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The McAndrew Relay was a real classic that deserves its place in Scottish athletics history.   The traditional start to the winter season, it was held on the first Saturday in October for over half a century.   Organised by Victoria Park AAC, it began with changing in the Whiteinch Baths and a start at the side of Victoria Park and consisted of two interlocked rectangles, it later changed to a start outside St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School and went up round Anniesland Cross and back round via Danes Drive, past Scotstoun Showground and up to the school to finish.   The map of this course is below.

It was a very popular race with many clubs entering four or five teams – it was unusual for clubs to enter only one four man team.   

Allan Scally (extreme right) with the winning McAndrew Relay team of 1945.  The runners were Barney Cairns, Harry Howard, Willie Connor and Charlie McLellan

Start of the race in the 1950

On the original trail in October 1947

Alex Kidd and Arthur Warton of Garscube in 1947

The start in October 1947 – George White (Clydesdale) on the left leading the field out.

Tom O’Reilly (Springburn) to Gary MacKay

McAndrew Start, 1950

McAndrew Finish, 1950, Andy Forbes

Duncan Middleton (Springburn

The first of three with Danny Wilmoth (Springburn): here he is with Jimmy Irvine (Bellahouston) in the 50’s

Danny – again in the 50’s

Danny as a veteran on the traditional trail passing the Showground

Brian McAusland, mid 1960’s

Hugh Barrow (VPAAC) running the fastest time of the day in 1965: last stage, winning team

Victoria Park winning team, mid 1960’s:  Ian McPherson, Albert Smith, Hugh Barrow, Joe Reilly

Molly Wilmoth in the middle with Doug Gillon (Reporter) quizzing Andy Forbes (VPAAC), Brian Goodwin (Bellahouston extreme right and Willie Laing (Shettleston) behind Molly.

Race Start: 1960’s

Handover from Donald Macgregor for Fife AC and Alistair Douglas for VPAAC; Alex MacIndoe on the left, and Alastair Macfarlane (68) for Springburn waiting for his runner.

Race start, 1986  –  Alistair Douglas number 37  – record entry of 154 teams

1986: Kilbarchan leads the group

Handover from Donald Macgregor for Fife AC and Alistair Douglas for VPAAC; Alex MacIndoe on the left, and Alastair Macfarlane (68) for Springburn waiting for his runner.

The winning Spango Valley team from 1986: Chris Robison, Lawrie Spence and the Connachan brothers

Dave Cooney (Cambuslang) member of winning Vets team in 1989

The start, mid-90’s:   63 John ‘Cowboy’ Cunningham (Fife), 38 Des Roache (Clydesdale), 30 Tommy Hearle (Kilbarchan), 11 Brian Kirkwood (Racing Club).

Winning Shettleston team with trophy

2006 – this and the next two are from Chris Upson’s at his blogspot (https://chrisupson.blogspot.com/)

Just after the start, 2006, 95 Lindsay McNeill, 65 John McArthur

Gus Cairney (Clydesdale) heading for the finish in 2006.

Paul Carroll

Pete Cartwright

Inverclyde with the trophy in 2013: Dan Mulhare, Michael Houston, Craig Ruddy and Greg Williams

Marathon Club Fixture List for Summer 1966: Championship Races are marked with a Star

The SMC began in 1944 but only two ‘minute books’ survive. These cover 1950 to early 1981. In the early years, the focus was mainly on the Scottish Marathon Championship (which the SMC organised, along with SAAA). Even by 1952, there were at least 26 Scottish Distance Road Races (between 10 miles and the marathon – 26 miles 385 yards).    Scottish Ultras were yet to be invented, although the Edinburgh to Glasgow 44 miles and the Two Bridges 36 miles were to take place before too long.

All credit then, to Scotland and the SMC, since the more famous Road Runners Club (based in Southern England) did not start up until June 1952. In fact, before that date, RRC planners wrote to the SMC for advice on so many aspects of the work involved. For example: appointing office bearers with different responsibilities; committee meetings; minute-taking; collating a fixture list; organising important events and club championships over distances from 10 miles to marathon and ultras;  course measurement; setting up a standard system to encourage more membership and improvement in racing times; certificates and medals; raising funds and managing them; creating a club magazine; maps of courses; officiating at some races; organising water stations, changing facilities, refreshment, prizegiving ceremonies, club socials. No mean achievement, the Scottish Marathon Club being the first specifically road racing club in Britain!  

The first SMC Club Championship (normally between April and August) took place in 1955. Joe McGhee (Shettleston Harriers) won with 24 points, followed by George King (Greenock Wellpark H – 18) and Hugo Fox (Shettleston H – 14). There were four qualifying events, over 16 miles, 20 miles, marathon and 12 miles. The order varied, but usually the 16 miler (Clydebank to Helensburgh) came first and the Scottish Marathon (June) third. 6 points were given for a win; 5 for second; four for third; three for 4th; two for 5th; and 1 point for finishing. Presentations took place during the annual Social Evening, held in Glasgow venues like the Ivy Restaurant or McColl’s Restaurant. Committee Meeting venues varied but eventually most were held in the Glasgow Sports Centre, which became the SMC headquarters. 

J.R. (Jimmy) Scott was a genuine SMC stalwart who served as Secretary/Treasurer from at least 1950 (when the first extant Minutes Book began) until his death on the first of March 1977. He not only kept detailed handwritten minutes of Committee Meetings (including Annual General Meetings) but also typed up precise and painstaking long ‘foolscap’ sheets with race results and charts of all contestants in the SMC club championship. Eight of these charts survive: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 (when the Macnamara Cup was first presented), 1962, 1963, 1967 and 1968. Samples are photocopied below. Other Club Champions can be found by trawling through the minutes, but the points scores are not always available.

The Macnamara Cup was named in honour of James (Jimmy) Macnamara, a training partner with President Dunky Wright during the war. Jimmy ran for several clubs including Maryhill H, Vale of Leven and Shettleston H. He became a pioneer ‘veteran’, even, aged 63, completing a 14 miles road race. He died in 1958 and had been a long-serving committee man, SMC Captain and Life Member.

1956: Harry Fenion (Bellahouston H) 18 points, George King 15, Tom Scott (Motherwell YMCA H) 10. (Tom Scott is honoured by the famous Tom Scott Memorial 10 Miles race, which used to be from Law to Motherwell but nowadays takes place in Strathclyde Park.)

1978: Davie Wyper and Eric Fisher (Edinburgh AC) tied, and each had the trophy for six months.

(Please note that the 1979 Club Championship had new rules. To be considered, a runner had to a) race the Scottish Marathon Championship and b) complete four of the following fixtures: Balloch to Clydebank 12, Jimmy Scott (Clydebank to Helensburgh) 16, Edinburgh to North Berwick 22, Carluke 10, Strathallan 14, Dunblane 14 and a half, Springburn 12.) Fifteen SMC trojans completed five races!

The second minutes book ended in early 1981. By then, the SMC Club Championship was less keenly contested, as traditional road races waned and city mass marathons started, plus half marathons and 10k races. Yet, in ‘serious amateur’ distance road racing days (1945- 1979), SMC club champion contenders included several Scottish Marathon victors: McGhee (three wins), Fenion, Kerr, Fox (two), Eadie and Stoddart. Other SMC members who won the national marathon title included Donald McNab Robertson (two), Charlie Robertson (two), Harry Howard, Alastair Wood (six), Ian Harris, Jim Alder, Donald Macgregor (three), Colin Youngson (three), Jim Dingwall and Alastair Macfarlane. 

The Scottish Marathon Club had so much influence on the early days of distance road racing in Scotland. Their Club Champions were tough to beat!

1960’s SMC Standards

Club Standards Were Only Issued For Times Recorded in the Four Championship Races.

There were always photographs in the “Scots Athlete” magazine but to start with they were from other publications (newspapers, etc) or obviously taken by athletes/officials/supporters between and before races  Many of the good photographs were by Andrew Pryde.   Then the advent of HW Neale, a professional photographer, started having his good quality photographs published and he and George Barber of Maryhill both supplied the vast bulk of photos for the publication.   There were other very good photographers : HW Neale, an English professional sports photographer, Ben Bickerton of Shettleston Harriers also provided many pictures for the magazine but over a relatively short time frame, Jim Finlayson, Roy Robinson and others contributed..   The picture of George above is of George with Jimmy McNamara.   The first article with one of George’s photos credited to him was one illustrating an article that he himself had written about Jean Bouin of France – a multi-medal winner, Olympian and cross-country internationalist who had been killed in the First World War.  George went on to write several articles for the publication.   That first GS Barber photograph in the magazine was this one:

Neale, Jim Finlayson and Roy Robinson all provided photographs but it wasn’t long before George started to have his work appear in virtually every magazine and usually more than one per issue.   The first group was in the March 1951 issue and was of Eddie Bannon winning the Junior National Championship.

There was a whole page in the November 1951 to cover the Marathon at the Edinburgh Highland Games:

Then in December 1951 he had the cover photograph plus a group of four inside, all covering the Edinburgh to Glasgow

More covers, more groups.   The poor standards of reproduction do not disguise the standard of the photography.  More covers, more groups.

Now one of George but not by George – he had written an article about Emmet Farrell and this was the illustration of the two old friends:

Through it all George kept smiling – he is in every photograph that I’ve seen – and there were more and more of his photographs appearing in the magazine and the quality of reproduction was better and better.

He was not restricted by event either – 

I make that 18 cover pictures – there may have been more for there were several uncredited photographs that looked like George’s handiwork.   As you go through the work above, it is possible to see the style, already good, become even better.   He was a good all round part of the magazine – don’t forget his articles were also good value for money.   It is only a pity that no other print medium used them

The winter season traditionally started with the Victoria Park AAC promotion, the McAndrew Relay.   It was the one where you could see who had not been running all summer – they were the ones with white legs.   No lightweight tracksters or leggings for the men at that time.   The McAndrew was followed the following week by the County Relays – 4 stages of anything between two and a half and three miles.   Then there were the District Relays and later on the National Relays would be added to make a natural progression – several teams per club for the McAndrew to help select the teams for the county championships, with another step up to the District Championships and so on.   And all the while trying to get the runners ready for the eight stage Edinburgh to Glasgow in November.    The Renfrewshire Relays were like the other counties held on the second Saturday in October and the list of past winners was dominated by Bellahouston Harriers and included both Greenock clubs, Paisley Harriers and Strathclyde University.

In 1970 another club was added to the list of victors.    The ‘Glasgow Herald’ tells us “Glasgow Police win the Renfrewshire senior 10-mile relay title at Bellahouston Park by 80 yards from Wellpark Harriers in 55 min. 23 sec.   Bellahouston Harriers, the holders, who were without Mike McLean, were unplaced.   Results:-

1.   Glasgow Police (J McMillan 14:06, N Scott 16:15, D Lang 13:40, S Irvine 13:22) 55:23;  2. Wellpark Harriers (C Spence 13:58, J Stevenson 13:46, W Stoddart 13:45, M Pollard 14:08) 55:37;  3.  Glenpark 56:26.   Fastest Times: 1. B Goodwin (Bellahouston) 13:02;  2.  S Irvine (Glasgow Police) 13:22.    

Youths five-mile relay:  1.  Glenpark Harriers 23:04;  Fastest Lap:  L Spence  6:56.   Senior Boys four-mile relay:  Johnstone High School19:18.   Fastest Lap: R Foy  6:03.   Junior Boys four miles:  Glenpark Harriers 21:41.   Fastest lap:  L Robb 6:40.

It is interesting to note that the reason given for Bellahouston being unplaced in a race held on their own turf, was the absence of their star half-miler.    In the 21st century it would not, nine times out of ten, be a surprise for a half-miler to miss any cross-country event with the distance being seen almost as a sprint.   When it came to the Midland District District Relays however, the Police team with the same four runners finished tenth out of the 40 finishing clubs with Bellahouston, including Mike McLean, seventh

In the Championships for 1970/71 just two months later Bellahouston had a much stronger team forward but nevertheless won neither individual or team honours at senior man level.   They were in fact lucky to be second and not third because there was only one point in it.  Results:-

Willie Stoddart (Wellpark Harriers, the former Scottish marathon champion, easily won the Renfrewshire six-mile title in 37 min. 25 sec.   

Senior Race:  1.  W Stoddart (Wellpark) 37:25;  2. S Irvine (Glasgow Police) 38:15;  3. J McMillan (Glasgow Police 38:23.   Team race:  1.  Glasgow Police  82 pts;  2.  Bellahouston H  92 pts;  3.  Wellpark  93 pts.  

Youths three-miles:  1.  L Spence (Glenpark) 19:19.   Team race:  Bellahouston  14.   Senior Boys:  A Hendry (Glenpark), Team race: Bellahouston;  Junior Boys:  1.  I Robb (Johnstone HS)  7:40;   Team race:  Paisley  12.

Eddie Stewart as a Senior Man running in the Edinburgh to Glasgow

The 1971/72 relay championship featured the first appearance in the Senior Championship of Lawrie Spence who was a first year junior.   He acquitted himself well having joint fastest time with Brian Goodwin and seven seconds faster than Bill Stoddart.    “Glenpark Harriers, Greenock, won the Renfrewshire relay title on Saturday.   Bellahouston were second, and the holders, Glasgow Police,, third, more than two minutes behind the winners time of 55 minutes.   L Spence (Glenpark) and B Goodwin (Bellahouston) both equalled the best individual time for the two and a half mile leg of 13:28.   W Stoddart, the former marathon champion, came third in 13:35.   Glenpark also won the junior three by one and a half miles race in 18 min 52 sec, and P McCarney (Glenpark) proved the best individual performer with a time of 5:49.   Eastwood Secondary School took the Senior Boys three by one and a half miles relay in 20 min 14 sec., and E Stewart of the same school registered the best time of 6:31.”

There was another first appearance in the race – Eastwood Secondary had never won a  trophy in the race before, more evidence of the successful spread of the sport in Renfrewshire, and the fastest time of young Eddie Stewart.   Eddie of course would go on to run for Weat of Scotland Harriers and then for Cambuslang Harriers winning Scottish honours on the road and over the country.   The school would go on from this first team and individual medal to even more success in the RAAA Championships in December 1971 as the report on the event shows.   

RENFREWSHIRE TITLE FOR STODDART

Willie Stoddart (Wellpark Harriers), aged 40, won the Renfrewshire cross-country championships at Larkfield, Greenock, beating the second placed runner, Lawrie Spence (Glenpark Harriers), by about 120 yards.   Glenpark took the team title.   Results:-

Senior Six Miles:  1.  W Stoddart (Wellpark) 33 min 22 sec;   2.  RL Spence (Glenpark )  33:41;  3.  R Hodelet (Glenpark) 34:17.   Team race:  1. Glenpark (2, 3, A Law 4, T Dobbin 7, J Smith 14, R Hyett 20) 50 pts;  2.  Wellpark 67;   3.  Glasgow Police 94.   

Youths Three Miles:  1.   D Gormley (Glenpark)  16:26.   2.   I Porteous (Eastwood High School) 16:36.   Team:  1.   Glenpark (1, 5, 10) 16 pts;  2. Eastwood HS 18;  3.   Bellahouston 21.   Senior Boys two miles:   1.   H Cox (Glenpark) 11:54.   Team race:  1.   Eastwood High School (2, 4, 6) 12 pts;  2.   Paisley Harriers 32;  3.  Glenpark  34.   Junior Boys one and a half miles:  1.   P McCarney (Glenpark) 8:19.   Team Race:  1.  Glenpark (1, 6, 7) 14;  2.  Bellahouston 16;  3. Paisley Harriers 23.”

Glenpark took three team titles out of four (third in the other race) and three individual titles (second and third in the remaining race).   A very good day for the club and the appearance of young Hammy Cox as a Senior Boy – son of Berties and another who would win Scottish honours.   Glenpark had several family ties among their members – look at the second placer in the Senior race for evidence of that.    Hammy (2039) seen below as a Senior racing Alex Gilmour and Graham Crawford (17).

Time for the 1972/73 cross-country relays and this is where it gets difficult.   The Renfrewshire Association is organising the event, the clubs are supporting it but the relevant copies of newspaper coverage are missing from the archive. 

A similar story in the winter 1973/74 season with the bulk of the space on the Monday athletics area going to a discussion on why Lawrie Bryce was not going to be selected for the Commonwealth Games in 1974 which left only enough space to cover the Lanarkshire AAA road relays.   Came the county championships in December and only the Lanarkshire championships were covered in any detail with a brief mention of the Dunbartonshire championships – no Renfrewshire or Ayrshire.

Season 1974/75 through to 1977/78 results were supplied by Colin Youngson from Athletics Weekly and they are presented below.

The individual and team championships were held at Linwood on 30th November and the title went to Cameron Spence.   The County associations all had somewhere in their constitution the remit to develop the sport in their area and one of the signs that the Renfrewshire AAA were doing so was the development of new clubs prepared to take part in the championships, note the appearance again of Eastwood in the event along with the Spango Valley outfit.   It is an interesting report, noting as it does the fact that Cammie Spence’s brother Lawrie won the Lanarkshire title on the very same day.   The team race went once again to Bellahouston Harriers who won from Glasgow Police and Paisley Harriers.

Cammie Spence running in the 6 Stage relay in the colours of Spango Valley AAC

1975 saw a second title win for Cammie but this time from team mate Graham Clark by a mere 22 seconds although the team race title was taken from Bellahouston by Paisley with Greenock Wellpark in third.    Teams making a rare appearance in the prize winners category this year was West of Scotland (2nd in the Youths race) .   Among the young’uns coming through were Peter Fleming of Bellahouston and Willie Toole of Paisley.

The 1976 championships report from the A.W. is reproduced in its entire page setting because there are other news stories of interest to an endurance running population.   For instance the obituary of Pat Spence after her tragic death is there as is the result of the SCCU National Relay Championship.    Note in the RAAA Championships the three Youths from Bellahouston who would be sub 2:20 marathon runners (Fleming, Daly and Getty), the Junior Boy R Hawkins from Kilbarchan who would become Scottish marathon coach and father of Derek and Calum; and Olympic 1500m runner Frank Clement from Bellahouston winning the Senior title from previous winner Cammie Spence.   Note that Eddie Stewart, formerly of Eastwood HS, running for West of Scotland Harriers, on the way up while previous winners Bill Stoddart of Wellpark and Dick Hodelet of Glenpark were further down.

The Renfrewshire Road Race Championship was always well contested and 1977 was no different from any other year.   The report below from Athletics Weekly was supplied by Graham Getty who appears in the Youths race result:

The Renfrewshire Relays were held on 8th October, 1977, but the result was subsumed in a larger report and, like Dunbartonshire, they were below the Lanarkshire Relays in the Herald and only the minimum was included.

If you have been paying atention to the results of age group races so far, you will have noticed Hammy Cox working his way through from the Boys age group to this year when he not only won the Longbar Cross-Country race but had the fastest time in the Renfrewshire Relay Championships.   His team, Spango Valley won from Bellahouston with a team consisting of himself, Cammie Spence, Graham Clark and Martin Coyle.   

Graham Getty was on hand again to provide the results of the RAAA Cross-Country Championships on 2nd December, 1978 – again the whole page will be shown since the other results are of interest; in this context of County Associations, the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire results are also here and the quality in the three events is very high indeed.

The Road Championships went on of course earlier in the year and the numbers and standard remained high.   

Start of DAAA organised Balloch – Clydebank, 1952:  a confined race to member clubs.

The 1951/52 cross-country season ended and the summer season then went on until the end of June (25th) with the Inter-Counties at Westhorn Recreation Grounds in Glasgow when Lanarkshire with 63 points defeated Renfrewshire on 49 points and Dunbartonshire with 43.

The individual clubs held their own open meetings of course with the Helensburgh Meeting being on 26th July and the Milngavie open meeting at Auchenhowie on 16th August.   The latter had top class athletes all the way through the programme with Bill Jack in the sprints, Donnie McDonald the middle distance specialist, Ian Binnie in the long distance events and David Gracie in the hurdles.    The Inter-Counties medley relay was won by Dunbartonshire from Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire.   

In October, on the third Saturday, all the county relays took place on the 18th of the month.   The Dunbartonshire team race was won fairly comfortably by Garscube Harriers from the Brock Baths in Dumbarton from Vale of Leven and Garscube Harriers B Team – details below.    

Finally for 1952, the county took on Lanarkshire in the annual cross-country race sponsored and organised by the Counties themselves, via a Committee representative of these county associations.   What happened to Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, Stirlingshire or City of Glasgow is not noted, what is noted is the mammoth defeat suffered by Dunbartonshire. for whom several top men did not turn out.   The ‘Herald’report on the race said that”Eddie Bannon outstripped his rivals yesterday in the Lanarkshire/Dunbartonshire six and a half mile cross country race, held over a course planned by the Shettleston Harriers in the vicinity of their pavilion in Gartocher Road.   It was a three lap trail, almost entirely on grassland, with very little road running.    At the end of the first lap, he held a 70 yard lead, and striding out comfortably continued to widen the gap.   J Finlayson, a team mate was his closest challenger for a time, but over the last lap, a “dark horse” , W Green (Cambuslang) over took Finlayson and finished second, a quarter of a mile behind Bannon.”    

Details from the ‘Scots Athlete’ below.

The actual county championships organised by the DAAA took place on 10th January at the same Dumbarton venue as the relays.   The report and results from The ‘Glasgow Herald’ are below.

On Saturday 18th April the confined Dunbartonshire AAA Road Running Championship over the 12 mile course from Balloch to Clydebank was won by John Duffy of Clydesdale Harriers in 1:10:31 from Joe Walker of Dumbarton AAC.   The quality of the field can be seen from the photograph below with two excellent runners from Garscube Harriers trailing him out of Dumbarton just after halfway.

We know that the County was very active: championship relays in two age groups, championships in two age groups, Track & Field Championships, two road races – the confined Balloch to Clydebank 12 miles and the open Clydebank to Helensburgh 16 miles – teams in inter-counties on the track and over the country when they were held as well as helping individual clubs and organisations within the area.   Unfortunately for reasons unknown, the championships, other than the road races, were not advertised in ‘The Scots Athlete’ as those of other counties were.   There were whole pages of fixtures most years which included Lanarkshire AAA, Renfrewshire AAA and AHCA championships but seldom if ever dates for Dunbarton Championships.    Perhaps related to that, there was a hierarchy of coverage of county events in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ with Lanarkshire getting the lion’s share of the coverage and Renfrewshire next and then Ayrshire.   There are gaps, at times big gaps, in the reports on Dunbartonshire championships.

David Bowman of Clydesdale Harriers at Greenhead Road – halfway – in the Balloch to Clydebank Race

 The Milngavie Highland Games on 15th August 1953 were again a great success with Ian Binnie beating a field of 42 runners in the 10 mile road race in a record time and Eddie Bannon winning the Two Miles as he pleased; Bill Piper had the best performance in the high jump and won the pole vault and Molly Ferguson (later Wilmoth) won the 100 yards but there was no Inter-County Relay race as in previous years. 

Winter 1953/54 started in the traditional fashion with the short relays.   The McAndrew promised a good season to come when Victoria Park won their own McAndrew Relay with Ian Binnie setting a new course record, taking 5 seconds from the existing one.   Their B team was third with Shetleston separating the two.   The first Dunbartonshire team was Garscube in fourth place.    The Dunbartonshire championship relay took place on 17th October at the Garscube Harriers HQ at Westerton.   They turned out the same quartet that had run so well in the McAndrew but not in the same order – Robertson had been on the last leg in the Scotstoun race with Kidd running first.   They all ran again in the Midland District where the team finished sixth – Robertson, Dunn, Coupland, Kidd was the order this time round.  They were a very good team, of that there is no doubt at all, but what is surprising is that not one of the four was in the list of season’s best times for any endurance event on the track as published in the ‘Scots Athlete’.   Alex Kidd had taken up marathon running and performed well in several 20+ mile races.    He had been fourth of the fifteen finishers behind two experienced English runners and Joe McGhee in the Perth to Dundee race and fourth in the SAAA Marathon Championship in a time of 2:43:15 behind J Duffy (Hadleigh), A McLean (Glenpark Harriers) and J McGhee (St Modan’s).   The Dunbartonshire result was printed in that magazine as follows:-

The Championship results are not available at present  so it is on to the following spring and . . . .

The Dunbartonshire Balloch to Clydebank 12 Mile Road Race in 1954 took place on 17th April and was won, as per expectations, by Alex Kidd by fully 600 yards in 68:30.   Fellow Garscube Harrier Stan Horn was the man in second and J Timmins of Dumbarton AAC third in times respectively of 70:23 and 70:52.   FJ Lacey of Vale of Leven was fourth in 71:32, J Duffy, Clydesdale Harriers was fifth in 72:06 and DM Bowman, also Clydesdale, sixth in 72: 09.   Pictured below are Willie Howie, David Bowman and John Duffy of Clydesdale Harriers after the Balloch to Clydebank.

The winter relays were held on Vale of Leven’s territory on 16th October 1954 and the home team won from reigning champions, Garscube Harriers.   The two men whose names stand out over 60 years later were the two men who had the fastest times – Pat Moy and Alex McDougall of the Vale.   Moy was an Irish international runner and a performer of the highest class who won events on the track, over the country and on the roads, while McDougall was a Scottish internationalist, a medal winner at SAAA level and an Empire Games competitor.   They would both be big names for some time to come.    

The Championships were held early in the New Year – 8th January 19545- and were won by Clydesdale’s Cyril O’Boyle, picture below, in 38:16.   Results:

George White to John Wright for Clydesdale Harriers in the DAAA Cross-Country Relay

The Balloch to Clydebank race was on 16th April in 1955 and featured a hard race between Cyril O’Boyle of Clydesdale Harriers and the tough Alex McDougall of Vale of Leven.   O’Boyle won by 700 yards in 64:15 from McDougall (65:49) and Stan Horne of Garscube, the winner in 1953, was third .   Remaining placings:-  4.  G Dickson, Garscube, 71:20;  5.  J Timmins, Dumbarton, 73:54;  6.  W Ross, Garscube,  76:36;  7.  M Stewart, Clydesdale, 76:42.   Alex Kidd, the winner the previous year, did not run.   The report from “Athletic Review” (1/3d) of June 1955 by CS Barber is below the photograph.

Cyril O’Boyle leading Alex McDougall in the Balloch to Clydebank Road Race, 1955

The cross-country relays in October 1955 were held on 15th October and the winners were Garscube Harriers with Clydesdale second and Vale of Leven, the holders were third.   The report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ covered all three county events that weekend and the report – minus the results for Renfrew and Lanark – is below.

So much for the Relays, the championships were held at Dumbarton with the senior title being retained by Clydesdale’s O’Boyle from Pat Moy of the Vale Harriers.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ report is below.

The first significant road race of the following summer season (1956) was on 7th April and was the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16 miler.   Another good report on the race from the ‘Glasgow Herald’ 

The Balloch – Clydebank was held on 14th April, 1956, and was won by McDougall after a hard race with Garscube’s Kidd, O’Boyle having dropped out with foot trouble, report below. 

McDougall would run for Scotland in the Empire Games Marathon in Cardiff and have a very good career as a marathon runner domestically.   A hard, tough man he had some very good races with O’Boyle a runner of real class from Ireland.    Along with the immensely talented Pat Moy, McDougall gave the Vale of Leven AAC the foundations for a very good team.    The club had several top class men – Walter Lennie who won the Midland District championship was one and Willie Gallacher was another.   Gallacher, younger brother of the boxer Skeets Gallacher (Scottish and British flyweight champion and unofficial champion of the world) , left the Vale for just over a year and ran for Shettleston Harriers before returning to the club.   

The County Associations were, and continue to be, important to the development of athletics in the West of Scotland.   For some reason they do not seem to feature in the East which has its East District League.    The Counties all sprang up separately, they were local groups which concentrated on developing the sport locally and providing a bridge between club and District Competition.   eg the start of the winter season has always been the short relays and the format in the west in October was McAndrew Road Relays at Scotstoun on the first Saturday, then the County Relays the following week and then the Districts and, from 1974, National Relays,   It was a natural progression with distances varying between two and a half and three miles.    

It was a minor bone of contention when the governing body decided that it was asking fit athletes to run two hard relays in consecutive weeks and brought the District Relays back a week to the slot filled by the County Championships.   The ‘progression’ aspect was defeated.   However the county associations provided county relay championships and championships over the country and track & field championships in the summer; many also provided road races (eg DAAA organised the Balloch to Clydebank and Clydebank to Helensburgh races, Renfrewsire also provided an annual road racing championship as did Lanarkshire).   

These associations are all detailed separately but on this page we have the constitutions of two such organisation – similar but differing in the amount and type of detail.   Compare and contrast!

Ayrshire Harrier Clubs Association     Dunbartonshire Amateur Athletics Association

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Name

The Association shall be called the Ayrshire Harrier Clubs’ Association and shall have the short title “AHCA”.

Membership

1. *Membership of the Association shall be confined to athletics clubs affiliated to Scottish Athletics Limited based in Ayrshire and Arran, member groups of Jog Scotland based in Ayrshire and Arran, sports promoting bodies, schools, colleges and youth clubs based in Ayrshire and Arran.                                                                                                 
2. All applications for membership must be made in writing to the Secretary and shall be submitted to the Committee at its first meeting after the application is lodged. The membership fee must accompany the application.
3. Any organisation wishing to resign must give notice to the Secretary prior to the Annual General Meeting. If this is not done, liability for a further year’s subscription will be incurred and if this is not paid then the organisation will be liable for this subscription before it can rejoin.

Objects

The objects of the Association shall be:

1. To further the interests of athletics by endeavouring to secure the formation of new clubs eligible for membership.
2. To encourage clubs by promoting individual and team competitions, county championships, inter-county contests and international matches.
3. To assist schools by encouraging the promotion of athletic competitions.
4. To assist youth clubs by offering advice to members and encouraging the promotion of area and inter district youth panel sports meetings.

Government

1. Each year at the Annual General Meeting a roll of patrons shall be drawn up.
2. The office bearers of the Association shall be appointed annually and shall consist of a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman, a Secretary and a Treasurer. The offices of Secretary and Treasurer may be invested in one person. Each member organisation shall be obliged to supply a Secretary if this is necessary and shall do so in alphabetical rotation. All office bearers other than  Secretary and Treasurer must be appointed from Delegates duly authorised by member organisations. In addition the AGM may appoint an Honorary President. The Delegates will be elected by the member organisations with each organisation electing two Delegates.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
3. The management of the Association shall be vested in a general committee consisting of Delegates elected as described above and the office bearers. This committee will meet periodically whenever business demands it with a minimum of four meetings each year over and above an Annual General Meeting. A quorum for all committee meetings shall be fixed annually at the Annual General Meeting. The two Delegates from each member organisation shall have one vote each. Office bearers who are not Delegates shall also have one vote each. The Chairman shall have a casting as well as a deliberative vote. Ex-officio office bearers shall have one vote but only when the proposal comes within their area of responsibility and at no other times. Four Delegates/office bearers shall form a quorum at the AGM.

Meetings

The Chairman and Secretary shall decide the times and places of all meetings. At least fourteen days notice of a normal committee meeting shall be given to secretaries of affiliated organisations.      The  Annual General Meeting  shall be held no later than the end of November each year. This meeting will receive the Secretary’s and Treasurer’s annual reports and office bearers will be elected by a show of hands.  At least twenty eight days notice of the AGM shall be given to the secretaries of each affiliated organisation. This notice shall be accompanied by a provisional agenda. Notice of any business which an affiliated organisation wishes to be placed on the agenda of the AGM must be in the hands of the Secretary fourteen days before the date of the meeting.

Special General Meetings

A Special General Meeting may be convened provided the request is signed by the secretaries of three affiliated organisations and is placed in the hands of the Secretary at least fourteen days before the date of the proposed meeting. The business to be discussed must be specified. The Secretary will then give all affiliated organisations seven days notice of the meeting and specify the business to be transacted. A majority of the Delegates/office bearers present shall decide such business as submitted except that in the case of an alteration to the rules, a majority of two thirds of Delegates/office bearers present shall be required.

Annual Subscription

The annual subscription shall be fixed at the AGM and shall be paid not later than the end of the calendar year.

Discipline

The general committee shall have the power to suspend temporarily or permanently from AHCA organised or supported events, any person or affiliated organisation considered by the general committee to have brought the sport of athletics into disrepute. The decision shall be based on a simple majority of Delegates/office bearers present at the meeting. Misbehaviour might include betting or unfair practices connected with athletics such as failing to observe the rules. A person or organisation so disciplined shall have the right to appeal to a Special General Meeting. A two thirds majority shall be necessary before any decision shall be implemented at such a meeting. The decision of the Association shall be conveyed to the governing body.

Alteration to the Rules

These rules shall not be varied or amended except by the votes of not less than two thirds of those present at an Annual General Meeting or at a properly convened Special General Meeting called for the purpose.

Executive Committee

An executive committee consisting of the Chairman, Secretary and one other Delegate or Office bearer shall be appointed at the AGM to deal with any matter which may arise when there is insufficient time to call a committee meeting. It may also deal with any business which the general committee may remit to it.

Standing Orders

1. A suitable account shall be opened at a branch of a bank approved by the AGM. This account shall be operated by the Treasurer.
2. Sundry receipts of cash shall be banked whenever the amount exceeds £50.
3. A cashbook shall be kept by the Treasurer in which shall be shown all intromissions supported by relative vouchers for either income or expenditure.
4. The financial year shall end on the 30^th September and a statement of income and expenditure prepared for the approval of the AGM.
5. An auditor shall be appointed by the AGM. He will conduct a complete audit for the year and submit a report to the AGM.
6. The four statutory meetings of the general committee shall be held in the months of November, February, May and August with the November meeting coinciding with the AGM.

Rules For Championship Events

1. Eligibility of competitors shall be as defined by Scottish Athletics Limited.
2. The rules for all events shall be as laid down by Scottish Athletics but in addition the following local rules shall apply:

Individual and team Championships promoted by AHCA or authorised sports promoting bodies shall be open only to (a) all members of our affiliated athletics clubs whether first or second claim, (b) people who reside in Ayrshire or Arran (c) all members of schools and youth organisations in Ayrshire and Arran. However anyone whose eligibility stems from (b) or (c) shall not be eligible if they are a member of an athletics club affiliated to Scottish Athletics which is based outwith Ayrshire and Arran.

1. The venue of Championships shall be the headquarters of (or other premises arranged by) the host club. Each club shall have the honour of promoting the competitions in turn with the host club being decided by the AGM.
2. (a)The trail for all championship races shall be chosen by the host club. (b) The office bearers of the Association shall have the power to change the trail if they consider it unsuitable. (c) The promoting club shall give the Secretary a description of the trail including distances so that member organisations can be informed as soon as possible. (d) A plan of the courses shall be prominently displayed on the day of the races.
3. The distances for all competitors shall be in accordance with Scottish Athletics rules for the various age groups.
4. All entries must show the competitors name, date of birth and organisation. Declarations will close 30 minutes before the start of the event. The Chairman and Secretary may scrutinise entries.
5. The entry fee will be decided at the AGM.
6. The Association shall appoint a referee and not less than two judges, two timekeepers, a starter and such stewards as may be thought necessary. These officials will be responsible for the conduct of the races and/or meeting. Each affiliated athletics club will be expected to nominate at least two officials.
7. The general committee shall decide the number of competitors to count in team events and the number and value of awards for different events.

Winding Up

The winding up of Ayrshire Harrier Clubs’ Association shall require a vote to be taken at an AGM or a properly convened Special General Meeting. At this meeting the Delegates from all the affiliated organisations present at the meeting shall have to vote in favour of the proposed dissolution before it can take place.

Disposal of Assets

In the event of Ayrshire Harrier Clubs’ Association being wound up, any surplus funds left over after all our financial obligations have been met shall be dispersed equally amongst our affiliated athletics clubs.

First things first, the Handbook introduced us to the Committee Office Bearers, preceded only by the Patrons.   Sir Iain Colquhoun was Lord Lieutenant of the County and kept himself informed of what was happening there.   Popular and active, he was first on the list.   Of the office bearers, David Brooke was a well known official who was active right up to and past the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh when he was an official time keeper, and Willie Stevenson was the man who sent round the first letter suggesting that the organisation be formed.    James Gray was a qualified CA who had been a long time member and office bearer in Clydesdale Harriers.

Although it was the Dunbartonshire AAA para 3 (a) indicates that its interests, while mainly in Dunbartonshire, were with athletics generally.   Wider than most similar county organisations which were more restricted.   Para 3 (b) includes Muster runs, again rather unusual, which were joint club runs with all clubs within it taking part in what was basically a pack run. 

As with all organisations, the results of all championships were listed up to date.    These were both cross-country and track and field.

….

Why pick on one year and not another?   Because not all events organised and carried through successfully by any organisation are reported faithfully in the Press, many of them are not reported at all.   This can be for many reasons – some events are of a purely local interest, some are so low key that they are not known of at all, there may be too much sport for any paper to write up in its entirety on any given Monday.    Mind you, there might well be a case for a purely multi-sport results sheet to be produced on Mondays.   Remember that ‘The Scottish Referee’ was only published on a Monday to start with before it became a twice-weekly production.   It covered all sports and even reported on most of them.   Perhaps a simple results supplement on a Monday would help sell more papers?   

Renfrewshire, as a member of the SAAA, had to have a permit to hold any real meeting and so we could check out the official roster of events for any year.   The SAAA produced a Handbook every year which covered every aspect of the sport in Scotland for that year as well as having the Constitution in its entirety, the Rules for Competition, lists of coaches, of officials, etc, etc.   The etc, etc includes the fixture list for the year.    Why choose 1979?    It was a time when the various county associations were doing really well – the ‘running boom’ was in full swing, Scottish athletes were performing well and so the grass-roots aspect of the sport involving clubs and schools were also very involved in the sport.   Any year around the end of the 70’s and the 80’s would have done.   

The complete list of Renfrewshire AAA activities that year was listed as follows.

And you can probably add in the County Cross-Country Championships in December.   There were other events held in the county throughout the year by member clubs and usually assisted by the RAAA as well as events not needing a permit from the SAAA such as schools championships and inter-county youth services sports.    

Be that as it may, the coverage of the above events was all but non-existant.   Of course, that may have been down to the local organiser not sending in the results of the track events but road race results are usually sent in immediately after the race.

Graham Getty helped in the quest for results with the “Athletics Weekly” report on the road championships and detailed results.   Note that the date has been altered.

The County Relay result was published in the “Glasgow Herald” and was rather short.   Run on 13th October it clashed with the Glasgow Marathon but the only result given was the Senior race, no age groups results and only the bare bones of the senior event.

The obvious conclusion is that the county association was doing its job well, the number of clubs was growing – note who won the team race in the relay, note too the name Pentastar – and clubs such as Kilbarchan were getting stronger.   The coverage in 1979 was not what it had been but fortunately it would pick up and Doug Gillon’s name would be welcome by all club and international athletes in the country.   Pentastar, by the way, was a club connected with the car manufacturers at Linwood whose symbol was a five pointed star.    

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Running is British women’s favourite sport. Around 3 million women in the UK run regularly and every weekend tens of thousands of women take part in parkrun or in races over distances from 5km to ultramarathon.

Things were very different fifty years ago. Women in the UK were limited to racing a maximum of 6000 metres (about 4 miles). There were very few road races for women, whereas men were able to race all distances including ultras. That situation did not change until 1975 when the English governing body, the Women’s Amateur Athletic Association, changed its competition rules and allowed women to run distances up to the marathon. The new rules were introduced on an experimental basis for a year, but once they had been changed there was no going back.

Change only came about because women believed they could do more, knew they could do more and took action to prove it. Two Scottish women, Dale Greig and Leslie Watson, were among the women who broke the rules in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s, challenged race officials and public opinion and showed what women could do.

Dale Greig – a world best

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in May 1964, a young Scottish woman lined up to run a marathon at Ryde on the Isle of Wight, the sole woman in a field of 67 men. Dale Greig was to become the first woman to run a marathon in under 3 hours and 30 minutes.

The club that organised the race, Ryde Harriers, knew that they were breaking the Amateur Athletic Association’s rules by letting a woman run in their race. They tried to get around this by making Dale start four minutes ahead of the men.

She was followed by an ambulance in case she collapsed. Nineteen of the men failed to finish the notoriously hilly course but Dale crossed the line in 3 hours 27 minutes 25 seconds in 35th place. Her time was later recognised as a world best by the IAAF (now World Athletics). It was to be 36 years until another British woman, Paula Radcliffe, would set the world record.

Not exhausted

A local paper reported Dale as saying:

“I felt sorry for the men I kept passing in the closing stages – they looked embarrassed. A couple who had given up and were sitting at the roadside, struggled to their feet when they saw me pass.”

The paper also reported that she went to the athletes’ dance that evening staying until midnight. Dale clearly wasn’t exhausted from running a marathon. The story was picked up by the national press as a novelty item, but not everyone approved. Two days after the race, the Daily Express quoted Marea Hartman, Honorary Secretary of the Women’s AAA:

“We have no races over four-and-a-half miles. It’s felt these distances are too much for women. … As for women running against men – No. The discrepancy in ability is too great.”

Dale’s early years as a runner

Dale Greig was born in Paisley in 1937. At school, running was limited to sprints and relays. After leaving school Dale ran for Glasgow-based club Bellahouston Harriers before setting up her own women’s club, Tannahill Harriers, in 1959, as there was no women’s club in Paisley.

Dale competed at the longest distances women were allowed to run on the track at the time, winning bronze and silver medals at 880 yards (half-mile) and the mile at the Scottish National Championships between 1956 and 1959.

She had a passion for cross country and finished in the top three in the Scottish National Cross Country Championships for 11 consecutive years (1958-1968). She won the title four times and represented Scotland at International Cross Country Championships. In 1960, Dale helped found the Scottish Women’s Cross Country Union which revived cross country racing.

At a time when few people, men or women, were seen out running, Dale would go for long runs of 20 miles or more, sometimes accompanied by a friend, but often on her own.

Road racing was a niche sport. Marathons were not the mass events they are today and in 1964 there were perhaps 1,000 marathon finishers in the UK.

More road races

Dale ran the Isle of Wight Marathon unofficially again in 1971. In 1974, aged 37, she won the inaugural International Masters Marathon in Paris and in 1976, she finished tenth in the World Veterans Marathon in Coventry.

She competed unofficially in three more races that did not admit women. She was the first woman to run two ultramarathons: the Isle of Man 40 in 1971 and the London to Brighton ultramarathon in 1972. She also completed the Ben Nevis Fell Race in 1971.

Sports historian Professor Fiona Skillen of Glasgow Caledonian University sums up Dale’s impact:

“Dale was a trail blazer in British women’s distance running. She was also fundamental to the development of women’s running in Scotland, she was a role model to many women and through her various roles in the Scottish Women’s Cross Country Union and other athletics organisations she helped to shape access, training and support for future generations of female athletes.”

Leslie Watson – challenging male traditions

After the rules changed in 1975, race organisers did not automatically open their races to women. In fact, most races continued to be men-only for a few years. One very well-known race which was slow to admit women was the London to Brighton ultra. The race had been organised since 1952 by the Road Runners Club, an organisation founded to promote men’s distance running in the UK.

Dale Greig had run London to Brighton unofficially in 1972, starting an hour before the men. But by 1979, the RRC still hadn’t allowed women to enter their flagship race. Five women decided to enter unofficially to show that women were able to complete the 54-mile distance within the 8 hour 23 minutes time limit. They were Ruth Anderson of the USA, three British women, Leslie Watson, Lydia Kirk and Lynn Billington and another unnamed woman. Leslie, Lydia and Ruth all finished well within the time limit, Leslie finishing first in 6 hours 55 minutes and 11 seconds, faster than most of the men. Lynn and the other woman dropped out.

In 1980, the RRC put on the first official women’s London to Brighton race with a trophy for the female winner. Leslie returned to the race, winning again, this time in 6 hours 56 minutes and 10 seconds.

206 marathons

One thing that takes your breath away about Leslie Watson’s running career is how many marathons she ran and how many of them she won. These days elite runners may target one or two marathons a year. Leslie often ran them on consecutive weekends and sometimes even on consecutive days. The 1979 London to Brighton race took place on Sunday 30^th September. Astonishingly, Leslie had run five marathons that month, winning three of them, including what was probably her first Scottish marathon, Aberdeen on 16^th September. The weekend before London to Brighton she had won the Milton Keynes Marathon on the Saturday and then run the Rotherham Marathon on the Sunday. The day before the race she took it easy with a cross country race. In her twenty-year marathon career, Leslie ran 206 marathons and won more than 60 of them.

Starting running

Leslie Watson was born in Glasgow in 1948. When she was ten, she joined Maryhill Harriers with a friend. She described herself as a “no-hoper” who trained hard with her coach, John Anderson, making it into the Scottish cross-country team and becoming the Scottish mile champion at 18. In the 1960s and early 1970s, she competed against Dale Greig many times in cross country races, including both the Scottish and English National Championships, and occasionally in track races.

A young Leslie Watson (left) before a mile race at Westerlands

Leslie trained as a physiotherapist and in 1970 moved down to London for her work. She joined one of the top women’s clubs, London Olympiades AC, and competed for them in cross country and road relays.

In an interview with the Newcastle Journal, published on 13^th December 1982, Leslie acknowledged that she had been inspired by Dale Greig and by Bridget Cushen, who had run the Harlow Marathon in 1973.  The interviewer asked her what had happened to turn her from a “no-hoper” into a marathon runner.

“Ah well, she says, I discovered the marathon. It happened when she saw Bridget Cushing (sic) and Dale Gregg (sic) competing and began to think about the possibility that the marathon might just be her own distance.”

She took the first opportunity there was for women to run the marathon distance, the Masters and Maidens Marathon in Guildford in October 1975.

“I saw the Guildford marathon advertised. I did very little training just one 20 mile run from Kent into London. I went out the night before the race and had lots of bad red wine and then on the way down I was eating chocolate and popcorn. I felt sick by the time we started and I was exhausted after 3 miles.”

Despite her poor preparation, Leslie finished third in just over three and a half hours. Her marathon career was well and truly under way. In 1978 she ran under three hours for the first time and after that she had many sub-3 results. She topped the Scottish marathon rankings in 1976, 1977 and 1978, was second in 1979 and first again in 1980. In May 1981, she set a 50 mile world best at the Lake Waramaug 50 mile road race in Connecticut, USA. In 1983, she was selected for the Evian Marathon Squad. The squad was an initiative of the British Amateur Athletics Board and the WAAA designed to secure more funding and sponsorship for female marathoners.

The queen of the roads

Described as the “queen of the roads” in the programme for the first London Marathon, Leslie was the public face of the women’s marathon in the 1980s. She was involved in setting up a chain of running stores, The London Runner, and appeared in advertisements for them. She wrote articles for magazines and gave lots of talks. When a new magazine called “Jogging” appeared in 1979 they chose Leslie for the front cover.

Her last marathon was the Isle of Wight Marathon in 1994 which she won for the seventh time. After that she developed a knee problem which prevented her from running and, never one to sit still, she took up powerlifting.

From rulebreakers to pioneers

Dale Greig and Leslie Watson are just two of the women who broke the rules and ran in men’s races. There are many whose stories will never be known because when women “crashed” men’s races, their times didn’t usually get recorded.  These women have been written out of history, as if their races never happened.

There is no doubt that the huge uptake in women running today would never have occurred without these pioneering women distance runners who broke the mould in the 1960s and 1970s.  Many of them did not get the opportunities to compete that they deserved, but they encouraged and inspired other women and paved the way for all of us who run today.

by Katie Holmes

Independent Sports Historian

www.RunYoung50.co.uk

April 2023

Sources

This article is an edited version of an article called “Rulebreakers” which appeared in Women’s Running magazine in December 2022.

Milestones in Women’s Marathon History – 1975 – Permission for women to run the marathon in the UK, Katie Holmes, Playing Pasts website, July 2022

Scotland’s People Register of Births

Profile of Dale Greig, Scottish Distance Running History website, September 2015

“There’ll be no prizes for women”, Like the Wind magazine #25 (an article about Dale Greig), Katie Holmes, September 2020

Profile of Leslie Watson, Scottish Distance Running History website, September 2015

Leslie Watson – Queen of the Roads, Katie Holmes, RunYoung50 website, December 2022

Scottish Track and Field Rankings 1959-2000 and SWAAA Championship results, the Scottish Association of Track Statisticians (SATS)