The Haskett Family in the 1930’s ….

George Haskett is third from the left in the back row

The above picture is of a group of Dundee Hawkhill runners in the 1930’s, almost certainly taken at a sports meeting, some of them wearing their Sunday best, some wearing a jacket over a running vest and one showing his running gear.  Unfortunately the emblem in the middle is not clear – but it was a picture of a Hawk.   Quite different to the current club vest.   At the turn of the century there had been no fewer than 12 harrier clubs in Dundee but by the 1930s the two big clubs were Dundee Hawkhill Harriers and Dundee Thistle Harriers which had been founded in the same year.   The Haskett family was always affiliated to the Hawks though.   The family members were all very active – George in particular was a member of the Dundee Thistle Cycling Club winning trials and handicaps and became its secretary at the AGM in 1937.   The Cycling Club had started up in 1929 at a time when the great Clarion Cycling Club, established in 1895, had seen the sport of cycling grow to the point where the Scottish cycling clubs formed a loose association named the Scottish Amateur Racing Association (SARA).   The family were also active in the Boys Brigade movement and all four boys were members of the Dundee 3rd (YMCA) Company and it is in connection with this organisation that they first appeared in the local papers in the 1920’s.

The running and the BB came together in fact in July 1928 when at the annual camp in Monikie, George was second in the 220 yards race at their sports day.  Athletically the Harriers did not take part in the National Cross-Country for most of the 1930’s which was probably due to the fact that they were held mainly in the West of the Central Belt at Hamilton Park Race Course for many years and transport would have been a problem.   Indeed it was a time when almost all men worked on a Saturday morning as a matter of course.   Travelling down, even in a private hire bus after a morning’s work would have been difficult.   The Boys Brigade was still active however and in 1930 on 6th June at the BB Battalion Sports at Dens Park, the finals of all the athletic events were held and J Haskett with L Fairweather was third in the three legged race.   The next Haskett to appear in the Courier as a member of the Brigade was 14 year old L/Cpl Charles Haskett who, in June 1931 was awarded his three years service anchor and a Discharge Certificate    

Then on 12th January 1932 there was the annual Harriers  v  Cyclists Race with a big entry of 19 harriers and 25 cyclists.   There were two laps, one of three and a half miles, one of two and a half, and both included stretches of ploughed fields.   Teams were selected by ballot and consisted of 2 runners and 3 cyclists.   The winning team was C Moncur (cyclist), J Haskett (harrier), R Colville (cyclist), A Imrie (harrier) and W Sloggie (cyclist).   The following winter, 1932-33, saw the Hawkhill Harriers win the East District Championships.   

Into the summer of 1933 and the Hawks ‘carried through a sports meeting’ at Caird Park on 5th June in which the Hasketts had an interest.   George won the 880 yards race and the future Mrs George Haskett, Janet Fransen, running from scratch, was second in the Ladies 100 yards; she also finished the meeting as part of the winning mixed Medley Relay team (2 men and 2 women.)    Two weeks later at the Midmill Sports, George Haskett was second in the half mile and the very next day, 20th July, another of the four boys, James this time, was second in the half mile at the annual Broughty Carnival.   George was the most successful in terms of results at this point.  He ran for the Hawks and was reserve for Dundee selects in contests such as the Carrie Cup inter-city cross-country match against Aberdeen.   Hawkhill were all running well at this time and it was difficult to get into their teams – George had been reserve for the East District Championships the previous winter and was again in 1934.   However when the club road championship was held on 19th March 1934 he was third behind Charles Smith and George Rudd.   Times showed that he was less than a minute behind the winner – 26:06 for first, 26:58 second and 27:05 for third.   

Chick’s silver East District Team Medal

The club’s annual prize giving was held on 3rd May, 1934 with the Ladies Track Champion being Miss J Fransen and no fewer than three awards going George’s way: winner of the 6 mile handicap, second in the Novice Championship and third in the Road Championship.   The track championships started on 20th June with three Mile races and the Senior Mile was won by George who at that point was fourth overall in the championships.   Came July and the BB Camp was held at Monikie and Lance Corporal J Haskett was noted as a member of the cricket team and as finishing third in the 80 yards race.   That winter the club had a runner in the National for the first time that decade – young George Keiller was third in the Youths, which was won by George Craig of Shettleston.   Keiller was an interesting runner – only one year younger than the second of the brothers, Chick, he would be one of his rivals within the club for several years.    Chick’s moment came on 30th December when he won the club’s New Year Race.   An interesting feature of this one was that the handicapper had both Chick and George down to run from the same mark of 2  min 45 sec!   There was an annual track and field match between the Dundee clubs and St Andrews University and on 17 May 1935 it was George who represented the City in the Mile.

In January 1936 Telegraph preview of championships tipped Charles and John Suttie Smith for first and second with Chick Haskett a possible for third place but in the event it was the three Smiths (C, Js and G) who filled the first three places of the 20 runners with Chick in fourth.   Charles was often called Chick but, although the two local papers of the time always referred to him as Charlie, we’ll stick with Chick.   Both brothers represented the club that winter but when the East District Championships came around in February, Chick was in the team but the paper noted that George would not be running as he couldn’t get the time off work.   This was fairly common in the mid 30’s and there was a report of another runner who had good news: he had a job but unfortunately for the club it was of the Saturday kind and he was unavailable for club teams.   George was usually available but on this occasion they had to do without him.   In the championship proper the club was third team with Charlie 21st finisher.     Then came the bad news – on 26th February the club championship preview mentioned that there would be no J Suttie Smith (injured) or C Haskett: “Haskett has been in the hands of the dentist the past fortnight and will be out of action for some time.”  

It was George’s turn to uphold the family honour, and he was fourth in the club Five Mile Championship at Invergowrie as a runner.   Roll the calendar on to April and George won the first handicap in the Dundee Thistle CC road trial as a cyclist.

The annual match with St Andrews University was held in May and, because of the illness of his mother, neither J Suttie Smith nor his brother were available for the team.  So the younger members were enlisted to fill the gap – “Keiller is only 17 years of age, and Haskett is but a year his senior but both have proved their ability in cross-country circles.”    Keiller was selected for the three miles while Chick was picked for both the Mile and Three Miles races.   Chick was placed third in the Three Miles, ahead of Keiller, who was unplaced in the Mile.   

The following month was a fairly active one for the club with another annual meeting – versus the Boys Brigade this time – and Chick represented the Hawks and finished third in the 880 yards.   Not only did he compete on the track, when called on he did other events and on 19th June in the Club Championships he was third in the Novice High Jump with a clearance of 4′ 3″.   When it came to the Novice half mile however “C Haskett had an easy win.”   In the Mile he was third behind C Smith and Keiller.  The events were a week apart.   Then came another interesting event.

On 23rd July 1936  Arbroath FC Supporters Committee Sports were held at Gayfield  before a crowd of 5000.   The Courier contained this short paragraph: 

And further down the column both results were given.   Chrissie won the half-mile off 30 yards in 2:38.4 from Miss N Fransen (off 50 yards), and AMD won the open one mile handicap off 80 yards from C Haskett who ran from the 160 yards mark in 4:28.2 .   The interesting thing for us here is that Charlie would later marry Chrissie Donnet and his brother George would marry Janet ‘Nettie’ Fransen.    AM Donnet, noted here as a Hawkhill runner was actually a Dundee Thistle runner.    Later in the season, in August, Chick Haskett turned out for the Hawks in Aberdeen at King’s College grounds against Aberdeenshire Harriers, Aberdeen YMCA, Aberdeen University and Gordonians.

While Chick was running so well, George was still a racing member of the Thistle CC and at their Presentation at the end of October, 1936 in front of 300 club members, he was presented with first prize as the Club All-Rounder of the year, the first handicap for the Open ’50’ and second handicap in the Open ’25’.

The team was running well and in 1935 had been second in the East District cross-country championship; in 1936-37  they went one better and won the championship.  The National Cross-Country Championship was held on 5th March at Hamilton and there the team finished ninth.  The Evening Telegraph report is below.

There was no Dundee Thistle team out on the day but brother-in-law Donnet finished ninth.   There was another wedding however and the club made the headlines in the Courier on 10th August.

The winter of 1937-38 started with the sad news conveyed by the Courier on 19th Nov 1937 that “Charlie Haskett has not yet commenced training and therefore drops out of the Hawks team.”  Less than a  month later, on 10th December 1937, George was elected Secretary of the Dundee Thistle CC but this was followed in the Evening Telegraph round up of the various sports clubs on 31st December where they said that “Ernie Kay, Charlie Haskett and Dave Stibbles are not now running”    

That he was back in action by February was indicated, when the reports in both papers had a look ahead to the East District Championships, which had been won by the Hawks the previous year.   This meant that it would be a seriously weakened squad that contested the event since all of the previous year’s team were now ineligible.   Chick and Dave Taylor were not able to run as they had missed the event last year.    In the event they lost the title but were third with Chick finishing 18th.   After the District came the National and there the team finished sixth.   The Telegraph commented on the club’s ‘many misfortunes both before and during the race.   Charlie Smith had a bad day finishing 17th, his worst yet.   Shoe trouble forced John McIntyre to retire, while George Rennie just couldn’t get going and finished over the 100 mark.    Keiller (35), Haskett (43)  and Bradley (44) were the Hawks who excelled themselves.’   

The headline and a major part of the article was devoted to the non-selection for the International team of Alex Donnet who had finished ninth.  The team selected had included 38 year old RR Sutherland of Birchfield.   It had been Donnet’s third senior national and his progression had been 18th in his first run, 11th in his second and now ninth.   His time had come though because he was first reserve for the team and when there was a call off, he was drafted into the Scottish squad and finished 47th in the event which was held at the Balmoral Showground in Belfast.   

 

At the end of March the club held its annual 5 miles road race which was won by J Suttie Smith but there was a new trophy for the Junior Champion and that was won by Chick Haskett.   The first three finishers were Suttie Smith, then Haskett with G Keiller in third.   The new trophy – seen above being presented to Chick by Mr PD Henderson – was called the Canada Cup and had been donated by Mr Henderson.      

The cross-country season was well and truly over by then and the first track event was an inter-club match at Dundee on 30th May.   It was the annual match between the Dundee clubs and St Andrews University which became a quadrangular meeting when the Dundee City Police had a team forward.   St Andrews won the competition comfortably.   Chick was selected for the Mile and the Three Miles.   Unplaced in the former, he was third behind Ewan and Gowans of Thistle in the latter.   He was also listed as part of the possibles for the medley relay.   There were other inter-clubs of course and at the start of June the match between  Hawkhill, Thistle, Robert Gordon’s and the RAF took place at Montrose Aerodrome.    Chick was third in the 3 miles behind Alex Donnet and A Hay of Thistle,  Donnet also won the half mile in 2:12.2.   The result of the 3 miles team race was a win for Thistle while Chick led the Hawkhill team into second place.   

The first appearance in the sports pages for George after his marriage was on 28th July when he was the starter at the 3rd BB (YMCA) Company’s sports at their annual camp in Monikie.   

The cross-country season came along and the newspapers previewed the teams for the East District relay: Chick was only a reserve for the Hawkhill team although Alex Donnet was a sure starter for the Thistle.   He was picked though for the Dundee v Aberdeen match but had to withdraw through injury.   The National Cross-Country Championship was held on 4th March 1939 at Lanark Racecourse but there were few Dundonians on the starting line.   There was no team entered but George Rennie was 18th and George Keiller was 135th.   Dundee Thistle were 5th team with Alex Donnet again placed ninth.    The season finished as had the previous one with the Hawks 5 miles road championship.   GL Strain won the Canada Cup for the first Junior – Chick Haskett who had won the first race for the cup, did not run.

There were articles in both local pagers in the middle of May saying that the season would start the next week.   There were two new trophies to be won for the Hawks championships.    Mr JD Poustie (referred to as the fastest sprinter ever to run for the club) donated one for the club novice championship, the other was presented by Mr WR Rennie, father of George Rennie, for the junior cross-country, and was to be called the Melbourne Cup.  

The Courier also noted that Hawkhill had permission to run a medley relay at the match between the Harp and the Violet  East End Park.   It was not the first time for them – and they had run medley relays at half time at other grounds – the intention being to hold a collection for the club funds at half time.   Chick Haskett was to run the 880 leg for the A team.   This was followed a week later by a similar event at North End Park to raise money for the Infirmary’s funds.   Chick ran for the ‘Royal Blue and White’ team against the ‘Whites’ and the ‘Dark Blues’.   In both cases he was probably running the 880 yards stage. 

Chick was running well but, like many others, he found his running career interrupted by the War which started in September 1939.    Running – cross-country, road and track went on but there were no championships at all: some races were called championships but they were not recognised as such officially.   

 

 

 

From Monkland Harriers to Clyde Valley AAC

Jim Grant (Stage 3) to Tom Callaghan (Stage 4) of the Edinburgh to Glasgow, 1963

There were several amalgamations of clubs in the 1960’s – several Edinburgh clubs came together to form Edinburgh AC, Ayrshire clubs came together to form Ayrshire AAC, there were a couple of failed attempts to merge some of the Renfrewshire clubs but arguably the most successful club from the word go was Clyde Valley AAC.   Several old established clubs such as Motherwell, Airdrie, Monkland Harriers linked up and produced some quite astonishing results.   Two questions arise immediately:  why did established, traditional clubs discard their identity in the first place, and how did the merger come about?   Tom Callaghan of Monkland describes the motivation behind the amalgamations, the setting up of the new club and also lays out the reasons for the ultimate failure of the club to last.   It is a fascinating story of hard work, disillusion, hope, success and disappointment.   This is his account in his words.  Thanks Tommy for setting it out so clearly.   Read what he has to say.

During the ‘50s at both primary & secondary schools I participated in any sports, mainly sports day & the school football team.   Shortly after the start of the new term in 1958 the school received a letter from Monkland Harriers inviting them to take part in a road race in September.   The P.E. teacher at the time, Alex Robertson, was keen for the school to take part. The team was made up of four runners in the 13/15 year age group. A trial was to be held in the West End Park in Coatbridge, with the first four to be selected to represent the school. I was a clear winner.

The  subsequent Monkland Harriers schools race was run over a course of about one & a half miles, close to the club pavilion at Morven Street in Coatbridge. The race was won by Jim Grant of Kildonan High School, he was also a member of Monkland Harriers. Second was a lad called McNaughton, third was George Kay of both St. Patrick’s H.S  and Shettleston Harriers. I finished fourth, about six seconds behind. I thought `not bad for my first road race.’ The club asked me if I would like to join and I agreed.

I ran several races during the ‘58/59 season in the senior boys category, the most successful of which was our second place in the ‘59 National, 3 points behind George Heriot’s School.   I left school in December ‘58 and shortly after started a job with William Bain & Co., Structural Engineers ,as an apprentice.

As a youth there were not too many races for me during the summer. However, there was next season’s cross country to train for & what a season that proved to be for Monkland Harriers.   At some point in 1959, J.T. Finn joined the club.  He came from Mount Ellen (Gartcosh) and was a few months older than me. For the ‘59/60 season we would be competing as youths.   Most of the races in that age group, relay or race, required a team of three, except for the National, which was 4 to count.

Our three for most races was Jim Grant, Jim Finn and myself, with Tommy Gallagher  as fourth choice. During the two seasons we ran as youths we were almost unbeatable in relays. I would run first, Grant second and Finn on the final leg. Our one regret was that we never won the National as a team despite J.T. Finn winning the individual title twice in 1960 and ‘61.  I think it was in ‘61 that Finn was beaten in the Midland District cross country at Renton, after which one of the senior members of the club said to him “What happened today?” Finn replied, “Wait till the National.” In those days the National was held at Hamilton Race Course.  Finn allowed whoever wanted to make the pace do so, until the final hill where he just ran away from the field to score a convincing victory.

Tom Callaghan at the start of the 1964 Edinburgh to Glasgow: second from right, back row, behind Alex Brown

In season ‘62/63 the three of us would be running at junior level, which allowed us to run in certain senior events. I will use the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay to illustrate what happened to the team who were so dominant in the previous two years as youths:

Edinburgh-Glasgow Relay 1962, club finished 14th

J.T. Finn: Ran stage 1, finished 12th.

  1. Grant: Not in team.
  2. Callaghan: Ran stage 8

 

Edinburgh-Glasgow Relay 1963, club finished 16th

J.T. Finn: Not in team.

  1. Grant: Ran stage 2.
  2. Callaghan: Ran stage 4.

 

Edinburgh-Glasgow Relay 1964, club finished 13th

J.T. Finn: Not in team.

  1. Grant: Not in team.
  2. Callaghan: Ran stage 1, finished 11th.

J.T. Finn was an outstanding talent as a youth who was able to perform to the level he did with a limited amount of training, he seemed to have so much natural ability he should have been a top performer at 5000m on the track. Perhaps the natural ability wasn’t enough and the work ethic was missing.

Jim Grant was a strong forceful runner (John Graham reminds me of him.) I don’t know what happened to him, he just seemed to disappear off the radar.

Tom Callaghan remained with the club, served as secretary, running days were over by 1983.

While the youth team had a successful spell during the ‘60 and ‘61 season, another young runner was making a name for himself, J.R. (Jimmy) Johnstone. He was two years older therefore classed as a junior, able to run in senior events. In the ‘63 E-G Jimmy ran stage 1, finishing first in the time of 27:20, which I believe was a course record at the time. The following year he ran stage 6, recording a time of 33:29, a time only bettered by Ian McCafferty’s fastest leg of 33:15.

Despite Jimmy’s best efforts, the rest of the team was made up of club runners of various standards. We always managed to field eight runners, however the results of 1965 – 15th and ‘66 – 19th., said it all.

For me, the problem emanated as a result of no schools races, members doing their own thing and the club secretary being non-existent. 

On the 16th. July 1966 I at the age of 22, married Sarah, a girl I had met two years earlier. The only club member invited was Jimmy Johnstone, who I had trained with for most of the time I had been a club member and also gone on holiday with on two occasions. At the wedding Jimmy met a friend of Sarah’s, Jane, who he married in February ‘68.   At a night out in early ‘67, while the girls were chatting, Jimmy and I discussed the dire state the club was in and agreed on our strategy to improve matters. The secretary must be removed, not only from his position, but also removed from the club. We were confident we would have enough support, and we did. Willie Drysdale, Willie McBrinn, Davie McKirdy and several others backed the plan.   

A few months later the A.G.M. was held in the club pavilion. The secretary arrived, his usual confident self, not knowing what lay before him. During the early part of the meeting he was asked some pointed questions concerning club membership and the financial position of the club, both of which he had great difficulty dealing with.     You could see he was no longer the confident person who opened the meeting. However worse was to come. 

When we arrived at the point where members were asked to vote for the election of club officials, the first vote was normally for the position of club secretary & treasurer. However, it was proposed that there should be two votes, one for secretary and another for treasurer. This was approved. As a result, Willie Drysdale was appointed secretary and Davie McKirdy as treasurer. The first step on what we knew would be a long road had been taken. A small committee was formed which I was a member of.   Plans were drawn up with a view to being prepared for the ‘67/68 winter season, these included primary as well as secondary schools races, contacting lapsed club members and encouraging parent involvement.

The schools races went well and we managed to recruit quite a few promising runners. The only lapsed member as far as I remember we managed return was Andy Arbuckle, past competing but with a lot of experience of distance running.

At the first parents meeting, one suggested that we should endeavour to obtain support from Coatbridge Town Council and suggested the name of a young councillor, Tom Clarke. (Later to become Provost of Coatbridge and Member of Parliament for the local area for over 20 years.)    A meeting was arranged in the club pavilion to which club members and parents were invited. Tom was pleasantly surprised at the numbers in attendance. He listened to our plans for the future of the club, answered questions from members and parents, after which he gave assurances that he would endeavour to assist the club to achieve its objectives.

We changed the format of the schools races to a league system, two races prior to Christmas, two after the New Year. We also had to move away from using the club pavilion to St. Ambrose school across from Drumpellier Park, which was later to become a major attraction for many road and cross country events.   Within a few years we had built strong teams at youth and junior level, winning National championships, both individual and teams.

The names I can remember, most of whom came through the schools races were: MacDonald, Brown, Devlin, Small, Preston, Agnew, Paterson, Nee, Gribben, Burns and Ashwood.   In 1971 the club were back in the E-G finishing in 9th place, five of the eight man team had come through the school races.

At some point in the late ’60s, Willie Drysdale married and moved away from Coatbridge to live in Carluke, he still remained a member of Monkland Harriers but resigned as secretary, at which point I was appointed to replace him.

Jimmy Johnstone married Jane on the day of the National Championships in 1968 and moved to Carluke. I should point out that three years earlier his family had left Coatbridge and moved to New Stevenston due to his fathers employment, Jimmy remained a member of Monkland and represented Scotland in the ‘64 & 66 International Cross Country Union Championships.   Before the start of the ‘68/69 season Jimmy resigned from Monkland Harriers and joined Law & District A.A.C.   I was furious at what he had done, it felt like a betrayal. I reminded him of our discussion in early ‘67 when we planned the downfall of the secretary and the way forward for the club. After all the years we had trained together, went on holiday, met his wife at my wedding, to walk away when you are needed is unacceptable.   I could have understood if he had decided around ‘62/63 when Jim Finn and Jim Grant had not fulfilled their earlier potential and he was left as the only class runner. Jimmy could have been a first choice for almost any team in the country at that time.

In the summer of 2015 I met up with him for the first time since he left the club. He explained his reason for leaving was that it was more convenient for him, as it was only just down the road for him, to train with Law & District. Judge for yourself if that was a good enough reason, bearing in mind the circumstances I have explained.

Despite our success at mainly youth and junior level, we couldn’t recruit enough former members to return and give a little of their time to help with the training of the younger boys. Those seniors who were regulars at the club were working, had families and were there to train, youths and juniors just had to join in.

I think it was in the early summer of 1969 I stayed about a mile away from the track at Rawyards Park in Airdrie. One evening I jogged over intent on doing a bit of repetition work, only to find Ronnie MacDonald on his own. He had jogged to the track from his home in Coatbridge to use what at that time was the only 400m track in the Monklands.

I enquired as to what he was doing and if anyone at the club was advising him. The answer was no one. Here we had the best young runner by a long way at the club being left to “do his own thing.” I offered to help him if he wanted and he agreed.

I am not a qualified coach, I worked out my own way of training for middle distance and road running from the mistakes I had made in previous years. When Jimmy Johnstone left Coatbridge to live in New Stevenston I mostly trained on my own. No more running at racing pace on road runs several nights a week, nothing left for Saturdays, no more running to the watch on the track. My view was your body tells you what you can do. In ‘67 Ian McCafferty gave me a piece of advice “Treat your training like eating, do it regular and also be able to do more than you have done.” This advise was given to him from Ron Clarke.

I watched Ronnie in a few races and I knew at his age, 1500m was his distance. I started by explaining my philosophy, training and racing are two separate things. Training is preparation for racing. Racing is about winning.

We would discuss training several times each year, summer and winter were different of course, however the principle remained the same. In April we would decide what were the objectives for the season. The main aim was the championship events. The races that were selected were intended as preparation and would be 800m or 1500m and only one race at any event. These races were not only designed for fitness, but also learning how to win. The best runner in the field does not always win the race and races are not always run the same way, therefore the person on the track has decisions to make. That is why the preparation races are important, they are part of the process of learning how to win. 

One example of getting your tactics right or in this case, wrong. As a junior we decided to run the senior 1500m at the National Championships, followed by the same distance at the junior event a week later. The senior 1500m was run at such a slow pace that with 150m left you could have thrown a blanket over the whole field. At that point Ronnie burst to the front, tied up 10m from the line and was beaten by Craig Douglas. His closest rival for the junior race was Frank Clement, who had won the senior 800m. Up to this point Frank had not beaten Ronnie over 1500m. He would have seen what happened today and I was sure he would change tactics next week. We add to plan for that. One other point I had to consider was that Jim Brown had entered the 1500m. I was of the view that Jim could take third place, therefore the tactics had to be worked out, not just how Ronnie was going to win, but also how Jim will secure third place. The three of us met and I explained my plan.

Frank normally leads from the start, Ronnie follows and out-kicks on the race to the line.

That’s not going to happen this time, here’s what we do:

Jim takes the first lap at a good pace with Ronnie on his shoulder in second, Ronnie takes the second lap, at some point Frank will move onto Ronnie’s shoulder, with Jim in third place. Somewhere between the end of the second lap and the bell, Ronnie was to use whatever ploy he could think of to to ensure that Frank is in the lead, which is what transpired. Ronnie was on Frank’s shoulder, exactly the place I wanted him to be, normal service was resumed. Ronnie pressed him all the way until the finishing straight, out-kicked him near the line to win, Jim finished third, plan perfectly executed.

I asked Ronnie what he had done to get Frank in front of him down the back straight. He replied “I started breathing heavily and slowed slightly to make him think I was struggling, and he just went past me.”

At the finish Frank came over to Ronnie, they shook hands and Frank’s comment was: “You big b*****d, you conned me that time.”

By 1970 in some respects we were moving in the right direction, we had a group of young runners who had won individual and team events and Jim Brown had joined us from Bellshill Y.M.C.A. The following year, Ronnie and Jim finished first and second in the junior National. In third place was a face I didn’t recognise – Ian Gilmour. I thought he must have Scottish connections so I spoke to him and asked if he would like to join our club, pointing out that the first and second finishers were members. The deal was done, Ian agreed he would run for us in the main events and in return we would pay his expenses.

Despite the success the club had achieved, we could not attract sufficient support from members or former members to assist with the training of young runners or events such as the schools races. One example, John Mulvey had won one of our schools races and the rest of his team had finished in high places. We had no one at the finish to find out if they were members of a club. I later discovered that they had all joined Shettleston. When I asked John how that had happened, he told me that Alex Naylor had come to his house on the Sunday after the race, asked if he had joined us – no he hadn’t – and signed him, followed by the rest of his team. John subsequently won three individual National titles at junior and senior boy age groups.

We also had some of the young boys give up running, two in particular I remember, Ian Doole and Kenny Ashwood in the early ‘70s. The schools races never again provided us with the same quality.

The loss of Johnstone, Finn and Grant in the ‘60s in my view denied us the opportunity to challenge the best teams in the E-G and National, if you add MacDonald, Brown and Gilmour.

In the early ‘70s Ronnie and Jim were the only two outstanding performers. There was sufficient quality among the club runners to finish 8th or 9th in the E-G, yes this was better than the early’60s, however we did not want to return to those days.

Coatbridge Town Council had become a major sponsor of cross country and road racing. Thanks to them we had four schools races each year, the county road relay and cross country championships, the district and National cross country championships, a women’s international event, highland games and of course the Festival 5 mile road race and by 1975, a new 8 lane all weather track.

Most of these events came to Coatbridge due to my connections with Coatbridge councillors.

The exception was the National cross country championships from 1973 to 1976, the credit for which must go to Bob McSwein who was at that time an employee of the council.

All of this was lost after 1976 due, but not entirely to, the S.C.C.U. not honouring their acceptance of an offer by the council to host the International cross country championship event in 1978.

I have given a full account of the facts leading up to the S.C.C.U. decision previously. However, it did have an affect on Clyde Valley, which I will explain later.

In 1975 local government boundaries were changed, Coatbridge together with Airdrie and several surrounding villages became part of Monklands District Council. A number of new departments were set up, one of which was Leisure and Recreation with Mike Barron as director. You can read my views on this period in an earlier article “Coatbridge cross country and Festival road race.” All I would add is that substantially more money was invested in major track events to the detriment of local events and the community. One example, Airdrie Highland Games, this event had been taking place for around ten years. I found out through the local newspaper that they were not to be held, they were previously organised by Neil Taylor of Airdrie Harriers.

I spoke to Mike Barron and asked why the games were not going ahead, “No one to organise them.” he replied. I offered, having previously organised Coatbridge Highland Games in 1973 and ‘74 and also the opening meeting at the Coatbridge track – “Too late, the decision has already been made.” was the answer.

I only found out a few years ago that Bob McSwein had applied, along with Barron, for the post of Director of Leisure and Recreation. This information was told to me by a senior Coatbridge councillor who had supported Bob. However, Monkland District had been formed, therefore the vote was not restricted to Coatbridge councillors and Bob was not successful in his application.

Had Bob been elected to the position I’m sure things would have worked out differently.

In the early ‘70s the time I was spending organising events for club and council while still working in full time employment left little time for training and family life. The schools races which was our source of recruitment was not providing the same standard as the late ‘60s.

We were a small provincial harriers club, with most of our members resident in the Coatbridge area and had achieved reasonable success, not too far off the big Glasgow and Edinburgh clubs, how long would this continue, could we improve to challenge them or would we slide back into the bad times of the ‘60s? I hadn’t come this far to allow that to happen.

I decided to look at the history of several local clubs from the ‘60s to see how they had performed in distance events.

Tom Callaghan running at Hamilton Park in the national cross-country Championships

Motherwell Y.M.C.A.: Probably the most successful provincial club in the country for most of the ‘60s, until the defection of most of their top performers to Law & District. Their one promising young runner was John Graham.

Airdrie Harriers: No recent history in distance running. They were not members of the S.C.C.U. and in the late ‘60s only had a decent 1500m runner, Jim Graham, who ran in a few road relay events for Monkland Harriers.

Bellshill Y.M.C.A.: Did not have a history in distance running, couldn’t make up a four man senior team, that was the reason Jim Brown joined Monkland Harriers. Ian Moncur was a decent club runner and Roy Baillie a prospect at 800m and 1500m.

Lesmahagow: Track club with little history.

When I evaluated my research the only club similar to ourselves was Motherwell Y.M.C.A. They had an outstanding team in the ‘60s until the split when most joined Law & District. They had shown that they could unearth several young distance runners. If they could replicate that it would be an asset. The other three clubs were much more in the way of athletic clubs. However if they could find the occasional quality distance runner perhaps that would sustain the standard at all levels, boys, youths, junior and senior.

By casting the net wide we could perhaps form a club that would be competitive in all areas of athletics.  

At Monkland Harriers we did not have anyone with knowledge of sprint or field events, we would have offered such athletes membership, allowed them to use our facilities and advise them to contact Tommy Boyle if Bellshill joined.

After several meetings in 1974 five clubs agreed to amalgamate and a club to be known as Clyde Valley A.A.C. was born. Each club would have two committee members, ours would be Eddie Devlin and myself, who was elected as club secretary.

Within a few months the club had won their first national trophy, the inaugural Scottish cross country relay championship held at Bellahouston Park. The team in order of running was Baillie, Brown, Graham and MacDonald, recording a comfortable victory over Edinburgh A.C.

An impressive performance for a new club you may have thought. However it did not appear to please all club officials according to Alan Dunbar’s report on the race.

“The Clyde Valley officials are disturbed that people still refer to them as Monkland Harriers which was one of the five clubs in the merger. Although three of their top runners in Jim Brown, Ronnie MacDonald and Ian Gilmour were members of the old Monkland club, the Clyde Valley supporters are quick to point out that the new club is by no means a monopoly of ex Monkland athletes. In the winning team last Saturday were Roy Baillie ex Bellshill and John Graham ex Motherwell.” 

For club officials of Clyde Valley to make such a statement was quite concerning to me. Had they forgotten why the club was formed? Could they not see that all four wore a red vest, were they not pleased that the club had won a major event so soon after being formed and that the club was in a position to challenge the best clubs in the country? I would not need three guesses to as to who the anti Monkland culprit was, I will reveal that later.                

As far as a monopoly was concerned I should point out that in the ‘74 E-G the Clyde Valley team was made up of Baillie, Graham and six ex Monkland Harriers to finish in third place, the same position was secured the following year with Baillie, Graham, McKay and five ex Monkland Harriers.

The cross country season was always going to be the time when our section could make the best contribution to the club, however in Brown and MacDonald we also had the two best track performers at that time.

It had been decided that at the end of each track season an award would be made to the person considered to have produced the best individual performance. My view was that there were only two to consider, Ronnie MacDonald’s sub 4 minute mile or Jim Brown’s 10000m time of 28:00.6, the words were hardly out of my mouth when Roddy Devon (Motherwell) said “That has to be Jim Brown.” No one made any other suggestion and that was agreed.

It may well be that that was the right decision but the manner in which he said it indicated to me that his preference was for a Bellshill boy rather than one from Coatbridge.

Bob McSwein running in the Central Park 10K, New York

At the 1975 National in Coatbridge, Bob McSwein informed me that at a General Committee meeting a few days earlier it had been decided that the 1978 International cross country was to be held in Glasgow which Bob Dalgleish confirmed.

I have previously given a full account of what happened resulting in an S.G.M. being held in the 14th February 1976 in Springburn, the same day the National was being held in Coatbridge.

The Clyde Valley representative at S.C.C.U. meetings was Roddy Devon (Motherwell) who in my opinion was the source behind Alan Dunbar’s report on the Nation relay in 1974. That, together with his anti-Monkland attitude at Clyde Valley meetings meant that I could not confident of his support at the forthcoming S.G.M. concerning the 1978 International event.

At a Clyde Valley meeting in January ‘76 I raised the subject of the forthcoming S.G.M, explained the commitment of Coatbridge Town Council to Monkland Harriers and our sport and pointed out that as Monkland Harriers no longer existed, they were a part of Clyde Valley and asked that the committee mandate our representative to support the Coatbridge position.

This was rejected, the view was that it was a Monkland Harriers problem, nothing to do with Clyde Valley and the club delegate should vote as he decided. Those who expressed that view were Tommy Boyle, Bert McKay and also the anti-Monkland member, Roddy Devon.

Perhaps I should have reminded them why Clyde Valley was formed and what were the conditions. To establish a club that could be competitive with those from Edinburgh and Glasgow, each club would continue to operate as at present and would be responsible for their own expenditure. In short, everything remains the same except that when you compete, it’s for Clyde Valley.

Perhaps they were not aware that when Jim Brown ran in the ‘74 National relay he had to fly from London where he was at college. His flight was paid for by Monkland Harriers. When Ian Gilmour travelled from Birmingham on a Friday, required accommodation Friday and Saturday before returning to Birmingham on Sunday, again paid for by Monkland Harriers.

Clyde Valley were never asked to contribute to these costs.

I decided after the January meeting that my position as secretary of Clyde Valley was untenable and that I would resign at the next meeting. How could I continue to work for a club who would not support a member club and a generous sponsor to our sport?

The S.G.M. duly took place on 14/2/76 and the vote was lost 29 to 28, and as I predicted, Devon voted against us. Had he been mandated the numbers would have been reversed.

At the February Clyde Valley meeting I resigned as secretary and gave them a month to consider who would replace me. I decided at that point not to resign from the club.

I had then to consider what what the future was for me and also the club. The first decision was easy, I would never be a member of the Clyde Valley committee again. To think that the club was only 18 months old and in that short time had achieved considerable success, despite a committee who could hardly agree on anything and were hostile toward the Monkland Harriers section beggars belief. 

The next consideration was whether we remained as Clyde Valley or withdrew the Monkland Harriers members and reformed the original club. I decided we should remain as Clyde Valley because I was still of the view that a strong Lanarkshire club was in everyone’s interest. From the list of names I have who made up the four man relay teams and the E-G teams when I was secretary only Monkland Harriers could have fielded a team, the addition of a few top runners from the other clubs made a huge difference and produced a successful team.

I decided we should remain at Clyde Valley as that would be in the best interest of the active members. What I believed when we formed Clyde Valley had not changed. The one problem I could foresee was the problem with the committee. I cannot remember who became secretary, but hoped they could change attitudes. Surely this committee would not last and some fresh blood would be found.

The results that Clyde Valley achieved during their short existence proved to me that the idea of several small clubs merging was the right one.

Best results in team events:

National Cross Country Championships: 2nd in 1980 & 1982, 3rd in 1981.

National Cross Country Relay Championships: 1st in 1974, 1977 and 1979, 2nd in 1980.

National 6 Stage Road Relay Championships: 2nd in 1979 & 1980

Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay: 1st in 1979 & 1980, 2nd in 1981, 3rd in 1974, 1975 & 1983.

 

The results in the later years were achieved with a mixture of experience and youth. Brian McSloy, Peter Fox, Colin Farquharson, Steve Marshall, David Marshall and several others from the Motherwell section together with Neil Agnew, Greg Paterson and Joe Small being the best from the Monkland section.

Five 1st places, six 2nd and four 3rd, a total of fifteen in major events.

Joe Small, Ian Moncur, Neil Agnew

Why did Clyde Valley cease to exist in 1984? I do not know the answer to that as after the events of 1976, detailed earlier, I took no part in the administration of the club, my priorities would change. In August Ronnie MacDonald and I opened a small sports shop appropriately called Monkland Sports. In 1977 I became works manager in the company I had started my working life in as an apprentice in 1959. I was also trying to keep some level of training, added to all that I had a young family. My priorities had to change.

I had spent the last 25 years running cross country, road and track, helping to regenerate Monkland Harriers, organising events for Coatbridge Town Council, setting up Clyde Valley, fighting the injustice perpetrated by the S.C.C.U. in not awarding the 1978 International event to Coatbridge, organising the many events previously mentioned and turning Coatbridge into a popular destination with good facilities and well organised events.

My one regret is that shortly after Clyde Valley’s departure it was followed by Monkland Harriers. I had to let it go, I couldn’t spend the next ten years trying to repeat what I did in the ‘60s and ‘70s. However, I do accept that had I not gone down the Clyde Valley route Monkland Harriers may well have survived.

As far as athletics is concerned since, I had two nights at the Commonwealth Games in 2014, and Joe Small and I went to Falkirk for the National cross country on two occasions recently. Ronnie and I retired from the sports shop in 2013 and I now keep myself fit by walking most days.

Medals and their significance

The Scottish Marathon starts from the SAAA Championships in 1981: Colin Youngson leads the runners out of the stadium

The value of any medal, or indeed any prize or award is not in the metal of which it is made (although at times that is considerable) but in what it signifies to the individual – a hard fought race, a victory long sought and finally realised, the esteem which  a particular trophy brings with it.   But these sporting medals often have a significance to the sport itself.   The medals are evidence of what the sport itself values.    Colin Youngson’s medals were amassed over a period of over 50 years.   Some are of more significance than others in his eyes, but the totality is evidence of the nature of endurance running in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st.   

To explain.   We who ran during that period in question thought that it would always be like that – races available all over the country from the Nigel Barge Road Race on the first Saturday of the New Year to the Edinburgh Queen’s Drive races in mid December.   We believed that there would always be road races at distances from 5 miles, via 10, 12, 16, 18 and 20 to the marathon; we believed that there would be a progression in the track season from County to District, to National to British championships and that the winter season would begin with the McAndrew Relay, and then go via County and District relays to the County, District and National Championships on the country.   The marathon would start from the national championships and finish there and the club challenge of the Edinburgh to Glasgow would continue.   The progression was provided by the governing bodies and sports organising bodies with the help of the Scottish Marathon Club and was a genuine stepping stones approach to developing the sport for every athlete in every club.   

Alas, the structure is no more.   The national marathon championship is no longer run as a championship event in its own right and the Edinburgh to Glasgow is no more.   Almost all County track championships have gone, the governing body in its wisdom moved the District Relays back a week to give the runners a breather before the National (at two and a half miles on a Saturday?) and the progression is gone with the County or League match being between the two major relays.   

The history of this period can be seen in many ways but one is to look at the career of an athlete in terms of the medals won and what they signify for the sport at large.   Colin Youngson was one of the most prolific medal winners the sport has produced – this is particularly true of his road running collection.   

For all the runners who have run on the country’s roads or over the country, there are very few, indeed none that I know of, complete collections that are available for inspection, information or education.   They are inevitably broken up and some medals turned into pendants or brooches, scattered among relatives who may display them or keep them in the back of a drawer and,  as I was informed by an auctions aficionado, some are melted down for scrap value.  What we have here is a careful selection from Colin’s collection. It tells us what racing opportunities were there for runners to experience – several will never come again.   Look at the collection, take your time over it, wonder at the length of the career and appreciate his love of the sport.

Seven years ago, when I was sixty-five (new age-group!), I enjoyed doing the 1500m/5000m double at the Scottish ‘Masters’ Track and Field Championships in Grangemouth. My old friend Ron Morrison (well-known professor, coach, official, statistician, social drinker) presented my awards, asking, “What do you do with all your medals, Colin? Put them in a bucket?” Then he laughed, as only Ron can. Fair question, though, especially now that I am decluttering/downsizing/recycling/getting rid of a lot of more than 50 years’ worth of running-related memorabilia.

Much faster runners have had the same problem. Jim Dingwall used to keep a vast collections of medals, still attached to ribbons, hanging from a hook on the back of his kitchen door. Lachie Stewart’s, at one time, were in a red shoe box on the floor of a spare bedroom. He explained, “Naewhere else to put them!” Don Macgregor and I once took part in a Dutch marathon. He finished first Veteran and the trophy was a badly-designed, ornate, rather ridiculous item. As we chatted on the ferry back to Britain, with an entirely serious face, he unscrewed various parts of the tiered monstrosity, then put it back together in the wrong order, upside-down etc. Not to be a Joy Forever, then.

The very first medal I received (and still have) was in 6th Year at Aberdeen Grammar School – for winning the Mile at the annual Sports. Strangely, it is in fairly good condition, although it dates from 1966! Yet the SAAA championship medals I collected in the 1970s and 1980s seem to have lost any glitter and, down the decades, have been quietly rusting and decomposing (like their owner). The SCCU plaques from that era have, to some extent, fallen to bits. I had to chuck out my only Scottish Cross-Country Relay winning team trophy years ago.

Brian McAusland, Webmaster of Scottish Distance Running History; and also of Anent Scottish Running, suggested that I should photograph every medal before passing several to younger relatives or, as a very last resort, disposing of them permanently.

Well, I have taken more than a few photographs; but the majority of that base metal will have to be recycled.

Then again, what are medals and trophies meant to represent? What ‘value’ might they have? (Certainly not financial.)

I was in two top Scottish Clubs: Edinburgh Southern Harriers in the 1970s and Aberdeen AAC in the 1980s and early 90s. As a useful team member, I was a fortunate contributor to many team triumphs in the aforementioned XC Relay, Senior National, Six-Stage Road Relay and Edinburgh to Glasgow; plus four Scottish Veteran XC Championship team victories. Most of these successes were mainly due to real stars like Allister Hutton, John Robson or Fraser Clyne.

There is no doubt that team wins, rare in the essentially individual sport of middle-distance running, can be great fun at the time and for weeks afterwards. There is real pressure not to let the others down; and satisfaction to be gained, especially if you have given all you can and run well by your own standards. There is also the prospect of a few convivial pints afterwards.

What about individual championship medals? Most of mine are for marathons (or, as a veteran, middle-distance track, half-marathons and cross-country). For the long-distance events, you have to train intelligently for several months, taper, eat appropriately, peak on the day, pace it correctly and then hang on grimly to the finish line. If that complicated process all goes really well, then there is not only the relief of stopping but also, once partially recovered, a real sense of achievement.

My mum left me an old display cabinet, and for years a couple of shelves were covered with selected medals, action photos and trophies. When I did look at those, it was to test my memory. What was that race? Did I run well? How on earth, so long ago, could I be that fast, compared to nowadays?

Therefore, medals, no matter how well-designed are merely mementoes, linking to experiences. I once tried to write a list of my Top Ten race performances, with the very best Number One. Then I had to add a few more which I liked to recall. They may not have been personal bests, but good age-related runs, with marks for tactics or sheer effort. This list I stopped compiling once I reached fifty races! By then I had realised that most training runs or events can provide some degree of pleasure; and the bad ones are to be accepted without (lengthy) sulking. Some are learning experiences.

Nostalgia is fine, now and again. Occasionally, looking back on achievements and activities can be justified. You have not wasted potential; and had ‘tough fun’. However, Living for Today is most important. Appreciating good aspects of existence, even if there are others to be endured. Would I change anything if I could? No, as the cliché states, it is all part of the ‘rich tapestry of experience’!

Now for those photographs.

 

                                                                        Aberdeen Grammar School, Aberdeen University, Scottish Universities

 

                                         1971 Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay (with Victoria Park AAC), 1973 Inter-Counties first individual (for Dunbartonshire)

 

Dunbartonshire plaques (with VPAAC)

 

From Sweden (1973-4).

                                                           Back: two road race wins and a road relay, organised by my team (Fredrikshofs IF).

                                       Front: my first two marathon wins: Stockholm and District; and Vintermaraton (in minus 5 degrees Centigrade).

 

The E to G silver is from 1971 (with Victoria Park Amateur Athletic Club); and the gold medals (with Edinburgh Southern Harriers) in 1974; and in 1975 (when the course record was broken).

 

The 1978 winning trophy (with ESH); plus the two big E to G gold medals (with Aberdeen AAC) from 1986 and 1988.

 

The tankard was presented unexpectedly by the SCCU in 1991, after I had just completed my 25th E to G since 1966. The years I took part, the clubs represented and the team finishing positions, were very kindly engraved on the back. After my last one in 1999 I had the five with Metro Aberdeen Running Club added underneath, to make 30 in all.

 

 

 Scotland international team win; Blazer badge for 1975 Track 10,000m v Iceland; 1975 marathon win (2.16.50 Championship record); 1985 marathon silver – my tenth and last Scottish Marathon medal.

 

 

 Donald McNab Robertson Plaque: Best Scottish Road Runner of 1975

 

 

 My favourite cat (Fiver). To the left, the Scottish Marathon Quaich. Behind his head, the Robertson Trophy (I think). Could the one on the right be the E to G?

 

 

 1980 Senior National XC victory (as ESH captain, I walked up to receive the team trophy); 1981 Six-Stage Road Relay win.

 

 

 Scottish City Marathons: Aberdeen and Dundee. The Scottish Marathon was usually in Edinburgh. I also ran Glasgow, London, Boston, Marathon to Athens plus Dutch, Belgian, Finnish, Swedish and French events. The most fun was Lochaber!

 

 

Three Marathon victories: Dundee 1986; Lochaber 1992; and International Team, Glasgow 1983 (Scotland beat Wales, England, Northern Ireland and Eire).

 

 

 Some Ultra-Marathon ventures: a small but treasured first class standard for the 1980 London to Brighton 54 and a quarter miles; the E to G (from Meadowbank to George Square); and the Speyside Way 50k. The Two Bridges 36 was another great race.

 

 

 Centenary medals from the SAAA (1983) and the SCCU (1990)

 

 

 Back left: Berchem (Antwerp) Marathon GB two-man team winning award from 1975. Danny McDaid (Irish Olympian) won by 17 seconds from me, with Max Coleby nine seconds behind. We beat the Irish plus many Continental pairings.

On the right, sponsored by Marathon Oil, a trophy from the 1986 ‘Marathon 16 miles’ road race near Aberdeen, which I won in a sprint, from another Olympian, the great Ian Thompson, former Commonwealth and European Marathon Champion. Both were past our peaks, but Ian was ten yards worse than I was that day! My Dad, James Alexander Youngson, (between us) is ‘photo-bombing’ before the word was invented.

 

 

 Front: Scottish Vets XC golds: M40, M45, M50, M55

Middle: Morpeth to Newcastle 14 miles first class standard (I won M40, M45 and M50), Scottish Vets Half Marathons, XC team; and (with Metro Aberdeen) two XC Relay golds

The Scottish Vets plaque is my Dad’s (second M60 in 1979 XC); and the other medal is my M70 XC silver from 2018.

 

 

 Back: British Veterans 1989 M40 XC silver; British Veterans 1993 M45 Marathon gold.

Middle: Scottish Vets golds for Half Marathon; 1989 M40 Marathon; and another Half.

Front: Scottish Vets 8 Stage Relay; British Vets 1995 M45 XC gold; Brit Vets 10,000 silver.

 

 

 My favourite races as a Senior were the E to G and the Scottish Marathon. As a Veteran, it was the annual British and Irish Masters Cross-Country International. Since my birthday is the end of October, and this great event usually takes place in early November, most of my better races were in Northern Ireland (since the Five nations host in turn). In the middle of the front row are two from 1992, when I became the first Scot to win an individual title (M45) in this event; and we won M45 team gold as well. I ran for Scottish Vets/Masters fifteen times; in every five-year age group from M40 to M70.

 

 

 Back: British Veterans 10,000m Outdoor Track M50 gold;

Front: British Masters 3000m Indoor Track M55 gold; World Vets Cross-Country, GB team M50 gold; European Vets 25k Road, GB team M45 second.

 

Colin about to win the 1982 Scottish Marathon at Grangemouth

 

 

 

Kim Gunstone

Doug and Palm were both keen runners but unlike some parents, they never pushed Kim or Neil into the sport.   It was however inevitable that they would become involved.  Kim took part in many fun runs as a young child and enjoyed them all.  It was also on the cards that she would join the Dundee Hawkhill Harriers as a youngster where she was a reliable team member who helped them to gain team prizes in cross country and track where she threw the javelin for them.    

She wasn’t as deep into the sport as Mum and Dad but she has inherited the determination the rest of the family have.   That determination shows in the kind of events that she subsequently tackled as an adult.  In 2002 she ran in the Brittania Asset Management 10kin Glasgow with Palm and she also ran it again with some of her friends.  Some of the other events are:  

Great Scottish Half Marathon   2 October 2016   2:0130 

Glen Clova Half Marathon 12 Nov 2016   2:10:57

 London Marathon 23 April 2017 4:58:31

Templeton Trail 6 Miles  2 June 2017   55:22

Great Scottish 10K  1 October 2017   54:22

 

That’s quite a lot of serious events and you can add into that the Great North Run in 2002 in which she and Palm both took part.   Of course the London Marathon, back in April, 2017,  is a big test of fitness and one which you only undertake if you really want to.     Her Mum had done it back in 1981 and 1982, her Dad had also run in it several times but her reason for doing it in 2017 was a bit different.   Her 40th birthday was coming up and she wanted to celebrate it with something special.   The Glen Clova and Half Marathon events above were part of the preparation for it.   In fact, the London event was the ‘something special.’    And it was.   2017 was the 37th running of the event and it had the biggest field of any previous version of the event – 253, 930 applied for entry to the race and 40,048 started compared to the previous highest total of 39, 140 runners.   The race was started by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.   Prince Harry was also present.    The women’s race was won in a new world record time making it the biggest, fastest and possibly the most glamorous London Marathon of them all.   None of that takes away from the actual difficulty of running the race.   Any race pictures, like the one above, show Kim running quite comfortably.   A successful day: have a look at the smiles below.

 

Palm, Kim and Neil after the London Marathon

But Kim has also taken part in other testing events.   Her running is good and she clearly enjoys being active but there is not a fix on any one sport.   The photograph below is of Kim taking part in a triathlon – the picture at the top of the page is also from a triathlon.   There was an article published some time ago that said the three hardest endurance events in the world were the marathon run, the Tour de France cycle race and the cross-channel swim.   Kim’s triathlons had her swimming and cycling – we have already noted some of her running exploits.   But there is more …….

Her Mum had done some cycling back in the 1960’s and even joined the Heatherbell Cycling Club.   Kim has also done some cycling and the photograph below is of her after finishing an Etape   – a serious cycling event.

One striking aspect of the pictures that we have of Kim after an event is that she is always smiling – having clearly enjoyed it.   She seems to enjoy a physical challenge!   One more photograph, from 5 September 2009, – her Dad has been involved with a cancer charity for many, many years and Kim took part in a fund raising event for that charity.  Not a sponsored run, or swim or bike ride – but abseiling from the Clyde Crane!   

But everybody has to have a day job and away from the sport, Kim is a chartered physiotherapist who after qualification worked for the NHS.   This was followed a second degree and she became an animal physiotherapist as well.   She has now set up her own Animal Physiotherapy business.   When she sets her mind to a task she sees it through.

Penny Rother

Described on the official Scottish athletics statistical website as

“R Penny Gunstone (15.02.58), Madras College, Edinburgh University;    Dundee Hawkhill Harriers,  Edinburgh AC,  Livingston and District AAC”, Penny had a very good career  as a runner which started when she won the Junior Championship in Edinburgh on February 10th, 1973, by four seconds from Ann Cherry of Fauldhouse.    The following year as a first year Intermediate, she was fourth, in ’75 she was third.   By 1976 Penny was a member of Edinburgh AC and was fifteenth in her first Senior women’s championship.   Progressing to 7th the next year she was selected as a reserve for the Scottish women’s team in the world cross-country championship.   She had come from Junior Girls racing to Senior Women’s racing and shown her mettle at all stages.   When asked how it all came about, she tells us:  

“I started running at the age of 14 having been to see Donald Macgregor running in the Munich Olympics. He taught German at the school I was at in St Andrews and was a good friend of Doug’s.   Fife schools started an under 15’s cross country championship and when PE staff were looking for girls to run Donald suggested my name. I came first equal and had suddenly found a sport I could do. I was small and skinny and not much good at anything else. In 1973 I won the Scottish Junior cross country champs from Ann Cherry.

It was shortly after that I/mum approached Alex Naylor to ask if he would coach me – he agreed and for the next 2 years I continued to improve. I represented Scottish schools at cross country and track. Cross country was my best and most enjoyable discipline.   I went to Edinburgh University in 1975, joined Edinburgh AC and was in Bill Walkers squad.

I did OK when at university although in my last couple of years at university stopped running due to injury and pressure of medical studies. I didn’t race for a number of years but started again in 1985 when I realised women wearing make up were running marathons! (If they could do it surely I could).   The first few years of my working life weren’t conducive to training/racing due to long hours and it wasn’t until I became a trainee GP that I became more competitive.

I was racing on the roads, cross country and track….nothing very outstanding but I was representing Scotland on road and country. At this time I also started hill running (cross country was rather tame and more like cross playing field)

I loved training and racing in the hills and represented Scotland in 4 Hill running World Cups (1988 Keswick, 1991 Zermatt, 1993 Gap and Telfes in 1996). In 1988, the Scottish Team (Tricia Calder, Joyce Salvona, Barbara Murray and me) won Team Bronze medals in the World Mountain Running Championships.

This was a full house – I had represented Scotland on the track-once in 1976, Cross country worlds 1988, hill running world cup 1988 and a number of internationals on the roads between 1985 and 1988 – sorry, I cant remember the details.”

Maybe we can help her a bit with dates.   In 1976, Penny ran a Junior International track 1500m against Belgium and Wales.   In 1975 she ran a Junior International cross-country match – the Billy Morton Trophy race. in which she was fourth Scottish counter and Scotland were second to England, but in front of NI and Wales.  In total between 1976 and 1988, Penny gained 9 Senior vests – two for road; seven for country.   She represented Scotland in the Glasgow Women’s 10k in 1987 and 1988.    In the World Mountain Running Championships, she was 11th and second Scot  in Keswick, 34th and third Scot in Zermatt, in Gap (France) she was 42nd and third Scot  and in Telfes 48th and third Scot.    Marvellous running by any standards.   Her track running was good and we can see the improvement over the years from her appearances in the Scottish ranking lists between 1972 and 1995.   

 

1972 1500 5.09.3 30
1973 1500 4.46.0 11
1974 800 2.20.4 19
1500 4.51.6 18
1975 800 2.20.2 23
1500 4.44.2 8
3000 10.33.6 9
1976 800 2.18.6 19
1500 4.38.5 8
3000 10.06.6 3
1977 800 2.17.3 20
1500 4.36.5 9
3000 10.17.4 7
1978 1500 4.35.3 11
3000 9.50.2 5
400H 69.6 17
1980 3000 10.46.2 22
1985 3000 9.49.9 14
1986 1500 4.35.6 21
3000 9.42.8 9
Mar 2.53.0 18
1987 1500 4.37.61 7
3000 9.50.5 17
Mar 2.54.27 10
1988 3000 10.06.6 22
1990 3000 10.25.0 34
1994 3000 10.38.5 38
1995 3000 10.41.6 32

Penny’s Track Championship Record:  Scottish: 3000 metres 1978 3rd; 1500 metres indoor 1975 1st, 1500 metres indoors 1976, 3rd

  • Married to Robin Rother 1979

In 1996 I also competed in my first triathlon – like many I moved into it due to running injuries and inability to train at the level I wanted without injury. I loved it!…and have never looked back. After a couple of years I started looking at the world age group championships and wondering if I was good enough to represent GB in my age group. Like athletics there is a world championships based on 5 year age groups, unlike athletics the elite and para triathletes also have their Grand Final at the same event. The benefit of being a young sport I guess.

Turns out I was good enough and since 2001 have been to 15 world championships. I have medalled on 10 occasions- 2 Gold (05,18), 6 silver (03,04,06,14,17,18) and 2 bronze(11,12)

The majority of these were at Olympic distance ( 1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run), 2 at sprint distance ( half of the olympic distance).

The next challenge is Ironman. I competed at IM Wales last year and qualified for World Ironman Champs in Kona  this year (Not sure it will be going ahead in October)

I retired from GP career in 2017 so now have time to train!

Details of the World Championships can be found at the following links:
01 Sep2019 4 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Lausanne 60-64 AG 02:45:49
01 Jun2019 3 2019 Weert ETU Triathlon European Championships 60-64 AG 02:31:49
16 Sep2018 2 2018 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Gold Coast 60-64 AG 02:21:58
13 Sep2018 1 2018 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Gold Coast 60-64 AG 01:13:36 Sprint
11 Aug2018 2 2018 Glasgow ETU Triathlon European Championships60-64 AG 1:20:53 Sprint
21 Jul2018 1 2018 Tartu ETU Triathlon European Championships 60-64 AG 02:21:40
17 Sep2017 2 2017 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Rotterdam 55-59 AG 01:18:49 Sprint
19 Sep2015 10 2015 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Chicago 55-59 AG 02:28:30
01 Sep2014 2 2014 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Edmonton 55-59 AG 02:26:39
15 Sep2013 3 2013 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final London 55-59 AG 02:18:09
11 Sep2011 3 2011 Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU World Championship Grand Final Beijing 50-54 AG 02:27:57
12 Sep2010 6 2010 Dextro Energy Triathlon – ITU Triathlon World Championship Grand Final Budapest 50-54 AG 02:12:19
02 Sep2007 4 2007 Hamburg BG Triathlon World Championships 45-49 AG 02:26:43
02 Sep 2006 2 2006 Lausanne ITU Triathlon World Championships 45-49 AG 02:33:19
09 Oct2005 1 2005 Honolulu ITU Age Group Triathlon World Championships 45-49 AG 02:19:30
04 May2009 2 2004 Madeira ITU Triathlon World Championships 45-49 AG 02:30:35*

We can look over her career as a triathlete so far by pointing out that competing for Great Britain in the ITU World Triathlon Series, where her roll of honour in the 45–49, 50–54 and 55–59 age group categories over the years includes a gold medal in Honolulu (USA), silver medals in Edmonton (Canada), Lausanne (Switzerland), Madeira (Portugal) and Queenstown (New Zealand), and bronze medals in London and Beijing (China).  Note too that she also won the National Triathlon Championships in 2009 and was British Triathlon Female Age Group Triathlete of the Year in 2005.

 

So far we have seen Penny the Runner and Penny the Triathlete.   Penny the Coach came next.   The photograph is testament to how successful and how happy she is in that role. The question is about how that came about.   She tells the story at the Connected Coaches website

(https://community.ukcoaching.org/spaces/3/coaching-adults/blogs/press-release/79/penny-from-heaven-award-winning-triathlon-coach-is-inspiring-women-to-achieve-their-fitness-goals }

“Her first steps into coaching came six years ago when she went along to the Great Scottish Swim at Strathclyde Country Park with three friends. Between them, they had 11 children, and afterwards, Penny asked them if they had ever thought about doing triathlon.   ‘They were just swimmers and said they had never cycled on the road and would be too scared. So I promised to teach them.’

Weeks later, she had successfully recruited several more members to the Edinburgh Road Club, which is the biggest cycling club in Scotland, with around a quarter of the 600-plus members triathletes.   ‘Using some of the club bikes, we met at one of the girls’ houses because she had a three year old she had to take across the road to nursery at 9am and be back at 11.30am. Then off we’d go.

‘We built up slowly until we competed as a group in a 100-mile sportive.’   The group has increased rapidly in numbers over the years, and there is no stipulation that you must train in all three triathlon disciplines.   Some women have gone on to compete at the World Age Group Championships, and others have taken part in seven-hour half Ironman competitions, but if you want to just swim, or join in the running or cycling sessions, then there is no pressure put on you to ‘up the ante’. “

That tells us about how Penny started out as a coach and a bit about the athletes she was working with.   But time goes on and coaches, if they are any good, develop.   She is now a   Level 3 triathlon coach and is a committed coach on the sportscotland Coaching Talent programme.   She has won many awards in various coaching capacities including:

  •  2015 British Triathlon Coach of the year,
  •  2015 Triathlon Scotland Participation Coach of the Year,
  • 2015 sportscotland Community Coach of the Year and
  • 2015 UK Coaching Awards Community Coach of the Year.

All the while coaching a number of athletes to world championship events, Penny has also specialised in helping women balance the commitments of a career, family and triathlon training at Edinburgh Road Club. ( Community Coach of the year for encouraging Mums to get involved in swimming).   Running (road, country, hills), swimming, biking as a performer, but she is now also an administrator in her capacity of member of the board of Triathlon Scotland as Age-Group director.    When appointed, she saw her three main priorities as age group director as being. 

  1.  Increase Scottish participation at World and European Championships.
  2.  Have more Scottish Qualifying races.
  3.  Educate clubs and athletes on ‘clean’ sport.

Age group director could be a full time job in its own right never mind the coaching, never mind the training for her own world class ambitions.  


You might think that being an international class runner and triathlete as well as an award winning coach would be enough for anyone, but Penney has another, newer event that has taken her fancy – the swimrun which really seems like a challenge.  She says of that one – “One of my favourites is one of me doing swimrun. This a newish concept of swimming and running. It entails swimming in your running shoes and running in your wetsuit!   It is done in pairs and involves multiple swims and multiple runs – the one I’ve done twice at Loch Lomond involves about 10 runs 1.5k-11k (total 25k) and 10 swims 400m- 2.8k (total 8k)   Great fun!”

I think she’s smiling in the photograph below!

She always said she would take up golf at 60 and bowls at 80.   So far she is resisting!

George and Margaret Lindsay

George Lindsay, Palm’s Dad

George Lindsay was a member of the Dundee Hawkhill Harriers from the mid-1920’s.  Margaret was a member from the start of the 1930’s and by that fact alone was one of the pioneers of the women’s sport in Scotland which was only just finding its feet then.   They would go to become field event officials, often working at the same international meetings and in the same events.  They were still active during the winter seasons however at cross-country events with Margaret destined to be a president of the Scottish Women’s Cross-Country Union and to travel all over Europe with national teams.  

He was a Hawkhill Harrier in 1928 and appears in a club photo of that date.   As athletes, both George and Margaret ran to a good standard in club championships and events, in inter-club meetings and in open sports contests all across the region.   They ran as individuals with George winning races at 100 yards, 220 yards and 440 yards and Margaret competing in 100 yards and 880 yards in open meetings, she won a Mile race in the club championships quite comfortably and both ran in winning relay teams for Hawkhill Harriers.   They even competed together in a wheelbarrow race at the combined Hawkhill and Errol sports meeting in 1938.   Margaret’s wider family was also involved in the Hawkhill camp with William Palmer winning shot, discus and javelin competitions at many meetings over several years and Betty Palmer also competing for the club.     George even won the club 5 mile championship early in his career with the Hawks in May 1927.   Like all club members of the day, he did what his club needed him to do. 

There were no veterans races in those days and like some others he gradually moved into officiating.   He worked as a Starter at local events and also got into judging. For example, he was a judge at the Perth to Dundee Walk on May 20th 1961. 

Dundee Hawkhill Harriers was one of the very first Ladies Clubs or Sections in the country.   It was established in November 1928 and won the national cross-country championship several times.   Margaret Palmer was also a club member, being a member at least in 1931-32, and she also appears in a club photo with the date printed on it,.   It was very big for a Ladies Section of the time with and amazing total of 41 members were there in the photo.   There may have been more as some might not have been there on the day. The family still have a cup which has “DHH Ladies Section 1934-35 Margaret Palmer” engraved on it.

Possibly the earliest women’s club group photo.   Taken right at the start of the women’s cross-country movement, they won the SWCCU Championships  twice, were second three times and third once in the seven years between 1932 and 1938  times.  A very big section, there are 41 women in all in the photograph.  Palm’s Mum is in the second back row, five from the right.

She came back into the sport when Palm started running and got involved with the Hawks becoming their President for a few years.  She was a member of the Scottish Women’s Cross-Country Union and was elected President of that body.  Serving in that position in 1973-74; 1974-75; 1975-76   she went all over the country and abroad with teams in this capacity.  As in many other such bodies, Presidency was only for three years.  

Among the international team duties she undertook were the following: 1974 IAAF World Champtionships Monza, 1976 she was at IAAF meeting at Chepstow, 1978 IAAFCC Glasgow, not sure if that was just as President or perhaps some were team manager.”

To pick up on these meetings, which were all big meetings with the best teams in the world at the time competing.

  •  in 1969 she was at ICCU meeting at Clydebank where the Scottish women’s team in 1969 finished fifth with Margaret McSherry leading the team in in 18th place.
  • in 1974 in Monza, Italy, there were 12 teams taking part and the Scottish team, led by Mary Stewart, was eighth.   Palm finished 63rd in the race.
  • in 1976 in Chepstow, Wales, again 12 teams contested the issue and the team was again led by Mary Stewart, ninth this time, and finished ninth.
  • in 1978, in Glasgow, 18 countries took part and Scotland, led by Judith Shepherd in 22nd place finished 16th.    

Margaret Lindsay on the right with Mrs Christie officiating in the sunshine.

Both men’s and women’s cross-country unions had a rule that you could only hold the office for three years.   For the men, the President was also the representative to the BAAB for three years.   One former President said that three years were no use – for the first year you were playing yourself in, you could do something in the second year but in the third year you were on your way out.  It is said that the women were the same but there is no solid evidence for this.   Margaret, Palm and Eleanor were all President of the Union but there is no list of Presidents anywhere with their dates in office.   The programme for the international in Clydebank in 1969 lists both Margaret and Palm among the list of officials.   As a team courier, Margaret is clearly among the great and the good of Scottish athletics from both men and women’s organisations.   Names like Jim Morton, Brian Goodwin, Colin Shields and Alex Johnston on the men’s side, and Pat Spence, Molly Wilmoth, Ishbel Peel and Aileen Lusk are well known in athletics circles with almost all having been presidents of at least one governing body.   Back in Dundee, the club was recognised their achievements and both were made life members of their club – as was Palm in her turn.   

The Scottish Team for San Sebastian in 1971.   Margaret, as team manager for the Women’s team, is fourth from the right.

Neither George nor Margaret restricted themselves to the country however.  They were active on the track and field circuit.   This was in In addition to being seriously involved in cross-country running.  They officiated at local meetings, district and national championships, and of course when the 1970 Commonwealth Games came to Edinburgh, they were both involved there.   George had progressed very rapidly through the ranks to become a Grade 1 field official when Margaret was still at level two, but she progressed steadily.   

In 1968 Margaret Lindsay was East District representative on the SWAAA General Committee.   Not listed as a committee member in 1969, she re-appears on the committee as the SWCCU representative.  As far as officiating goes, she was a Grade 3 field judge from 1968 – 1970 and  a Grade 2 from 1970 to 1985.    So in 1970 when she officiated at the Games, she was a Grade 2 judge.   Have a look at the names on the page extracted from the official Games programme.   Anybody who mattered was there, but more importantly, they were all very competent officials – they would not have been there otherwise.   You will note of course that Mrs AW Lindsay should read Mrs MA Lindsay.

In September 1973 the European Cup Final was held in Scotland – again in Edinburgh.   This time it was not a Scottish team but a Great Britain team in the final of one of the hardest fought competitions in athletics with every single point hotly contested.   There were only six countries involved – the Soviet Union, East Germany, West Germany, France, Britain, and Finland.   There was also a bit of an ‘atmosphere’ about it because of the drugs and doping issues and the rivalry between the two German teams was intense.   The Lindsays were right in the thick of it as the field events, particularly the throws, were the main focus.   A harder job than the Commonwealth Games had been.   

 

 

 

John Gunstone

John running in the SCCU Championships, probably Currie in 1972

With no previously known form – at least to those of us in the West and I suspect to many in the East of Scotland – John Gunstone was an unknown quantity when he arrived at Glasgow University in season 1971/72.   Who was he?   He was the second of the three Gunstone children.   Older brother Doug was well known by then and his younger sister Penny was yet to make her mark in the sport.  He ran mainly for Glasgow University between 1971 and 1975 joining a very good squad of runners  which included Olympian Paul Bannon, Commonwealth Games athlete David Logue and a whole group of good standard club runners.  John’s career as an athlete was successful but relatively short because his real interests lay elsewhere.   Mainly a road and cross-country runner he did run on the track in summer and was ranked nationally in both 1973 and 1974 which were his best years.

1973: 10,000 metres in 31.55.0 which ranked him 22nd in Scotland

 1973: Steeplechase  in 9.46.4 

1974 10,000 metres in 31.59.0 which ranked him 22nd.

Colin Youngson says: “John enjoyed his running at university but did not try to emulate his brother’s serious dedication.   He was a popular, sociable man who won team bronze with GU in the 1973 Junior National, when he finished tenth.   His progression over the country as a member of Glasgow University team began with 20th in the National in season 1971-72, the following year he was up to 10th in the race.   John also ran the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight stage relay for Glasgow University in 1972, when they were seventh, and he ran on the fourth stage catching and passing the Edinburgh University runner.   At the finish they were still that one place ahead of their east coast rivals.   In 1973, he ran on the tough second stage and dropped three places – two of whom were Colin Falconer (fastest time on the stage), Lawrie Reilly of Victoria Park and Ian Elliot of Edinburgh Southern.   His third run was in 1974 when he moved up from `4th to 12th .   His team mates in these races included such quality athletes as Willie Sheridan, Dave Logue, Paul Bannon with really solid club runners like Innis Mitchell, Stewart Crawford and Campbell Joss.     

 Captain of the Hares and Hounds in Season 1972-73,  President Jim Bogan at the Annual General Meeting praised John for his consistently excellent performances during that year. John was also elected as Public Relations Officer, Dunbartonshire AAA representative and joined the committee of the Glasgow University Athletics Club. In 1973, John Gunstone was awarded a Glasgow University Hares and Hounds Blue.

He did of course run in the University fixtures and  John’s best achievements during his time at GU (1971-75) included: two appearances for the Scottish Universities Cross-Country Team versus the SCCU Select; being a counting scorer in two Scottish Universities Cross-Country Championship team wins; a team win in the Dunbartonshire Cross-Country Championships; and victory in the Scottish Universities Road Relay.

He finished 11th in the Midland Cross-Country; 33rd in the British Universities Cross-Country and a fine 24th in the Scottish Senior National.   In the hilly Edinburgh University 10 Mile Road Race against a good quality field on 2nd March 1974, John Gunstone finished fourth in 51min 55sec.   Jim Bogan asserted that 1973-4 had been the best in the Hares and Hounds’ history. Famously, John suggested that the Club consider holding an Old Crocks’ race; the idea was favourably received.

John started running in season 1970/71 turning out for Hawkhill B team in the McAndrew Relays and then for the University B in November in the Midland District relay.   That was the start and as Colin has said he went on to good running career as a student.   Over his career at Glasgow, he ran in 22 different races, many only once but as far as major championships are concerned he was always there – the  National Cross Country (4), the Scottish Universities (4 ) and the British Universities (3) were all on the schedule with two races for Scottish Universities against the SCCU.   His championship record can be summarised as follows.

Season Race Place Time Team Comments
1971/72 ScotUnis 14th 36:16 1st
- SCCU (Junior) 20th 29:12 4th
1972/73 County 12th 35:36 2nd
- SCCU v ScotUnis 17th 29:40 2nd
- ScotUnis 10th 31:20 2nd
- BUSF 64th 38:01 12th
- Scottish junior 10th 26:06 3rd
- ScotUnis Trial 5th 24:44 1st
1973/74 SCCU v ScotUnis 30th 32:48
- ScotUnis 11th 33:30 1st
- BUSF 37th 47:26 5th
- Scottish 24th - -
- ScotUnis Trial 8th 33:18 1st
1974/75 County 6th 35:14 1st
- ScotUnis 9th 29:27 1st
- BUSF 39th 38:24 5th
- Scottish 36th 39:55

There were many other very good results in races like the Tom Scott 10 (11th in 1974 in 50:58), Glasgow University 5 Miles (10th in 26:08 in 1974), Grangemouth Road Race (8th in 1973), and the Edinburgh University 10 miles (5th in 1973 in 51:50).   The real big race that was not a championship as such was the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay and his performances therein have been discussed above by Colin.

When John left  University, he joined Victoria Park AAC and represented them in several races before leaving the sport in Scotland altogether.   A comment was made about the good quality team that he ran with at Glasgow University but the standard in the country generally at that time was very high indeed.   For instance in the 1973 when he was 10th that was an impressive result especially when you look who the first 6 were. Jim Brown, Laurie Spence, Lawrie Reilly, Ron MacDonald, Dave McMeekin and Frank Clement.  Then came  Alan Marshall in7th, followed by Dave Lorimer, Iain Moncur and Roy Baillie. Furthermore Willie Sheridan was 18th, and an A Hutton 23rd!   Exceptional runners all.   John has said that in connection with this profile, he was happy to be mentioned as a member of the family who enjoyed and took great pleasure from running.’

The family enjoyment of running continues as John’s daughters have done marathons, ultras and cycle mile after mile and one of his sons,  Jo, did  run for a while as a member of Fife for one year in the 90’s.    

 

 

Frank and Eleanor Gunstone

The photograph above was taken in the lounge of St Andrews Care Home on Saturday afternoon 24th March, Frank and Eleanor Gunstone celebrated their Platinum Wedding. Many friends and relatives gathered there to enjoy this very special occasion. Eleanor and Frank came to North East Fife in 1954 when Frank was appointed lecturer in Chemistry at St Andrews University.    They had three children (Douglas, John and Penny) who were all talented runners and the family was to have a big effect on Scottish athletics.   

Doug tells us that  “Dad’s involvement in athletics had been providing the car that was used to take us to races earlier in our athletic careers. However he was always very supportive and interested in what we were doing and was always happy for my mother to get involved.   He it was who got the Gunstone’s to Scotland, working in Glasgow University from 1946 before moving to St Andrews in 1954. He was born in Oldham before moving to Liverpool in his teens. My mother was a Liverpudlian.”   If you look up Frank Gunstone on the internet you will be told that he was a very gifted academic chemist and his entry in the Prabook website says: 

“Frank Denby Gunstone, British chemistry educator. Recipient AOCS Lipid award American Oil Chemists Society, Champaign, Illinois, 1973, Chevrul medal Association Francaise, 1990, Normann medal Deutsche Gessellschaft fur Fettwissenschaft, 1998. Fellow American Oil Chemists’ Society; member University Staff Club (honorary member, president 1983-1985).”   His career was listed as 

“Lecturer, U. Glasgow (Scotland), 1946-1954; lecturer, U. St. Andrews (Scotland), 1954-1959; senior lecturer, U. St. Andrews (Scotland), 1959-1965; reader, U. St. Andrews (Scotland), 1965-1970; professor, U. St. Andrews (Scotland), 1970-1989; honorary research professor, U. St. Andrews (Scotland), 1989-1996; honorary research fellow, Scottish Crop Research Institute, Dundee, since 1996. Consultant in field.”

The list of his publications is also available elsewhere on the net and it is considerable.   

Although Doug says that he was not really into the sport, he did nevertheless officiate at meetings – I remember officiating with him in the pole vault at the Scottish Championships at Grangemouth in 1979.   He was not nearly as involved as Eleanor was.    There was though an involvement with the sport in his schooldays where the only running he did was when for the school sports (which was not his thing) they said if anybody did the Mile their House would get 1 point so he and his brother started running the mile so they could take part in the school sports!!   He said he used to be the House Secretary so his contribution to running was recording the results for the school magazine. 

*

Eleanor was much more a force in the sport.   Daughter Penny tells us that: “Mum got into athletics because she used to spend her weekends driving me around events. Like many parents she started officiating so she had something to do whilst waiting around for me. I was born and brought up in St Andrews. There was no athletics club there at the time and when I started running I joined Dundee Hawkhill Harriers as Doug and Palm both ran for them.   Along with Donald Macgregor and Ronnie Morrison, Mum was instrumental in setting up St Andrews Athletics club.  St Andrews Athletics club later amalgamated with Cupar and Fife Southern AC, a Glenrothes/Kirkcaldy club, to form Fife AC.”

Doug corroborates this when he says, “Penny never really trained with the Hawks.   The training was done in St Andrews (similarly with me I very rarely trained in Dundee.   I didn’t need to!  From the month before I started at London I trained with Don Macgregor and learned a lot very quickly!))  Mum first got involved on the admin side of the sport in 1974 when a St Andrews Amateur Athletic Club started and a year later merged with Cupar and District AC to form Fife AC.” 

It is as an official at national level that most in Scottish athletics remember her.   She worked her way quickly through the various grades: beginning in 1973, she was a Grade 1 by 1985.   

By 1979 was a Grade 1 Track Judge and Grade 3 Judge for Throws and also for Jumps.   She very soon upgraded the two field events into Grade 1 and was a qualified Wind Gauge operator.   These plus experience gave her the Referee qualification as well.    At club level she progressed to club president, an office she held for three years.   Her progress through the administrative echelons of the sport was equally smooth.   The SWAAA Annual Reports tell us that in 1974 she was the East District Representative and then from 1975-82 she was Honorary Championship & Match Secretary.   Dropping the Match Secretary role, Eleanor was She was Honorary Secretary from 1982-85.   In 1982-83 EG was SWAAA representative on the BAAB with this role overlapping (1982 – 1985) as one of three  representatives to the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland.   

On the SWAAA Committee Eleanor became a member of the executive and was still in post in Scotland when the athletics governing body changed dramatically.   Scottish athletics had been organised by no fewer than six bodies – SAAA and SWAAA organised the track side of things, SCCU and SWCCU organised the cross-country season, the SSAA organised the schools athletics, the Hill Runners had their own organisation.   After a prolonged period they came together to form the Scottish Athletics Federation in season 1995/96.   Eleanor had been a powerful figure during the negotiations and when the new body was set up, she was Vice Convener of the Road and Cross Country Commission.   The setting up of this body was not without its problems, some of which were to do with money.    Eleanor was largely responsible for the establishment of the Scottish Women’s Road Running and Cross-Country Trust  which kept some of the money from the women’s governing body for the development of women’s endurance running in Scotland.   Many were not happy but the Trust has worked well to the benefit of women in the sport.

  

Extract from the Programme for the 1986 Commonwealth Games

Although she was an administrator and official of the highest quality, Penny tells us that “Mum was a teenager during the 2nd world war and her sporting life was curtailed by this. She used to jog with me to the track and then hold the stop watch for me. She did a little bit of running to keep herself fit and at the age of 79 competed in a ‘novice’ triathlon at Cupar. Distances were 400m swim, 12k bike and 3 k run.”

1986, Grangemouth: from the top: David Lyle, Dora Stephen,  –  , Netta Sinclair, Eleanor Gunstone (on the bottom step)..

Unlike many who are as involved in sport, indeed unlike many who involved in sport to a much lesser degree, she had a full life outside the competitive arena.   Apart from the family, she was a local politician of some note.   The following summary indicates that involvement.

*Eleanor served on Fife Regional Council and then Fife Council, before standing down in 2007.
* First becoming a councillor  in 1966, when  she began pursuing improvements to the sport and leisure facilities in the town.
*She lost her seat in 1971, but would return to politics later.
*In 1986 she returned as a councillor – this time representing the Motray ward.
*She would serve for 21 years, resenting Leuchars, Guardbridge and Balmullo until 2007.

Endurance seems to have been her forte – 21 years from 1986 in local government can seem like a lifetime.   This was another job that was done in a professional fashion, she would not have lasted as long otherwise.

It is of course eminently possible that one of the reasons that the younger family members remained in the sport was that the family did not have a narrow, sport focused lifestyle.   There would be many other things spoken of at the dining table or in the car.  Sport as only one part of life is perhaps essential for a continued love of it.   

Eleanor was the recipient of many awards but one that had a special place is the one mentioned by Penny when she says: “She received a long service award from British Athletics when she had been officiating for 40 years (considering she didn’t start officiating until the 2nd half of her 40’s that was some achievement). She also carried the Commonwealth Baton in St Andrews in 2014 – it was my sister-in-law Palm who nominated her for this. It was a proud moment for mum.”

Eleanor with the Games Torch
87-year-old Eleanor Gunstone, one of the founding members of the St Andrews Athletic Club, climbed out of her wheelchair to carry the baton by foot.

Ron Morrison wrote this tribute after Eleanor died in 2017.   It is to be found on the scottishathletics website.

Eleanor Gunstone was never anything more than a casual jogger but her impact on our sport is a legacy that most would be proud to have achieved.

Born 91 years ago in Liverpool, Eleanor joined her husband Frank in Glasgow in 1948 two years after he had taken a Lecturing job at the University of Glasgow.

Shortly afterwards, in 1954, Frank moved to the University of St Andrews and developed into a world class Lipid Chemist and at one time Vice–Principal of the University. Eleanor was happy to come in the package and it seems to have worked as Frank and Eleanor celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in March this year.

Eleanor’s interest in athletics started when her daughter Penny showed promise in endurance running and, being helped by Don Macgregor, they and many others set about developing a club in St Andrews in the early 1970s.

That soon combined with the already successful Cupar & District club in 1975 to form what is now Fife AC. Eleanor contributed many years of service on the Committee and lead it as President in 1988-1991.

Eleanor soon understood that the then governing bodies of our sport needed competent people to drive them forward. She was an Executive Member of the SWAA from 1974 until the formation of the SAF including being Honorary Secretary from 1983-6 and representing the SWAAA as a representative on the British Amateur Athletic Board. She was also a General Committee member of the SWCC&RRA from 1975 and Honorary Treasurer from 1977 until the formation of SAF in 1992.

When the SAF was formed by the amalgamation of the four Scottish Governing bodies, Eleanor embraced the challenge by being a member of the Interim Council and acting as both Vice–Convener and Convener of the RR&CC Commission 1992-1998.

Controversially, she set up the Scottish Women’s CC & RR Trust to ensure that the SWCCU monies were directed to women’s endurance running. It was these monies now administered by the SAL that allowed athletes like Freya Murray to benefit from high altitude training.

Eleanor Gunstone was a Grade 1 Track and Field Judge from 1973 officiating at numerous athletics events in Scotland. In addition she acted as referee at the Scottish Women’s Cross Country Championship, the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay and the six-stage National Men’s Road Relay Championships.

She convened International events, the East v West Women’s match and acted as International Team Manager at track and field, cross country and road running internationals.

As if she did not have enough to do, Eleanor Gunstone served as a local councillor from 1990 to 2007 in St Andrews.

My own favourite story of Eleanor is her insisting that anyone recording at a race must use a pencil and it had better be sharpened at both ends.

In 2014 Eleanor Gunstone was presented with an award for achieving 40 years of service by UK Athletics. Being unable to travel to the presentation in Solihull Eleanor received the award at the SAL AGM that year. Also in 2014 Eleanor carried the Queen’s baton for the Commonwealth Games as it passed through St Andrews.

Eleanor is survived by her husband Frank, their children Douglas, Penny and John, 10 Grandchildren and 11 Great Grand Children.

 

 

 

 

Douglas Gunstone

There is no doubt as to the quality of Doug’s running.   He has deservedly been the subject of a profile on this site in the marathon stars section.   An international runner on the road and over the country, multi medallist at the SAAA championships and one of the most consistent runners in the country from January to December for many a year.   But the extent of his family involvement in the sport is not really appreciated – even among his contemporaries.

Doug is the oldest of Frank and Eleanor’s children and was the first to take up running.   It is usually the parents that take the children along to an athletics club and on occasion a parent who comes along with a boy or a girl gets involved at some level.   In the Gunstones case, it might well have been Doug who started a dynasty which included his parents.   His father Frank was the man who provided the car that transported the children to the clubs and his mother Eleanor was a real driving force in the sport at national for decades and her involvement started with going along to training in St Andrews with Penny. 

Then Doug and Palm’s two children Kim and Neil were both introduced to the sport, enjoyed it as children and although Kim has a successful career away from the sport she is still running for pleasure and Neil, who is also very successful away from the running track, has had a very good career as an athlete and also continues to run for pleasure.    The family connection and contribution to the sport has been significant.

  Doug’s career in the sport can be outlined briefly here.  There were however several particularly notable events in which he played a major part and these will be noted here.   We can recap on his career a bit by noting that he appeared on the Scottish track running ranking lists on 38 occasions between 1969 and 1982.   They were in events ranging from 1500 metres through 3000 metres, 5000 metres, 10000 metres, 10 miles and the marathon.   Times are only one part of the assessment of any runner’s career, the competitive record should also be looked at and Doug has a Scottish championship record to be proud of :

1975 10000 1st, 1973 10 Miles 1st, 1975 10 Miles 1st – 3 first places at two distances

1976 10000 2nd, 1977 10000 2nd, 1976 Marathon 2nd , 1973 10000 2nd – 4 second places at two distances

1974 10000  3rd, 1978 10000 3rd; 1977 1500i 3rd – 3 third places at two distances.

There were of course many excellent races against the best of British opposition with trophies won, places gained and at times superb performances in an era when the sport in the country was at an undoubted peak.   His best individual performances at standard distances were 

Distance Time Year
1500 3:58.8 1972
3000 8:23.0 1973
8:21.4i 1971
5000 14:06.8 1972
10000 29:25.6 1972
10 Miles 48:55.4 1975
Marathon 2:19.07 1977

As we see from the picture below where he is surrounded by top international stars in Madrid (Doug is second from the left in the back row) he was a very good cross-country runner too.   

Colin Falconer, Doug, Bill Stoddart, Les Irvine, Eddie Knox and Lachie Stewart with team manager Ewen Murray kneeling.

One of the things that separated him from many of his contemporaries was his continued involvement in the sport once he was past his prime.    Nor did he compete on the veteran athletes circuit.   He went on racing as a senior man athlete against all the others in the country without the veteran or any other filter being applied.   He ran well, he got results.   He ran in total 44 consecutive times in the national cross country championships.

His last was in February 2012  and it was only when ill health stepped in. 

He couldn’t stay away however, and as soon as he could he started back into the sport running in parkruns, and local open road races.     His record over the period from 2010 as listed in the runbritain pages includes almost 100 races plus outings in League matches.   

Doug (267) running in the Tom Scott 10 miler in 1985

But while looking at his current athletic career do not forget that Doug was a very good cross-country runner who ran in the IAAF World Cross-Country Championships twice – once as a Junior in 1970, and once as a Senior in 1975.   His consistently high standard can be seen just by looking at the decade between 1970 to 1979 in the National.   

1970: 6th Junior; 1971: – ; 1972: 8th; 1973: 13th; 1974: 8th; 1975: 10th; 1976: 15th; 1977: 11th; 1978; 17th; 1979: 18th.

If we want to see how the scene had changed over this period, then we only need to look at the top cross-country runners.  In 1972 when he had his first run as a senior man, the first five were Ian McCafferty, J Alder, A Blamire, A McKean and L Stewart.   By 1979, the top five runners were N Muir, L Spence, J Brown, J Dingwall and G Rimmer.  

We can also mention two events which illustrate the standard at which he was running: 

  1.   He was part of the Edinburgh AC team that won the national cross-country championships with only 37 points – their six counting runners being in the first 11 with Jim Dingwall 13th and not a scoring man.   As Colin Shields tells it in the official history of the SCCU, it was one of the lowest scores in the history of the championship, indeed their next six counters would have been fourth team had they been a separate club.   Victorious Team – 6 in first 11; ie 1. A McKean, 2 A Weatherhead, 5. J Alder, 8.  A Wight , 10. D Gunstone, 11  J Wight.  37 pts;   ESH  101 pts.
  2.  He was part of  the Edinburgh AC team which had already shown pace and endurance the previous March when from 6 p.m. on 28th September 1974, at Meadowbank Stadium, Edinburgh Athletic Club broke the world record for the 24-hour 10-man x 1 mile relay. This outstanding feat even out-performed the world best for a composite team and the U.S. Olympic Training camp select, in addition to the record for members of a single athletics club.  

Their final distance was 297 miles 1145 yards (or 479.009 kilometres). This translates to an average of 4 minutes 50.27 minutes per mile. Most runners ran 31 or 32 miles with between 40 and 45 minutes between and only one dropped out.    Doug’s contribution was to run 31 separate miles with a top speed of 4:42 and a slowest mile of 5:04, with an average of 4:52.4 per mile.   

The heroes were: Jim Alder, Jim Dingwall, Doug Gunstone, Phil Hay, Danny and Ronnie Knowles, Alex Matheson, Joe Patton and, unsurprisingly, Alex and Jim Wight. Truly an amazing achievement.  

Following this feat there was a very interesting article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1859579/

To be part of a world record holding squad is quite an achievement.  Not many Scots can equal that – other than nine former EAC members!

back row from left Joe Patton, Twin Knowles, Doug Gunstone, Jim Alder, Jim Dingwall

Front row Twin Knowles, Phil Hay Alex Wight, Jim Wight and Alex Matheson.

The Knowles twins were notoriously difficult to distinguish even to their contemporaries in the EAC team


Doug also spent some time coaching the endurance runners of the Kingdom Juniors team, passing on some of the knowledge gained from many years of top class running.   Well liked in the running fraternity he can be seen in the picture below chatting with another top class runner from his own running days and enjoying the evening.

Earlier we spoke of his consistency but there is another statistic that he might call trivia but would amaze some and interest almost all Scots runners – he has run inside 15 minutes for 5000, no fewer than 53 times!   All run between April 1970 and May 1981.   Finally it should be pointed out that Doug, international runner, national champion, world record holder has never changed in his manner or his attitude but I maybe suspect that he is content to be called what he is – a lifelong runner.   To be a famous runner, as the Irish might say is quite an accolade.

Doug with Lachie Stewart at a reunion in 2012

Palm Gunstone

Palm winning the Tom Scott 10 Miles in 1985: winner in 66:42 

Palm Lindsay was brought up in a family associated with running.   All through her childhood her parents had been members of Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, first of all as runners and subsequently as officials, and her sister had also been a member of the club.   When Palm was about 13 years old her Dad took her along to the club where she started off being coached by Tom Crighton.   Her Dad was a starter in the area although the main starter was a chap called Sid Whyte. Palm is best known as a cross-country and road runner but before looking at that, it should be pointed out that she was actually a good track runner.   This was almost all at the start of her career and, although there was an overlap, the most successful and long lasting period came after the track running. 

Almost from the start she was performing well.   In the East District Track Championships in 1963 she was a medallist in the high jump (and she was ranked eleventh in Scotland in that event in 1969 too), and there were creditable performances in long jump and javelin too.   In 1964 she was first equal in the Harris School Sports Championship.   Club champion in 1966, 1968, 1969 and 1974, there were successes in the East District Track championships too.   In 1965 she was first intermediate in the 880 yards and in 1967 second in the Mile.   

Competitively, Palm’s track championship record there was also good.   In the District Championships, she won the 3000 metres 1971, 1973 and 1974, and in the 1500m in those years she was second, third and first.   Places in the National championships were also hard fought, partly because there were so many England based runners coming up who only ever set foot on a Scottish track , but nevertheless Palm raced well.   On 23rd June 1973 she was third in the 3000m and also a member of the Medley Relay team that finished third.   On 22nd June 1974 there was a second in the 3000m and a fifth place in the 1500m.   Also in 1973, she won the indoor 1500m, with a very convincing victory.   The results read: 1.   P Gunstone 4:47.9;  2.  F McKenzie (Pitreavie)  4:58.9;  3.  L Inglis (Edinburgh AC)  5:00.3.

Palm’s rankings in the official Scottish track statistics lists are as below.  She had personal bests of 5:03.1 for 1500m indoors, 4:57.02 for the same distance outdoors, and 10:40.8 for the 3000m.       

Year event performance ranking
1965 880y 2.37.0 20
1966 HJ 1.45 11
1968 1M 5.55.2 19
1971 1500 5.03.3 16
1971 3000 10.58.2 6
1972 3000 11.16.0e 1
1973 1500 5.03.7i 24
1973 3000 10.40.8 6
1974 1500 4.57.02 2
1974 3000 10.29.0 7

There were also good performances in field events other than the high jump – eg the javelin and long jump – but distance running was always her forte.   

 

The Hawkhill team after the first SWCCU Championship win

Palm, Joan Will, Ina Coull and Christine Haskett

By 1969, Palm was a very good cross-country runner, a member of the group coached by the well-known Dundee coach Harry Bennet.   She was successful at club, District and National level, ran against the best in Britain in the English championships and in International Championships.     In the club championships, she was victorious in 1964/5, 1965/6, 1967/8, 1968/9 and 1973/74; in the East District championships, there was a third place in 1971, and then first in 1972, 1973 and 1974.   The next step up the competitive ladder was the National Championships where she competed every year from 1969 to 1976. which should maybe be looked at in more detail.   

Her first Scottish National Team Gold medal came in season 1969/70 when Christine Haskett (2nd), Palm (10th) and Joan Will (20th) won the title.   It was a time when there were real speedsters at the top of women’s cross-country in Scotland and the top ten in Palm’s race were 1st M McSherry;  2nd.  C Haskett;  3rd.  S Fitzmaurice;   4th.  S Kirk;  5th.  A Barrass;  6th.  M Speedman;  7th.   K Mackie;  8th.  D Greig;  9th.  L Watson;  10th.  P Lindsay .   There were quite a few very fast runners behind her too – eg Georgena Craig was eleventh.   Four of the first five in the race were Anglo-Scots.   Every one of them was a top ranked track runner and two would go on to become very good marathon runners.   Palm’s run in tenth was a very good one.      The following year  (1970/71) the Dundee trio successfully defended their title but all moved up the field a bit – Christine won, Palm was 7th and Joan 14th.   Finishing places were 1st C Haskett;  2nd  M McSherry;  3rd A Barrass;  4th  S Sutherland;  5th  B Grinney;   6th  R Murphy;  7th   P Lindsay;  8th.  M Speedman;  9th  L Watson;  10th  D Greig.   The unfortunate thing for Palm about this race was that she was only a single second behind Rose Murphy of Bathgate and that cost her a place in the international st San Sebastian as the first six were picked.     By 1971/72  Margaret McSherry was Mrs Coomber.  Palm was again the top ten and Hawkhill won the title for the third consecutive year.    The winning team was Christine  2nd, Palm 9th and Fiona Murdoch 13th with Joan Will in 14th.   Places at the finish were 1st M Coomber;  2nd  C Haskett;  3rd  A Barrass;  4th  M Chambers;  5th  B Stone;  6th.  W Sosinska; 7th  P Spence;  8th  E McCulloch;  9th  P Lindsay;  10th  S Henderson.    Again four of the first five were English women.

Like the other members of the winning teams, Palm’s training and racing had been guided by Harry Bennett, the well known coach at Dundee Hawkhill.   Times change, athletes change too and Palm’s running  and the success that she enjoyed after that were down to Doug’s guidance.   She chose her own routes and long runs and decided when they had to be done, but Doug kept her on the right path with the various sessions such as hill sessions, Fartlek and rep sessions and how often to include them.   They enhanced her enjoyment of the sport, attitude to it and the many successes that came thereafter.

Winning teams do not usually happen by accident.  The fact that Christine, a quite superb athlete, Palm and Joan were all SWAAA medallists in the track over 1500m and 3000m was obviously a key factor in their success.     In 1972/73 Palm was Mrs Gunstone and finished fifth.   The team was  unplaced partly because Christine Haskett was running for Stretford in England and the Athletics Weekly had  this to say about the race: In the Senior race Christine Haskett – now training in social science in England and entered from Stretford AC – broke away from holder Margaret Coomber and Ann Barrass in the last quarter of the race to win impressively.   With Mary Chambers fourth, Palm Gunstone – top of the domestic scene all winter – was the first home Scot in fifth position.   Dale Greig with eyes on the Boston Marathon in April, was happy with her finishing position in the first dozen.”   An interesting wee sidebar is revealed in the following comment, also from Athletics Weekly: “In the Junior Race Anne Cherry was bidding for her third title in a row, but could not shake off Penny Gunstone, who finally broke the “Fauldhouse Flyer” in the run-in to win by four seconds.”   Palm’s place gained her her first selection for the international, held in Belgium that year, where she finished 74th.  

The club had also, run well in the Scottish Road Relay Championships with Palm having good runs all the time.   The club was second in 1970 and she had the third fastest lap time; second again in 1972 and in 1973 they won the race with Palm having the fastest time of the day.   

In 1973/74 the winner was Moira O’Boyle from three Anglo-Scots in Haskett (Stretford), Barrass (Aldershot) and Purseglove (Westbury) with Palm in fifth place.   The ‘Athletics in Scotland’ magazine reported that Palm Gunstonewife of Douglas, ran one of the best races of her career to finish fifth overall in the race in 23:17, thus clinching her place in the Inter-Territorial Championships at Leicester on the 23rd.’   This race on the 23rd was to be a quite momentous event.   Palm thinks it was the best race she ever ran.   The lengthy report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ which came under the headline of “Scots selectors saved from embarrassment” read:

‘The 12 women who select Scotland’s cross-country teams will meet on Wednesday to choose six senior runners for the women’s cross-country international at Monza, Italy on March 16th.   Quite a few of them will be breathing sighs of relief after having seen the resukts of the English cross-country championships on Saturday, because one potentially embarrassing situation has been thankfully avoided.   

The difficulty stems from the presence among the selectors of Mrs Lindsay whose daughter, Mrs Pam Gunstone, is a strong contender for a team place.   The fly in the ointment is one Mrs Arlene Purseglove – no, not a character in an Ian Fleming novel but a little known Anglo-Scot who came fourth in the Scottish championships two weeks ago beating Mrs Gunstone into fifth place.   Consternation in the ranks.   The three others ahead of the aforementioned Miss Purseglove are all certain of selection.   Moira O’Boyle, Christine Haskett and Ann Barrass.   Add to them the 16 carat certainty Mary Stewart must be despite missing the Scottish and English races, and the other top ranked Anglo-Scot Margaret Coomber and one reaches the conclusion that the remaining sixth place is a toss-up between Miss Purseglove and Mrs Gunstone.    

In Saturday’s English championship race at Leicester Mrs Gunstone ran the race of her life by finishing 22nd in a field of 200, but what was more important to her, and no doubt to her mother, she finished 13 places in front of Miss Purseglove who was running for the London club Westbury Harriers.   Wednesday night’s deliberations will certainly focus on the relative merits of these two girls, but with Mrs Gunstone showing immense improvement this year, I doubt if the 12 selectors need feel any embarrassment at plumping for their colleague’s daughter.’  

Doug was selected for the men’s team and both represented Scotland in Italy in March.   

Scottish women’s team for Monza in 1974 – Palm on extreme left.

In 1974/75 Palm finished fourth – her highest placing since her debut in the senior event in 1969.   In the race, held at Lesmahagow, the first three were all Anglos and Palm,who according to the Athletics Weekly ‘ran most of the race in isolation’ again had to wait for selection since neither Mary Stewart, another Anglo who could not fly up from Birmingham because of a strike at the airport, nor Moira O’Boyle, suffering the effects of of smallpox vaccinations, could run.   She was selected however, and finished 67th in the race held at Rabat in Morocco.   She had earlier – on 18th January that year, run for the Scottish team, crossing the line in 14th,  that finished second to England in the Home International held in Coatbridge.   

By winter 1975/76 Palm had basically stopped serious training.   Doug and herself had moved to Lenzie, near Glasgow, and she turned out in the National Championships that year as part of the Victoria Park team and – with Moira O’Boyle in second, Noreen O’Boyle being 26th and Palm in 28th – won another medal in the team championships, silver this time to go with the three golds with Hawkhill.   

Palm and Margaret Coomber in Leicester, 1974

Over the period between 1969 and 1975 Palm had run in every English National Cross-Country Championship: 1969  –  Aldershot  –  51st, ; 1970  –  Blackburn  –  52nd; 1971  –  Wolverhampton  –  44th; 1972  –  High Wycombe  –  61st; 1973  –  Rawtenstall  –  33rd; 1974  –  Leicester  –  23rd; 1975  –  Parliament Hill  –  28th.    These races often incorporate domestic international matches – as the photograph above shows

 “The individual I admired and think greatly of, and who gave me the desire to compete in cross-country, road and hill running was Dale Greig.   She was quite a private person but once I got to know her I found her to be one of the most under-rated of athletes.   Dale was a true pioneer of women’s cross-country and road running, and it’s a shame that the majority of women competing in these mass events will never have heard of Dale, or realise that without the determination she had to get women included in all types of races a lot of  races in Scotland would not exist today.”   

Given these comments and the inspirational effect of her friendship with Dale, it should be no surprise that she ran a marathon – the 1981 version of the London Marathon where she ran a very creditable time of 4 hours 14 minutes and 40 seconds, given that with two very young children and limited training it was a good run.   The following year she again tackled the event taking four minutes from that time (4:10:39).   Palm’s running from this point was entirely road and cross-country with some hill running added.    She returned to the East District Cross-Country Championships where she had performed so well in the past and in 1983 finished 14th with 19th place in 1984 being good enough to help Hawkhill to a team bronze medal.   These were probably good enough to win veterans medals because her running at that point was good enough to win the Scottish Vets Cross-Country medals in 1984 (1st) and 1985 (2nd).   In 1984 she had a really active and successful series of races including 

4th February, Scottish Vets Championships, 1st

11th August, Largo Law Hill Race, 1st

26th August, Glasgow Hospice 10K, 1st Vet

7th October, Vets Races Victoria Park Road, 1st

4th November, Vets Races, Aberdeen Cross Country, 1st

 In 1985 the SWCCU Road Race 10K Championship, incorporating the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice run, was held in Glasgow.   Palm entered and ran well – so well that she was first veteran and Scottish champion.    First veteran in this Ladies Only race was no easy task.     It was to be a good day for Dundee – Liz Lynch, home from America, won the race and Palm was first vet to finish.   

Palm wins the Glasgow 10K Race 

Her principal races that year were as follows.

24th February 1985, Scottish Vets Championships, 2nd

13th April, Tom Scott 10M, 1st Lady + 1st Lady Vet

19th May, Glenrothes Half Marathon, 1st Vet and 2nd Lady

2nd June,  Glasgow Hospice 10K, 1st Vet.  

16th June, Lomonds of Fife Hill Race, 1st

4th August, Auchtermuchty, 1st

10th August, Largo Law Hill Race, 2nd Lady

The London Marathon experiences inspired Palm to aim for her home town version – the Dundee Marathon was one of many that had sprung up across Scotland at the time, and this one was given a big build up including regular daily radio slots by Donald Macgregor on training for the distance as well as schedules in the local papers.  It was to be held on 28th April when the weather could have been expected to be fairly good for distance running.  However, Pressreader tells us that ‘April showers were in full flow as runners from across the country flocked to Dundee …” and after the race Doug, Scottish Marathon Club treasurer at that point, reported on the race with an opening line of ‘“A cold, if not gale force, westerly wind greeted runners and soon after halfway, even for the leaders, this was accompanied by sleet. This made life miserable.”   Neither did full justice to the conditions – it was maybe sleet at the finish, but it was certainly snow during the race!   Palm had been training hard and hoping for a sub-3 hours time.   It was all planned carefully including deciding which male runners to run with.   But the race stewards had other ideas and separated the men from the women by a rope which split the road in half with women on one side and men on the other.   In addition they were lined up alongside the fast men.   She started a bit quickly but then the sun which had been shining brightly at the start changed to snow.   In short sleeves and not wearing gloves she was frozen by the time her Mum had managed to get a pair of glove to her at about halfway.   All the runners were suffering to some extent – Palm points out that the runner in front of her was given an anorak by a spectator!   She started walking for a bit but a friend in the race caught up with her and encouraged her to press on because a 3:15 time was on.   She didn’t quite make that but her finishing time was 3:17:39.   As Doug said in his article for the SMC Magazine, “This (weather) made life miserable.”     It was still a very respectable time.  

It has been really memorable career so far – a good track runner, a very good road runner and an international cross-country athlete.   She really loves running and there have been moments and memories scattered through her career in the sport.   For instance, she ran in the Around Cumbria race in 1978 when her daughter was about 9 months old after being invited by Dale Greig.   Dale was concerned after persuading the organisers to put on a women’s race that nobody but herself seemed to be going to turn up so she asked Palm if she would go.  She really only went as it was Dale who asked and didn’t want all her efforts to be wasted or her embarrassed as they had put up a trophy.

Then there was the cycling.   Another unknown was that she joined the Heatherbell Ladies Club back in the late 1960’s because she was friends with some of the cyclists:  and on 3rd June 1969 she took part in their club championship 15 mile time trial.   Despite falling from her bike at a turn, she won the Novice Trophy and gained their bronze standard for her time of 44:04.   Palm at that time used to attend a circuit class and one of the cycling coaches there had maintained that cyclists were only ‘bike fit’ and not physically fit.  He encouraged her to take part in the championships where the competitors went off at one minute intervals – she nearly caught one of the top club members.   Fortunately for us, she decided to stay with athletics!

The programme above is a reminder that Palm is more than just a runner of serious ability.   In addition to being a talented athlete, Palm was also an effective and efficient administrator in the sport  where she was Scottish Women’s Cross-Country Union Secretary in 1969/70, 1970/71 and 1971/72.   This was followed by three years as President in 1979-80; 1980-81; 1981-82.  By the time of the 1970 Empire and Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, she had already officiated at the international cross-country championships in Clydebank in 1969.   The late 1960’s and 1970’s were a very significant period in Scottish athletics with the sport enjoying a high profile.   Palm’s name can be seen at the foot of the page as one of the Communications team.   When asked, she tells us that her job was to answer the telephone if and when the judges phoned up with any queries.   As one who has been in a similar team for the GB championships at Meadowbank, it is not a sinecure but as Palm said, they were housed up in the box which overlooked the entire arena so they had the best seats in the house.   Not all tasks which were allotted to her as Secretary or President of the Union would be as rewarding.   

It all comes back to the running though and we can close by echoing Palm’s comments that she is glad she discovered road and cross country running.   Reasons?   The officials who would stand in all sorts of weather encouraging all runners right down to the last across the line; the runners who are very friendly and always friends for life and finally because she has seen parts of the world she would not otherwise have seen at the time.