bring glory to my country at the World Championships in August.”    Again the time placed her second in Scotland.   A time of 2:50:28 gave her fifth place in Dublin and when the Scottish Marathon Championship returned to Elgin that year, she returned to win it for the second time nine years after her first success in 1992 with a time of 2:49:33.   Her support for the national championship is noted at a time when the top women marathon runners were avoiding them like the plague.  Other notable times that year included 59:48 for 10 Miles at Portsmouth and 10K in 35:31 in Alexandria.

Trudi on the right with the Royal Mail Letters Team that won the Corporate Challenge in Park Avenue, New York, in 2003

In 2003 Trudi ran three marathons – winning in Belfast in 2:45:48 and in Inverness in 2:50:03, and finishing eighth in Beirut (Lebanon) in 2:50:53.   10K in 35:42 and 10 Miles in 56:11 almost completed her best times – but there was a 3000 metres on the track in the Women’s League in 10:40.36 to show that she had not lost any speed.   In 2004, her final year as a V40, she recorded 3:00:31 for the marathon in Mumbai, India, 83:10 for the Half Marathon at Morpeth and 37:00 for the 10K at Halhill.   Just as she seemed to have a new lease of life when she moved up an age category at 40, so when she moved into the V45 category in 2005 there were nine entries in the ranking lists.

These were all near home, no foreign trips that produced good times and all relatively short distances for an athlete who had performed so well at the very top levels as a marathon and ultra distance runner.

Although she continued to run at local level Trudi does not appear in any national rankings thereafter.    Her reputation remains such that in an article in 2009 on the Sri Chinmoy website, Adrian Stott says in reply to the question “Can women excel at Ultra-Distances?”  –    “Certainly, Pitreavie’s Trudi Thomson ran successfully for GB at 100K earning a silver medal at the ’95 World 100K event.   Like Ritchie and Pride she trained fairly methodically with good results, also representing GB at the marathon”    A little known fact about Trudi’s career is the link with Scottish steeplechase great John Linaker.   John advised and coached Trudi for a spell and was largely responsible for her improvement in the marathon and Two Bridges races.   An over 50 veteran capable of 2:40 for the marathon himself, he trained with her a lot.

We have concentrated here on the principal races of her career but of course Trudi has been a prolific racer at home as well as abroad with her name appearing at events all over the country: the Portobello Promethon, the Round the Castles series, the Polaroid 10K series, the Sandy Slither and Chariots of Fire beach races in Fife and so on.   She was never one of the ‘precious’ athletes who restrict their racing at home or who limit themselves to a  particular distance or surface – her cross country talents have been mentioned as has her mountain running ability.  She always represented Scotland well and we can all be justly proud of what she has done.

“Oh, Yes, one other thing,” as Columbo might say,” Trudi is the only woman ever to have run in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay!”    It was in 1998 and she ran the fourth stage.   Unique in Scottish athletics!

Steve Taylor and Fergus Murray share the lead, 1961

Given that our running days overlapped for quite a number of years, I should really have known more about this remarkable runner than I do.    There are some moments that spring to mind such as the time several of us went in Jimmy Scott’s minibus to run in the Brechin Rights of Way race and on the way up sorted out in our own wee heads who the first three or four would be.   Then into the room where the entries were being taken strode Steve Taylor, Dennis Whiting and another AAAC runner and the ball was up on the slates.   First three places gone with the wind!   Anyway the following account of – and tribute to – Steve’s running career has been written by his friend and team-mate Colin Youngson.

Stephen Taylor (universally known as Steve) is an Aberdeen AAC legend.   Perhaps he is best known as Alastair Wood’s most important training partner and friend; but there is a lot more to Steve’s impressive athletics career than that.   As well as being a very talented elegant runner, he had considerable success over many years at distances ranging from one mile to thirty!   In addition he was fantastically strong in training: and a captain who truly led by example when his beloved distance-running club proved to everyone that it was one of Britain’s very best.

Steve (born 17/3/1938) started running while with the RAF in the 1950’s.   Steve writes that “Frank Seal was hugely influential and a hard task-master to boot.   On not a few occasions in the summer he would drag me off to Sports Day to do 4 x 880 yards in about 2 minutes – and on a grass track.   Testament to these efforts was a dramatic reduction in my mile time.   At the start of my first RAF Track Championships, between the heats and the final I reduced my mile time from around 4:27 to 4:15, not far off the best performances in the Junior rankings at that time.”

During his time in the RAF Steve was also guided by Ian Boyd (Oxford University Blue half-miler, miler and cross-country runner and a 1954 Empire Games bronze medallist (880 yards), as well as GB athletics Team Captain at the Melbourne Olympics and later President of the New Zealand AAA).   Steve remembers training at Henslow in cold weather with “this frail RAF officer and not being particularly impressed.   Then as spring approached he stripped off his top layer to reveal a British tracksuit bearing the legend ‘GB & NI Olympic Games Melbourne.’   A more modest and unassuming person I have never met, as never once did he mention what he had achieved.”

During his best racing years, Steve was advised by his long-term coach, the great Gordon Pirie (world record-holder for 3000m and 5000m and Olympic silver medallist at Melbourne).   He also met Alastair Wood, born in Elgin, an Aberdeen University and later Oxford University Blue at both athletics and cross-country, a GB International runner and one of the most charismatic and outspoken characters anyone could hope to meet.   During his RAF career, Steve represented the Services in most of their major cross-country races, most notably the annual fixture against the Midland Counties and the Universities Athletic Union which featured several English CC Internationalists, including Ron Hill and Bruce Tulloh (who also ran once for Scotland).

After leaving the RAF, Steve returned to Aberdeen and became a member if the fledgling Aberdeen AAC.    As he states in his book: “We Have To Catch The Ferry”, which is a personal reminiscence about AAAC mainly in the 1960’s, their first notable win was in 1959 when they won the East of Scotland Cross-Country Relay Championships, pipping holders Edinburgh Southern Harriers.   That summer in the SAAA Championships, Steve Taylor won a bronze medal in the One Mile,  behind Scotland’s finest miler Graham Everett.   A somewhat unusual but very popular competition at the time, sponsored by the ‘Athletics Weekly’ was the two-man, ten-mile track relay or paarlauf (which entailed each runner completing 40 x 220 yards with a minimum of rest, often just a jog across the middle of the track).   John Gray and Steve Taylor finished second in the British rankings, beaten only by the Portsmouth duo of Bruce Tulloh and Martin Hyman, both of whom became very important and very successful athletes.   Remote the city might be, but Aberdeen runners refused to be undervalued.

Despite being best known initially as a middle-distance runner, Steve Taylor made quite a mark in Scottish cross-country circles.   Aberdeen AAC usually managed to win the North-East Cross-Country League (with Steve himself being a frequent victor).   In 1961 Steve Taylor, the race winner, led his team to success in the annual Carry Trophy event between the selects from the cities of Aberdeen and Dundee.   That was the year when Steve finished second to Adrian Jackson in the East Districts Cross-Country Championships; and in 1962 he was second once more behind his new team-mate Alastair Wood, who had switched from Shettleston Harriers.   Eventually in 1967 Aberdeen AAC  succeeded in winning the East District team contest and Steve was fourth counter.

Wood and Taylor had actually had been training together since summer 1960, when the former moved to Aberdeen and took up a teaching post.   Their running partnership not only led to great success for both individuals, but also inspired many Aberdeen runners for considerably more than 20 years.

In the National, contested over nine exhausting miles at Hamilton Racecourse, he had a succession of good placings:   1960: 7th in his first season as a senior; 1961 – 4th; 1962 – 4th; 1963 – 6th; 1964 – 7th; 1965 – 9th.   Aberdeen AAC’s best team placing  was second, not only in 1962 but also in 1964 and 1965 – a remarkable feat for a club with only a handful of dedicated athletes.   Steve himself represented Scotland in the International Cross-Country Championships three times in a row (1960-62) at Hamilton, Nantes and Sheffield, respectively; and only a bout of ‘flu in 1963 stopped him participating once more.   Steve’s best run in the International was 35th (3rd Scot) in 1962.   In 1968 he was 18th in the National, and fifth counter in a valiant  AAAC team which only lost by one frustrating point in a classic encounter with the brilliant Edinburgh University outfit which was completing a third successive National triumph.

                                                           Steve Taylor’s three ICCU memento badges: left to right 1960, 1961 and 1962

                                                                               Steve’s Scottish International Cross-Country vest badge

In the 1960 Edinburgh – Glasgow Relay, Steve ran particularly well to move AAAC up six places on the long Sixth Stage (achieving a fastest time only 24 seconds slower than Scottish distance running legend Ian Binnie’s record).   Steve’s club held on to that position, finished sixth and were awarded the medals for the most meritorious performance in the race.   Steve Taylor’s longevity and consistency is evident from the fact that he took part in this wonderful event every year  from 1960 to 75 apart from 1973.   He ran for Aberdeen University in 1974; but AAAC on every other occasion.    Another fine individual performance was fastest time on the Fifth Stage in 1967.   Aberdeen AAC’s best positions were: 3rd in 1963; 2nd= in 1967 and 2nd in 1968 and 1972.   The club finally won three times in the 1980’s but Steve’s team mates included luminaries such as Alastair Wood, Mel Edwards, Bill Ewing, Sandy Keith, Rab Heron, Don Ritchie and Graham Laing, not to mention Peter and his even-more-famous brother Ian Stewart (from that little known suburb of Aberdeen called Birmingham) whose untouchable 1972 record in an Aberdeen vest on the second Stage must have been the most marvellous performance in the illustrious history of the event!

Steve Taylor’s best performances were frequently on the track.   In 1960 he won the East District mile title, as well as the subsequent Inter-District mile in Glasgow.   In that year’s SAAA championship he improved to second in 4:10.4, one of the fastest times recorded by a Scot at that time.   In the Invitation International Mile at the prestigious Rangers Sports at Ibrox Stadium , Steve represented Scotland, along with Graham Everett.   They faced an elite field of Olympic contenders including former world mile record holder Derek Ibbotson and Laszlo Tabori of Hungary.   Steve agreed to make the pace and there is a colour photograph of him doing so.   He took the field through 880 yards on schedule.   Tabori won in 4:01.1 with Steve eventually finishing in 4:10 once more.

Dennis Whiting to Steve Taylor in the North Inch Relays, 1961.   Graham Everett of Shettleston is in the background

In 1961, having won both the mile and three miles in the East of Scotland Championships, establishing a championship record in the longer event, Steve Taylor went on to defeat his team-mate Alastair Wood to win the SAAA Three Miles title – his first National gold medal.   Aberdeen AAC’s four-man team was a very good fourth from the twenty clubs invited to the Inter-Club Three Miles event at the Vaux International meeting at Gateshead.   This was enhanced by the presence of the famous coach Arthur Lydiard and his Olympic champions Peter Snell and Murray Halberg.   Steve enjoyed the thrill of an early Sunday morning run with the 5000 metres champion Halberg, a most self-effacing man who overcame the effects of polio as a child to become truly a legend in his lifetime.   Then Steve Taylor ran for Scotland against Ireland and Wales in the Triangular International in Cardiff.   He finished a close second to Welshman Dave Richards, who set a Native record of 13:48 in front of Steve’s personal best 13:51.   In the Edinburgh Highland Games at Murrayfield Stadium, in the Two Miles, the Aberdeen pairing of Wood and Taylor finished 1-2 for a Scotland  Select versus a West German Select.

Having retained his East District Three Mile title, edging out Alastair Wood and setting another Championship record in the 1962 SAAA Championships   Steve Taylor not only improved his personal best to 4:09.5 for the Mile but also retained his Three Miles Scottish title, winning by over 100 yards.   He was very unlucky not to be selected for the Empire Games in Perth, Australia.   However Steve did run the Three Miles for Scotland against Ireland in Belfast, the Two Miles against Holland, where Steve and John Linaker finished 1-2, and representing ‘Edinburgh’, the Two Miles against ‘Munich’ at the Edinburgh Highland Games where Steve and John achieved another 1-2.

In 1964 Steve Taylor won bronze in the SAAA Six Miles won by that year’s Olympic 10000 metres runner Fergus Murray.   Then in 1965 it was silver in the SAAA Three Mile for Steve behind future Commonwealth 10000 metres gold medallist Lachie Stewart.

I must have met Steve in 1966 and until the early 1970’s as well as being very impressed by his training speed on Sundays, I trailed in behind him in many cross-country events and several track races, not only in championships but also on the grass at King’s College and the Huntly Highland Games.   In 1969 at the Forres Highland Games, Steve (who was brought up at Kintessack only three miles away) was retaining his North of Scotland 3000 metres title while I was plodding through my debut marathon in 2:41:13 to finish third about 14 minutes behind AJ Wood.   However Steve’s focus was beginning to switch to really long-distance racing.

The infamous Sunday Run – undoubtedly the key session in the ‘Aberdeen Training School’ began in the early 1960’s.  In his book, Steve asserts that these were not as lightning fast as legend insists.   However I would disagree, having first tried them out when I could barely handle six miles, as a callow and probably hung-over ‘Fresher’ at Aberdeen University.   The group met at Ally Wood’s house in Cairnaquheen Gardens.   Just round the corner was King’s Gate, a very steep hill followed by a roundabout and a slight rise to the gates of Hazlehead Park, then along to the bus terminus, followed by a half circuit of the pony track, a long stretch of rustic road, fun and games in the forest trails and an arduous bash on the roads back to the city, finishing with a two-mile sprint in from Cults, plus another mile or two warming down, pretending not to be knackered.   13 to 15 miles – and quite far enough.   In the early days, I could be off the back by the roundabout!   It really was a de’il-tak-the-hinmost!   The fitter you got the longer you could hang on.   Ally tended to motivate by ignoring you, then insulting you and finally by saying nothing.   Steve by contrast was always encouraging, but seemed to reserve Sundays for a demonstration of astonishingly relaxed speed and stamina, despite insisting that he had retired from serious running in 1966!   He made even Mr Wood suffer more often than that gentleman cared to admit.   Even in the 1970’s when I could often beat Steve and Ally in races, they could run away from me if I dared to visit my home city on Sunday mornings!

As early as New Year’s Eve 1960, Steve Taylor showed real potential in a long road race – the famous Morpeth to Newcastle.   Having arrived late and started at the back of the 120 strong field, in the closing stages he was ten yards in the lead before losing valuable seconds due to his unfamiliarity with a ‘quirky’ finish to end up in a still very good fourth place, behind the winner Laurie Sykes and   Olympic marathon runners Arthur Keily and Brian Kilby.   Then in 1964 he was a close third behind Alastair Wood in the 13.5 mile road race at the Athol and Breadalbane Agricultural Show when the course record was smashed by two and a half minutes.

One of the finest performances by Alastair Wood and Steve Taylor took place on 13th December 1969: an attack on the World 40 Mile track record held by New Zealand’s Jeff Julian.   In Steve’s book he says that it was very appropriate that it should be Alastair and himself, “whose friendship and rivalry had up until then extended over a period of some 15 years who were to be the main players in bringing success to Aberdeen AAC in the sport of ultra-distance racing.   Alastair was buoyed up by his record breaking win in the 36 Miles Two Bridges race in August.   On a bitterly cold  mid-December day with a strong cross-wind blowing, the conditions at Pitreavie, Dunfermline were far from ideal.   Delayed for an hour because of the frozen state of the track, the race finally got under way at 12 noon.”   There were only two other competitors: Phil Hampton, a well-known English ultra specialist who later broke the World 50 Mile record; and Shettleston’s Willie Russell who had several good runs in the Two Bridges.   “With the quality of the opposition unknown, the two Aberdeen athletes had decided on  a ‘fall back’ strategy should the pace fall away in the early stages.   Steve Taylor would make the pace for as long as his less-than-ideal preparation of 40 miles per week schedule would permit.   The two had also agreed that in the likely event of Scottish records falling during the run, these would be shared.   By around 15 miles the Aberdeen pair were clear of the other runners and Steve Taylor took on the task of shielding his club-mate from the troublesome wind which he did up to the 30.25 mile mark, before retiring from the race as he was no longer capable of maintaining world record schedule.   (The marathon distance was passed in 2:29:21).   Despite running solo over the remaining 9.75 miles Alastair Wood brought the club its first World Record in the gathering gloom with a time of 3:49:49, some three minutes forty five seconds inside the New Zealander’s previous record.    At 30 Kilometres, 20 miles and two hours both Scottish and All-Comers Records had been broken, the latter having stood for 36 years.  These achievements placed them in the World All-Time Rankings ahead of, among others, running legends Emil Zatopek and Gordon Pirie, Steve’s long-time coach and thus completed a memorable day for the club.”

Steve Taylor and Alastair Wood in the early stages of the 40 miles track race – Phil Hampton in front and Willie Russell at the back

The ‘Press and Journal’ article asserts that this was the greatest run of Alastair Wood’s career (although there are several other candidates!) and that he “got plenty of assistance from Aberdeen AAC club-mate Steve Taylor, who did the brunt of the pacemaking and sheltered Wood from the gusty wind for 30 miles.”   A footnote adds “despite his experience on Saturday, Taylor was out on the road training the next day as usual.   Wood however was troubled by a bruised foot.”

In 1970 Steve Taylor won his third Scottish track title: this time the 10 Miles event on the cinder track at Scotstoun, Glasgow.   His time was a good 49:53 with his team-mate Donald Ritchie a minute behind in second place.   Then in 1971 Steve at long last investigated his ability to run a marathon.   On 8th May he won his first one, the Shettleston Marathon in 2:23:25, just six seconds in front of Donald Ritchie again.   On 13th June in the European Championships trial – Manchester’s Maxol Marathon (the ‘London’ of its day in terms of sheer quality at the front) he broke the 2:20 barrier to record 2:19:28 for 17th place, one in front of the following year’s Olympian Donald Macgregor.   If only Steve had tried this distance a few years earlier who knows what he might have done!   Steve also came 5th in the SAAA 10000 metres and fifth in the SAAA 10000 metres, and fifth (11 miles 1603 yards with Alastair 22 yards in front  and Donald Ritchie another 57 yards in front of him!) in a one hour event at Meadowbank which was won in a Scottish National and Native Record (12 miles 616 yards) by Jim Alder from Pat Maclagan (12 miles 400 yards).    However Steve did beat Jim Wight  and Bill Stoddart, the 1970 Scottish marathon champion.

In 1972 Steve took part in another long-distance track race at Walton in Surrey.   This was a 20 miles event won by Jim Alder in 1:40:50 ( a Scottish National Record) with Steve being timed at 1:45:40 some distance in front of Donald Ritchie.   A good result in 1973 was second (2:23:17) to his flying club-mate Rab Heron (2:17:07) in the Edinburgh to North Berwick Marathon.   However Steve badly injured a heel in this race and consequently retired from long-distance road running.

Steve remains a good friend of mine, a sensitive, enthusiastic man with wide interests.   My memories of him include youthful ones of sheer awe at his talent and dedication.   In addition I was horribly impressed with him in the 1973 John O’Groats to Land’s End Relaywhen he was team captain.   This was Aberdeen AAC’s second attempt.   We had missed the record by half a frustrating hour the previous year; but this year despite having a weaker team we made no mistake and beat it by half an hour.   The whole idea had been Steve’s and he had driven both events, arranging sponsors, organising , and – that word again – encouraging us all.   I was lucky/unlucky to be paired with him.   At the time I could usually beat him in races.   However before we were halfway to the finish, I was struggling to match him for stamina, and often uncomplaining he did more than his share of our two-hour stints.   His quiet steely example motivated us all to succeed.

Steve Taylor continued to train, and occasionally race, for many years thereafter.   As I explained he was always a hard man to keep up with on Sundays!   Eventually he retired to Aberlour in Speyside and particularly enjoys striding out on long-distance walking trails.   His usual companion these days is another sporting former pupil of Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon’s College, the ex-European champion swimmer Ian Black.

It really is some story of a man too little known in Scottish athletics with championships and international vests littered all the way through it and we owe a debt to Colin for bringing this remarkable man’s achievements to the wider athletics community.    All pictures here are from Steve’s book – “We Have to Catch the Ferry.”

Steve had a wonderful career with success on many surfaces and at many distances.   His success can to an extent by having a look at his Trophies and medals.   We are indeed fortunate to be able to show them to you.   Just click on this link:   Steve Taylor’s Trophies and Medals.

Steve training was also influenced by Gordon Pirie and he has kept the correspondence from which he has allowed us to publish some of the letters.   Colin Youngson wrote it up and it can be found here.   Steve has let us show some of his own photographs and programmes on the website and you can see them at this link

A tribute to Steve by Fraser Clyne can be found by clicking on his name.

Ian Stewart wins the Commonwealth Games 5000m in 1970 from Ian McCafferty

The tale is told of a young Ian Stewart being defeated by the experienced German Harald Norpoth after a really hard battle after which they were both totally drained; Lying on the ground Ian saw a TV cameraman passing and called him across.   Looking into the camera he is quoted as saying something like “That was bloody hard Harald and you won this time but I’m telling you now, you can expect more of the same every time you come up against me!”   This  illustrates his reputation a a hard opponent – the word ‘gritty’ is used (mainly by the London Press it has to be said), the tabloids called him ‘The Sandpaper Kid’ at one time but the title was too long to stick, but he was surely one of the toughest endurance runners that Britain ever produced.

Ian Stewart was born in Birmingham of Scottish parents on 15th January 1949.   He became involved in athletics as a teenager and joined Birchfield Harriers where he was coached by Geoff Warr.   He was a famously hard worker and early on he won the English Midlands Youth cross-country title in 1966 and both Midlands and National titles as a Junior in 1968.   At the age of 16 he set a UK age-best for 2 Miles of 9:12.8.   In 1968, his final year as a Junior, he set European Junior records of 8:01.2 for 3000m, 8:35.32 for 2 Miles, 13:28.4 for 3 Miles and 13:53.32 for 5000m.    Clearly he was an athlete of talent and as a Senior in 1969 he won not one but two European Championships:   indoors in Belgrade he won the 3000m in 7:55.4 and in Athens later in the year he won the 5000m in 13:44.8 where his last lap was 56.6 to destroy the field.   He also had his first real head-to-head with a man who would be a regular opponent over the years to come – Ian McCafferty of Motherwell.   They met in the Invitation Mile at Reading on 11th June.   The pace-maker took them through the lap in 58.1 and the half mile in 1:58.9.   McCafferty went in front at that point and a mere 220 yards further on Stewart went to the front.   With 220 to go, McCafferty took the pace again and held on to win in 3:56.8 and Ian Stewart was second in 3:57.3 with brother Peter third 3:58.7.  

      The famous Sub-4 mile at Reading in 1968: Ian Stewart (1) with Peter’s face showing behind, Ian McCafferty (5), Hugh Barrow (26)

Later in 1968, on 1st September, Ian Stewart ran 3:39.0 in a GB v France at Reading – the time was a British record.  In 1970 he declared that he would henceforth compete for Scotland, his parents’ country – it is interesting to note that his brother Peter who is better remembered as a 1500.Mile runner was actually born in their parents’ home town of Musselburgh.   Doubt has been expressed about Ian’s Scottish qualifications but Colin Youngson from Aberdeen explains it as follows.   The father of Carol, Ian, Peter and Mary Stewart was a Scot from Musselburgh and Peter was actually born there.   This was the reason that Ian chose to run for Scotland although Peter and Mary ran for England despite Mary winning the Scottish Under 17 cross-country title.   Peter chose to run for Scotland after Ian did and both ran for Scotland at the 1970 Games.   A friend of the Stewarts at Birchfield Harriers in Birmingham was Tom McCook who later married Carol Stewart.   Tom came from Inverness and had been a promising runner for Inverness Harriers at cross-country.   Tom had been a second-claim member of Aberdeen AAC.   When Ian was looking for a Scottish club in 1970, Tom recommended Aberdeen AAC.   Peter ran for them in the Scottish National Cross-Country Championship in 1968 when they finished second team to Edinburgh University by a single point.   Then in that year’s prestigious Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay, both Peter and Ian ran for the AAAC which again finished second.   In 1972, Ian took part again setting a fantastic new record on the classy second stage which still exists.   Finally Ian ran in the 1973 Aberdeen team that finished third in the E-G and so did Tom McCook.   Nowadays Tom McCook is President of Birchfield Harriers, one of England’s most famous athletic clubs.   Since 2008, Ian has been the successful European coach for such runners as Mo Farah”. 

 Both were to take part with distinction in the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1970.

His first race in Scotland had been at the SAAA Championships on 6th June at Meadowbank where the Games would be held.   On that day he won the 5000 metres from Lachie Stewart (no relation) in a Championship record time of 13:47.8.  Brother Peter won the 1500 metres from Ian McCafferty on the same day but just one week later at the same venue, Ian won the family duel in the Emsley Carr Mile with 3:57.4 being the time allocated to them both.   Ian McCafferty was second to Dick Taylor in the 5000 metres with 13:29.6 making him the second Briton to run under thirteen and a half minutes for the 5000m.   The build-up to the 5000 metres continued.    The Games had started with a great win for Scotland in the first Final of the Games when Lachie Stewart defeated Ron Clarke and Dick Taylor in a very good race which set the tone for the Games.    Lachie was also in the Final of the 5000 metres on the last day of the Games along with Ian Stewart and Ian McCafferty.    Dick Taylor of England drove the pace on until with 800 to go Ian McCafferty took over and upped the pace.   Only 200 yards later Stewart went to the front and kept there although McCafferty had another go at him over the last 200 metres – he even looked like catching him at the start of the finishing but Stewart’s famous determination kept him in front to win by less than half a second in 13:22.85.   Keino was third.   The Scots times (McCafferty was 13:23.4) put them second and third on the all-time list and gave Stewart new European, UK and Scottish National records and McCafferty had a Scottish native record.   Ian was later reported as saying of the race, “That has got to be regarded as a highlight.   I couldn’t hear the lap times because of the noise the crowd was making and so I was surprised the time was so fast.   When we came up to the bell, I just kicked and tried to make Keino run wide.   If people wondered why I ran for Scotland, that was it.”

After 1970, 1971 was a bit of an anti-climax.   Stewart was ill for most of the year which he had started with a UK All-Comers’ best of 7:50.0 when winning the AAA Indoor 3000m Championship.   1972 however was Olympic year and both men were determined to go and determined to pick up medals.   The ‘trial’ from which the team would be selected was the AAA 5000m Championship at Crystal Palace on 15th July.   David Bedford knocked the idea of a trial out of the window when he just ran away from the field to win as he liked in 13:17.2.   McCafferty pulled away from Stewart with three laps to go and closed the gap on Bedford who was still nearly three seconds up on his 13:19.8 with Stewart content to qualify in third place with 13:24.2.   In Munich they both seemed to be in the shape to do great things: in the Heats McCafferty won with 13:38.2 (last lap – 54.7) and Stewart qualified in second place in Heat 2 behind Vaatainen (Finland) with a time of 13:33.0.   Bedford also qualified for the final which was to be held on 10th September but none of the three did himself justice in the Final.   John Keddie describes that race thus: “After a fairly leisurely 3000m (8:20.2) the Finnish winner of the 10000m, Lasse Viren, made an irresistible prolonged run for home and was never headed over that 2000m which occupied only 5:06.2.   McCafferty alas, probably suffering from anxiety and sleeplessness over a race he knew he could win, rather went through the motions and was dropped along with Bedford and Vaatainen over the last few laps.   They finished 11th to 13th, McCafferty clocking 13:43.2 behind Viren’s 13:26.4.   Ian Stewart fared better and probably lost because he let a gap develop 800m from home.   He did however come with a rush over the final to 200m to snatch the bronze medal in 13:27.6, but he too was disappointed.   What is not mentioned is the fact that Stewart was knocked by the American Steve Prefontaine and lost ground that maybe cost him the race.   He only overtook Prefontaine in the last 90 metres to get the bronze medal.   There was something else that happened in Munich at the Games – the Black September gang forced their way into the Village to capture Israeli athletes and there was a stand-off at gunpoint before the athletes were killed in an airport shoot out.   Did this affect Stewart and the others?   When asked about it by the ‘News Chronicle’ in June 2006 Ian replied as follows: “Stewart could easily hide behind the gruesome stake-out when crack German marksmen targeted terrorists and hostages alike, but, typically he does not.   He alone, he says, was to blame for his failure.   Failure, incidentally, brought an Olympic bronze medal in the 5000m  which many would view as great success but Stewart says, ‘You don’t win a bronze medal, you lose a gold medal instead.  

Of that terrible day, Ian told me, ‘It was weird to be truthful.   The break-in occurred during the night and it was only at breakfast that I discovered what had happened.   the Americans have talked since of hearing gunfire and the like, but I certainly didn’t.   It all took time to sink in – the full horror only hit me afterwards.   But in no way do I blame it for my performance.   That failure was down to me and me alone.   I’d trained in San Moritz with Brendan Foster and was in the best shape of my life.   I should have won the 5000m going away from the field, but I ran a stinker.   I was absolutely sick – the Olympics come around only every four years so you probably only have one shot at a gold medal when you are at your peak both physically and mentally and in terms of form.”

Ian Stewart returned to the track with a victory early in 1973 when he won the AAA Indoor 3000m in 7:58.0.    In 1974 he took part in his second Commonwealth Games in January 1974 with deeply disappointing results.   In the 10000m he was sixth in 28:17.2 in an event won by Dick Tayler of New Zealand in 27:46.4 and in the 5000m he was fifth in 13:40.32 with Kenya’s Ben Jipcho winning in 13:40.32.   To make matters worse, two of his domestic rivals finished second in the events – Brendan Foster was second in the 5000m in 13:14.6 and David Black was second in the 10000m in 27:48.6.    Like McCafferty after the Olympic disaster of 1972, Ian retired from athletics and took up cycling.   Unlike McCafferty, however, he was unable to stay away and returned in December that year.   The results soon started to come and he had two magnificent victories in consecutive weeks in March, 1975.   On the ninth at Katowice in a British vest he won the European Indoor 3000m with a time of 7:58.6 and the following weekend he won the IAAF International Cross-Country title in Rabat, Morocco wearing a Scottish vest.    The quality of the field in this race is well worth noting.   With 173 finishers the first ten were :

Other runners included Emiel Puttemans, Waldemar Czierpinski and Frank Shorter.

In 1976 he had hoped to run in the Olympics in Montreal but dropped out of the ‘trial’ at the Kraft Games and refused to take part in a run-pff for the third slot against Bernie Ford which ruled him out.   He did however qualify for the Olympic 5000 metres where he could only finish seventh in the Final which was won by Viren. At the bell he had been on Viren’s shoulder but he just did not have the pace to finish the job.   It was a very good run but not what he had wanted.   13:27.8 was the time – a season’s best but a journalist quoted by Keddie in his centenary history of the SAAA remarked “it was the sort of race in which earlier in his career he might have flourished but the world has moved on.”

In 1978 he ran in the English National Cross Country Championships for the first and only time and finished second to Bernie Ford and retired that summer.   He was awarded the MBE in 1979 – his career as a runner was over but a new career within athletics was about to open up.   Before that, let’s look at some of his achievements as listed on the UK Athletics website:

International Championships

1969: 1st 3000m European Indoors; 1st 5000m European Championships                                                          1970:   1st 5000m Commonwealth Games                            1972:   3rd   5000m Olympic Games

1974: 5th 5000m, 6th 10000m Commonwealth Games                                                                                       1975:   1st World CC, 1st 3000m European Indoors             1976:   7th   5000m Olympic Games

International Cross-Country: 1968 – 6th Junior, 1971 – 9th, 1972 – 3rd, 1975 – 1st                                             UK Internationals – 18 (1968 – 1977)

Won AAA 5000m 1969, UK 10000 1977, Indoor 3000m 1972, 1973, 1975, National Junior CC 1968, Scottish 5000m 1970

In addition to the above times, he ran a 10 miles road race at Stoke in 1991 in 49:17 as a M40 veteran.   He was one of six children three of whom were GB Internationalists and all three won European indoor championships!    As well as Ian, Peter won the 3000m in Sofia in 1971 and sister Mary won the 1500m in San Sebastian in 1977.

Ian Stewart: Promotions Officer

After he retired from running, Ian became a coach and worked with some excellent young talent – Darius Burrows being maybe the best of his protégés.   he was a keen motor-cyclist and got involved in motor-bikes and athletics simultaneously after he stopped running.   It started when he rode to Oxford to watch an athletics road race and the BBC asked if they could put a cameraman on the pillion seat to film the race while it happened.   It went well and he ended up working for many British and foreign TV stations at all sorts of road events such as the Tour de France.   He is quoted as saying,  “It was crazy – lashing down mountains on the wrong side of the road with the cameraman standing up on the pillion!   It was also great fun!”    He did that for about eight years until in 1994 he was appointed to succeed the notorious Andy Norman as Promotions Officer for British Athletics.   Andy was very controversial – a demon to some (and I know of several Scots international athletes who have been on the wrong side of the man) and a hero to others because of his effect on their careers – but he had lots of power and Ian inherited that power.   He was made responsible for putting together the top-class fields for the international meetings that took place in Britain every year.   The ‘Evening Chronicle’ article has this to say about the job: “It wasn’t very pleasant for the first three years.   What I quickly learned was not to take any rejection personally.   Athletes and their agents will let you down, change their minds.   I’m always on the move, all over the place,” he said.   “However  I’m single and I only have myself to please.”    Reality doesn’t seem to depress Stewart and well it might not.   He is rich in memories and achievements, has gathered about himself not a little fame and has worked continuously in a sport which clearly is the real love of his life.   That is enough for any man.”   

In addition to the job of race promoter for Fast Track he is now Head of Endurance for British Athletics tasked with restoring success to a branch of the sport which has fallen somewhat from the standards of his day.

Looking back at his career, does he have any regrets about the lack of financial rewards or envy of the present generation?   “There’s no question that if Bren and I were running today we would very quickly have become millionaires,” Stewart told me.   “We got expenses whereas now the top men and women demand figures in noughts.   I remember Bren and I clashing at Crystal Palace.   Our photos were splashed all over the cover of the Radio Times because the meet was live on telly – but Bren ran for the price of a train ticket from Newcastle and me for a ticket from Birmingham.   When I was only 20 back in 1969 I was in the GB  squad against the USA at the White City.   All the great Americans were on display and 50,000 squeezed into the stadium to watch us – me and Dick Taylor were the only GB one-two all night.   I appeared for my £3:10:00 rail fare and then haggled over the cost of my breakfast!”   Surely that must gnaw at a man renowned in his pomp for being brash, controversial and just plain bloody-minded.   “Athletics has moved on greatly and in the main it has been for the good, insisted Stewart”, perhaps surprisingly.   

Ian was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2002

There are not many athletes from any country who are instantly recognisable from just their Christian name but just say the single word ‘Lachie’ in any athletics company and there are immediately warm smiles all around – everybody knows Lachie Stewart and they all have a favourite story about him.   Even in Spain, where they call him ‘El Lachie’, he is known.   He is a quiet, helpful, knowledgeable, friendly man whose ability as an athlete was never in doubt.   He was a stand-out on track and over the country.   Let’s take a look at what he has achieved.

Cross-Country:   10 International Appearances in what are now the World Championships; 2 Scottish Championships at a time when there was real strength in depth, 1 Midland District Championship.   Third in Junior International, second in the English National,  fourth in the Senior International.  

Track:   Scottish 10 Miles Champion 4 times (1966, 67, 68, 71);     Scottish Three Miles Champion 3 times (1965, 67 and 68);     Scottish Six Miles Champion twice (1967, 68);    Scottish 5000 metres Champion once (1969);   Scottish Three Miles Champion 3 times (1965, 67, 68).   Thirteen titles in all between 1966 and 1973.

Track records:   He set track records at 2 Miles, 4 Miles, 5 Miles, 6 Miles, 7 Miles, 8 Miles, 9 Miles, 10 Miles, 11 Miles, 12 Miles and One Hour (He was the first Scot to run over 12 miles in the hour) and at 10000 metres.   In all there were 19 record breaking runs.

He was awarded the Crabbie Cup three times (1967, 1968, 19700 and the Coronation Cup once (1968).   The former is presented to the athlete who in the opinion of the General Committee had the most meritorious performance in the Senior Championships; the latter, presented since 1951, goes to the athlete who in the opinion of the Committee is the outstanding athlete of the year.

AAA’s Championships: He won the 3 Miles Championship in 1968 in a time of 13:28.4.

And, most famously of all, he won the 10000 metres at the British Commonwealth Games in 1970 at Edinburgh, defeating many of the brightest stars in the endurance running firmament.   What that run did for Scottish Athletics was immeasurable.

Before we go on to look at his career in detail, we should maybe have Lachie’s own input in the form of his answers to the questionnaire.

Name: Lachie Stewart (Joseph Laughlin Stewart)

Club: Started with Vale of Leven AAC 1957  –  1968;      Shettleston Harriers  –  1968/69  –  1980;      Spango Valley AAC, Greenock as a veteran: 1980  – app. 1990

Date of Birth: 22/6/43

Occupation:   Dental technician.   I worked for the entire 44.5 years of my running career as a dental technician.

How Did You Get Into The Sport Initially?   Through the local school.

Personal Bests?   They are all listed above except for the marathon which I ran in 2:29 as a vet for keep fit purposes.

Has any individual or group had a marked effect on either your attitude to the sport or to your performances?   Joining Vale of Leven and not having a coach at the club, I would go down to the club and do some reps with the seniors.   400/200, four or six of them, then I would join the sprinters and do some of their training which I am sure gave me a good sprint finish in many of my races.

What exactly did you get out of the sport?   Sport I feel gives you stronger views of life and makes you more determined and there is exhilaration in running fast in races.

Can you describe your general attitude to the sport?   I loved athletics as it’s an individual sport.   Bad run, my fault; good run, all my own effort.

What do you consider your best ever performance?   Obviously 1970 Commonwealth Games 10000m and many good international cross-country races.

And your worst?   The international cross-country championship in Dublin about 1964.   Telling everyone at the evening reception that I was last in my first ever Senior cross-country race till I got results later and discovered that there were ten runners behind me that I could not see when looking down the straight at the end of the race.

What goals did you have that were unachieved?   Winning an Olympic gold (as is everybody’s goal.)  

What has running brought you that you would not have wanted to miss?   Meeting people from many different walks of life and, especially abroad, staying with people in the athletic organisation in the different countries and seeing the countries as they really are and not from a tourist point of view.   Sport is a common bond to participating sports people.

Can you give some details of your training?   During the winter months (October – February/March) mainly just steady running to build up strength and endurance.   From January I usually felt I could run faster so introduced some one or two minute faster sections and then dropping back to the same pace I was doing before the efforts (on roads).   On grass such as Westerlands where I trained most lunch times, the faster efforts may be a bit faster due to softer ground condition.   Also from January onwards interval type training mostly at Westerlands on grass and not on track.    They would consist of   8 x 800,  12 x 600, 20 x 300 and occasionally 30 x 200 yard runs with jogging half the distance recovery.  

Every month towards the summer months (mid June onwards, I would increase the recovery and decrease the number of efforts.   (Peter Coe years later called this 5 tier pace training).

Most of my training was done on my own but I did occasionally have some company which I enjoyed:  but I ran on my own was due to the times I trained during the week.

Joseph Laughlin Stewart was born in the Vale of Leven in June 1943 – an area that produced many very talented athletes.   In the field of endurance running Alex McDougall was a Scottish Internationalist who competed in the Cardiff Empire Games and ran in the International Cross Country Championships in 1957; Pat Moy was a quite outstanding cross country runner who also represented Scotland in 1956, 1957 and 1958 in the International Cross-Country Championships.   Both were members of the Vale of Leven AAC.   Lachie obviously had a natural talent but he developed it by dedicated hard work: he also had the right mental attitude – intelligent, practical, thoughtful and realistic – that so many talented athletes lacked.    The result was a career that fulfilled his ambitions more completely than any other Scottish distance runner of his generation.

An interesting light on his beginnings in the sport is shed by the centenary history of Shettleston Harriers.   I quote directly:

He began running at the age of 14 while at the Vale of even Academy, and competed for his Boys Brigade company in Dumbarton before joining the Vale of Leven Harriers in 1957 and becoming the first ever winner of the SCCU boys cross-country championships at Hamilton.   In 1960 he was invited to take part in a coaching scheme for young athletes, but after high blood pressure was diagnosed in a preliminary medical examination, he was hospitalised for three weeks and advised to give up running completely.   He ignored the prognosis and continued to pound the roads of ‘The Vale’, provoking extreme maternal concern.   Every time he set off on a training run he would leave with the words of his mother ringing in his ears, ‘Don’t you run too hard.’

Brought up on the Dalmonach Estate, he was a pupil at the Vale of Leven Academy where he was spotted by his PE teacher and directed to the Vale of Leven club who trained just down the road at Milburn Park track.   Although he trained with the club he did a lot of running on his own.   The area round the Vale is very hilly and very muddy – in the days on inter-club runs and contests the trails used were to some extent dreaded.   Lachie trained in the hills above the golf course and did his hill reps on the steep Auchingarroch Road.    There were several good Senior athletes in the club at the time and on road runs he would accompany the men including Alex McDougall.   As a Youth and Junior he ran in all the same races as everyone else did – County, District and National Championships, County and District Relays and in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay whenever the club were invited to compete, as well as all the classics such as the Nigel Barge Road Race, the McAndrew Relays and even the Beith New Year’s Day race.   On the track, it was the County, District and National Championships as well as in various open meetings and Highland Games like Gourock and Babcock and Wilcox (in Paisley)  –  he even travelled as far as Kinlochleven which was an overnighter.   All the time he was learning: I remember after one County Track Championships at  Westerlands where he had won the Mile and the Three Miles.   I had been in the Three and ran with him in the knowledge that he would pull me away from the rest of the field leaving me only with the one problem  how to stay in front.   It worked but the moment came after we had passed the four laps to go when he actually said to me, “Sorry Brian, but I’m going now!”   And he did but after the race when we were sitting on the grass changing our shoes he advised me in the course of the conversation not to use up all my will-power in training.   And he developed the theme – the thing is that he was only a Junior and I was a Senior athlete who had been running for years and he was giving me sound advice!    He always knew what he was about.   As a member of the Vale of Leven AAC (founded 1945) he won the Junior Championship in 1961-62, 1962-63 and 1963-64 and the Senior Championship in 1964-65 and 1965-66.   In a booklet released in 1975, the club secretary had this to say: “Starting in 1958, he won the club, county and national senior boys cross-country championship in his first season.   This was followed in 1966 with the Midland District Senior Boys Cross-Country Championship and the Junior Championship in 1966-67.    As well as ‘over the country’ Lachie also made his mark on the roads winning a number of road races including the Balloch-Clydebank and the Clydebank-Helensburgh.”

Lachie after winning the Elgoibar Cross-Country Race in Spain

Having started with the Vale, he stayed with them until he moved to Glasgow and joined Shettleston Harriers in 1968.    You will note from the statistics above that he had gained 5 Senior Track titles, set many many track records and picked up four Scottish senior cross country vests for the world championships as well as having two appearances in the Junior age group – in 1962 and 1963 when he was third.  The first mention of Lachie Stewart in the record books is in 1958 when he won the inaugural National Senior Boys Cross Country Championship at Hamilton.   In 1959 in the same age group he finished eight seconds behind George Brownlee of Edinburgh Southern Harrier.   In 1961 he was sixth in the Youths age group behind several very good athletes such as Jim Finn (Monkland, later Law and District), George Brownlee, Hugh Barrow, Craig Douglas (Teviotdale, later ESH) and A Leitch from Gateshead.   Behind him were Alex Brown (Motherwell, eighth) and Mel Edwards (Aberdeen, ninth) – some years are tougher than others and Mel was to win a memorable Junior Championships just a few years later.   In 1962, Jim Finn won again and Lachie joined him in the Scottish team for the International Championships and was tenth finisher and first Scot home: AIC Heron was eleventh and Jim Finn sixteenth.    In 1963 he won the Midland District Junior title after finishing a close-up third behind Andy Brown and John Linaker.   Fourth in the National behind Fergus Murray, Mike Ryan and Alex Brown.   In the Junior International, held that year at San Sebastian, Lachie was third and led the Scottish team to third place medals.  Ranking lists tell us that in summer 1963 he was ranked twentieth in the Three Miles with 14:36.0 which was good enough to win the West District title from Hamish McHattie of St Modan’s and Billy Murray from Greenock Glenpark; seventh in the Six Miles with 30:01; and 10:11.2 in the steeplechase which placed him third in the West District event.

 The District Championships in 1963-64 were a home fixture for Lachie, being held at the Strathleven Estate in the Renton and he finished third behind Ian McCafferty and Alex Brown.    The Scottish National Junior Cross Country Championships at Hamilton in 1964 was one of the finest races I have ever seen with Mel Edwards just getting the better of Ian McCafferty with Lachie third.  Lachie then won a Two Mile Invitation Race at Ibrox from McCafferty with both being timed at 9:02.   In his first year in the Senior International, Lachie was sixty ninth and out of the counting runners in the International at Leopardstown in Ireland.      It was the only time that he was a non-scorer in an international cross-country race.

In the District Championships in season 1964-65 he was third behind McCafferty and Andy Brown.   The National was again at Hamilton and Fergus Murray won by over 20 seconds from Jim Alder with Lachie eleven seconds back in third place.   In the international at Ostend, Lachie was fifty eighth and the team was sixth.   Colin Shields in his history of the Scottish Cross Country Union, ‘Whatever the Weather’ begins his comments on 1965-66:    “Lachie Stewart who won the inaugural National Boys Title in 1958, had been busy studying dentistry at evening classes in the intervening years as a Youth and Junior.   With studies successfully completed the Vale of Leven athlete had time to train and he blossomed forth, with the resultant hard work producing startling performances in track, road and cross country races.   Undefeated since the start of the season, except in the long Morpeth to Newcastle race at New Year, Stewart won the shorter Nigel Barge race in the record time of 22 minutes 05 seconds, a time that would still win the race more than a quarter of a century later.   Stewart continued his strong running when winning the District title at the Renton.   He led by 80 yards at half distance and doubled his lead by the finish.   In the National at Hamilton however he finished second to Fergus Murray after a hard race over heavy, hilly country.   Ian McCafferty won the Junior Championship that day and was selected for the Senior team in the International to be held in Rabat, Morocco.  McCafferty took the lead and held it until near the end when a stone in his shoe made him stop to remove it and he was second Scot to finish in fourteenth place – two behind Lachie who led the team home.”

Summer 1966 was a wonderful season by any standards: many athletes would have happily retired after it!   In the ranking lists Lachie appeared in the One Mile (12th, 4:10.0), Two Miles (first, 8:38.8), Three Miles (third, 13:32.6), Six Miles (second, 28:58.2) and steeplechase (second, 8:44.8)    He had won the West steeplechase and been second in the SAAA and this was the season when he made real go at the event – with some success but he didn’t follow it through after 1966.   There was a real rivalry between Lachie and John Linaker  and he had set a new Scottish Native record holder at the end of 1965 with 9:07.8.   Having started 1966 with a wonderful run at Seedhill in Paisley over 10 miles to set a new native record of 48:44.4, he ran 8:59 for the steeplechase becoming the first man in Scotland to break 9 minutes.   At the Scottish. Lachie faced Linaker (who had run 8:50.2 at the English Inter-Counties who was a better hurdler than he was but Lachie was the faster runner.   There was nothing in it until Linaker pulled clear – not by much, but enough – and held it to the finish to win in 8:48..8 for a new Scottish all-comers record, while Lachie set a new Native record of 8:49.4.    A fortnight later Lachie ran 8:44.8 in the AAA Championships for third place.   As a result he was selected for the Empire and Commonwealth Games in Jamaica and for the European Championships in Budapest.   He did not do himself justice in either event. In the Commonwealths he was ninth in the steeplechase in 8:57.0 and twelfth in the Three Miles in 13:40.0.

Lachie started 1966-67 winter in second place behind Ian McCafferty in the annual short New Year’s Day cross-country race at Beith and a day later was third in the Morpeth to Newcastle 10 miler.   He was second again to McCafferty in the Nigel Barge and again in the Midland District Championship at Bellahouston Park.   In February, he ran in the International race at Hannut in Belgium where he finished fourth: with Ian McCafferty second and Jim Alder fifteenth the team was second.   The New Zealand team for the international ran as guests in the National at Hamilton and Eddie Gray of NZ was first across the line followed by Lachie and then five more New Zealanders.   Lachie of course took the Scottish title.   One week later he became the first Scot since Jim Flockhart in 1937 to win an individual medal in the English National when he was second to Dick Taylor, just outsprinting Barry Rose of NZ.    Unfortunately in the International in Barry, Glamorgan, Lachie himself was outsprinted at the finish for third place by – Barry Rose of NZ.   The team was fifth of ten countries.   His summer campaigns in 1967 and in 1968 were top class affairs with SAAA Championship wins in the Three Miles, Six Miles and Ten Miles in both years.   The race in 1967 where he really showed how good he was came in August at Dunoon in the Cowal Highland Games where he won the One Hour Race.   His distance of 12 miles 188 yards was the first time that a Scotsman had run more than 12 miles in an hour.   There were also Scottish Records for eleven and twelve miles.

The Nationals in 1968 were the last to be held at Hamilton Race Course.   There were no showers or changing accommodation at all at the venue and despite the good courses to be found there, the championships really had to move elsewhere in Scotland.   Lachie was favourite to retain his title but he had a terrific battle with Alastair Blamire who had been runner-up in the Junior Championship the previous year.   He was ultimately victorious by only one single second.   The international championships were held at Tunis and the Scots had justifiably high hopes of a medal placing.   There were group training sessions at Cleland Estate at Motherwell and when the International came along the team ran well but were ‘only’ fourth again.   team placings were 10 Ian McCafferty, 18 Lachie Stewart. 19 Andy Brown, 20 Jim Wright, 23 Jim Alder, 47 Gareth Bryan-Jones.   Down the field initially the Scots surged through from halfway and gained approximately 6 places per man in the second half of the race.   They missed bronze by just 8 points!   In summer that year he won the Three Miles at the AAA’s Championships in 13:28.4.

Lachie’s self-coached spell at the Vale of Leven AAC had seen steady improvement from a novice schoolboys to Scottish and British Champion and Commonwealth and European Games representative.   It was all done without an all-weather track and without a brilliant club squad to train with.    The table below summarises the annual progress.

1968-69 was Lachie’s first winter as a member of Shettleston Harriers and was to usher in a period when he amassed a host of team honours as well as individual medals, trophies and championships.  His run in the Edinburgh – Glasgow Relay in November as part of the winning Shettleston team saw him return the fastest time on the sixth (and longest) stage of the race twenty six seconds ahead of Fergus Murray.   Lachie along with Jim Alder and Dick Wedlock ran at Hannut and then defeated Mariano Haro (Spain) in an international race at Elgoibar in Spain before going down with ‘flu.   The National that year was over five laps of Duddingston Park Golf Course in Edinburgh over hard, frozen and rutted ground topped with slush with steeplechase barriers as obstacles in an attempt to turn a park into a cross country course.   Dick Wedlock won by eight seconds from Fergus Murray Murray with Lachie, still suffering from ‘flu, in tenth place.   The International was held in Clydebank in 1969 over a very hilly course and Ian McCafferty ran a superb race to be third with Lachie second Scot in twentieth and Fergus Murray twenty third.

Colin Shields, writing about the 1969-70 cross country season in Scotland points out that Scotland’s distance runners were among the best in Britain and Europe and as such were in demand for many invitation cross country races on the Continent and he points out  too that Lachie Stewart was among the most successful and consistent runners on the Continent with numerous wins, especially in Spain where the spectators dubbed him ‘El Lachie’.   He won two international races in Spain that winter at Madrid and at Juan Muguerza race at Elgoibar as well as being fourth at San Sebastian.   At home the National Championships were held at Ayr Racecourse and although he did not run, Lachie was picked for the International where he was twelfth and first Scot home at Vichy.      The summer of 1970 witnessed one of Scotland’s finest athletics moments – courtesy of Lachie Stewart.

1970 was a year that Scottish Athletics should never forget and a lot of that was down to Lachie.   He won the SAAA Championships in 28:33.4 – a time on which David Coleman cast some doubt when commentating on the AAA Championships and Games Trial with “They say that Lachie Stewart has run 28:33.4 in the Scottish Championships ….” – and came into the  Commonwealth Games with a solid background of strength and speed, the international championships and small team races at Hannut, San Sebastian, Elgoibar and the rest had removed any reservations about his ability to take on the best that other countries could throw at him.

 John Keddie reported the actual race as follows:   “1970 was this popular athlete’s greatest year and one in which he was to produce one of the great moments of Scottish athletics.   The occasion was the opening track final of the 9th Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.   It was a rather dull, rainy and windy July afternoon as the athletes lined up for the start of the 10000 metres at ten past four in the afternoon.   There were plenty of big names in the line-up: World Record Holder Ron Clarke, defending champion Naftali Temu, , UK record holder Dick Taylor, Canadian Jerome Drayton, Australian steeplechase star Kerry O’Brien and compatriots Temu, Ng’eno and Ndoo.   Was it too much to expect that the relatively untested Stewart could triumph in such company?   It was Drayton who took up the running immediately with a 66.2 second first lap.   The Canadian led for six laps or so after which the lead changed hands several times up to the 7000 metre mark when Ron Clarke made his first move.   His break was not decisive even though it did string out the field.   Sticking to him were Englishman Taylor and Lachie Stewart.   Even a scorching 63.6 nineteenth lap did not drop the two Britons.   This was undoubtedly the vital part of the race for Stewart for had the pace not slackened noticeably he may well have been dropped.   But the pace did drop slightly over the following five laps and Stewart was still in contention going into the final lap.   Needless to say, the excitement of the crowd was reaching fever-pitch; the steady drizzle was forgotten as the runners braced themselves for the last lap effort.   The Australian took up the running from Taylor down the back straight but Lachie Stewart followed in his slip-stream, biding his time.   He knew he was the man with the sprint finish.   And so it was down the home straight he tore past Clarke and broke the tape amidst the resounding cheers of the partisan crowd.    And incidentally his time of 28:11.8 was a Games record and Scottish All-Comers’, National and Native Records.”

If that’s the official story it misses a lot.    First of all Lachie was indeed a popular figure in Scottish athletics – as well as all the Championships and invitations he raced at the Highland Games meetings, he ran at Beith and Bellahouston, he supported all club events.   Nobody had anything but good to say about Lachie.   Second there had never been a Games like this in Scotland – ever!   Meadowbank was transformed.   There were never big crowds for athletics meetings – the biggest crowd was at the Rangers Sports but they had come to see the 5-a-sides; there were occasionally races at half-time in big football matches and there was Cowal Highland Games which always had a massive crowd.   They were the exceptions and Meadowbank with its big stand and the temporary scaffolding seating raised high into the sky all round the track outdid them all.   The atmosphere was like nothing any of us had ever felt before.   And as the race progressed and Lachie and Dick Wedlock – Scotland’s other representative were still there, it built up and built up.   Then when it was down to three and we all knew Lachie had the kick (he had said to me once when I congratulated him on a fine finish “In the finishing straight, I’m invincible”   I looked for signs that he was kidding but there was no kidding – he believed it). and Clarke had been out-gunned in the finishing straight so often before, we hoped and hoped.   Then came the finishing straight and sped past Clarke and in the TV clip that they showed so often afterwards, he has a quick look over his shoulder for the opposition and smiling turns back to the final few yards.    Absolutely astounding.   We had won the first final!    We had beaten the world!    Scottish endurance running had real respectability which was confirmed later in the week when Ian Stewart and Ian McCafferty were first and second in the 5000 metres.    One of my club-mates was in Portsmouth that afternoon watching the race on television with several Portsmouth team mates and reported that they were more than slightly annoyed that the Scotsman had won after doing none of the work!    I’ll tell you, if Clarke could have won that way, if Dick Taylor could have won that way, they would certainly have done so!

The picture at the top is of Lachie with the team mascot – a bear in Scottish colours called Dunky Dick – Dunky Wright was the team manager and Frank Dick the team coach.   Thereafter he was taken out by a team member to any Scot who won a medal at the Games and this was his first public airing!   Incidentally, Lachie convinced that he could have won it from two laps out – he felt the pace dropping, saw the how the other two were looking and says he could have gone then.   However that may be, he won the gold and the nation was ecstatic.   The Press had a field day: how about this from John Rafferty of ‘The Scotsman’ the following day?   Under the headline “Lachie Stewart, so diffident ….. so great”, he wrote:   “The Gold Medal hung from a ribbon round Lachie Stewart’s neck – ignored by him.   His eyes were turned away from it looking up to the big man, Ron Clarke.   They were eyes neither filled with achievement nor flashing contempt for the loser but soft with the humility of a nun at prayer, the hero-worship of a young man meeting a film star he has for long adored.”    So it went on for the best part of two long columns in the broadsheet.

A week or two afterwards he was called up into the GB team for the European Cup match in Portugal and didn’t run well – it was an anti-climax but even then David Coleman had a remark to make – “It’s unbelievable: he is so unfamiliar with the event that he had to ask me how many laps there were in a 10,000 metres!”   How many had Lachie run up to that point?

As a member of a very good Shettleston team he was part of many medal winning teams and over 10 years he amassed a collection of approximately 21 gold, 6 silver and 2 bronze medals from the National Championships, the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay, the Midland Relay, the Scottish 4 Stage Relay, the McAndrew and the two Lanarkshire relays.    That doesn’t include his individual medal tally that we will be looking at in the next few paragraphs.

The Games victory led to many honours …

Into the winter of the 1970/71 season and the team (Lachie, Norman Morrison, Bill Scally and Dick Wedlock) started well with a victory in the McAndrew Relay at Scotstoun; he had been a member of the winning team in 1968 and would collect two more winners medals in this well-established road race – in 1971 and 1972.   The same quartet won their own Allan Scally Relay – Lachie was to be a member of six winning teams in the “Scally’s”.   In the Edinburgh to Glasgow the victorious Shettleston team had Lachie on  the sixth stage: he took over in first, handed over in first and had the third fastest time of the stage behind Jim Alder and Don McGregor.    The National in 1971 was held and Shettleston were again victorious with Lachie finishing eighth.   The international at San Sebastian was a saga of misfortune including the withdrawal of Ian McCafferty through illness, delays and problems with transport to the meeting and a stomach bug that affected several members of the team.   Lachie finished 60th.   Prior to that the Shettleston club team had entered the English National Championship at Norwich and became the first Scottish team since Victoria Park 19 years earlier.   Lachie was nineteenth finisher.     It had been a hard season for him coming immediately after the triumph at Meadowbank with invitations to speak at Dinners, Coaches’ Meetings, Schools, giving interviews, making public appearances, etc – he was even involved in making TV Commercials.    The demands on his time had been huge and yet he had still managed a very good cross country season despite all of that.

The summer of 1971 had Lachie ranked sixteenth in the 1500 metres with 3:53.3, third in the 3000 metres behind Ian and Peter Stewart with 7:59.0, fifth in the 5000 metres with 13:58.6, second behind Jim Alder in the 10000 metres with 29:00.0 and first in the 10 Miles Track with 47:59.0.    The 10 Miles was a Scottish Native Record and won the Championship for the year.   The Yearbook for 1972 commented on the 10000 metres that year as follows “Although recording the season’s fastest time, Jim Alder was beaten into second place in the Scottish Championships by Lachie Stewart who had a very quiet season compared to his Commonwealth Games exploits and did not manage to break 29 min 00 sec.   Suffering from heat exhaustion – the temperature was in the eighties – Lachie finished a dismal eleventh in the AAA Championships at which David Bedford set a European record of 27 min 47.0 sec.”

The 1971-72 winter started as last year with a win in the McAndrew Relays and the Allan Scally Relay.   The Edinburgh to Glasgow was also won with Lachie having the fastest time on Stage 2 by over half a minute.   Early in the New Year, Lachie had two victories in Spain.   After a diabolical journey with diversions and an arrival at 4:30 am and very little sleep, he managed to win the Juan Muguerza at Elgoibar and then one week later he won at San Sebastian by inches from Jack Lane of England.   Came the National at Currie in Midlothian he was fifth and his club with five men in the first fifteen won the Championship.   It was off to the English Championships at Sutton Coldfield.   The race has gained a notoriety because of the freak winter storm that appeared at the start of the race and many were forced to drop out – Lachie was one of these who had to drop out requiring medical attention.   For the International which was to be in Cambridge, the Scots were favourites to at least win a medal.   It was important this year above all others because the format had been widened to include all countries to enter and the event was to become global.    With Ian and Lachie Stewart (Commonwealth Games gold medallists), Jim Alder and Ian McCafferty (CG silver medallists), Dick Wedlock (CG 10000 metres runner with sub-29 minutes), Alastair Blamire (GB Steeplechase internationalist) plus Andy McKean, Jim Wright and John Myatt, it was a remarkably strong team.    However ……………..  Ian Stewart was third but as Colin Shields said in his book, ‘the backup failed to materialise’ and Jim Alder was next Scot in twentieth, Lachie in twenty seventh, Alastair in thirty sixth, Andy McKean forty fourth and Dick Wedlock in seventy first completed the team.   Ian McCafferty was seventy ninth and not even a scoring runner.

In the summer of 1972 the big event in world athletics was the Munich Olympic Games where the seizure of the Israeli team by the members of the Black September movement cast a cloud over the whole Games and indeed changed them for ever.  Lachie was there and ran in the 10000 metres where he was second fastest Briton but his 28:31.4 was not good enough for him to progress to the final.

The following winter season started with another first place in the McAndrew Relay with Lachie on the first stage.   Came the Edinburgh to Glasgow and after finishing sixteenth on the first stage, Shettleston were in front by the end of the fifth stage after a brilliant run by Dick Wedlock, Lachie ran the long sixth stage with the third fastest time and the club ran out winners again.   Norman Morrison, however,  was the Shettleston star man in winter 1972-73 and won the Nigel Barge race from a very good field and then won at Arlon in the European clubs championship.   Lachie was third.  In the Nationals at Coatbridge, Lachie was suffering from the after effects of ‘flu and finished second to a strong-running Andy McKean.   In the International at Waregem, Belgium, he finished twenty seventh in what was to be his last cross-country international race.  Colin Shields remarks on this: “The 1973 Championships was Lachie Stewart’s tenth and final appearance in a Scottish vest after a long and distinguished career since his first appearance in 1964.   However his athletic successes had been just as great on the track where he was Scotland’s most successful post-war long distance runner winning thirteen titles between 1965 and 1973.”   There are three more paragraphs outlining Lachie’s career up to that point and I recommend the book to anyone interested in Lachie’s career or indeed any aspect of Scottish cross country running..   Summer 1973 was the year that Lachie won his last Scottish title when he took the 10000 metres in 28:59.2.   In summer 1974 he competed in his third Commonwealth Games, this time in New Zealand.   He had only run one 5000 metres in preparation on a pre-Games warm-up meeting at Timaru on 19th January where he was timed at 14:24.8.    For his feats as an endurance runner, especially for the run in 1970,  he was appointed flag-bearer for the opening ceremony: not a good plan for someone about to run the 10000 metres on the first day!   He finished tenth in the event in 29:22.6 ahead of several very good athletes such as Bernie Plain of Wales, Kevin Ryan of New Zealand and his compatriot Norman Morrison.

1973 – he ran in the National Championships in 1975 (28th), 1977 (20th) and 1980 (89th); he ran in the Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1976 when he was fastest man on the second stage in the winning team, 1977 to be sixth on the first stage and in 1980 on the third stage.

Despite the fact that this all happened nearer forty than thirty years ago, his performances have stood the test of time.   The table below has his best times for the distances, when it was achieved and what the top ranked Scot did in 2009.  The exception is the 3000 metres where the time to Lachie’s credit is for Two Miles.   The steeplechase time stands to USA based Andrew Lemoncello, the next best (first home Scot) is 9:01.

As his own career was starting to slow down, he began to take an interest in coaching his son, Glen, who showed an aptitude for and an interest in distance running.   Always interested in coaching and helping others, Lachie organised Glen’s training so well that he set ne British Under 15 records in the 1500 metres and the Mile in 1985 – and they still stand at the end  of summer 2010.    And unlike many a young prodigy, Glen went on to be a successful athlete at Under 17, Under 20 and Senior age levels and was the first British finisher in the 10000m (29:04.3) at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002.   He also ran the 5000 where he was unplaced in 13:49.7.   His personal best times as a senior include 3:38.66 (1500), 3:59.56 (Mile), 7:55.15 (3000), 13:37,17 (5000) and 29:40.14 (10000).   These are all considerably good times and speak highly of Glen’s determination and ability but they are also a testament to Lachie’s coaching – good results early on but no danger of burn out.   When I resigned at British Milers’ Club Secretary for Scotland, Lachie took over and his special interest was organising races for the younger age groups, getting promising you athletes into the British Milers’ Club so that the good races were made available to them.   In an article in the ‘Herald’ in July 2010, Doug Gillon has this to say about Lachie’s coaching.   “Stewart coached his son Glen to British Under 15 Mile and 1500m records in 1985, yet when Lachie sat a coaching examination (which he passed) he was told he should have more speedwork in the programme which he had presented.   “It was the one I’d used with Glen,” he recalls.   Lachie was passed over when a Scottish coaching post was considered.   “They said I’d no coaching certificates.   They didn’t bother checking or they’d have found out that I have two.    I once phoned about an advert for a coaching job.   I was told that applications closed the next day.   I’d no access to a fax, so I just let it go.”   So did the sport’s governing bodies – who should have bitten his hand off .   For – whisper it very quietly – the Scottish Native 10000 metres record which he set on 18th July, 1970 – knocking more than 20 seconds from his best, survives to this day.   “I wanted to get every kid from school  and age-group finals followed up,” he says, “It’s not usually the winners of these age groups who become Senior Champions but the kids who have to work at it.   We are wasting an enormous amount of talent.    It’s embarrassing that Scottish records from 1970 still survive.   I blame the coaches, they focus too much on speed.   There’s not enough emphasis on speed endurance.”

Lachie’s comments on his training were also interesting.    I asked him whether he was ever at any stage coached and the answer was a clear negative.   In his final year as a Dental Student he was awarded the Student of the Year prize and with the Book Token that came with the award he bought two books: one was a book on dental technology and the other one was ‘Running’ by Franz Stampfl.   As he says above, his club had no coach and he joined in the reps done by the Senior athletes.   But using Stampfl as a guide he started to increase the number of reps and found that he got better results so he stuck with it.   As the track season approached he reduced the length of the recovery and increased the speed.   He trained at lunchtime at Westerlands, the grounds of Glasgow University which had a red blaes track but also had a large L shaped area of good grass with a slight downhill slope on the long edge which was about 300 yards in length.   He sorted out distances on the grass – the long side was 300 yards,  the long side + the straight along the bottom of the L  was 400 yards and so on.   He used the grass more than the track.   There were several athletes training there including some of Scotland’s best 800 metre runners (Graeme Grant [Dumbarton], Dick Hodelet [Greenock Glenpark], etc.   Lachie sometimes joined in their sessions but after a time was doing them better than they were.    He also feels that strength is important and thought that many of Scotland’s middle distance runners lacked endurance: some he would back in, say, an 800m with a slow fast lap followed by a burn-up but not in a faster race.   Long runs are important but he would include three or four fast stretches coming back to the same pace again.    When I put it to him that many endurance runners did hill sessions he said that he didn’t do them as such but did do runs with a lot of hills in them.   He also said that  he never increased the pace up hills in races – “Why expend the extra effort?” – but preferred picking it up once the hill was over.   (On a personal note I remember him saying when we were speaking at a particularly hilly 3 miles road relay course the ‘there were a lot of graveyards out there’.    He was dead right – the number of runners who killed their own chances on any one of four climbs was high!)

Going back to Doug Gillon’s comments: an excellent example of another good source of education and inspiration not used by the governing body – and his words about speed endurance are spot on too!   So instead of being encouraged to spend time coaching he works away on the fantastically detailed scale models of ships with the same attention to detail that made him such a formidable athlete.

Friend, rival and team-mate Lawrie Spence freely admits to having learned from Lachie and has written the insightful and informative  paragraph below.

“Like many Scots I was inspired by Lachie’s Commonwealth gold in 1970 at Meadowbank.   I still remember going for a long run (which seemed to pass by so quickly as I was filled with enthusiasm and dreams that one day it could be me!) with my Brothers after we had sat and watched the race – and the classic of us all shouting at the TV as well!   I was lucky in that a few years later,  Lachie had agreed to help me with my breakthrough into international racing.   I was doing well but really needed to make the next step up to consolidate at Scottish level and move on to the British level.   From getting me a run at Hampden Park at the  pre-Scottish Football Cup Final entertainment organised by Dunky Wright (and running in front of massive crowds), races down south and, most of all, allowing me to join him in training sessions and runs, so helping me to improve and be better prepared for these key races.  

The one thing I really learned and admired him for was his racing brain.   He won many a race which on paper he should not have had a look in and to many the Commonwealth Games is the moot point.    In today’s paced races, his skill, experience and what I would describe as the old head of Lachie is not being used any more.   I appreciate that times do matter but if you race well and smart, the times will come!   For example he taught me a valuable lesson as I was beginning to get the better of him in races.   It was a race at Scotstoun and after changing I went with him for a warm up.   The old bandit put the boot in during the warm up, and not wanting to admit it was maybe too hard for me, and Lachie was doing it and it must be OK, I kept going.   When it came to the race I had lost my edge and in the finish he sorted me out and won the race which I should have won.   Afterwards I had a go at him and he just put on that look and smile of his saying I hope you learn from this – I did.   He was great spending time talking to you especially on long runs when his stories and giving advice made the run go by so quickly.   He did not have to spend much time with me but he did,  and not only was a great athlete for Scotland but gave back to the sport’s future even when he was still competing.  

He was a coach even then and proved how good he was in the future when he helped his son Glen to the success he had.   As mentioned elsewhere, it is a pity that he was not sought after by the Association to get him into such a role.   Maybe we would be in a far better position today if we had.    He was a great mentor and role model.”

Lachie was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.    He was the best Scottish endurance runner of his generation – and for several more thereafter.

Alaister Russell at Livingston, 1985

Alaister Russell (17/06/68) is a talented athlete who, although displaying his remarkable talent in every age group from Junior Boy right through to second-year Junior,  and despite winning national championships as a senior man and having a career that most distance runners would seriously envy, there was always the feeling that it could have been even better.    He appeared on the scene in 1981 as a Junior Boy and after winning every single cross-country age group championship, had to miss the nationals of 1988 (second year Junior) .through injury.  I asked him about injuries and he reckoned that it was not a single recurring major problem but rather a series of injuries.   Training at the level he was at was treading a fine line between doing what was necessary and what was too much.   There were also particular problems at certain points in his career – eg at one time when he couldn’t get to a track he did some interval training on the road which led to shin splints.   All runners can relate to that kind of scenario.    He also won every single cross-country age group title in the Western Districts and on the track he was the first athlete since Lachie Stewart to win the 5000m and 10000 metres Scottish Championships in one year.     As a member of Law and District through the 80’s and 90’s, he was in a club that seemed to pass on many relays – on the road they seldom appeared in the McAndrew, Allan Scally or National Six Stage events, and on the country they would often do well in the District event and then not have a team out in the Nationals.   They also tended to fight shy of some of the classic road races such as the GU Road Race in September, the Nigel Barge and Jack Crawford races in January.   At this time they seemed to be a cross-country club in winter rather than a road andcross country club – almost the direct opposite of the Victoria Park habits!   He was of course incredibly good on the country and when, later in his career he came to run on the roads he proved to be talented there as well.

Before looking at his career it might be better to look at his replies to the questionnaire.

Name: Alaister Russell

Club/s:   Law and District AAC, Border Harriers and AC

Date of Birth:   17/06/68

Occupation:   Plant Operator

Personal Bests:       800m:   1:57;     1500:   3:56;     3000m:   8:16;     5000m   14:17;     10000m   29:52;     Half Marathon   65:53

How did you get involved in the sport:   By winning the 400m at the school sports and by my big brother David.

What exactly did you get out of the sport?   Enjoyment.

Can you describe your general attitude to the sport?    Still enjoy watching athletics on TV but no involvement with athletics at the club.

What do you consider to be your best ever performance/performances?   Winning the Youths’ Race at the Presto Cross-Country at Gateshead – Rob Denmark was second – and my first Scottish title as a Junior boy.

And your worst:   Scottish Cross-Country Championship at Hawick, 73rd.

What ambitions do you have that remain unfulfilled?   Winning the Senior cross-country championship.

What did you do apart from running to relax?    Work on my Dad’s farm.

What did running bring you that you would have wanted not to miss?   Meeting my wife.

Can you give some details of your training?   Track sessions such as – 12 -20  x  400m;     5  x  1000m;     20  x  200m.               Hill work.    Long runs  on grass

You also ran for Border Harriers, what was the connection?   Some Law athletes used to run for Border Harriers in the Eighties and when I reached Senior level I ran in the British League, the North of England 12 Stage Relay, the North of England Cross-Country Championship and in the National Road Relays at Sutton Park.

Kodak Junior 3000m, Crown Point, 1986.   Alaister(40), Sam Wallace (28), Struan Marshall (12), Andy Gallagher (4), Alan Ramage (48)

He was first eligible for a national cross-country championship in 1981 as a Junior Boy but finished tenth and followed it up with a victory the following year  in the same age group.   It was as a Senior Boy in 1983 that he finished tenth again in a race won by Tom Hanlon of Edinburgh Southern Harriers who went on to great things as a steeplechaser.  Second that year was John Graham, who went on to a wonderful senior career in most endurance events but particularly as a marathon runner.   Just as in the junior boy ranks, Alaister made up for the slip with a victory the following year (1984), ahead of Sam Wallace of Cambuslang.

As a youth he won the title in both 1985 and 1986 (as well as winning the District Championships and leading the  Law team to victory) to make it three national championships on the trot.  In ’85 Tom Hanlon was second and in ’86 Sam Wallace was again second.    These were both excellent athletes but on the country Alaister was fast becoming one of Scotland’s top men.   In 1987 as a first year Junior he won the national title again, this time from Tom Hanlon and David Donnet (Springburn) to make it four nationals in a row.   Among his other championship victories were the West District championships as a Junior Boy in 1982, as a Senior Boy in 1983 and 1984, as a Youth in 1985 and 1986 and as a Junior in 1988.    If you add in good runs in other events round the country and the Lanarkshire County Championships, then you clearly have a young man of talent.    Of the 1988 race, Colin Shields in his centenary history of the SCCU, ‘Whatever the Weather’ says: Alaister Russell won the Junior 6 Mile race for his fifth Junior District title having previously won the Senior Boys title in 1983-’84, and the Youths’ title in 85 and ’86.”                                                                                                                                                             

We could maybe start the story with his two victories in the Youths (Under 17) Cross-Country Championships.   He started 1985 winning the West District Championships on 25th January at Bellshill and leading his club to team victory, just as he had done as a Senior Boy with Alan Ramage always the second club runner to finish.   Traditionally the first runner in the Youth race was selected for the Junior team and the first Junior was normally picked for the Seniors.  In February he duly won the National and the season’s highlight for Alaister saw him win the first of his three Scottish International appearances after he won the Youths cross-country title in February 1985: no mean feat for a first year Youth.   He finished 60th and was a scoring runner for his country in his first appearance on the big stage.

In season 1985-’86 he again made the team.   He again started the year by winning the District title in January and, with Alan Ramage third and J Aitchison sixteenth, they won the team title.   In February, after winning his second consecutive National Youths title he was picked for the Scottish team, but this time in the international, he went one better and was the first Scottish runner to cross the line in the Junior International when he finished fifty ninth.   From leading the Law team, he was now leading the national squad.

With his third International ahead of him in ’87,  Alaister started the year by unfortunately missing the West District Championship where he had been such a force since he was a boy.  At the very end of January, Alaister was selected for the Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships in Derby.   He was first Scot home in the Junior race which he finished in eleventh place, nine ahead of Rob Carey from Annan.    By the time the National came along though, he was back in fine form and again ran out victorious.  Doug Gillon’s report on the race in ‘Scotland’s Runner’ of April 1987 read:   Alaister Russell’s victory over Tom Hanlon in the Junior Race may not have been as convincing a margin as Muir’s 22-second senior one, but it was almost as noteworthy.   The young Law farmer has now compiled a record of national titles that not even Muir can boast.   Russell was Junior Boy champion in 1981, Senior Boy winner in ’84 and Youth champion for the past two seasons.   If you had to identify Muir’s potential successor, look no further.   And yet those around Quothquan (Quothquan Farm was where Alaister worked) who know something of the sport swear that his brother David, national Senior Boy champion in ’81, but subsequently injured was an even better prospect.   Happily we can report that after surgery and a three-year lay off , David is now back in training.   Russell heads a Junior team for Poland which Youth winner Terry Reid (Dundee Hawkhill) is unfortunate not to be in.”   Whether the remarks about being successor to Nat Muir were tempting Providence, or whether his brother’s injuries were a portent remains to be seen but 1987 was the last time a separate Scottish team was entered in the international championship and as winner of the National Junior Championship Alaister was selected and in the race he replicated the previous year’s feat when he led the Scots team home with his eighty fourth place.

There are no records of Alaister running in summer 1987 – he doesn’t appear in the ranking lists and there is nothing about him in the championship reports, nor is he anywhere in the road rankings for the year.  However, in the short relays when October came around he showed the class that made him a triple world championship runner.  There was no significant Law & District team in the McAndrew Relay but the club was third in the West District Cross-Country Relay.   They had a good four – Douglas Frame was an established figure on the Scottish cross-country and international squad team, Hugh Forgie was a track international over 1500 metres and Billy Nelson was a very gifted runner whom everybody felt could have been superb had he trained as many others did at the time.   The team was not only third behind Cambuslang and Springburn but Alaister was fastest in the team with 13:11 and fastest man in the race – ahead of Alex Gilmour of Cambuslang, Adrian Callan of Springburn, Alastair Douglas of Vicky Park and Tommy Murray of Glenpark.   The Lanarkshire County Relays were a fiasco with the senior race being abandoned, in the words of ‘Scotland’s Runner’, ‘race declared void due to runners going off badly stewarded trail,’   It was also at the end of 1987 that Alaister had his first run in the International at San Sebastian where he was ninth in the Junior Race.   He also ran there in 1989 as a second year senior in a team with Bobby Quinn and Tommy Murray, finishing seventy second.     In the National Cross-Country relays at Galashiels, Law finished seventh with Alaister being sixth fastest only eighteen seconds behind an in-form Adrian Callan.    At the start of 1988, Alistair missed out the Beith, Nigel Barge and Jack Crawford races at the start of January, but won the West District Junior Cross-Country race on 16th January by over a minute from East Kilbride’s Ian Tierney.   Unfortunately he missed the National, probably through injury and we hear no more about him is in April when he was third in the Open Graded Meeting organised by Victoria Park: he was third in the 3000m in 8:44.7.    Missing most road races he did run in the Annan 4.5 mile event on 29th June which he won with 21:56 from Teviotdale’s Davie Cavers.     But once again, he was not ranked in the annual performance lists – although it didn’t mean he was not in good form!

At the very start of season 1988/89, the club was not placed in the District Relays but Alaister was fifth fastest on the day in 12:06 which was 21 seconds behind fastest man Tommy Murray.   Came the National Relays on 22nd October at Bellahouston and again the club was unplaced but Alaister had a good day.   “At the end of the first lap, Law and District were ahead thanks to Alaister Russell’s 13:03 effort.”   The run was good enough to have him sixth quickest on the day.   Unfortunately the club was not in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay at this time but maybe it was just as well since the Law top men seemed to avoid the McAndrew and Allan Scally  Relays as a matter of policy.   Certainly we seldom if ever saw any of the top men turn out on the roads over the winter.   He missed several of the open cross country races such as the Bellahouston Park event in December but one he didn’t miss was the SCCU v NI v ScotUnis v Civil Service on the fourth: He finished second to John Robson in that one to help the SCCU team to a comfortable first place. On 17th December it was down to Cardiff for the Miller Lite International where Alaister finished forty sixth to be the fourth Scot to finish.   On 8th January, Alaister represented Scotland once again, this time in the Celtic Countries Cross-Country International at the Beach Park in Irvine: he won in 31:42 from A Spellman (Republic of Ireland in 31:56.       He maintained top form for the West Districts on 21st January when he finished second to Tommy Murray (40:21) in 41:14, two seconds in front of Alan Puckrin who had been three places ahead of him in Wales.   Came the National and Alaister was away down in seventy third position.   This was so atypical of his running and ability that it must be supposed that his not-so-good season was down to an injury.

Season 1989-90   started with no team from Law & District in the District or National Relays, and given that they again missed the McAndrew Relay at Scotstoun, the Allan Scally Relay at Barrachnie and the GU Road Race, it was a quiet start to the season.    Alaister broke his early season competitive duck with a run in the Presto Open Cross-Country Races at Gateshead on 25th November where he was  twenty third in the 6900 metres race and sixth Scot to finish.   He missed the West District Championships at Troon on 20th January 1990 and was not a member of the Scottish team for the AAU Inter-County Championships at Corby a week later.   Not only did Alaister miss the West District Championships that year but there was again no team from Law in the race.  Again in 1990, Alaister did not contest the National Championship.

1990-’91 cross country started for Alaister with a fine run in the District Cross-Country Championships at Twechar in Dunbartonshire.   With all eyes on Steve Ovett and Steve Binns both running for Annan, the winning team, Tommy Murray and Bobby Quinn tie-ing for third place between them and Nat Muir being only fifth fastest, Alaister was seventh quickest over the course for the Law team to be eighth.   The club again did not enter the National Relays and his next run was in the Bellahouston Harriers Open Cross-Country on 24th November which he won in 30:58 from international track and cross-country runner Ian Campbell of Dundee Hawkhill.   One week later he ran in and won the Lanarkshire Cross-Country Championships from Charlie Thomson of Cambuslang by twelve seconds.   two weeks later, on 15th December he was fourth in the International 10K Cross-Country Championships over the difficult and hilly course at Cumbernauld in 34 minutes behind Quinn (33:20), Mitchell (33:21) and Cavers (33:44) and ahead of Northern Ireland’s Dermot Donnelly (34:05).   At the very end of 1990, he ran in the County Durham International Meeting where he was fifty third, five seconds ahead of Adrian Callan but tenth Scot. Into 1991 and on 19th January he won the West District Cross Country Championship without being first to finish!   Tommy Murray had that honour but was disqualified so that Alaister who was thirteen seconds behind, was awarded the title.   Further drama ensued at the race, held in Clydebank, when third placed Hammy Cox refused to accept his medal for second place because he had not been selected for the Inter-Counties: a newspaper report had said he would not run for Scotland again, so he had not been picked.   When they heard that he was in fact available, he was picked for the team – and then he turned it down.   Doug Gillon reported on the race in ‘“Scotland’s Runner” as follows.   “The cross-country course for the West District Championships was one of the toughest of the year, but Tommy Murray was its master.   Murray, however, refused to run in his Greenock Glenpark colours – he had already sent a letter of resignation – and paid a heavy price.   Although the former National Champion completed the 7.5 mile course first, in 39:45, for a unique third successive victory, race referee Bob Peel disqualified him promoting Alaister Russell to winner, and Hammy Cox to runner-up.   ‘I did not take this decision lightly,’ said Peel, who was faced with a clause in the rules which states that such transgressors as Murray are “liable to disqualification”.   He was apparently aware that Murray had been warned prior to the race even by his own clubmates.   The decision means that Murray was denied the honour of being the only man to complete the hat-trick since the event was inaugurated in 1985.   But for Russell, of Ian Skelly Law and District, there was another unique place in history.   The Quothquan farmer became the first athlete ever to win the West title in all five age groups – junior and senior boy, youth, junior and senior.

‘I take no honour from this title.   Tommy won fair and square,’ said Russell afterwards.   He was followed home by Cox, Murray’s team mate, in 40:02 with Cambuslang and Scotland steeplechaser Graeme Croll third. ” 

On 26th January, Alaister travelled to Leicester for the CAU Inter-County Championships where he finished forty fourth and sixth Scot.   It must have disappointing for him then to miss the National Championships – won incidentally  by his old rival Tom Hanlon – and he was not the only one who was marked absent.   ‘Scotland’s Runner’ only said that “absent for one reason or another were Nat Muir, the most prolific winner ever, five time world championship team member Chris Robison, former winner  Neil Tennant, and current internationalists Alaister Russell and Terry Mitchell..”  On 9th March, he made a rare foray onto the roads when he turned out in the Clydesdale Harriers Dunky Wright 5.5 miles race.   The race was of very high quality (1st Bobby Quinn, 2nd Allister Hutton, 3rd Tom Hearle, 4th Nat Muir, 5th Alan Puckrin) and Alaister finished nineteenth.

In 1991-92  there was a Law and District team in the District Relays which finished seventh and if Alaister ran, then he did not feature in the fastest twenty times, and again there was no team from the club in the National Cross Country Relays.   He was however victorious at the Lasswade Cross Country Meeting at Bonnyrigg on 3rd November 1991 when he won by one second from Davie Cavers in 29:15.   At the end of the month he had another excellent run to be just two seconds behind George Braidwood of Springburn in the Lanarkshire Championships leading his club to fourth place.  Alaister had his reward when on 14th December he he again represented the SCCU in the International and Inter-District Race at Cumbernauld.   This time he was fifth on 33:29 against Bobby Quinn’s winning run of 31:50.   His next race was also a representative on – the Reebok International at Mallusk, Belfast on 4th January where he was thirty sixth and third Scot to finish in a truly international event where the first three runners were Kenyans.   Then at Bellahouston on 18th January, the finishing order in the District Championships was the same as at Clydebank a year earlier but this time all was in order and the result stood with Alistair being second in the championship, just eight seconds adrift.   Then it was back on the road for the Grangemouth Round the Houses 10K on 9th February where he finished seventh, three seconds behind George Braidwood.   With his form now improving with every year – he now had two very good cross-country seasons linked by a successful summer season, he started to climb back up the field in the National.   At Irvine on 22nd February he was tenth in classy company in a race won by Tommy Murray from Chris Robison, Bobby Quinn, Neil Tennant and Adrian Callan.

Came winter 1992-’93.   There was no Law representation in the West District relays in October 1992, nor were they present at the National Relays.   On December 5th 1992 Alaister ran again in the East Kilbride Festival of Road Running and this time won from Brian Kirkwood in 30:55.   Alistair did not run in the District Championships in January 1993 and again there was no team from Law & District competing.  He did however win the Cumnock Open Cross-Country Championship on 31st January  from Graeme Wight of Ayr Seaforth and Mike Gallagher of Maryhill Harriers.     There was however no sign of Alaister in the National that year again.  He was back to somewhere near his best the following cross-country season,   the high spot of which came on December 19, 1993 when he was selected for the 5 Nations International at Turin in Italy, where he was 19th.   He was also selected to run in the World CC Trials at Alnwick on 19th Febrruary, 1994 and this time he was 50th and 5th Scot.   Nearer home, on 30th January, he ran in the West District where he finished third   This was followed by a fine run in the National where he was twelfth, finishing ahead of runners of the calibre of Terry Mitchell and marathon man Davie Cavers.   He was twelfth in the National the following year as well beating David Ross of Racing Club on the line, with both runners recording the same time.

1996 started with  the Coca-Cola International at Mallusk in Ireland on 6th January.   Alaister was seventeenth and second Scot behind Tom Hanlon, ahead of Glen Stewart, Adrian Callan.   On 10th Feb in the National at Irvine, he made up for missing the previous year’s event by finishing third behind Bobby Quinn (36:46), Tommy Murray (36:56) while he was on 37:02.   This was followed on 3rd March by the  BAF  cross-country championships at Ashington, County Durham where he was twenty first and third Scot.

The November 1996 Edinburgh to Glasgow was the first he had ever run and  he was sent out on the sixth stage.   By that time the Law fate had been sealed – they had been running twenty first from the end of the first stage : Alaister could do nothing about it and held the place despite pulling up a lot of distance on the man in front.  The following week he ran in the West District Championships at Girvan and he was beaten again in these championships by Tommy Murray who ran 32: ro Alaister’s 32:46 with Charlie Thomson a further ten seconds back.   Alaister did not run in the National that year at Perth.   Following the poor performance the previous year, in November 1997 there was no team from Law in the E-G, however on 29th November in the West Districts he was second, 12 seconds down on T Murray – again!   On the 13th December in the  Inter Districts at Cumbernauld he ran well to be fourth.   In the National  he was eighth, sandwiched between Neil Wilkinson of Cambuslang and Ken Chapman of Racing Club.

Alaister had another go at the Edinburgh to Glasgow in November 1998 with Law once again in the race.   They finished fifteenth with Alaister on the second stage – he seemed to relish the challenge of facing the best men in the race when they were close enough   .He would go on to run the same stage four times before the event was discontinued.  this time he took the club up from ninth to fifth place on the hardest stage in the race, with fifth fastest stage time.  Another good National at the end of the season saw him ninth.   At the finish there were three runners within one second of each other  three within a second of each other,    Colin Donnelly was seventh in 39:31, Steven Conaghan eighth in 39:32 and Alaister ninth in 39:32.   His next National would be in 2002 with a thirty second place finish. In November he ran the second stage of the Edinburgh to Glasgow and this time he brought the team from twentieth to thirteenth with the second fastest time of the day to see them finish ninth and win the most meritorious medals.

In the E-G in 2000 he was again on the second stage, again picking up places before seeing club finish twelfth this time round.   His own run was another good one where he pulled up from nineteenth at the start of the leg to thirteenth for the handover.  In 2001,  he was to run his last Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay and it was another run over the by now familiar second leg.  Second fastest again he pulled the team up from fourth to third and the club finished eleventh and in the National, as already mentioned, he was thirty second.

Alaister as a Senior Boy  (33) starting in the Youths race at Livingston in 1983

Sam Wallace is 785.

TRACK:

In 1991, he started with third in the West District 5000m in 14:36.62 behind Kilbarchan’s Bobby Quinn and Tommy Hearle.   Missing the SAAA Championship in July, he raced on 27th July in AAA Champs,  where he ran 14:17.22 for the  5000m which ranked him eighth – although the seven in front included Ian Hamer (Welsh) and John Sherban.

If we take the start of March 1992 as marking the start of the summer, then Alaister started the summer with second to Mike Carroll in the Annan Cross-Country River Races in 31:03 to Mike’s 30:14 course record on 1st March.  Then on 5th March, Alaister ran in the Tom Scott 10 mile race over the original Law to Motherwell course and finished fourth in 50:31 which was a commendable time for his first run over the distance.   On 24th May he turned out in the Reebok Festival of Running in Kirkintilloch where he was second to Tommy Murray and one place ahead of Nat Muir in 29:53 for the 10K course.   On 13th May he ran as a guest in the 3000m in the representative match at Grangemouth in 8:32.3.   He ran in the 10000m at the SAAA Championships that year and and finished sixth in 30:20.7. At Crown Point on the 19th August, Alastair ran in the 3000m and finished fifth in 8:26.5.    On 30th August he ran in the 10 Mile Road Race from Loch Park Stadium at Carluke – the Ian Skelly race – and won again in 51:41 from Ian Brown of Racing Club (51:52) and Steven Wylie of Cambuslang (53:47).       Ranked –  3000m:   20th – 8:26.5;   5000m – 14th  –  14:33.39;   10000m – 4th – 30:20.07

1993 summer season was started with a run in the Tom Scott Road Race which was organised this year for the first time by his own club,.   Alastair was seventh in 49:57 in race won by Steven Wyklie of Cambuslang in a new course record of 47:29.   A notable feature of this race was the forty first place of Andy Brown – one of the founding fathers of the race (and of Law and District AAC) who had won the first ever Tom Scott 10.   Andy was not only winner of the M60 class, but also set a new world’s age best for the distance of 55:08.   He also led the club vet’s team to silver medals in the team race behind Cambuslang.   Alaister continued to race right to the end of the su,mmer with a victory in the Barrmill10K Road Race at Galston in Ayrshire on 1st September in the time of 30:40 to beat Gordon Tenney of Kilbarchan (31:13).   Four days later he was second to Mike Carroll of Annan in the Carluke 10 miles road race in 51:27 ahead of David Ross of Racing Club who recorded 53:10.   Although unplaced in the shorter distances, Alaister picked up third place in the SAAA 10000m on the track behind Bobby Quinn and Tommy Murray. He actually had a fairly good summer on the track with rankings in four different events:

                                            1500m – 37th – 3:56.3;        3000m – 13th with  8:19.79;        5000m – 16th with  14:39.35;      10000m – 5th with 30:38.95

In 1994 he was only ranked in two lists – the 5000m and the 10000m and in both he was a bit slower than the year before.   The actual performances were  5000m – 21st – 14:51.8;   10,000m – 8th – 30:53.91.   The following summer was altogether different.   In 1995 the events, times and positions were:   3000m – 23rd – 8:38.4;    5000m – 7th – 14:26.7;      10000m – 4th – 29:52.16. The 10000m time was done in the SAF championships where he was second behind Robison and ahead of Quinn.   He was also ranked on the road for almost the first time with good performances at 10K and Half Marathon.   10K – 10th – 29:54; half marathon – 11th – 67:30.   By 1996 the performances turned in were again ranked in three track events as well as in the 10K on the road.   1996 – 3000m – 7th – 8:21.9;   5000m – 8th – 14:17.1 – + 14:25.11 + 3rd in West Dist;   10000m – 7th – 30:36.02.   ROAD:   10K – 29th – 30:37;

Rankings in Summer 1997 were again in the 3000m, 5000m and 10000m.    3000m – 10th – 8:30.6;   5000m – 11th – 14:27.6.   10000m – 3rd – 30:32.6.   The 5000m and  10000m won him the National Championships.  The Annual Yearbook said of the feat:   “Once again the national title  at Meadowbank provided one of the closest races of the summer when Alaister Russell outsprinted Daniel Leggate in a slow run race with just one tenth of a second between them at the finishing line.”;   .   “With a winning sprint over the last 200 yards, Alaister Russell won the national title on one of the hottest days of the summer.   H e thus became the first runner to win both 5000m and 10000m titles in the same year since Lachie Stewart won the linear equivalent 3 and 6 mile double in 1968 in a 24 hour timespan, in 14:16/29:12 (converted times) against Russell’s 14:48/30:33.”      ROAD RANKINGS – 10K – 21st – 30:40; half marathon – 9th – 66:20.

In 1998 he raced well over the summer on both road and track and again he medalled in the SAF 10000m track championships with his fastest time of the year.   The figures were:    5000m – 11th – 14:33.56;   10000m – 3rd – 30:17.03;   ROAD RANKINGS:    5 miles – 11th – 24:37;   half marathon – 4th – 67:10.   There was only one appearance in the track lists in 1999, in the 5000m where 14:40.1 was good enough to place him thirteenth in Scotland.   There were however three appearances on the road lists.    ROAD:   10K – 11th – 30:15;   10 Miles – 9th – 51.38;   half-marathon – 2nd – 65:53.   Into the new millennium and there was the best series of times for several years – 2000m – 2nd in 5:25.8;  3000m – 7th in 8:25.64;   5000m – 5th in 14:47.06;   10000m in 3rd – 30:33.07.   The 10000m time was good enough for second in the SAF Champs behind Tommy Murray.

When asked about his track running and his involvement with Border Harriers, Alaister said that he ‘didn’t have the turn of speed’ needed for track success and so he often lost out at the end of races.   He joined Border Harriers with the encouragement of team mate Hugh Forgie who was already a member, because he felt that he would get better races in the British Athletics League.    Although he never ever ran in al four BAL meetings in any year, he did run in at least two a season.   Some of these were memorable races such as when he was second to Spencer Barden (14:10) at Portsmouth in 14:17: they had been together all the way until the final two laps when Barden broke away.   On the road he ran in the Northern 6-Stage and 12-Stage as well as in the National 6-Stage and 12-Stage.  On one occasion he ran into third place in the 6-satge at Liverpool when the Borders team finished third team.   He also turned out over the country for them finishing eighth in the Northern Championships at Manchester in 1998.   He was coached initially by Bill Dickson who was a friend of Alex Naylor the Scottish group coach for endurance events for many years after taking up the sport and Bill came to the opinion that he had taken Alaister as far as he could and that for him to develop further he should move on.   Alaister then trained with Ian McCafferty for a while and then moved to train with Tommy Boyle where he did the sessions with Yvonne Murray while Robert Ftizsimmons (Bellahouston) was training with Tom McKean.   The relationship was not long-lived and Alaister went back to his own training.    For track work he did some sessions with Ian White (L&L Track Club) who was a 1:52 800m runner and these helped with the speed that Alaister needed.

For several years he helped out by coaching in the club: their main training venue is at Wishaw and there were many youngsters at Carluke who were interested in the sport.   Alaister set up a group at the Carluke track with the help of some parents and they fed into the main club.   Unfortunately other commitments that he is now unable to carry on with his coaching and he currently has no active involvement in the sport.