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The National held in Glenrothes was the fourth to be won by Andrew McKean (Edinburgh AC – above), the third in a row, and there was a second place between the first and second.   He won in 1973, 1975, 1976 and 1977 with second place in 1974.   A strong first-rate athlete who had both strength, speed and intelligence.   Nor was he short of courage and confidence, being prepared to take the race on from quite early if he felt it was the thing to do.   

It was one of the most memorable nationals in terms of the snow and the cold – and the quality was not half bad either!   It was another dreadful week for the weather across most of Scotland:  “Widespread torrential rain, gales, sleet and snow brought havoc and flooding to many areas of Scotland yesterday.   Road and rail services were severely disrupted by flooding, schools had to close, and one Fife village – Pitscottie near Cupar – was marooned.”

The race, held on 12th February, came during a spell of very cold weather – several athletes missed the race because of illness or injury sustained training on icy roads or, in at least one instance, on an icy track.   The “Glasgow Herald” reported as follows.   “McKean is a runner who is at home whatever the conditions underfoot.   Glenrothes Golf Course resembled more an alpine ski area on Saturday, coated with six inches of snow, and yet the job got done by McKean, after touring fairways and boundaries in a way which almost made skis redundant.   Not that he claimed the race had been simple.   As the snorting, spitting and wheezing from some of the less able of his 400 opponents rasped around us, just after the finish he spoke most respectfully of the trail.   “It’s the toughest for a national championship that I’ve run in,” he observed.   “The hill really stretched you, whether you were going up or coming down”

Nor was he wrong!   The snow was actually covering the ground except where the younger age groups had beaten it down into a mushy mess and there were several spots on the course where the ground sloped in two directions at the same time.   On a good day it would have been a tough course and a challenge to all the competitors: on 12th February 1977 the challenge was multiplied by three or four.   The fact that he won the race, and the way in which he won it, proved that at that point McKean was the best runner Scotland had on a rugged course.  Look at the results:-

Every man there was a quality athlete.   Look at some of the names – note how many were Scottish champions Hutton, Logue, Blamire, Spence, Gilmour,  McMeekin, Macgregor, Macfarlane, Barrow, Johnston, Clyne, Craven, Edwards, Youngson; Lachie Stewart down in twentieth after a bout of ‘flu and maybe shouldn’t have been running, Jim Dingwall in twenty-third; more Scottish international runners in Phil Dolan, Stuart Easton, Willie Day, Alan Partridge …   every one a class act and every one treated the course with respect and every one tried hard.   But on an afternoon such as that, all finishers deserved credit.

Again the trail on a bad day was a multi-lapper: four laps, three opportunities to drop out.  There were again five races and the senior men’s race had 422 entries but only 270 finishers.   There was fortunately nothing actually falling on the day of the race, but the changing accommodation was a short walk away from the course, crossing what seemed like a busy road.   

The officials at events like this do not often get the credit that they deserve and, at Glenrothes in 1977, there was a very large number of officials known to most of the athletes by their Christian names – Alex Johnston, David Morrison, Neil Donnachie, Bob Greenoak, Des Yuill, Ronnie McDonald and many more.   Look at the list below.

It’s a good picture shown above – but it doesn’t show the weather conditions that the competitors had to endure.   Held on 22nd February 1969, the race was run over 5 laps on the Duddingston Golf Course in Edinburgh.   The five laps tell a tale – I have seldom run a senior cross-country race over 5 laps, and to pass your warm tracksuit at each of the first four laps here was a great temptation to drop out.   Many took the chance but it is a tribute to all the finishers – in all the age groups – that they did master the difficulties.   

The race was organised by the SCCU with its usual efficiency and all the experienced and qualified officials were in place for the afternoon.   They had to stand for all the races – and there was a total of five races to keep them occupied in the cold and sleet.   There were 1237 entries on the programme (422 senior men) and 605 finishers (196 senior men).   Although the number of entries does not equal the number of starters in any race, the fact that less than half those entered finished does tell a tale.   It had been a week of really bad weather – the front page of the Friday “Herald” had a picture of the Duke of Edinburgh striding through a blizzard when he visited the site for the Commonwealth Games the following year.   We are told that he was greeted by “driving snow”.   The overnight weather in Edinburgh was freezing cold.   How did the race go then?

The basics were reported in the “Glasgow Herald” on the following Monday, reprinted in its entirety below.

WEDLOCK’S SCOTTISH TITLE VICTORY BY 45 YARDS

Dick Wedlock (Shettleston) won the Scottish senior cross-country title at Duddingston Park, Edinburgh, on Saturday when he covered the seven and a half miles in 32 min. 59 sec.   AF Murray (Edinburgh Southern) was second, 45 yards back behind, and W Mullett, an Anglo-Scot running in Shettleston’s colours, was a further 20 yards away in third place.   

“Wedlock shared the lead with JN Alder (Edinburgh AC) after three laps of the five lap race, five yards ahead of J Wright (Edinburgh AC).   They were followed by Mullett and Murray.   With one lap left Wedlock was out in front, and the holder, JL Stewart (Shettleston) looked tired in eighth position.   Stewart, however, had not completely recovered from a bout of influenza, and did well to finish in 10th position.”

Which is fine as far as it went.

What made it different? 

First it was the dire weather.   Colin Shields described the course as “icy, rutted and rock hard after a bad spell of weather.”   Colin was being polite because he is a gentleman.   Athletics Weekly gives a more detailed description: The Scottish 7 Miles cross-country championship was run over a park that closely resembled a half-frozen lake as a result of a quick thaw earlier the same day.   In conditions that were atrocious for athletes, officials and spectators alike, Ian McCafferty was a non-starter and Alistair Blamire had only recently resumed training after illness.”   And note the comment below the photograph above:” They raced in bitterly cold, sleet laden wind with snow underfoot.”    

So the weather was bad, although the other word above,  “appalling”, might be better.   Runners were wearing jerseys, even track suit or wet suit tops under their club vests, many wore gloves and some wore woolly hats.

Then there was the course itself.   Cross-country does not often find itself run over five laps.   Runners don’t like running in small circles, and in the Duddingston instance with awful weather, it was cruelty to make the athletes pass their warm tracksuits and wetsuits four times in the course of the race.   There were not a few who succumbed to the temptation.

It was also basically flat but in the absence of natural cross-country obstacles, there were pairs of steeplechase barriers placed side-by-side to be leapt, clambered over or ducked under.   No runner liked them – in one English national in the 1960s there was a similar arrangement and Jim Hogan slipped through between the two barriers only to be disqualified.   His defence was that in a cross-country race you can negotiate any obstacle as you please.  However that may be, the rush at the start in Edinburgh pushed over one of the two barriers, and the competitors then went through that side.   An official, I believe it was Harry Quinn, was sent to tell the runners to ignore the barrier that had been knocked over and instead cross the one that remained upright.   It was a losing battle – after all, he was outnumbered.

After all that, what was the result of the race?   

It was not a day for the faint hearted, but spare a thought for the officials who had to stand for all five races: at least the runners only had to run the one race before heading for the changing room and a warm drink.   It was one of the most uncomfortable days for the national that most of us had ever experienced.   Well done to all who took part.

It was originally the case that harrier and athletic clubs – like other clubs or societies had their own club crest and slogan or motto.   This was for several reasons but all had to do with club identity, not only on the field of competition but in day to day living when club members showed solidarity each other and pride in the club by wearing the club tie or lapel pin.   This is, maybe unfortunately, no longer true of the majority of clubs.   We should however at least acknowledge the fact that they were used and are still used although not to quite the same extent.   We will look at some of them here, noted in chronological order. 

When I joined Clydesdale Harriers in April, 1957, I was given a blue club handbook and encouraged to buy a metal lapel badge.   The badge had the club’s insignia of hunting horn and whip with the club name above and the motto ‘Excelsior’ (meaning ‘the best’) below – exactly as in the picture above but without the dates .   The hunting horn and whip refer back to the origins of the harrier clubs. 

Q: Why was a cross-country runner called a Harrier?   

A: The Harrier was a small dog used by huntsmen to flush out the quarry   

A quote: 

“ The history of the word dates back to the 1800s when British schoolboys started playing a game called “hares and hounds.” Like hide and seek, the hares would leave from a common spot before the hounds chased in pursuit. Outside of the schoolyard game, the type of hound that was bred to chase hares is called a “harrier.” These dogs are incredibly skilled in chasing and hunting–much like a runner in pursuit of the competition in a race..” 

 Clydesdale Harriers was the first Scottish open athletic and harrier club in Scotland and was largely modelled on the gentleman’s clubs prevalent at the time.   The clubs that followed also had their crest (‘logo’ in newspeak) and a Latin tag.   These tags usually had to do with courage, or hard work, or similar manly attribute.   Whether the club was born before 1914 or after 1945 the club badge was important to the members.  But to begin at the beginning –

The representation above comes from the club handbook of 1890-91.   Name at the top, hunting horn and whip which were harking back to the origins of the harrier movement and the club motto of ‘Excelsior’ which is |Latin for ‘the best’.   There is no date because the club was first open club. The badge was on the left breast of the club top (like the modern T shirt) and the cross-country runners and teams had a five-barred gate on the back.   As the Rules in the club handbook state:

Club championship medals were of gold, silver and bronze and in addition gold medals were awarded by the club to any athlete setting a Scottish record.   The one below was to John Blane for setting a Scottish mile record.

When the club lapel badge was produced, it had the shield with crest and motto with the addition of the gate at the top.  Modelled on the gentleman’s club of the day, the harriers had a constitution which followed the pattern set by them   Other clubs followed the example set in various ways.

We’ve no picture of it, but the Edinburgh Harriers crest was a simple, red, five barred gate on the front of a dark blue vest but there was, to our knowledge, no motto at all.   

West of Scotland Harriers, formed in 1886, had a series of vests/singlets as follows:

•  1886 – Chocolate with blue dog on back and gold dog on front;
•  then in 1887 – Black with pale blue trim, Sky Blue and Black Harrier, with dog and a five bar gate.
•  Subsequently changed again to sky blue vest with black band and dog over a five bar gate centre front. 

The crest below was the last one described above and depicts the hunting hound clearing a fence at speed and the struts on the fence happened to spell out the letters W, S and H in gold lettering.

The crest of dog and fence appeared on race awards too:-

eg Tom Cruden’s medal for being 2nd in the club championships

 Medal given by the club to AG Rennie to commemorate Shrubb’s world records 1904 at Ibrox. It is engraved reverse side (below). Rennie was chief timekeeper.  It’s printed a bit larger so that the inscription can be read.

Gates were generally popular and also appeared on

• the Perthshire Harriers vest of 1887 in white on a blue background, and
• in the same year Dunfermline Harriers had a blue gate on a white vest, and
• Kirriemuir Harriers had a white gate on a maroon vest and
• Ayr Harriers, 1888, had a three barred hurdle with the slogan  “Gang Forrit” on it.  

GANG FORRIT

Maryhill Harriers appeared on the scene in 1888.

The Maryhill Harriers vest was blue with the yellow badge above showing a deer leaping over a five-barred-gate.       The club motto was Fortis, again the Latin tag, meaning ‘Strong’.   Note the presence of the motto on the lapel pin below which dates from the 1930’s-50’s.

Craig Perrie at Maryhill has an excellent page on the Maryhill Harriers insignia and its development on the club website and we urge you to read it at 

Club-Crest-History-and-Evolution-latest-Apr-2022-blue-banner.pdf (maryhillharriers.com)

“It is believed that the original crests were embroidered directly onto vests. The original vest badge colour scheme was a yellow background with red stitching. Later versions were screen printed onto a sheet to then be cut-out and sewn onto vests. The vest badge crest design and colour scheme remained largely unchanged from its inception until the mid-1990s. The badge/crest position was (and still is) always positioned over the left breast on a Royal blue coloured vest.”

The club crest was held in great esteem by the club and club members and appeared on the running vest, on stationery, on lapel badges, blazer badges and also on race medals.   The one below dates from 1897 and is from Maryhill Harriers.   The reverse is on the next page.   Note the lion rampant but not deer or fence.

Club insignia was shown on a wide variety of objects, not just badges.   Including programmes, menus and order of proceedings.

Fortis

The sport was spreading all over the country and in 1889 Teviotdale Harriers was formed with the white vest and broad maroon band as their racing outfit.   The club history tells us that in 1896 – It was in this year that a GATE was adopted for club stationery, with the paper to have maroon lettering.    The Teviotdale gate looks like this –

The Teviotdale Harriers Gate – taken from the cover of their centenary history.

Greenock Wellpark Harriers were established in 1891 and their white vest with broad black band had the club crest in the middle: a simple roundel with the image of the Well from Wellpark in Greenock and the club name round the inside of the circle.   Initially in blue, the crest was later changed to gold.    As with several other clubs, they had a metal lapel badge which is shown below.

The actual well in the park is still there as the photograph below indicates.   

The club eventually merged with Spango Valley to become Inverclyde AAC but to that time the badge with the well was worn with pride by many really top class athletes.   Note the crest on the vest of the great Wellpark team on the 1950’s and early 60’s including the Stevenson brothers, George King and Bill Stoddart.

The pattern emerging is club name, club motto and club crest, but Bellahouston Harriers changed the pattern a bit.

The club vest was dark blue with a light blue cross of St Andrew.   The badge was a simple circle with the club initials entwined in the centre and the motto Nil Desperandum.   Founded in 1892 they had every reason to have the date of inception included but chose not to.   The meaning of the Latin motto was ‘Never despair’  or ‘never give up’.    Incidentally, the Irish club Clonliffe Harriers has the same slogan.

Nil Desperandum

In 1895 the Clydesdale Harriers Greenock Section became an independent club in their own right and chose the name of Greenock Glenpark Harriers and broke the Latin stranglehold on mottos when the decided on a speeding hare with the motto in French en avent.   Worn and easily seen on team members in the following photograph.

En Avant

Springburn Harriers  brought their own neighbourhood into it.

The Springburn badge as shown above is front, top, centre of the vest, the diamond represents the North British Loco Works that was the main employer in the area when the club was founded.   The year of the club’s birth is there and the Latin motto means ‘Bravery Overcomes All Things’.   

But why the diamond?   The club website tells us that the badge and crest (above) was taken from the railway locomotive factories based in the area, and their motto means ‘courage conquers all’.    Ian Young tells us that “the Diamond on the Springburn vest is a copy of the trademark of the North British Locomotive Company in Springburn which was owned by Sir Hugh Reid” .    Reid was the first chairman of the North British Locomotive Works – the largest builder of steam locomotives anywhere in the world.   From its headquarters in Springburn over 18,000 locomotives were exported to all points of the compass.   The diamond therefore has a real significance for the area and for the country.   The diamond on the club vest is however turned through 90 degrees from the firm crest, see below.

Note the vests worn by Jim Cooper and Alex McIndoe in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay below.

Fortitudo Omnia Vincit

Garscube Harriers appeared on the scene in 1898 and there were several interesting features attached to it.   The shield had a thistle in the top third, the club’s initialls in the middle and the club name below.  The motto was in French and not in Latin – en avant means one of two things – Forward   or   In Front, and certainly the club was successful from the very first.  It was placed right at the top of the shield and across the thistle.   

En avant

THE VEST IS THE CREST

In many clubs, certainly the great preponderance of more modern clubs, ‘the vest is the crest’; in other words there is no club insignia other than what is worn on race day, and there is no motto, slogan or even battle cry which helps the club identity.   Some of these from other 19th century  vests and crests are noted here.   I particularly like the footwear for the Scottish Pelicans 

Swift Harriers (Aberdeen) 1889 – White with dark blue star

Thistle Harriers (Dundee) 1890 – Blue Cap with thistle, white semmit with blue borders, blue and white belt, white knickers, royal blue socks. Emblem – Thistle

If we come forward into the 20th century, Falkirk Victoria Harriers were founded in August 1901 and their crest deviated from thits predecessors in having a good Scots slogan.

Touch Ane, Touch A’

Shettleston Harriers club was founded in 1904 and the original club uniform was a white singlet and white shorts.   It was two years before they switched to the now well-known blue and gold.   Their club badge favoured a torch.

All the traditional features were there.   The club name of course, the date of establishment and the motto in Latin meaning ‘Nothing without  Work’   

Nihil Sine Labore

Dumbarton Amateur Athletic Club was formed in 1919 and the club colours were of black with a broad red band.  The actual badge decided upon was a bit more complicated than most.  Described by Alistair Lawson below and then shown in a photograph from Allan Adams: 

“”The shield motif on the DAAC tie is made up as follows:-
–  Across the top, in gothic-style letters, is D.A.A.C. in white, on a
dark blue background.
–  In the centre, an athlete in discus-throwing pose, arm back,
starting the wind-up.
–  The background is red, with what look like rugby goalposts, i.e. a
large H shape, double-lined.”

There was no motto or slogan attached to it.

Beith Harriers were founded in 1923 in Ayrshire and their badge is an interesting one.   It has the winged foot logo favoured by many athletics among them many more modern clubs.   eg The New York Athletic Club adopted the ‘winged foot of Mercury’ in 1876.   Club colours being black and white the club adopted a shield diagonally divided into black and white sections with the winged foot and the club slogan of ‘per aspera ad astra’ which is another Latin phrase meaning ‘through hardship to the stars’.   The club’s name was top and bottom of the shield.   This logo appeared on vests, lapel pins and track suits.

Per Aspera Ad Astra

Dundee Hawkhill Harriers were founded in November, 1924, and the badge of a hawk above comes from a booklet on the club’s activities published in 1945 by A Mudie.   The slogan or motto means “Neither Tarry Nor Rest” – a good one for a harrier!

Victoria Park AAC was formed seven years after Beith Harriers, in 1930, and had an interesting variation in mottoes.   The club crest was a shield with the club’s initials entwined at the top above wings in front of a golden rising sun.   The club slogan is encapsulated at the bottom and reads Nitor in Adversum.   Latin again, meaning ‘ I strive against opposition’.   The badge can be worn on track suit or on the competition vest.   The club vest was well-known in its own right and not all athletes had the badge sewn on – eg only one in the photograph below.

Victoria Park AAC was another club known immediately by their vest – the blue and white hoops were recognised everywhere.   They had their badge, they had their Latin motto, but the blue and white hoops were one of the most recognised – and respected – outfits in the country.   It is not surprising therefor that their lapel badge was simply the club name and blue and white stripes.   

Nitor in Adversum

Monkland Harriers were, like Greenock Glenpark Harriers, an offshoot of Clydesdale Harriers and many top class athletes (such as Olympian Sam Stevenson) were from the area.  Like other clubs from the 1930’s their crest was their vest’.   In other words, the only unique identifier was the competition vest.   Note the club shield in the picture below.   The boy in the centre of the front row is holding it.   

As after the 1914-18 war, many new clubs appeared on the scene after the 1939-45 hostilities.   One of these was Inverness Harriers who were established in 1947 and celebrate their 75th anniversary in 2022.  The current club logo is this one.

After the 1939-45 War several clubs sprung up across the country and Inverness Harriers was one of the most successful of these.   Their vest has undergone several changes since their first appearance in 1947 but two things have remained constant – club colours (maroon and gold) and the club crest. 

The vest was originally maroon with a gold band and the stag’s head in the centre, as in the illustration below.   The suggestion on the club website is that the choice of the stag’s head is because one of the club’s founders was Tom McKenzie and the clan McKenzie crest is just that – a stag’s head.

Another of the post-war clubs is the very successful Pitreavie AAC   Their original crest from the club’s inception in 1956 was blue with the Olympic style laurel round the athlete. At that time the club vest was royal blue. The badge was changed when the club colours were changed.

The club logo at present is a simple double roundel with the club name and a stylised sprinter in the centre.   

They celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2006 and the club produced a good quality polo shirt.    It was designed as a one off for the 50th and all Club members purchased their own.   They were given to visiting Officials who came to officiate at the Inter Club meeting which was held to replicate the type of meetings which were held when the club was formed.

Perth Strathtay have been a part of Scottish athletics since the 1940’s and they too have simple roundel badge

The lack of a classical education which enabled a primary school janitor to come up with a latin motto for the club vest is a  good reason for not having the motto in that language, but Greenock Glenpark Harriers had the French  ‘en avant’ as their slogan.   But why not have a Scottish rallying cry?   Something from Burns (Now’s the Day and Now’s the Hour’) , John McLaren’s (Guid Aul’ Scotland’), Kirkintilloch’s  ‘Ca Canny but Ca awa”   or there is a whole back catalogue of clan slogans eg    Latio, French, Gaelic and English are all available:  Some examples

Anderson Stand Sure         Armstrong Invictus maneo / I remain unvanquished         Johnstone Nunquam non paratus / Never unprepared         MacDougall  Buaidh no bas / To conquer or die         MacNeil To Conquer Or Die          Lindsay Endure fort / Endure with strength 

This page is just what it says – a sampling of club crests and insignia whether on track suit, vest, medal or lapel to indicate some of the ways in which club identity was developed and encouraged.   If there are any more out there that could or should be included.  please send them in.

BEITH HARRIERS

BELLAHOUSTON HARRIERS.

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CLYDESDALE HARRIERS

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DUMBARTON AAC

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FALKIRK VICTORIA HARRIERS

GARSCUBE HARRIERS

GREENOCK GLENPARK HARRIERS

GREENOCK WELLPARK HARRIERS

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INVERNESS HARRIERS

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MARYHILL HARRIERS

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PITREAVIE AAC

SHETTLESTON HARRIERS

TEVIOTDALE HARRIERS

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VICTORIA PARK AAC

WEST OF SCOTLAND HARRIERS

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Peter leading Geoff Main (whom he eventually beat clearly) in the 1994 Castle Series race at Haddo House. Peter won the whole series that year.

Peter Jennings and Jackie Stewart are exemplars of the Scottish club member at his very best.   They started out as runners and went on to fill a multitude of roles in the sport, all of them to a very high level.   Let’s look at them briefly before we hear about how well they dealt with them all.  

• As runners: the quality of their athletics is set out below and this undoubtedly gave them an insight into the sport and a recognition of the needs of the athletes,
• As administrators: these are the people who organise meetings.   Without them there would be no meetings – they sit on the committees that book the facilities, lay the trail, produce the programmes, take the entries, produce the results and do all that a good meeting requires. They have been administrators at club, district and national level.
• As officials: these are not to be confused with administrators although they often are.   They are the timekeepers, the recorders, the stewards, the marshals, the starters and all the people on the course or down at trackside working with the athletes on race day.   Again they have been active at club, district and national levels.
• As coaches.   

Peter and Jackie have filled all of these roles and done so diligently and like the best of them, not just willingly but enthusiastically.

Fraser Clyne wrote:

It’s almost impossible to speak about Peter Jennings without mentioning his side-kick Jackie Stewart. They appear inseparable. Like Ant and Dec, Morcambe and Wise, Laurel and Hardy.

There’s hardly a race finish line in the north east where they haven’t been seen. Everything from small scale runs such as the Metro Proms 3k to major events including the Great Aberdeen Run, Baker Hughes 10k and the two-day Run Balmoral weekend. They have devoted countless hours to planning and marking out courses, compiling risk assessments, organising marshals, recording and collating results – not to mention the 101 other tasks which have to be carried out to allow an event to proceed smoothly. Thousands of North-East runners should be grateful for all they have done – and continue to do. Without their input, many races would never take place.

On top of that, they oversee twice weekly training sessions for Metro Aberdeen club members – and sometimes Junior training sessions as well. Peter and Jackie were founder members of the club, formed in late 1989/early 1990, and filled prominent positions on the committee for close to three decades. They have made a major contribution to the development of Metro which now has almost 400 members. Their most successful competitive spell, arguably, came when joining the Masters ranks, supporting the strong Metro squad in Cross Country and Road Running events.

Colin Youngson wrote:

Peter used to run for Aberdeen AAC, and I must have met him in the 1980s, but he joined Metro Aberdeen Running Club when it was formed in 1989, I joined in 1993 and we have been good friends ever since. Peter is enthusiastic, dedicated, friendly, very popular and has done a tremendous amount for North-East Running.

Jackie was another founder member of Metro. He was a tough man to beat in training and races, and direct and forceful in speech, but undoubtedly a cheerful, inspiring, determined guy, who also became a friend. Below, he writes about his running career, and all the good work he continues to do in the sport. He and Peter are Great Club Men indeed!

(Jackie was Metro Secretary for many years, while Peter was President.  Jackie, a quietly modest character has, for years, put together twice-weekly training programmes for Metro members plus youth coaching for youngsters. Jackie, with Peter his right-hand man, has led the way with race organisation, dealing with entries and producing results. Fraser Clyne, Peter Jennings and Jackie Stewart make up the Management Team for Run Balmoral. Both Peter and Jackie have made a massive contribution to North-East running.)

Peter was always a decent club runner, but perhaps his best results were as a Veteran/Master. Between Season 1995-1996 and 2001-2, Peter won many Scottish Championship medals. 

In the Scottish Masters Cross-Country Championship, Peter gained five successive team silvers (1996-99). His best individual place was 13^th (1997); and in 2000 he was third team counter (23^rd), two places in front of me. Our silver medal team-mates included: Keith Varney, Paul Graham, Fraser Clyne, Mark Johnston and Kevin Brooks.

In the Scottish Masters XC Relay, Peter was unlucky not to be in the 1997 winning Metro team (his great buddy and training partner Jackie Stewart was his replacement). However, in 1998 and 1999, Peter’s team won silver; and in 2000, Metro (and Peter) secured gold, along with Charlie Noble, Keith Varney and Bruce Moroney.

In the November 1996 East District XC Masters Championships, Peter finished fourth (second Metro man) and the team won gold. (Fraser Clyne, Peter Jennings, Jackie Stewart).

The two Amigos, Peter and Jackie, also featured in three successive team silver medal performances at the Scottish Veteran Harriers Club 6-Stage Road Relay (1997-99).

As a Senior, Peter Jennings ran for Metro in the prestigious 8-Man Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay in 1995 (running Stage 1); and in 1998 (Stage 7, with his team finishing 11^th from the invited 22).

Apart from Championships, Peter ran so many races, at distances from 5k to marathon, but he can list some of his favourites.

Peter Jennings wrote:

In 1955, I was born in Aberdeen but live in Westhill now. Started running aged 30. My personal best times are: 5k 15 30; 10k 32 40; Half Marathon 1.12.40; Marathon 2.45 28.

In the 1997 Masters Cross-Country Relays, I had to give up my place to Jackie as I had broken my arm at the Bennachie Hill Race.

 One of my favourite races was the Bennachie hill race. I ran the very first one in 1990 where I finished in 6^th place. I ran it the following year where I finished 2^nd to one of the best hill runners in the country (Scottish International Graeme Bartlett). I ran every year up until about 5 years ago, But I go there every year to check the course for the organiser, then I do the timing.

 I have 4 Scottish Masters silver medals for the Marathon distance: Elgin 1997 (behind Fraser Clyne, race winner); Inverclyde 1998; Elgin 2000 (behind my friendly rival Jackie Stewart); perhaps the fourth one was at Lochaber.

 Two other results that pleased me were: 1997 Edinburgh to North Berwick 22 miles (1^st Vet 2.22);  and 1999 Highland Cross 3 48 (1^st Vet).

 My best performances were in Cross Country and Hill Running. One of my best results was winning the Castle Series in 1994 where I finished in front of a few runners that I could not get near to on the roads.

 I was on the Metro Committee from day one for 27 years, most of the time as Chairman.

 I was on the NESAP (North East of Scotland Athletics Partnership) Committee for over 25 years. I ended the group this year and donated the remaining funds (£3750) to the DEC Ukraine fund.

The first race I organised was the Dyce Half in 1991 (which I took over as Alan Fulton was looking for someone to take it on so, rather than lose the event, I said I would take it on. I was still the organiser up until a couple of years ago. I am still involved through the club.

 Since then, I have been involved in organising hundreds of races. Jackie Stewart and myself are involved in almost every event in the area.

 We have organised two Scottish Masters Cross-Country Championships, two East District Cross-Country Championships and have been involved in many more events.

We were on the organising committee for the very popular Aberdeen Baker Hughes 10k for many years.

 We are the Race Directors for RunBalmoral, which is a festival of running in the Balmoral Estate attracting almost 6000 runners over a weekend in April.

 I am a level 3 UK Athletic Coach and have been coaching for almost 30 years.

 I am now a qualified UK Athletics Official. I was the Race Convener at this year’s Scottish Masters Cross-Country Championship. I have also been involved in the Scottish National Cross-Country Championship at Falkirk and the National CC Relays at Livingston.

 Some time ago, Jackie and I were nominated as Volunteers of the Year and were invited to a Scottish Athletics event in Glasgow, where we met Laura Muir and Steve Cram – and finished runners-up.

 As Fraser and Colin have said above and Alex Jackson has also said, Jackie Stewart and Peter Jennings are very much a double act, and it would not have been right to write about one but not the other.  So having given Peter the opportunity to comment, we should certainly do the same for Jackie.   

                                                   Jackie Stewart racing the 1997 London Marathon, where he ran his personal best time

Jackie Stewart wrote:

I was born September 1952 in Aberdeen. I stay in Westhill and have done so for 44 years. I started running in 1986 aged 34 after I retired from playing Amateur Football.

Personal Bests: 50K 3:26:40, Marathon 2:40:35, Half Marathon 1:14:00, 10K 33:45

In 1992, 93, and 94, after turning vet, I participated in the Castle Series, of 3 races. In those years I won 9 out of 9 races claiming 3 overall veteran titles.
1998 Silver Medal British Vets Marathon O/45  at Lochaber.
1999 Silver Medal Scottish 50K Championships.
2001 Silver Vets Medal Scottish Championship, Elgin.

Coming in 1st Scottish Premier Club, representing Aberdeen FC, in the 2001 London Marathon Football challenge.

In 2001 I developed Atrial Fibrillation, which has dogged me ever since and really put paid to my racing days. My heart has been permanently out of rhythm for 19 years. It has also curtailed my own running, so just I jog to keep fit.

I must admit I have had a few highs:  Winning the Castles in my first race as a Vet; getting my pb at London Marathon 1997; securing a silver medal in the Scottish 50K Championships, when I unlapped myself from Alan Reid, and got a backhanded compliment from him, when he said he
knew that if he hung onto me, he would win the race.

As a Coach, I am proud to say I started the Junior Section for Metro Aberdeen. There were only a few at the time; and some of the women weren’t coming to training. I asked why and they said they had the kids to look after. I told them to bring the kids down too and, as long as they were willing to work, I would coach them. The rest is history – we now have around 50 Juniors.

I also coach the Seniors on a Tuesday and Thursday and have done for around 25 years. There are many runners in the club who have gained PBs from the training.

I have also coached one to one and a couple of my female runners went on to gain Scotland and District vests.

Regarding organising races, it takes up a lot of time. I liked to pride myself in getting the results of races which Peter and I organised out on the same day. Peter and I have helped organise many races in the North East. We have a good reputation with Scottish Athletics; and the Local authorities know that, when we are involved, it is in safe hands. We take pride in covering all areas of a race.

I am also a Level Two Endurance Official, which is very satisfying, seeing how others work at races. I have been mentored by SAL officials to try and gain my level three and really enjoy meeting the other officials and meeting and greeting the runners as they finish. You get satisfaction in being there to help other people who ask us questions and are able to answer them. I cannot compete now, so being an official is as close to the National races that I will get.

                                                           Left to right: Jackie and Peter at the Scottish Athletics Presentation evening

Many good officials and administrators achieve less because they try to do more – eg any job that needs doing, they take it on and there are people in many clubs who run for the club, work on the committee, represent the club on a higher board and maybe do some coaching too.   Ian was not ambitious in that way – he wanted to serve his club and that was enough.   The concentration of effort honed his organisational talents.   How did he go about the job?   He says –

What can we see from the above?   A willingness to take and maybe even welcome personal responsibility for decisions that would affect athletes and club alike.  Early knowledge of the athletes commitments.  He had a clear system of informing the athletes of what he was doing and reasons for selection and the system was known and understood by the men concerned.   I would suggest that his own running career and interaction with athletes before and after races would have given him a background that made the communication more informed.   

How did others find him to work with?   We already have Colin Youngson’s thoughts, there are some more below.

***

Alistair Blamire’s brief comment sums up a lot of the others when he says “a great club man, really friendly guy”.    Just read these compliments.

and this was elaborated and added to by journalist Doug Gillon.

Ian was secretary when ESH won their first British League victory at Meadowbank in 1970 which is probably when I had the first of many dealings with him as a journalist. He was cross-country team manager for a long time – can’t be specific with dates, but that was the role in which I saw him most.   I seemed to be constantly in touch with him to preview events and get results both when working at the Sunday Post and at The Glasgow Herald from ’77 onwards.   As you know, the 1970’s were halcyon days for their E-G team and for their cross-country squad in the national, not to mention spectacular track success. 

Ian was always helpful, efficient, and courteous – and related well to the athletes. He was never a blazer man which I am sure contributed to ESH being able to field consistently strong track and field league teams. And he got the relationship between athletics and the media at a time when minority sport was fighting for column inches.  He seemed to realise the need for an “angle” and always seemed willing to help find it.   I appreciated that.   He seemed as passionate about his sport as I was.

It obviously helped that I was an Edinburgh guy and knew athletes and officials in his club. However, he never let the fact that I was an EAC man get in the way!”

Ian has already paid tribute to Jim Smart as Track Team Manager and the fact that T&F success was a team effort yet, when Doug’s comments above were subsequently discussed,  Doug added the following –

 “It occurs to me that despite the contributions of such as Jim Smart, Hamish Robertson, Oliver Dickson, Ian Clifton, and Bob Steel, Ian McKenzie might well deserve the accolade of the man most responsible for driving the club’s success in the golden era of the 1970s – no mean epitaph.”

    

Like many club men all through the country, Ian has served his time on the committee having been Edinburgh Southern secretary/treasurer for 12 years before the formation of City of Edinburgh and had also been club President in 1975.   After the amalgamation with Edinburgh AC in 1996 his experience was put to good use when he was the track & field team manager in the British Athletics League – a spell which took the club from Division Three to Division One in consecutive years.  When they amalgamated with EAC to form City of Edinburgh Ian took on the role of Track & Field manager for a period of two years and was successful in helping to achieve promotion to Division 1.  During that period I worked in conjunction with the Scottish Athletics League and Forth Valley league managers to ensure that any athlete performing well was considered for selection to the BAL team.   

Ian McKenzie with glasses and beard: Number 1 is Donald Ritchie of Aberdeen AAC and his team-mate Steve Taylor (Number 3). Number 33 is Eric Fisher of  Edinburgh AC.

As we have seen, Ian came into the sport as a 12 year old but because of the rules at the time, there was no national championship for Under 13’s, they didn’t come until 1969.   His first national was at the then traditional venue of Hamilton Race Course as a Senior – he had been in a motor cycle accident and did not run as a Junior Man and he was only getting back into the sport in 1962.   

On the road:

He ran all over Scotland, mainly in road races,  many linked to Highland Games road races – among them were the Airdrie Highland Games 13 miles, the Shotts Highland Games 14, the Dunblane Highland Games 14, Aberfeldy 14, Duns and the Strathallan Gathering 20.   The Strathallan entry forms listed the race as 20 miles and on one occasion it was noted locally as 21 but it always felt like 22 when you ran in it.  Naturally at that time he was a member of the Scottish Marathon Club.   His first race with the Club was the Morpeth to Newcastle to which he travelled in Jimmy Scott’s minibus.   Jimmy was the secretary of the SMC and took his minibus to all the road races and transported many runners to them.   As a member of the club he also took part in the championship which meant racing in the Clydebank to Helensburgh 16, the Strathallan 20 and the SAAA Marathon championship.    He tells us that “In training for the marathon I would race the Tom Scott 10, the Clydebank – Helensburgh and Edinburgh-North Berwick 22 then the Scottish Marathon in June. At that time my wife’s family lived in the Lake District and I often ran down in the North West : Brampton to Carlisle, Windermere to Kendal, Blackpool and Manchester, where I ran my marathon pb”.

Colin Youngson trawled through some old Scottish Marathon Club results and found the following honourable mentions of Ian. 

In early 1965, Ian B. McKenzie joined the Scottish Marathon Club.   Other new members accepted then included prominent international athletes Alastair Wood (Aberdeen AAC) and Fergus Murray (Dundee Hawkhill Harriers). From then on, Ian must have taken part in several club races, but the following results are from 1967-1968.

At the end of April 1967, he finished a decent twelfth (1.34.36) in the 16 miles Clydebank to Helensburgh Road Race, just behind Bobby Calderwood of Victoria Park but in front of Willie Marshall (Motherwell), Ronnie Kane and Andy Forbes (both VP).   Ian was third in the Handicap section.

In early June, Ian was 8^th (1.11.23) in a Dundee ASA Road Race (probably 12 miles). Amongst others, he beat Henry Morrison of Dundee Hawkhill.    A week later, he finished tenth (54.50) in the Edinburgh University 10, in front of Ian Hathorn, who held the Edinburgh to Glasgow Stage Three record.   There were three ESH athletes in front of Ian McKenzie – Donald Macgregor, Alastair Matson and W. Lyall.

Two weeks after that (June 24^th), Ian had a go at the Scottish Marathon Championship on and out and back course from Grangemouth Stadium. It was a very hot day so, although he was tenth at half way (1.16.30), he was one of 6 who did not finish.

On 12^th August, Ian ran the Atholl and Breadalbane Agricultural Show 13-mile road race and completed the course in 15^th place (1.26.11) in front of Ron Pickard (Perth Railway AC). At the end of the season, Ian B. McKenzie was listed as 24^th equal in the 1967 Scottish Marathon Club Championship.

On the 30^th of November, 1968, Ian ran the famous Brampton to Carlisle Road Race and recorded a time of 57.02.

At club level, he ran in all the  shorter annual road races such as the Nigel Barge Road Race in Maryhill on the first Saturday of the year, the Glasgow University 5+ in early November but only ran in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay once,  simply because the club standard was so high.    Ian’s running was of a good club standard – eg he ran a first class standard time in 1967, ran 1:11:25 for 13+ very hilly miles at Airdrie, 26 minutes for the 5 miles of the Nigel Barge race.

On the track:

As for track running, he has this to say: “After my bike accident I mainly stuck to road running as I enjoyed it the most, although I did many 3 and 6 miles races in the Scottish Athletics League for ESH, mainly because very few wanted to do them (usually the 6).    Before the accident I competed on the track at a number of meetings: PressCharities at Powderhall, at Musselburgh, and Falkirk , Shawfield and Motherwell    I enjoyed them but never really enthused over them.

I ran two steeplechase  races in my time, one at Westerlands the other at the East District championships. I didn’t ever do any more. I did many club championships at various distances from 440 yards up to 6 miles, where I set my pb behind Ken Ballantyne.   In the early 1960’s ESH was looking to improve as a club and competed at many competitions at Blackpool Illuminations trophy meeting, at Billingham and Blackburn. All those had two mile team races on the programme, which I did enjoy.  They also provided an opportunity to bond with others in the team.”

He was always very much one of the team,    Alistair Blamire says that Ian is “a great club man, really friendly guy, used to train with Ian occasionally when we both worked in Livingston.”   The same is said by many other ESH runners in different ways.”

Over the country:

Ian McKenzie, John Gladwin and Alex Robertson

Ian McKenzie is a man who has represented his club, Edinburgh Southern Harriers as a runner on the road and over the country, as a team manager and as an administrator since the early 1960’s.   Ian was club secretary from 1969-’71 and from ’84-’94, and president from ’75-’77.   Never a champion, he was a good, reliable, dependable athlete who ran – 

• in road races in Highland Games at such as Airdrie,
• in the point to point road races, such as the 16 miles Clydebank to Helensburgh, which were always popular well contested races,
• and in the annual classics like the Nigel Barge Road Race held on the first Saturday every year in Glasgow.   
•  in club, district and national cross-country championships representing Edinburgh Southern Harriers
• in track races for the club in the Scottish Athletics League as well as in individual events.   

Ian completed the questionnaire for us and it is reproduced verbatim below.   Ian says:

.Emma Gorman, Shirley Knox, Isobel Knox, Gail Balfour

Billky  Brooks, Mark Munro, Matthew Pritchard

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