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Alistair Blamire leads Fergus Murray for Edinburgh University

The Scottish Universities Championship results for 1971 have been passed on to us by Alex Jackson and they make interesting reading.   The first six are Alistair Blamire, Alan Partridge, Frank Clement, Don Ritchie, Innis Mitchell and Colin Youngson.   Andy McKean didn’t make the half dozen and there are many good men in the field – Billy Cairns, John McHardy, etc.   Have a look.

One of the features of summer athletics meetings and winter season races in the 1960’s was a table covered with postcard-sized black and white photographs.   They were taken by JJ Millar of Leechlee Street in Hamilton, or so the stamp on the back of the picture said.   Every week he was there with his photos.   Taken without any of the modern aids they were all well taken at relay changeovers, at race finishes at critical stages of races and of athletes on all abilities.   This is a very small selection of what was available in the first half of the 1960’s (for 5/- each).

Les Piggott (1), George Rodger 8) in the invitation 100 yards at Babcock & Wilcox Sports

GAH Muir (31) George Rodger (26)

Ian Donald, Nigel Barge finish, Maryhill

JB Maclachlan, Nigel Barge finish

Iain Leggett, Nigel Barge finish

Allan Faulds finishing the Springburn Cup at Huntershill

Jackie Girvan and Allan Sharp (73) in the National at Hamilton

Hugh Mitchell (53), Charlie McAlinden (138), Pat McAtier (52), Bobby Calderwood, Brian McAusland, David Simpson (51)

, 

Roy Clark (68) and Pat Younger, National, Hamilton

Neil Buchanan to Brian McAusland, Midland Relay, Cleland, 1964/65

Brian McAusland to Bobby Shields, Midlands Relay, Cleland, just ahead of the next photograph …

Davie Kerr to Davie Martin, Garscube, Midlands Relay at Cleland

Bill Scally to Les Menelly, Shettleston, in E-G

Danny Wilmoth, Shawfield, Lanark Police Sports

Danny Wilmoth

Kenny Laverick, Tom Scott

A Lanarkshire track competition at Coatbridge with Alaister Russell (Law & District) leading Alex Chalmers of Springburn with Scottish Junior international David Donnet (Springburn) and J McLuckie (Larkhall) also clearly seen.

The Lanarkshire Amateur Athletic Association was formed in 1949 by a purely local initiative for the good of athletics in the County.   We have now reached 1980 in our review and it seems appropriate to do a recap of progress made.   

1.   It has organised athletic meetings with the annual county championships being the major one,
2. It was so successful that the number of member  clubs grew until by 1980 there were Airdrie, Bellshill YMCA, Clyde Valley, East Kilbride, Larkhall YMCA, Law & District AAC, Motherwell YMCA, Shettleston Harriers, Springburn Harriers and Strathclyde University. 
3. It has organised road relay championships in October and cross-country championships in December every year since then.   The championships were taken all round the county venues – Airdrie, Barrachnie, Bellshill, Carluke, Coatbridge, Larkhall, East Kilbride.
4. It has organised road races and
5. It has been responsible for selecting and organising the county team for the inter-counties championship.   
6. It has also been responsible for encouraging the young athletic talent brought into the sport by the clubs and given them a first taste of competition outside the club
7. It has also given its support to new athletes moving in to the area and competing for the clubs.   

The list below of athletes who have competed in the league between 1949 and 1980, the vast majority of whom have been brought up through the age groups and which is certainly impressive,  is almost certainly not comprehensive.

OLYMPIANS:  Paul Bannon (Shettleston), Frank Clement (Strathclyde University),  Ian McCafferty (Law & District), Tom McKean (Bellshill YMCA), Lachie Stewart (Shettleston):  FIVE

COMMONWEALTH GAMES:  Lawrie Bryce (Strathclyde), Graham Everett (Shettleston), Doug Edmunds (Strathclyde University), Norman Foster (Shettleston), John Graham (Motherwell YMCA and Clyde Valley), John Linaker (Motherwell), Stewart McCallum (Shettleston), Joe McGhee (Shettleston), Norman Morrison (Shettleston), Eddie Stewart (Cambuslang), Dick Wedlock (Shettleston and Motherwell YMCA), Graham Williamson (Springburn). ELEVEN

GREAT BRITAIN and SCOTLAND:  Ben Bickerton (Shettleston), Alex Brown, Andy Brown (both Motherwell YMCA  and Law & District), Jim Brown (Monkland and Clyde Valley), Alistair Blamire (Shettleston), Mike Bradley (Springburn), Adrian Callan (Springburn), David Cairns (Springburn), Ian Cloudslie (Shettleston), GM Craig (Shettleston), David Donnet (Springburn), Gordon Eadie (Cambuslang), Stuart Easton (Shettleston), Jim Egan (Larkhall YMCA), Hugh Forgie ( Law & District  and Larkhall YMCA), Hugo Fox (Shettleston), D Frame (Law & District), A Gibson (Hamilton), Alex Gilmour (Larkhall YMCA), George Jarvie (Springburn), Jim Johnstone (Monkland  and  Law & District), John Kerr (Airdrie),  Eddie Knox (Springburn), Alastair Macfarlane (Springburn), Pat Maclagan (Strathclyde University), Ron McDonald (Monkland and Clyde Valley), Bert McKay (Motherwell YMCA), John McLaren (Shotts Miners Welfare), David McShane (Cambuslang), Brian McSloy (Clyde Valley), Pat McParlane (Springburn),  David Marshall (Motherwell and Clyde Valley), Steven Marshall (Clyde Valley), Duncan Middleton (Springburn), Nat Muir (Shettleston), John Myatt (Strathclyde University and Law & District), Tom O’Reilly (Springburn), Alan Partridge (East Kilbride), Alaister Russell (Law  District) David Simpson (Motherwell YMCA and Law & District), Eddie Sinclair (Springburn), Tommy Tracey (Springburn), Jim Thomson (Law & District),  Iain Young (Springburn):  FORTY FOUR.

Eddie Sinclair winning the Youth Ballot Team Race in Clydebank

Of course for the athletes to develop there needs to be coaches and there are at least four who ran themselves in the Lanarkshire championships and are pictured on this page: 

•  Eddie Sinclair of Springburn had a very good career as an athlete with international vests and track championships before becoming the coach at Springburn responsible for all their young athletes teams as well as many top class individuals such as Adrian Callan, Graham Williamson, Iain Young and many more;
• Tommy Callaghan at Monkland and then Clyde Valley who also ran well in all the major Scottish championships and events (such as the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay) before coaching many talented athletes, notably Jim Brown and Ron McDonald;
• Tommy Boyle was a member of Bellshill YMCA who went on to coach many of the very best Scottish athlete Tom McKean, who also ran in the Lanarkshire promotions as a Boy and Youth athlete, and many more;
• And Alex Naylor of Shettleston, the Big Daddy of Scottish endurance running coaches who coached Nat Muir and many, many many more.  Not many people realise that Alex was a runner himself – he ran in championship races as well as open road races such as the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16 miles;
• There are many others who gave sterling service for years, like Bob Anderson at Cambuslang.   There are others like Alex Perrie at Larkhall YMCA who was a BAAB Senior Coach,helped many athletes perform to their best, eg Hugh Forgie, although he himself never ran in the League.

Tom Callaghan as a young athlete

Without the Association’s unremitting work, 12 months a year, the valuable experience of those taking part in the races would have been harder to obtain. Without the races

• the coaches would have missed a very useful stepping-stone competition for young athletes and
• athletes using them as part of a rehab programme would also have been deprived.   
• The medals won always provide feedback to athletes of all ages and a measure of their progress but
• for those who do not win medals, The Association provided the Standard Certificates for notable performances in County events.  

The Lanarkshire athletes have a lot to thank the officials for.   These officials of course had almost all been runners themselves, they were now the ones who stood at the side of the finish line be it track or country, who took the entries, issued the numbers and laid the course for the races.   

These officials were also happy that so many top class athletes, so many good class club standard athletes and so many individuals supported their efforts by turning out in the races, so making their work worth while.

Alex Naylor taking the baton at Cleland Estate

The Association had indeed been well served by its committee members who all filled multiple roles – they were administrators, they were officials, they were starters/timekeepers/judges/stewards who were out in all weathers, and often enough they were runners as well.   They did not do it for any financial gain, they paid their own expenses and bought their own equipment.   They did not spend time raising big money to put on sporting spectaculars – they did it to promote the sport in their area and right well did they do it.   

Tommy Boyle   doing what he does best

… and looking ahead to a Lanarkshire championship in the early 1980’s 

Sam Wallace (36) … and look at the officials: Bob Peel, Harry Quinn, Alex Naylor, Brian Goodwin, Des Yuill … and look at the running action of number 16.   

Lanarkshire Track Championships:  Joe Small (7), John Graham (13) both Clyde Valley, Willie Drysdale (Law), Bill Yate (Maryhill (244), Pat Morris (22? Cambuslang), Dave Cooney (Cambuslang) and Bob Anderson (Cambuslang)

The Lanarkshire AAA had changed  since its formation in 1949.   There were more races held under its auspices, there were more clubs, there were at least two new clubs (Law & District from 1967, and Clyde Valley from 1974) and the quality of competition can be seen from the athletes who had taken part and in the fact that after the Shettleston hegemony in the 1950’s no club had an era of total dominance for as long – Motherwell YMCA was the nearest with almost six years at the top.   The county strength was seen in the almost unbroken series of victories in the Inter-Counties Championships over the country too.   The newest club, Clyde Valley AAC, an amalgamation of five good clubs was now so strong that anyone in Lanarkshire looking ahead for the next five years would have felt that their day as top dog was imminent.   

The task was a big one –

1. The number of clubs: Airdrie, Bellshill YMCA, Cambuslang, Clyde Valley, East Kilbride AAC, Larkhall YMCA, Law, Shettleston, Springburn, Strathclyde University; 
2. The quality of senior athletes in the competition; 
3. The talented youngsters coming up through the ranks – Nat Muir, Graham Williamson, and many more; 
4. The track and field athletes were also of good class.    

So how did 1976 go and did Clyde Valley justify the merger of the five clubs?

1976

In the 1976 Road Relay, Shettleston had more reasons to be cheerful than Clyde Valley did as far as the Senior Men’s race was concerned although Clyde Valley with a second in the ‘big’ race and victories in both Senior Boys event.   The report in ‘Athletics Weekly’ was written by Colin Shields.   “Lachie Stewart gave Shettleston an 80 yard lead after the first lap of the Lanarkshire Senior 4 x two and a quarter mile road relay championship at Motherwell on October 9th.   The lead however was short-lived as Jim Brown – now qualified after his Borough Road course and working at Coatbridge Outdoor Sports Centre – recorded the fastest lap at 9:29 to give Clyde Valley a 24 second lead which Nat Muir cut down to a bare five yards after the third lap.   Lawrie Spence gave Shettleston their second road relay victory in successive weeks when he outclassed first year Junior Greg Patterson.   

First year Youth, Graham Williamson of Springburn, outstanding last year in the Senior Boy category, was easily the fastest over the Senior course but his club had to give way to Clyde Valley who also won the Senior Boys title with Springburn gaining a consolation victory  in the Junior Boys event.”     1.   Shettleston (L Stewart 9:56, D Lang 10:05, N Muir 9:38, L Spence 9:59) 39:38     2. Clyde Valley (I Moncur 10:08, J Brown 9:29, J Graham 10:01, G Patterson 10:16)  39:54.     3.  East Kilbride (H Wilson 10:20, A Neal 10:18, A Partridge 10:03, K Tayler 9:47)  40:28.   4.  Springburn 40:37;  5.  Shettleston B 41:35;  6.  Cambuslang  42:01;  7. Law & District  42:44;  8.  Cambuslang B 43:04;  9.  Clyde Valley B 43:11.   

Any doubts about the quality of runner coming through the ranks in the county champions is quickly dispelled when we note that such as Eddie Knox, Jim Brown, Ron McDonald and now Graham Williamson are on the scene having started their career in much younger age groups.   

The Championships that year were held over a course that was becoming very familiar to Scottish athletes at Coatbridge on 4th December and the result was pretty well identical to the relays – individual glory for Jim Brown and a team triumph for Shettleston.   In the absence of Graham Williamson, Clyde Valley won the Youths and Senior Boys races.   Results:

Senior:   1.  J Brown (Clyde Valley) 33:24;   2.  L Spence (Shettleston)  33:32;   3.  N Muir (Shettleston)  33:39;   4.  S Easton (Shettleston) 34:26;  5.  D Lang (Shettleston) 35:26;  6. G Patterson (Clyde Valley) 35:28;  7.  J Martin (Springburn) 35:29;  8. K Tayler (East Kilbride) 35:49;  9. J Small (Clyde Valley) 36:13;  10.  H Forgie (Larkhall YMCA)  36:43;  11.  I Moncur (Clyde Valley) 36:53;  12. R Anderson (Cambuslang) 37:11;  13.  D Cooney (Cambuslang) 37:55;  14: T Patterson (Springburn) 38:10;  15:  P Preston (Cambuslang)  38:17.         Teams:  1. Shettleston  9;  2.  Clyde Valley 16;   3.  Springburn   37;  4. Cambuslang  40;  5. Shettleston B  42;   6.  East Kilbride  49

Youths:  1.  W McDonald (East Kilbride)  18:23;  2.  F Stewart (Clyde Valley) 18:27; 3. J Johnstone (Law) 19:04;  4.  J Young Clyde Valley) 19:28;  5. S Wood (Law) 19:38; 6. G Wilson (Clyde Valley) 20:07;  7. J Campbell (East Kilbride) 20:20; 8.  R Bias (East Kilbride) 20:26; 9. C Farquharson (Clyde Valley) 20:27;  10.  R Templeton (Law) 20:30.         Teams:  1.  Clyde Valley 12;  2.  East Kilbride  16;  3.  Law 20  

Senior Boys:  1.  I Doole (Clyde Valley) 8:18;  2.  G Band (Springburn) 8:37;  3.  P Martin (Clyde Valley) 8:43;  4. D Marshall (Clyde Valley) 8:45; 5. P Fox (Clyde Valley) 8:48;  6.  W Thomas (Clyde Valley) 8:49.     Teams:  1. Clyde Valley 8;   2.  Springburn  17;  3.  Clyde Valley B

If we now look back up at these results, we see a number of athletes who are new to the clubs that they were representing: Hugh Forgie of Law is here running for Larkhall, Peter Preston came from Monkland to turn out for Cambuslang, Jim Johnstone like wise came from Monkland but he is representing Law,  and of course ‘old timers’ like Lawrie Spence and Stuart Easton changed clubs when their location away from the track changed.

Another name to look at is the fourth finisher in the Senior Boys race.   Clyde Valley had two members called Willie Marshall, each had a son who became a Scottish representative as a runner – one was David (above) and the other was Steven.  

1977

The county road relay championships in 1977 took place as usual on the second Saturday in the month – a week after the McAndrews at Scotstoun – and there were the usual club selection difficulties, arguments about who would run in what team, and on which legs of the race.  There are times when such selection discussions can come up with the wrong answer.  This time it was the Shettleston team which came a cropper.   Ron Marshall was on the job with an accurate account of the afternoon.   “Shettleston Harriers, winners of the McAndrew relay earlier this month, surprisingly lost the Lanarkshire championship to Clyde Valley Athletic Club on Saturday at Motherwell.

Shettleston had three Scottish internationalists in the line-up, Nat Muir, Lachie Stewart and Stuart Easton, but their other internationalist, Lawrie Spence, was absent.   Clyde Valley positioned their men well with their top pair, John Graham and Ron McDonald, on the second and third legs.   This strategy paid off particularly when Shettleston kept their top man, Nat Muir, to the end when it was far too late.   The real damage done to Shettleston was done by Graham who was too strong for Lachie Stewart and handed over a good lead.   Brown went further away from Easton and Muir was left with far too much to do on the last leg.   He clocked the fastest time of the day – 10:28 – to bring Shettleston up to second place ahead of Law.

Result:  Seniors: 1.   Clyde Valley AAC 48:43;  2.  Shettleston  44:38;  3. Law  44:54.   Youths:  1.  Springburn  33:23;  2.  Clyde Valley 36:00;  3.  East Kilbride 37:39.   Senior Boys: 1. Springburn 23:47; 2. East Kilbride 25:25; 3.  Cambuslang 25:35.   Junior Boys:  1.  Springburn 26:23;  2.  Clyde Valley 26:58;  3. Cambuslang 27:28. 

John Graham

It was December before the Championships were held – the Association had taken them back to Bellshill in 1977 and the report was short, extremely short, too short in fact.   It was barely a report at all so we should be simply because there was one result available from four races. , but it was more than any other paper had.   It read.  “By all accounts conditions for the Lanarkshire championships at Bellshill were no better than elsewhere – in fact many runners decided against competing when they saw the state of the course.   Jim Brown (Clyde Valley) won the senior five miles in 24 min 01 sec, half a minute ahead of his club-mate John Graham.   Clyde Valley won the team race with 13 points, four ahead of Shettleston.

1978

At the 1977 LAAA Relay championship the Glasgow Herald’s Ron Marshall was mildly critical of their team selection and positioning.   In 1978 he was scathing.   He reported as follows: 

TEAM BOSSES BLUSHING

The Shettleston Harriers team selectors would, on their record so far this season, be welcomed with glinting eyes by any casino manager.   They ought to shy clear of Russian roulette as well.   Last week in the McAndrew relay they watched with pained expressions as their lead-off man in the first team, Stewart Easton, came in all of 20 seconds behind their third team choice, Ian Shaw.   That mis-selection cost them the race.   Again on Saturday, in teh Lanarkshire four by two and a half miles relay championship at Bellshill, although appearing to do the sensible thing the selectors dropped Stewart to the reserves and – yes, that’s right – Easton delivered the goods, taking first place on the opening leg while young Ian – a recruit from the now disbanded West of Scotland Harriers, scarcely earned his spurs by placing fourth nearly 30 seconds behind.    

Fortunately for Shettleston, none of the 21 other teams was able to mount a threat throughout the four legs, although Clyde Valley pitched in manfully when Brian McSloy, a junior, took them to the front at the halfway stage.   Allan Marshall established Shettleston’s supremacy on the third stage, handing over a lead of 29 seconds to Nat Muir, and no one in the field can give him that kind of start.   Nevertheless on that same leg Jim Brown moved Clyde Valley up from fourth place to second, and in the process nudged Muir out of the award for the fastest individual by clocking 11 min 49 sec, a second faster than Muir.   Springburn Harriers were third, a further half minute behind Clyde Valley.

Results:   1.  Shettleston (S Easton 12:07J Burns 12:39, A Marshall 12:28, N Muir 11:50) 49:39;  2. Clyde Valley 50:07; 3. Springburn 50:48

Nat Muir winning the Junior National in 1976

The 1978 Championships were scarcely covered at all in the Press – national or local.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ again gave more than anyone else but what it gave was scanty this time.   The entire coverage is below, note that more space was given to an East District League match than to all the county championships put together.   There are three League matches each year but only one County Championship per county.

1979

David Marshall

Clyde Valley won the Road Relay in October 1979 when it was held at Coatbridge.   The results below say that they won from Cambuslang and East Kilbride – the highest ever finish in these championships for the club –  with Shettleston fifth.   Results:

Senior:  1.   Clyde Valley (N Agnew  12:10, B McSloy 11:33, D Marshall 12:28, C Farquharson 11:51) 48:02;  2.  Cambuslang 49:02;  3. East Kilbride 49:25.   Fastest Time:  B McSloy (Clyde Valley) 11:33.   Youths:  1.  Springburn  37:36; 2.  Shettleston 39:23;  3.  Springburn 39:25.   Fastest Time:   A Callan (Springburn) 12:02.   Senior Boys:  1.  Springburn 25:51;   2.  Cambuslang 26:22;  3. Law & District  26:36.   Fastest Time:  D McShane (Cambuslang) 8:23.   Junior Boys:  1.   Shettleston  27:51;  2.  Springburn 28:08;  3. Shettleston B 28:42.   Fastest Time: M Kerr (Springburn)9:03.

And just with a swift look over the results, you can see that the Lanarkshire League had produced two more outstanding talents in Dave McShane of Cambuslang who would win championships and representative vests for years to come, Adrian Callan of Springburn would be a sub-four minute miler, an SAAA champion and win many international vests.   As a stepping stone from club to district and then on to national honours the LAAA more than served its purpose.  

Adrian Callan as a Senior wins the BMC Strathkelvin Street Mile

The Championships in December were held at Coatbridge and the club won the team title.   The report from the ‘Glasgow Herald’s Ron Marshall reads as follows.   

Jim heads quality field in tune-up for Crystal Palace 

 “Jim Brown (Clyde Valley) won the Lanarkshire senior cross-country title on Saturday at Coatbridge without the slightest trouble andimmediately declared himself in good shape for the big Crystal Palace race this coming Saturday.   He was also encouraged by the turn out of runners after several years of dwindling fields.   The quality was certainly there with internationalists Brian McSloy and Graham Williamson finishing second and third.   Brown’s time for the four laps (six miles) was 31:18, 24 seconds ahead of McSloy, who in turn was 12 seconds clear of Williamson.   Jim Thomson (Law & District) was fourth and it was good to see Ronnie McDonald back for Clyde Valley after three and a half years of persistent Achilles tendon trouble.   He was fifth.   Other Coatbridge results:   

Senior team race: Clyde Valley 25 points; Cambuslang 26; Springburn 35.   Youths Team Race: 1. A Callan (Springburn) 16:03; 2. S Gall (Clyde Valley) 16:13.   Team:  Springburn 10 pts.   Senior Boys: P McManus (Clyde Valley) 10:43.   Team Springburn 17 pts.   Junior Boys: B Scally (Shettleston) 13:24   Team: Shettleston 7 pts.   

It is a pity that we don’t have full results if  only because the number of young runners who have come through is so high and should be noticed.   But unfortunately it was a time when results of Scottish races were hard to come by – even ‘Athletics Weekly’ had stopped having a special Scottish Results section listed at the start of the magazine, it often had only brief reports and Colin Shields’s reports on County Championships were up to six weeks late in appearing in the magazine.   Track results were even harder to come by.   None – or very, very rare – reports of County Championships were being published at this time in AW and the Scottish Press, both National and local, paid little more than lip-service to them.   However, back to the relays – note Brian Scally’s win in the Junior Boys race.   Brian would be third in the Scottish Marathon Championship in 1993 and win it in 1996 and win medals in the senior indoor 3000m championships as well as medals in different age groups.   

1980

Doug Frame (35 Law & District) leading Nat Muir (Shettleston, with headband)

This time round, the Road Relay was another victory for Clyde Valley.  Eddie Devlin led off on the first stage but was fifth behind leader Nat Muir whose 11:12 was the fastest of the day, before the trio of Colin Farquharson, Jim Brown and Ron McDonald took them wo a winning finish, more than a minute in front of Cambuslang Harriers.   The winning time was 45:30.   In the younger age groups, Springburn won the Youths  and  Senior Boys races but lost the Junior Boys race by one second to Shettleston Harriers.

Into December and the title went to Cambuslang Harriers with Graham Williamson winning the race in 28:40 from Law’s Jim Thomson (28:45) and Doug Frame (29:10).   The team race was won by Cambuslang Harriers from Springburn Harriers by only two points, 15 to 17.   The Youths Three Miles was won by C O’Brien (Shettleston) in 16:31 from M Taggart (Shettleston) 16:38 and T McKean (Clyde Valley) 16:40.   Team:  Shettleston 11 points.   Other results:

Senior Boys: 1.  D Russell (Law & District) 9:34;  2.  S Marshall (Clyde Valley) 9:57;  3.  B Scally (Shettleston) 10:10.   Team: Springburn 21 pts.

Junior Boys: 1.  M Kerr (Springburn) 10:25;  2. A Swan (Shettleston) 10:35; 3. Russell (Law & District) 10:35.   Team: Springburn 12 pts.

If we look at this set of results, limited as it is, we see several names to add to the conveyor belt of talent rolling through the Lanarkshire AAA championships.   We’ve already seen middle distance stars like Graham Everett, Ron McDonald and Adrian Callan and from the class of 1980 we can add Tom McKean (Commonwealth, Empire and Olympic Games plus World Championships indoor and out; we have seen distance runners like Eddie Bannon and Ian McCafferty and to them we can add Alistair Russell – medals (plural) of all three colours in the SAAA Championships plus Scottish international representation on the track as well as over the country.   We mentioned the two Willie Marshalls in Clyde Valley and we have already noted David as a successful athlete, the ‘other Willie Russell”s son Steven is noted here as a Senior Boy.   The Lanarkshire Association has done a sterling job in assisting the emergence of young talent, it has also of course helped seniors prepare for bigger meetings (see Jim Brown’s success above) and to start or continue a come-back after injury.

Graham Williamson

Jim Brown of Monkland Harriers running at Coatbridge in the snow.

The years of Motherwell dominance had passed, the transition was complete and apparently Lanarkshire hegemony had returned to Shettleston Harriers.   But had it?   There were new kids on the block, kids to be reckoned with, and these kids were ambitious.   The next five years would tell the true story – or would they?   

The Track Championships were held on Saturday, May 8th, 1971 at Loch Park, Carluke in what were described as ideal weather conditions.   The results of the Senior Competition were interesting.   Seniors, Juniors and Youths results, first two noted.   

100 yards: 1. M Norval, Strathclyde U, 11.3;  2. S McCallum, Shettleston, 11.3;   200 metres: S McCallum, Shettleston, 23.3; J Jackson, Strathclyde U 24.3;  400 metres: 1. D McBain, Larkhall, 51.7; 2. A Reczek, Monkland, 52.0;  800m: 1. D McBain, Larkhall, 1:56.4; 2. A McLellan, Springburn, 1:57.6;  1500m: 1. J Graham, Airdrie, 4:04.4; 2. H Gorman, Springburn, 4:04.5; 5000m: 1. T Patterson, Shettleston, 15:18.8; 2. R McKay, Motherwell, 15:21; 1600m Medley Relay: 1. Shettleston 3:37.4; 2. Springburn 3:48.6; 3. Larkhall 3:49.8;  High Jump: 1. M Norval, Strathclyde U, 5′ 8″; 2. W Haddow, Strathclyde U, 5′ 4″;  Triple Jump: V Wilkie, Shettleston, 12.07m; 2. M Norval, Shettleston, 12.94m;  Long Jump: 1. M Norval Strathclyde U, 6.15m; 2. W Haddow, Strathclyde U, 5.06m.

Juniors (17-19): 100m: 1. J Russell, Dalziel HS, 11.4; 2. G Young, Larkhall, 12.0;   200m: 1. J Russell, Dalziel HS, 23.6; 2. J Toner, East Kilbride, 24.9;  800m: 1. J McLuckie, Larkhall, 2:02.2;  2. A Trench, East Kilbride, 2:02.4; 1500m:  1. S Gillespie, Springburn, 4:08.4; 2. J McLuckie, Larkhall, 4:10.4 

Youths:  100m: J Scott, Motherwell YMCA, 11.5; 2. V Topping, Law, 11.6;   200m: J Scott, Motherwell YMCA 24.0; 2. V Topping, Law 24.3; 400m: 1.  A Scott, Springburn, 54.4; 2. D Kane, Monkland, 55.9;   800m: K McBride, Springburn, 2:05.7;  2. G Reid, East Kilbride, 2:06.0; 1500m: 1. J Lawson, Springburn, 4:15.7; 2. A Gilmour, Larkhall, 4:16.

Several interesting names there – eg Alex Gilmour who would become a regular and reliable member of the very good Cambuslang Harriers team of the 1980s and 90s.

*

The Road Relays were held at Bellshill on 9th October, 1971 and were full of drama – even more than usual.   

• The runners were all there (no complaints about the quality this year).   Lachie Stewart, Mike Bradley, Eddie Knox, Jim Brown, Ron McDonald, Paul Bannon, Dick Wedlock …  were all present.   
• The previous year Shettleston had been first and second teams, this year they tried to do it again and failed.   
• There was also a runner knocked down during the race.   The entire ‘Herald’ report is reproduced to do the event justice.   Now read on.

In December, 1971, the championships were back at Cleland Estate.   The reigning team champions were Shettleston with Dick Wedlock the individual men’s champion.   1971 had a different tale with different heroes to tell.   Ian McCafferty was making his season’s cross-country debut in what described as one of the toughest and most competitive in the country.   There was a three lap two-mile course and reigning champion Wedlock lead through the first lap but by the end of the second, there were only two men in it – McCafferty and Jim Brown of Monkland.   Brown came out on top beating McCafferty by 100 yards or so.   Monkland had hopes of the team title with Brown first and McDonald  fifth but with Willie Drysdale twelfth, they were second by only two points with Springburn third.   But there is a twist in the tail of this tale!!!   Law had declared McCafferty as a second team runner.   Had he been in their first team, they would have been third.   

Results:  Senior/Junior Race:  1.  J Brown (Monkland) 28:17;  2. I McCafferty (Law) 28:41;  3. R Wedlock (Shettleston) 29:06;  4. N Morrison (Shettleston) 29:11;  5.  R McDonald (Monkland) 29:37; 6.  E Knox (Springburn) 29:42.     Team: 1.  Shettleston (3, 4, H Summerhill 9) 16 pts;  2. Monkland 18 pts; 3. Springburn 29 pts          Youths:  1.  J Thomson (Law) 15:54;  2. A Gilmour (Larkhall) 16:11;  Team: 1.  Springburn (J Buntain 3, J Lawson 4, J Martin 9) 16 pts;  2. Shettleston 24 pts;  3. Law 33 pts.   Senior Boys:  1.  M Watt (Shettleston) 7:35.   Team:  1.  Shettleston (1, R Drummond 3, N Muir 11) 15 pts; 2.  Springburn 26; Motherwell YMCA 29.   Junior Boys: 1. A Renfrew (Springburn) 8:38.   Team: 1. Springburn (1, A Sprang 4, J Gillespie 9) 14 pts;  2. East Kilbride 28 pts;  3.  Cambuslang 31 pts. 

1972

The Track and Field Championships were held at Carluke on 13th May in 1972 with the normal fairly full programme.   Unusually there were five runners who won two events.   Ian Russell (Law) won the senior 100/200m double, , Jim McLuckie (Larkhall) won the Junior 800/1500m in 1:58.7/4:2.4 [?], A Deans (Law) won the Youths 100/200m in 11.8/23.7,  and I Callender won the Senior Boys 100/200m with times of 12.2/24.9, R McMcKim won the Junior Men’s 800/1500 double, in 2:05.2/4:22.   Despite all that however, the star of the show was Ronnie McDonald (Monkland) won the 800m with a powerful run  over the last 300m to win in 1:56.1 from the 12 other competitors in the race.   There was also a tremendous duel in the 1500m between John Graham of Airdrie and Jim Brown of Monkland.   Graham made most of the running and was able to hold off Brown at the finish although reports say there was less than a foot (ie 12 inches) separating them.   Other winners:

Senior:  400m: W Logie, Monkland, 53.5s; 5000m:  E Knox, Springburn 14:52.2; Medley Relay: East Kilbride, 3:43.4.   Juniors:  100m: S Lloyd, Monkland, 12.1; 200m: B Cook, East Kilbride 24.2.   Youths: 800m: F McCann, Airdrie, 2:00.6; 400m: D Kane, Monkland, 54.5; 1500m: J Thomson, Law, 4:08.4.   Senior Boys: 400m: J Bodie, Bellshill, 58.5; Junior Boys: 100m: E Ritchie, East Kilbride, 14.3; 200m: G Scott, Larkhall, 29.3; 800m: D Henderson, Cambuslang, 2:27.2; 1500m: S Cameron, Cambuslang, 4:59.5

*

We had to go to the Wishaw Press’ of 20th October for the result of the road relay championships on 14th October 1972, to the Law & District report, which read: The club won the Senior Men’s Race in the Lanarkshire Relay Championship at Coatbridge on Saturday.   Members of the winning team and their times were T McCann 12:03, AP Brown 12:13, AH Brown 12:16, D Simpson 12:26.   T McCann was third fastest in the event.   The combined efforts of J King, J Rowley, R Benyon and A Struthers gave another Law team 16th place.   Law’s other entrants T Miller, E Laverty, R Brown and G Gallacher took 18th place.   The Senior  Boys were runners-up in their event.   Runners and times were:-K McCartney 8:26, W Dickson 8:55, W Smith 9:15, J Milligan 10:27.   K McCartney was the fastest in the event.   The Youth team finished fourth.   Runners and times were H Forgie 12:52, W Nelson 13:17, R Milligan 13:45, J Struthers 13:57, W Struthers 14, 56.   The Junior Boys were tenth in their event.   Runners and times were P O’Neill 9:37, J Young 10:09, J Fenwick 10:39, J O’Neill 10:44, W McCafferty 10:53.” 

The above report is a bit confusing in that it lists five runners for the Senior and Junior Boys teams.   No surprises in the senior team but note the appearance of a young Hugh Forgie in the Youth team – Hugh would go on to be well-known good quality endurance runner who would run for Scotland on the track.   There were some things missing from the report above which can be maybe supplied from the Motherwell YMCA report – also in the Wishaw Press – on the same race.   A section from the start of that report reads: “Conditions were perfect for the 248 runners from all over Lanarkshire taking part.   Sixteen-year-old Motherwell Harrier John Graham won the Youths race in a time of 12:06.  ….  In the Seniors race, Bert McKay clocked 11:46 to be runner-up, while W Marshall with 12:55 was sixth.”

The Law & District team that won the District Relay in 1980: Hugh Forgie second left

The usually reliable ‘Glasgow Herald’ was more selective in reporting the LAAA Cross Country Championship, although the ‘Wishaw Press’ was fortunately more forthcoming for the Championship in December 1972.  Their report below is in full.

“Lanarkshire Cross Country Championships were held at Cleland Estate on Saturday.   The most exciting events were in the junior boys and youth events.   Law amateur athletic club were in the honours with a win by K McCartney in the senior boys, and they also provided the winners in the senior event.   RESULTS.

Junior Boys: D Connacher (Springburn) 9:47; J Ross (Springburn (9:48); S Cameron (Cambuslang) 9:49).   Team result: 1.   Springburn;   2.  Cambuslang;  3.  East Kilbride.   Senior Boys: K McCartney (Law) 8:45; W Muir (Shettleston); M McKenzie (Shettleston) 9:05.   Team Result: 1.  Shettleston;  2. Law;  3. Springburn.

Youths: M Watt (Shettleston) 17:19;  J Graham (Motherwell) 17:25; J Fleming (Springburn) 17:46.   Team result 1.  Springburn; 2. Shettleston;  3. Monkland.

Seniors: J Brown (Monkland) 33:48; T Paterson (Shettleston) 34:37; A Partridge (East Kilbride) 35:08.   Team result:   1. Law;  2. Monkland; 3. Springburn.   The winning Law team included T McCann 5th, Alec Brown 6th, D Simpson 7th.

1973

May 12th was the due date for the Lanarkshire Championships which were again held at Carluke.   Before any comment, look at the results as published in the ‘Glasgow Herald’.  Note, too, that there was not a single Shettleston runner in the 5000m.

Again we have to say, look at the quality coming through: Junior Boys including Jim Egan from the unheralded Larkhall YMCA who would win a Junior Boys National Championship and then a few years later win a Junior Man’s international vest and a trip to New York; and is J Archibald really Ian Archibald who won the Senior Men’s 1500m title?   John Fleming of Springburn was another talent unearthed by Eddie Sinclair at Springburn.   The absence of anyone from Shettleston in the 5000m was not really that big a deal.

The Road Relays again produced what was, but maybe shouldn’t have been, a bit of a surprise when neither Shettleston, nor Law won, nor did either Springburn or Monkland.  None of the masters won but the students did – Strathclyde University turned the tables on the more established teams.   The report read:  “Strathclyde University had a comfortable victory in the Lanarkshire road-relay championships on Saturday at Coatbridge.   They finished about 150 yards ahead of Monkland Harriers with Springburn Harriers third.   Frank Clement made his first appearance of the  cross-country season and could hardly have had a softer initiation.   He began the fourth and last leg with a lead of about 100 yards, one that had been built up largely by Laurie Spence and Pat Maclagan and he was never pressed.   Shettleston fielding a grossly under strength team were never in contention.”   And that was the report from the ‘Glasgow Herald’.   No times, no team places, not other races on the day.   Oh, and who was the fourth runner for Strathclyde University?   We know from the Shettleston Harriers centenary history that their ‘grossly understrength team’ consisted of Stuart Easton, Henry Summerhill, Clark Wallace and Bill Scally.

Pat Maclagan, a member of the Strathclyde University winning relay team in 1973; photograph from 1970

“Ronnie McDonald felt disinclined to take too much credit for his victory on Saturday in Lanarkshire’s cross-country championships run over the white fields of Cleland Estate.   That he ran at all says much for his loyalty to an event that is in danger of becoming just another obscure winter run-around.   It is hard to know which attitude to adopt over this and similar country championships.   From the athletes point of view it could be – as McDonald suggests – that many of them are reluctant to run at the “tuppence-ha’penny meetings for a thru-penny medal” now that so many otherwise indifferent road races are offering generous prizes.   If county associations could find the money to combat this, then maybe the stars of cross-country could see their way to showing their faces more often.   Perhaps too the battery of officials required to run these meetings would consider the time so freely given more profitably spent.   

McDonald at least made it worth their while.   He stayed with the field for the first half-mile but from that point stretched himself  enough to open an ever-widening gap.   By the finish he was more than half a minute in front of Shettleston’s Stuart Easton, himself almost as much ahead of the third man.   For the first time in his athletics career Ronnie McDonald finds himself thinking as much about success in cross-country as on the track.   One of his biggest ambitions is to win the national title – “that may seem strange coming from a miler, but it’s true” – and with continued improvement over the next few months he has every hope of being in Scotland’s team for the International Championships in Monza in March.   Another of his desires – to see his club win the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay.   Now that really would be something.

The club of the afternoon was undoubtedly Springburn Harriers.   They swept away the opposition in all four age groups and Iain Murray gave them an individual victory in the senior boys race.    Leading results:

Senior/Junior: 1.   R McDonald (Monkland) 33:44;  2.  S Easton (Shettleston) 34:18; 3. A Miller (Law) 34:42.   Team:  1. Springburn 29 pts; 2. Law 37; 3. Monkland 38.

Youths: 1.  N Muir (Shettleston) 16:57; 2. J Burns (Monkland) 17:13;  3. J Graham (Motherwell) 17:19.  Team:  Springburn  17 pts.

Senior Boys:  1. I Murray (Springburn) 9:05.   Team: Springburn 9 pts;  Junior Boys: J Aitken (Larkhall) 9:34; Team Springburn 18 pts.

Maybe the comments by the writer about the nature of the meeting and the way to attract top class runners shows a misunderstanding of what the County Championships – any County Championships, not just the LAAA version – are about.  These are not meant to be one of the very top class events to rival the Dairy Crest or British Airways spectaculars.   In the era we are talking about there was a logical ‘stairway’ through which an athlete could progress his fitness – club, county, district, national and British,    and then for international class athletes there were the Commonwealth, European and Olympic Games.   Domestically, the District Championships were part of a gradual intensifying of the competition for club athletes, used by top class athletes coming back from injury, and as a club supported event where young athletes could be introduced to competition higher than that available at schools or club level.   

1974

Jim Brown and Lawrie Spence (Strathclyde University)

The LAAA Track and Field Championships were again held on the second Saturday in May, 1974, and were best covered by the ‘Wishaw  Press’ of 24th May.  By ‘best covered’ we mean that all the results were there.   Correspondence from two different journalists of their poor results service resulted in comments saying that they had to apply ‘journalistic standards’ to their athletics reporting as they would in any other branch of their occupation.   My response is that they can be as ‘journalistic’ as they like six days in the week but what we want/need on a Monday is a reporter.   Would they skip some football results  on a Monday for a ‘journalistic’ article on say the ethics of the sport  or a bigger match being played in Brazil?   Results are the life blood of the sport.  The results below give food for thought.

Among the results is Jim Egan winning the Senior Boys 1500m, Kenny McCartney winning the Youths 1500m, Hugh Forgie winning the Junior 1500 (in a pb of 4:01.5), Nat Muir winning the Youths 3000m and John Graham winning the Senior 5000 from Alan Partridge – every one to be a Scottish internationalist.   Note too the first County medal for Alastair Macfarlane of Springburn Harriers who had be reinstated from the professional fold.   Alastair would go on to be a sub 2:19 marathon runner, who would run in four SAAA marathon championships and win a medal in every one of them including victory in 1979.    There were no field events listed – either because there were not any or because of an editorial decision.

Nat Muir winning the Youths National in 1975

In 1967 the Lanarkshire athletics scene was transformed by the arrival of a new club – Law & District AAC – which was a breakaway from the successful Motherwell YMCA club; in 1974 there was another surprise new club formed in Lanarkshire – Clyde Valley AAC.   This time it was an amalgamation of five existing clubs and the story of how it came about can be followed by reading Tom Callaghan’s account at this link.   The main advantage  competitively in the short term was the formation of a team that included  Ronnie MacDonald, Jim Brown, Alex Gilmour, John Graham, Bert McKay, Roy Baillie  and Ian Moncur.   The test would be whether they could develop younger generations to run in the club colours.   There was no doubt that the stronger team would be a challenge for the rest of Scotland’s clubs.

The ‘Wishaw Press’ covered the story:

The Road Relays were held on 12th October at Coatbridge and the new club was quick to establish its credentials with a win in the Senior event.   ‘Athletics Weekly’ reports the results:   “Senior Men:   1.  Clyde Valley (E Devlin 12:10, J Graham 11:35, J Small 12:01, R McDonald 11:36) 47:22;   2. Shettleston (S Easton 11:59, N Morrison 11:39, L Stewart 12:03, J Burns 11:57) 47:38;  3.  Springburn (E Knox 11:44, J Lawson 12:08, H Gorman 12:39, T Patterson 11:59) 48:30;  4.  Strathclyde University ; 5. Law & District AAC.   Fastest Times: 1. Graham  11:35;  2.  R McDonald 11:36;  3.  Morrison 11:39.

The new boys had come good with a team that was composed of two of Scotland’s finest with two good quality solid club runners rather than four ‘star athletes’.   Joe Small, one of the members of the first Clyde Valley team to win medals in the LAAA Championships is pictured below running in the Nigel Barge Road Race in third place

There was another name on the trophy at the Lanarkshire championships in 1974 – Lawrie Spence, formerly of Greenock Glenpark Harriers, was running in the colours of Strathclyde University.  Challenged initially by John Graham (Clyde Valley) and Alan Partridge (East Kilbride), he dropped Graham on the second lap, then  used Partridge as a wind shield until he felt it appropriate to go on and win the race by 18 seconds from the East Kilbride man with Graham in third.   Spence was one of the most talented endurance runners the country has produced with top class times ranging from sub-4 for the mile to 2:16 for the marathon.  Partridge was a Scottish international and John Graham would have a stellar career as a marathon runner with sub 2:10 to his name.      There was also a name that would be familiar in the years to come when Nat Muir won the Youths race.

Result:   Senior: 1. L Spence (Strathclyde University) 35:01; 2. A Partridge (East Kilbride) 35:19; 3. J Graham (Clyde Valley) 35:27.   Team: 1.  Shettleston 19 pts;  2. Strathclyde University 19 pts   Shettleston had third better counter.   

Youths:  1.  N Muir (Shettleston) 17:00; Team: Springburn 13 pts.   

Senior Boys:  1.  S Cameron (Cambuslang) 9:15; Team: Law & District 20 pts.   Junior Boys:  1. I Doole (Clyde Valley) 9:37. Team: Springburn 9.

1975

Tommy Callaghan, Monkland, a very good coach who worked with many top class athletes at the club including Jim Brown and Ron McDonald

The ‘Glasgow Herald’ had a reporter at the LAAA track and field championships but they only mentioned the result of the SAAA 10 miles championship which was incorporated into the meeting and nothing was said about the championships.   The meeting was covered in the ‘Athletics Weekly’ though and we have their selection of the principal results .   

Senior Men: 100: A Deans (Law) 11.0;  400m: H Stewart (Shettleston (50.9);  800m: 1. K Taylor (East Kilbride) 1:54.8;  2.  A Marshall (Shettleston) 1:54.9;   1500m:  R Baillie (Clyde Valley) 4:01.0;   5000m: (one lap short?) 1.  J Graham (Clyde Valley) 13:27.8;  2.   A Partridge (East Kilbride)  13:30.0:  3.  J Burns (Shettleston) 13:30.8.   

Juniors:  100:  J Curry (Law) 11.2;   800/1500m: H Forgie (Law)  1:57.0/4:03.0.     Youths: 100/200m: M Cherry (Clyde Valley)  11.4/23.0; 400:   F White (East Kilbride) 52.5; 800m: I Murray (Springburn) 2:00.2;  Senior Boys:  400m: J Sharkey (Clyde Valley) 55.6; 800/1500: G Williamson (Springburn) 2:03.3/4:33.3

Names of promising youngsters?   Look no further than the 800/1500m winner in the Senior Boys age group – Graham Williamson.    He would not be burnt out – he went on to be one of Britain’s top milers and one of Scotland’s all time greats.

The road race formerly held in conjunction with the sports was still being held but had moved away from the county championships to a midweek slot.   By 15th May, 1975, it was held over ten and a half miles.   Report below is from ‘Athletics in Scotland’.

October was the month for all the relays – McAndrew at the start of the month with County, District and National in the following weeks.  Lanarkshire Road Relays were held on 11th October, 1975, at Coatbridge.   Colin Shields wrote the report in the ‘Athletics Weekly’.

‘On their home ground at Drumpellier Park, Coatbridge, Clyde Valley won the Lanarkshire Road Relay thanks to a last lap from Ron McDonald who took the lead in the last mile from Shettleston Harriers.   Springburn H were the leaders for the first two laps with Shettleston leading Clyde Valley by just 4 seconds in third place.   A resurgent Lachie Stewart took Shettleston into a 14 second lead on the third lap and Ron McDonald set off after first year junior, Nat Muir, the youngest ever athlete to represent Scotland in the International Junior Cross-Country Championships.   Well though Muir ran, McDonald was in top class form and ran home a clear winner with 11:08, the fastest lap of the day, 4 seconds ahead of Lawrie Spence of Strathclyde University (11:12) who jumped from sixth to second on the second lap.   

A victory from Clyde Valley in the Youths relay race stopped a clean sweep of the younger age group races by Springburn H who nevertheless provided the fastest individual in the three races.   Springburn, always famed for the strength of their teams in Youths and Boys age groups thanks to sterling work by coach Eddie Sinclair, must now start favourites for the inaugural National Young Athletes Relay title in Edinburgh next month.   Results:   Senior:  1.  Clyde Valley AAC (E Devlin 11:57, J Graham 11:34, J Small 12:00, R McDonald 11:08) 46:39;   2.  Shettleston Harriers (J Burns 11:34, D Lang 11:57, L Stewart 11:50, N Muir 11:39)  46:49;  3. Strathclyde University (D Leitch 12:11, L Spence 11:12, S Snekkvik 12:30, J McLean 12:18) 48:11;  4.  Springburn H 48:27;  5.  Law & District 49:06;  6.  East Kilbride 49:21;  7.  Cambuslang 50:10; 8.  Shettleston B 50:18; 9. Cambuslang B  50:18; 10. Law B  50:23.   Fastest:  1.   R McDonald 11:08;  2.  L Spence  11:12; 3. T Patterson 11:30;  4.  N Muir 11:32 ; 5. D Burns 11:34;  6.  J Graham 11:34.   

Youths:  1. Clyde Valley (G Patterson 12:10, A Smith 13:48, B McSloy 12:31) 38:29;  2.  Springburn (D McLeod 12:45, I Murray 12:08, J Ross 14:14) 39:07; 3.  Shettleston:  (T Shields 13:28, A Smith 12:14, S Summers 14:22) 40:04; 4. East Kilbride 40:44;  5.  Larkhall YMCA 41:03; 6. Clyde Valley B 42:40.   Fastest:  1.  Murray 12:08; 2. Patterson 12:10; Smith 12:14

The LAAA Cross Country Championships were held at Coatbridge in pretty poor weather conditions on the first Saturday in December, 1975.   The results were in the ‘Wishaw Press’ .    Junior Boys:  1.   P Martin (Clyde Valley); 2.  P McIntyre (Springburn);  3. A Callan (Springburn).   Team: 1. Springburn;  2. Clyde Valley;  3.  Shettleston.        Senior Boys:  1.  G Williamson (Springburn); 2.  A Martin (Springburn);  3. I Doole (Clyde Valley).   Team:  1.  Clyde Valley;  2.  Springburn;  3.  Shettleston.         

Youths:  1.  I Murray (Springburn);  2. B McSloy (Clyde Valley);  3. A Smith (Shettleston).   Team:  1.  Clyde Valley;  2.  Shettleston;  3.  Springburn.

Senior:  1.   J Graham (Clyde Valley);  2.  I Stewart (Shettleston);  3.  A Partridge (East Kilbride.   Team:  1.  Shettleston;  2.  East Kilbride;  3.  Springburn.

Lachie and Mike Bradley in the AAA Inter-Counties, 1969

There was no real dominant club in the 71-75 period other than Shettleston in the Team Championship where they had three in five years.   The Road Relays were even less predictable with three clubs winning in the four year period but because of the poor coverage – or rather lack of coverage – there are 4 gaps.  We continue looking for the gaps to be filled – any help would be welcome.   Most successful individual was clearly Jim Brown with two wins and one fastest time while Lawrie Spence had one of each, won in two different vests.   The big talent to emerge over this short spell was clearly either Jim Brown, international junior cross-country champion or John Graham of Motherwell YMCA and Clyde Valley.

Dick Wedlock and Lachie Stewart after the SAAA 10,000m in 1970

The table at the end of the 1961-66 page compared with the one above tells us a lot.   All bar one team title won, all bar two fastest individual to Shettleston Harriers.   The only Law & District AAC team and individual victories were at the very start of the four years.

1.  First, that Motherwell lost its dominance of the County athletics scene in favour of Shettleston.   If the pattern of Shettleston winning the championships is to continue into the 70’s, the Motherwell period will seem like a brief moment in time, a hiccup.
2. Second, where is Motherwell YMCA?   Nowhere to be seen.   It seems to be right off the map.
3. Ian McCafferty is listed as ‘Law & District AAC’.   It starts to become clear.   Law & District is a new  club set up from the successful Motherwell YMCA club of the 1960’s.   
4. Then why is Law & District not as successful as Motherwell YMCA was?   There are a couple of reasons:  first, not all members went to Law, Bert McKay, one of the top club members that they had started with, and who returned when their spell of business in Motherwell ended to stay with his club and there were others such as Willie Marshall who also stayed.   Second they lost several members such as John Linaker and Dick Wedlock who returned to their original club when their business took them back from Motherwell.
5. Shettleston’s team was strengthened by the return of Wedlock and Alistair Blamire, a very good runner indeed and a Scottish and British internationalist, who had started as a Boy with Shettleston rejoined the club after being at Edinburgh University.   And of course they would be strengthened further when Lachie Stewart signed up.

Lawrie Spence, 78, of Greenock Glenpark Harriers who would join Shettleston after leaving Strathclyde University, Lachie Stewart, 127, and Alistair Blamire.

This page will be relatively brief and will take us up to 1970, Empire & Commonwealth Games year.   It the first ten years could be called the Shettleston Years, and the 1960 – 66 could be the Motherwell YMCA Years, maybe the 1967 – 70 period could be called the Transition Years.   Or the Emigration Years when the Browns, McCafferty, Simpson and the rest emigrated to a new club and so creating a split in what had been a successful team.   It may have been good for the sport in the long run, but in the beginning the effect on the club was not a good one.   

1967 started normally with Ian McCafferty (Motherwell YMCA) winning the Nigel Barge Road Race.    Andy Brown was fourth, Alex Brown eighth and Bert McKay tenth.   Motherwell won the team race.   McCafferty then won Grangemouth’s Round the Houses the following weekend in the same vest.   The ‘Wishaw Press’ of Friday 20th January reported that the same result – McCafferty wins, Motherwell YMCA wins the team race – was the story at the Springburn Cup race.   He then won the Midlands Cross-Country Championship.   Scottish athletics was expecting another year of the Lanarkshire club’s dominant position.   

The Inter Counties Championship was held at Cleland in February, 1967 and Ron Marshall reported on it as follows in the ‘Glasgow Herald’.

The County Track and Field Championships on 30th May at Barrachnie turned out to be a low key affair if printed results are to be taken as a guide.   The diminished report in the ‘Herald’ reads: The winners in the Lanarkshire Amateur Athletic Championships last night at Barrachnie were:- 440 yards: A Robertson (Motherwell) 52.5 sec; Two Miles: H Gorman (Springburn) 9:02; High Jump: E Coyle (Shettleston) 5′ 3″; Long Jump: S West (Shettleston) 18′ 10 1/2″; Triple Jump: S West 39′ 3″; Discus: D Edmunds (Strathclyde University) 136′ 7 1/2″; Hammer: L Bryce (Strathclyde University) 196′ 1 1/2″; 12 Mile road race: AT Brown (Motherwell) 61 min 04 sec; Javelin: Coyle 143′ 3″

Where were all the Motherwell men?   No McCafferty, No McKay, No Simpson – other than AT Brown (a third one or just a misprint) there was no sign of the usual Motherwell presence.   Note though the appearance of two mighty throwers from Strathclyde University on the scene – both international men, multi medal winners and two who added to the lustre of the championships.  Even at the Cowal Games on the last Saturday in August, McCafferty, Andy Brown and Bert McKay were running as team mates and winning the Two Miles team race, while Alex was winning the 41 miles road race at Shotts.

Doug Edmunds

All seemed as before in the open Games that summer.   BUT … 

at the end of the summer season, the traditional winter start in the McAndrew Relay at Scotstoun, there was a new club calle15:12d Law & District AAC.   Shettleston won the relay with Victoria Park second.   Ron Marshall commented on the new club thus:   “Meanwhile, how were Law and District managing, the new club who had secured the voluntary transfer from Motherwell YMCA of McCafferty and the Brown brothers?   Not at all well, it must be said.   After one leg, Greenshields, a runner of little acclaim but normally good enough to have handed over in about fortieth place, trudged home in sixty-fifth position, 3 min 13 sec behind Scally   [Bill Scally  of Shettleston had led the field at the end of the first leg].   Andrew Brown grabbed the baton and took 40 scalps before sending Alex, his brother, for some more.   He brought Law into ninth place and McCafferty, in running13 min 38 sec, the fastest of the day, rushed his club into third place, an astonishing finish after a soul destroying start.”

But what about Motherwell?   The ‘Wishaw Press’ enlightens us.   There was no mention of the new club or any of its runners in the weekly column by CRUACHAN.   It tells us that the ‘depleted’ first team was Willie Marshall 15:04, J Jones 15:37, Bert McKay 14:56 and Peter Duffy finished 15th of the 77 teams entered.   The B Team was 68th being made up of M McInulty, Grant, S McGarry and T Gallagher, and the C Team was 68th with R Kennedy, T Matthews, R Cook and L Devon.  Nor did the new Law and District AAC report mention the ‘older’ club, preferring to mention the performances of some younger athletes at a track meeting in Grangemouth, and Ian McCafferty’s up-coming tour of Mexico. 

The following week, second in October, was the Lanarkshire AAA Road Relay Championships and Shettleston won with Law in fifth place and Motherwell YMCA in ninth.   McCafferty was absent for Motherwell and with Wedlock now running for Shettleston, there was never ever any doubt about the result.   The Springburn production line kept on turning out good runners and their team, which finished second, now had George Jarvie and Alan Beaney in the four.   Their Youth team had John Cherry who would become an outstanding half-miler before joining Shettleston and Ian Picken.   Law introduced a new talent in Jim Thomson as an 11 – 13 Boy – he would go on to be a genuine talent as a Youth and Junior ,and a good senior too.

Alistair Blamire (30) running for Edinburgh University before returning to Shettleston Harriers

Came the County Championships on 2nd December and there was a new name on the trophy.   Not the individual winner – the engraver had had plenty of practice with the name I McCafferty – but the team was new to him.   McCafferty, winner with a time of  35:27 was only five seconds up on Eddie Knox of Springburn but led the Law team to victory beating Shettleston by 13 points.   There were other new names to be reckoned with for instance John Myatt running for Strathclyde University, whose team qualified by having their cross-country headquarters at Cambuslang, finished sixth this time.   Larkhall won the Youths team race and Springburn the Boys.

John Myatt taking over from Albert Smith for Strathclyde University in the LAAA Road Relays

The Lanarkshire team won the Inter-Counties Championship at Dundonald Army Camp in Ayrshire on 3rd February in 1968 when five counties contested the senior race.   Result: 1. Lanarkshire  33 pts; 2. Dunbartonshire  121; 3. Renfrewshire 142; 4. Ayrshire 183; 5. City of Glasgow 220.   The individual order of finishing: 1. J Linaker (26:19); 2. AP Brown (26:25); 3. AH Brown (26:43); 4. P Maclagan; 5. G Skinner; 6. B Scally; 7. W Allan; 8. H Summerhill; 9. T Patterson.   Lanarkshire won the Youths race from Ayrshire and Dunbartonshire.   The Boys race was also won by Lanarkshire from Renfrewshire and Dunbartonshire.

The Road Relays took place at Law on 12th October and resulted in a victory for Shettleston.   After Bill Scally, after a head to head battle with Alex Brown, gave them a 4 second lead at the end of the first lap, they were never headed.   New man Lachie Stewart was followed by Ian McCafferty on the second leg but the Law man’s pursuit was in vain as Dick Wedlock for Shettleston took over 23 seconds ahead Andy Brown and their final runner, Martin McMahon was 15 seconds quicker than David Simpson for Law.   The Springburn quartet of Alan Beaney, Harry Gorman, Ian Young and Eddie Knox ran well to be third.    Team contest result:  1.  Shettleston 53:31; 2. Law & District 55:04;  3.  Springburn 56:13;  4.  Shettleston B 56:39; 5. Strathclyde University 57:40; 6. East Kilbride;  7. Springburn B;  8. Cambuslang;  9. Shettleston C;  10: Motherwell YMCA.     Fastest Times: 1. JL Stewart (Shettleston) 12:53;  2. I McCafferty 13:16;  3.  W Scally 13:19.   The gap between Stewart and McCafferty’s times is larger than one might have expected but Bill Scally running only 3 seconds slower than McCafferty is really amazing and a quite superb run.   

The Youths race was won by Shettleston from Larkhall YMCA and Monkland Harriers and the fastest time was by D Nee of Monkland.   In the Senior Boys (13-15) race, Shettleston won from Springburn and Larkhall, fastest time was by Joe Mulvey of Shettleston and in the Junior Boys (11-13) race, Shettleston won again, this time from Springburn and Shettleston B.   

John Myatt to Innis Mitchell for Strathclyde University

The County Championship in 1968 was held on 7th December at Cleland Estate and again the title went to Shettleston.   Lachie Stewart running in his first LAAA Championship won comfortably from Dick Wedlock with John Myatt third and Bill Scally fourth fastest time.   The Shettleston team won from Law  by 23 points (7 points to 30) with Shettleston B third on 32, Strathclyde University with 34 and Springburn with 36.   Fastest times were by Stewart, Wedlock, Myatt, Scally and Summerhill saw four Shettleston runners in the first five.   Complete results

The inter-counties championship of 1969 took place on 1st February at Cleland Estate and resulted in a second consecutive win for John Linaker who won in 33:12 ahead of Ian Leggett (Clydesdale Harriers and Dunbartonshire) who recorded 34:00, and Henry Summerhill (34:06), J Johnstone (34:09), Harry Gorman (34:13) and B Morrison (Ayrshire 34:15).   Lanarkshire were clear team winners with 45 points; 2. Dunbartonshire 1117:  3. Renfrewshire 123;   4. Midlothian 125;   5. Ayrshire 206;   6. Roxburghshire 235;   7. City of Glasgow 333.

In the younger age groups, Lanarkshire won the Youths team title with the winner being Willie Burns (L) in 19m 10s who was followed home by Ronnie McDonald (L & Monkland) in 19:12 and Jim Brown (L & Bellshill YMCA) in 19:19.   Second in the team race was Stirlingshire (15 points behind Lanarkshire’s 11) with Dunbartonshire third on 66.   The county also won the Senior Boys race (14 points) ahead of Ayrshire (40) and Midlothian (66).   The individual winner was J Mulvey (L & Shettleston 9:12) with R Rowan (Ayrshire ) and J McLuckie (L and Bellshill).   J Thomson (L & Law) followed by D Stevenson (L) and J Fairlie (L).

The appearance of Ronnie McDonald and Jim Brown in the Youths race must be commented on.   They would both become Scottish and British international runners as well as team mates at Monkland Harriers coached by Tom Callaghan.   McDonald was a top drawer miler while Brown specialised in longer distances and their own intra-club rivalry was keen.  

Ronnie McDonald (71) finishing neck-and-neck with Dave Moorcroft (21) in the AAA’s Junior Championships (1971)

The Road Relays were held on October 11th, 1969, at Larkhall and resulted in Shettleston retaining their title from Law and Springburn, with ‘new boys’ in the championship, Strathclyde University finishing fourth.   Report and results below.   There were 400 yards between Shettleston and Springburn and a further 300 to Law.   There were a couple of the ‘top guns’ , Lachie Stewart for Shettleston and Ian McCafferty for Law, missing but young Eddie Knox had a superb day for Springburn and ran the day’s fastest time.   Knox gave Springburn a lead on the first stage but at halfway, Wedlock took over for Shettleston and they went into a lead that was never lost thereafter.   In the Youths race, Monkland won from Bellshill with Bellshill’s Jim Brown having a time 16 seconds faster than Monkland’s Ron McDonald.   Details:-

Jim Brown

The Championships were held as usual on the first Saturday in December, with Shettleston keeping a tight hold on both team and individual results.   Report and results below

Bellshill hosted the Inter-Counties Championship on 31st January, 1970 to bring the County’s own promotions for the winter season to a close.    The result was another team victory for Shettleston and an individual win for Lanarkshire’s Dick Wedlock who led from start to finish.   It was an interesting race altogether – second placer (all of 350 yards back) was the West District’s Junior champion, Jim Ferguson from Ayrshire, with Alistair Johnston of Victoria Park and City of Glasgow who was only about 30 yards adrift of Ferguson.   With 6 in the first ten finishers Lanarkshire won the team race without too much difficulty – but they won every race on the card that afternoon in January.   Youths, Senior Boys and Junior Boys titles all found their way back to the county.   Results: 

Senior Men: 

Individual:   1.   R Wedlock 30:32; 2. J Ferguson 31:41; 3. AA Johnston 31:56;  4. H Summerhill 31:56; 5. H Gorman (L) 32:02; 6. AP Brown 32:08. 

Team: 1.  Lanarkshire (1, 4, 5, 6, W Burns 7, AH Brown 8) 31 pts;  2. Midlothian (9, 12, 17, 19, 24, 25)  106 pts; 3. City of Glasgow (3, 20, 21, 29, 30, 39)  142 pts.   

Youths:  1. J Brown (L); 2. F Clement (R  16:12);  3. Stewart Gillespie (L) 16:15).   Team:  1. Lanarkshire (1, 3, 5, 6)   2.  Renfrewshire (2, 4, 8, 15);  3. Midlothian (9, 14, 15, 20)

Senior Boys:  1. J Mulvey (L);  2. L Reilly (CoG);  3.  J Buntain (L).    Team Lanarkshire 8

Junior Boys:  1. M Watt (L); 2. I Kerr (A); 3. J Fleming (L).   Team: Lanarkshire 8

Dick Wedlock (U1) racing Fergus Murray (M17), pursued by Hugh Barrow (Z1) and cheered on by Lachie Stewart in the 1969 Edinburgh to Glasgow

The Lanarkshire Road Relay Championship held on 12th October, again held in Bellshill, was another two team triumph for Shettleston Harriers their first team won in an aggregate time of 43:06 with the B team second in 43:12, Springburn was third in 44:25, Larkhall fifth in 46:08 and Shettleston C sixth in 46:26.   They also had the fastest two times when Lachie Stewart clocked 10:12 and Norman Morrison ran 10:16.   Springburn’s Harry Gorman was third quickest with 10:46.   In the Youths Relay Springburn’s four of K McBride 11:52, Jim Martin 11:53, Stewart Gillespie  11:48 and Johnny Buntain 11:23 defeated Shettleston’s quartet of G Crossan 11:53, P Bannon 11:04, J Springett 12:53 and J Mulvey 11:33.    The Senior Boys race went to Law & District who won from Shettleston and Springburn, while the Junior Boys went to Lesmahagow AC who were followed by Monkland Harriers and Shettleston in third.  

Note the re-appearance of the name Bannon in the Shettleston ranks – we will see it again and again.   Paul ran well for the club and for Glasgow University before emigrating to Canada and representing that country in the Olympic Games marathon.

Interesting is the number of clubs competing – Shettleston, Springburn, Monkland, Larkhall, Law, Bellshill and Lesmahagow and we know that others such as Airdrie, Strathclyde University, Motherwell YMCA and Cambuslang have been in the frame in the past – the Lanarkshire Association has done well in gaining strength and encouraging clubs to make it one of the very strongest counties in the land as far as endurance running is concerned.   In this context their performance in the Inter-Counties is a good marker of that progress.

The cross-country championship in 1970 was held on 5th December at the Dalziel HS playing fields at Cleland Estate.   It was the day that Dick Wedlock had probably dreamed about for several years – he defeated Lachie Stewart.   Only by 6 seconds, but a victory is a victory and some taste a wee bit sweeter than others.  He took it out from the very start and Lachie held on until about half way when he fell back.   Tommy Patterson in third place made it three fastest times of the day for Shettleston.   The result of the team race was Shettleston first with six points (only three runners to count) from Springburn (M Bradley, E Knox, T O’Reilly) and Law in third (AP Brown 11, D Simpson 15, AH Brown 17).   In the Youths race, Springburn won form Shettleston and Larkhall with J Mulvey the winner, J Buntain (Springburn) second and J McLuckie (Larkhall) third.  J Thomson won the Senior Boys race from Jim Lawson (Springburn) and Mark Watt (Shettleston) and the team race went to Law from Springburn and Shettleston.   The Junior Boys event was won by Lesmahagow from Monkland and Springburn with J Weir of Lesmahagow leading the field home.   

Note Mike Bradley running for Springburn Harriers – Mike was one of three brothers who ran for Paisley Harriers but when he moved to the area, he joined the local club – Springburn Harriers.   An international class mile and three mile runner, he is pictured below (4) running with Lachie Stewart (3) for Scotland in the AAA’s Inter-Counties in 1969 with Mike Tagg (5) in third.

The standard of athlete was at an increasingly high level – the increasing involvement of Strathclyde University brought runners like John Myatt, Innis Mitchell, Albert Smith into the fold, newcomers like Lachie Stewart and Mike Bradley, returning club members like Alistair Blamire and field events athletes like Doug Edmunds, Lawrie Bryce and David Cairns all added quality as well as quantity to the entries.  The quality of competition could only be good for the younger developing athletes like Alex Brown, Eddie Knox, Jim Brown and Ron McDonald.   We will see them develop over the next 10 years.   

But if 67 – 70 was a transition from the Motherwell Years, what was it a transition to?   More Shettleston success or were there other clubs with designs on the Lanarkshire championships? 

John Linaker passing the baton to Bert McKay in the Edinburgh to Glasgow.   They ran fastest times on stages six and seven in 1962

As usual for any County Association, the first promotion in the year is the track and field championship.   The LAAA was no different.   The coverage was never great but in 1961 it was brief in the extreme.   

There was not much coverage of the Lanarkshire Track Championships held at Motherwell on 23rd May 1961, the above from the ‘Glasgow Herald being typical.  John Young of Springburn – a very good sprinter indeed in his day and the victim of a dreadful decision that had all the other sprinters in one competition (not this one!) arguing on his behalf – repeated his double of the previous year and, after many years of racing 440 yards events in the LAAA Championships and elsewhere, Willie Morrison of Larkhall won a Scottish title at 880 yards.   Bryce McRobert was a good runner who never quite achieved his best times in the biggest races, and Andy Brown?   What about the man who must have been the most consistent endurance runner of his generation with superb performances over road, country and track for well over a decade, and yet a man who was also prepared to run in local sports meetings and small highland games. 

The 1961 road relay championships was held at Shettleston’s HQ at Barrachnie on 1st December and Motherwell, led by ‘new boy’ John Linaker from Pitreavie who was now working in the area, won.   The report was headed “Motherwell Retain Relay Title.   Easy Victory at Barrachnie.   Motherwell YMCA had no problems in their attempt to retain the Lanarkshire senior 12-mile relay championship on Saturday at Barrachnie.   The team who won the McAndrew Cup open relay race held the lead after R McKay had given D Simpson a useful advantage at the end of the first relay.   Thereafter J Linaker increased the lead and thus gave AH Brown such an easy task that they won by 600 yards from Shettleston Harriers who were without GE Everett.   Shettleston however took the honours in both the youths’ and boys’ races.   The outstanding youth was the younger brother of AH Brown, and R Wedlock (Shettleston) again showed how good he is in the boys’ class with the best lap time.   Results:-

Senior (4 x 3 Miles) – 1. Motherwell YMCA (R McKay 13:50, D Simpson 14:46, J Linaker 13:48 , AH Brown 14:05); 2. Shettleston (H Summerhill 14:15, J McGhee 14:11, C Wallace 14:44, T Malone 14:41); 3. Monkland Harriers (J Finn 14:42, J Keenan 14:54, W McBrinn 14:41, W Drysdale 15:00).     Fastest times: 1.   J Linaker (Motherwell) 11:48;  2.   R McKay (Motherwell) 11:50; 3. AH Brown 14.05

Youths (4  x  2 1/2 miles) – 1.   Shettleston Harriers (G Skinner 9:42, G McIvor 10:08, J Patterson 9:55, G Kay 9:55);  2. Springburn (A Stevenson 10:04, I Hamilton 10:44, R Lochhead 10:04, I Young 9:55);   3.  Hamilton (T Quinn 10:01, F Murray 10:48, L Watt 10:33, G Greenshields 9:48)   Fastest Times: 1. AP Brown (Motherwell) 9:31; 2. G Skinner (Shettleston) 9:42; 3. G Greenshields (Hamilton) 9:48.

Boys 12 – 16 (4  x  1 1/2 miles) – 1. Shettleston Harriers (D Walker 7:21, R Thomson 7:32, D Dolan 7:01, R Wedlock 6:37);  2. Motherwell (J Jiles 7:23, G Reid 7:42, S Grant 6:45, R Darroch 6:49);  3. Shettleston B (J McCormack 7:54, P Dalton 7:32, R Morrison 7:19, W Hinds 7:12)   Fastest Individuals:   1. R Wedlock (Shettleston)  6:37;  2. D Middleton (Springburn) 6:40;  3. S Grant (Motherwell) 6:45.

Road Relay Champs, 14th October

A Fine Collection of Lanarkshire Runners at the Start of the Edinburgh to Glasgow: 

2nd left Roger Sandilands of Strathclyde University, Les Menelly of Shettleston, then Alex Brown of Motherwell, Tom O’Reilly of Springburn and Tom Callaghan of Monkland standing at the back in a dark vest.

In the championships held on 2nd December, John Lineker showed just how good he was when he defeated Andy Brown by approximately 100 yards with Graham Everett trailing in in third place another 400 yards back.   Motherwell took the team title from Shettleston by six points: Bert McKay was their last counting runner in fifth place.   Lineker was in the lead as early as the end of the four lap trail and was never headed.   Alex Brown won the Youths race from George Kay of Shettleston with fully 100 yards separating them.  Note though the early appearance of Ian McCafferty in third place in this race. Shettleston however took the team race.   Results below

John Lineker leading Lachie Stewart in the SAAA Steeplechase

The Track and Field Championships were held on  21 May, 1962 at Hamilton.   It was an interesting event with no fewer than 8 clubs sharing the medals and several new faces appearing whose owners would become very well known in the years to come – Eddie Knox of Springburn who would win first, second and third medals in the Cross-Country International, Ian McCafferty whose record goes all the way to Olympic Games via Commonwealth Games alongside Scottish and British international recognition on the track and over the country, and Norrie Foster, Scottish and British international decathlete and Pole Vaulter who competed in the 1966 Commonwealth Games, won gold medals at the SAAA (3 times) and AAA’s as well as those of different colours.   The range of events covered by the LAAA Championships was wide and the standard generally high, at times very high.    Read the report below.

BROWN WINS IN RECORD TIME.   AH Brown (Motherwell YMCA) retained the Lanarkshire Three Miles title last night at Hamilton with a time of 14:37, 8.1 seconds faster than the record, held by himself.   This was achieved on a heavy grass track.   W Morrison (Larkhall),  who will be defending his Western District title on Saturday at Scotstoun, won the 440 yards and the Mile in the respective times of 55.8 seconds and 4:36.5.   G Turner, running for the new East Kilbride club, won the 100 yards in 10.5 seconds, and the 220 yards in 24.5, and the Long Jump with a jump of 20′ 2″.   Other winners:- Seniors.   880 yards: TP O’Reilly (Springburn) 2:06.9; High Jump: E Coyle (Springburn) 5′ 6″; Javelin: N Foster (Shettleston) 131′ 2″; Discus: J Scott (Shettleston) 100′ 0″; Shot: J Scott 39′ 11″.   Junior Events:  100 yards: D Burns (Hamilton) 10.5 sec; 880 yards: G Greenshields  (Hamilton) 2:07; One Mile:  AP Brown (Motherwell) 4:44.6; Long Jump: N Foster (Shettleston) 19′ 6″.   Youths Events: 100 yards: J Irvine (Dalziel HS) 11 sec;  880 yards: R Wedlock (Shettleston) 2:08.7; High Jump: K McBride (Springburn) 4′ 9″; Long Jump: A McLean (Airdrie) 16′ 10 1/2″.   Boys Events: 100 Yards: K Moncrieff (East Kilbride) 11 seconds; 880 yards: (dead heat) E Knox (Springburn) and R Colvin (Springburn)  2:14.9; Long Jump: R Morrison (Shettleston) 16′ 7 1/2″; 4 x 110 yards relay : Shettleston 50.7 seconds.   

Norrie Foster

The autumn came and with it the short relays in October.   The Lanarkshire event was on 13th October and held at Bishopbriggs for the first time.  The title went to Motherwell for the third rime in a row but the surprise was Andy Brown in the second team.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ tells us that “they beat their customary rivals, Shettletson Harriers much more easily than usual” by a minute and forty four seconds.   Brown had the fastest time of the day – 16:52 – and the B team finished third.   Motherwell had the four fastest individuals over the course on the day, the others being David Simpson in secons and Bert McKay and Alex Brown equal in third.

Senior 11 miles: 1. Motherwell (W Marshall 17:41, D Simpson 17:02, R McKay 17:11, AP Brown 17:11); 2. Shettleston (H Summerhill 17:19, I Donald 17:15, P Longfield 17:57, C Wallace 18:14); 3. Motherwell B (J Poulton 17:19, G Henderson ??, W McKnight 18:55, AH Brown 16:52); 4. Cambuslang Harriers.   Fastest Times: 1. AH Brown 16:52, D Simpson 17:02; 3= AP Brown and R McKay 17:11.   

Youths 9 Miles: 1. Motherwell (S Grant 11:54, R Darroch 12:00, R Findlay 11:48, I McCafferty 11:06); 2.  Springburn (J Rochford 12:31, D Tees 12:01, D Middleton 11:20, I Young 11:08); 3. Shettleston Harriers (G Skinner 11:17, G Kay 11:52, T Dolan 12:28, R Wedlock 11:44).   Fastest times: 1. I McCafferty 11:06; 2. I Young 11:08; 3. D Middleton 11:20.   Boys Six Miles: 1. Springburn Harriers (A ???6:07, B Morison 6:21, R Collins 7:53, E Knox 8:06); 2. Shettleston Harriers (R Pocock 6:11, W McVeigh 6:06, D Walker 8:17, R Thomson 8:??)

These Road Relays above, held on 13 October 1962 were strongly contested by Springburn’s younger teams – Eddie Sinclair was now coaching them and over the next several years they would be virtually unbeatable and would produce many top class athletes such as Duncan Middleton, Eddie Knox, Iain Young and Graham Williamson.

The actual 1962 Championships were held as usual on the first Saturday in December at Cleland Estate, and for the first time ever two brothers filled first and second places – no prizes for guessing Andy and Alex Brown who were followed by Henry Summerhill of Shettleston, but while there were only seconds between the brothers, there was over a minute between second and third places.   Motherwell, as expected took the team title.

As a footnote to the above results, if there is anything in heredity as far as running is concerned, there is not a lot of doubt about where the Brown brothers got their enthusiasm from.   The picture below is from the 1951 Edinburgh Marathon, and the figure second from the left in the dark Motherwell YMCA vest is called A. Brown.

The 1963 Track and Field Championships were held on Tuesday 21st May at Helenvale Track in Glasgow.    The journalists homed in on the fact that three records were broken but there was more to the meeting than that.   The report reads.   “Three records were made at the Lanarkshire Amateur Athletic Association championships last night at Helenvale Park.   JH Linaker (Motherwell) returned 14:30.8 for the three miles, beating AH Brown’s record of last year by 6.2 seconds, G Greenshields (Hamilton) reduced the time for the junior 880 yards by 1 1/2 seconds when he won in 2:0.6, and in the Youths 880 yards AD Middleton (Springburn) was 0.3 inside the previous best time with 2:00.1.   Other winners:- 

 Senior:  –  100 yards: J Burns (Shettleston) 10.9; 220 yards: D Burns (Hamilton); 440 yards: G Greenshields (Hamilton) 53.1; 880 yards: W Scally (Shettleston) 2:01.6; Mile: R McKay (Motherwell) 4:14; High jump: E Coyle (Shettleston) 5′ 4″; Discus: N Foster (Shettleston) 133′ 11″; Javelin: Foster 136′ 3″.

Junior:  –  100 yards: N Foster 11.1; 220 yards: Foster 23.8; 880 yards: G Greenshields 2:00.6; Mile: I McCafferty (Motherwell) 4:22.6.

Youths: –  100 yards:  J Gribben (Shettleston) 10.7; 880 yards: AD Middleton (Springburn) 2:00.1; High jump: P Dolan (Shettleston) 4′ 11″.

Boys:  –  100 yards: E Warren (Shettleston) 11.1; 880 yards: J Grogan (Shettleston) 2:13.4; 4 x 440 yards relay: Dalziel High School 1:32.

Names to be picked from the results?   Among the seniors the legendary Bill Scally of Shettleston who had an excellent record as a runner over all endurance events, who was a good club man and administrator and respected by all in the sport, Norman Foster who won four events, and probably took part in others, indicating his developing prowess as a decathlete, McCafferty of course in the Junior age group, and Duncan Middleton who went on to have a good career as an 880 yards runner and win the AAA’s indoor 880.  These were only the winners and there were probably other good competitors who finished second and third to them.   The LAAA was thriving.

Ian McCafferty (Motherwell) running in the 1969 International at Clydebank

The road relays in October 1963 showed a further development in the strength of the Motherwell YMCA squad when they rook first and second places in the championships, with three individuals in the six fastest times.    Jim Johnstone of Monkland Harriers led the field home at the end of the first lap with the kenspeckle Henry Summerhill of Shettleston in second.   McCafferty ran second for Motherwell and took them into a lead that was never lost thereafter.   Motherwell A beat Motherwell B by approximately 500 yards with the B team containing Bert McKay – a former county cross-country champion.    Results:

Senior: 1. Motherwell (W Marshall 14:30, I McCafferty 13:50, AH Brown 13:57, AP Brown 14:31); 2. Motherwell B (G Henderson 14:39, J Poulton 15:11, D Simpson 14:24, R McKay 14:11);  3. Shettleston (H Summerhill 14:14, G Kay 14:55, W Scally 14:51, L Meneely 14:43);  4. Cambuslang (G Kelly 15:14, G Eadie 14:04, R Kerr 14:51, W Burth 15:48); 5. Shettleston B (G McIver 14:57, GE Everett  14:34, G Skinner 15:30, H Docherty 15:11);  6. Monkland (J Johnston 14:01, T Callaghan 15:14, C Ballantine 15:51, W McBrinn 15:34.      Fastest Individuals:  1. I McCafferty 13:50; 2. AH Brown 13:57; 3. J Johnston 14:03; 4. G Eadie 14:04; 5. R McKay 14:11; 6. H Summerhill 14:14 

Youths eight miles: Team Race – 1. Springburn Harriers ( M McLean 10:50; E Knox, 9:21, H Gorman 10:40, D Middleton 10:00); 2. Motherwell YMCA (S Grant 10:18, D Jones 10:31, J Galloway 12:16, M McInulty 12:29).   Fastest Individuals:  1. E Knox 9:21; 2. D Middleton 10:00; 3. S Grant 10:18.

Boys (12-16): Team Race:  1.   Shettleston(J McAllister 7:18, R Gourlay 7:17, D Walker 6:52, H Inglis 6:52); 2. Springburn (N Souter 7:34, I Donnelly 7:12, G Cooke 7:02, D Robertson 7:04); 3.  Motherwell (A Johnstone 7:31, I Weir 7:35, I Haworth 6:58, J Giles 6:80.   Fastest Individuals:- 1. J Giles 6:40; 2.=  D Walker and H Inglis 6:52; 4. J Hill (Shettleston B) 6:57.    I Donnelly was the best performer in the 12 – 14 grade.

Eddie Knox taking over from Ian Young (Springburn) 

The 7th December was the date for the County Championships which were held at Cleland Estate in 1963 and, with three runners in the first four places, Motherwell easily won the title yet again.   Shettleston had three in the first eight which meant that they were second team.   McCafferty, still a junior, had a 30 yard lead at the end of the first lap and built it to 140 by the finish.   Brown was second with Jim Johnstone of Monkland 7 second further back.   The Youths team race was won by Springburn (three in six).   Eddie Knox won with Middleton second a full 100 yards adrift.   The results tell the story:-

Senior/Juniors:   1 I McCafferty(Motherwell) 33:28; 2. AH Brown (Motherwell) 33:52; 3. JR Johnstone (Monkland Harriers) 33:59;  4. D Simpson (Motherwell 34:11; 5. AP Brown (Motherwell) 34:32; 6 H Summerhill (Shettleston) 34:58.   Teams: 1.  Motherwell (McCafferty 1, Brown 2, Simpson 4); 2. Shettleston (Summerhill 6, IC Donald 7, W Scally 8); 3. Springburn (10, 11, 13).   

Youths three miles: 1. E Knox (Springburn 16:59, 2. AD Middleton 17:15: 3. R Wedlock (Shettleston) 17:30; 4. A Blamire (Shettleston) 17:40; 5. S Grant (Motherwell) 18:53; 6. H Gorman (Springburn)19:01.   Teams: 1. Springburn (1, 2, 6); 2. Shettleston (4,8,9); 3. Motherwell (5, 10, 15).

AD Middleton running in the McAndrew Relay 

The Inter-Counties races were held on 1st February 1964 and it was a win for Lanarkshire in the team race.   McCafferty won the race, held at Cleland Estate and Lanarkshire had the first five places in the race.   1.   I McCafferty (Motherwell) 34:30;  2. JR Johnstone (Monkland) 35:17;  3. D Simpson (Motherwell) 35:29;  4. H Summerhill (Shettleston) 35:47;  5. AH Brown (Motherwell) 36:22;  7.  T Cochrane (Beith); 8. A Carse (Edinburgh AC); 9. JL Stewart.    Team result:   1. Lanarkshire;  2. Midlothian;  3. Dunbartonshire.   Ayrshire and Stirlingshire had incomplete teams.   

Youths race:  1.  E Knox (Lanarkshire);  2.  AD Middleton (Lanarkshire); 3. R Wedlock (Lanarkshire); 4. W Eadie (Stirlingshire).    Team Race:  1. Lanarkshire;  2. Midlothian;  3. Dunbartonshire.

The Track Championships were held on 26th May – a Saturday as opposed to the traditional Tuesday meeting and again there were some new names to come to terms with.   McCafferty and McKay were 

The 1964 Road Relays were held on 10th October at Airdrie and Motherwell YMCA won again from Shettleston, this time by almost half a mile according to the Glasgow Herald.   Again Jim Johnstone of Monkland led at the end of the first lap, this time with the fastest time of the day despite all the top men, including McCafferty, running.   McCafferty ran the second stage for Motherwell, took them into the lead and, given that the next two runners were Andy Brown and Bert McKay there was no danger of them being caught.   Eddie Sinclair’s youths retained the Youths team title.   

A fairly well known journalist is credibly said to have commented to Andy Brown in the 1960’s that ‘these road and cross country races are all the same, the same people and teams winning all the time’.   If true, this preposterous remark might have been made after the Lanarkshire Championships in 1964.   There were the same first three (McCafferty, Brown and Johnstone, the next two (Simpson and Alex Brown) swapped places, and the first three teams were the same in both races.   Add in the Youths race with the same winning individual, same winning team and you can see how the remark might have had some surface justification.   On a day of steady rain with very heavy underfoot conditions, both winners set fastest times for the course.   McCafferty won by approximately 200 yards in a time 14 seconds quicker than previously, and Knox was two seconds faster and 500 yards up on team mate Freddie Farrell who was second.   Results: 

Seniors: 1. I McCafferty (Motherwell) 33:14; 2. AH Brown (Motherwell 33:48; 3. JR Johnstone (Monkland) 34:20; 4. AP Brown (Motherwell) 35:03; 5. D Simpson (Motherwell ) 35:14; 6. W Eadie (Strathclyde University) 35:29.   Team: 1. Motherwell (McCafferty, AH Brown, AP Brown); 2. Shettleston (W Scally 7, L Meneely 8, G Skinner 10); 3. Springburn (M Logie 9, D Tees 11, T O’Reilly 12).

Youths:- 1. E Knox (Springburn) 16:34;   2. F Farrell (Springburn) 17:57;   3. R Anderson (Cambuslang) 18:15.   Teams:   1. Springburn (Knox 1, Farrell 2, D Robertson 6);    2. Cambuslang (R Anderson 3, S McIntosh 8, W Devine  13);   3. Bellshill YMCA  (D Richmond  5, T Boyle 9, J Smith 14)

They were held on 5th December 1964 and there were, as always, several interesting characters running round the muddy fields in the rain that day.   Bellshill YMCA (the first time among the medals) had a youngster called T Boyle in ninth place – the same Tommy Boyle who would go on to be a world famous coach with athletes like Tom McKean, Yvonne Murray, Susan Scott and others training to his instructions.   There was Bob Anderson of Cambuslang, a good runner it is true, but a man who would be fearsome in his loyalty and devotion to Cambuslang Harriers and its competitive success.   Walter Eadie of Strathclyde University would go on to Scottish Junior international honours.  The progress through the age groups of Jim Johnstone, Bill Scally and others has been noted too, but see the two old stagers in Springburn’s senior team – Moir Logie (later to run for Tayside) and Tom O’Reilly with young Davie Tees sandwiched between is maybe worthy of note.    

Dick Wedlock, 3, in the Scottish vest leading the field at Elgoibar race, Lachie Stewart wearing number 1.

The Inter-Counties championship was held at Cleland Estate on 6th February, 1965 and consequently it would be to an extent organised by the LAAA committee working with the Inter-Counties Committee.   The senior men’s team was weakened by the absence of Ian McCafferty and Andy Brown who were racing on the Continent but still managed to win.   Lachie Stewart (Dunbartonshire) too the race from AA Carse (EAC and Midlothian) with Dick Wedlock (Motherwell and Lanarkshire third).   Wedlock is an interesting athlete.   He started his career as a Boy member of Shettleston and won individual races and contributed to team success for Shettleston.   When he moved to Motherwell, he joined the local club, although he would later return to Shettleston when his work took him back there.    Senior Team Result:-

1,  Lanarkshire (Wedlock 3, J Johnstone 4, AP Brown 5, D Simpson 8, M Logie 14, G Skinner 15);    2. City of Glasgow (J Brennan 6, WH Barrow 9, I McPherson 10, P McLagan 11, J McLaren 12, J Reilly 17)   3.  Dunbartonshire (JL Stewart 1, I Donald 7, J Maclachlan 20, G Grant 27, H McErlean 30, P Younger 33.     4. Renfrewshire  143 pts;   5. Midlothian  1710;   Ayrshire and Stirlingshire did not finish complete teams.  

There were also races for Youths and Boys – both won by teams from Lanarkshire.   Again, the most complete results for them come from Shettleston’s Clark Wallace (below).

The Lanarkshire Track and Field Championships in 1965 were held on Tuesday, 18th May – maybe the Saturday date in ’64 had not been a success – at Larkhall.   They were not well reported on.   All that could be found were some first places – you’ll see what that means from the following:

Senior Men:  100 yards A Robertson (Motherwell) 10.4 seconds; 880 yards R Wedlock (Motherwell) 2:00.8; Mile I McCafferty 4:20.2; Three Miles: I McCafferty 14:25.8.   Junior Men:  100 yards: R Hamilton (Dalziel HS) 10.4 seconds; 880 yards N McInulty (Motherwell) 2:08;  Youths: 100 yards: M Bell (Shettleston) 10.5 seconds; 880 yards: D Walker (Shettleston) 2:11.

Very few events mentioned – one sprint (no 220),  one middle distance event (no 440 and no mile apart from the Seniors) and  no field events at all.   If anyone has more complete results, we’d be glad to have them.

John Poulton crossing the finishing line for Motherwell YMCA in the 1964 Edinburgh – Glasgow

The 1965 road relay was reported in a novel fashion in the ‘Wishaw Press’ with its authenticity vouched for by the fact that it was in the Motherwell YMCA Harriers weekly column.   It read:   “Motherwell worked a permutation in their team last Saturday to allow the first two teams to be the Old  v.  The Young.   In the first lap they were as far back as 9th and 6th but with the first team men in each team coming up, we finished 1st and 2nd in the event – Lanarkshire Relay Champs.   Result – 1. Motherwell,  A McNulty 13:;23, R Wedlock 12:39, Alec Brown 11:54, I McCafferty 11:24  –  49:20.   2. Motherwell B – W Marshall 12:59, D Simpson 12:35, Andy Brown 11:48, R McKay 12:13 – 49:35.   3. Springburn Harriers 50:15.   Motherwell C were 11th with E Garry 13:56, E Moore 14:10, R Kennedy 15:48, J Poulton 13:37 – 51:31.   Fastest Times: 1.  Ian McCafferty 11:24;  2. Andy Brown 11:48;  3.  Alec Brown  11:54.   All Motherwell.

In the Youths event we were 6th – I Haworth 14:12, W Ford 14:59, J Dempsie 14:37, D Harkins 16:52 – 60:40; and 12th in the Boys section with T Warren 7:54, J Mullen 8:06, B Dow 8:27, G Dow 7:29  –  31:56.

Bill Scally passing the baton to Les Meneely in the Edinburgh to Glasgow.

The 1965 Championship was held in quite dreadful conditions at Bellshill at the start of December.   Add to that the absence of several of Motherwell’s top team men and the result of a win for Shettleston, it was not a good day for the holders.     The Youths had a particularly tough time when, after they thought that they had finished, they were told to run an extra lap.   Many dropped out at the thought, and one runner stopped for an estimated three minutes before setting out on his last lap.  It was a day for the tough men: First time in the senior/junior race Eddie Knox was second, Shettleston’s Bill Scally in fourth, Henry Summerhill in fifth typified the men for the conditions and the occasion.    The driving sleet and snow combined with ground that was rock hard, saw experienced cross-country runner Bert McKay of Motherwell, stop after one lap, put on his track suit and head for the dressing rooms.     Results:-

Senior Six Miles:   1.  I McCafferty (Motherwell)  31:23;  2. E Knox (Springburn) 31:58;  3. AP Brown (Motherwell) 32:11; 4.  W Scally (Shettleston);  5. H Summerhill (Shettleston); 6. G Skinner (Shettleston).               Team Race:  1. Shettleston (4, 5, 6);  2.  Motherwell (1, 3, 14); 3.  Springburn (2, 8, 9).

Youths Four Miles:  1. F Farrell (Springburn) 22:34;  2. M McMahon (Shettleston) 23:04;  3. D Walker (Shettleston) 23:19.  Team: Shettleston 10 pts

Boys: (14-16): 1. I Picken (Springburn); 2. N Souter (Springburn).

Tuesday, 24th May 1966 was the day and date of the Track and Field Championships which were held on the fast Helenvale track in Glasgow.   The headline act on the following day was Ian McCafferty running three miles in 13:28.4 with splits of 4:23.3, 9:00.8 for the mile and two miles.  The time was three seconds outside Fergus Murray’s Scottish record.   Bert McKay ran good mile of 4:13.9 which was only one tenth of a second outside Graham Everett’s record for the meeting.   Results:

Senior:  100: J Gribben (Shettleston) 10.5; 220: RR Mills (Airdrie) 24.2 seconds; 880: AD Middleton (Springburn) 1:58.1; Mile: R McKay (Motherwell) 4:13.9; Three Miles I McCafferty (Motherwell) 13:28.4; Medley Relay (880, 220, 220, 440) Shettleston 3:42.4

Junior: 100 yards: M Bell (Shettleston) 11 sec; 220: Bell 24 sec; 880: E Knox (Springburn) 1:59.2; Mile: Knox 4:26.4

Youth: 100 yards: JB McDonald (Springburn) 11 sec; 880: G Buchanan (Motherwell) 2:05.8; Relay ( one lap, 2 x half a lap, one lap) Shettleston 2:35

Boy: 100: J Cunningham (Hamilton) 11.5 sec; 880: A Gibson (Shettleston) 2:11; Relay: one lap, (two x quarter a lap, half lap) Airdrie 1:41.6

*

The 1966 senior road relay was won by Springburn with a team led by Eddie Knox, from Shettleston, whose fastest was Bill Scally, and Motherwell was third – less than 200 yards up on Monkland Harriers.   Well, there was no McCafferty, there was no McKay, no David Simpson for a start off and then there may be some who would quibble about the team running order but the reasoning was clear to see.   But the strength of the other teams has to be recognised, especially the young Springburn quartet whom Eddie Sinclair had coached through the age groups – the winning squad were Davie Tees (12:38), AD Middleton 12:49, Iain Young 12:42, Eddie Knox 12:27.   The Shettleston team consisted of Les Meneely (13:00), Bill Scally (12:20), Henry Summerhill (12:36) and Martin McMahon (12:51), none of whom were in the veteran category either.   The Motherwell team was built around the Brown brothers with Alex (12:27) second and Andy (11:55) third.   Willie Marshall (13:09) on the first leg had just received his life member’s badge for 20 years service to the club and Howarth (13:58) on the last leg was an unknown quantity.   For the complete story of the day, the Glasgow Herald report, including results is below.

Having looked at the results of the Road Relays above (8th October 66) it is possible to see the generations of young Springburn runners lining up one behind the others – Senior/Juniors have Knox, Young, Middleton and Tees, Youths have Nickie Souter, the Beanie Brothers and George Jarvie.   More than that, there were three sets of brothers in the Springburn squad (the two Beanie boys, the two Pickens and the two Lunn brothers) and all coached by Eddie Sinclair.   The steady and continued progress of Jim Johnstone at Monkland is also a hint that a distance runner doesn’t need a great team around him to progress – although the club at that time had older runners like Willie McBrinn, Tommy Callaghan, Willie Drysdale who could and would advise the younger member. 

Looking ahead a bit: The Shettleston team that won the English National in 1971.   Many of them learned their trade in the 60’s.

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

Front Row: Les Meneely, Tommy Paterson, Lachie Stewart and Tom Grubb

Below is the report on the 1966 LAAA Cross-Country championship of 1966 held at Motherwell.   It marked the return of Wedlock to Shettleston but not eligible to compete as a team member at that point in the transition, he ran well enough to be third individual behind McCafferty and Alex Brown.  Ron Marshall’s report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ was headed  McCAFFERTY EASY WINNER OF LANARKSHIRE TITLE’ and continued that ‘on a bitterly cold afternoon at the playing fields of Dalziel High School in Cleland, Lanarkshire’s Cross-Country Championships were held.   It was no clever job foreseeing the winner of the Senior title, but his manner of doing so was unexpected.”   It continued:

A wee bit patronising about the Springburn support, at best going for a cheap laugh, but a full report and fairly detailed results.   But it was a victory for Motherwell nonetheless although after losing the team championship to Shettleston in 1965 and the relays to Springburn in 1966, the question was maybe was the tide turning?   Just as Shettleston completely dominated the 50’s, Motherwell had been the top team in the 60’s so far; the Sinclair Conveyor Belt of young athletes was making Springburn much more of a force to be reckoned with.   Add in the return of Lineker to Pitreavie, his job in Motherwell done, and of Wedlock to Shettleston, and the future was intriguing.   That the 60’s so far, 61 – 66, had belonged to Motherwell YMCA is clear from the table below.   Not a single championship winner from any other club and only one athlete had been faster in the relays.

Graham Everett: Winner of the LAAA Cross-Country Championship 1956

Starting with the summer season in 1956 it is maybe appropriate to look at the range of tasks undertaken by the Association in the few years since its inauguration.   The county track and field championships were held on the 5th of June at Hannah Park, Shotts, with the results showing that at least eight clubs took part with several very well known and respected athletes taking part – McKay, Everett, Brown McGhee, Watt, Cairns and W Morrison of Larkhall would become a medal winning half-miler.   

For those competing who did not win a medal, a good performance might earn them a standard certificate.    Standard certificates were awarded at club level with standard medals at the national championship for those athletes reaching a pre-determined meritorious level of performance – standard times would be in the club handbook or in the meeting programme.   The Lanarkshire Association awarded their own certificates.   One of Shettleston’s Bill Scally’s certificates for the above meeting is below.

The road race held at the meeting had its own certificates and, although this example dates from the 1960’s, it demonstrates the point that the LAAA did much more than just organise cross-country relays and races.   Both runners were consistent performers for their club in countty district and national events and there will be more about them.

Shettleston Harriers won the Lanarkshire Amateur Athletics Association (LAAA) cross-country championship six times in the first seven runnings of the county championships, but between 1956 and 1960 the only winner was Graham Everett who won in 1956 and 1960.  The other winners were Andy Brown, Motherwell YMCA, in ’57, Bert McKay, also Motherwell, in ’58 and Andy Brown again in ’59.   These three victories were maybe a sign that dominance in the county was about to change direction.   But first there were the Road Relays.

The County Road Relay championships were held on 20th October 1956 at Shotts with events for Junior/Senior Men, Youths (Under 17) and Boys (Under 15).   The Senior race was won by the Shettleston A team of George Govan, Clark Wallace, Joe McGhee and Graham Everett from the Motherwell team of Bert McKay, Bryce McRoberts, Andy Brown and Tom Scott with Springburn’s quartet of John McCormick, Danny Wilmoth, Jon Rooney and Johnny Ballantyne.   Fastest times were by Andy Brown (11:54), Graham Everett (12:10) and Joe McGhee (12:16).   The Youths relay over a total distance of 6 miles was won by Shettleston A (T Malone, J Kay, L Botfield, D Drye) from Shettleston B (E Somerhill, W Hendry, J Hannah, W Keenan) and Larkhall YMCA in third (D Gebbie, W Dick, D Anderson, G Leggate) with the fastest times coming from T Malone and E Somerhill (Shettleston) both 8:00 and D Drye as third fastest (8:04) also from Shetlleston.   In the Boys race, Shettleston A (R Taylor, B McMonnagle, W Cunningham) won from Shettleston B in second and Motherwell YMCA in third.   The fastest times were by D Stein (Shotts Welfare) 7:21 and D Cunningham (Shettleston) 8:13.   

It was quite a tour de force by Shettleston – 3 team golds, two team silvers and on the individual count, all three fast time medals in the Youths race went to the club as did the second fastest in Senior and Boys plus third in the Senior race.  

Andy Brown

The County Championships in 1956 were held on 1st December at Hamilton.   Shettleston continued their run of success as this report shows.   It was a pity that Andy Brown could not run – it might have made for an even more interesting race. 

Into summer 1957 and the Lanarkshire Championships were held on Tuesday, 11th June at the Shettleston headquarters of Barrachnie.   The report reads.   “GE Everett, the Scottish Mile champion and record holder, who returned from the Continent on Monday after his successes there easily won the Lanarkshire AAA mile championship last night at Barrachnie beating a clubmate, JL Hendry, a former Scottish Junior Mile champion, by 25 yards in 4:13.1.   Another notable winner at the meeting was AH Brown (Motherwell YMCA) the Scottish six-mile champion, who won the Three Miles in in 14:49.    Other winners:-

100 yards: RM Steven (Shettleston) 10.4;   220 yards: G Reid (Shettleston) 24.5;   440 yards: E Reilly (Cambuslang) 52.5; 880 yards: A McNally (Shettleston) 1:57.4;   10 Miles: JM Kerr (Airdrie) 1:05:03;    Medley Relay: Cambuslang, 3:47.8;   120 yards hurdles: WG Montgomery (Cambuslang) 17.5; Shot Putt:  D Nicholson (Shettleston) 38′ 1″;   Discus: Nicholson  87′ 8″

Junior Events: 100 yards: G Reid (Shettleston) 10.6;   880 yards: J Kay (Shettleston) 2:06.8;   Mile:  L Botfield (Shettleston) 4:35.8;   120 yards hurdles: G Reid (Shettleston) 18.3;    Javelin: A Deas (Dalziel HS) 98′ 2″

Youth Events: 100 yards J McNulty (Shettleston) 10.9;   80 metres hurdles: A Gardiner (Motherwell YMCA) 11.5;  880- yards: W Hendry (Airdrie) 2:09.6; High Jump: J McKay (Dalziel HS) 4′ 8″.

Interesting list of events with hurdles races at all age groups and there were several absences such as Joe McGhee and Bert McKay who may have been competing elsewhere but again the host club had arrived mob-handed and their presence was shown.   The Road Relays were held on 11th October, 1957, and, like the track championships, were held at Barrachnie.   The results, however,  were a bit more balanced.

The Senior Championships resulted in a victory for the home club again and the story is told by the times and places.

The Youths and Boys races were held at Motherwell on the 19th October and the Youths race had seven finishing teams – 1.   Shettleston;  2. Springburn;  3. Motherwell;  4. Shettleston B;   5. Hamilton;   6. Motherwell YMCA B; 7. Shettleston C.   Fastest times were by B McKnight (Motherwell) 16:11, W McGurk Shettleston 16:24, and H Summerhill (Shettleston) 16:29.   There were six teams of Boys competing and they finished like this:   1. Shettleston A; 2. Shotts Welfare;  3. Shettleston B; 4. Springburn A; 5. Motherwell YMCA; and 6 Springburn B with fastest times being run by W Rennie (Shettleston) 5:26, W  Forrest (Shotts) 5:28 and G Mackie (Shotts) 5:34.    

Graham Everett to Eddie Bannon in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay

The 1957 Cross-Country Championships were held on 7th December at Auchengeich Colliery.   (Note that Pit Baths were often used in some parts of Scotland as changing facilities – often for a one-off race headquarters or in some cases as regular training HQs for local clubs – the washing facilities and the warmth inside the buildings were factors behind it.)   There were reports in many of the papers but as so often, Clark Wallace’s Shettleston Spreadsheet gave so much more factual information.   Note that although there was the regular club team awards, the original Ballot Team was included in the day’s agenda.

For a report on the race, we turn again to the ‘Glasgow Herald’.   “AH Brown (Motherwell YMCA), Scottish six-mile track champion showed his form on Saturday when he won the Lanarkshire senior cross-country title over a heavy double three mile course from Auchinairn.   He beat J McCormack (Springburn Harriers) by 100 yards in 31 min 9 sec with GE Everett (Shettleston Harriers) third, another 70 yards behind.   Springburn Harriers beat Shettleston Harriers who were without E Bannon by seven points for the team title, which was held by Shettleston.   At the half distance, Everett was forcing the pace, with McCormack  and Brown not far behind, and it was clear that Springburn, with T O’Reilly and E Sinclair well up, would be pressing Shettleston in the team event.   

YOUTHS EVENT   A Cowie (Springburn) was the outstanding competitor in the Youths 3 mile championship.   He beat J Bogan (Hamilton Harriers), a very promising runner, by 150 yards, with B McKnight (Motherwell) third, another 60 yards behind.   Springburn also beat Shettleston for this team title, winning by six points.”

Graham Everett winning the West District Mile in 1958 

In summer 1958 the Association changed their date for the championships to the last Tuesday in the month (26th) and it was held at Larkhall.   The report in the Glasgow was very short.   “GE Everett (Shettleston), the Scottish mile champion, last night won the Lanarkshire senior 880 yards title at Larkhall.   He beat J Thomson (Motherwell) YMCA by 30 yards in the good time of 1:57.7.   The other feature of this fixture was the sprint win of A Watt (Shotts Welfare AC) who won the junior 100 yards championship in the fast time of 9.9 seconds.   He later won the senior 220 yards championships in 24.9 seconds.   Other results:-

440 yards: W Morrison (Larkhall) 53.5 sec; Mile: R McKay (Motherwell) 4:22.5; Three Miles: AH Brown (Motherwell) 14:47.1; 10 miles road race: G Eadie (Cambuslang) 51:15; Hop, step and jump: R Gray (Shettleston) 46′ 3″.

That unfortunately is the report and results in their entirety.   Note that Motherwell at this time shared the services of Jim Thomson with Glasgow-based Victoria Park AAC whom he represented in the West District Track Championships.    The Shettleston paper had this report  (Spiker is of course Clark Wallace):

The road relays were held at Barrachnie in 1958 and again, although some of the National dailies did not report on the event, the Glasgow ‘Eastern Standard’ did and John McKay donated this report.

All the big names had turned out – Everett, McGhee, Brown, McKay and the rest – and Shettleston had been triumphant at the finish.  Motherwell had two of the three fastest times though. So much for the relays and it was onwards to the championships and the question was who, of the Brown, Everett, McKay, McGhee  would prevail over the longer distance?   Nor should such as Tom O’Reilly and Eddie Sinclair of Springburn be forgotten   An Interesting race to look forward to. 

Bert McKay, Motherwell YMCA, 1958 LAAA Cross-Country Champion

When it came to the Lanarkshire Cross-Country Championships in 1958, the title went to Motherwell YMCA for the second year in succession:   not Andy Brown this time but his friend and team mate Bert McKay, maybe better known as a miler than as a cross-country runner despite a very good record over several winter seasons.    The ‘Glasgow Herald’ reported on that race as well as the Youths race.   

“R McKay (Motherwell YMCA) who is better known as a track miler, won the Lanarkshire five and a half mile cross-country title decided over a  double course on Saturday in the vicinity of the new Duncanrig School, East Kilbride.   At half distance he looked a certain winner, for he was running strongly and within himself while the holder, AH Brown of the same club, not so happy, ran in fourth place, fully 50 yards behind.   McKay added to his lead over the final circuit of undulating country and produced a powerful finish.   He beat his nearest rival Eddie Sinclair (Springburn Harriers)  by 60 yards and P McParland (Springburn) was third, a further 20 yards behind.   Brown, obviously not fully recovered from his tendon strain, finished tenth.   Springburn retained the team title more easily than expected with the low tally of nine points by placing their three counting runners in second, third and fourth positions.   

J Bogan (Hamilton), who was running as an individual, won the youths three miles very narrowly from J Johnston (Monkland Harriers)who gave him a tremendous race down the finishing straight with only a yard separating them.   T Grantham (Springburn was third, 60 yards behind.   Shettleston Harriers regained the youths team title with an aggregate of 18 points – 10 points fewer than Springburn, the holders.   Springburn’s B team finished third with 36 points.”

Results: Senior 5 1/2 miles.   1. R McKay (Motherwell) 24:12; 2. E Sinclair (Springburn) 24:22; 3. P McParland (Springburn) 24:26;  4. J McCormack (Springburn); 5. T O’Reilly (Springburn; 6. T Kelly (Shettleston).         Team race:  1. Springburn (E Sinclair 2, P McParland 3, J McCormack 4) 9 pts;   2. Motherwell (R McKay 1, J Poulton 9, AH Brown 10) – 20;  3. Shettleston (T Kelly 6, W Gorman 13, C Wallace 15) – 34.   

Youths Championship: 1. J Bogan (Hamilton) 11:59;  2. J Johnston (Monkland) 12:00.  3. T Grantham (Springburn) 12:12.   Team race:  1. Shettleston (W Rennie 5, C Briggs 7, W Scally 6)  – 18.   2.  Springburn (T Grantham 3, R Sinclair 12, W Russell 13) – 28.   3. Shettleston B (J Carroll 10, J Scott 1, R Fletcher 15) – 36.

The track championships the following summer were on 26th May, 1959,  at Shotts’ Hannah Park.   “GE Everett (Shettleston), the British and Scottish mile champion, broke the Lanarkshire half mile record when he retained that title last night at Shotts.   Everett’s time of 1:57.3 was 0.4 seconds faster than his previous best.   He reached the tape six yards ahead of R McKay (Motherwell) who had stayed with him until about 100 yards from the finish. 

Everett completed a double when he comfortably won the mile in 4:22.6.   J Young (Springburn) had a double in the sprints.   He had a walk-over in his 100 yards heat and won the final in 10.2 seconds.   Later he won the 220 yards in 24.2 seconds.   AH Brown (Motherwell), the British YMCA cross-country champion, retained his county Three Mile title with a time of 14:45.1 and won the 10 miles, the time not being recorded.    S Lyons (Shotts) won the shot with a putt of 39 feet.   M Wilkinson (Shotts) set up a new record in the Boys’ 75 yards track race.   His time of 8.1 seconds was the fastest time returned in the country over the distance.   Other results:- Junior 100 yards JC Smith (Shettleston) 10.3; 880 yards: G Dewar (Shettleston) 2:04.3.   Youths 100 yards: A Robertson (Motherwell) 10.5; Long jump: L Spence (Shettleston) 19′ 2″; Boys 880 yards: J Grant (Monkland) 2:12.5.

George Govan of Shettleston leading John Wright and Joe Connolly in the National Cross-Country Championship

The 1959 Rd Relays were held on the 10th October at Coatbridge and resulted in two team victories for Shettleston.   The report read: 

“Shettleston Harriers were again prominent in the Lanarkshire road relay championships at Coatbridge.   They retained the senior and youths’ titles and finished second in the boys’ event.   R McKay, running in Motherwell YMCA’s second team, led the field over the first relay but G Govan running the third leg for Shettleston went ahead and eventually gave G Everett a commanding lead.   Over the final relay AH Brown, in Motherwell’s first team, put in a powerful effort and overhauled several runners for third place behind Everett and E Reilly (Cambuslang).   Results:- 

Senior 10 miles relay – 1. Shettleston (C Wallace 11:17, T Malone 11:25, G Govan 11:20, GE Everett 10:46)  44:48;   2. Cambuslang (G Eadie 11:24, W Kelly 11:46, D Kerr 11:21, E Reilly 11:02) 45:33;  3. Motherwell YMCA (B McRoberts 11:34, W McKnight 11:40, T Scott 11:45, AH Brown 10:38) 45:37.   Fastest Individual Times:- 1. AH Brown 10:38; 2. GE Everett (Shettleston) 10:46; 3. R McKay (Motherwell) 11:00; 4. E Reilly (Cambuslang) 11:02; 5. E Sinclair (Springburn) 11:07; 6. J McGhee (Shettleston) 11:16.

Youths eight miles relay:- 1. Shettleston (C Briggs 9:18, W Rennie 8:58, W Stein 9:55, W Scally 8:57) 37:08; 2. Monkland (J Finn 8:52, T Gallacher 9:15, E Marshall 10:30, J Johnstone 8:54) 37:31; 3. Springburn (R Sinclair 9:00, J Keenan 9:01, A Forbes 9:21, R Crawford 10:25) 37:47.   Fastest Individual Time: J Finn (Monkland) 8:52

Boys four and a half mile relay: 1.   Monkland 23:36; 2. Shettleston 23:48; 3. Springburn 24:26.

Eddie Sinclair (24) and Tom O’Reilly (27), both Springburn Harriers with Ian Harris of Beith after the Spean Bridge 10 Miles race

On  5th December 1959 the story in the Lanarkshire championshsips was Andy Brown regaining the cross-country title when the event was held at Dalziel Estate, Motherwell.   It was a simple story – Brown went straight into the lead, by half way round the six mile trail, he was 160 yards in the lead with Shettlest, on’s George Govan in second, followed by Eddie Sinclair (Springburn) and Gordon Eadie (Cambuslang).    Brown doubled the lead over the second half of the race and finished comparatively fresh in 31:03 from Sinclair.    Shettleston was without the services of Joe McGhee who arrived too late for the start.   The team race saw Cambuslang, Shettleston and Springburn with equal points.    Cambuslang got the verdict because their third counting runner was ahead of the two others.   Springburn who were the holders were placed third – not a good way to lose a title.   Monkland Harriers won the Youths race from Shettleston by the margin of one single point.   Jim Finn (Monkland) won the title.   

Individual race:- 1.   AH Brown 31:03; 2. E Sinclair 32:04; 3. Govan 32:09; 4. G Eadie (Cambuslang) 32:13; 5. G Gorman (Shettleston) 32:59; 6. J Poulton (Motherwell) 33:03.   Team Race:- 1.   Cambuslang (G Eadie, K Kelly 8, JM Kerr 16) 28; 2. Motherwell (Brown 1, Poulton 6, W McKnight 21)   Youths Race:- 1. J Finn 15:27; 2. W Scally (Shettleston) 15:43;  3.  J Johnston (Monkland) 15:41.   Team Race: 1. Monkland (Finn 1, Johnston 3, Grant 8); 2. Shettleston (Scally 2, C Briggs 5, W Rennie 6) 13; 3. Shettleston B (W Stein 10, J Baird 14, Davidson 18) 42.

The race highlights as picked out by a local paper:

The track championships were on 26th May, 1959,  at Shotts’ Hannah Park.   

Then on 9th August 1960 there was a meeting at Barrachnie which consisted of a series of road relays and the county 10 mile championships.   The 10 miles was an interesting race which had many very well known names for years to come on the start list – and not all as runners.   The result first:

1st:    H Summerhill   Shettleston Harriers   60:23

2nd:   AC Gibson         Hamilton Harriers      60:34

3rd;   M Logie              Springburn Harriers   60:48

4th:   W McBrinn        Monkland Harriers     61:54

5th:   D Simpson         Motherwell YMCA       62:44

6th:   T Malone            Shettleston Harriers    62:50

7th= I Donald              Shettleston Harriers     65:47

7th:= T Scott                Motherwell YMCA             ”

8th:   J Kerr                  Airdrie Harriers             68:03

9th:   A Naylor             Shettleston Harriers     68:11 

10th:   F Simpson       Shettleston Harriers      68:16 

11th:   A Reid               Springburn Harriers      82:13 

12th:   J McEachren  Shettleston Harriers      82:28 

13th: R Wotherspoon  retired

If we look down the list we note that Henry Summerhill was a long time Shettleston member who won medals of all colours on road and over the country, Alex Gibson was a Scottish cross-country international runner, Moir Logie was a good servant at Springburn who performed the same service for Tayside when he moved to that are, Willie McBrinn was a good marathon runner and veteran harrier who eventually joined Shettleston, Davie Simpson was a Scottish cross-country internationalist, Tom Malone was also a very good runner on road and country who, after emigrating to South Africa won the Comrades Marathon, Ian Donald was a very good runner indeed on all surfaces who won medals of all colours in the Shettleston colours, Tom Scott was a loyal member of his club who was killed in a car crash on his way to an English marathon and his team mate set up the well known 10 mile road race in his memory, John Kerr became a Scottish marathon champion, Alex Naylor is better known as a coach, (Scottish group coach for all endurance events), and administrator ( President of the SAAA) and Fraser Simpson was a member of the Fire Service who set up many races on its behalf.    A remarkable field.   The other races that day were 

• A Mile Medley Relay won by Shettleston in 3:44.9, from Springburn Harriers and Airdrie Harriers
• A Junior Relay won by Shettleston from Airdrie (only two teams ran)
• Senior Two Miles won by G Everett in 9:01.6 from E Sinclair and T O’Reilly (both Springburn), W Drysdale (Monkland) and W Morrison (Larkhall) retired.   
• A Junior 880 yards (6 ran) won by J Bremner (Springburn Harriers) in 2:11 from J Grant, T Gallagher (both Monkland), J Murray (Airdrie), A Callaghan (Monkland) and I Calder (Springburn)
• Youths 100 Yards won by A Robertson (Motherwell ) 11.1 from D Burns (Hamilton), B McMillan (Hamilton), J Grant (Monkland), T Callaghan (Monkland)
• Boys 880 Yards was won by R Findlay (Motherwell) in 2:18.9 from G Skinner (Shotts), A O’Boyle (Shettleston) and R Morrison (Shettleston).
• Boys 75 Yards won by A O’Boyle (Shettleston) in 9.4 seconds from A McAllister (Motherwell) and  (No initial given) Skinner (Shettleston). 

Almost exactly two months later the County Road Relays were held on 10th October at Larkhall when Motherwell triumphed in the Senior race and Monkland in the Youths.   The race was covered in the Glasgow Herald: “Motherwell YMCA deprived Shettleston Harriers of the Lanarkshire senior relay road title at Larkhall on Saturday when they led throughout the 10-mile event and won by 70 yards in 42:53 with Springburn Harriers third, about 200 yards behind Shettleston.   This rather surprising defeat of Shettleston was largely caused by the absence from the team of AJ Wood.   R McKay took the lead for Motherwell over the first relay from T O’Reilly (Springburn) and T Malone (Shettleston).   Shettleston stayed in third place until the penultimate relay.   AH Brown (Motherwell) was however given a 60 yard lead over GE Everett for the final leg and eventually extended his advantage by 10 yards.   Monkland were topo strong for their rivals in the Youths race and won by one minute fifty one seconds from Springburn with Shettleston third, another 30 seconds behind Springburn.   J Finn (Monkland) the holder of the Scottish youths’ cross-country title, had the fastest time over the two and three-quarter mile course of 11:11.   The best of the Boys’ two-grade race from twelve to sixteen years resulted in a win for Shettleston and the fastest relay of one and a quarter miles was registered by R Findlay (Shotts) whose team failed to finish in the first three.”

David Simpson, Motherwell YMCA

For some reason the 1960 LAAA Championship, held on the usual first Saturday in December, was not covered in the national papers – or none that we could find – but there is and account of the races in the  Motherwell Times.    Although it concentrates on the local team, it gives a fair account of the proceedings.      Owing to the foot and mouth disease the Lanarkshire cross-country championships could not be run over the country and a road trail was substituted.   The winner was Graham Everett of Shettleston, who beat Andy Brown by 13 seconds.   We were second team home in both the senior and youths’ team race with young Alex Brown just failing to equal his brother’s second place – Alex was third home in the youths’ race.   Our senior team was AH Brown 2nd, D Simpson 6th, and J Poulton 10th with W Marshall backing up in 13th position. “B” team finished 10th with D Young 26th, T Grantham 29th, J Hoey 49th and T Muir 52nd.   Youths Team had Alex Brown 3rd, J Dickman 7th, J Lewis 18th and C Devon fourth man in 28th place.   Dalziel High School boys D Goodman and J Dunn finished 23rd and 24th.   All who competed deserve praise for finishing the course in such wet and blustery conditions.   A word of praise also for the officials who had not dry clothes to change into at the finish.

Results:- individual – 1. G Everett, Shettleston 30:42; 2. AH Brown, Motherwell 30:55; 3. T O’Reilly, Springburn 31:58.   Senior teams: 1. Shettleston 13 points; 2. Motherwell 18 ; 3. Shettleston B  34.   

Youths:- 1. J Finn, Monkland 15:56; 2. J Grant, Monkland 16:10; 3. Alex Brown, Motherwell 16:23.   Youths teams:  1. Monkland 8; 2. Motherwell 28; 3. Shettleston 29.

Monkland Harriers visit us tomorrow (Saturday).   A good turn out is requested.   Eatables to be brought for the “after-run” tea.

CRUACHAN

And that’s a typical local weekly paper which usually appeared on a Wednesday or Friday after the race, telling the natives how the teams fared but giving the others a fair coverage and a look forward to the  next fixture.   Remember that there were quite a few inter-club friendly runs on clear weekends with Fast, Medium and Slow packs covering a trail devised by the host club and followed by a shower (or at Springburn there was a huge plunge bath where all the runners piled in) and a ‘purvey’ which was often a pie or a sausage roll or even sandwiches followed by home baking supplied by the club’s women members and/or the wives of the male runners.   This latter was often consumed in a committee room or even in the changing space but at Greenock Glenpark there were tables for four set out with table cloths on them which were set out while the runners were doing their thing.   Lanarkshire clubs were no different in that respect.

See also  Lanarkshire AAA 1956 – 60    Lanarkshire AAA 1961 – 1966    Lanarkshire AAA 1967 – 1970   .

Lanarkshire AAA: 1971 – 1975   Lanarkshire AAA: 1976 – 80   Lanarkshire AAA: ’49-80 Recap

Ben Bickerton (Shettleston, first winner of the Lanarkshire Cross-Country Championship.

The importance of local associations to the development of the sport, probably particularly the County Associations, is sometimes overlooked.   They organised county events – cross-country relays and championships, track championships, selected teams for inter-counties matches and helped local clubs organise and operate their own races.    There were more in the West of Scotland  eg there were Associations in Renfrewshire and Ayrshire before the 1939-45 War, those of Dunbartonshire and Lanarkshire started up after the War, the Glasgow Association was rather short lived with its members splitting between the four mentioned above but there were also groupings of clubs elsewhere, eg Stirlingshire.   

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A great deal of the early information below was recorded by Shettleston Harriers Clark Wallace – like many of his generation in clubs across Scotland he was runner, club official, administrator and more beside.   He was one of those whose motto was “You do what your club needs you to do.”    Many of the race results below came from his club notices as club captain in the 1950s: we are fortunate in that they were kept and that the information is available to us now.   It has been passed on to us by John Mackay of Shettleston and we are grateful for that.   A few words about the man:

Clark Wallace was an easily recognisable, good natured, hard running competitor at every distance up to the marathon and a key member of many club teams for a long period.   Off the track he was a tireless worker for the club too.   He had one international vest – in 1953 when he was thirty third finisher and a counting runner for the Scottish team.    He joined the club after the War at the same time as Willie Laing and both were to play big parts in the development of the post-war club.   Clark was a big heavy built man, not at all your typical distance runner.   His record in the National was Sixteen Races; Seven Gold, One Silver, Four Bronze

 He was equally at home on the road and he competed in nineteen Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays.   He ran in both 1949 races on the first stage and both times set fastest time for the stage, in 1950 he was fastest man on the fourth stage and in 1955 was again fastest on the fourth stage.   In total he amassed six gold team medals, seven silver and one bronze to add to his cross-country collection.   As a result of these he was an indispensable part of the London-Brighton team (the first two Scottish teams were invited to the National London to Brighton) and he took part in no fewer than eleven of these.   Always at home on the roads he was third in the SAAA Marathon Championships from Westerlands in 1963.   On the track, he was second in the SAAA Two Miles Steeplechase in 1954, third in the 3000m steeplechase in 1955 and second in 1956 and 1958.  

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The date when the Lanarkshire Amateur Athletic Association was first constituted is not clear.   We have this correspondence which it will be noted is dated 2nd February, 1949.   There is clearly an Association that had been up and running before that, and that the secretary was Bobby Craigen.   

The Lanarkshire Association’s first race was cross-country championship for Youths held at Wishaw and we are fortunate to have, courtesy of John Mackay, a completed programme for this event.   

The Press had short reports like this from the ‘Glasgow Herald’  “J Finlayson (Hamilton Harriers) was the outstanding runner in the Lanarkshire youths three-mile championship race at Wishaw.   He beat T Lambert (Springburn) by 150 yards.   J McNeill (Shettleston) was third 15 yards behind Lambert.   In the team race, Shettleston Harriers held a four-point margin over Hamilton Harriers with Motherwell third, three points worse than Hamilton.”   There followed results down to third place in all categories.     There is more detail than in either of the above in the results, as noted by Clark Wallace below.   Finlayson was clearly the best Youth athlete in the country, a fact that he proved when he won the Midlands District Championship and the national championship too.

Note some of the names in these results – a young Andy Brown from Motherwell who would go on to win the senior national championships and captain the Scottish cross-country team, finishing fourth.    It is sometimes forgotten that the county associations held track and field meetings as well as cross-country and road.   

The County Championship was held on 16th January 1950 at Cambuslang and Ben Bickerton beat team mate Jim Flockhart by 150 yards with Alex Gibson of Hamilton not far behind him.   There was no club team award that year with a ballot team race being incorporated instead.   The idea behind the ballot team race, which was quite common practice at the time, was to give runners in smaller clubs a chance of winning a prize that would otherwise be denied them.   All entrants from all clubs were grouped in three bundles according to ability, and teams were selected by athletes selected at random, one from each pile, to make a team. with the result being calculated as for any team race.

The first LAAA track championships were held on 4th July in 1950 at Helenvale Track in Glasgow and the results indicate that there were at least  6 clubs competing, ie Shettleston Harriers, Hamilton Harriers, Monkland Harriers, Larkhall YMCA, Springburn Harriers and Lanarkshire Constabulary.   We know from the above results that other member clubs included Motherwell YMCA making a total of 7.   The number was probably higher than that but even what we know, gives us a strong grouping  providing support and competition for each other.   

The report in the Glasgow Herald read: 

T TRACEY WINS MILE CHAMPIONSHIP  

Lanarkshire AAA Titles

T Tracey (Springburn Harriers), the Scottish three miles champion, and B Bickerton (Shettleston Harriers), the Scottish six miles champion, were notable competitors in the Lanarkshire Amateur Athletic Association Championships held last night at Helenvale Park.   Travey ran a well-judged race to win the mile from E Bannon (Shettleston Harriers) in 4 min 30.1 sec.   Bickerton dropped out when the pressure was applied over the last furlong of the race.   DK Gracie, holder of the 100 yards championship, did not compete, apparently reserving himself for the Scottish Universities  v  English Universities contest at Newcastle tonight.”

Results:

If we look at the names above we see several Scottish international athletes – Tracey was a top class runner in anybody’s reckoning especially over the country and on the road, Ben Bickerton was also an internationalist as was Eddie Bannon of Shettleston.  And was young G Craig the same George Craig who won the SAAA 6 miles title and ran for Scotland over the country as a senior?

Tommy Tracey (Springburn Harriers)

The cross-country season did not end at that point – the Inter-Counties Championship made its debut on 18th March and was held at Bishopbriggs with the Springburn Harriers club house as race HQ.    The original programme with entry lists was saved by Clark Wallace and can be seen below.

The result of the race was a win for Renfrewshire with 24 points with the other teams in order being Lanarkshire 125 points and Dunbartonshire 155 points.   The top individuals were W Lennie (Vale of Leven and Dunbartonshire) in 33:52, Tom Stevenson (Greenock Wellpark and Renfrewshire) 34:00 and Eddie Bannon (Shettleston and Lanarkshire) 34:16.

Walter Lennie (Vale of Leven and Dunbartonshire)

The second county cross-country championships were held on 2nd December in 1950.  The Senior Championship featured the same three as contested the County event on the track in July.   Tracey won by 150 yards from Bickerton with Bannon in third place.   Finlayson won the Youths race from Andy Brown with Tommy Limerick of Hamilton in third.   As explained above the Lanarkshire championships for senior men did not have  a team championship but rather a Ballot Team race.  

The Inter-Counties 6 miles Cross-Country Championship was held at Stirling on 16th December 1950 with four teams in contention.   The ‘Scots Athlete’ reported the results as below.   The sport was being rebuilt after the War with a ladder of progression being developed on cross-country as on track with club, county, inter-counties, district and national being the rungs up to the ultimate – the international.   The first Inter-Counties was reported on above and, as on that occasion, there were only four counties competing in the second.

The Track and Field Championships were held on Wednesday 4th July at Carluke and we know from the Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser that Monkland Harriers were taking part and won three prizes but other results have so far been hard to get hold of and the next LAAA organised events were in the Cross Country season with the first being the Road Relay Championship at Motherwell on 27th October.   

Traditionally October is the month of road relays which ease the runners into the cross-country season.   At 4 x 2+ miles they serve the double purpose of sharpening the road runners and strengthening the track men for the coming longer events.   At their best in the 80’s and 90’s they were in order, McAndrew Relays at Victoria Park on the first Saturday in October, then the country championships, the Midlands and the National relays.  A gradual and deliberate progression in intensity devised and organised by the grass roots of the sport.  So it was that on  October 27th, 1951, the Lanarkshire Road Relay Race was held in Motherwell.    The race results as written out longhand by Clark Wallace are below.    Six clubs, seven teams.   Fastest times from I Tierney of Cambuslang Harriers with two Springburn men – J Gordon 7:39, and J McDonald 7:48  –  in second and third.   Joe Gordon was a very good runner who went on to be a very well known folk singer.   

The championship was held on 1st December, 1951, with 50 runners representing seven clubs were forward in the Senior Race and the Glasgow Herald report read: “E Bannon (Shettleston Harriers) beat T Tracey (Springburn Harriers) the holder, by 200 yards in the Lanarkshire Six Mile  County Cross-Country Championships at Shettleston on Saturday, winning in the fine time of 31 min 38 sec over a four lap course.   D Neilson (Motherwell YMCA) was third, about 170 yards behind Tracey.   For the Youths title, J Stevenson (Larkhall) beat the fancied candidate I Tierney of Cambuslang by 90 yards with J Lyle (Cambuslang) third, four yards behind Tierney.   The team contest ended in a tie between Springburn (J McDonald 4, J Gordon 6, P McParlane 8) and Cambuslang (I Tierney 1J Lyle 2 and J Farrell 15) with 18 points.   Shettleston Harriers (W Steel 5, J Miller 7, C Smith 9) were third.”

Eddie Bannon (Shettleston Harriers)

The Lanarkshire Association was one which supported the new Inter-Counties Championship and this was held on 12th January at Westerton and in 1952 was contested by only two teams – Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire.   Lanarkshire won more than comfortably with 51 points to Dunbartonshire’s 164.   The winning team was led home by of T Tracey 1, D Nelson 2, AC Gibson 3, AH Brown 5, J Finlayson 6  and J Eadie while the top six from Dunbartonshire were A Kidd  3, D Coupland 12, R Black 16, J Robertson 18, W Crowe 20, P Ballance 20.   This would go to be a fairly important fixture with Ayrshire and Bellahouston to join followed by other counties, mainly from the west of Scotland.

The County Track Championships in 1952 were held on Wednesday, 11th June, at Shotts and the short report from the ‘Glasgow Herald’ reads:

Short but interesting the victory in the junior mile was to be one of the first of many that Graham Everett was to win and second placed Finlayson confirmed his ability by also winning the junior half mile.   

The Glasgow Herald, of course, covered the relays on October 25th as part of its sporting coverage with – 

CAMBUSLANG RUN SPLENDIDLY

Cambuslang Harriers again proved their power on Saturday when at Inveresk, Coatbridge, they won the Lanarkshire eight mile relay championship for the second year in succession in the good time of 47 min 12 sec.   Springburn Harriers were second 90 yards behind and Shettleston Harriers A third a further 200 yards away.  Shettleston A led at the end of the second lap, but F Ross and I Tierney, who had the fastest time of the day. ran splendidly for the winners over the last four miles.   Young P McParlane, running last for Springburn, made a great effort to overtake Tierney and his time was only a second slower.   Details:-

1.   Cambuslang Harriers (W Mulrooney 9:57, W Morton 9:21, F Ross 9:18, I Tierney 8:57) 57:12;
2. Springburn Harriers (R Gaw 9:55, J O’Hare 9:20, D Harold 9:27, P McParlane 9:8:58) 57:28.   
3. Shettleston Harriers (J Miller 9:27, C Wallace 9:25, I Richardson 9:55, I Cloudsley 9:22) 57:58. Fastest lap times:- 1.   Tierney 8:57;    2. McParlane 8:58;    3. W Drysdale 9:13.

Lots of interesting names there too – note Clark Wallace on the second leg for Shettleston handing over to Ian Cloudsley who would win the Scottish Under 17 championship the following season.   Pat McParlane of Springburn would be a very good Junior runner and win the Scottish national cross-country in 1955/56.   

Clark Wallace passing the baton to Eddie Bannon in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay

The cross-country individual and team championships were held on 29th November that year at Dalziel Estate in Motherwell.   Report:

Despite fog and consequent poor visibility the Lanarkshire Cross-Country Championships for seniors and youths were carried through successfully in the Dalziel Estate, Motherwell.   E Bannon (Shettleston Harriers) was never seriously challenged for the senior title although J Finlayson (Hamilton Harriers) endeavoured for a time to keep pace with him.   Over the second half of the journey Bannon drew clear of the field of over 60 competitors and won by 100 yards in the good time of 55 min 50 sec.   Finlayson was second and J Fleming (Cambuslang Harriers) third, about 150 yards behind the Hamilton runner.   

The team contest was won by Shettleston whose counting trio of Bannon 1, C Wallace 4 and J Eadie 8 aggregated 13 points, beating Hamilton (J Finlayson 2, AC Gibson 7 and H Gibson 10) by a margin of six points.   The senior ballot team race run in conjunction with this event was won by C Wallace (Shettleston) 4, AH Brown (Motherwell) 6 and TD Reid (Larkhall) 21, who had a total of 21 points.   The Youths 3 mile championship was closely contested, I Tierney (Cambuslang) just beating P McParland (Springburn Harriers) in the good time of 17 min 1 sec.   F Ross (Cambuslang was third.   The team race ended in favour of Cambuslang (I Tierney 1, F Ross 3, and R Morton 4) with eight points.”

The 1950’s would be the decade when Shettleston dominated the event: they won the individual championship 7 times and the team championship 6 times and Eddie Bannon had 5 consecutive victories, while in the road relays (only instituted in 1953) there were 7 victories.   Clark Wallace’s Lanarkshire medals from the 1950’s, photographed by John Mackay, are below.

Into summer 1953 and the LAAA Track & Field Championships were held at Motherwell Stadium on Tuesday 9th June and the local ‘Motherwell Times had a good report as shown below.

The Road Relays were held on 16th October, 1953, at Shettleston while the host club’s rivals were competing at Dundee in the Kingsway Relays.    The ‘Herald’ reported that “Last year’s winners were again successful on Saturday.   Shettleston Harriers took the first two places in the senior race and the first in the junior at the Lanarkshire championships at Shettleston over 10 miles.   The holders A team took the lead in the senior race after the first lap.   E Bannon, running fourth, returned the excellent time for the 2 1/2 miles of 12 min 11 sec – the fastest time of the day – and finished more t5han a quarter of a mile in front of the Shettleston B team.  Springburn Harriers were third a farther 70 yards behind.   In the Youths race over 2 miles Shettleston led all the way and beat Springburn Harriers by more than 100 yards.   Monkland Harriers were third 130 yards behind Springburn.   Shettleton’s first runner T McCluskey had the fastest time of 10 min 5 sec for the 2 mile course.”

December 6th was the date in 1953 for the Lanarkshire Cross-Country Championships to be held at Cambuslang.   Clark Wallace had laid out the results immaculately on a double sheet of lined foolscap – an early spreadsheet but easier to manage.

It was a very high standard field indeed, Shettleston’s Bannon led a whole series of current or future internationalists – McLaren, Tracey, Fleming, Gibson, Reid, Fox, Stevenson among the seniors and in the Youths age group we have Cloudsley and Eddie Sinclair who would be a Scottish internationalist on track and over the road before becoming a well-known coach.    

The Lanarkshire Track and Field Championships were to be held on Tuesday, June 8th, 1954, at Helenvale Park in Glasgow with events for Seniors, Juniors and youths and the 12 mile road race was an unusual inclusion for any county’s Track and Field Championships.   The ‘Herald’ picked out JL Donnelly of Hamilton (three first places  shot discus and javelin), P Spalding of Shettleston (100 in 10.2 and 220 in 23.9) as meritorious performers but racked Tommy Tracey’s Two Mile victory, by only one single yard, over John McLaren of Shotts in 9:24.6.   It was another night when there were many very good athletes on display – eg DK Gracie, Scottish and British international sprinter and Olympic hurdler won the 440 yards, AH Brown won the Mile, Andy Fleming of Cambuslang won the 12 miles road race and Eddie Sinclair won the Junior Mile. 

DK Gracie

Came October 1954 and the traditional road relays were held and the event had lost none of its class as regards the quality of runners taking part.   If we just look at the results we see many who were famous at the time and others who would soon become so.   For instance TP O’Reilly (Tommy) was making his first appearance in these races with Joe McGhee (Scottish marathon champions both and McGhee of course would be Empire Games champion before the year was out.   George Govan was no mean performer either and Danny Wilmoth would become of the best known, best liked and most respected officials in the country.

In the club and individual championships of the county on 4th December, 1954, at East Kilbride, over a water logged, two lap trail, the two big names both turned out and battled for the title with Finlayson, now running for Glasgow University making his bid to win his first Senior title.    Bannon however prevailed to win his fourth county championship – although he was very fortunate to do so.

The track and field championships were held on Tuesday 8th June at Helenvale and the standard was as high as ever with some new names added.   The results as published show this as far as the winners were concerned but there were more down the field coming through.   Look at the results first.   

Senior: 100 yards: S Hunter (Shettleston) 11.1;   220 yards: P Spalding (Shettleston) 24.2;  440 yards: N Duncan (Larkhall) 53.7 sec.  880 yards: A McGown (Shettleston) 2:00.05;    Mile: G Everett (Shettleston) 4:18.4;   Two Miles: J McLaren (Shotts) 9:34.5;  12 miles road race: H Fox (Shettleston) 1:03:54.   

Juniors: 100 yards: W Montgomery (Cambuslang);  Mile: M Steven (Cambuslang) 4:46.8; Relay ( 2 x 105 yards + 2 x 220 yards) Cambuslang 1:08.8

Youths: 100 yards: A Watson (Shettleston) 11.1 sec; 880 yards: J Kay (Shettleston) 2:08.2

Graham Everett is of course a bit of a legend in the sport in Scotland with many international appearances on the track and over the country, but John McLaren of Shotts would go on to great things as a member of Victoria Park AAC 0 he was already British Junior Cross-Country champion.   He had been only one yard behind Tommy Tracey in this event the previous year, in 1955 he had an easier win when he beat J Finlayson by 150 yards.

John McLaren (Shotts) winning the British junior cross-country championship

The Road Relays were held at Cambuslang on 15th October and Shettleston were first and second teams in the senior race with Springburn third, and also took first place in the Youths race.    To provide the first two teams  indicated a real strength in depth for the upcoming Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay in November.   In the Youths race the club had two very good runners in T Malone and J Kay – Malone would be a real asset to the club before he emigrated to South Africa where he took to ultra long distances and won the Comrades Marathon.

The Championship was another triumph for Eddie Bannon, who recorded his fifth victory in the event and for Shettleston in the team race – this time their B team was third with Springburn splitting them both.  Andy Brown of Motherwell was second, sandwiched between Bannon and McGhee, and only 3 seconds behind the former.  In the Youths race, Springburn provided the victor and the winning team as they had done the previous year.

Undoubtedly the first five years were a triumph for the organisers and those whose decision it was to start the LAAA in the beginning.   Shettleston was the dominant team at this point but would it continue to be so?