The Scottish Marathon Championship was first run in 1946 and in the almost 75 years since then it has seen small fields, large fields, it has been contested by runners of all sizes and had its share of incidents many of which were dramatic, some of which were funny but the event has never been colourless.   Scotsmen were running, racing and winning British and Commonwealth Games marathons for two decades before the first national championship was held.   The champions and championships receive coverage and homage elsewhere on the website: this page notes some of the lesser known facts and points out some of the personages who have taken part 

1. There were marathons run in Scotland for the first part of the 20th century but the distances were often of various distance with the word marathon meaning simply a long road race.
2. The proper marathon distance was covered at Powderhall in 1909 after the London Olympics of 1908 
3. Before the Second World War there were no Scottish marathon championships but the AAA’s Championships were held from 1925 when Dunky Wright was third and second in 1928.   The 1930’s were the best decade for Scots in terms of success at British level.   Dunky Wright won in 1930 and 1931 and his Maryhill Harriers team mate Donald McNab Robertson won in 1932, ’33, ’34, 36, ’37 and ’39.    Wright also had a second place in 1932 and Robertson was second in ’46 and third in ’47.   They won 8 out of 10 AAA’s championships between 1930 and 1939.   
4. In the period from 1925 to 2019 McNab Robertson won the British event more than any other runner and Wright was the fourth most prolific winner.   
5. Scottish winners since McNab Robertson in’39 were Jim Alder in 1967, Allister Hutton in 1990, Andrew Lemoncello in 2010, Derek Hawkins in 2013 and Calum Hawkins in 2016.
6. Scots filled the first three places in the AAA’s in 1967 – Alder (2:16:08), A Wood (2:16:21 and D Macgregor (2:17:19), and again in 2016 – C Hawkins (2:10:52), T Tewelde (2:12:23) and D Hawkins (2:12:51).
7. The most prolific winner of the SAAA Championship was Alastair Wood (Aberdeen AAC) with 6 wins between 1962 and 1972, followed by Fraser Clyne (Aberdeen) with 5 victories between 1992 and 1997.   
8. The Aberdeen record in the event has been remarkable with Wood and Clyne followed by Colin Youngson with 3, and Peter Wilson, Graham Laing and George Reynolds all with a victory apiece.   Club total: 17 gold medals.
9. Colin Youngson won 10 medals in 13 starts in the event between 1972 and 1985 – 3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze and Don Macgregor won 3 golds and 6 silvers over 21 years between 1965 and 1986. Don Ritchie (Aberdeen AAC/Forres Harriers) also won Scottish Marathon silver medals 21 years apart: between 1967 and 1988.
10. Next best club performance was that of Shettleston for whom Joe McGhee ( won 3 golds in a row between 1954 and 1956); and Hugo Fox (2), Harry Howard (1), Brian Carty, John Duffy and Brian Scally all won once.   Club total: 9 titles.
11. Two runners have won three-in-a-row.   Joe McGhee in 1954, 55 and 56  and  Fraser Clyne who performed the feat in 1992, 93 and 94 and then ‘did the double’ in 1996 and 97.
12. Only one club has produced the first three in the race in the same year.   Maryhill Harriers had McNab Robertson first, Dunky Wright second and Andy Burnside third in 1946.
13. First runner inside 2:30 was Joe McGhee in 2:25:50 in 1955.  First inside 2:20 was Jim Alder in 1970 in 2:17:11 and the only runner inside 2:15 was the Mexican Espinosa in 1999 in 2:14:31.
14. Although it was the official Scottish Scottish championship, it has often been won by ‘foreigners’ : in 1989 Ian Bloomfield from England won from Terry Mitchell (Fife) who himself won in 1987 and 1991..   
15. The first three all came from outwith Scotland twice: in 1990, Chris Tall won from Stan Markley and Brian McEvoy and in 1999  the first three came from outwith Britain: Mexico (Espinosa), Poland (Mokaya) and Kenya (Chelanga).  
16. The most unlucky (?) runner to run in the SAAA Championship was probably Tommy Rewcastle of Plebeian Harriers on 25th June, 1956.   The standard award was for all runners inside 3 hours for the distance that year.   15 men had been inside the time and won the award when Tommy came into the stadium and as he approached the tape, the standard gun, which indicated that time limit for standards had been reached, was fired almost in his face as he crossed the line in 3:00:01     He was denied the standard for the sake of one single second after running for three hours.   The feeling among runners on the day was that it was a deliberate attempt to deny him the award because so many had been inside the three hour limit.   Incidentally among those unplaced ahead of him were Eddie Campbell of Fort William St Mary’s AC, Harry Haughie and Adam Reid of Springburn, David Anderson of Greenock Wellpark and David Bowman of Clydesdale Harriers. 
17. For a race that lasts for at least two hours there have been some very dramatic finishes.   In 1958 Hugo Fox of Shettleston arrived at Meadowbank to find that the groundsman had not yet opened the entrance.  Didn’t faze Hugo though – he climbed the gates, which had spikes on top, and won the race in 2:31:22.   
18. One of the closest finishes ever anywhere was at the AAA’s championships in 1932 when Dunky Wright led Donald McNab Robertson on to the track at the White City and after a torrid battle between the two Maryhill Harriers, Robertson won by 1.4 seconds.
19. Another close finish was in the 1966 British Empire Games when Jim Alder, who had been leading by 15 seconds in the approach to the stadium, was misdirected and the lead went to Bill Adcocks of England.   Redirected by Dunky Wright, Jim chased and caught Adcocks on the track to win comfortably in 2:22:07.
20. And although they were not Scottish, remember these finishes? Dorando Pietri?  The original – Pheidippides?    Remember Joe McGhee defeating Jim Peters in Canada?   which brings us to
21. The Scots runners who have won the British Empire and Commonwealth Games three times.   The first games were held in Canada in 1930 and Dunky Wright won that race, Joe McGhee in 1954 and Jim Alder in 1966.    There were also two Scots who won medals in the marathon in major Games for other countries – Mike Ryan in Mexico Olympics and Paul Bannon for Canada.   Click on their name for the story.    Alex Breckenridge formerly of VPAAC, ran for the USA in the Olympics as did Jimmy Duffy for Canada in the 1912 Olympic Marathon.
22. There have been many families where two members have run good times for the distance.   Just a few: Father and Son: Allan Adams snr (2:23:03) and Allan  jnr (2:22:12); Bill Scally (2:24:05) and Brian (2:27:32); Father and Daughter: Alan Partridge (2:22:30) and Susan (2:30:46); Mother and Daughter: Deborah Macdonald and her daughter Katie   Husband and Wife/Partner:  Allan Adams (2:22:12) and Lynne (2:36:19; Brother and Sister: Doug Gunstone (2:19:07) and Penny Rother (2:53:00); Brothers: Callum Hawkins (2:08:14) and Derek (2:12:49) so far in their marathon running careers; Stuart Easton (2:23:33) and Derek (2:26:53); Jim Spence (2:39:42) and Lawrie (2:16:01).    Sisters: Karen Macleod (2:33) and her sister Deborah MacDonald (3:20).   Cousins Charlie Haskett (2:18:29) and Gordy (2:23:57).
23. Not content with mother/daughter marathons one mother and daughter combination (both Garscube Harriers) has enjoyed considerable success in events including an ultra. Anne White has twice won the W65 category of the prestigious annual British and Irish International Masters Cross-Country, as well as leading her Scottish Masters W65 team to victory. In addition, Anne has completed the Manchester Marathon and is particularly pleased to have finished first W60 in the 2017 Kintyre Way Ultra-Marathon.                  Her daughter Katie won the W35 category of the 2017 British and Irish Masters XC; and, also in 2017 set a marathon personal best of 2.40.31 in Frankfurt. Then, on the sixth of October 2019, she finished First Woman in the Loch Ness Marathon, recording 2.42.03. Both mother and daughter won Half-Marathon silver medals in the 2018 World Masters Championships in Malaga, Spain
24. The numbers in the early days were low but the numbers in the 1970’s and 80’s were huge with tens of thousands of Scots running marathons the length and breadth of Scotland in times ranging from under 2:15 to outside 6 hours.   There were also huge numbers of runners inside 2:30, 2:40 and 2:50 with many women running times that a decade or so earlier were beyond  all but the fastest men.
25.  A Scottish marathon runner set a British record time for the marathon but was not credited with a Scottish best time. The man in question is Alastair Wood who set a British and European best marathon tine in 1966 of 2:13:45 on the Forres course.   The time was however not ratified by the SAAA although it was ratified by the GB Board and by the internationally recognised ARRS website.   Read about it  here.
26.    Many of the runners raised money for charity and one of the most prolific was Gus Campbell of Clydesdale Harriers who raised tens of thousands of pound for charity.  There are many stories about Gus but one of the best which shows the spirit of the time was this one.   Running in the Glasgow Marathon he would push a pram and encourage spectators to throw money in to it.   It was also where he kept his rolls, sandwiches and drinks.   The night before the race he told his workmates that if any of them gave him money on his way round he’d give them a drink of champagne.  On the day he was making his way sedately round Bellahouston Park pushing his pram when he met a young lady walking along and crying.   He asked what was wrong and she said that she had promises of money but she would never make it to the finish.   She was so disappointed.   Gus told her that she was like him, just aiming to get to the finish, if she came with him she’d make it.   She agreed and he asked if she’d like something to eat.   He then asked her what she would like on her roll – cheese or ham?   And of course it was washed down with champagne.   They made their way to Glasgow Green where her husband was patiently waiting for her.   She’d done it!  Gus was introduced to her husband as the man who gave her a roll in Bellahouston Park. 
27.  Tommy the Clown from Inverclyde ran many road races including marathons dressed up as a clown and carrying a bucket for spectators to make their donation.   And these two men were not alone in using the distance to raise money.
28.  Now, in the 21st century, marathons are being organised which would have been unrecognisable as such just a few years ago.   For instance the RunMhor marathon from Callander to Balquhidder is run mainly on the road but also incorporates some trail running but the finish is what really makes it different: the runners come over a couple of paths through fields and down to a river which is usually 30+ metres wide.   There they have to get into a boat to be transported across before running the last half mile to the finish.   At the finish they receive a voucher for a free pint of beer. When they get into the boat they are offered a glass of Pimm’s.   During the race the seven feeding stations offer peanuts and raisins as well as the usual drinks.  The boat has on occasions been held back a minute so that someone else can get in.   To be fair, it is described as a Fitness Event and not a race.
29. During the period of the ‘running boom’ there were marathons held all over Scotland.   In the big cities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh there were marathons, in other towns such as Motherwell and Forres, in areas such as Inverclyde, the Black Isle, Loch Rannock, Lochaber, Caithness, Benbecula, Galloway, Shettleston and Dumfries.   In one year there were no fewer than 14 marathons held in Scotland from the Borders to Caithness, from Benbecula to the Black Isle.
30.  The Glasgow Marathon was the biggest and the biggest number to enter the Glasgow Marathon was for the race on 22nd September, 1985 – 11,492.   It was won by David Lowes in 2:15:31 with first Scot being Mike Carroll in 2:18:24.   First woman was Angie Pain in 2:37:06 while Sandra Branney was first Scotswoman in 2:45:06.      There were 55 runners inside 2:30 and 877 inside 3 hours.
31. It was also a time when Scottish marathon runners of all standards travelled to Europe, the USA and even further afield to race.   Note the following venues visited by some of the top men:  Jim Dingwall ran in Enschede, Edmonton, Boston, Bermuda (twice), Israel, China, Spain, Hong Kong, New York and all over the British Isles.   Dave Clark: Finland, New York, Essonne, Boston (twice), Tullamore, Chemnitz, Berlin (twice), St Hilaire de Riez (France), Rome, Beijing, Marseilles, Barcelona, Geneva, Montreal, New York, Florence, Rio de Janiero, Tel Aviv and Honolulu as well as all over the British Isles.   Note that these were in addition to running in many domestic races.   The full list for all the Scos can be seen at     http://www.scottishdistancerunninghistory.scot/career-lists-for-some-scottish-marathoners/  .   The list includes such as Don Macgregor, Jim Alder, Fergus Murray, Colin Youngson, Fraser Clyne, Andy Daly, Lindsay Robertson, Allister Hutton and others.   

Coatbridge and Airdrie hosted many very attractive meetings in the 1970’s and 1980’s – many were cross-country championships in Coatbridge and there was the excellently organised Highland Games at Rawyards cinder track in Airdrie.   All were well sponsored which helped but the events were what the athletes wanted and very good competitors were always to be seen across the programme.    Joe Small has provided the following information about the meetings.   He comments that the road race, billed as 13 miles, was possibly under distance: all that can be said on that front is that the trail used for it included 4 mammoth hills which made it 13 miles worth of effort!

Airdrie Highland Games

The town of Airdrie in central Scotland might seem an odd place to hold a `highland games’, but it followed in a tradition of other similarly located places hosting such events, e.g. Shotts, Kirkintilloch, Kilsyth, Bathgate etc.   The forerunner of the games was an Airdrie Town Council open sports day held on the 3^rd June 1967 at the newly opened Rawyards track.   The principal organiser for the games was Neil Taylor, secretary of Airdrie Harriers who almost single handedly made sure that the event carried on.   The new 440 yard cinder track was constructed at Rawyards on the outskirts of the town, previously a brickworks and area of waste ground, although it did have some sporting history as a site of a race course in the mid 1850’s. The horse racing only lasted for some 25 years before disappearing, seemingly due to lack of local interest.

The first sports meeting in 1967 included the usual mixture of mens and womens scratch and handicap races, heavy events and schools relay races. The best performance noted at that meeting was a 2 mile win by Bert MacKay of Motherwell YMCA in 9min. 23sec., 15 yards ahead of of clubmate Alex Brown.    For the record, the Glasgow Herald report and results are below.

1968 saw another open sports meeting on the 1^st June. The star of the meeting being Ian McCafferty, competing for Law & District, who won both the handicap mile (off scratch) in 4min. 11sec. together with the 2 miles in 8min 42.4sec, this time was only 0.2sec outside of his own National record.   Hugh Barrow of Victoria Park won the invitation 3/4mile race in 3min 0.5sec. This equalled his own Scottish record.   The complete results were

Among the notable athletes other than the two already mentioned above are sprinter Derek Parker of Paisley who went on to become a level 4 middle distance coach with Kilbarcham AAC and Jack Brown of Dumbarton AAC but the women’s winners included internationalists, SWAAA champions and record holders and Commonwealth Games athletes Moira Walls, Pat Pennycook and Christine Sprigg.   

Start of the invitation three quarter mile in 1968: K Ballantyne, H Barrow,  R McDonald, R Knox, H Gorman

Putting on rarely run events appears to have been something of an Airdrie speciality. Invitation races over distances such as 3/4 mile, 1000 and 2000m, with the intention of producing fast times and possibly records were always part of the days programme. The organisers were quite successful with this strategy, the 2000m time of 5min. 12.8sec. by Lawrie Spence in 1976 still stands as a Scottish native record for the distance. Other records set were a Scottish All Comers and Native record of 2min. 23.3sec. for the 1000m by Graeme Grant in 1971 and an earlier 2000m record of 5min. 20.8sec. again by Lawrie Spence in 1975.

In 1968 Local lad Ian Scales (Airdrie Academy) won the youths 880 yards from scratch in 2min 2.2 seconds. Ian went on to be a good class 800m runner, finishing 3^rd in the S.A.A.A. championships over that distance in both 1971 & 1972. He was one of the few top runners Airdrie Harriers managed to produce.

The road race was also a feature. Billed as a 13 mile event, I don’t think it measured much more than 12 miles, so the times always looked much faster than they actually were. The trophy presented to the winner was named in honour of J.M. Kerr, a former Scottish marathon champion & member of  Airdrie Harriers. The race always attracted a good field, with winners such as Jim Dingwall, Willie Day, Colin Martin, Sandy Keith, Alex Wight (and myself!)    There was only one mishap in all the runnings of the race on what could be in places quite busy and that was in 1969 when Peter Duffy was involved.

 The Games were a very good advert for the new Law & District AAC when they were held on 7^th June in 1969     The report from the Wishaw Press the following Friday read as follows.

If the 1969 meeting was a triumph for one club, the results on 30th May, 1970 showed a wider share of the spoils with the calibre of athlete on show very high indeed.   The headlines were grabbed by Lachie Stewart who won not only the 3000 metres race but also the Invitation Mile.   In the former he defeated Shettleston clubmate Dick Wedlock when he won in 8:26.2 with Monklands Harrier Jim Brown third (8:40.0).   He led from start to finish in the Mile, coming through the half in 2:13.5  and again defeated Wedlock in a winning time of 4:18.4.   Ian McCafferty conceded 120 yards to John Graham (Airdrie Harriers) – it was a bit too much and he had to finish second (3:53.4) to Graham’s 3:44.0.   Results:

Among the other results, Les Piggott won the 100 yards  and the 13 miles road race, which had almost 60 starters, was won by Edinburgh AC’s Alex Wight in 60:20 from his brother Jim Wight (60:59) with Ian Leggett of Clydesdale third 63:24

5th June 1971:  was the date for the next meeting which had two invitation events on the programme.   Both were middle distance races and both had really top class athletes contesting them.   All of the prize winners were Scottish and British international athletes.   In the 1000m, Graeme Grant of  Dumbarton running for Heriot Watt University was a late entry but won the race in 2:23.3 which equalled the national record for the distance with Frank Clement second (2:24.4) and Dave McMeekin third (2:25.3).   In the Mile local runner Ron McDonald of Monkland Harriers won in 4:04 from Adrian Weatherhead of Octavians (4:04.6) and Hugh Barrow of Victoria Park (4:11.7).   

In the other events, Shettleston won the 5000m team race with Wedlock 2nd, Bannon 3rd and Summerhill 6th from Clydesdale (Dolan 5th, Gemmell 7th and McAusland 15th, with Bellahouston 3rd.   A high quality race with 10 teams of four taking part.   In addition,   Willie Day of Falkirk Victoria won his third road race of the season in 61:49.   The results below indicate that this was a well supported meeting with top class athletes all the way through the programme.

The first Saturday in June in 1972 was the 2nd of the month and the report in the local paper was brief.

1973 Invitation Events:

There were three invitation events and all attracted good fields with current internationals winning each of them. 1000m:   1.   David McMeekin 2:26;  2.   Ian Scales.   2000m:  RL Spence 5:20;   3000m:   P Dolan  8:39.4

The 1973 Games were held on 2nd June and Les Piggot of Garscube won both 100 and 200m quite comfortably having overhauled the field from scratch by halfway in both races.   Given that it was a fast track if we go by the times recorded in all the races, it is maybe a pity that there were not as many invitation sprints as there were invitation middle distance races.    

The road race was of the by-now usual high quality.   The first six were Colin Martin of Dumbarton, Colin Youngson of Victoria Park, Willie Sharp of Falkirk Victoria, Ron Paton of Clydesdale Harriers, George Brown of Edinburgh Southern and David Simpson of Law.   Willie Sharp was always a an astute pacer of a race and this course with its long uphill drags and sharp descents had many ‘graveyards’ that could spell the end of a runner’s hopes: Willie not only placed third but was also winner of the handicap.   Willie McBrinn of Monkland won the veterans race.    The results as published by the Glasgow |Herald were as follows.

Invitation 1000: D McMeekin (VPAAC) 2:26;   Invitation 2000m: RL Spence (GGH)  5:26;  3000m: P Dolan (Clydesdale) 8:39.4.

Open Handicap events: 100m: L Piggot (Garscube scr) 10.5;  200m: Piggot (scr) 22.2;  800m: A Law (GGH 56m) 1:52.8; 1500m:  W Parker (Beith 140m) 3:56; 13 mile Road Race: 1  C Martin 1:02.4;  2. C Youngson 1:02.34;  3. W Sharp.    Long jump: C Watson (VP 0.78) 7.26m; Shot putt: W Weir (Falkirk 1.15) 14.56m); Hammer:  R Ferguson (Coatbridge 4.80)  36.42; Caber: R Ferguson.   Junior 200m: A Laird (Ayr Seaforth ; 800: W Sheridan (VP) 1:57.3 Youths:   200m: D McPhail (Clydesdale H  4.0) 11.1; 800m: M Watt (Shettleston H 2.0) 1:58;  Women: 100: M Munro (ESH 4.5) 12.2; 200:scratch: AK Robertson (Grangemouth) 25.6; 800: J Kane (ESH 26.0)2:12.7.   Intermediate 100: AK Robertson (Grangemouth)   12.7

*

In 1974  Airdrie Highland Games were held on 1st June and the short report in the Wishaw Press of Friday 7th June, indicated the successes of the local athletes in the article below but there was no long report on the event at either the local or national press.   .

The meeting may have been slightly upstaged by a meeting held exactly one week later – the Coatbridge Highland Games were held just a few miles down the road in Dunbeth Park with a promise of a grant meeting a year later at a new all-weather track at Langloan, just a short jog away.   See the extract from the Herald report below.

7th June 1975:  was the date for the next Airdie meeting and the invitation 2000m was the event of the day.   Les Piggot missed the meeting because of illness but the presence of the Stuart Hogg trained Drew Harley meant that the sprints  again had some real class.   The Glasgow Herald repost is below.   

The Games were again held on the first Saturday in 1978 and the short report in the Wishaw Press covered only the Law & District AAC runners.

The 1979 meeting was reported at some length as follows..

The Games were held again from time to time in the 1980’s but their heyday had been in the 1960’s and 1970’s – like the other athletics events held in the area at the time it had been well organised an popular and its demise was a loss to the Scottish athletics scene.    

Alastair Wood – Marathon Career Record                                                     

Alastair Wood – Ultra Career Record             

Jim Alder – Marathon Career Record        

Fergus Murray, Jim Alder and Don Macgregor

                                                                                                             Fergus Murray – Marathon Career Record

Don Macgregor – Marathon Career Record   

Don Ritchie – Marathon Career Record                                            

Don Ritchie – Ultra Career Record         

Sandy Keith – Marathon Career Record

Colin Youngson – Marathon Career Record

Colin Youngson – Ultra Career Record

Jim Dingwall – Marathon Career Record            

Alastair Macfarlane – Marathon Career Record                                                                                        

David Clark – Marathon Career Record    

 Graham Laing – Marathon Career Record

                                                                                             Andy Robertson – Marathon Career Record                              

Des Austin – Marathon Career Record      

John Graham – Marathon Career Record 

Allister Hutton – Marathon Career Record

                                                                                                         Graham Getty – Marathon Career Record                                                

Andy Daly – Marathon Career Record                                        

Fraser Clyne – Marathon Career Record    

                                                                                                 FRASER CLYNE ULTRA CAREER RECORD                 

                                                                                                       Terry Mitchell – Marathon Career Record

Terry Mitchell – Ultra Career Record                                            

Peter Fleming – Marathon Career Record                        

Lindsay Robertson – Marathon Career Record  

                                                                                                              Simon Pride – Marathon Career Record    

                                                                                                                   Simon Pride – Ultra Career Record        

“Athletics Weekly” is an English athletics magazine which covers athletics all over Britain and, they might claim, the world.   From the Scottish perspective, it should be looked at for three main reasons.   

First, It covers all the main races in depth – this is especially true of cross-country and major marathon races.   Linked with the Scottish penchant for going where the races are to be found it is an invaluable source of results in depth which are meat and drink to athletes and statisticians alike;   

second are the British ranking lists which athletes love to pore over for their own and their rivals performances;

and third, the content often has profiles of Scots athletes, stories of Scottish interest and a page of reports on Scottish races (this last has been at times scanty but more of that later). 

To appear on the cover of the “Athletics Weekly” is an honour – I remember turning up for a race at Irvine and being greeted by a friend from Greenock with the words, “Puckers is on the cover of AW!”   His team mate Alan Puckrin had appeared on it for the first time!   The cover above, courtesy of Hugh Barrow, shows a Scot leading the field in the mile at the Sward Trophy Meeting, one of the big inter-club meetings which were a feature of athletics at the time.    

The picture above is of the first ever issue of the magazine.   It is a bit blurred but does show that it is Volume II Issue I.   The story is that it was started as a monthly by PW “Jimmy” Green in 1945, with the first few issues produced from the back bedroom of a bungalow in Kent which Green shared with his wife, Pam.   Post-war paper rationing was still in force (the Glasgow Herald for instance was down to 8 pages), Green, as Wikipedia tells us used “a mixture of determination and devilment to launch the first, self-published edition. It was numbered Volume II Issue I, but this was a deliberate error to fool the government into thinking the magazine had existed before the war. “

Green was also told by experts in both athletics and publishing that the idea would never work.  He is reported to have “thanked them for their advice and completely ignored it. I was pig headed,” said Green. Green’s magazine went weekly in January 1950, published on Fridays, and has never failed to come out since.   In 1968, Green (who died in 1998, aged 88) passed the editorship to the enthusiastic and knowledgeable Mel Watman, who in a near-20-year reign steered the title to some success and continued to build its reputation for accuracy and authority.

The cover varied from issue to issue to start with – see the one above before settling on the ‘Green-with-Yellow’ covers of the 1950’s shown above and in the 1960’s it became Yellow-with-Green for a short while.  The photograph below is of Glasgow’s Shettleston Harriers.  By the time of the Commonwealth Games in the 1970’s it was the familiar blue that most of us will remember.   

There had been many Scots profiled in the magazine – Graham Everett above had been only one of them from the 50’s along with many of the all-conquering Victoria Park team of the period, Ian McCafferty, Lachie Stewart and many others in the 1960’s and 70’s, Donald Macgregor, Jim Alder, Fergus Murray in the 80’s, lots of them appeared on the front cover too.   Some of them form part of the profiles of the  athletes on this website.   But one of the really big attractions for the real aficionados was the ranking list.   There were ranking lists for men and women, for junior, youth and boy athletes, for Inters, Juniors and girls; there were real in depth lists for separate events (the marathon lists of the 1970’s and 80’s were well  scrutinised), and for groups of events.   All accompanied by top quality photographs by such well known photographers as Mark Shearman, and pretty well every one annotated by an authority such as Bob Sparks.   The one spot that Scots felt could have been better dealt with was the coverage of Scottish events.   In the beginning Willie Diverty of Glasgow University and Victoria Park did the job, he was followed by Colin Shields who did the reporting for a long time and then there were some others who reported for relatively short periods – Cammie Spence and Dave Cooney among them.   The trouble was that the reports were erratic – for instance there might have been three pages devoted to Scottish events, eg 27th December issue had three whole pages devoted to Scottish reports by Colin Shields, and other weeks had either non-existent or very brief results.          In general however Scottish athletics was pretty well covered.   

The coverage by the magazine of the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games in 1970 could not have been bettered either before or after.   Ranking lists both national and commonwealth, relevant national championship results, race reports, interviews with  athletes, some wonderful photographs and expert assessments of every race.   

Independently published by Kent Art Printers in a distinctive A5, pocket-sized format, the magazine reached its peak of popularity in the mid-1980s – coinciding with the marathon running boom following the first London Marathon in 1981 – selling some 25,000 copies per week.   The cover on 21st December was of Sandy Keith winning at Harlow and the issue of 27th December showed Leslie Watson as one of the first three at Barnsley.   Both featured frequently in the publication.   Typical of the content was this inside front of the 27 December 1975 issue

There were results, ranking lists, profiles of runners and other items of interest to the athletics public.   The UK women’s lists included Scots such as Helen Golden, Liz Sutherland, Ann Clarkson, Christine McMeekin, Christine Haskett, Myra Nimmo and Meg Ritchie; and while none of them were in the World Tp 20 for their event there were several not too far away who would be very interested in how much or how little they had to improve to be at that level.   It was also an issue of the magazine that covered Scots results well with the SCCU Cross-Country Relays reported on in depth, the SWCCU East District Championship, the East District League result and Stewarton Cross-Country races for both men and women. 

The 70’s and early/mid-80’s saw the best of “Athletics Weekly” – a publication for athletes and athletics lovers for athletes and athletics lovers.   It coincided with the ‘running boom’ when literally thousands of athletes trained for and succeeded in running marathons.   The standard had never been higher nor had it ever had so much depth of talent.  The magazine covered the scene superbly.   Incidentally the cover changed too with colour being introduced and we had this one (below) with Rob de Castella on the front of a special London Marathon preview issue with 40 pages devoted to the event.   These included AIMS meeting to be held in London, an article on BARR   (how many now, in the 21st century, remember AIMS and BARR?)  a list of all time best performances including all men under 2:10 (47 of them) and women’s performances  under 2:30 (25); the UK all time lists (men to 2:14 and women to 2:45)   and lots more.   

The ‘special issues’ were huge but the everyday, or every week, issues were also big – the one below ran to 64 pages and that was normal and accepted as such by all who bought it as well as by those who produced it.   Nor was it one of those magazines which enthusiasts bought and kept in a binder, taking care to keep it clean, sharp and ‘as new’.   No doubt many were but most were bought, scrutinised marked or had notes taken, borrowed, loaned, discussed …..    I remember lending a copy to a fellow Harrier on a Saturday, him eventually taking me back to his house to return it and us sitting there with a bowl of potatoes and stew talking about it.   (It was a yellow one with green writing!)   It really was important reading to athletes with pretensions to operate at UK or European or World level; it was important too to their coaches.   The coaches were also catered to by the frequent articles on coaching by Frank Dick, Frank Horwill, Cliff Temple, Brian Mitchell and others.   

You will note at the top of the cover ‘Incorporating ‘Women’s Athletics, Modern Athletics and World Athletics’.   These had been either rival magazines or more likely complementary magazines but it may be that the market was not quite strong enough for 4 specialist weekly journals.   The ‘World Athletics’ is an interesting one in that (a) it was produced by Ross and Norris McWhirter before they went on to do the Guinness Book of Records; and (b) it was one of the inspirations for George Sutherland’s excellent ‘Athletics in Scotland’ magazine and there was some correspondence between them.   

The title was bought in 1987 by Emap Publishing and moved from Kent to Peterborough, where, according to Wikipedia, the management sought to repeat the publishing success of its Smash Hits pop title and re-launched AW as an A4 title aimed at teenagers.  publish the Emap was to publish the magazine for 12 years (1987 – 1999)

Whatever their aims and ambitions, the magazine deteriorated.   It seemed to us that the paper was of a lesser quality – as a journal of record it had to be printed on quality paper – but that was not the most important change.   Read the following extract from Wikipedia:  

“Emap made some business decisions that decreased the quality of the product and damaged the magazine’s reputation. First, the previous editorial staff was not retained by Emap thus losing the experience and inside connections these employees had fostered through the years. On top of this the inexperienced editorial team had to deal with a publication date brought forward to Wednesdays, requiring a speedy and expensive turnaround of each weekend’s results. The result of these decisions was that lucrative subscriptions were lost and Athletics Weekly sales nosedived. By late 1989, one-third of sales had been lost and Keith Nelson, Emap’s choice as editor, was moved on.”

Aware of its loyal following’s disgruntlement with the re-launch of Athletics Weekly, in 1989 Eddie Kulukundis funded the launch of a rival title, Athletics Today (above) , jointly edited by Randall Northam and Mel Watman: for the first time in its existence, Athletics Weekly now faced competition.   Mel Watman had been a close colleague of Jimmy Green and been editor from 1968 to 1987.   It was maybe unfortunate that this period coincided with the careers of Tom McKean, Yvonne Murray, Liz McColgan and other top athletes from north of the border.   The magazine was not nearly as good as it had been up to 1967.   The results service was very poor, the layout was not good either with splashes of colour all over the place, articles at times difficult to follow    Despite the sport’s continued successes through the 1990s and the ultimate demise of its rival in 1993, Athletics Weekly struggled in vain to regain its reputation for comprehensiveness and accuracy.

Descartes: Lee McConnell, 2001

The next paragraphs are from Wikipedia’s coverage of the magazine and are worth reprinting in full: 

After a decade’s ownership, Emap admitted defeat and in April 1999 licensed the title to Descartes Publishing, a company established by businessman and athletics enthusiast Matthew Fraser Moat for the purpose. Descartes kept the title in Peterborough and went on to purchase the title outright in 2003. In February 2005 the magazine was awarded Sports BrandLeader status^[1] and in December 2005 Athletics Weekly celebrated its 60th birthday with a charity calendar^[2][3] and a special 100 page edition.^[4]

In 2006 the title changed its publication date back to a Thursday, and increased in size to 64 pages a week; in 2007 an online digital version was launched and in 2009 Athletics Weekly became the first magazine in the world to have all its content commercially available on the iPhone.^[5][6] In 2010 the AW app was relaunched for the iPad.^[7]

A sister company, Athletics Data Limited, was formed to manage the commercial rights of Athletics Weekly’s results data and in 2009 Athletics Data was appointed to run Power of 10, a statistical website, for UK Athletics.^[8]

Taking advantage of the renewed interest in the sport generated by London 2012 and Usain Bolt, the magazine was “highly commended” in the “Brand Extension of The Year” category at the 2009 Independent Publisher Awards^[9] and won a “Media Pioneer Award” at the 2010 Specialist Media Show.^[10]

In January 2010, the magazine celebrated 60 years as a weekly magazine.”

From the enthusiast’s point of view, the magazine was back where it should always have been and from the historian’s point of view too, it was back where it should always have been.   Matthew Fraser Moat is a very interesting character.   A member of Serpentine Running Club, an enthusiastic member of the British Milers Club he is a genuine lifelong enthusiast for the sport.   But whatever else he is, he is the man who probably saved Athletics Weekly as a significant publication, not only in the UK but worldwide.   

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The book concludes with the principal results over the period to 1943.   These are reproduced here but over three separate Pages.  This one goes to 1890.

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Graeme Bartlett (Forres Harriers)
Graeme won the Ben Nevis Race in 1993. He ran for Scotland in the World Mountain Running Trophy (in Edinburgh 1995), finishing 4th counter when his team won superb silver medals. He won many Scottish hill races and set records. Graeme contributed to many team victories for Forres Harriers, including the North District championships and the cross-country relay. In 2003, Graeme Bartlett became the Scottish Hill Running Champion.

This excellent interview, with the highlight a detailed description of Graeme’s dramatic 1993 victory in the Ben Nevis Race, featured in the very first Cosmic Bogtrotters ‘Cosmic Comic’ (Volume 1:1). 

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