Category: Marathon Stars

Winner Charlie Robertson offers his congratulations to John Duffy (right) runner-up

after the 1952 Scottish Marathon Championship from Perth to Dundee

Jock Duffy must be one of Scotland’s least known marathon champions.    Alex Wilson has written the following account of this fascinating man and we thank him for it.

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Several passages are, with permission, quoted verbatim from “The Hardy Race: The Scottish Marathon Championship, 1946 – 2000” by Fraser Clyne and Colin Youngson.   Colin also kindly helped with checking this article.

JOCK DUFFY: A BRICKLAYER’S TALE

Asked what he thought about being labelled an “Anglo Scot” back in the day, Jock laughed and replied, “Not very much, actually.”   What real Scot would?   John Duffy was born in Broxburn, West Lothian on December 13th, 1919.   His parents called him John but practically everyone else knew him as Jock, especially in Essex where all Scotsmen are Jocks!   Broxburn was a small shale mining community in those days, and, immediately after leaving school, Jock inevitably became a miner like his father before him.   He did not take up running competitively until joining the Army.   To this day he remembers the exact date of his enlistment: May 16th, 1940.   These were desperate times.   British troops were on the retreat from Hitler’s advancing armies, and the country was on the brink of disaster.   Jock left Broxburn not knowing if he would ever return.   Fortunately, as we know now, the tide was about to turn in Britain’s favour.   During the War, Jock served as a Sherman tank driver in the Eighth Army under Field Marshal “Monty” Montgomery.   He saw action in both the North African and Italian campaigns and was rolling through Italy when Armistice was declared.

During his Army training Jock immediately stood out as a talented runner.   He was soon recruited into the army cross-country team.   Towards the end of his stint in the Eighth Army in Italy, he became Central Mediterranean Forces Cross-Country Champion.   After the war, he was stationed in Essex awaiting his demob, which came through in 1946.   That was when he met his wife-to-be, May, a Londoner.   She could not be persuaded to live in Scotland so they settled in Hadleigh, Essex.   There were no coal mines in Essex, so Jock went on a training course and became a qualified bricklayer.   The next 30 years were spent working self-employed as a contract bricklayer.   There was no shortage of construction work in and around London.   Jock was always busy, and even had his own employees.   Bricklaying is hard work and you have to be physically fit to do it.   Despite that, Jock trained every day, sometimes running home from the building site, which could be up to 15 miles away, and then making the return journey in the morning.   On Sunday early he tried to run fifteen to twenty miles so that he could have a day and a half to recover before Monday evening’s run.   The weekly total was between 80 and 90 miles.   “A hundred miles a week was my aim but I never quite managed it,” he admitted.   Of course Jock had the usual spousal complaints about his running.   Many years later, however, when his wife realised how much money could be made in events like the London Marathon, she commented that she wished Jock could have won more prizes like those!

Jock joined local club Hadleigh Olympiads in the late 1940’s.   Hadleigh was a small club without track facilities.   Jock therefore did all his training on the roads.   Training partners included the Cook brothers, Ken and Laurie.   Ken was a very good cross-country runner and ran for Essex in the Inter Counties on a few occasions.   Jock started out as a cross-country runner before progressing to road running in 1950 at the suggestion of Ken Cook who had that year finished ninth in the Polytechnic Marathon.   “I didn’t start running marathons right away,” he said.   Like any good bricklayer, Jock began by laying down a solid foundation on the roads around his Hadleigh home.   Living as he did in Essex, Jock regularly rubbed shoulders with Jim Peters, the world famous marathon runner.   Jock knew Peters well and considered him a friend.   “He was a brilliant runner, but he was his own worst enemy,” Jock remarked.   He explained that Peters always ran flat out regardless of the conditions, and that was why he failed to finish the Empire Games Marathon of 1954.   Jock also pointed out that, unlike most of his rivals, Peters included (he was an optician), he had a tough manual job and little time for training.   “I was the only one doing a hard day’s work!”

In 1951, a year after taking up marathon training, Jock made a promising long-distance running debut when he finished fifth behind winner Jim Peters in the Essex 20 in 2:00:20.   A year later at Chelmsford, he improved to second place, again behind Peters, in 2:01:15.    Jock made his marathon debut in the 1952 Polytechnic Marathon.   The field included many of Scotland’s finest long-distance exponents, bidding for a place on the British team for the Helsinki Olympics.   The business end of the race featured a terrific scrap between Jim Peters and Stan Cox, the former winning by a minute in a world record time of 2:20:42.2.   With all attention on Peters, Jock went almost unnoticed as he passed the finishing post in eighth in 2:36:35.   Afterwards he was delighted to receive the Lalande Trophy, awarded every year to the first newcomer to finish.   After the race, Jock was introduced by an acquaintance to the other Scots who had been competing.   They  were Charlie Robertson (Dundee Thistle), fourth in a Scottish record of 2:30:48, Alex Kidd (Garscube) 13th in 2:38:29 and Joe McGhee (St Modan’s), 16th in 2:39:29.   They all conveniently forgot to mention the upcoming Scottish marathon championship to Jock, but Jock found out anyway!   Two months later he was toeing the line in Perth alongside 23 others including fellow Anglo-Scot Jack Paterson of the Polytechnic Harriers.   The conditions weren’t great with a headwind all the way, but Jock was undaunted, and immediately set about stringing out the field.   At 15 miles he was 23 seconds ahead of the chasing Charlie Robertson, but the Scottish record holder, competing on his home turf, was not about to give in without a fight, and sure enough he reeled Jock in.   Taking the lead in the twentieth mile, Robertson opened up a winning gap on the uphill stretch to Ninewells.      But just as the race looked over, barring disaster, Robertson began to struggle.   At 25 miles he was in agony and taking anxious looks back.   The Dundonian came to an exhausted halt almost  within sight of the finishing post but when Jock was only ten yards away, he started up again, and as if magically revitalised, sprinted away to win by 100 yards in 2:38:07.   Jock claimed the runner’s-up plaque, finishing 700 yards in front of Emmet Farrell (Maryhill) in 2:38:32.   In those days, incidentally, SAAA plaques were only awarded to the first and second finishers.   A virtual unknown within the Scottish distance running fraternity prior to this race, Jock had made quite an impact, pushing Scotland’s Number One to the limit.   He had enjoyed himself greatly and vowed to come back and win the title the following year.

Jock was quickly back into training and a month later turned out for the South London Harriers 30 at Coulsdon, Surrey.   It was Jock’s first “ultra”.   He acquitted himself remarkably well.   Finishing eighth behind winner Geoff Iden, he established an unofficial Scottish “record” of 3:17:09.   He still has his finisher’s medal in the loft  and vividly recalls the race: “I was running fourth with a lap to go (it was a four lap race) and half way round I thought I was doing well …. but then my legs turned like wooden sticks, and I just hobbled home,” he said, laughing.

The following year (1953), Jock ran a few of the major early-season road races in the London area, finishing fifth in the Wigmore 15, 16th in the Finchley 20 (1:57:56) and winning the Essex 20 over a hilly course at Highams Park in 1L59:20.   he skipped the otherwise obligatory Poly in favour of the Scottish Marathon Championship.    Sadly Charlie Robertson was not running (he had retired), so Jock was unable to avenge his previous year’s defeat.   The race was over the old Laurieston to New Meadowbank course, finishing during the SAAA track and field championships.   It developed into an exciting scrap between Jock, Alex MacLean and Joe McGhee.   MacLean took the lead at 18 miles and had 49 seconds on Jock at 20 miles.   By 24 miles this had increased to 68 seconds and Jock was resigned to finishing second again.   However, ‘the knock’ (Fifties equivalent of ‘the wall’) intervened and poor Alex Maclean was reduced to a walk until caught by Jock.   They both ran the last mile but Jock proved stronger, winning in 2:38:00 by 43 seconds.   Joe McGhee showed obvious potential by finishing faster than the others and was only 62 seconds down on the winner.   Again quoting ‘A Hardy Race’ , Jock “had shown real guts in running himself out to the tape and he fully deserved his championship victory.”

On the eve of the race, Jock, his wife and two daughters had taken the train from Southend to London, and then the “Starlight Express” to Scotland – a twelve hour journey.   Reaching Broxburn at 3:00 am, he had snatched a few hours sleep before his father arranged for an ex-Hibernian player to give him a rub-down.   Then it was off to Falkirk for the marathon start.   Dunky Wright apparently wrote in the newspaper that “Duffy always looked tired.”   No wonder!   He remembers Alex MacLean’s drive for victory, but although the gap widened he just kept on trying hard until he could see the leader struggling,  and caught him with a mile to go.   Sportingly, Alex said “Good luck to you, mate” as Jock went past.   Jock’s parents and brothers were waiting in Meadowbank Stadium when it was announced that Alex MacLean was about to win the marathon – and then Jock came in, triumphant.

Jock first crossed paths with Dunky Wright in 1952.   Wright as President of the Scottish Marathon Club was the SAAA Officer in charge of the marathon.   “He didn’t like me,” was all Jock had to say about the former Empire Games marathon champion.   Being the reigning Scottish champion, Jock had high hopes of being selected for the 1954 Empire Games in Vancouver, Canada.   Early in 1954, he underpinned his ambitions by running a fast 15-miler in 1:23:52.   But Jock was disappointed when, even before the Scottish Marathon Championship, only Joe McGhee , whom he had beaten three times over the classic distance, was nominated.   Jim Peters even wrote to the SAAA on behalf of the 1953 champion, but to no avail.   Nevertheless Jock entered the 1954 Scottish Championship in the hope of impressing the SAAA committee and clinching selection.   Though pre-selected, Joe McGhee was also among the entries.   The course was a new one from the Cloch Lighthouse in Greenock to Ibrox Park where the Glasgow Highland Games were being held.   Before the race, Jock was taken aside by Wright and informed that if he was not satisfied with the result, Jock would have to run again in the Polytechnic Marathon!   Sending athletes to Vancouver was an expensive business, so Jock needed a truly impressive performance to impress the SAAA committee.   However there was no chance of that.   It was very warm and there was a stiff headwind blowing.   The time at 5 miles after a fast start was 27:11 with Jock, McGhee, Hamilton Lawrence of Teviotdale Harriers and George King of Wellpark Harriers all together.   After 15 miles and the long hill up from Langbank, Joe McGhee took the lead and kept up a fast pace into the wind.   While no fewer than 18 of the 25 starters were forced to drop out, Joe McGhee ran on as though closely pursued and  won by eight minutes in an excellent championship record of 2:35:22.   By running such an excellent time in unfavourable conditions, the quiet spoken McGhee had not only vindicated his nomination, but also shown he was capable of much greater things.   Fighting a losing battle against the wind and heat, with nothing to run for, Jock dropped out at 17 miles.   He duly entered the Poly four weeks later but did not finish.   Thus Joe McGhee would be Scotland’s sole representative in the ’54 Empire Games marathon.   Rather a shame for Scotland, because Jock, who knew his English rivals so well, reckoned he had a chance of third place in Vancouver, although he did not drink water either in training or in a marathon, unless he was having a bad time.   The story of the Empire Games marathon needs little further elaboration here.   Unfortunately the race is notorious rather than famous – and for the sight of poor Jim Peters, badly affected by sunstroke and his own headstrong pace, staggering and collapsing short of the finish.   Yet the statistics prove that the winner and gold medallist was Joe McGhee of Scotland in 2:39:36 from South African Jackie Mekler, the famous ultra runner in 2:40:57 with Johannes Barnard, also of South Africa, in 2:51:49.   There were only six finishers.   With the benefit of hindsight, the SAAA may well have selected Jock but who then could have foreseen that 2:51 would be good enough for a medal?

Jock’s 1955 season was a quiet one in the aftermath of his non-selection for the Empire Games.   His best results that year were a fifth place finish in the Essex 20 (2:01:28) and twenty second in the Poly (2:44:15).   That performance ranked him fifth in Scotland that year – a year dominated by Joe McGhee who romped away with the Scottish championship in 2:25:50.   The next season marked a return to form for Jock and, finishing third in the Southern 20 in 1:56:51 he became an Essex champion for the first time.   He was doubly rewarded with a Hadleigh team victory.   The Poly turned out to be a very fast race, and Jock, after starting quickly, slumped to thirty sixth in 2:39:58.

After that, Jock stopped competing for about a year.   He returned to the fray in the Spring of 1958 when he finished fifth in the Essex 20 (1:58:33) after flying through the first ten in 55:28.   By June he was in such good form that he decided to enter the Scottish Marathon Championship again.    However he came unstuck when he addressed his entry form to the wrong person.   After making the long journey north, Jock arrived in Falkirk only to find that his name was not on the entry list, and that he would not be allowed to run.   It was at about this time that Jock, who was now in his late thirties, resolved to hang up his racing shoes for good.   Hadleigh Olympiads kept going for several years but remained a small club.   American runner Buddy Edelen put Hadleigh on the map in the early 1960’s whilst on a teaching stint in Britain.   He is best remembered for winning the 1963 Polytechnic Marathon in a world record of 2:14:28.

After retirement Jock, at the express wish of his late wife, returned to his native Broxburn.   Today he lives in a sheltered housing development.   Jock is 91 now which makes him Scotland’s oldest living marathon champion!

Jock (255) Running in the 1954 Mitcham 15 Miles

After reading Alex’s profile of Jock, I think that most people interested in marathon running will feel that a gap in their knowledge has been filled and will be grateful to Alex for telling the story of a remarkable athlete.

Harry is Number 17 in the Picture taken during the 1957 SAAA Marathon which he won.

(Also in the photo are George King, Emmett Farrell, Andy Fleming, Hugo Fox (head only), Andy Brown and Ronnie Kane.

I first met Harry when I was about to run my first Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay race.   I got on to the bus for the third stage and was hardly into my seat when a wee man got in and sat beside me.   We didn’t know each other and had never met but he started in right away saying he was delighted to be running the third stage for the first time ever – it meant he’d be able to visit the Forestfield Inn for the first time in ages at the end of the fifth stage!  His patter was terrific and his manner infectious: I lost a lot of the nerves and was feeling quite positive and positively cheery when we got off the bus to start warming up.   We met frequently after that for almost 50 years and at one point when his son was training with our group at Crown Point, we took turn about buying the tea and fudge doughnuts when the guys were out for their jog after the session.

Harry was one of the most popular men in Scottish endurance running in the 50’s and 60’s and even after he retired he went to all the races to see his son, young Harry, race and was always in among the chat with the runners, with the officials and with the supporters regardless of their age or club affiliation.    My first meeting with him was at the start of the 1958 Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay.   I got on the bus for the third leg and immediately afterwards Harry plonked himself on the seat next to me and started chatting away.   Apparently he had been asking for that stage for ages so that he could run, get dressed and be ready for the Forestfield Inn at the start of the long sixth stage.  Everyone remarked on his height because he was so small – he could certainly give Dunky Wright a run for his money in the wee-ness stakes!    But given his size and the size of his heart he must have had a huge power : weight ratio.

After the was Clydesdale Harriers organised one of the first annual races for the Under 17 (Youths) age group in the form of the Youth Ballot Team Race with the winner being awarded the Johnny Morgan Trophy.   It was a Ballot Team race because not all clubs at that time had many runners in what was at the time the youngest championship age group.    It was won by man top class young athletes such as Ian McCafferty, Lachie Stewart and John Lineker.   Harry won the race in his first year in the Youths age group and went on to win many races in all age groups thereafter.   His first Senior title was in 1954 when he won the Midland District Cross Country title at Woodilee Hospital in Lenzie and then he ran well enough in the National Championship to be selected to run for Scotland in the International fixture in Birmingham.    His next international honour on the country was in 1957 after he won the cross country championship at Hamilton Racecourse.   The win was reported in Colin Shields’s book “Whatever the Weather” as follows:

“Harry Fenion, nine years after winning the National Youths title, scored a surprise victory in the Senior nine mile race.   With no one willing to take the lead there was a close group all together  at six miles until Fenion broke clear and opened a gap.   Bannon, the holder, dropped back just when he previously proved  to be his strongest leaving Fenion to win by sixty yards.”     He then ran in the International where he had a bad fall at an obstacle in the first lap meant he could not compete properly.   He finished fifty first – twenty seven places further back than in 1954.   In 1958 he again made the team and finished forty second – in all three he was a counting runner for the Scottish team.    Clyne and Youngson’s version of the same race is this “The sensation of the 1957 National CrossCcountry championship was the victory of Harry Fenion of Bellahouston Harriers.   Harry, Youth Champion in 1948 finds himself nine years later the Senior king-pin.   Everything went right for him and when at six miles he elected to go away no one could hold him.   His pace uphill and downhill was devastating and completely demoralised the field.   Small but neatly and compactly built his running on this occasion reminded Emmett Farrell of an old poem remembered from school days:

“Up the airy mountain

Down the rushy glen

We daren’t go a-hunting

For fear of little men.”

His marathon running started in 1956 when in John Emmett Farrell’s words “A strong rival for Joe McGhee had announced his excellent form on the roads.   Harry Fenion of Bellahouston with his ‘very easy, choppy stride’ broke the course record for the Clydebank – Helensburgh 16 beating George King by one and a half minutes.”   In the SAAA Marathon Championship that year he kept up with Joe McGhee (winning his third consecutive title) as far as twenty three miles before having to withdraw due to ‘blisters and inexperience.’    In 1957 he was known to be keen to add the marathon title to his cross country performance.   he again won the Clydebank – Helensburgh 16, narrowly beating Andy Brown of Motherwell.   There was some doubt about Joe McGhee and Harry became favourite for the SAAA Marathon Championship.   Back to Clyne and Youngson –

“The 1957 race took place on the22nd of June finishing again at  Meadowbank and Harry did indeed achieve his ambition and become the only man to win the National Cross Country and SAAA Marathon in a single year.   The training Harry did was rigorous.   ‘I usually averaged 130 miles a week which included running three times a day, gradually adapting myself to running 5:30 a mile which was race pace.   This was done with the help of my friend who came along on his bike.   He used to time each mile which was good because I was able to increase the pace and come back again to a steady 5:30 pace.   The longest run I ever did was 33 miles.   I usually did 20 miles which included fartlek sessions.   All this training was done in the morning at 7:00 am before starting work  and then again at lunch times and again in the evening.   During training sessions I never ever drank any fluids.   My diet included at least three steaks a week one of which was eaten about two hours before a race.   I usually wore black sand shoes from Woolworths and put a Boots the Chemist’s insole in them.   They did not last very long as the roads where I trained were very rough.

The weather for the race was cold, mainly dry, and at times wet – ideal conditions.   For the first ten miles I sat in the pack watching everybody.   Shortly afterwards I kept asking when the next drink station was making out that I was desperate to take water on board which I wasn’t.  This was part of my race tactics.   When we approached the watering station the other runners moved across to get a drink expecting me to do the same, but to their surprise I never took any and put in a kick that left the pack.   Most of the runners dropped their water to chase after me.   I met my coach shortly after the break and said “Next stop Edinburgh!”   As I was out on my own I started to run at my own pace and pull further and further away.   At 23 miles I took a stitch after stepping down from a particularly high pavement and had to ease down for a bit.   It wasn’t until I entered the track that someone told me I had a chance of beating the record.   I took one final spurt and just managed to beat it.   If I had known earlier I would have taken more off the time.’   Harry’s 2:25:44 broke Joe McGhee’s championship record by six seconds.   Hugo Fox was second    in 2:28:57 and George King third in 2:37:20.   ‘After the race I ate a couple of oranges, had a shower and then went for a three course meal.   My time was the fastest in Britain and the second fastest in the world that year’.

Jackie Foster remembers Harry as being under 4’10” in height but making up for this in speed.   ‘His wee legs seemed like Mickey Mouse toys where the feet are fixed to a fairly big wheel that spins as the child pushes it away from himself.   In one race I was in fourth place about a hundred yards down on Harry and two others (Fox and Kerr) as they approached the large floral roundabout at Maybury.   Harry made the break and ran straight across through rose bushes, flowers the lot.   The other pair anxious to keep up with him did likewise.  The policeman on duty tried to call them back but they were away.   he did however make me and the others follow the correct route.   I once asked Harry how it felt to run as fast as he did in the hope there was some secret he would reveal.   He replied that it was “Sheer hell!”    So that was how he managed to do it – pain tolerance.'”

Emmet Farrell was one of the most well-known and most highly esteemed figures in Scottish athletics – winner of many Scottish championships and lover of cross-country running, he was in love with the sport from the moment he came into it until running as a senior veteran athlete.    For reasons of simplicity I have separated strands of his career and they are covered below.

The picture reproduced above is from a brochure published by his father when Emmet was seven months old.   Below the photo, it reads “Baby Emmet Farrell at the age of seven months, an example of the new race of manhood and womanhood that is to be.”

Talking of running, the first race he could recall was round Ruchill Park in Glasgow –  six children each put   farthing ( a quarter of a penny, 960 to the pound) into the pot.   Farrell won but never collected.  “The pot-holder did a runner to the sweetie shop!”

Emmet Farrell was a natural sportsman who had a good career in other sports before he joined Maryhill Harriers and took up running in 1933. Buying a pair of sandshoes for 1/11d he just turned up at the Harriers.  He had been a wrestler and a swimmer and in the latter he had won the Mayhill swimming championship, was second in the Western District championship, second in the open sea one mile distance championship behind Willie Burns of Glasgow Police and represented Scotland in the 800 metres and 1500 metres at the Tailteann Games in 1928.   He joined Maryhill Harriers at the age of 24 and rapidly progressed as a runner but, according to George Barber in the ‘Scots Athlete’, up to 1937 he was called “the man who always runs second.” .    His most notable race of this period was when he was runner-up to Charlie Smith of Dundee Hawkhill Harriers in the National Novice Cross Country Championships of 1933-34.    A novice was one who had never won any prize in any cross country race so almost all harriers in the country were eligible.   His first individual victory was at Ayr in 1938 when he won the NCCU 10 Miles Championship.    That was the start of a series of victories on the track and over the country.  In addition to many first class races for his club he ran on the International Cross Country race in 1937, 1938 and 1939.

He won the SAAA 6 Miles title in 1938 in 31:02 which was a ‘championship best performance’.   Described by George Barber as ‘not his best race but a very exciting one’ was his duel with Willie Sutherland of Shettleston Harriers in the 10 Miles Flat Race at Ibrox in 1939.    Neck and neck all the way they passed and re-passed each other all the way and the judges could not separate them and the race was a dead-heat.   He was already running in and winning road races.  For instance, in 1938 he won the Drymen to Firhill 15 miler and the talk was that he had secret ambitions at the marathon.    A fair bit of that is covered on other pages here but I’d like to have a look at the pre-war years – the main source for this is Henry Muchamore’s article in Scotland’s Runner of March 1988.

John Emmet Farrell was born in London of Scots parents with, as Henry says, a touch of Irish in his ancestry.   he came to Glasgow as an infant and here he has stayed ever since.   He went to Glasgow University when it was difficult to gain any University place – the reckoning was that between five and ten percent of the population qualified for it – in 1927 to study English, Modern Languages and Moral Philosophy.   Unfortunately his father died and he had to quit the studies to support his mother – no pensions in these days.   Henry says: “John Emmet talks feelingly of the great debt he owed his father for giving him the courage to be a sportsman in a very wide sense, as a swimmer, wrestler, boxer and soccer player before he became a runner rather late in life at 24 in 1933.   Mention is made above of the Tailteann Games where the major qualification was Irish ancestry and it was his first experience of international competition albeit as a swimmer.

He joined Maryhill Harriers at a time when Dunky Wright and Donald Robertson were the kingpins.   “Just to be  a member was an honour,” he said.   He took part in the club pack runs with a pace at the front to dictate how fast the  run was to be and no one was allowed to pass or even run on the shoulder of the pace, and a whip – or whipper-in – at the back to make sure the pack kept together.   If some were finding the pace too fast, he would communicate with the pace to slow a bit and when the pack approached the end of the run, the whip would tell them when to ‘go for home.’   Most clubs had fast, medium and slow packs and Maryhill was no different with Emmet working his way from the slow pack when he joined right through to the fast pack .   He was known early on for being a good runner-up rather than a champion and one columnist is said to have reported on the young Farrell that “he is not likely to make headway at cross-country running.”   These reports and comments only spurred him on.

His National Championship racing career began with the National Novice Championship in 1934 when he was a very commendable second.   The Novice Championship was for athletes who had not won a prize and so the very top men were automatically excluded.   It was nevertheless a very prestigious title to win.   After the First War,  Dunky Wright, then a member of Clydesdale Harriers, maintained that prizes won during the War did not count for entry to post-war novice races!   In 1935 he entered for the race but was unplaced and in 1936 he was ninth.   It was possible for an athlete to compete in the bigger pool of the National Championships as well as the National Novice and in 1936  Emmett ran well in the big one but just failed to make the team.   The following year however he was second to Jimmy Flockhart of Shettleston who went on to the International in Brussels with John Emmet being a very commendable twenty third in his first International.   He defeated Flockhart later that year in a Three Miles race at Hampden but was himself beaten into second place by Jack Gifford of Bellahouston.   He was however part of the winning team which, Henry tells us, was of three superbly carved runners each on an ebony pedestal.   At the end of the year Maryhill were second to Shettleston in the Midland Cross Country Relay with John Emmet getting the fastest time.

1938 was regarded by him as “an unforgettable year.”   It was the Maryhill Harriers Diamond Jubilee and he started it by winning the Maryhill Harriers club championship – his third over the seven miles distance.   Simultaneously Jim Flockhart was being beaten for his club championship at Shettleston.   He trained hard for the National Cross Country Championship to be held over Ayr Racecourse, Emmet contracted a cold three days before the race and is reported to have been on the verge of dropping out.   He had a wee sherry in a local Ayr public house beforehand – he was 29 years old and it was his first ever drink of alcohol.   As for the race: “After a cautious start, I simply felt so full of running that I was able to step up another gear and win by almost 200 yards.   Naturally I was so delighted … other successes can never quite capture that first fine careless rapture.”   The added bonus was that Maryhill won the team award for the first time in their history and the caption in the Sunday Mail read: ‘Farrell leads Maryhill to Jubilee Double.’.    The picture above shows him being chaired by his team mates after the race and Gordon Porteous, Tommy Harrison and George Barber can all be seen quite clearly.

1939 came an with it the War.   John Emmet took the brave stand of being a conscientious objector was set to work in the timber industry for the duration.   For those too young to know, a conscientious objector was one who stated that his conscience would not allow him to fight and kill other human beings and so refused to join the Army.   It was the hard decision to take because it was seen as a ‘just war’ and all were expected to take part.   I knew of one conscientious objector who said he would only join up if he were posted to a bomb disposal squad – he refused to bear weapons or to kill but was prepared to risk his life defusing enemy bombs and mines.   Emmet was one of these brave people.   After the War started he and Jean were married in 1941.    They had met in one of Glasgow’s famous ‘steamies’ – communal wash houses often attached to a public swimming baths – when Jean was, as a favour to an old woman who had broken her leg, was doing some of her washing and Emmet was in charge of the washing machines.   He gave her some help and …………………

Emmet, who had ten cross country international vests went on to win the National title in 1948 – ten years after the first one.   It is worth noting that he was first Scot in 1938 (Belfast – eighth) and 1939 (Cardiff – ninth) which were both great performances and but for the War he might have emulated Jim Flockhart and won the international event.   We have already mentioned his first Maryhill Harriers club championship and he went on to win at least  eighteen in a row, holding off some very good opposition including a resurgent Dunky Wright immediately after the War.

John Emmet Farrell after winning the National in 1938

Alex Dow (Kirlcaldy) and Peter Allwell (Ardeer)_ who were second and third

The second issue of ‘The Scots Athlete’, in May 1946, features an article on ‘J.E. Farrell – Tribute to the First Post-War SAAA Champion.’    John Emmet, as he signed himself, had just won the 10 miles track event for the third time in a row: 1938, 1939 and 1946.    Walter Ross wrote “Sometimes we wonder if Emmet has secret ambitions at the marathon.”   In the past he enjoyed an illustrious career as a long distance swimmer as well as a prominent cross-country, track and road runner.   He reached the age of 37 on 12th June 1946 four days after the very first Scottish Marathon Championship.   The ‘Scots Athlete’ notes that he finished seventh (no time given but probably about the three hour mark).   Emmet however makes no mention of it in his book ‘The Universe Is Mine’.   “My marathon debut was a modest one,” he claimed, referring to his silver medal performance (2:42:43 behind Donald Robertson’s 2:37:49) in next year’s SAAA Marathon in 1947!   He admitted that a certain amount of ‘amour propre’, which he defined as ‘legitimate egotism’ was part of his personality and that he was not ‘not insensible to any honours that have come my way in the field of athletic endeavour.’   However he mainly loved running over the country, ‘the space and the colour of its fields and paths’, ‘the poetry of the wide open spaces’, ‘the sheer exhilaration of  fitness and the lust of honest contest.’   Athletics, he said may not add years to your life but it certainly adds life to your years.   ( JEF had briefly studied English Literature at Glasgow University and always had a way with words – there is proof of this assertion in his book and his rhapsodic, romantic, philosophical running columns in ‘The Scots Athlete.)

John Emmet admitted that the marathon was not his best event.   That was cross-country – “on that surface I seemed to come alive.”   He considered his favourite distance to be the nine miles of the Scottish National championship – “a good balance of speed and stamina.”   In addition he twice broke the Scottish record for distance run on the track in an hour.   When he turned to road racing, he felt better suited to the 15 miles of Drymen to Firhill than the 22 miles of Perth to Dundee (though he did break the record for that distance in 1946) let alone 26 miles 385 yards.   He wrote that he took up the marathon “as a challenge and because of its romantic and historical past”, while asserting that he lacked the patience to log up the mileage of a true marathon runner.

Nevertheless on three or four days a week (30 to 40 miles maximum total) John Emmet Farrell became a good marathon runner, although this part of his career was not as impressive as his shorter distance exploits as a younger man and as an older veteran (in his case M60 to M90).   His finest marathon was undoubtedly the AAA Marathon at Loughborough on 23rd August 1947 when he finished fourth in 2:39:46 behind Olympians Jack Holden (2:33), Tom Richards (2:36) and Donald McNab Robertson (2:37).   This performance was produced on a ‘hot, sultry day when half the 64 starters retired so that the finishing times were reckoned to be worth at least five or six minutes better.’   Certainly John Emmet was ranked twenty first in the world that year and was nominated as a ‘possible’ for the British Olympic team in 1948.   Sadly, despite having his ‘rationing’ diet augmented by occasional food parcels from South Africa, a very disappointed John Emmet was forced to drop out of the Olympic Marathon trial, the Polytechnic event from Windsor to Chiswick on 19th June 1948, due to a very tight leg muscle which eventually, by twenty miles reduced him to a walk.   Had he repeated his previous year’s time, he would certainly have participated in the London Olympic Games.

In the Scottish Marathon Championships between 1946 and 1954 when he was 45 years old, JEF won three silver and two bronze medals.   His second fastest race was 2:40:54 in 1952.   He was prevented from winning the event by extremely good marathoners like Donald McNab Robertson, Charlie Robertson and Joe McGhee.   Indeed if Joe had been injured after the Scottish and before the Empire Games in Vancouver 1954, John Emmet would have had to face the notorious heatwave marathon as Scotland’s representative.   He confessed that he was glad Joe had remained healthy!

In 1962, JEF asked that other old campaigner Gordon Porteous, his Maryhill Harrier clubmate, who was four years younger to prepare for another crack at the Scottish Marathon Championship.   Consequently they trained together doing 40 or 50 miles per week, although Gordon suspected Farrell of ‘doing and extra run on the QT.’   In the race itself, John Emmet relied on Gordon to prevent him going off course and then with 50 yards to go, as Gordon wrote, “the old b****** sprinted to hold me off at the line!  I never let him beat me in a marathon after that,’   Indeed, once John Emmet started competing in World Veterans Championships in the 1970’s, his preferred distances ranged from 1500m to 10000m since he was sensible enough to acknowledge that his marathon days were behind him.

*****

John Emmet Farrell’s Best Marathon Performances

Emmet was unfortunate that what would have been his best years were excised from the sport by the second great war from 1939 – 45.   I myself believe that it deprived him of any appearance in a major international Games.   He would almost certainly have followed Dunky Wright and Donald Robertson into the Olympic Games.   His own coverage of his last shot at a major championship appeared in’The Scots Athlete’ and is reproduced below.

His report on the Olympic Trial Race in the July 1948 issue was important for his assessment of where he was at that particular stage in his career that had started almost 20 years earlier.  Before I go into it, I’ll give you his preview of the race as reported in the magazine for June 1948.    It came immediately after  his preview of the entire games and reads as follows:

“Although the AAA’s Championships on July 2nd and 3rd may be regarded as the main test for selection there is the triangular contest at Fallowfield (Manchester) a fortnight later to settle any issues.

On the other hand the marathon men have only one ‘bite at the cherry’.   In such an arduous event it is impossible to race often.   The selectors have done the correct thing in combining the Polytechnic  and AAA Marathon  events in one.   Formerly in Olympic year the selectors chose the respective winners of the ‘Poly’ and AAA Marathons and voted the third man from the second man in these events.   The times of the second men were not always a fair indication of the respective merits.   Different trails, different weather conditions were a vital factor.   But when all compete in the one race the conditions are the same for all.

SAAA Champion Donald Robertson and myself, both of Maryhill Harriers, are the official nominees with the addition of Charlie Robertson of Dundee Thistle.   Unfortunately Donald Robertson has suffered a number of set-backs culminating in his recent injury and has definitely indicated his withdrawal from the Windsor to Chiswick event.   Charlie Robertson has been training conscientiously and should make his presence felt despite his comparative lack of experience.  I too have been training hard and hope to have a real bid.   Despite my experience last year in competing in both Scottish and AAA marathons (which I feel should be very helpful) I feel that I am still a comparative novice at the full distance marathon.   My chief problem remains, will I get the distance?”

The answer to his last question came in the next issue of the magazine.

“The British and Polytechnic Marathon and Olympic Trial was won by the favourite Jack Holden of Tipton in 2 hrs 36 mins44.6 secs with Tom Richards a good second 400 yards behind in 2 hts 38 mins 3 secs.   Surprise of the race was the performance of S Jones of the promoting club in finishing third in 2 hrs 40 mins 49 secs just holding off the last minute bid by JA Henning who started slowly but finished very fast.   Bert Hemsley of Gosforth and Freshwater (Poly) gave sound performances to finish respectively fifth and sixth.

Charlie Robertson’s Sensational Bid

Scottish hope, Charlie Robertson, set the initial pace for the first two miles and was running easily and confidently.   Holden was back a bit at this stage but when the field settled at five miles there was a group of eight or nine runners together including Robertson, Holden, Richards, Jones and Griffiths.   At 10 and 15 miles the order was still unchanged with Ballard and myself lying handy 40 yards away.   At 20 miles Robertson still had a narrow lead but shortly afterwards Holden took the initiative with Robertson second and Richards third.   At 22 miles Richards overtook Robertson and at 23 miles the latter was forced to retire.   Jones was now third but Henning came away strngly over the last few miles from eighth position to within ten seconds of Jones at the finish.   He undoubtedly misjudged his race erring on the side of caution in contra-distinction to Robertson who may have been a little impetuous.   It is easy to be wise after the event however but there is speculation as to what the latter may have done had he taken an easier start.   He undoubtedly went out to win the race and it is impossible not to admire his spirit.   Although he assured me that he was running within himself, 26 miles is a hard task master.   He has demonstrated outstanding ability.   Experience may do the rest.   Charlie can console himself with the thought that his chance may come again.   With myself it is different.   This is my swan song, I have shed my silk, I was terribly disappointed.   Never have I trained more conscientiously.  Never did I feel fitter.   yet at 5 miles when running easily a muscle in my right leg tightened up.   For 15 miles I trailed the leg and tried to nurse it but at 20 miles I had to slow down to less than a walk.   For the first time in my running career and in my most important race I failed to finish the course.

Luck of The Game

It is the luck of the game.   C Ballard (Surrey,) another favourite, has the misfortune to injure a shoulder  during the week and also failed to finish.   Henning whose misfortune has been noted could not get going at the start.   He felt sluggish and thought it was caused by a week’s rest before the race.

Charlie Robertson, in contra-distinction to his critics, does not feel that he went too hard at the start.     He feels that he could have made the ‘first three’ comfortably had he not at 15 to 20 miles got caught up with the excitement of racing Holden for first place.   This is what he says: “It was just that after a nice canny start I went away and chased Holden between 15 and 20 miles, feeling alright at the time of course, but actually taking far too much out of myself for the last 6 miles, and so just after I passed through the 23 miles feeding station I had to stop through sheer fatigue and lack of any power in my legs.”

It was pleasing to enthusiasts to see Tom Richards take second place.  He ran steadily throughout and in so doing was overcoming indisposition.

Considering the fast course and good conditions, I was somewhat disappointed with the times    The heavy showers came on too late to materially affect the leading runners.   Could it be that the course was a little longer than usual?

Holden won in fluent style, yet he seemed tired after his effort and assured me that Robertson worried him for a bit.   His chances in the Olympics depend on what he has in hand.   But something better will be demanded of Jack in the bigger event.   Despite his long career Holden has the knack of rising to the occasion however and he has a most economical style.   I still think he will be prominent and will give a good account of himself but with many equally classy men in the field, the man with the luck to have a good day may win.

Here is how I rate the chief known contenders, Yon Buk Soo (Korea), Mikko Hietanen (Finland), J Holden (Great Britain), Charles Hierendt (Luxembourg), Johannes Coleman (S Africa.   If Heino (Finland) tackles the marathon as well as the 10000 metres he has the class to win.   Nevertheless I still say the marathon is a most unpredictable event.   Anything can happen, and it is not outwith possibility for some complete dark horse snatching victory.”

That is his report of the trial and the dignified account of his own race is remarkable.    You can read Emmet’s own life story, ‘The Universe Is Mine” at www.anentscottishrunning.com/the-universe-is-mine/

Duncan McLeod Wright was one of the most successful marathon runners that Britain, never mind just Scotland, has ever produced.   He ran in three Olympic Games (1924, 1928 and 1932), two Empire and Commonwealth Games (1930 and 1934 winning one gold and one bronze medal), two British Marathon Championships (there was no Scottish Marathon Championship at the time), won the Poly Marathon twice (1924 and 1934) which was the top UK marathon at the time and the Sporting Chronicle Marathon in Manchester twice (1924 and 1925).   This latter was better known to runners in the 1980’s as the Maxol Marathon.   As well as that he won the Scottish Cross Country Championships four times (1923, 1924, 1925 and 1927) and competed in the International Cross Country Championships eleven times.   There were many minor successes and he had several seconds and thirds in major races as well but there is no doubt about the quality of this athlete.   He started with Clydesdale Harriers in 1917 and won four international cross country vests and one cross country championships (1923) before moving to Shettleston where he won two more and several winning team medals and then he set up his own club called Caledonia AC (colours black and white hoops a la Queens Park FC) subsidised by Sans Unkles the Glasgow fishmonger.  It didn’t work too well and after a year he joined Maryhill Harriers where he spent the remainder of his running days as part of the superb team there with Donald MacNab Robertson, John Emmett Farrell, Gordon Porteous, Andy Burnside and several others.   After his running days were over he worked for the sport as an official for longer than any other international athlete that I can think of – a founder member of the Scottish Marathon Club who was attending meetings up until a month before his death, coaching supremo for many years, Scottish team manager at several major Games (the mascot of the Scottish team at the most successful of all Commonwealth teams in 1970 was called Dunky Dick – Dunky for Dunky the team manager and Dick for Frank Dick, the team coach) and a member of several influential SAAA Committees.   He was always a ‘runners man’ unlike many who go to the ranks of administrators and switch their allegiance to  their new career.  One of the smallest of men physically his stature in Scottish athletics is considerable and an involvement in the sport from 1917 to 1976.

AS AN ATHLETE

His first marathon was in 1923 and went from Fyvie to Aberdeen.   At the Clydesdale Harriers 90th Anniversary dinner in 1975 he reported that his coach had told him to get to the front early on, let no one pass him and he would win!   So he did that.   He also said that at about four miles or so to the finish a farmer gave a him a wee glass of brandy as a pick-me-up and it had the reverse effect on him.  I quote from “A Hardy Breed”:  ‘The first official race over the distance was held over a course from Fyvie Castle to Aberdeen in April 1923.   The decision to hold the race was inspired by the hope that it might ‘reveal obscure talent capable of representing Great Britain at the following year’s Olympic Games in Paris.’   The talent that it did reveal was that of Clydesdale Harrier Dunky Wright who would, 23 years later take part in the inaugural Scottish Marathon Championship.   Wright won by the narrowest of margins.   The experienced cross country champion held a big lead at twenty miles but then hit the wall and was almost caught by local man Jim Ronaldson in the closing stages.   Wright gouged out a victory in 3:13:12.4 with Ronaldson just 37 seconds adrift.’  

1924 was his first season of serious marathon running and he had two very good victories in the major events in the country, the Polytechnic Harriers Marathon which he won by 26 seconds from top English runner Sam Ferris in 2:53:18 and the ‘Sporting Chronicle’ marathon in Manchester in 2:34:25.  The story is that he is said not to have run the full distance – the race was run in heavy rain and several officials left their posts and as a result several runners cut the course. He was however selected for the Olympic Marathon which was only the second Olympic marathon to use the standard 26 miles 385 yards distance.    After the 1908 Olympics in London the Polytechnic Marathon had used this distance as standard and it was largely due to the prestige of the Poly Marathon that the distance we use today  was adopted in 1921 as the official marathon distance by the IAAF.   In this, his first race in the big time, he was one the 28 who dropped out.   The heat had been so intense that the start was delayed for two hours until 5:23 pm but the heat still took its toll – Dunky came out at 20 miles.  Who were his fellow Olympians apart from the Brits?   Well Paavo Nurmi took part, Willi Ritola, Edwin Wide among the endurance men and – Johnny Weissmuller who was to be the best known screen Tarzan was also there winning gold!

In 1925 he again won the Manchester race, this time in 2:44:7.8 but his next successes were in 1928 when he was again selected for the Olympics.   One of the best known in the race he finished twentieth in 2:45:30.    Earlier in the year he had won the AAA’s championship in 2:38:29.4.   In 1929 he retained his AAA’s title in 2:49:54.2 but it was in 1930 that his great triumph occurred.   The first Empire Games Marathon was held in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada and he won fairly comfortably.   His third Olympic marathon vest was won in 1932 an resulted in the closest ever Olympic marathon with four finishers on the track at the same time.   He had however lost his AAA’s title before that.   After the 26 miles of the race Wright and his Maryhill Harriers team mate Donald Robertson entered the track at the White City Stadium together with Robertson winning by 1.4 seconds.   Robertson could not go to the Olympics because of work and family commitments and Dunky Wright and Sam Ferris were the GB representatives in Los Angeles.   They had both run in the Olympics before and this time prepared especially carefully and were fairly optimistic about their chances – they were probably the two best known competitors in the race.   The race had 28 runners when it was run on 7th August 1932.   Zabala  of the Argentine led out of the Stadium and held it for almost the first 20 miles of the race when Virtanen of Finland took over and reached 20 miles  in 1:50 with fellow Finn Toivonen two minutes back and Wright another minute behind.   Virtanen dropped out with a foot injury and Dunky was in the lead when the Stadium came in sight a full minute ahead of Zabala.   Dunky was now being hunted down by Zabala, Ferris and Toivonen but if he could hang on the race was his.   Unfortunately a wee  twinge in his right thigh slowed him slightly and all four were together going into the last mile.    All were on the track at the same time and they finished Zabala (2:31:36) first, Ferris second 19 seconds behind, Toivonen third in 2:32:12 and Wright fourth in 2:32:42.   Dunky was to say later that “The one thing I regret is not winning at Los Angeles.   I finished quite fresh and the winner went to hospital.”

A Group of famous British Marathon Runners at the 1928 Olympics.

His only other major win after that was the Poly marathon in 1934, ten years after his first triumph there in 2:56:30.   Later that year he ran in the Empire Games Marathon in London and was third with Robertson second.   After that run he said that it would be his last race.   He did however run in the first ever Scottish Marathon Championship in 1946 just short of his fiftieth birthday and finished second to   –    yes, Donald McNab Robertson!   It was fitting that he should run in the event because he had been such an inspirational runner through the inter-war years and had been a founder member of the Scottish Marathon Club when it was set up in 1944 and it was through the club’s efforts that the SAAA had a marathon championship in the first place.

After all that it is appropriate to have a look at what sort of training he and his contemporaries did.   In an interview with Don McGregor in 1975 (published in ‘Athletics Weekly’ on 10th October 1976) he gave the following details:  “On weekday evenings they trained as a group from the Maryhill Baths in Gairbraid Avenue.   A five on Monday, a six on Tuesday, five on Wednesday, on Thursday a faster five, on Saturday a seven if we had no race.    We didn’t train as fast you do now but averaged six minutes to the mile.   We did pack runs with six or more running and changes of leader all the time.”   I have to say here that I wonder if that was all there was to it or if some extra sessions were put in from time to time.   After all McNab Robertson is said to have been the first Scot to do 100 miles per week with four 20 milers plus one of 25 every week.   If Dunky was holding him all the way in a marathon and losing out be less than two seconds then surely he had more work going in than steady five milers as outlined above?

The answer is probably contained in one of my favourite road running reference books, ‘A Hardy Race’ by Colin Youngson and Fraser Clyne.   They tell of the difficulties of getting kit, etc in the post war years and how Dunky got round this for members of Maryhill Harriers before going on to say “Training was usually about thirty miles a week.   They ran from Maryhill Baths on Tuesdays and Thursdays – about seven miles a night.   There might be a fast pack and a slow pack, each one with a Pacer and a Whip.   On Saturdays if there was no race  a pack of runners might cover fifteen or even eighteen miles of road and country followed by tea, buns and a sing song.   An alternative was some serious hiking.   John Emmett Farrell sais that the National Cross Country distance of nine miles suited him because it was a perfect balance of speed and stamina.   He didn’t add that it was about half the distance he covered on Saturdays.”   This gives us three days training out of seven possible and the total of the three days was 32 miles.   I would have expected men such as Dunky, Emmett Farrell and company to have done something on at least two other days bringing the total up nearer 50 miles a week.    The long hike was a staple for many athletes at the time – Harriers used to meet up early on a Sunday morning in the 1930’s and go for walks such as round the Three Lochs which is currently regarded as a bus tour by such as Lochs and Glens, Wallace Arnold and company!

Dunky fourth from the left at the 1969 marathon finish.

AS AN OFFICIAL

So that’s Dunky as a runner how about Dunky as an official?    He was a fixture on the SAAA General Committee being President in 1959 and Secretary of the West District Committee from 1948 – 57.   He was responsible at one time for Coaching and Coach Education and when I did my first Coaching Course in 1961, Dunky was the organiser.   As already pointed out he was Team Manager for several Scottish teams and not surprisingly his main interest was the marathon.   Not ever an aloof official he was into the dressing rooms congratulating winners and others as well.   He really was a runners man.

However in the space for club affiliation on the lists of Past Presidents and Past Secretaries, etc, the words ‘Scottish Marathon Club’ appear after his name.   With Jimmy Scott in particular, Dunky was the mainspring of a very good Committee of the club which had been set up to ‘foster marathon running in Scotland’.   Among its achievements were

• The establishment of a Scottish Marathon Championship: Prior to the set up of the SMC there was no such thing as a Scottish Championship for the event with runners having to travel to the English races except for the odd one in Scotland, organised locally and often of doubtful distance.
• An increase in the number of road races in the country: You only have to look at the annual fixture lists in the 40’s and 50’s to see the annual incremental rise in the number of events.   You only have to look at the Minutes of the SMC to see how they made contact with any group organising a sports meeting or championship and asked them to put on a road race.   Not only that they had a definite policy of getting a range of distances leading the runners up to the marathon.
• A consequent increase in the number of participants.   With races available all over the country at distances from 5 miles right up to 23 miles and also the marathon naturally there would be more participants.   Committee Members came from all over the country and they all evangelised on behalf of the sport of road running.  Pictures of road races with six or eight runners were originally not uncommon but the fields were soon counted in tens and then in twenties.   All down to the SMC and not to the SAAA.
• A rise in the standard of the event nationally.   Self evident really – the more people doing something the more chance there is of a real talent coming through as did Dunky at Fyvie!   And with that came the education in training methods and the sport developed further.
• The Marathon Championship being part of the SAAA Track and Field Championship.   The big one.   Track and Field did not want to know.   The marathon was the only internationally recognised event in the country not recognised at national championships.  The progression was to have the championship established, then to have it start somewhere handy and finish at the Stadium while the Championships were going on and then, the Holy Grail, to start and finish at the Championships.   The event had real status at last.

As an example of what he could do that most others couldn’t, there was a discussion under ‘Other Competent Business’ at the Committee Meeting in May 1956 on the question of having a One Hour Track Race.   I quote: “Mr Wright said it had been suggested that such race be organised by ourselves and VPAAC.   In any case this could not be run as an attempt on  record.   Suitable venues would be either Ibrox or Helenvale.   It would require to be on a weeknight and certainly before 6th June or it would interfere with the Marathon Championship.   Mr Wright said that he would approach Scot Symon re Ibrox and ‘The Daily Express’ for prizes.   The feeling of the meeting wa that this race, if held, should be handled by this club.”   Scot Symon was the Rangers FC manager at the time and not someone that just anyone could phone up – but them Duncan McLeod Wright was not just anyone.

AS A MAN

As a member of Clydesdale Harriers I was disappointed that he had left the club when he was President and club champion and when he had many friends in the club.   What a difference it would have made to the club to have had Dunky running for us through the twenties and thirties.   However having said that, I have nothing but admiration for him and all that he did for the sport.   He was to be seen at all sorts of meetings and would turn up at a road race where he wasn’t expected to be, he helped organise several meetings but maybe particularly the famous Cowal Highland Games athletics programme.   For those younger brethren who never had the pleasure of running there, it was held in August at the time when football clubs were holding pre-season friendlies but there was always a crowd of 50,000 at Cowal.   There was a short programme of events on the Friday night and a full programme of events on the Sunday with an invitation Two Miles Team race which often had an English club such as Saltwell or Longwood invited.   To run on the track with guys like John Hillen, John McGrow and company was very good for your self esteem!   He even persuaded them from time to time to have a one hour race and there was the famous one where Ian Binnie broke every Scottish record from two to ten miles en route to a top three of all time distance for the one hour run.   Lachie Stewart won another and there is a tale, probably apocryphal, that among his prizes afterwards was big box of cigarettes!   This was down to a lot of local people doing a grand job but Dunky provided the icing on the cake, using his name and his fame to get support from officialdom and to persuade athletes to turn out.   At marathon races he was an ever present.   He was so easy to speak to and get on with that it was a joy to have a chat with him.   One of the things about Cowal was that you were entitled to claim expenses for your team in the invitation two miles.   The claim form had to be counter signed by Dunky.  So I approached him on one occasion, it is fair to say he had had a wee libation at the time, and gave him the completed form.   I always get two blanks in case I make a mistake when filling it in and on this occasion there was a blank under the completed form.   Dunky signed the top form and then slipped the bottom of the one below down far enough to expose the line for his signature and I checked him saying no, that was just a blank form.   “Oh you made a mistake there, son,” he said, “you could have claimed what you liked!”

As for Committee work, I can only say that when he died in August 1976 aged 80 he had attended every SMC Committee Meeting over the past year and at the one immediately before he had agreed to be the club’s rep to the SAAA.    And no one at any point ever felt that he was doing too much, he had boundless energy.   We at Clydesdale Harriers were delighted when he presented the cup for a road race which is now the Dunky Wright Memorial Road Race held over 5K in March every year.    There are other Dunky Wright  Memorial Races but not many, if any, have a trophy donated by the man himself.   I’ll finish with the short obituary by Ron Marshall in the ‘Glasgow Herald ‘ on 23rd August, 1976:

“Those of us who have frequented athletics meetings in Scotland for any length of time find it hard to imagine no Dunky Wright turning up at them.   His death at the weekend at the age of 79 changed all that with stunning suddenness.   Dunky’s feats of marathon running I know only from the record books – Empire Games winner in 1930, three times an Olympian, winner of races the length of Britain from the half mile to the Classic marathon distance.   He had I understand the instincts of the fighter who knew no meaning of the word defeat.   In more recent years his was the smiling face among athletics press men.   If you missed a result he had it..   If you wanted a first name Dunky knew it.   Sometimes at the more dismal gatherings we endured he pawkily threatened to take on the plodders, a leg halfway over the railings.   He had a justifiable pride in his fitness and dared anyone to treat him as an 80 year old.”

Dunky Wright has been inducted into the Scottish Athletics Hall of Fame.

Jock Semple, pictured above winning the Balloch to Clydebank race in 1924, joined Clydesdale Harriers after the first war and proved to be an excellent athlete who always worked on the club committee in a variety of roles such as Junior Captain and as a member of the Finance Committee.   A contemporary and friend of Dunky Wright he emigrated to the United States looking for work in early 1923.

On arrival in the States he settled in Philadelphia and joined the Meadowbrook club in whose colours he ran his first marathon in June 1926 winning the award for the first Philadelphian.   He came back home for a visit in 1927 which lasted 15 months while he received treatment for an injury.   While here he ran in the Polytechnic marathon trying for a place in the British Olympic team and finished ninth.   He then went on to London for the AAA’s marathon where he finished sixth.   in those days they chose six men for the team but they took some from each race and he didn’t make it.

On his return to the States he ran in the Boston Marathon where he finished 29th of 250 starters.   In 1930 he really trained hard and was ninth in the American Marathon Championships in new York and immediately hitched to Boston where he was ninth in a race that included American, Finland and Canada.   He then moved to Boston permanently and that was the start of a very good athletics career.   In 1932 he started to think of the Olympics again.   He was running well and had a series of three wins in the New England Marathon (1931, 1932, 1933) , he had beaten two of the Canadian team in their own marathon championship when he finished second, he beat two of the Americans in the US championship in Washington,  in Boston he beat the third American and the German first string marathon runner.   Britain was only sending two marathon runners – his old friend Dunky Wright and Sam Ferris – to the Olympics so a Canadian marathon official and friend of Jock’s sent his credentials to the British Olympic Commission plus Jock’s offer to pay for his own expenses and uniform for the Games in Los Angeles.   The offer was turned down flat.   His marathon career continued unabated and, unable to get into the British team, he took out US citizenship and competes for the USA in the first Pan American Games in 1937 where he finished fourth.   During all this time he was experimenting with himself and with his equipment – he often made new shoes using the skills he had learned while working in a shoe factory in Lynn, Mass.   The most exotic ‘experiment’ (his word) was part of a series of tests carried out by Harvard on distance runners.  It was conducted in the University’s ‘Fatigue Laboratory’.

“First of all they told me the results of the blood test after the Medford race.   My blood sugar was the highest, 140, which tells me that I can punish myself  more in the early part of the race as I had a lot in reserve.    Then they connected my heart, diaphragm and two points on my back to a machine.  I had small metal pads strapped to these points making connection with the electric wires.   The idea was to record on to a tape recorder similar to the stock exchange type, the increase in my heart action by exercise.   I sat on a chair at rest.   The machine was started and I had to walk on.  It is like these moving stairways .   It is on a slope and the first speed was four miles an hour for five minutes.   My heart went up to 120.   the average person goes up to 160.   Then I had my nose closed with a gadget and a tube leading from the fresh air outside was put in my mouth while the impure air breathed out was collected in a tank for further testing.   I was still walking.   Then a ten minute rest sitting and they still record the heart to see how quickly it comes back to normal.   The machine was then speeded up to seven miles an hour but with the slope it is equivalent to nine.   I kept this up for five minutes and felt it a little.   The average person usually does two miles.   Another ten minutes rest as before.      After the walk and the run blood was taken from my arm.   I then had a long rest and a thorough physical examination by a doctor and he pronounced me in wonderful shape.   My heart at rest is only 50 which is an asset for distance running.   Now came the biggest test of all.   The machine was speeded up to nine miles an hour which would be twelve on the level.   They said if I kept it up for two minutes I would do well, but oh, boy!    Was I pooped?   It required all my will power to stick it out.   Another ten minute rest and   blood test and I was through.   The test showed me that my heart comes back very quickly to normal.   I then went out on to the Harvard Stadium track which is one of the finest in the country.   I did three miles in 17:30 which is not very fast but not bad after what I had been through.   One detail I missed.    I had supper at 6:00 pm on Wednesday and had nothing until 6:00 pm on Thursday.   They can do the test better on an empty stomach  (Mine) but they don’t often get them to go without eating!”

That was Jock in 1935 and still there are people in the UK who don’t believe in using what science has to offer.   He also kept fairly detailed records.    For instance

* in 1935 he ran 1152 miles and walked 871 which means 2023 in all.  (Note that Dunky Wright also believed in walking as part of training.)

* He took part in 24 races and won 15 prizes – 7 medals, 4 cups, 2 statuettes and 1 watch.

The miles don’t mean much to the present day athlete but we are all children of our age when it comes to training and he was averaging about 42 miles a week.

One of his own experiments was a bit of a disaster though.   Early in his marathon running days he had trouble with his feet slipping inside his shoes so he invented an adhesive that would hold his feet still inside his shoes.   The adhesive stuck too well – and it was worse than before because his feet were overheating inside the shoes and he needed to change shoes but because of the adhesive he couldn’t ……………………

When the war came along he joined the Navy after Pearl Harbour and served as a PT Instructor.   He was assigned to the Sampson Naval Training School where he was in charge of all athletics activities and was coach of the track team.   “After the War I resumed my old routine but at 42 I was over the hill as a contender.   I worked for a year then went to physiotherapy school.  My plans were to be a trainer and secretly I wanted to be one of the best. “

Over the hill or not he was chosen to represent the USA in the Kosice Marathon   in 1947  in Czechoslovakia but ran poorly because of a stomach upset “My bowels ran better than I did!”   He was trainer for the US Hockey team at St Moritz in 1948 and also for the World Championships in 1949.   On the way to Kosice he stopped off in Scotland and was interviewed by Dunky Wright on the radio.   Jock was trainer again for the US Olympic team at the Winter Olympics in 1952.   “After that I decided I had had enough and started to develop my private business and help build the Boston AA team.”

He set up in business as a physiotherapist with the remit of looking after all the athletes who used the Boston Garden and eventually had an exalted private patients list that included the Kennedys, Stan Smith the tennis player, Rocky Marciano, world heavyweight boxing champion and many more.   He also coached many winning Boston teams as well as individual winners Young Johnny Kelly and Bill Rodgers.

He is probably best known now for his work in organising the Boston Marathon with his friend Will Cloney.   There is enough written about that elsewhere but his career as a runner was a very good one and if you want to read more, look at Tim Kerkorian’s book on ‘The Boston Marathon’  and just look up the index for Jock Semple and read all about him.

His racing career went from 1926 to 1947 – 21 excellent years with world rankings almost every year even through the War.  His highest World ranking was 21st in 1944; his best competitive year was probably 1931 when he was ranked 30th, 31st and even one hundred and third in the world.   As a Scot all his life, he donated many, many trophies to the SAAA and the SCCU along with cash to cover any administrative costs or additional mementos to the winners.

Bobbi Gibb: First Woman to run in the Boston Marathon

I knew Gordon Porteous as a fellow member of the Scottish Marathon Club – the difference was that he was a founder-member and I only joined in 1961!    The first time I was conscious of him in a race was my first long road race at Dunblane when the group refereed to by Emmet Farrell as ‘the geriatric rat pack’ came past me at about 11 miles with a query as to my well-being.   Emmet himself, Andy Forbes and Gordon were in the group of four or five.   I subsequently met him at various races and, of course, at SMC Presentation Dinners, usually held in Glasgow.   A fine runner when he was a young man he became a world champion as a vet and the following excellent profile was written by Colin Youngson.

When, at the age of 93, Gordon died on 18^th of January 2008, his club Maryhill Harriers published a respectful, affectionate and informative obituary. He was described as “a gentleman and a fine example to others in many ways. He was a courteous, caring individual and an ambassador for Maryhill Harriers and Scotland.” Anyone who was privileged to meet Gordon, or to receive one of his elegant, precise but witty letters, can only agree wholeheartedly.   The obituary continued: “Gordon’s contribution to and support for Maryhill Harriers was simply breathtaking.    A member since 1935, he held every senior office and did so for many years at a time. As well as support the club administration, he would still turn up to help out at those races in which he was not competing, whatever the weather. He had encouraging words for several generations of runners and was notable in never having a bad word to say about anyone. He was simply inspirational, always positive.   At the time of his death, Gordon was Honorary President of Maryhill Harriers and Honorary President of Scottish Masters Athletics (incorporating the Scottish Veteran Harriers Club).    He was a keen modeller who used to escape his female-oriented household to the loft to undertake this hobby for many hours at a time. He would only re-enter the house if there was a John Wayne movie on the TV!”

Gordon Porteous was born on the 20^th of February 1914. In the late 1930s he trained and raced with illustrious clubmates like the Olympians Dunky Wright and Donald McNab Robertson and the 1938 (and 1948) Scottish Cross Country Champion John Emmet Farrell. When the Second World War ended in 1945, despite a poor diet (which continued for years of severe rationing in Britain), Gordon wasted no time in returning to athletics at the ‘advanced age’ of 31. On 16^th June 1945 he travelled south to take part in the famous Polytechnic Marathon from Windsor to Chiswick, finishing 8^th in 3 hours and 14 seconds. That sounds like an inauspicious debut, although it did rank him in the top 70 in the world that year. Gordon’s excuse was that he “suffered severe stomach cramps around the 21 mile mark and had to actually stop – couldn’t even walk – so much so, that my clubmate Andy Burnside, who had been over four and a half minutes behind me at 20 miles, passed me before I could get going again. I probably lost about 5 minutes as a result. That was the only time cramp ever affected me during a marathon. (I never had cherry pie again for my lunch!)”

In 1946, after a trial race, Gordon Porteous was selected to run for Scotland in the ICCU Cross Country Championship in Ayr. He finished 43^rd as one of his country’s counting team.   That was the year when the first Scottish Marathon Championship took place, although Gordon did not take part. However he provided useful information which is quoted in ‘A Hardy Race’. “After the war, dietary problems included digesting dried egg and getting hold of enough food to sustain us. Runners lucky enough to be ‘possibles’ for the 1948 Olympics received food parcels from South Africa, courtesy of the AAA. Survivors of the Saturday long run replenished reserves with Bovril (served in special club Bovril mugs) and cream crackers or a pie. Maryhill road men had one advantage over their rivals. Dunky was a member of the Home Guard. The crafty fellow obtained a supply of heavy brown Army plimsolls, which had much thicker rubber soles than the usual ones. More cushioning and fewer blisters. The alternative was Dunlop Green Flash – a tennis shoe which would ensure blood on the road for its masochistic owner. This brand was still used in the 1960s!

Other kit comprised shorts, a vest, grey flannel trousers for the warm-up and a jersey with long sleeves to be pulled down over the hands on cold nights. Training was usually thirty miles a week. Maryhill Harriers (motto: ‘Good Fun – Good Fellowship – Good Health’) ran together from Maryhill Baths on Tuesdays and Thursdays – about seven miles a night. There might be a slow pack and a fast pack, each one with a Pacer and a Whip. A good deal of wisecracking could be heard, especially as the fast pack whizzed past, unless runners were breathless. On Saturdays, if there was no race, a pack of runners might cover fifteen or even eighteen miles over road and country, followed by tea, buns and a singsong to the music of mouth organs etc. An alternative was some serious hiking.

Not surprisingly, Sunday was considered to be the day of rest. However Dunky Wright and Donald Robertson (who was ‘a bit of a horse’) added a long Sunday run to the regime.”

By 1948, Gordon was ready to have another go at the marathon, and improved to 5^th in the Scottish Championship at Dundee, finishing in 2.54.11.

By 1962, aged 48, he hadn’t been doing much racing, when John Emmet Farrell, who was five year Gordon’s senior, suggested having a go at the Scottish Marathon. Consequently they trained together doing about 40 or 50 miles per week, with the odd 20 miler nearer the race. Gordon suspected JEF of “doing an extra run on the QT.” The race started outside Old Meadowbank Stadium, and went through Dalkeith, Cockenzie and back to finish on the ash track. “Since it was a warm day,” (Gordon wrote) “the two (not so old) warriors ran steadily together. This was a wise move since JEF was notorious for going off course. Then with 50 yards or so to go, the old b…. sprinted to hold me off at the line! I never let him beat me in a marathon after that.”

Now one of several reasons why Gordon Porteous must feature on this website, is that he was still breaking the three hour barrier in 1981 at the age of 67! (He stated that his so-called ‘failure’ to run as fast after then, was due to a hamstring injury sustained while track training for the 10,000 metres in the European Veterans Championship in Strasburg.) Between 1949 and 1969 he contested only eight marathons (PB 2.49.23) and dropped out of three of them. However he ran two in 1970 and never missed the Scottish Senior (or Veteran) Marathon Championship between 1972 and 1982.

At the age of 60 in 1974 he ran 2.53.08 and in 1975 two M60 World Marathon records: 2.51.35 in the Scottish Senior and 2.51.17 to win the inaugural World Veterans Championship in Toronto. This was nearly three minutes faster than his 1948 effort!   Gordon Porteous went on to achieve a truly marvellous series of successes. He set European and World age-group marathon records at: M65 (2.57.00); M70 (3.11.45); M75 (3.23.12); and M80 (3.47.04).

He won World Veteran Marathon gold medals in Coventry 1976, Berlin 1978, Hanover 1979, Glasgow 1980, and New Zealand 1981 plus Rome 1985.  A European Marathon gold medal was won in Brugge, Belgium in 1989.

In 1976 Gordon actually won an amazing four World Championships in ten days. As well as the marathon in Coventry, he was first in 10,000 metres on the track, 10k cross country and 25k road!

Of course he won many gold medals at shorter distances and in British championships too. Doug Gillon wrote about the occasion when in September 1994, at the age of 80, Gordon “added another title and record to a portfolio which, in its way, rivals that of Linford Christie.    Porteous took more than nine minutes from the UK over-80 10,000 metres track record, clocking 48.06, when he won his age group in the Scottish Veterans championships at Ravenscraig Stadium.”

Gordon enjoyed many glory days in the company of his close friends John Emmet Farrell and Davie Morrison. The three of them travelled together all over the world to championships and broke so many records. I remember in particular the splendid and well-deserved newspaper and television coverage of those three Scottish heroes in the 1999 British Veterans Championships at Meadowbank; and the subsequent World Championships at Gateshead.

Even when he was over 90 years old, Gordon said, in an interview “In a good week I manage to run 30 to 40 miles. The idea is to keep fit, although a little piece of pride also comes into it. When I began running, I didn’t imagine it would become as popular as it is today. Normally, you try to do a wee bit better each year, but eventually you reach a stage when you’re just hoping to finish!” He was married to Nettie for more than 60 years. She survived him for just two.

Even now in 2010, Gordon Porteous continues to hold three world age group records: M85 5000m (24.51.7); M90 5000m (31.25.45); and M90 10,000m (69.27.5). He should be remembered as a great champion and a wonderful role model.

Following Colin’s profile of Gordon above, it might be appropriate to finish with a contribution from outside Scotland as an indication of how he was seen from outside Scotland.   The following comes from www.mastersathletics.net and the World Famous Athletes directory. 

“The Flying Scotsman” has finally come to a halt.   Our oldest competitive athlete, Gordon Porteous, Scottish Veteran Harriers, was laid to rest in Barrhead on 25th January, weeks short of his 94th birthday.   His last major race was at Coatbridge in October 200 when he smashed the M90-94 age category World 10000m track record, winning in 69 min 26.92 sec.

He won 23 World and European age groupmedals, including the marathon in 2 hrs 51 min aged 60, at the first ever World Veterans Track and Field, Toronto, in 1975.   He remained unbeaten over this classic distance by any one of his own age.   He returned home from the World Championships in New Zealand in 1981 with four gold medals.   He currently holds the following records:

• World M 90-94  5000m in 31:25.45
• World M90-94  10000m in 69:26.92
• European records as above, plus the M85-89 5000m
• British 1500m records from aged 80 through to age 93
• British M80-84 3000m indoor

His many friends and admirers will have fond memories of meeting a great amateur athlete and a true gentleman

Graham MacIndoe sent a copy of the Athletics Weekly article about Gordon by Jimmy Christie of Victoria Park and it is reproduced below.

Donald McNab Robertson and Dunky Wright lead the Fiery Cross Relay from Edinburgh Castle

With six AAA’s marathon championship victories and the winner of the first two SAAA marathon championships, two Empire Games selections and an Olympic selection, Donald MacNab Robertson of Maryhill Harriers has to be considered one of Scottish marathon running’s greats.    When you consider that all, except for the the SAAA wins, were done in the period between 1932 and 1939 his claim to greatness is enhanced even further.   Born in 1905 he came late to the sport and first came to the notice of the wider athletics world when he won the AAA’s marathon title from club mate and friend Dunky Wright.   Arriving at the track together Robertson won the sprint – as he was to do in many races – to be victorious by by only 1.4 seconds.    This was only the first of a series of wins in 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937 and 1939 and in 1946 (the first post war race) he was only just outsprinted to finish second in what was virtually a dead heat.    In other words he failed to get a seventh AAA’s title by 0.2 seconds.

In 1932, having won the AAA’s he was selected for the Los Angeles Olympic Marathon where Dunky Wright, whom he had beaten at home, was fourth but unfortunately work and family commitments meant that Donald could not accept the selection.  His winning time in the AAA’s of 2:34:32.6 placed him eighth fastest in the world that year and was to be his lifetime fastest time. He won again in 1933 in 2:43:13.6 and in 1934 his winning time was 2:41:55.   He also ran in the Empire Games for Scotland that year and finished second only one place ahead of Dunky Wright.   He did gain selection for the Berlin Olympics in 1936 after possibly the most exciting of all his victories in the AAA’s marathon championship.   This time he entered the White City Stadium with Ernie Harper of Hallamshire Harriers but Robertson again showed his sprinting strength and skill to win by 1.2 seconds in 2:35:02.4 which ranked him twelfth in the world at the end of the season.   In Berlin he  was always up with the race although he never took the lead at any point and finished seventh in 2:37:06.2 which was the twenty third time in the world.  The times are an indication of how tough the competition was – there was only a two minute gap between the times but a ranking difference of 11 places.   Incidentally  Ernie Harper was a close second in the race.   In 1937 his best time of 2:37:19.2 was good enough for thirteenth in the world.

His only run of significance in 1938 was in the 1938 Empire Games in Sydney where he was fourth in 2:42:40.0.    In 1939 he won his sixth AAA’s title in 2:35:37  (good enough to be twelfth in the world) after which there was an unfortunate career break until 1946.    By 1946 the Scottish Marathon Club had been founded and had forced the SAAA to hold a Scottish Marathon Championship.    Needless to say the almost 40 year old Robertson won from 50 year old Wright in 2:45:39.     In the AAA’s marathon that year he was second after another last lap sprint at the White City only losing out by 0.2 seconds to Squire Yarrow in a time of 2:43:14.6.   Remember that this was just after the War and food was still quite severely rationed and shoes in particular were hard to get.   First of course you needed the money but in the second place clothes could only be bought if you had enough clothing coupons.   Coupons used on running shoes could not be used on other items of everyday clothing and it was a case of ‘make do and mend’ to quote a slogan of the times.   A year on and he again won the Scottish title, this time in 2:37:49 and was third in the AAA’s in 2:37:58.   These two times were the nineteenth and twentieth in the world that year.

A couple of comments: (1) It should be noted when looking at rankings in the post war period that the principal rivals in endurance events – the Scandinavians and the Americans – had not suffered the privations of the war and were not enduring rationing.   If you read Joe Gallo’s columns from Australia or read George Barber’s columns in ‘The Scots Athlete’ you will have read of food parcels being sent to Scottish athletes from Australia and from America so that they could compete on equal, or nearly equal terms.   In that situation to be ranked in the top twenty in the world was no small feat.   (2) When looking at times remember that marathone as a sun screen!   Venue?  Centre Parcs!

So what training was Donald McNab Robertson doing?   It’s hard to get it exact because (1) so little was published and (2)reports of what runners were doing by themselves and other runners were often unreliable.   The base training on club nights is easy enough to get a grip on with steady runs of between five and seven miles done as pack runs although the Maryhill fast pack must have had a different idea of what was a steady run.  I know that at inter club runs in the late fifties there were runners who asked if the medium pack was a ‘fast medium or a slow medium’.   I have a little about it on the Dunky Wright page.    Probably the most reliable account that you can get is that in ‘The Hardy Race’.   “Not surprisingly Sunday was considered a day of rest, however Dunky and Donald (who was considered a ‘bit of a horse’ by Gordon Porteous) added a long Sunday run to the regime.   Donald McNab Robertson was reputed to be the first of the ‘hundred miles a week’ men, perhaps twenty mile runs up to four times a week, a twenty five mile run on Saturday and a thirty mile hike on a Sunday; and Dunky certainly managed to put in more ‘six minute miles’ than many of his contemporaries.’

Regardless of the miles put in or the number of titles won or major Games medals, he was reported to be a thoroughly nice man, like by everybody.   I knew many Maryhill Harriers and none of them had an even mildly critical comment on him as a person.

He was training as hard as ever and looking forward to a good summer’s racing and a possible, maybe even probable, place in the team for the Olympics twelve years after his last run at the Games when he died suddenly in his sleep after a good training run that day.   I finish this piece with the obituary printed in the ‘Scots Athlete’

Charles Robertson

Charles Robertson – known by almost everybody as ‘Chick’ – was another who came into running from cycling.   The introduction below comes from a Photoflash feature in ‘The Scots Athlete’ and outlines his road into the sport and early successes.   The Services teams were all very good with the Army, Navy and Air Force all looking after established athletes who had joined up or been conscripted as well as discovering new talent.   Derek Ibbotson, Alastair Wood and Joe McGhee were all in the RAF and the Army Team was renowned for its excellent teams.   The British Army on the Rhine after the War had teams that were the equal of many National squads and to be in that team says a lot about his cross country ability.

“Seldom indeed does a long distance runner make a name for himself without serving a long and hard apprenticeship, but this has happened in the case of ‘Chick’ Robertson of Dundee Thistle.   Previous to 1945 Chick’s whole interest lay in cycling but while in Germany with the 7th Black Watch he did so well with his Battalion’s cross-country team (which won its Brigade, Divisional and Corps Championships) he was chosen to represent the B.A.O.R  [British Army On the Rhine] Team against the Belgians and the Americans at Brussels in March 1919.   In this race he finished tenth.   Against the Home Army he captained the Rhine Army Team and in this race he finished sixth.   By the time he was demobbed the sport had made another convert and he joined Dundee Thistle.   Since then he has won the Eastern District Junior Championship  but had a setback in the National when he had to retire through injury.   Fully recovered by May 10th he won the Brechin 12 Mile Road Race.   In his best yet, the Perth to Dundee 22 Mile road race he finished second to Marathon Champion Donald Robertson beating some of the best distance runners in the country.”

The above was taken from a ‘Photoflash’ by Robert Robinson in the ‘Scots Athlete’ and it will be quoted again in this review of Robertson’s career.    He went on the next year to win the Scottish Marathon for the first time and the race itself is described in ‘A Hardy Race’ as follows.   “Charlie always gave the impression of being in ‘control’.   This impression is emphasised by Gordon Porteous who actually competed on 11th September 1948 over the Perth to Dundee course (extended to full distance) during Charlie Robertson’s first success in the SAAA Marathon.   Gordon writes that “The first few miles were rather sedate, there being a pack of six or seven runners, yours truly among them, none of whom wanted to take the pace, till Charlie decided to go at five miles.”   The break was clean and Charlie (2:45:12) won by over three minutes from John Emmett Farrell.”    Charlie’s first attempt to make the Olympic  marathon, the first being in 1948.   In the trial that year he led to 23 miles before his legs gave out and the great marathon man Jack Holden won admitting later that Robertson had had him worried for a time.

In 1949’s Scottish Championship, Jack Paterson won over the Gourock to Ibrox course and in 1950 Robertson finished second to Harry Howard, defeated by only 13 seconds and in August set a new record for the 22 mile Perth to Dundee race.   In 1951 Jack Paterson won the Championship held for the first time in conjunction with the Scottish Track and Field Championships.   Charlie Robertson had had his best winter in season 1950-51 and finished third in the Scottish Cross Country Championships.   He set a new course record to beat his own standing record and then only two weeks later won the Edinburgh Marathon and it was reported in great detail in the ‘Scots Athlete’ as follows.

 CITY OF EDINBURGH MARATHON, 1951

CHARLIE ROBERTSON WINS CLOSE RACE WITH A NEW COURSE RECORD

“This race at Edinburgh was one of the most interesting I have seen for some time.   There was an unfortunate incident at the onset.   The race started before the advertised time and for some unknown reason Charlie Robertson and Harry Howard were left in the Invitation dressing room although the main dressing room where the other marathon runners were had been cleared.   After the first lap of the track these two runners joined the race with the knowledge that they would have to run the extra lap when they returned.   When the race was clear of the park, B Murray (Teviotdale H) was in the lead followed by J Kelly (Bellahouston H), A Brown (Motherwell YMCA) and F O’Kell (Liverpool).   Murray remained in the lead until just before five miles when Charlie Robertson (Dundee TH) took the position  and Murray faded out of the picture.   Five miles in 29:57 found Robertson leading with JW Stone (RAF), O’Kell,  J Thomson (Carlisle), Harry Howard, J Winfield (Derby) and Jack Paterson (Poly) all in a bunch.   It was a perfect day, cool with no wind.

At 10 Miles the Scottish Champion Paterson, not looking too happy, was in front in 1 hour 0 minutes and 4 seconds followed close by Howard, Stone, O’Kell, Thomson, Winfield and Robertson.   Winfield, a veteran track and cross country internationalist who was third in this year’s British Championship was not going too well.   Stone the RAF boy was looked exceptionally  fit and well  and seemed to be the only one enjoying the race.    At 15 miles in 1 hour 29 minutes 35 seconds Howard was in the lead with Stone and Robertson.   There was a gap of 30 yards with Paterson and 25 yards behind came Winfield  who pointed to his ankle and then dropped behind.   At this period Stone went into the lead and very soon drew away and it looked as if the race was all over he looked so fit and well.   At 20 miles in 1 hr 59 mins 35 secs Howard decided to do something and strode out with Robertson following close behind and Paterson some 50 yards away.   After almost sprinting down a long hill at Sighthill, Howard passed Stone, who was also passed by Robertson, who was now looking very tired.   At the 24th mile Robertson made his effort and passed Howard who looked all in and Robertson then made no mistake running strongly to the park he ran the course – including the extra lap – completing in the fastest time of the series in 2 hrs 38 mins 15 secs.   JW Stone (RAF) who had passed Harry Howard only outside the park was second in 2 hrs 38 mins 33 secs, Harry Howard was third in 2 hrs 40 mins 50 secs .   J Paterson who was an excellent fourth in 2 hrs 41 mins 59 secs was the liveliest at the finish and almost sprinted the last lap to show how fresh he was.   The handicap race was won by J Bell (Kirkcaldy).

1. CD Robertson   2:38:15;   2.   JW Stone   2:38:33;  3.   H Howard   2:40:50;   4.   J Paterson   2:41:59;  5.   A Kidd (Garscube)   2:47:39   6.  J McGhee (St Modan’s)   2:48:19;   7.   J Bell (Kirkcaldy YM)   2:52:11;   8.   JE Farrell (Maryhill)   2:57:16; 9.   J Winfield (Derby)   2:58:16   10. A Brown (M’well)   2:59:40;   11.   H Haughie Springburn)   3:01:07; 12.  L Hollingsworth (LP) 3:03:50;   13.   R Jackson (Winton H) 3:08:47;  14. F Clarke (Glasgow YM)   3:16:31;   15.  PH Ward (York)   3:18:40 16.   A McLean (Greenock GH)   3:18:40; 17:   17.  R Donald (Glasgow YM) 3:29:03; 18.  JR Scott (Glasgow YM)   3:34:32″

GS Barber ‘The Scots Athlete’.

If you look at this cast list it contains no fewer than four future champions, four future record holders and eight cross country internationalists.

Charlie Winning The Race in Fine Style

The following pen portrait was written and published in the ‘Scots Athlete’ in March 1952 by George S Barber under the heading “Charlie Robertson (Dundee Thistle Harriers).”

“Here is an athlete who has studied all aspects of the running game and found health and joy in it.   He has made running his hobby and like any hobby it has taken up all his spare time, if he has any, being a teacher of Art in Dundee, father of four bonnie children – two boys and two girls – and a keen enough gardener to keep his family in fruit and vegetables.   Charlie who is 32 years of age was pre-war a 100% cyclist and did long distance touring and time trials from 10 to 50 miles.   In May 1939 he was in the Territorials and on outbreak of war was introduced to running via Army PT and curiously enough he liked it so much that by the winter of 1945-46 he finished up by being captain of the BAOR team and the Army team in the Inter-Services Championships – by the way with the rank of Major in the Black Watch.

When he was demobbed he joined Dundee Thistle Harriers and has since been a stalwart for the club.   He was soon bitten by the long distance bug and since then he has had 29 firsts over all the various road races that are now so popular in Scotland.   These include 4 Perth to Dundee and 5 Brechin races.   He has won two full distance marathons in Scotland, the Championship in 1948 and the Edinburgh Highland Games marathon in 1951, which he thinks is his best win.   He has been twice second in the Morpeth to Newcastle race, 1948 and 1950 and was fourth in 1951.   He feels he ruined his chances for selection in the 1948 Olympics by trying to race Holden in the trial and he retired when lying third at twenty three and a half miles.   He won the Eastern District Cross Country Championship in 1947 and 1950, was fifth in the National in 1948, seventh in 1950 and third in 1951, and ran in four International Cross Country Races finishing 20th in 1948 (2nd Scot), 44th in 1950 (2nd Scot), 51st in 1951 (8th Scot) and ran at Sheffield (14th) in 1951 being 3rd Scot.   His track running includes 2nd in the Scottish 6 Miles in 1951: his time was 31 minutes 40 seconds.   Finishing 6th in this year’s National he was honoured with the captaincy of the team to be 6th counter in 34th position.  

I remember well his first appearance in the Perth-Dundee Road Race with Donald Robertson in opposition.   Charlie ran against the advice of his friends but I can say now that I was ahead with Donald and he was very doubtful if he would win.   If Charlie had made an effort going down to the Esplanade it is possible he could have won the race easily.  

Charlie adopts a common sense and fresh approach to this athletic game.   He has his own ideas and says every man should work out his own requirements and methods and apply them diligently and conscientiously.   He believes in his own training programme and does not favour coaches or text books.   He maintains the desirability from the psychological angle, of varying roads, country, training time, methods and everything that can prevent training becoming a monotonous grind.   He feels that the average runner does not work enough.   No use running 3 miles for a 3 miles race, run for 40 minutes to an hour.   If you train for stamina, speed will come.   Distance work makes you much more supremely fit for any distance than you could be otherwise, and his tip for marathon runners “find what you can do, then ignore what the rest of the field are doing, you have plenty of time in a marathon race to run to your own requirements.”

Charlie is a strict non-smoker and teetotaller with no food-fads, believes eggs, cheese, milk and fish are as valuable of meat – which is good advice these days.   After long experimenting he finds that his pre-race meal should be scrambled eggs with toast or brown bread and butter followed by breakfast cereal with honey and milk.   This short meal should be taken 2-3 hours before a short race and 1-2 hours before a full marathon race.  He feels that it’s a mistake to run a long distance race without food inside.    Young runners do not study pre-race feeding enough, consequently the result is tummy trouble.

His views on coaching, training and massage are interesting.   He never used massage and says of training is regular it is unnecessary.   He abhors the smell of oils and embrocation in dressing rooms, one cannot oil legs like cycle wheels.   On a wet day on the roads he puts a smear of vaseline on the legs from calf to ankle and on a cold day, to the knee caps.   How can the skin breathe with pores filled up with oil or grease?   He takes very little body exercise – maybe shoulder loosening only so that arm movement should be independent of any body movement.   Charlie does not think walking is an efficient part of training but useful from a general health point of view.   His idea is entirely opposite from Dunky Wright who considered long distance walking an essential part of his training.   He has no regrets at taking up long distance work but often wonders what he may have done at 1 mile or 3 miles.

His method of training is very elastic.  He runs as to his mood, weather and time.   He feels that the biggest training fallacy is that distance blunts speed.   He repeats that distance makes you fitter and if you are fit, speed will be there.   We spoke of whether the time spent in the Services would take the edge off athletic fitness – thinking of any boy going up for training.   Charlie thought that he should gain in  general physical development and with widened outlook on his return should be a better athlete than when he went in.  

Finally his last word.   He said that the amount of work done was the sole criterion for success or otherwise and athletes who wonder why they are not getting results shouldn’t have to look for a remedy, if they think they have it in them and though they train quite hard it isn’t enough for results.   It largely amounts to the fact that “two club nights and a Saturday run” aren’t enough.”

In March 1952 the AAA’s Marathon and Olympic trial was held over the Windsor to Chiswick course and is remembered mainly for Jim Peters’ winning time of 2:20:42 which was a world best.   He was followed by Stan Cox and Geoff Iden and the three of them moved off pretty early in the race.   Charlie was determined this time not to go off too quickly and started fairly steadily and came through strongly at the finish to be fourth in 2:30:48.   He was really unlucky this time to run so fast and so well and miss out on selection for Helsinki.   The Scottish Marathon on 9th August was again over the lengthened Perth to Dundee course.  Charlie was the clear favourite given his form and the course that he knew so well.   There was a genuine contender though in the Anglo Scot John Duffy from Broxburn who was living in Essex and was friendly with Jim Peters.   In the actual race, Joe McGhee (who had been nine minutes down on Robertson in March) stayed with the leaders early on but it was soon a two horse race between Robertson and Duffy with the Anglo over 20 seconds ahead at one point.  By 24 miles Robertson had a 100 yard lead but felt that he had cramp and stopped to touch his toes and do all the usual exercises to relieve it before moving off and then having to stop again.   Nevertheless he won the race by 25 seconds from Duffy in 2:38:07 with Emmett Farrell third.

Because of business commitments he faded from the athletics scene in 1953 after his wonderful 1952 because of business commitments.      He had had a wonderful career and was unfortunate not to take part in any major Games but he left a mark on Scottish athletics and his name should maybe more familiar to today’s marathon men than it is.

‘Athletics Review’ also published information about Charlie Robertson.