Category: The Milers

Georgena Craig (130) in the 1964 National Women’s Cross-Country Championships at Bury,

  behind Madeleine Ibbotson (Longwood), eventual winner, and ahead of Pam Davies (Selsonia) the silver medallist.

Picture from Arnold Black, taken by Eric North

Georgena Craig (nee Buchanan) was a very talented athlete who ran mainly in the 880 yards but was ranked at various distances from 220 yards to 3000 metres, raced in relay teams over the 4 x 110 distance as well as the 4 x 880 yards and she was ranked in and won medals in the pentathlon.    Competitively she ran in two Empire/Commonwealth Games and was part of a world record setting GB 4 x 880 team.    Although it is as a track athlete that we will look at her career here, it should be noted that her talents extended to cross-country running.   In the National Championships, she was second in 1961-’62 to Dale Greig, won in 1962-’63 with Dale second, was second in 1963-’64 to Dale and won in 1964-’65 from Leslie Watson with Dale third.   These results are intriguing in that Dale was known to be a very strong endurance runner who held the women’s world best time for the marathon while Georgena was a very fast runner over 220 and 440.  Georgena then missed the National for the next three seasons (or at least was not highly placed in them) but was ninth in season 1968-’69 and eleventh in 1969-’70.   She also represented Scotland in the international championship.   Her best times are in the table below.

Event	Time	Date
220 y	26.0	1963
440 y	57.1	1965
880 y	2:07.9	1968
800 m	2:05.8	1970
Mile	5:08.4	1966
1500 m	4:48.6	1972
3000 m	10:35.7	1969

 

Born on 17th July 1942, she became a senior athlete in the summer season in 1962.   On 5th May 1962 in the Western District Championships at Scotstoun, Georgina won the Mile in 5:46.6 and the ‘Glasgow Herald’ said Miss D Greig (Tannahill) led for most of the way but she was caught by Miss G Buchanan (Maryhill) and beaten by a yard.”  A week later at the SWAAA Pentathlon Championships the report read: “Miss G Buchanan (Maryhill) excelled in the half mille with a time of 2:18.2 which is more than eight seconds quicker than the time returned by the winner of the Western District title and will now be submitted as a new Scottish native record.”   Seven days later in the West v East fixture at Scotstoun, Georgena won the 880 yards from I Inwood in 2:20.3, a new meeting record.   On to 29th July at Gourock where she was second to C Kelly in the 220 yards and second again to A Gorman in the 880 yards.   Each time she was giving away yards in the handicap.   In the Land O’Burns Trophy Meeting at Ayr on 11th August she won the 880 yards in 2:21.8, in the Edinburgh Highland Games at Murrayfield on the 18th she was second lodged between J Beretta (AAA) and Maeve Kyle (N Ireland) in a race won in 2:16.3 and a week later in Cowal she was again second behind Madeleine Ibbotson (2:16) and Maeve Kyle (2:20.4) in 2:19.     It was a summer with lots of competition and one in which she gained a lot of valuable experience.   By the end of 1962 she was ranked third in the 880y with a season’s best of 2:16.2, and second in the Mile with 5:19.0; competitively she was second in the SWAAA  1 Mile Championhsip.   In 1963 her range widened considerably as can be seen from her times and ranking positions:   220y   26.0   10th;    440y   58.8   3rd;   880y   2:13.9   1st;   Mile   5:24.4   2nd;   Pentathlon   3288 pts   5th.   Competitively she was first in the SWAAA  880 yards and second in the Mile.

The summer 1964 season started for her on 20th May in the Glasgow Championships in which she won the 800m in 2:21.   Despite missing the West District Championships, Georgena ran in the West v East event and finished second to I Inwood in the 880 yards and the winner was given 2:23.9.   In the SWAAA Championship on 13th June she won both 880 yards and Mile.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ said “Miss Buchanan came back to form in the 880 yards championship which she retained in the good time of 2:15.9, two seconds slower than her record in the event last year.   The Western runner later resisted the challenge of Miss I Inwood (Maryhill) in the Mile, winning by 10 yards in 5:24.4.”     Two weeks later at the Gourock Highland Games Georgena had two seconds in the handicap 220 yards (running from a mark of 3 metres and then in the 880 yards from the scratch mark after giving I Inwood 12 yards start.   On 8th August in the Scotland v Ireland match at Dam Park in Ayr Georgena won the 880 yards and was reported as follows: “Miss Buchanan never gave her rivals any chance by setting a fast pace through her first quarter in 63.7 and won in a new national best time of 2:13.1 which improved her own unratified record of 2:13.7.”   She could have done with that same time the following week when on the tight little grass track at Murrayfield in the Edinburgh Highland Games she finished third behind Mrs GD Ibbotson who won in 2:13.1 with Pat Lowe second.   Her season then ended with a win at Bute Highland Games at Rothesay when she was timed at 2:22.2.   The second finisher had a handicap of 60 yards – this was ferocious handicapping on the cinder track which was seriously downhill on the back straight and just as seriously uphill in the finishing straight!   Georgina;’ best times for summer 1964 ranged from 26.3 for 220 all the way through to 5:24.4 for the Mile.   They were 220y:   26.3    ranked 12th;   440y:   59.0   6th;   880y:   2:13.1   1st;   Mile:   5:24.4   4th.

Georgena’s best times for summer 1965 were  220y   26.2   7th;   440y   57.1  1st;   880y   2:10.1   1st;   Mile   5:23.6   3rd;   Pentathlon   3221 pts   9th     SWAAA   1st 880y     2nd Mile    and her progress throughout the summer can be traced in the reports from the ‘Glasgow Herald’ which were pretty detailed and quite comprehensive.   The report on Monday, 3rd May after the West District Championships on Saturday, 1st, was headed Three West Titles for Miss Buchanan and said:   “Miss G Buchanan was the top performer at the West District Women’s Championships on Saturday at Scotstoun when she won the 440 yards, 880 yards and One Mile events in times she has beaten on more than one occasion .   The opposition was not up to the usual standard thus enabling her to nurse her energies in judicious fashion to tackle all three races.”     Her winning times were 61.5, 2:20.5 and 5:29.2.

 10th May (reporting on the previous Saturday’s events said this.   “Miss G Buchanan who had competed in the forenoon and afternoon in the pentathlon championship, two hours later took part in the 880 yards at Hampden Park and after having beaten a wind of gale force won in a time of 2:24.5.   She set a fast pace with the wind at her back down the enclosure side followed by Miss I Inwood but when she turned into the wind the pace was clearly affected.  Three hundred yards from the finish Miss Inwood took up the challenge but Miss Buchanan displayed reserve power even against the wind and strode away from her rivals and won by 15 yards.”

On 17th May the report on the East v West competition at Nethercraigs, Glasgow:   “Among those who distinguished themselves, was Miss G Buchanan who wisely decided to concentrate on the 440 yards and 880 yards, a decision that paid off handsomely with a fine win in the 440 in 58.4 sec, 0.5 sec faster than the meeting record, and then took 1.6 sec off the previous best for the half mile with 2:18.7.   It was felt that Miss Buchanan might be beaten by either of the East competitors in the 440 yds but she set her sights properly by going out fast from the start leaving Miss B Lyall behind her all the way and won by eight yards.   Miss Buchanan’s tactics were equally successful in the longer race and despite valiant efforts by Miss I Inwood to hold her, she won by 10 yds.”  

On 24th May it was on the Glasgow Athletics Championships at Scotstoun.  “Miss G Buchanan was successful in retaining the 880 yards title.   After having passed the bell in a fast 64.5 sec she won in 2:15.6” 

The SWAAA Championships were held at Pitreavie on 12th June and there was a large contingent from the Anglo-Scots club in England present.   “The mile was no race at all.   Mis V Tomlinson (Aldershot) having run 54:55.8 earlier this month went out from the start as if on a training run and in so doing built up such a lead as to focus attention on the race for second place.   That query was soon answered when Miss L Watson (Maryhill) left Miss G Buchanan in pursuit of the leader but at the tape Miss Tomlinson was 70 yards ahead in 5:06.7, an all-comers record.   An hour previously Miss Buchanan had been an equally convincing winner of the 880 yards finishing 60 yards ahead in 2:15.2, 2.1 sec slower than the national record.   One wonders why she is persisting these days with fast first laps and much slower second laps.   Her time at the bell was 64.5 which gave her a second lap time of 70.7.   How much easier she would find two laps of 66 sec is arbitrary but one feels that until she looks into her pace judgment she will continue only as a 2:15 runner.”  

Her next competition was in an match between Dunfermline College of Physical Education, Edinburgh Southern Harriers and Western AAC in which Western were third but Georgena won the 880 yards in 2:21.8 and ran the last stage for the winning 4 x 110 yards relay team.   Two weeks later she won the 440 yards in the Octavians meeting in Edinburgh in 59.3 and then it was the Gourock Highland Games where she won the 220 yards handicap off a mark of 3 yards in 26.7 and the 880 yards from scratch in 2:19.2 as well as being part of the winning 4 x half lap relay team.   The track at Gourock is a heavy grass track which is downhill on the first bend and uphill on the second bend so fast times are not expected there!   She had a good report on the Strathallan Games on 7th August when she was said to be in her best form over the ‘sodden grass circuit’ and won in 2:16.1 – she was off scratch of course and the limit runner was E Stewart of Maryhill who had a start of 58 yards.   On the 30th of the month in the Edinburgh Highland Games at Murrayfield she finished third to M Hodson (Bury and Radcliff) and Pat Lowe (Birchfield) with the race being won in 2:12.9.   The 1965 season finished there and the big challenge in summer 1966 was to get in to the Scottish team for the Empire Games team for Jamaica.

Georgena’s best time for summer 1966 were:   220y   26.5   17th;   440y   59.5   5th;   880y   2:09.2   2nd;   Mile   5:08.4   1st.   Competitively she was second in the SWAAA  880y, and third in the Pentathlon.  She had also got married and was henceforth known as Mrs G Craig.   On 2nd May 1966 Maryhill Harriers LAC held a six club open meeting at Scotstoun and the report said “Miss G Craig showed her mastery of half miling when she outpaced her opponents in 2:13.3, her fastest this year.   Miss M Hodson (Bury) proved to be no threat having won a 440 yards shortly before and it was only from Miss P Brown (Middlesex) that only a fleeting challenge came.”      It was a good time to start the competition season with and the following week in the SWAAA Championship at Scotstoun she won the 440 yards and 880 yards and was runner-up in the 200m.   Her times were 60.4 and 2:22.3.   In the West v East at Ayr on the 16th May, Georgena won the 880 yards in 2:20.3.  On 11th June she ran in the SWAAA 880 at Pitreavie and finished second to M Hodson who was timed at 2:09.2.  On 13th June came the announcement in the papers of the team for Jamaica.   The ‘Herald’ read: “Representatives from the nine sports at the Empire Games in Jamaica from August 4 to August 13 spent six hours yesterday in Edinburgh in deliberations over the 60 competitors they would send.   At the end of their talks, they issued the following team …”   From the athletics point of view, there were 12 men and 6 ladies being sent to represent the country and the ladies contingent included Georgena Craig for the 880 yards.    IT seems a very small team in total – 60 athletes – and there were the usual complaints about athletes omitted and the reporter mentioned particularly Dick Hodelet of Greenock left out of the men’s 880 yards.   But Georgena was in the squad.

On 2nd July she travelled with a small group of Scottish athletes to the White City to run in the WAAA Championships.   The report read  as follows.   “Mrs G Craig led the field at the bell in 61.7 in the final of the half-mile but thereafter tired and finished sixth.   Her time of 2:07.9 however was a furth of Scotland record.”   One week later she took part in an invitation meeting at Grangemouth Stadium, the first meeting to be held there, and competed in the Mile where Anne Smith of Mitcham set two new Scottish all-comers records of 4:48’5 for the mile (the first time 5 minutes had been beaten by a woman in Scotland) and 4:30.7 in the 1500m.   Georgena set a Scottish record for the 1500m of 4:49.4 and equalled the Scottish record for the mile with 5:08.4.   Two weeks later the headline in the ‘Herald’ read “Mrs Craig’s Easy Win at Gourock.”   and followed with “On the track the most eye catching win was by Mrs Craig, not so much by her time but by the number of yards she had between herself and the second girl home.   Here is a case for more severe handicapping: as at Kirkintilloch earlier in the week, she caught the front runners with almost a lap to go and from that point she was left to decide whether to try hard or to win by the minimum.  She tried hard and finished 50 yards clear.”     That was the final race before heading for the Empire Games in Jamaica.   Obviously fit – Scottish records of one sort or another at 880 yards, 1500m and One Mile plus a win by 50 yards in a handicap where she was off scratch, all indicated that.

There were two Heats of the women’s 880 yards in the Games.   Rosemary Stirling was in the first and Georgena was in the second.   Results in the table below.

Position	Name	Country	Time		Position	Name	Country	Time
1.	M Stephen	NZ	2:06.6		1.	P Piercy	England	2:10.0
2.	A Smith	England	2:07.2		2.	P Lowe	England	2:10.0
3.	R Stirling	Scotland	2:07.6*		3.	J Pollock	Australia	2:10.0
4.	A Hoffman	Canada	2:08.8		4.	C Carter	Canada	2:10.7
5.	D Watkinson	England	2:09.3		5.	G Craig	Scotland	2:10.8

* Rosemary’s time was a new Scottish National Record.   Just looking at the time, Georgena’s race seems to have been an almighty scramble up the back straight and with only four to qualify, she was unlucky but in such a melee anything can happen.   It was unfortunate but her Games were over.

The first race on her return was at the Edinburgh Highland Games on 20th August where there was an invitation 880 yards won by Rosemary Stirling in 2:08.7 which was a new Games Record: Pam Piercy was second and Georgena third but no times were reported for the race other than the winner.   She ‘triumphed convincingly’ in the 880 yards handicap at Shotts running from scratch in 2:17.4.   As at Gourock, times at Shotts mean nothing, it’s the victory you went there for: the track is downhill in the back straight, uphill in the home straight and in September was generally of the consistency of grey porridge.   The season was over.

1967:   Georgena did not compete at all in 1967, was not ranked in any event.    In 1968 however she appeared in three lists – 440y:   60.1, ranked 14th; 880y:   2:19.8   6th;   Mile:  5:21.8   5th.   Georgena certainly started the season well.   On May 11th in the West District Championships, she won the 800m in 2:30.2 from McGregor of Maryhill on 2:34.8 and then won the Mile in 5:39.3 from D Stewart in 5:43.4.   A week later at the Glasgow Championships at Scotstoun she won the 800m in 2:20.4 from Lesley Watson in 2:25.0.  And a week after that, in the East v West match, she was third behind Barbara Lyall in 2:24.5.   Her 5:21.8 for the Mile was run at Grangemouth on 6th July when finishing 4th in the SWAAA Championship..   The 60.1 for 440y was run at Grangemouth on 26th May when she was third, the 880 time was at Grangemouth on 23rd June

1969 was the year when distances changed from imperial to metric and races were over 400, 800 and 1500 – after all the Commonwealth Games were coming to Meadowbank in 1970 and the new track had to be marked out in metric distance.   The buzz in that season was incredible as athletes tried to stake their claim to places.  As far as Georgena was concerned, the two big rivals were Rosemany Stirling who had been her team mate in Jamaica and who had done wonderful things in the years since then, and Mary Speedman, daughter of International coach Jimmy Campbell, who had moved to 800m and 1500m   The season started with the West District Championship in Glasgow and Ron Marshall wrote: “Mrs Georgena Craig, for so long Scotland’s No 1 half-miler,  was given as hefty a defeat from another Scotswoman as she could ever have endured.   All the same it was sad to see someone with her past record come under the chopping block.   Mrs Mary Speedman allowed Mrs Craig to lead in both the 800m and 1500m and then put herself in the lead 300m and 200m from home.   In both instances, There was no vestige of a challenge from a tired Mrs Craig and Mrs Speedman was an easy winner each time.”    I’m not sure what ‘coming under the chopping block means – probably a mixed metaphor such as the BBC reporter who spoke of drawing a red line in the sand – but the tone of the article implies that Georgena’s days as a challenger for international selection were over.  He couldn’t be more wrong – don’t know though, he was the man who opined in the Herald that the 1500m distance would never take off in Britain and we would probably settle on a 1600m race!   Anyhow, Georgena had her sights on Edinburgh 1970 and her best marks were:   800m   2:14.6   7th;   1500m   4:49.5   7th;   3000m   10:35.7   1st    SWAAA  3rd 1500.   She followed the District Championships on 15th May with a victory at Peffermill in Edinburgh in 2:14.6 which was her fastest for the season.   Speedman had eight times faster than that though, and Stirling had four.   Her best time in the 1500m was set at the SWAAA Championships at Grangemouth on 5th July.   Only one 3000 metres race was held in Scotland – and it was won by Georgena.  Run at Scotstoun on 30th August, it was a brand new event for the country and there were no championships or events of the distance at sports meetings.   She won it in 10:35.7 from Ann-Marie Orpiszwenska (11:32.6 and Dale Greig (11:46.3.   The only other Scotswoman to run it was Susan Foster of Aldershot who ran 11:21.6 at Crystal Palace on 6th October.  Then it was on to the Commonwealth Games in 1970.

Her  form in 1970 could not have been more different from the 1969 season.   On 9th May in an International against Ireland, Ron Marshall’s report on the event included this.  “On the track, most praise from Scottish officials went to Georgena Craig for her crisp, spirited running in the Senior 800m.   This was the runner of two or three seasons ago we were watching.   She came off the last bend hotly pursued by Andrea Lynch (Ballymena), the Scottish 400m champion, but as soon as Mrs Craig became aware of the danger, she surged forward to the finishing line and left Miss Lynch to wonder why her effort had been in vain.   Mrs Craig’s winning time was 2:16..3, much faster than she has gone for some time.”   The excellent running continued through to the Scottish Championships at Meadowbank on 6th June.  This time the report read: “Rosemary Stirling’s 800m  was surely a superb display of running in which she left no one in any doubt about her chances of a medal on the same track in just over a month from now.   In second place came another veteran, Georgena Craig, taking a similarly new lease of life in clocking a native record of 2:08.7.   Third place went to Mary Speedman in 2:08.9 and I expect all three to be in the team.”    The SWAAA were expecting 22 places to be made for the women’s athletics team, and in any case, all three were indeed selected.   In a meeting at Meadowbank on 13th June, the British women’s 4 x 800m team 0f Lillian Board, Pat Lowe, Sheila Carey and Rosemary Stirling set a new world record of 8:27 but were unanimous in their opinion that it had been a soft record and it could be broken again fairly easily.   As in 1966, there were two heats of the women’s 800m and the results are below.

Commonwealth Games: Two Heats and a Final:  First Four to Qualify

Position

Name

Country

Time

Position

Name

Country

Time

Position

Name

Country

Final

1.

S Carey

England

2:04.7

1.

P Lowe

England

2:07.0

1.

R Stirling

Scotland

2:06.2

2.

R Stirling

Scotland

2:04.9

2.

V Potts

NZ

2:07.4

2.

P Lowe

England

2:06.2

3.

C Peasley

Australia

2:05.0

3.

P Werthner

Canada

2:07.5

3.

C Peasley

Australia

2:06.3

4.

G Craig

Scotland

2:05.8

4.

G Dourass

Wales

2:07.6

4.

G Dourass

Wales

2:08.6

5.

A Lynch

N. Ireland

2:06.0

5.

T Fynn

Canada

2:07.6

5.

V Potts

NZ

2:09.7

6.

AR Smith

NZ

2:07.3

6.

M Speedman

Scotland

2:08.3

6.

P Werthner

Canada

2:10.0

7.

T Bateman

Wales

DNF

7.

N Braithwaite

England

2:08.5

7.

G Craig

Scotland

2:16.1

8.

8.

B Franklyn

Jamaica

2:14.7

8.

S Carey

England

2:18.5

Georgena had made the final this time and without a proper report on the race it is impossible to make any comment but I’ll do so anyway!  When experienced athletes such as Georgena and Sheila Carey run last and second last in 2:16.1 and 2:18.5, you have to suspect some sort of ‘incident’ during the race.   (And you have to sympathise with T Fynn of Canada who missed out on a place in the final despite having the same electronic time as the fourth placed Gloria Dourass!)

Lillian Board had been diagnosed with cancer and in the course of 1970 it became worse and she ended her track season early.   When the new attempt on the 4 x 800m record was announced, Georgena Craig was drafted into the team.    At the Coca-Cola International Invitation Meeting at Crystal Palace on 5th September, 1970, they obliged but the race did not go as expected.  Let Ron tell the tale: “Two Scots, Rosemary Stirling and Georgena Craig, shared in another world record, though only through the disqualification of the West Germans.   The West German Women’s 4 x 800m relay squad broke the tape in 8:22.6, a world record, but were disqualified for passing the baton on the first leg take-over out of the legal area.   So the world record went to Britain (Miss Stirling, Mrs Craig, Pat Lowe and Sheila Carey) who finished second in 8:25, two seconds inside the record set by Britain earlier this year.”

On September 12th at Dunblane Highland Gathering she won the 220 yards in 27.3 off 10 yards on a rough grass track and a week later won the re-dated Glasgow Championship 800m on the cinders at Scotstoun in 2:16.8.   But the icing on the cake was the award of the Sports Journalists Association Team of the Year Award.   Although the SJA Awards had been going since the 1950’s, this was the first year that a team award had been presented.   It went to the GB Women’s 4 x 800m squad which included Lillian Board, Sheila Carey, Georgena Craig, Pat Lowe and Rosemary Stirling.    The following year it went to the British Lions rugby team, and the year after to Rodney Pattison and Chris Davies (sailing).   A very prestigious award indeed.

For the record her best times for 1970 were 800m  2:05.8 (ranked second),  1500m  4:45.1  (ranked 5th)  and in the SWAAA she was second to Rosemary Stirling in the 800m in 2:16.1    A season to remember

In 1971, she was not ranked in any event and did not seem to race at all.    This is similar to the year after the 1966  Empire Games when she disappeared from view. That was put right in 1972 when she not only ran well but set a personal best for the 1500m.   Unfortunately there is little coverage of her next two years in the sport in the Scottish daily newspapers but we do have her best performances each year.   In 1972:   800m   2:18.2   12th;   1500m   4:48.6   10th   and in 1973:   800m   2:20.9   18th;   1500m   5:04.2   25th.

Georgena’s best year would probably have to be 1970 when she raced in the Commonwealth Games and had a share of the world record as well as setting a personal best time for the 800m   Her most unlucky must have been 1966 when she was run out of a place in the final of the Empire Games 880 yards by one tenth of a second in a scramble for the finishing line.   However that may be, she was a very good middle distance runner indeed.

Hugh was a British Milers Club member – not only that, he was club member number one!    He still gets his membership card every year, and the number on it is significant.   Frank Horwill always had a soft spot for Hugh, partly because of his readiness to join up to the club’s ideals right at the start, but partly also because of his whole-hearted approach to racing.   The questionnaire below was completed recently as part of a comparison with one of the current crop of young BMC members.

DoB: 12-9-44

Started running at 13 (but never remember when I didn’t run)

Clubs; Victoria Park AAC , Wallasey AC, Belgrave Harriers , Sale Harriers

Personal Best Times

100yds 10.6,          220 yds 24.0,         440 yds 51.0,           880 yds 1 50.3,         ¾ mile 3 0.5,         1500m 3.45.4,          1 mile 4m 1.0,          2000 metres 5m 16.6,         2miles 8m 51.4,         3 miles 13m 52.8

Titles

Scottish Boys CC Champion 1960

Scottish Youths 880 yds Champion 1960 1961

Scottish Junior 880 yds Champion 1962 1963

Scottish Schools Mile Champion 1960 1961 1962

AAA Junior 880 yds Runner up 1962

AAA Junior 1 Mile Champion 1963

British Schools 1mile 1961 1962

Scottish 1 mile Championship runner up 1965 1967

Scottish 1500metre Championship runner up 1969

Coaches:   John Stirling Victoria Park ,John Anderson, Eddie Powell Sale Harriers

 Brief explanation how the BMC came to be?      1963 British miling at a low ebb following the Bannister/.Hewson/Ibbotson era-Frank Horwill wrote to various athletics journals and there was a response from 35 athletes and the club was born.It is detailed in Frank’s book-Obsession for Running

In 1963 can you remember what you did in your leisure time both at home and outside of the home (include exercise and anything that related to relaxing i.e. cinema, bowling etc.)?

I was always interested in sport in general and at that time I was still playing rugby a sport that I am still involved with today.   We also went to the cinema and in the prehistoric days before even discos we went to beat group dances

Can you describe what running gear you wore in those days from racing wear to training wear and footwear (no goretex, digital watches etc, costs etc)?  

This was the very early days of adidas and Puma fighting it out for the running show market before that it was just Fosters who then became Reebok who invented the ripple sole(for ross country) which predated the Nike waffle sole.   My own club Victoria Park at that time dominated in Scotland and also could take on the top English clubs (they had even won the English Cross Country team tile the first time it had left England) and they even  had a cobbler who would come down and take measurements for hand made spikes.    Trendy tracksuits were in their infancy with such makes as Copdale,Umbro and Bukta -Ron Hill was strating out to experiment with string running vests and cutaway shorts

What sort of training were you doing at Zofia’s age (17) and what frequency per week?

It was always quality before quantity trained 6 days per week  twice a day Mon-Fri.     Interval work-hill reps and steady runs-mileage probably about 50 per week even did some weights

Were you a cross country man or a track man or were you happy on either surface?

I did track road and cross country preferred track/road but did a lot of cross country –and then cross country trails were just that barbed wire fences etc .The only time I remember a cross country race being called off was during a foot and mouth epidemic

Availability of transport was not as it is today or the road infrastructure as accessible as it is at present, so how did you travel to races which were over 100 miles and more away?  

Strange but public transport was probably better in some ways  travelled to races by train or bus never really encountered any problems.   Then some clubs members got cars and we shared costs drove to races in England on a regular basis

The world records were 1-46, 3-35 for men and 2-01, 4-12 for women in 1963, did you think they would be where they are today and where do you think they will be in say, 20 years time?

Irrespective of how good you are there is always somebody coming down that road behind you who will do better-its just the way it is–not really suprised by the improvements especially with the influence of the Africans -Kenyans-Ethiopians and north Africans.   I assume that progress will continue but may well slow down

Let’s compare facilities in 1963 and now. Did they hinder you or make you more determined to succeed no matter what it took. Obviously you accepted what you had and made the best of it. Are facilities necessary for middle and long distance. (Tartan tracks etc.)?  

I don’t think not having tartan tracks hindered us in fact it may even have prevented some of the stress injuries–not sure if sophisticated facilities are required for runners -running is a natural activity and as long as you have roads, paths ,grass and hills just get on with it.   OK,  you do need to measure progress but sometimes lack of facilities is a spur to drive you on–many great sportsmen succeeded because they had to overcome this and it helped mould them

Do you think youngsters are being developed the way they should? Are we too hard or too easy in our training methods? What about present leisure time pursuits of youngsters (computers, music etc.)?

 I dont’ like the approach of “it was always better in our day” the older you get the better the sportsman you were it is easy to look back and be selective about what you remember

Its a different era now and different challenges face our young athletes–ok in athletics the watch has stopped and the unforgiving minute has been read and recorded so times tell their own story and there does seem to little progress from the Cram/Coe/Ovett era but that was a special time -a purple patch that type thing only happens every so often in sport

Probably we were naturally fitter in some respects by being used to walking/running or cycling more in your day to day activities and that gave you a base of general fitness to build on but we should not knock young people there are those who still want to succeed and we should encourage them.

What piece of advice would you give to youngsters today, firstly to those wanting to succeed and also to those who may drift away from the sport altogether? 

 

Were you a mileage man or a speed man or a bit of both?

A bit of both but never really a high mileage man

Did you have an athletic hero who inspired you around 1963 (could be from a past era e.g. Nurmi, Zatopek etc.)?

  No contest-Herb Elliott

Is there any special race you can remember that inspired you (either yourself or someone else)?

Rome 1960 -1500 metres –he totally destroyed the field winning by about 3 seconds also his double 880/1 mile at the 1958 Empire Games in Cardiff

Do you think you reached your athletic limit (i.e. got the best out of yourself)?

No– I set a World Age (group for a 16 year old) best for the 1 mile at Santry Stadium Dublin in 1961 4m 10.9 s and that became a bit of an albatross for me.I did reach 4m 1.0 but I had always wanted to be the first Scot to break 4 mins

You can always find excuses–injuries etc but I just didn’t reach the goal I had set myself – end of message

Did you go to university and how did that affect your athletic progress?

No I didn’t go at that point but did go later when I attended teacher training at Didsbury College Manchester. when I ran for Sale Harriers 1967-70

If you went into work (industry, office) how did that affect your athletic progress?

I started work in an insurance office and trained during my lunch hour it had to be quality work there was no time for anything else

Who do you admire today in athletics?

Paula Radcliffe

What about the state of athletics in this country. Is there any hope and what have we got to do?

There is always hope we have done it in the past  Bannister/Chataway/Ibbotson era and the Ovett/Coe/Cram/Elliot/Williamson period -the same talent is out there somewhere

What do you think about the state of the BMC at the moment. It still has the same values, but does much more now than it ever did?

  I am not really qualified to comment on that as I am no longer actively involved in the club–although I did help organise training weekends with Frank Horwill about 10 years ago and the spirit was still burning then

 

Hugh Barrow at the White City

The picture is of Hugh (4) in an international 3000 metres at the White City in London in 1968, behind him is Gaston Roelants of Belgium who had won the Olympic Steeplechase in 1964 and one place in front is Ian McCafferty.   As you might guess from that simple statement, Hugh was a considerable talent and graced Scottish athletics for two decades.    My first awareness of Hugh dates from my days at Glasgow University immediately after I left the Army in 1958.   One of my favourite magazines at the time was ‘World Sports’ edited by Phil Pilley.   It covered more than athletics but all articles were well written and well researched.   I went into the Reading Room in the Union one month, picked up the latest copy and …… there was an article about a Scottish runner!    Given that there were about two articles per issue about athletics and hardly a one about anything outside London, this was a day to be remembered.   The athlete was a young Hugh Barrow who had set a World Record for the One Mile and was being presented with a ‘World Sports’ plaque at a dinner in London.   There was even a picture.    More than twenty years later when I was Scottish Secretary of the British Milers Club and Hugh (BMC Member Number 1) was giving me a lot of help in organising races and then in putting on street miles in conjunction with the Luddon Half Marathon that he was organising on behalf of Strathkelvin Council.   A long career in the sport and a distinguished one.   In 2007 Hugh was interviewed by the BMC News when the club admitted its 5000th member and a link to this most interesting item is at the foot of the page.    Late on in his athletics career he ran in many road races up to and including the marathon and he answered the Scottish Marathon Club questionnaire for the very first issue magazine that they were producing.   As an introduction to his career it is reproduced here.

PROFILE

 Name:   Hugh Barrow

Club:   Victoria Park AAC, Sale Harriers – and cameo appearances for Belgrave Harriers

Date of Birth: 12 September 1944

Occupation:  Retired local government officer (Director of Recreation, East Dunbarton Council)

List of Personal bests: 

Event	Time	Year	Remarks
100 yards	10.6	1961
220 yards	24.0	1962
440 yards	51.0	1962
660 yards	75.3	1962
880 yards	1:50.3	1967
0.75 Mile	3:00.5	1965	Scottish Record
1500m	3:45.3	1967
One Mile	4:01.0	1968	Furth of Scotland Record.
2000m	5:16.6	1966	Scottish Record
3000m	8:21.0	1969
2 Miles	8:51.4	1964
3 Miles	13:52.8	1965
5000m	14:26.0	1971
6 Miles	29:28.0	1969
20000m	71:50.02	1980
30000m	1:51.06	1979
Marathon	2:35:01	1079

Also co-holder of Scottish records in teams for 4 x 400 metres and Medley Relays.

Hugh Barrow (right) with the record breaking VPAAC relay team

Has Any Individual or Group Had A Marked Effect On Either Your Attitude To The Sport Or On Your Performances? 

Herb Elliott was my inspiration in 1958 seeing him at Cardiff Empire Games was the where it began for me

Joined VPAAC and was coached by Johnnie Stirling .The whole scene at VP in those heady days of the late 50s was extraordinary because the extraordinary was the norm

Everywhere you looked at the Showgrounds you were surrounded by Champions and Internationalists that was just the way it was very exciting for a young runner

A headline wrote “Victoria Park where Champions are born”

What do you consider your best ever performance as a runner?  

I have to go with winning the international junior mile Scotland v England  April 1962 at Hampden: not so much the time more the experience.   The AAA sent up two of the top English junior milers-  Bill Chadwick and Frank Martin.   The race was part of the pre-match programme for the Scotland v England match and 132,000 were in the stadium.    We changed at Lesser Hampden and were offered a steak pie lunch with the mass pipe bands which I declined.   After warming up at Lesser Hampden we walked with a police escort down behind the main stand and into the track the atmosphere was electric.  I front ran it and on the last lap an ambulance man walked into me – the noise was so loud he never heard me coming!    The prize was a  tartan rug and Dunky Wright interviewed me live from the pitch for BBC TV.   Scotland won 2-0 reversing the nine goal disaster of ’61 at Wembley

The sport was a bit different then.   You are BMC member number one – what was the effect of the BMC on middle distance running when it started up?

Huge affect it challenged the thinking and attitude UK miling was in a trough following the Bannister Ibbotson era and had become negative in its approach to racing -too many “head waiters”. Frank Horwill really shook up the complacency with some really controversial articles.  He was some man and I kept in contact with him for years after age never dimmed his enthusiasm he broke the mould

What does the sport owe – if anything – to the BMC?

A huge amount:  dragging the standard of Middle distance upwards, which culminated in the Ovett, Cram Coe era.   The BMC cannot take all the credit  but it certainly set down the agenda required.   The aspirations were then achieved by them and others of that generation

There were invitation races (a) Domestically –  such as at football matches etc;    and (b) at major sports meetings such as Rangers Sports, Glasgow Police.   How important were they in the programme?

 Massive. very few nowadays including informed scribes realise the status of these meetings I still meet people today who recall fondly the Rangers Sports In no other country could club athletes perform in theatres in front of at times 50,000 and even at times in front of 100,000 but it was commonplace in Glasgow.    You also ran at Old Firm matches – on one occasion I ran at one during halftime on New Years Day at Ibrox.  It was like entering a war zone dodging the police snatch squads on the back straight and you couldn’t run in a blue or green which meant no VP club vest

Scotland v England, 1962  with 132,000 spectators in the Ground

As a man who competed at international level, can you tell us a bit about the representative matches or international fixtures that were part of the scene then?

The 60s brought a wide range of matches v countries like Belgium Iceland and Denmark plus Wales and Ireland  We also had regular representative matches  with English areas like Midland and Northern Counties.   The advent of the British Isles Cup came towards the end of the decade.   There were also Rest of Britain matches against England and there was one against the British Olympic Team held at Portsmouth in 1964.

Indoor athletics was in its infancy in the 1950’s – where and when did you start competing in these matches?    What were the tracks like?

Yes ran at the very beginning of Indoor athletics at Wembley in March 1962 Wooden track twelve laps plus twenty yards to the mile.  You  coughed up wood dust for hours afterwards.   I managed 4m 21 in winning Junior mile.  The USA were there and I was in a small Scottish team with Crawford Fairbrother.

Professionalism was also rearing its head.  One of my senior club mates was very condemnatory of money coming into the sport but training was also becoming a full time occupation.   Can you comment on the amateur/professional  aspect?

Professionalism has been with us since the birth of amateur athletics – you could argue it is the reason for the birth of amateur athletics so I have really no issue with it Some of the stuff that goes with it however I am not comfortable with at all but that’s maybe more a reflection on modern society which in turn is carried into the way governing bodies operate now– that however is a thesis on its own

The 4 minute mile was achieved when you were coming in to your best running on the track and you were involved in several races where the target was 4 minutes.   Can you tell us about any of these races, the atmosphere surrounding them and what they were like to run in.

Yes I ran in quite a few but the one that stood out was the attempt on Jim Ryuns world record of 3m 51 by Kip Keino at Santry Stadium Dublin in.  The race took place at half time in a League of Ireland football match quite amazing.  Pacemakers included Noel Carroll and what a pace the wind beat Keino and he was outside the record but I managed to crawl in third behind Keino and Mike Wiggs

*

There are lots of very interesting thoughts in there which represent Hugh’s considered opinions in March 2015, what follows are his comments in reply to the SMC questionnaire in the early 1980’s.

*

What exactly do you get out of the sport?   Very difficult to answer: I have got different things out of the sport at different times in my career.   Initially it was success and status, now it’s a social thing – it means I deserve my pint of beer!

Can You Describe Your General Attitude To The Sport?   When you do a personal best, at whatever level, there is this deep feeling of satisfaction.

What Do You Consider Your Best Ever Performance?   880 yard relay leg in the AAA’s medley relay championships in 1967.   VPAAC Team set a Scottish record – I think it still stands.

And Your Worst?   Last leg in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay in 1976.

What Do You Do Apart From Running To Relax?   Watch TV and eat curries!

What Goals Do You Have That Are Still Unachieved?   I really only ever had one goal, ie to be the first Scotsman to beat he four minute barrier for the mile.   I missed by one second in 1968.   The next year Ian McCafferty achieved this at Reading by running 3:56 and destroyed both Stewart brothers.   (This was one of Ian’s best runs).   I trailed in doing 4:05 and my motivation never really returned.

What Has Running Brought You That You Would Not Have Wanted To Miss?   Fitness and Friendship.

Can You Give Some Details Of Your Training?     I have always believed in quality.   Before quantity.   I know that it sounds naive and goes against a great deal of current thinking, but there appears to be a so many athletes who feel by simply doing ‘more’ is the answer, when what is required is a subtle blend of quality and quantity.    I also believe that at a high level the athlete is ‘born’, he may be honed and polished but he still owes as much to heredity as to training.   To quote my old friend Ian Binnie, “It does not matter how much you polish a piece of Walley Glass, you will never make it a diamond.”   (By the way, Ian Binnie held 50 Scottish records at one time or another.)   It is worth remembering that athletes like Bruce Tulloh and Martin Hyman   (now running for Livingston AC) won European titles and set British records at 3/6 miles on 40/70 miles per week; and their times would still take some beating today.

That’s the questionnaire in full and I feel that it gives a fair coverage of his career and attitudes but we are not finished because there is more to Hugh Barrow than that.    In addition to the comprehensive list of best times above there were international and select honours by the hatful.    For instance how about 

*   Scotland and SAAA teams in many forms from 1962 to 1971 

*   Rest of Britain v England Indoors  1963 

*   Rest of Britain v Olympic Team   1964 

*   GB 1967 

*   AAA 196 

*   England Northern Counties 1968 

AND

World Mile Record Holder at 16 – the only Scot ever to hold a world mile record.

These are far from comprehensive but they are indicative of place in Scottish and British athletics for over a decade.

 A Kind of Who’s Who of Scottish distance running at Babcock’s Sports

Including from the left: Pat Maclagan, Hugh Barrow (71), Dick Wedlock (49) and Lachie Stewart (48).

Despite his forays South of the Border with Sale Harriers, it is impossible to think of Hugh Barrow as anything other than a member of Victoria Park AAC in Glasgow.   He wore the vest with the blue and white hoops with great pride and in all sorts of races having joined the club in 1958.   He wore it on the track, on the roads and even, although he didn’t seem to enjoy it as much, over the country.   As an example, his whole-hearted commitment to the club can be seen in his running in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay Race.   An eight stage relay between the two major cities which carried immense prestige, it was nevertheless left out of the programme of many good track men.   Hugh ran in 14 races between 1964 and 1979.   It was not a case of going through the motions because you were expected to do it.   His very first run in the race was on the very difficult second stage: difficult because it was the second longest and difficult because it had almost certainly the very best runners from each of the invited clubs.   It’s not one to put out a first year Under 20 athlete.   The first runner for Victoria Park was also a young athlete and he tried to shadow Alex Brown of Motherwell on the first stage – it was clear that that was his plan but he couldn’t carry it out, blew up and handed over in sixteenth place.   Hugh went out and brought the club through to seventh place in the second fastest time on the day only 20 seconds slower than Olympic 10000 metres runner Fergus Murray.   It was quite an amazing achievement.   That effort was given in all 14 races in which he raced on every stage except the short third leg.   He won two silver and two bronze medals.   He was a clubman par excellence well after his best days.    This was as true of him as a committee man as it was as a racer: he held many positions on the Victoria Park Committee and was President from 1972 – 1977 and again from 1986 – 1992.. 

 1962, the final Rangers Sports with Hugh in the Invitation Mile.   In front is Peter Keeling with John Snowdon, and Hugh.   Further down the track are Ken Wood, Jim McLatchie and Bert McKay.

 Hugh was known to be good right from the start.   As a Senior Boy he won the Scottish Cross Country Championship in 1960, just two years after joining the club.  On the track, he won the National Youths (Under 17) 880 yards title in 1960 (1:58.4) and 1961 (1:57.5), the Junior (Under 20) 880 yards in 1962 (1:56.4) and 1963 (1:58.0).    However, it is as a top class miler that he is best known and he actually set a World Age record for the mile of 4:10.9 in Santry Stadium in Dublin (the scene of many a world record and top class meetings organised by the showman Billy Morton) in 1961.  In the race itself he was second to  Irishman Derek Graham whom he had beaten the night before over 880 yards.   Hugh was congratulated by Olympic 1500 metres champion Ron Delany.  This record stood until 1964 until it was bettered by Dennis Carr of Lowell College with 4:08.7 but it was beaten almost immediately thereafter by the prodigy that was Jim Ryun who became an athletics legend and in fact, in November 2010, it still stands as fourth on the British All-Time lists for Under 17 athletes – only 1.3 seconds behind Alistair Currie in third.   Hugh’s times as a Junior were simply outstanding – apart from that world record – faster than any 16 year old had everrun the distance in the history of the world – he ran 4:09.1 at 17 and 4:07.7 at 18.   That was also the year when he won the AAA’s Junior championship.   Looking at the times, run on cinder tracks without the benefits of shoe technology or paced races, these would still be good performances.

Hugh’s Prize when he set the World Mile Record

When the British Milers Club was founded two years later in 1963 he was the very first member.   He is still a member of this very elite club and still has Membership Number One.   The club has since been responsible for a great improvement in British middle distance running and almost every British specialist in these events has been a member.   Founder Frank Horwill is a big fan of Hugh’s running and his attitude to racing.   In the early 1960’s the UK miling scene was not in good nick at all.   The usual scene when the mile was run was ‘joggity-jog’ for three or three and a half laps before a scurry to the finishing line.   Frank was scornful of these tactics and demanded that races be run hard all the way.   In BMC organised races, pacemakers were used and even, against the prevailing heresies, paid.   Hugh seemed to agree with Frank as his running showed.   Never afraid to put himself on the line, he was prepared to ‘go’ early on if he felt that the pace was not on.   Even today, in November 2010, Frank has a special regard for Hugh.   When as BMC secretary for Scotland I organised any event – coaching meeting, race event, whatever – Frank would ask, “Is Hugh coming?   Can we get Hugh involved?”   Hugh is equally committed to the BMC and to fast miling: he sponsored meetings, organised street miles when he was with Strathkelvin District Council and took part in other events such as interviewing Steve Cram at Inverclyde when he was brought up to talk to some young athletes.

Staying with 1963 he recalls that he will never forget the afternoon where he ran in front of 130,000 fans at Hampden Park in 1963 as the prelude to Scotland beating England 2 – 0, with Davie Wilson and Eric Caldow scoring the goals.   “… although we can sometimes be a bit negative as a nation, sport keeps producing these communal moments which help bring everybody closer together,” he says.    The link between football and athletics was relatively close at that time with sports meetings being held by for example, Ranger F.C., Falkirk F.C. and with races being held before or at half time in major football fixtures to entertain the crowds.   They were of benefit to both sports giving the athletes an opportunity to race before big crowds and gain a higher profile and keeping the football fans entertained and in good spirits.   It is a pity that they stopped.   However at the end of the 1963 season , at the age of just eighteen, he appeared in the Scottish rankings for no fewer than four events: in the 880 yards he was third Senior and first Junior with 1:53.0, in the Mile he was first Senior with 4:07.7, in the Two Miles he was eighth Senior and second Junior with 9:02.8 and in the Six Miles he was eleventh Senior and first Junior with 30:23.6.    Six Miles was as far as he was permitted to race as an Under 20 athlete – even a Ten Mile Race was not permitted to one so young at that time.   Athletes living abroad were listed separately and top of that list was Jim McLatchie of Ayr Seaforth AAC with 4:07.9 which was run in America where he was studying on a sports scholarship.   The comments on the event in the ‘Scottish Athletics 1964’ booklet were: “Here again the runners suffered from the lack of opportunities for fast races: the potential is there and could be brought out if sufficient scratch races were organised on good tracks.   Barrow was clearly the best of the home Scots, but the impending return of McLatchie should bring about some interesting results.”

It is always of interest to runners to look at the training being done by the top men in the sport and from a viewpoint 50 years later, the work he did is still very impressive.   First of all, let’s look at two handwritten training sheets from 1962 and 1963.    The first is for his training leading up to the AAA’s Junior Championsip in 1962 in which he was second to Roger Dollimore and looks like this.

The second is from 1963 and is the run-in to the AAA’s Junior mile at Hurlingham in 1963 which he won.    These are of course the actual sheets used by him and not post-event, neatly typed out for circulation copies so we know exactly what was done.   Both of these sheets were produced by his coach at the time, Johnny Stirling at the club.

In an article for the ‘Herald’ in September 2009 by Neil Drysdale, Hugh is quoted as saying that “..it was a burning obsession of mine to become the first Scot to go under four minutes and when you have that kind of ambition, you will do almost anything to make the dream come true.”   He also points out that at that stage, Victoria Park had some fantastic competitors among their members and they would train seven days a week – and twice a day – if they had the chance.   On the Scottish stage too at that point there was a real depth of middle distance talent – Graham Everett (seven times Scottish Mile Champion, AAA’s Mile champion), Lachie Stewart (ultimately Commonwealth Games 10000 metres champion and multi record holder), the superbly talented Ian McCafferty as well as the Anglos such as Ian and Peter Stewart, John Wenk and others).    He adds,  “The memories are priceless, which is probably just as well.   At that juncture, athletics remained a last defiant bastion of amateurism and woe betide anybody who envisaged making material gains from their efforts.”   On one occasion, after appearing as a guest of Arthur Montford on STV’s “Scotsport”, and receiving the princely sum of £1 for his pains, Barrow was peremptorily instructed to return the cash or risk ostracism from the track.”    (NB: see Dale Greig’s experiences when running the Isle of Wight marathon and the letter from the AAA’s to Ryde AC).

 Hugh was widely regarded as the Scot most likely to break the magic four minutes – that goes for the top men in the sport and not just the journalists from the various daily papers.   His biggest chance of all came in 1965 when, at the age of 21, he was invited by Bruce Tulloh of the International Athletes Club in London to race against World Record Holder Peter Snell and compatriot John Davies, who was also an Olympic medallist, and Joseph Odlozil of Czecholsovakia  in Snell’s last race in his British tour.    What an opportunity!!!   The invitation was what any miler in the continent, never mind the country, would covet.    And then he picked up an injury and missed the opportunity.  To make it even harder to take, five men were under four minutes in that race.  A blow like that would have ended many a career – we are fortunate that Hugh stayed in the sport.   The letter of invitation is reproduced below.

In the course of a wonderful athletics career the places he competed in were many and the incidents numerous and varied but there was an incident in 1965 which must be one of the treasured memories.   The Mile has a magic that the 1500m will never match – the Magic of the Mile, the Perfect Mile, Master Milers, Masters of the Mile and so on all helped to perpetuate it.   The simple fact of four times round the track is simpler to understand and the pace easier for athlete and layman to calculate must also be part of it and there is no mystery as to why ‘invitation miles were (and still are – note the number of Street Miles still in existence) attractive.   This incident concerns one such race.

 “In the aftermath of the Olympics in Tokyo in 1964, where both Alan Simpson (Rotherham) and John Whetton (Sutton) both made the final of the 1500m, they became the dominant force in British in the middle distance scene at a time when ‘invitation miles’ were highlights in the programme for many meetings the length and breadth of the country. However Whetton, the King of the Boards’, was dominant indoors and Simpson, the ‘Head Waiter’, dominated outdoors. This outdoors domination of Simpson led to promoters starting to lose interest in putting on invitation miles so it was felt that Whetton had to get an outdoor win over his rival to whet spectator appetite. So on a June Friday evening in 1965, we arrived at Mansefield Park, Hawick, for the Common Riding Invitation Mile. The field also included former world record holder Derek Ibbotson, along with the likes of Teviotdale’s Craig Douglas, VP’s Graham Peters and myself. It was felt that a Whetton win would help the attendance when the show rolled on to the Rockingham Miners’ Gala Day in Barnsley scheduled for the following day. On a tight five laps to the mile grass track laid out on the rugby pitch, such was the dominance of the dynamic duo, it was agreed that Whetton would edge out Simpson coming off the last bend. However Graham Peters was not in the script and boxed Whetton in. I can still hear him shout to Simpson that he had to go it alone. As commentator we had the legendary Bill McLaren and although he sure knew his rugby he was a bit off the pace when it came to running and got a bit confused by what was happening. probably just as well. For the record: 1. A Simpson 4:03.7; 2. J Whetton 4:04.4; 3. H Barrow 4:06.0

It is difficult to understand in the twenty first century the quality of athlete competing frequently in Scotland in the 1950’s and 1960’s.   For top class athletes like Hugh, the opportunity to face the best was more than welcome.   For instance when the floodlights were installed at Westerlands on 18th October 1966, the official opening involved a rugby match between a Glasgow University Select and Hawick with lots of well known names in the teams but there was a mile race held at half time, which Hugh won, where the field included four of Scottish athletics’ best ever half milers – Graeme Grant, Dick Hodelet, Duncan Middleton and Mike McLean – every one a Scottish champion, and every one a British internationalist.

A look at the table of personal best times above reveals that in what are regarded as his  peak years in his chosen middle distance events (880 yards to 10000 metres) were between 1966 and 1969.   The shorter distances (100 – 440) were achieved earlier and the longer ones (from 20000 metres up) much later in his career.   His annual progress and Scottish ranking places for the1960’s are listed below.   It should be noted that his 1964 season was curtailed through injury and that there were times when there were one or two Anglos ahead of him in the rankings that disguised to some extent his true position in Scottish athletics.

Event

1964

Rank

1965

Rank

1966

Rank

1967

Rank

1968

Rank

1969

Rank

Comment

880y

1:55.5

12th

1:54.0

10th

1:55.01

13th

1:50.3

2nd

1:51.8

3rd

1:52.6

6th

Mile

4:06.0

2nd

4:03.1

2nd

4:06.8

3rd

4:03.5

3rd

4:01.0

2nd

4:06.8

5th

1968: 11th GB

1500m

3:48.6

5th

2 Miles

8:51.4

1st

9:05.6

10th

8:54.8

5th

3000m

8:21.2

11th

3 Miles

14:36.0

19th

13:52.8

5th

14:13.0

15th

6 Miles

29:55.0

8th

10000m

29:28.0

8th

It was a time when there were many very good middle distance runners in Scotland and Britain – the Scottish 880/800 scene had Mike McLean, Duncan Middleton, Dick Hodelet, Graeme Grant and Craig Douglas among the home Scots and the Mile had Ian McCafferty and Lachie Stewart sandwiched between the Graham Everett and Clement/Robson/Williamson eras; there were many Anglos competing too in his chosen events – John Wenk and John McGrow in both 880 and Mile with the Stewart brothers Ian and Peter being really world-class in the 1500/5000 metres events.    Competition was tough, results were hard to come by and to be Scottish Number One was a pinnacle in its own right.

“IF YOU CAN’T KEEP UP, DON’T COME OUT”

Runners and coaches are always interested in the training done by the top athletes.   When asked about it in the Scottish Marathon Runners questionnaire at the top, Hugh spoke of his approach to training and his belief that quality was far more important than quantity.   What does he  have to say about the training that he was doing during his early days?   Arriving at Victoria Park in 1958 training was simple and unsophisticated.   Winter training involved the traditional pack runs which were always of high quality but sometimes just ‘eyeballs out’ fast running.    On Tuesdays it was five or six miles and on Thursday four or two and a half miles.    The cry was apparently “No one in front of Binnie, no one behind Kane”.   (Interesting that a more formal version had been used in early days of road and cross country running where the pack was led by a designated ‘pace’ and kept in control by the ‘whip’ or ‘whipper in’ at the back)    Ian Binnie was the club top dog at the time and Ronnie Kane was an established first team runner and Scottish internationalist.   These runs were all from the Whiteinch Baths beside Victoria Park and they were all timed.   “If you lost a few seconds going out the door, you never saw them again!”   The Saturday run was again at Whiteinch or from Milngavie Laundry for six to nine miles of real cross country.   On Sundays they would go to Mountblow Recreation Ground in Dalmuir Clydebank, starting with a run up the very steep, three quarters of a mile Mountblow Road for a run along the grass island for six to ten miles or on occasion turn left and run down the Boulevard to the junction with the ‘Low Road’ back through Old Kilpatrick and Gavinburn for a very hilly route.   The training was all very simple and very hard.    Hugh recalls once asking Binnie for advice and the reply was “If you can’t keep up, don’t come out.”

The track training that he did with Johnny Stirling (see above) when he was running really well in the early days was based on Frank Stampfl’s work with Bannister, Chataway and company.    Other top runners of the time found the same source of inspiration – for instance Lachie Stewart says that the very first book on athletics he bought was ‘Running’ by Frank Stampfl which cost 2/6d when published by Four Square books in the late 50’s.   Hugh quotes sessions such as 8 x 440 in 60 seconds with a two minute recovery which was progressively reduced as they got fitter.   This was the case with other sessions such as 4 x 880 in 2:5 starting with a four minute recovery; 12 x 220 in 27-29 seconds starting with a 90 second recovery.   There were also three quarter miles time trials and the training was varied with 4 – 6 x 660 in as close to 90 seconds as possible.   Two things strike me when looking at these sessions: the first is that there is a similarity to some of the training done a couple of decades later by the best British runners and given the times that he was running off it, then if sensibly applied it is a winning formula; the second is that there were no ‘sets’ mentioned.  It was a number of reps – 12 x 220, 8 x 440, etc.    The present generation do sets, like two sets of 4 x 400 in 60 which makes the session more manageable but it is harder to do eight straight off the reel.   I have already mentioned Lachie Stewart and one of his lines when he was running well was that, in the Scottish weather, to break a session into two or even three sets meant having to do a warm up before every set!

How did he compare with others racing at the top level in the 1960’s?   The invitation quoted above from the IAC indicates that he matched up very well.    These invitations did not come to everybody – they were sent to the right people for a particular task and Hugh received a good share of them.   For instance when Kip Keino went to Dublin to have a go at Jim Ryun’s world record for the mile of 3:51 at the famous fast Santry track.   He had a call at the last minute from Dunky Wright to ask if he were available and told to fly out on a Sunday morning Aer Lingus to Dublin.   The race was at half time in a football match and the Irish pace makers were two really outstanding athletes – Noel Carroll and Derek McLeane!   The field went off like madmen and Mike Wigg of England collapsed on the last lap causing Hugh to hurdle him.   Keino he says was a real gentleman, stood on the starting line looking down the track, Hugh says staring into eternity, jargon now would diminish it to ‘focused’ or some such, but the wind beat him and he only managed 3:56.   Hugh missed the four minutes but the point being made here is that he was frequently invited to compete in that kind of company.

After being very successful with the coaching being done by Johnny Stirling, things started to get a bit stale about 1966.   In such a situation, a runner always tries to analyse the situation himself apart from discussions with other athletes, officials and coaches.   If the athlete is any good, every other coach wants a bit of the action and it can be very confusing.    I knew a very good runner who went to live in London and he was approached by one club which said that he was too weak on the left side, they could help him by strengthening the other one, a second club said that the problem was alack of the proper balance, they could help with that and yet another said that the whole difficulty was with his weak back.   This advice can all get too much and in that situation, the safe thing often seems to be to go to the national coach and see what he thinks.   However it worked out in Hugh’s case, he asked John Anderson, who had a very good middle distance squad indeed and started training with him.    The work done altered and I reproduce part of one of his letters to Hugh which contained training sessions for him to carry out.    There was regret at leaving Johnny who had done so much for him in the eight years they had been working together and the athlete coach relationship is a very special relationship, different from any other in sport.   There was however no regret at moving to work with John at that point – he learned a lot from him too.

Through the 1970’s Hugh’s interests broadened and he gradually started to do more and more road running covering distances right up to the full marathon distance.  He was known to be a good road runner over short distances such as the McAndrew Relays where he had set the fastest time, and up to 7 miles in the Edinburgh to Glasgow.   He simply extended his range to 26+ miles!  The personal best times for 20000 and 30000 metres were recorded in a SMC race held at Coatbridge organised by John Softley.   He also of course continued to race cross-country for his club and to turn out in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays right up to 1979.

As will be noted from the above his last pb was set in 1980 and he continued running on the roads and country after that but his main contribution to the sport in the 1980’s was the prodigious amount of work done in encouraging and organising events.   As Scottish Secretary of the BMC I had received a fair bit of assistance from him and when I wanted to organise Coaching Days, he was able as Recreation Manager at Strathkelvin Council to help in various ways by finding us appropriate accommodation at Huntershill and at the Bishopbriggs Sports Centre.   On the three occasions when Frank Horwill travelled up from London to take part, he was put up by Hugh.   Then when the Springburn 12 Miles Road Race became the Strathkelvin Half Marathon and then, after sponsorship by the firm was obtained, the Luddon Half Marathon Hugh along with others such as Alistair McFarlane and Alex Johnston, worked really hard to make it a success.   I believe that t was the most sponsored race in Scotland with many prizes – all of them of good value although some were kind of quirky – eg the winner of the Under 17 Street Mile one year won a year’s supply of mince and tatties!     After the first ‘Luddon’ he wrote of the experience in an article in the SMC magazine.  I quote (selectively) from it.   “I am sure that Alistair McFarlane will agree with me when I say that we both learned a great deal through this first attempt at promoting a large scale race.   The support that I received from the various Departments of Strathkelvin Council was much appreciated and linked with help from Glasgow District Council and a wide range of voluntary organisations assisted in making this event a success, not forgetting the ever-present and long suffering race officials.   There were several problems that we did not anticipate such as the ‘Half Marathon’ debate with the SAAA and the guidelines laid down by Strathclyde Police Traffic Section.    The start time of 9:00 am was not negotiable and with race fields across the country ever increasing this may be one of the factors that race promoters will have to face.   The police also required us to erect some 120 road signs and this led to expenditure of approximately £450 via the Automobile Association…. ”   Hugh goes on to detail several other problems, thank the volunteer organisations who had offered assistance and says that “… within 20 minutes of the manual input being edited the computer printout was available and the results were published in the Kirkintilloch Herald on the Tuesday following the event.”     That gives us a flavour of all the work that had to be done by Hugh and Alistair and was done willingly right up to the race and afterwards in planning for the next year.   It really was a marvellous race – large fields, many top class runners every year, enough car parking, more than adequate stewarding and well-organised reception and number issuing procedures.   There is more about the genesis of this event on Alistair McFarlane’s page on this website.

Given the success in its first year, Hugh then decided that a Street Mile would be good for the runners and would be an extra attraction for sponsors while entertaining the spectators once the half marathon was out on the road.   He invited me in to his office in Bishopbriggs and we decided that it would be invitation only, that there would be races for Men, Women and Under 17 Youths.   The Youths would run with the Women to give the top athletes a hard race.   The course came from Lenzie in the straight Kirkintilloch Road and apart from the sharp climb up to the shops in Lenzie was almost entirely downhill.   Liz Lynch (later McColgan) won the Women’s race in the first and third years, Yvonne Murray in the second; the Men’s race had such stars as local hero Adrian Callan, fellow sub four minute miler Alistair Currie, GB steeplechaser Dave Baptiste from London, Tom McGrath the Irish Internationalist, Sam Wallace, the top Under 20 1500m runner in GB at the time and the Youths race had Glen Stewart, Frank McGowan, Bobby Mooney and several others of good quality.   The responsibility for the course, marking, starting, time-keeping, recording and of course accommodation (which for the milers was at Lenzie Rugby Club with their own showers and a bar available!)  were all dealt with by the Organising Committee.

Although he did not do it on his own and others on the Committee put in as much effort, Hugh’s contribution was equal to any and was an indication that his enthusiasm, energy and devotion to the sport had not waned in any way.   And of course he was still on his own club Committee until at least 1992 and was also a member of the SMC Committee while organising the Strathkelvin/Luddon Half Marathon.

When he left his post at Strathkelvin District Council he was very quickly snapped up by the West of Scotland Football Club (ie a rugby football club) as Secretary and was very successful there, had a year as President of the Glasgow Accies club.   Secretary of the Glasgow Hawks from 1997 to 2007, he was President of the Accies from 2007, 2008.  He also has responsibility for both the Glasgow Hawks and the Accies websites.   His interest in athletics has never diminished – when we had the BMC Grand Prix in Glasgow in the early years of the new millennium, Hugh was there meeting old friends, enjoying the races and generally having a good time.    Hugh was a top class athlete – and much more.

I have referred to Neil Drysdale’s article on Hugh in ‘The Herald’ – the entire article can be found at  www.glasgowhawks.com/news/6913  and is well worth reading.    It is an excellent portrait of Hugh as a person and of the breadth of his sporting interests.

Hugh was still working with the Hawks and vitally interested in sport when the Commonwealth Games came to Glasgow in 2014.   He was one of the first volunteers to work on his third Commonwealth Games and was also one of those chosen to carry the Games Baton.    Before he did so, Kevin Ferrie wrote an article in the ‘Herald’ which makes very interesting reading and you can find it at

www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/sport/commonwealth-games/cwg-news/a-largely-unsung-stalwart-of-scottish-sport-hugh-barrow-was-quicker-than.24811624

 

Hugh answers the BMC Questions   Colin’s Cuttings   The Frank Horwill Award

 

 

Kenny Ballantyne in the Edinburgh to Glasgow

Ken Ballantyne was a very talented and elegant runner who had a remarkable track career as well as being a top quality road and cross-country man.   If we lay out his annual track rankings as a senior we get a grid like the one below, notable for its range as well as its quality.

Year		880		Mile	1500m		2 Miles		3 miles		5000m		6 Miles
	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time	Rank	Time
1959	23	1:58.4	12	4:15.9
1960	14	1:56.8	8	4:16.2
1961	10	1:55.2	7	4:14.4			15	9:19.0
1962	12	1:54.9	7	4:10.9
1963			27	4:19.5
1964	18	1:55.7	3	4:07.3			17	9:12.0	23	14:19.6
1965	6	1:53.2	1	4:01.1			6	9:00	14	14:07.0			18	30:38.0
1966			7	4:08.5	2	3:15.6	5	8:51.0	13	4:08.6			16	30:15
1967			14	4:10.9			22	9:09	16	14:05.8			16	30:02.2
1968			22	4:18.0					28	14:23.0			22	31:16.0
1969														29:52.8
1970					26	3:57.6					21	14:39.8
1971					29	3:59.3

It was a very good career over a long period of time spanning two distinct eras of Scottish middle distance running.   It went from the heyday of Hugh Barrow, Graham Everett, Graham Stark, Jim McLatchie and Mike Beresford through to the days when the likes of Ian McCafferty, Lachie Stewart, Ian Stewart, Frank Clement and Adtrian Weatherhead ruled the roost; from the days when the four minute mile was a rarity, perhaps even a dream, to the days when it was almost commonplace.   You will see from the comments at the end of Colin’s tribute to him what the opposition thought of Kenny Ballantyne. 

Kenny Ballantyne enjoyed an illustrious running career and inspired many club-mates in Edinburgh Southern Harriers, a top Scottish club which he served with distinction, as athlete and official. He was a great competitor, invaluable in team events, and always friendly and encouraging – a true gentleman.

In the Scottish Junior National cross-country, he won team silver in 1961 and followed that in the Senior National with team gold (1964, 1965 and 1969), silver (1967 when he finished ninth) and bronze (1966 and 1968). Kenny was also very effective in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay. His first team medal in the event was in 1961 when ESH finished second with Kenny recording the fastest time for Stage 8, when he broke the record. His team was again second in 1963 and third in 1964. In 1966, Kenny was fastest on the prestigious Stage Two, in front of Hugh Barrow, Andy Brown and Alastair Wood. There was another bronze in 1968 and finally the longed-for gold medal in 1969. In 1970 ESH were squeezed into second but Kenny was fastest on Stage 8. A final bronze followed in 1971.

Kenny was even more successful on the track, representing Scotland every year from 1961 to 1966. His best distance was One Mile/1500m and, on the 21^st July 1965 at Motspur Park, he raced a mile in 4.01.1, which at the time made him the fastest-ever Home Scot and topped the Scottish rankings that year. Donald Macgregor, who was to finish seventh in the 1972 Olympic marathon, relates in his autobiography that he was training with his ESH club-mate Kenny around then, and that they had changed over to Arthur Lydiard style training, doubling their weekly mileage from April onwards but taking care not to run too fast until closer to an important race.

In 1964 Kenny Ballantyne won the SAAA Mile title. He gained another one silver and three bronze medals in the event. In addition, he was East District Mile champion in 1965, 1966 and 1968.

Kenny’s other personal bests included: 1.53.2 (880 yards), 8.51.0 (2 miles) and 14.05.3 (3 miles).

Steve Taylor (Aberdeen AAC former SAAA 3 miles champion and Scottish Cross-Country International) says “I regard Kenny as a gentleman, a stylish runner and a true friend to me throughout my athletics career. I recall my first meeting with him was in the unlikely setting of the start line before a heat of the National Championships mile, when heats took place on the Friday evening. He told me that his parents lived in Burns Road, Aberdeen, which was close to my home at the time!” 

Old rival Jim McLatchie comments from his home in the USA. “Ken and I locked horns several times over the mile and were on a few Scottish teams together. Tough bugger – I took him for granted in the 1959 Junior Mile Champs where I thought I would win the race, but Ken had a different idea – he ‘kicked’ my arse! He took off about 880 out, and I thought he went too early and I would haul him in over the last 100 – never happened – I left it too late. Credit to him for running a smart race. We would always have a good banter at track meets – East versus West bullshit – how they (East) were better than the West of Scotland, so when we went head to head in a race, I always felt I had to keep the West in front.”

Club-mate, Alistair Blamire (GB Steeplechase International) says “Kenny is a lovely guy and I always thought that he was a much better athlete than even his fine record suggests, especially if he had been able to compete more often down south. He was a legend at ESH, along with the other ‘Southern’ fanatics like Jackie White, Ian McKenzie, Jim Heggie, George Peat and co.”

Contemporary and rival, Hugh Barrow says: “Kenny was a man of his era : athletics was hugely important but not to the detriment of his career outside running.   He sort of symbolised the amateur era – hugely competitive and dedicated but always in perspective.”

Ken’s obituary after his death in 2016 is below:

      KEN  BALLANTYNE-ATHLETE OBITUARY:   Born:15^th October 1940; Died 10^th November 2016

             Ken Ballantyne who has died aged 76 was a leading Scottish international athlete of the 1960s who very nearly became the first home-based Scot to run a sub 4 minute mile. At the time breaking the mythical barrier was not commonplace and only one Scot, Anglo Mike Berisford, had achieved it. On 21^st July 1965 while competing in a British Milers’ Club race at Motspur Park in Surrey, Ballantyne was clocked at 4mins. 1.1 sec, the fastest ever by a home Scot. He was Scottish champion over the distance in 1964, placed in the first three several times, and won the Eastern District title on three occasions. Although the mile was his best event, he was a quality runner over a wide range of distances, good enough  to feature in the national ranking lists each year from 1959 to ’71 at half mile to six miles.

 

He was a stalwart member of Edinburgh Southern Harriers for whom he competed with distinction at the top level of the Scottish and British Leagues, scoring many valuable match points. Between 1961 and ’66 he represented Scotland eight times in international contests against countries including Wales, Ireland and Belgium.

 

Away from the track, he also excelled at cross country and road running. With his ESH team he won three gold medals as well as bronze and silvers in the National Cross Country Championships. He shone in the famous Edinburgh to Glasgow road relay, winning a coveted gold medal in 1969 and several lesser medals. On three occasions he recorded fastest stage times including over the prestigious second one in 1966 when he beat leading runners Hugh Barrow, Andy Brown and Alastair Wood.

 

Once he stopped competing he joined the ESH committee and became their British League assistant team manager before taking over from Jimmy Smart in 1982. During his involvement the club enjoyed a period of considerable success throughout the U.K., competing with distinction in the first division of the British League and in 1975 winning the British Gold Cup. As a dedicated and selfless official he contributed much to the club.

 

Born at Kalimpong near Darjeeling in India, Ken’s father was manager of a tea planting estate owned by the Duncan company where he and his wife had lived for several years. The family enjoyed a fairly privileged lifestyle with house servants and a nanny who helped look after Ken and his sister Aileen. Aged six he was sent here to be educated, initially at Blairmore prep school near Huntly where his running talent first emerged. He then attended Strathallan School where he gained his first notable success winning the Scottish Schools’ Championship mile in 1958. The following year he won the Scottish junior mile title setting a championship best, smashing the record by almost five seconds, equivalent to about thirty yards.

 

 

Taking up a position as trainee manager with the Commercial Union insurance company in its George Street office in Edinburgh he joined ESH, which was to play a large part in his life. He trained initially at various venues including old Meadowbank and Inverleith Park with teammates Ian Mackenzie and future Olympians Fergus Murray and Donald McGregor. Like many at the time he was self-coached, learning training methods from books, latterly a disciple of Arthur Lydiard, the famous New Zealand coach.

 

There is no doubt that had he been exposed more frequently to the high calibre of opposition faced in his 1965 record run, he too would have broken the 4 minute barrier. His win four days later in the invitation mile at the prestigious Sward Trophy meeting at Chiswick supports that contention.

 

In September 1967 he married Doreen Hamilton, originally from near Penrith, whom he had met socially in Edinburgh and together they enjoyed a long and happy marriage, bringing up daughters Julia and Nicola. Appointments as branch manager at Hawick, Kelso and Berwick followed till he took early retirement from Commercial Union. He then joined Lowland Insurance Brokers in Berwick where he was particularly valued for his agricultural insurance expertise, becoming a director of the company till it was bought over by a national concern.

 

Through his work he was well known among the farming community in the Borders and, having lived mostly in Kelso for the past forty years, he played a full part in the life of the town, being a former chair of the Round Table, and member of Probus and the 41 Club. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of Kelso rugby club and attended their game a week before his death.

 

Unfortunately his quality of life latterly was marred by ill health requiring surgical intervention and regular medication, which was particularly cruel for one who had been so fit and active. He  remained positive and was much respected and well liked by people from all walks of life. His friend and fellow athlete Ian Mackenzie commented, “Ken was a very affable and friendly man who did lots of good work for the various organisations he was involved with, always giving 100% in all he did. As a runner he was a seriously hard trainer and one of the best athletes of his time.”

 

Despite his achievements he was extremely modest, with many of the large turnout at his funeral unaware of his sporting pedigree. He is survived by his wife, daughters and sister.

 

Jack Davidson

Ian (Number 42), third from Left in Isle of Man with the GUAC team

It is maybe appropriate that Ian is with the Glasgow University team in the picture above because he was always a very popular athlete with his peers and was a key member of a very good Glasgow University squad.    I first met him when he was a Junior and one of a quartet which included Alastair Douglas and two athletes that I was coaching at the time: Douglas McDonald (on the left above, number 42) and Robert McWatt a Scottish Junior Internationalist who emigrated to Canada in the early 80’s.   Although he had a successful career with Scottish Championships and British medals to show for it, he was the kind of athlete that always felt could have possibly done even more.    Maybe Alastair Douglas in his comments below will be able to throw some light on that point.

Year	Event	Time	Ranking
1980	800	1:50.42	4
	1500	3:48.94	8
	1 Mile	4:06.0	4
	5000m	14:45.5	17
1981	1500	3:51.7	16
1982	1500	3:47.6	8
	5000	14:34.0	16
1983	1500	3:42.39	2
	1 Mile	4:03.9i	6
	3000	8:02.9i	6
1984	800	1:52.0	14
1985	1500	3:49.99	13
	1 Mile	4:02.4	4
	3000	8:15.0	12

Personal bests of 1:50.42/3:42.39/4:02.4/8:02.9 and 14:34 are not too bad at all so we now know that he could run fast.   In terms of his competitive record, Ian won the Scottish 1500m championship twice – in 1980 and 1983 – and was second in the AAA’s indoor 1500m in 1983 and third in the British 1500m in the same year.    In the course of his career he ran for East Kilbride AAC, Glasgow University AC, Durham University AC and Worcester AC but the next section of this profile is written by his old friend Alastair Douglas.

Ian, second right, behind Alastair Douglas,  in Paris in 1980 on a University trip.

“Ian and his two brothers Derek and Robin were all talented runners as was their father before them.   Ian was slightly different in that he was a middle distance runner rather than a sprinter like the others.   He started running at about age eleven and tended to train only a couple of times a week but did very well on that.   He had a rather ungainly running style with a wobbly head which made you feel more annoyed when he beat you.   Added to that he was not short of self confidence and spoke his mind.   However if he did beat you, rather than saying how well he was running, he would slag you off for not being able to beat him.

I remember running against him in the West District Junior 1500m championship.   I did in fact beat him in this race.   It was the first time I had ever got under 4 minutes and was quite pleased with myself.   However I felt quite deflated when speaking to Ian afterwards.   He had only finished three seconds behind me and was saying he couldn’t understand how I was not further ahead of him when I trained seven times a week and he only twice a week.   The thing is, you knew he had a point!

I got to know him a lot better when we were at Glasgow University together.   Inevitably he started training harder when he was in an environment of good standard runners and not surprisingly his performances started to improve rapidly.   Within a year of his increased training he won the SAAA 1500m and BUSF 1500m in 1980.   I remember a lot of his English rivals were not especially amused when he did a lap of honour, after the latter race, with a cigar.   He had three or four really good years when he won a second Scottish title at 1500m: this time he beat no less than Nat Muir and John Robson.   He also won a UAU title. was second in the AAA indoor championship 3000m and third in the UK Championships at 1500m

Although 1500m was his best event, he was a threat to anybody over anything from 800m to 10K.   After leaving Glasgow University, he did a PhD at Durham University.   He joined Alan Storey’s training group which included Olympic medallist Mike McLeod.   I don’t think Alan felt that Ian took his athletics too seriously.   There was once when Alan warned John Solly – the 1986 Commonwealth 10000m champion – not to race Ian over 1500m as it might undermine his confidence as he prepared for the Commonwealths.   However he did race him, and Ian beat him.   However as Solly went on to win the 10000m at Edinburgh perhaps Alan Storey’s fears were unfounded.   One of Ian’s best races he feels was over a distance much longer than he would normally race.   This was over 7 miles and was again against John Solly.   Ian again beat him.   However it was not simply a case of hanging on and winning in a sprint: he basically took more than a fair share of the pace and dropped him wit a few hundred metres to go.

In the late 80’s he briefly dabbled in the professional circuit and in fact was a British Professional 2 Miles champion.   Ian like many of us, was born into an era of exceptionally talented Scottish athletes.   Nat Muir, John Robson and Graham Williamson in particular were world class and so perhaps he did not get the credit he deserved.”

,Alastair speaks of the victory in the 1500m in 1980, well the moment when, after tucking in behind on the bend he moved out to go in front were captured by Alastair Shaw.   The pictures below can be enlarged by clicking on them – thanks Alastair!

Alastair ends his review of Ian’s career there and it gives an interesting insight into the athlete.   What is missing however is any reference to regular cross country or road running and from the list of ranked performances above, it would seem that he was a pure middle distance runner over 800m to 5000m, anything longer being the exception rather than the rule.   The big Scottish winter race was the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight man relay.   Surprisingly he only seems to have turned out in two races – in 1978 he ran the seventh stage and in 1980 he ran the very difficult second stage but in each of them he held his position in the field and in neither was he inside the top ten times.    When I asked Alastair about Ian’s cross-country running he said, “he was much better on the roads than on the country and in the year that I won the Junior National in 1981, I raced him in the Scot Unis on a flat, fast, dry course.   I won and he was second but it was very close.   On that form he would certainly have medalled in the Junior.”   In the race below, the National of 1987 at Falkirk, he finished fourteenth in a quite outstanding field – Nat Muir, Chris Robison, Tommy Murray, Neil Tennant, John Robson and many more top athletes.    This was his best result in a race that he tended to avoid although on this showing, and on Alastair’s testimony, he could have done well.

Ian (384) in the East Kilbride colours in the National of 1987: the lap-by-lap story!

I suspect that Ian would not want to dwell on cross-country since he reckons that “cross-country should be for convicts for whom the birch is too good!”    Another of his thoughts, by the way, is that anyone over the age of 25 should be banned from athletics: “grown-ups shouldn’t like beating people.”   Back on the Track we could take a closer look at the two seasons when he won the SAAA 1500m title: 1980 and 1983.   The 1980 championship win in June 1980 (3:48.4) was he says his most memorable win – he was just 19 and he was enjoying training with Alby Smith of Victoria Park.    Two weeks later he picked up the British Universities 1500m in 3:50.9.   Two good races but his pb for 800m was yet to come.   The Edinburgh Highland Games had been a wonderful mix of international athletes and local Scottish handicap events held at Murrayfield where locals could run shoulders with Olympians.   After the Commonwealth Games in 1970 however, it became an International Event only and incorporated   internationals or inter-city contests.   In 1980, sponsored by The Glenlivet, the match was between Warsaw, London and Edinburgh.   Ian was Edinburgh’s representative in the 800m and the opposition was good: Gary Cook (London),   Owen Hamilton (Jamaica), Stanislaw Rzeniaczak (Warsaw) and Mark Enyeart (USA).   Ian responded to the challenge and set what was to be his all-time pb of 1:50.42 for the distance.   All-in-all a good season – but nothing like as good as 1983 was to prove to be.

He started the year with two British international vests.   On 19th February running indoors for Great Britain against West Germany indoors at Dortmund, he was third in the 1500m in 3:44.67 – a very good indoor time, and four days later in the GB v Russia indoor match at Cosford where he was second in a pb for the 3000m distance of 8:03.92 which must have been an even better run.   The outdoor season that year started on 2nd May with a win in the English Universities 1500m in 3:52.4.   At the end of the month he was third in the UK Championships 1500 in 3:45:95.   These set him up nicely for the SAAA Championships on 18th June where he won the 1500m in 3:42.39 which was another pb.   The Scotland Six Nations International is a nice meeting – at one time called ‘The Small Nations’ international – which used to be between Scotland, Wales, two Irelands, Turkey and Israel.   Israel has now dropped out but at that time all six were competing and they were hard fought competitions – it wasn’t often that any of them had the chance to win any international match,   Ian, in his third representative match of the year and his only one for Scotland, was disqualified for pushing.   It happens in 800m races all the time and the runners expect it: to disqualify an 800m athlete for it seems a bit harsh!

He went on racing on the Scottish scene and then in England when he was at Durham.   He is on record as saying that his favourite races were handicap races where everyone could compete and challenge for first.

Alastair referred to the British Professional Two Mile Championship.   Ian says, “It was the British Professional 3200m championship held at Inverkeithing on 4th August 1990.   I was first in 9:09.47 which was a new record (the old times were for Two Miles) and I think I still hold the 3200m record.”    Indeed he does – the run was on a a 400m red ash track and was not the only victory he had on the professional circuit where he raced in 1990, 1991 and briefly in 1992.    I have his other winning marks in the table below.

Year	Distance	Venue	Handicap	Time
1990	800m	Ballater	Scratch	2:09.9
	1600m	British Championship: Inverkeithing	Scratch	4:33.87
	1600m	Kelso	45m	4:23.87
	1600m	Dornoch	Scratch	NTG
	1600m	East Lothian	15m	4:14.56
	1600	Pitlochry	Scratch	4:24.9
	3200m	Peebles	65m	9:27.3
	3200m	Airth	Scratch	9:25.38
	3200	Pitlochry	Scratch	9:42.33
1991	800m	Luss	25m	1:56.7
		St Ronans	15m	1:59.3
	1600m	Kelso	Scratch	4:21.81
	1600m	British Championship: St Andrews	Scratch	4:38.54
	1600m	Perth	Scratch	4:19.95
	1600m	Pitlochry	Scratch	4:22.09
	3200m	Burntisland	Scratch	9:43.72
1992	3200m	British Championships: Inverkeithing	Scratch	10:02.0

That is a comprehensive record of his victories on the Games circuit and we know that as an amateur he had run at Strathallan and other Games Meetings.    It is clear that he was equally adept on all surfaces – road, country, tartan, grass and red gravel tracks.   Ian and his group of friends all seemed to be enjoying their athletics; some took the sport more obviously seriously than others but there is no reason why you can’t plan, train and do your best and have a good time doing it.   Of all the profiles on the site, over 150 now, Ian is the one who comes across as enjoying the sport for its own sake maybe most of all.   It’s a real pity he stopped as early as he did.

Ian winning at Pitreavie, 1990/91

However, the Archibald family was not lost to Scottish national sporting teams.   One of the top home performers in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow was Katie Archibald, his cyclist daughter.   She really caught the imagination and if you want to read an excellent article about Katie, and her Dad, there is an excellent article from the ‘Herald’  at this link:

http://m.heraldscotland.com/sport/14290526._Father_from_hell_drove_Katie_Archibald_to_success_as_cyclist/