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Denis Bell supplied the following photographs all taken at the WMTRC in Die, France in 1989.

Christine on the left, Joyce Salvona, Helene Diamantides and Penny Rother after the race

Christine standing on the left

Christine third on the left

Joyce Salvona, Christine Menhennet and Christine Whalley

Christine crouched in front with Denis Bell

Christine with Brian Potts

Christine during the race

Denis is a superb photographer in his own right as well as a quality hill runner and the photographs were taken at the World Mountain Running Championships at Die in France in 1989.   

Denis with Christine Menhennet

Christine Menhennet, – , Helene Diamantides, Penny Rother

Brian Potts, Johnny Wilkinson and –

Brian Potts

Colin Donnelly during the race

Colin Donnelly heading for the finish

Receiving the Trophy

and hoisting it aloft

Christine, centre, at a ‘Come and Try’ day in Old Kilpatrick

with Brian Potts and Ian Murphy to the right

A superb athlete for over three decades, her running career, like everyone else’s, had to come to an end.   When did she stop and why did she do so after, as we saw above, she was running well in the 2010’s?   She tells us that after 33 years she stopped running because she was trying to stay race fit, rather than running for fun.   She is quoted in “Voices” as saying “My competitive participation had been declining for a few years, but then in 2017 I decided to compete in the Scottish Championships, aiming to win the Female V60 category.   I did compete, and I did win my category but it took its toll and I decided to stop competitive running for good after that.   Last year (2022) my left knee gave up completely and I’m now waiting for a new one.”

Three real pillars of the sport: Christine, Robin Morris and Bill Gauld 

After she stopped running, or rather racing, Christine put a lot back into the sport.   She spent time on the Scottish Hill Running Association committee encouraging greater participation by women.   She did this by influencing prize values and race organisers support for women participants in general and, in the process, devising a set of guidelines for hill race organisers.   And of course she did her share of officiating and organising club and national races – eg in 2016 when the 28th British Fell and Hill Running Relay Championships were held in the Luss Hills, Christine was listed as Lead Hill Marshal.   There were vast changes in the organisation of the sport in the 1990’s when several different Associations (SAAA, SWAAA, SCCU, SWCCU, SSAA, SHRA) were brought together for administrative and financial reasons.   Christine was also operating at national level when interim vice-convener of the Scottish Athletics Federation Hill Running Commission. 

She knew what she was talking about in Committee too – Christine had been a pioneer in women’s participation and acceptance in hill running.   She had her share of changing in “In a sheepfold, behind that wall, in the car”, there were at first no showers for women either.   Even well organised events like the Mamore Hill Race at Kinlochleven Highland Games and after the race being given a certificate of participation which said that it had been “Presented to Christine Taylor of Bellahouston Harriers and certifies that ‘he’ took part in the Mamore Hill Race of 1985″ .   This work was also carried on at Westerlands AAC when she was Lady Captain trying to make sure that slower Mums were included in relays, trying to make sure a Mums team with childcare provided.   

Then there were the individual initiatives such as the Come and Try days that she organised with Haddington member and good friend Denis Bell.   These were held in the Kilpatrick Hills for which she actively encouraged women to come along.   The courses were staffed by such as talented hill runners Brian Potts and Ian Murphy, and Brian Edridge who was a genuine lover of the hills and an experienced runner.   She also helped “my fell running buddy, Lesley Kirkwood, in the making of her college project video, “Friends in High Places” in which we filmed women taking part in a snow Carnethy Hill Race and interviewed women as to why they ran in the hills and what it meant to them.”

Where is Christine now?  Well, to start with she is living in Kilcreggan with her partner David Robertson.   Eight years ago they purchased an ex-charter yacht, below, which they still in 2024 run as a business from Oban.   They have their website at cloudninecharters.co.uk.   The picture above is of Christine and David with her running friend Marjorie Small and her husband Russell.   She tells us that they were their most stoic and supportive crew on what was often a stormy passage.   They departed at Nice for 10 days for family business and rejoined Christine and David in Portugal.  That was a wee while ago but they still have the charter business – see their website at the above address.

Professionally Christine is a fully qualified Landscape Architect. (BA Honours, Oxford) in Agricultural and Forestry Sciences followed by Batchelor of Landscape Design (Manchester) post graduate qualification.  She retired in 2019.   After retiring she came out of retirement to do a full-time Community Development job for the villages where she lives. “but only until the end of March 2025!”   After the appointment, she was introduced to the Cove & Kilcreggan Council with the following remarks taken from the Committee Minutes.

“She started her career as a professional Landscape Architect working on both public and private realm projects, mainly in and around Glasgow, with a wide range of community groups and clients.   After seventeen years as a Landscape Architect, she was asked by her then-employer, the Wise group, to join their Development Section where she helped the organisation to source new clients, new projects and new methods of funding.”

She herself adds : I started out with Glasgow Parks Dept, then about 8 years(  I think) in private practice, then The Wise Group for – errrrrr – lots of years, then moved across into Community Regeneration work – mainly with Community Links Scotland – 14 years before retirement but now – this job!!! 

There is much more but that is quoted to indicate the levels of responsibility that she had while she was doing the quality running on the hills.   She is currently employed full time in her community as a Development Officer until March 2025.     There is success there too.   See this :

Cove and Kilcreggan :  The Green Group from the Our Community Project in Cove & Kilcreggan have been successful in receiving funding from ABCAN (Argyll & Bute Climate Action Network hub) to help set up trial beds for growing a variety of produce (food, flowers, herbs etc).   Many thanks to the Community Development Officer, Christine Menhennet, for working with the Green Group towards the application!”

The saying “All work and no play” does not apply to Christine however.   Where does she find the time is maybe an appropriate question.   To finish the saying as a question: “does it make her a dull girl?”   Far from it – Christine is a lively, popular person whose 50th Birthday party in the Old Kilpatrick Bowling Club is still spoken of and she is currently involved in activities such as line dancing!  See the picture above for that.   As a member of Westerlands CCC, she takes part in their presentations, dinners and indeed has replied at their Burns Supper to the toast to the ‘Lassies’.    Her introduction to the Cove & Kilcreggan Council in 2024 included the following: She moved to Kilcreggan in 2021 with her partner. Since then, she joined the line dance class and the Peninsula Choir – for whom she has already procured some funding!

She always finds time to meet up and keep up with old friends such as Shelagh King and Marjorie Small with whom she ran back in 1990.   The picture is of Christine with her running friend Shelagh King and her twins.

One of her hill running friends described her as follows (his words):   

“a great ‘rounded person’ of real intellect, a professional who truly cares about ‘what she and others are doing’ and ‘the results achieved’ (for the better… nothing else would do).   Thus her slight frame and athletic build were backed by a real savviness and love of outdoors, that combined to a super person and braw athlete, so very highly regarded and respected… certainly loved by her peer group of lasses and lads….    A trusted person, fun, so hard working, and ….sassy, and easy company. “

What a wonderful compliment.   And what wonderful advertisement for our sport she is.

Veterans WMRC, Poland, 2001

In 2001 Christine reached the age of 45, an age when most runners are retired, retiring or thinking of it.   Not her.    Why would she?  Her love of the outdoors was still there, she was still up for a challenge and she still had all her old friends.  Maybe more important she was still in very good physical condition.  The new decade started with selection for the World Mountain Running Championships in Poland.   That she did well is evidenced by the trophy above which tells us that she was third V40 in the race on 22nd September.   The report in the local paper read:

CHRISTINE IS STUNNED BY ‘POLE’ POSITION

“Old Kilpatrick runner Christine Menhennet didn’t have a clue that she was in ‘Pole’ position – until she heard her mates screaming at her.  Christine recently finished third in the World Mountain Running Championships for veterans in Poland.   But she was the most surprised person in the event when she was handed a medal for her excellent display.   

“Christine said “I was elated to finish third because I had lost sight of the other runners and thought I was about tenth.   I started conservatively on the flat land because my strengths lie on the steep hills.   It was only when I reached the steep climb at the end and I heard all the Scots guys shouting that I knew that I was in medal contention.  I’ve never won anything before at international level so I was really pleased.”

Fellow athlete Jimmy Shields made it a great double for the Bankies as he finished second in the men’s event.   

A superb performance for two excellent athletes who really deserved their success.

As we will see she was still running really difficult races over some prodigious distances in 2019.   We can’t cover every race over the next 19 years but we can give a fairly strong flavour of the period by sampling the races that she did.    The Power of 10 website lists 16 events over the 2008 to 2019 period.    It is of course not comprehensive but it gives a good starting point.   What we have below is a selection of races taken from various sources and runners chosen to show the range that she competed in which range from short relays to the Lairig Mhor and Highland Fling, there were also club events such as relays and club championships and mammoth undertakings like the Highland Fling from Milngavie to Tyndrum – 53 miles of the West Highland Way.   In short she covered the length and breadth of Scotland – from the Two Breweries to Durisdeer, and distances ranging from the short relays through to the 13 miles of the Highland Fling.

Picture from Westerlands CCC site

Having looked at the above you will have noticed that she celebrated her 50th Birthday year by running in the very tough Stuc a Chroin race at Strathyre in 3:18:27.   Furthermore she celebrated her 60th birthday year by running Goatfell in Arran in 2:03:45.    I would also draw your attention to the Glencoe Skyline on 18th September 2016.   This is named the Ring of Steall Race and is one of a series of races known as the Glencoe Skyline, it starts and finishes in Kinlochleven and covers over 13 miles with a total ascent of  over 2561m (ie over 8402 feet).   To do all that running over all sorts of surfaces without any serious injuries is really bucking the odds – not many can have as arduous a sport and come away relatively unscathed.   It is a race of which she is very proud.

But there were many such races – the Scottish Long Classics starts with Stuc a Chroin, then goes to the Isle of Jura followed by the Trotternish Ridge, the Arrochar Alps and includes the Two Breweries, the Ochil 2000’s, Ben Rinnes and the Moffat Chase.    She has done then all.   And of course there has been Ben Nevis and the HOKA Highland Spring.  Is there a challenge that Christine has not undertaken?

She says: “Winning is always fun but I think that the race I would like to highlight is the 2016 Salomon Ring of Steall Skyline Race.   I was feeling old and rickety and needed a wee challenge.   I have always loved the real big mountain races – Stuc a Chroin, Bens of Jura, Ben Nevis, Arrochar Alps and so the uncompromising route of the inaugural Ring of Steall appealed.   I paid the rather large entrance fee  and did some serious training.   I had recced the route with a club mate  in a leisurely eight and a quarter hours, but thought that with a following wind and a bit of effort, I might be able to knock an hour off that time.She goes on to describe the route, the scenery, and how she felt as the race progressed and “the group dissolved after the final summit of Am Bodach and I braced myself for the steep, rocky descent.   I glanced at my watch.   I might just beat the 6 hour mark.   How did that happen?   Well, it didn’t happen owing to a bout of calf cramp halfway down; the delay could have been much worse.   I was saved by a bag of crushed crisps.   I was nonetheless delighted to cross the finishing line in 6 hours 5 minutes and 26 seconds – knackered but buzzing  . . . . That night I partied with my partner Dave and fellow Westies in my old haunt the Clachaig Inn.” 

   Christine after the Ring of Steall, 2016

The 2000’s: Part 2

Christine after winning the Great Wilderness Challenge in 1991

25 mile race winners Martin Dean, Forth Valley Orienteers and Christine Menhennet, Westerlands CCC, receive their shields from guest-of-honour Joyce Mackenzie, Gairloch

The 1990’s was a good decade for Christine with a high level of performance coupled with many serious challenges met.   She bracketed the decade with victories in the Great Wilderness Challenge in 1991 and 1999, Island Peaks Races contested in both Scotland and Australia, international races in Snowdon and Susa in Italy and triumphs in such events as Stuc a Chroin, the Corrieyarrick Pass and the Ben Lomond race.    There were so many races that we can’t cover them all but we can pick out some of the more significant ones.

Christine (centre) with Scottish international team mates Joyce Salvona and Christine Whalley at Die in 1989.

1990 was a good year for Christine in that she ran in two Island Peaks races which are approximately 12,000 miles apart!   She ran well in both the Scottish Island Peaks race and the Tasman Island Peaks race in Australia.    Sponsorship helped, being able to do a reconnaissance in the Tasmanian one before the race and so on all helped but the toll taken on the body was huge.   She had been organised to run both with Helene Diamantides but she (Helene) had picked up an injury after the first one and was unable to do the second but Christine and her new partner still turned in the fourth fastest running time of the 23 teams entered.  You can read some detail about these races at the  Scottish Island Peaks Races  page. 

Among the major races in 1991 were the two races on the Island of Arran.    In 1991, she was back racing starting with the two races in Arran.   Goatfell was on 18th May and she was second to Joyce Salvona in 1:35:53, and a month later on 15th June she finished second in the Glen Rosa Hill Race in 3:13:06 behind L Hope (2:56:31).  Map below of the Glen Rosa course is from the Scottish Hill Racing website.  On 9th November that year she was again second, this time in 39:03, with M Todd of Edinburgh University in 38:05.   

The really big event for Christine however was the Great Wilderness Challenge.  Like many of the hill races or challenges it started as a purely local event.   The official history of the beginnings is as follows.

In early 1986, plans were afoot to provide hospice care in the Highlands for the first time. The Highland Hospice Appeal was set in motion to raise funds for the project, and a Highland-wide campaign was launched in support of this initiative.   A small group of friends in Poolewe and Aultbea, some of whom had recently lost relatives to cancer, decided to do something to help. A sponsored walk was the vehicle chosen to raise funds, and arrangements were quickly made to organise what would become known as the Great Wilderness Challenge.   The first staging of the event took place on Saturday 23rd August 1986. It featured 178 walkers and runners undertaking the arduous 25 mile mountain trek from Dundonnell to Poolewe. It passed off very successfully, and £6,200 in sponsorship was raised for the Highland Hospice Appeal.   The event was originally intended as a “one-off”, but such was the popularity and success of the first that participants – and marshals! – clamoured for a repeat. So the GWC was destined to become an annual event and has been held every year since 1986.

This was the race for which Christine headed north in August 1991.   There were 57 finishers with Christine in 23rd place in a time of 3 hours 46 minutes 19 seconds to be first Lady, with Lesley Hope of Lochaber AC in 4:02:37 second Lady and 30th overall.   

Map from the Race website.

1992 was another good year for Christine with success at home and abroad.  She was selected the International World Mountain Running Championship in Val di Susa in Italy on 30th August, and followed the selection with a very good race in Scotland.   They were described in the ‘Clydebank Post’ thus:   “Having raced well in the Snowdon International, Clydesdale Harrier Christine Menhennet learned on Thursday that she had been picked for the World Hill Running Championships at Susa, Italy, later this month.   Inspired by this success she travelled to the Glen Trool Forest Hill Race on Sunday where she not only won but broke the course record by a full eight minutes when recording a time of 1:36:37.  Christine was the first Lady to finish and seventh runner overall.”

The International Snowdon Race referred to above was held on 25th July in 1992, was over 10 miles with a total ascent of 3200 feet.   Christine finished fourth (second Scot) in a time of 1:23:27 with the race being won by Scotland’s Trish Calder in 1:18:37.    The result for the International in Susa has been taken from The Fell Runner magazine for October 1992.

Other than the internationals, her record for 1992 includes the following results: (note the fast time for the Corrieyairrack which saw her finish 12 minutes clear of the second runner, and the two races which were timed outside 2 hours and another over an hour).   

By the end of the year  the SHRA Championships for 1992 had Christine placed third behind L Hope and T Calder.

In 1993, Christine and Helene competed seriously in the Island Peaks Race but also ran well at home when both were selected for the WMRA championships in Gap, France and were the first two Scots to finish.   Denis Bell wrote the official report on the Scottish team performance for the ‘Fellrunner’ magazine, the report on the Ladies race reads.  “In the Ladies event, Helene led up the long drag halfway through the field and held on throughout with the gaps  well established in front and behind.   Penny had a slow start and came through about 15 places and was eventually hauled in by Dawn Kenwright (Wales) who also came through and pipped Christine; the Ladies generally captured a couple of places on the descent.   A tidy bit of packing to get eleventh overall.   Elspeth put in a strong descent also to get 4 places and went on strongly to finish on the last gentle run in (1 km) (a very tough exposure to her third international event.”

Helene raced a lot that year with several impressive victories (eg Stuc a Chroin where she won by 12 minutes from the next Lady) but Christine adopted a lighter approach to racing with the following notable events.

*

In the Ben Lomond race on 7th May 1994 when she finished second behind Joyce Salvona in 1:34:40.   Christine liked the race and has a series of very good races and times in it.*

An indication of how well she ran in 1995, Christine finished the year with a double appearance in the British Fell Running Championship: third in the Veteran Ladies category but an even more impressive fifth in the Open category which was won by Sarah Rowell from Angela Mudge. In the Scottish Championships she was top of the rankings in first place with Angela Mudge second and Elspeth Scott third.   It is appreciated that the championship is decided by places gained in a series of events over different distances and surfaces and not all runners cover as many as others but the standard is very high and her performances were first class.

Over the years Christine was consistently placed highly in the Hill Running Championships.   The 1997 season was no different with Christine placed seventh and first veteran Lady in the Scottish Tiso hill running championship.

Her competitions were not all over long distances.   As an example, two of the listed races in 1998 were the shorter faster ones in Strathyre and Melrose: 

On Wednesday 17th June, 1998, she ran in the Ben Sheann race over 3 miles/1000 feet of ascent to win by a minute; and three days later

on 20th June, 1998,  in the south of Scotland the Eildon Two Hills, 4.4 miles/1500 feet was the race.  Finishing second in 37:17, Christine was first O35.

These were only two of the races that summer and at the end of the year she was ranked at Scottish and British levels.   She was ninth of the top 22 ranked athletes in her category the British Individual Fell Running Championship.   She was also second Scot.   Nearer home in the Scottish rankings she was third woman behind Angela Mudge and Kate Jenkins and first O35 veteran.

There are not many results available throughout 1999 but we know that she was in awesome form when we see the repeat victory in the North-East.   The photograph below is not one of a runner struggling gamely on!   Look at the smile on the face and the lack of pursuing runners.  Christine, pictured  en route, liked the Great Wilderness Championship so much that she was back in 1999 when she finished ninth in a field of 49 runners (4 ladies) and set a record time for the race of 3:21:36.  

Photograph by Paul Wright

Christine running for Scotland in Die, France

Christine was by 1986 a genuine hill runner and racer with many good runs behind her and one who was highly respected by the hill running cognoscenti.    She followed her second place in the 1985 SHRA championships with another second place in 1986.    Important as these championship placings are, they are the result of running in several races in a variety of categories during the season and although none of them are easy races or runs, the championships give no indication of the runner’s preferences or race schedules.   Christine had been encouraged in her early hill running days by several people.  In “Voices From The Hills” she mentions Clydesdale Harrier Bobby Shields (former Ben Nevis and West Highland Way record holder, his brother Jim, Robin Morris of Carnethy and Denis Bell of Haddington.   There were also of course a number of women who helped and inspired her – Ann Curtis and Helen Diamantides plus Pauline Haworth and Joss Naylor of the Lake District.   At this stage of her career Christine ran well but as the years went by, her interests and abilities took her into longer and more challenging events but we can start here with some of the races that she contested in 1986.   

Most of the race results have been taken from “The Fellrunner” whose report started with this paragraph:  “Snow drifts, cold and high winds contributed to this year’s winning time being 17 minutes slower than last year.   Anyone who ran this year, and managed to beat their previous best time, should lodge a claim for a prize of a year’s supply of ice cream.” 

Although Christine was running well and being highly placed in most races, Ben Lomond was the only run over an hour’s duration and as we said above, she would come to in the longer challenges than those she faced of 1986.   For instance the Great Wilderness Challenge which would be the scene of one of her best races was first run in 1986 but she was maybe not ready for it at that stage.   1987 on the other hand saw a brilliant run in the Arrochar Alps race.   Into 1987 and we see the longer races appearing.

Note that Ben Lomond, the longest tackled in 1986, was only the third on the list in 1987 and there were two of approximately 4 hours each.   Although it was early in her career, and although she subsequently broke numerous records at many venues, this Arrochar Alps one was always a bit special.    The profile of the course below shows the four Munroes and the steepness of the climbs and descents.

She is quoted in “Voices From The Hills” : “The record run that I enjoyed most and which stood for the longest was the 1987 Arrochar Alps Race (there was no duck-boarding over the bog in these days).”   Her record was broken by Andrea Priestly in 2010 by three minutes.   It had stood for 23 years.    The “Fellrunner” magazine report of the report from the Winter 1987 issue is below.

Given the quality of the run, and its significance in the development of Christine as a hill runner, the map of the trail is also shown below.

1987 was indeed an important year for her since, as well as beginning a series of massive challenges in terms of distances and heights, she was ranked sixth equal in the British Fell Running Championships and was first Scot.   Christine included more and more of the longer races into her programme and by 1989 she added the Bens of Jura race where she was first Lady in 4 hours 16 minutes 15 seconds.    A 16 miles race with 7,500 feet of ascent, held on 27th April with “a blazing hot sun” to contend with as well as the boggy underfoot condition with knee deep heather.   Second Lady was Ruth Pickvance, timed in at 4:28:24, with P Gibb (4:29:00) and Ann Curtis (4:35:38) in third and fourth.   The next big one was the Glen Rosa Horseshoe on the Isle of Arran on 24th June which she won in 2:51:08.   This was a 12 miles race with 5,500 feet of ascent with 37 runners from all over the country taking part.     These no doubt helped her gain selection for the World Cup Mountain Races at Die, France on 16th and 17th September 1989.   Christine ran well to finish 37th of the 53 finishers and was fourth scoring runner in the fifth placed Scottish team.   She did of course run other races in ’88 – eg Dumyat where she was first Lady in 42:07 in May and the Broad Law (uphill only) where she was second to Trish Calder who was running very well indeed that year – but the trend was to the more challenging, longer and more difficult technically events.

Christine is pictured below with Scottish team mate Brian Potts in Die.

1989 finished with Christine ranked sixth in the British Championships.   It had been a good year in which she had confirmed her position as a formidable competitor on any hill at any distance. 

Back to The Background

Picture from Westerlands CCC website

Any athlete who ended their career with National Championship victories in four different age categories over an incredible 30 years would be  reasonably happy with their achievements.  These successes were not, it should be remembered, for a single race, but for a series of races at varying distances, in different conditions and over all sorts of  terrain.   The calibre of opposition faced included, in Christine’s case, such as the legendary Angela Mudge, the quite outstanding Helen Diamantides, the very talented Tricia Calder,  Elspeth Scott and Ann Curtis, plus the others mentioned below and a host of superb women hill runners in what was a golden age for the sport.   

If we add to that a catalogue of international and invitational races across the globe including all the home countries plus most of Europe from France to Poland and even round the world to Australia, we have a picture of a very talented athlete indeed.   Nor was she one of the athletes who have a good career in their chosen sport but put nothing back in – Christine also did her share of committee work and race organisation when starting out at a time when women’s place in ultra distance running, and particularly on and over the hills and mountains was in its infancy.   Before following her sporting career, we should have a look at her sporting background.   This page will look at the background to her running and the start of her career as a serious runner before looking at the different aspects separately.

Name: Christine, nee Taylor, was born in Bolton in Lancashire.   

Date of Birth: 15th October 1956.   

Clubs: Bellahouston Harriers, Clydesdale Harriers, Westerlands CCC.

Family background: The Taylor family had an active lifestyle and are described in Steve Chilton’s book “Voices from the Hills” as a hill walking family.   Her father used to tell Christine and her sister “Don’t sit down, you’ll get stiff.”   As teenagers they ‘struggled through wind and mist up numerous Welsh and Lakeland hills when, as she says, they would rather have been on the beach.    She emphasises though that “Without a doubt, I owe my love of mountains and adventure to my parents’ early encouragement and passion for the outdoors.”   

Sporting background:  Although her school did not include track and field athletics but concentrated on team sports, she did represent it in the lacrosse, netball, tennis and rounders teams.   Plus 

(1) competitive dinghy sailing crewing at various events.   

(2) As a student she enjoyed squash at university, 

(3) She did some jogging to keep fit and had an occasional run up Winter Hill which was not far from the house she grew up in.     (NB: Winter Hill is 1496 feet in height and a hill race in its own right).

As a student she did some work in the Clachaig Inn in Glencoe which allowed her to indulge in hill walking and climbing during the day.   The buzz in the Bar in the evenings, with all the hill walkers’ tales and stories which all helped her decide to move to Glasgow after finishing her university studies.

Christine, on the left, at the WMRA Championships in Die, France

These all meant that she was a very fit person indeed with a love of the hills when the Glasgow Marathon appeared on the scene in 1984.   She first ran in it in 1985 as a member of Bellahouston Harriers.   That first run was timed at 3 hours 08 minutes 08 seconds.    In a field of 11, 492 runners, men and women combined, she finished 1303rd.   She ran in Glasgow again and had faster time and also a bit further afield.  eg in Snowdonia (2nd Lady finisher), Lochaber, Windermere and Moscow.   The experience of running Moscow where she was part of a tour party, was a bit different from the others .   When asked how she got roped into that one, she comments:  “Restless by nature and saw it advertised in Running Mag I think. Pete and I just decided to go for it; we wanted to run together but there were separate starts. Didn’t find him until ww met in the foreigners finishing chute and got bundled into a gym for caviar, eggs, black bread and tea – just what no one wanted at that point!!! Later our gang wenr hunting for beer ( within our allowed zone) and ended up in a weird hotel ‘night club’ drinking the only thing they had – champagne – by the bottle!   Got in very, very late, we didn’t bother sleeping – just packed our bags and waited in the foyer to be picked up for our very early flight to St Petersburgh ( Leningrad); most of us fell asleep on the coach tour of the city!!!”   As for the race itself – “Moscow was very hot and humid – black bread, pear juice and milky tea were the en route refreshments; streets lined with soldiers, women who stared you up and down for your good kit and trainers (gave away post-race).Great memories of the wee tour group of which Pete (ex hubby) and I were a part and saw some amazing pre -perestroika Russia.”

Back at home, training consisted of running on the roads around the south side of Glasgow and when she got married her husband took her ice climbing in the winter – not a pursuit that recommended itself to her as something she’d want to pursue but nevertheless we have an image of a very active lifestyle encompassing a variety of sports and activities  and all the while managing to obtain not only a university degree but also a post graduate qualification too.   It is surprising that these were not her only activities at this point.   She tells us via Steve Chilton’s book that back in the early 1980’s  her good friend Ali Coghill who worked at the Inverclyde Sports Centre encouraged her to enter the Scottish Island Peaks Race as part of an all women team using he mountaineering skills, marathon running experience and sailing experience.  1984 was a year of hard training and they used Christine’s father’s boat – a Contessa 32 footer.   Her running partner was Lesley Kirkwood who also worked at the Clachaig.  They competed at that time in several SIPR’s.  She says that they competed well and a passion for the race that was to last – as we will see – for three and a half decades.

She was still a member of Bellahouston Harriers and running for them and her career as a hill runner was just starting.   “The Fellrunner” magazine for November, 1985, listed the winners of the Scottish Hill Running Championship for that year as follows:  1.  A Curtis, Livingston;  2.  C Taylor, Bellahouston.   Among her races that year was a fourth place in the Bens of Jura race on 25th May – a 16 miles 7,500 foot of ascent race which was won again by Ann Curtis. 

We have now followed Christine from her school days where she competed for the school in four different sports and spent a lot of time on the hills with her family to the point where she was starting out on a career as a hill and mountain runner that would show her as a top class international athlete.   It is appropriate to look at some of the many challenges and races that she undertook during her 30+ year career in the sport.

 The Background   Hill Runner 1986-89      The Scottish Island Peaks Race      To The Top:1990-99    The  2000’s Pt 1    The 2000’s Pt 2   

Photographs taken at Die 1989    

This collection of cuttings, photographs and memorabilia from Hugh Barrow begins with Herb Elliott and Gordon Pirie after a cross country race in England.

These are entitled simply     “A Famous Victory!”

And, as member number one of the British Milers Club, the following has significance for Hugh over and above that for the future of British Middle DFistance running.

The historian in Hugh shows with this clipping of a football match between Clydesdale Harriers and Rangers FC.

Whatever became of Shawfield (below)?   A venue for athletics from way back in the 19th century with pro athletes every week to start with, then when we knew of it after the War as the place where the Lanarkshire Constabulary Sports were held.   Sad, sad pictures.

Maybe the Celtic FC Sports???

Cars on the actual track.   As Hugh says, during the half time races at cup finals and Ne-erday matches the track could get a wee bit crowded at times.

Frank Horwill, one of the founders of the BMC and a name synonymous with the club, was never slow to voice an opinion.

An unusual angle of the start of the first 4 minute mile (NB Alan Gordon, a Scot, the forgotten man!)

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The fifth annual Junior International took place on 13th August, 1983 and was previewed in the ‘Scotsman’ in the lead-in the week before as follows:

Given their form in the senior ranks since the international the previous year, the nomination of McDougall and Parsons maybe didn’t need a crystal ball but the other names had been well selected.   The Scottish team was a very strong one with Elliot Bunney 3rd in the 100 and 2nd in the 200m, Jim Nicol 2nd in the 400m,  Geoff Parsons 1st in the high jump, Craig Duncan 2nd in the Long Jump, and Carol Candlish (400m), Lynne McDougall (800), Karen Hutcheson (1500m) all winning their events.   

One year later on 4th August in 1984 the 4 nations faced up to each other at Meadowbank.   The following preview was printed in the ‘Scotsman’ on Friday, 3rd August.

As far as the highlight predicted above was concerned, Jayne was second in the high jump but her best clearance on the day was 1.82m which was a bit short of the record.   As for the others, Elliot Bunney won the 100m, Dawn Flockhart won both 100m and 200m, Alistair Currie won the 1500m and Craig Duncan won the long jump.   There were many seconds and thirds with the team result being a win for England with 335 .5 points, Scotland was second with 222.5, Wales had 174.5 and Northern Ireland 125.5.   

In 1985 the date was 17th August when, although he was still eligible, Bunney was advised not to accept the invitation to run because the meeting was only five days before a GB international for which he had been selected.   However he did agree to run but only in the relay as a gesture of support. Sandy Sutherland gave the meeting more coverage in the ‘Scotsman’ then the ‘Glasgow Herald’ sports editor did and his report is below.

When the meeting was held on 16th August 1986, it was not realised that it would be the last in the series.    It had been a good meeting, one which helped young athletes progress in competition against the best of the rest of Great Britain as well as a target for new Junior athletes in their first season in the Junior Ranks.   Several clubs had their first athlete ever ‘capped’ in these fixtures.   For example, the following extracts from regional papers indicate how significant the fixture was all across Scotland.  First, from the ‘Galloway News & Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser’ of 21st August:

‘Arbroath Herald’ 22nd August –

From the Fife Free Press 8th August

From Falkirk Herald, 15th August

From the ‘Perthshire Advertiser’

That was just a small selection of reports found in fifteen minutes; from Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife Perthshire, Arbroath, Glasgow and Galloway.   A big event which was good for the athletes, the clubs, their home areas and for Scotland which ended all too soon.   

The performances of all Scots at all meetings (except for 1983 where p

Bells  Junior International: Scots Positions 1978-86

The pages below indicate the finishing positions of the Scottish competitors in the above competition along with the team results.   They were kindly supplied by the official Scottish athletics historian Arnold Black.