Category: Uncategorized

A Group of U17’s: Graeme Reid, Jamie Hendry, David Moore and Denis McGinley

All Schools and SAAA Age Group Internationalists, Graeme of course was SCCU Senior Man CC Champion in 2003

Denis McGinley

Graeme Forbes at Stretford

Scottish Medley Relay Champions, 1995: David McColm, Des Roache, Craig McDaid, Donald Govan

Des with the Trophy

Scottish Medley Relay Winners, 1994: Grant Graham, Graeme Forbes, Ruaridh Graham and Donald Govan

Grant with the Trophy

After a very good season, Clydesdale Harriers were awarded the Clydebank Sports Council Team of the Year Award

Jmaie Hendry to James Austin in the Edinburgh to Glasgow

Ewan Calvert to Derek Halpin in the Edinburgh to Glasgow

Group in Lanzarote: Ewan, Allan, Steve Moseley (Cardiff), Peter, Ian Gillespie (Bristol), John <cFadyen, Grant

Kheredine and Ewan Warming up.

Mark Govan

Graeme R, Mark, Graeme F,Des,  Kheredine, Allan and Matt Davies (Woodford Green), with Julie McDevitt and Charlotte McConnell (CoG) in front.

Allan and Grant in Lanzarote

The Bike Ride, Lanzarote: John, Steve, Ewan, Allan, Tim Grose (Serpentine Runners), Ian, Grant, Matt

 

More to come

 

 

Into the 1990’s and there were so many good runners in the squads – not all at the same time – but there were the 800/1500m men of the mid 90’s, the distance men of the mid and late 90’s, the excellent junior men all through the period, Scottish and British internationalists, Scottish and British champions as well as many very good club runners.   Let’s start with a group ..

As Staff Coach, I invited Steve Cram up to talk to some Under 20 athletes and their coaches.   Lots of easily identifiable faces in this one.

Des, Grant an Shane Daly at sponsored relay in Clydebank

Allan Adams and Des Roach on a Sunday morning run

Allan Adams

Billy Jenkins in the SAAA 10K, Strathclyde Park

Bobby Rosborough, Allan Adams, Peter Halpin, Grant Graham and Des Roache with Mark Govan at the back (he stopped to tie a lace)

SAAA 800m final: Des leads from Tom McKean, Tony Morrell, Ewan Calvert (31), Gary Brown and Paul Walker

Same Cast, same race, slightly later

Grant Graham, winning 1500m, Small Nations International, Cardiff

Mark Govan

 

James Austin, West District Championships, Stepps

Tommy Murray, Glen Stewart and Allan Adams

First Three, Bellahouston, James Austin, Tommy Murray, Stewart Bell

West District Relay Champions, Lenzie, 1995: Ewan, James, Grant and Des.

Ewan, first on the first stage in Lenzie

Shane, third on the first stage in Lenzie, 1995

Des, first on second stage in Lenzie, 1995

Kheredine, third on second stage for the B Team at Lenzie, 1995

Grant, first on third leg in Lenzie, 1995

Grant to James in first place at Lenzie, 1995

Allan Adams and Peter Halpin in La Santa, Lanzarote

Kheredine, Ewan and Grant in Alfa Mar, Portugal

Kheredine training in the pool at Lanzarote in the flotation jacket

Ewan, Peter, Grant, Kheredine in Lanzarote

Ewan leading Grant, Kheredine and John McFadyen (Greenock Glenpark) at La Santa

 

Many more to come -Go to 90’s Photographs     Part 2

Picture above was taken at Westerlands in early 1960’s – Jim Spence, Colin Martin, Albert Smith, Bert McKay, Alex Brown, Lachie Stewart, Alistair Milroy, Ian McCafferty, Hugh McErlean, Jim Brennan, Brian McAusland

I started coaching in season 1961-62 with the Ladies section and went on to coach some Boys, Youths and Juniors.   The girls were very good but unfortunately I don’t have a single photograph of any of the girls despite the fact that the group included Schools and age group internationals and won medals at the SAAA and, in Ann Hannah’s case, WAAA level.   However I was still running and racing seriously at the time and many of the photographs below are of training partners and racing rivals.

One of my all-time heroes and a great friend, Ian Donald who joined the club from Shettleston in 1964 and died tragically early in 1980

Ian Leggett, another good friend and team mate.   Seen here finishing the Nigel Barge Race – the same one as Ian Donald above

.Johnny B Maclachlan, a very good runner indeed who retired from the sport far too early

also finishing in the Barge

Cyril O’Boyle to Bobby Shields at the second changeover in the E-G

West District Relays at Cleland Estate: receiving the baton from Neil Buchanan

Handing over to Bobby Shields in the same West Districts at Cleland

Pat Younger and Roy Clarke

Allan Sharp (73) and Jack Girvan

Bobby Shields in the Ben Nevis Race.  

Another hero: David M Bowman who was a good marathon runner after the War and became a top class official and administrator.   David was President of Clydesdale Harrier, the Dunbartonshire Association, the Scottish Marathon Club and the Inter-Counties Association in the same year.   He was also responsble for a great deal of the planning for the Commonwealth Games Marathon in both 1970 and 1986.   At the time of this phorotgraph he was in his erly 50’s.

Pat Younger as a veteran running in the Ben Nevis race

Frank Kielty leading here was a wonderful character and philosopher who would argue any case in any argument and usually win; Andy Park behind him was one of the first male athletes I ever coached.   Anything but elegant he was a genuine character and people travelled across Glasgow just to see his race in the midweek league which was organised by Alex Naylor, Bert Winter and others.   Any ran in everything right up to the Edinburgh to Glasgow but his career was ended when he was seriously injured with the Army in Ireland.

Bobby Shields running in the Edinburgh to Glasgow

Coatbridge, 1986

Having been involved in athletics since 1957, I have some photographs covering that period.  I have actually been involved continuously for 62 years so far.  There are some of people I have trained and run against and with, there are also some of athletes I have coached or who have trained with one or other of the groups.  Some of the pictures have been posted on facebook pages or websites and just recently I was asked to put some of my own up as a collection.   As a result I will put up pictures from each of the decades from the 1950’s to the present.  First there are some from the 1970’s and the 1980’s.  Just follow the links below.

  The 50’s   The  60’s    The 1970’s    The 1980’s    The 1990’s   The 00’s

Robert McWatt, on the left below, was the first Junior or Senior Scottish international athlete that I coached.  He was selected for the Scottish team in February 1978.   A talented athlete who raced successfully at a tremendous range of distances from 800m and he even ran a 2:30 marathon.   I never coached Phil Dolan, but we ran in many a team together and even travelled to Boston in April 1977 for the marathon there.   

With Robert and Phil at the late, lamented Westerlands.

George Carlin in the steeplechase at the DAAA Championships at Scotstoun

George was one of the most naturally talented runners I worked with: a contemporary of Robert’s he was good at most distance track events but probably best as a cross-country and hill runner.

Robert finishing the Aberdeen Marathon in 2:30

Coach leading his bit of the field in the National at Livingston

Some of the younger ones of that period: John Cassidy, Denis Williams (coached at that time by Denis McGinley), Richie McGroggan and Lawrie McLafferty

Robert (and Phil) running in the SAAA 5000m at Meadowbank

Coach, second left, starting in the Edinburgh to Glasgow at the start of the decade

Robert in an 800m at Westerlands behind Graham Williamson and ahead of Ian Smith

Richie McGroggan receiving the Senior Boys’ Cross-Country Trophy from the club secretary

I was still running seriously for most of the 70’s and, living in Lenzie, I trained regularly wit Alastair Macfarlane, Doug Gunstone and Bill Ramage.   There were also the sessions at Clydebank with Ian Donald and Allan Faulds of course and the result was some of the best running I ever did.

Allan Faulds leading Don Macgregor, Martin Craven and Fergus Murray

Alastair en route to winning the SAAA Marathon in 1979

After the SAAA Track 10 Miles: Colin Youngson (2nd), Doug  Gunstone (1st), Martin Craven (3rd)

 

Most of the photographs on this page are of athletes I was coaching, or who were in the group at the time, either training or racing.   Above is one of my own favourites – taken by Robert Chalmers at Coatbridge when Alex Gilmour was giving me some advice and neither of us was aware of the camera!    These are only some of the photos from the 80’s – more may well be added as time goes by.

Companion to the one above: also Robert Chalmers sneaking up – this time it was Jim Orr who was telling me what to do.

Tom Rhodes (Cambuslang), Pat Morris, (Cambuslang), Paul Ross (Clydesdale), Charlie McIntosh (Clydesdale), Hugh Forgie (Law & Dist), Douglas McDonald (Clydesdale)

Jim Orr, Alex Gilmour, Paul Doran (Clydesdale), Graham Getty (Bellahouston), Bob Anderson (Cambuslang)

Jim Orr and Alex Gilmour

Group leaving the track at Coatbridge: includes Mike Gallagher (Maryhill), Alex Chalmers (Springburn), Bob Anderson, Tom Rhodes, Pat Morris (all Cambuslang), Graham Getty (Bellahouston), Hugh Forgie (Law), Douglas McDonald, Derek McGinley, James Austin (all Clydesdale), Alex Gilmour (Cambuslang), me, Jim Orr, Charlie Thomson (Cambuslang), Sam Wallace (Cambuslang)

Crown Point: Derek Halpin (Clydesdale), Sam Wallace (Cambuslang), Struan Marshall (Clydesdale), Paul McEvoy (Cambuslang).

Hugh Forgie and Paul Ross on the third stage of the Edinburgh to Glasgow

Tommy Murray, Alex Gilmour, John McKay and Robert Fitzsimmons in the Dunky Wright Road Race

Alex Chalmers (13) following Alaister Russell of Law & District at Coatbridge

In 1986 we had the British Milers Club two day conference and AGM at Jordanhill and the following photos are from that event

The mass warm up: some of our runners here are Jim Orr and Kevin Newberry, with other top athletes such as Chris Robison, Elspeth Turner also doing their bit.   

.Peter Coe, left, Jim Bannerman, centre

Sean Kyle, left, Alex Naylor, centre

Sam Wallace, Bryan Murray and Eddie Stewart looking puzzled or sceptical about something Frank Horwill said.

Hylda Stewart (Clydesdale)

Sam Wallace following Gerry McCann in the West District U17 Championship at Wishaw: Sam won

Sam Wallace at Wishaw in 1986 – Robert Fitzgerald second, John MacKay third

Peter Halpin (Clydesdale) at Scotstoun

Bobby Rosborough (Clydesdale) middle, in the National at Irvine

Peter Halpin in the 4 x 400 relay at Meadowbank

Alex Gilmour battling Chris Robison (Spango Valley) in the E – G

…

‘Ming’ Campbell wins at Westerlands

St Andrews was first University out of the blocks when they had a home match against the powerful team.   They had eight victories (M Tretheway 20 yards, D Dempsey 440 yards, M Davies 880 yards, M Snow (Javelin), H Cameron (Hammer) and C Kelk in the triple jump plus both relays, but lost the match 103 to 95.   This was largely due to the four victories won by Norrie Foster but  at least they had started on the summer campaign with victories in sprints, middle distance, jumps and throws.   At times it was thought that St Andrews University did not take the sport too seriously, but in the Scottish League, Division 1, for that summer we see that their fixtures in May away from the University circuit, were as follows:   

On May 5th, away to Bellahouston H; May 8th: Octavians were hosts to St Andrews and Edinburgh Southern; May15th at Scotstoun, Victoria Park, Ayr Seaforth and St Andrews.

A week later, 24th April, 1965, Glasgow University went to Aberdeen and won as they were expected to do.   Their track men were outstanding:  Campbell won the 100 and 220 yards, R Mayberry won the 440, B Scobie won the 880 yards, RD Baillie won the 3 miles, Brown won both hurdles races and they won both relays.   The only track event that Aberdeen won was the Mile where Bill Ewing was victorious.   It was a different tale in the field events however with the home team winning all but two (high Jump and shot putt).   Their winners were J Grant Long jump, Bernie Nottage the triple jump, Taylor won the Discus, Fowlie the javelin and Wilkie the hammer.   Fowlie’s javelin was one of the features of the meeting when he threw 193′ 3″.   The other notable performances were by Min Campbell who equalled ground records in both sprints.

On the same afternoon, at Craiglockhart, Edinburgh University defeated both Strathclyde University and Queen’s Belfast.   Doug Edmunds of Strathclyde set a new personal best of 51′ 8″ in the shot, and Lawrie Bryce, who had thrown the hammer 188′ in midweek, easily won the hammer here with 178′.   

On 1st May it was Glasgow’s turn to beat Queen’s when they went to Ireland for the triangular fixture against that university and St Andrews.   Glasgow’s men scored 83 points against Queen’s 67 and St Andrews 23; and in the women’s contest, Queen’s won with 42 1/2 to Glasgow’s 34 1/2 and St Andrews 20.   The match which was to have been held on anew all weather track had been transferred to a grass track (of doubtful mainenance) and with the win that was blowing, the 100 yards and 120 yards hurdles races were held on the back straight to get the following wind.   Nobody else benefited in that way.   Glasgow’s men  won the 100, 220, 440, 880, 3 miles, 120y hurdles, 440 yards Hurdles, the relay, the shot putt and the pole vault; their women won only two events, the high jump and the shot.     The Glasgow B team took on Strathclyde and Aberdeen Universities plus St Modans at Westerlands and finished a dismal last with 9 points.   It was Strathclyde that was triumphant with 48 points, St Modans had 32 and Aberdeen, ‘unexpected arrivals for the match’, had 14.    C Stewart (S) won the 440 hurdles by 50 yards in 51.1, and Edmunds (S) won the shot by 10′.   

One week later, 8th May, the Glasgow University Club Championships had many excellent athletes competing – WM Campbell, RD Baillie, Norrie Foster, Brian Scobie – but times and performances were all verypoor simply because of the weather.   It was decided to run the sprints with the wind at the back of the runners and Campbell’s 100 yards was done in 9.6 seconds.   He won the 100, 220 and 440 yards, but in many events the number of competitors was small – two in the half mile, three miles, 440 hurdles and some others.   RD Baillie won the Biles Trophy for the most meritrious performance when he won the Three Miles in 14:37.8.   Came the 15th and the British Universities Championships were held at Liverpool on Friday and Saturday.   Among many very good performances from the Scots on the second day, Ming Campbell won the 220, Barclay Kennedy was second in the 440, Bill Ewing was third in the Mile, GL Brown second in the 120 yards hurdles, and among the women EK Patrick (St A) won the 80m hurdles and the long jump.   At home there was a competition at Toryglen in Glasgow  involving Strathclyde, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Newcastle with Newcastle winning the contest.   St Andrews failed to turn up for their match with Victoria Park and Ayr Seaforth in a match totally dominated by the Glasgow club.   

Alistair Blamire (Edinburgh) 30, leading team mate Fergus Murray

22nd May was the Glasgow v Edinburgh for the Appleton Trophy, held this year at Craiglockhart.   Edinburgh retained the trophy although Glasgow won the women’s match with 42 to 35.   Norrie Foster won three events for Glasgow – the 440 hurdles, long jump and pole vault while E Osborne for Edinburgh won both sprints.   Fergus Murray won the Mile and then crossed the line in the Three Miles with team mate Roger Young.   P Kerr for Glasgow won the women’s 100 and 220 yards and for Edinburgh’s women, A Dixon won Long Jump, Shot Putt and Discus.   The last Saturday in May was traditionally the date of the District Championships at and  in the West Championship at Ayr, Brian Scobie of Glasgow was third in the 880, Brown and Kennedy of the University were first and second in the 440 hurdles, Jim Bogan of Glasgow was third in the steeplechase (which was won by former Glasgow student Allan Faulds), Foster of Glasgow won the pole vault, Edmunds of Strathclyde won the shot putt with Lees of Glasgow third, and Edmunds also won the discus with Sandy Sutherland of Glasgow second.   In the East championships, Fergus Murray won the three miles, C Kelk of St Andrews was second in the 440 hurdles, Alistair Blamire of Edinburgh was third in the steeplechase, Santini of Edinburgh was second in the high jump, Howat and Santini of Edinburgh were second and third in the long jump, Nottage of Aberdeen was second in the triple jump, Balchin of Edinburgh won the pole vault, Lawrie Bryce of Edinburgh won the hammer with team mate PJ Scott third, Bryce was also second in the shot, Boulton of Edinbirgh was second in the discus and Fowlie of Aberdeen was second in the javelin.   There were years when the Universities were conspicuous by their absence from the prize lists in the District Championships but 1965 was a good year for them with medals being won across the board.

The Scottish Universities Championships were held at Aberdeen on 29th May.   Fergus Murray had a double – Mile and Three Miles – as did Barclay Kennedy of Glasgow – 440 yards plus 440 yards hurdles – and Mis W McLaren of St Andrews who took the 440 yards and 880 yards.   All three were outdone by another in their championship.   For the women, E Patrick of St Andrews won the 100 yards, the 80m hurdles, the high jump and the long jump but the hardest work of the day wa by Norrie Foster of Glasgow who was mpreparing for his defence of his SAAA Decathlon title the following week.   He won the pole vault and triple jump, was second in the long jump, and 120 yards hurdles, he was also a finalist in the 440 yards hurdles and took part in the Hammer.   There were of course heats for both hurdles races as well as finals.   There was no Campbell in the sprints which were won by Shannon and Osborne, both Edinburgh.   For information, Foster won the Decathlon the following week from Sandy Sutherland, also Glasgow, who had been doing sterling service for his University all year.  The points difference was 6736 for Foster to 5077 for Sutherland.   

The Scottish Championships took place at Meadowbank on 26th June, 1965, and the University athletes acquitted themselves well.   

There was an open meeting at Nethercraigs Playing Fields in Glasgow on 16th April, 1966 in which several University athletes, including some who were in the fir first year of University athletics, took part.   Glasgow Unmiversity had a one-two in the 440 with RT Hodelet winning from G Brown, and there was a similar double act in the shot putt where D Edmunds of Strathclyde defeated G McHugh.   The University season proper started the following week when Queen’s Belfast, had their rvenge for the previous year.   They dominated the triangular with Glasgow and St Andrews winning with 86 points to Glasgow’s  54 and St Andrews  46.   In Aberdeen on the same day Edinburgh defeated Aberdeen and Strathclyde Universities.  90 points to Edinburgh,   70  to Aberdeen and 15 to Strathclyde.   At the former, Glasgow had three double winners – Hodelet in the 440 and 880 yards, GL Brown in the two hurdles races and RD Baillie in the Mile and three.   For Queen’s Kilpatrick won both 100 and 220 yards, and Mike Bull had three when he won the Long Jump, Pole Vault and Shot Putt.   In the women’s events the star performer was G Porter of Queen’s who won shot, discus and javelin, while for St Andrews E Patrick won the 80m hurdles and long jump.   

In the other match, Nottage won the 100, 220 and triple jump for Aberdeen, Edinburgh had a clean sweep of the distance races with Sinclair (880), Elson (Mile) and Blamire being the men responsible.  In the field events LM Bryce won the hammer and shot putt for Edinburgh.   For the women, K Goodfellow of Edinburgh won the 100, 220 and long jump.

St Andrews University won a contest with Heriot-Watt at Redford Barracks in Edinburgh on 7th May by 69 to 59.   Edinburgh AC also turned out a team that scored 57.   Tretheway won both 100 and 220 yards for the hosts, Kelk won the 440 hurdles, Durrant the javelin and Birrell the Hammer.   For Heriot-Watt, the winners were Viddal who won the shot and the discus, and Dobson wn the pole vault.   There were several inter-university meetings on 13th May but the outstanding performance had to be that of RT Hodelet at the Glasgow University championships where he won the 220y (23.6), the 440y (50.8), the 880y (1:53.5)  and the Mile (4:38.8).   The other multi event winner was N Foster who won discus (103′ 10″), shot (40′ 1″) and Hammer (122′ 9″) and was second in the Javelin.    J Bogan won the steeplechase and was second in the Mile, Irishman J Hickey won the three miles and RD Baillie was second in both three miles and steeplechase.   One a  day of multi event winners, G Brown won both hurdles races and I Robertson won both jumps for distance.   On the women’s side of the meeting, W Adam won the 100, the 220 and the 440, and F Fernie won high jump, discus, shot and javelin.   

On the same day, Aberdeen beat St Andrews at St Andrews 72 to 45, and in the women’s triangular competition the points totals were 68 to Dunfermilne CPE, 29 to St Andrews and 18 for Aberdeen.   Meanwhile Heriot-Watt University beat Strathclyde by 98 to 82 at Redford Barracks.   For the Edinburgh team Adrian Weatherhead won three events – half mile (1:58.3), mile (4:23.3) and, unusually, javelin (104′ 9″), and I Dobson also had three wins – 120y hurdles, 440y hurdles and pole vault.   Top scorers for the Glasgow team were DM Edmunds and G Muir.   The latter two athletes had already competed at Craiglockhart in invitation events at an Edinburgh University open meeting and then came to compete at Redford Barracks.   Edmunds won the shot (43′ 9″) and discus (131′ 8″) and Muir the 100y (10.0) and long jump (19′ 11″).

Alastair Johnstone (4th here) in the BUSF at Westerlands

The following week, on May 20th, it was the British Union of Student Federations championships at Birmingham and Lawrie Bruce retained his title with a hammer throw of 179′ 3″.   Hodelet was second to Dave Cropper in the 880 yards, GL Brown of Glasgow injured his foot in the heat of the 440 yards hurdles and could only finish third in the final, and Nottage of Aberdeen was third in both 100 and 220 yards.   The District Championships were held the following week and Hodelet did well to win the 880 yards at the West Championships.   Other good performaces by the students were R Cassie (3rd 440 yards hurdles), J Bogan (3rd steeplechase), HC Reobertson (Glasgow), AI Forster (Glasgow), G Muir (Strathclyde) (1-2-3 in the long jump), Robertson (1st Triple jump), Edmunds (1st shot putt, 2nd discus), Sutherland (1st Discus, 2nd shot), H Doyle (Glasgow 2nd Hammer).   In the East at New Meadowbank, there was a whole host of good performaces by university athletes.   Not all of them wore their university colours preferring to turn out as club representatives; nevertheless in the points competition which was included in the championship Edinburgh University came out on top with Aberdeen University third, separated only by Octavians for whom several university qualified athletes appeared.   The medallists were as follows:

Nottage (Aberdeen) 1st in 100 and 220 yards; Osborne (Edinburgh) 3rd in both 100 and 220; Dixon (Aberdeen) 2nd in 440; Elson (Edinburgh) 2nd in Mile; Patrick (Edinburgh) 3rd in Mile; Murray (Edinburgh) 1st Three Miles; Ewing (Aberdeen) 1st Steeplechase; Bryan-Jones (Edinburgh) 2nd Steeplechase; Allan (Edinburgh) 3rd steeplechase; H Stevenson (Edinburgh) 3rd 440y hurdles;    and in the field events

K Clubb (Edinburgh) 3rd high jump; S Seale (Edinburgh) 3rd long jump and 3rd pole vault; C Balchin (Edinburgh ) 2nd pole vault; L Bryce (Edinburgh) 1st Hammer; J Scott (Edinburgh) 2nd Hammer; DE Clerk, (Aberdeen) 3rd Discus; PJ Eddy (Edinburgh) 3rd javelin.

These two district championship performances indicate how powerful the Scottish Universities were at this point – don’t forget that athletes such as A Weatherhead of Heriot Watt were available – and a combined Scottish Universities team would probably have been a match for any of the other British teams.    The venue the following week for the Universities Championships was Craiglockhart in Edinburgh which unfortunately clashed with the triangular match between Scotland, Wales and the Midland Counties and some of the student athletes were competing at Wolverhampton.   The Roseberry Cup was won by Edinburgh from Aberdeen (who won six titles) and Glasgow ; and in the Edinburgh v Glasgow competition for the Appleton Trophy which was incorporated into the championship, Edinburgh once again defeated Glasgow.   Results, Men first:

1oo yards/220 yards:  B Nottage, Aberdeen, 9.9/22.2;    440 yards:  JMM Dixon, Aberdeen, 51.3

880 yards:  M Sinclair, Edinburgh, 1:57.4;  Mile: WE Ewing, Aberdeen, 4: 18.6;; Three Miles:  AF Murray, Edinburgh, 14:12,6

120y hurdles:  H Stevenson, Edinburgh, 16,1;  440y hurdles: N Foster, Glasgow, 56.8;  Relay 4  x  110:  Aberdeen 43.3

High jump: R Soutar, Glasgow, 5′ 10″; pole vault: C Balchin, Edinburgh, 13/ 3″; long jump/triple jump:  HC Robertson, Glasgow, 23′ 4″/43’2″

Shot/Discus: DM Edmunds, Strathclyde, 49′ 5″*/137’11”; Hammer: LM Bryce, Edinburgh,  183′ 6″; javelin: DG Fowlie, Aberdeem, 184′ 10″

Women:

100/220:  K Goodfellow, Edinburgh, ??/27.4;  440: A Barron, Aberdeen, 64.8;  880: J Goodall, Aberdeen, 2:28*; 

80m hurdles: A Dixon, Edinburgh, 12.5;  high jump: F Fernie, Glasgow, 4′ 9″; long jump: R Mawer, St Andrews, 17′ 1″

Shot: A Dixon, Edinburgh, 37′ 9″; Discus: E Taylor, Aberdeen, 100′ 3″; Javelin: E Sheddon, Edinburgh, 105′

Relay  4 x 110: Glasgow 53.   

*= BCP

The next and final championship of the year was the SAAA on 25th June at New Meadowbank where Bernie Nottage of Aberdeen again ‘did the double’ of 100 and 220 yards in 9.9 and 22.1 seconds.   Dixon of Aberdeen was second in the 440 in 49,3, Hodelet of Glasgow was second in the 880 in 1:50.7, Fergus Murray won the Three Miles in a spectacular 13:46, Bill Ewing was third in the steeplechase in 9:17.4, GL Brown of Glasgow was second in the 440 hurdles in 55 seconds, AL Forster of Glasgow was second in the long jump with 22′ 1 3/4″, D Edmunds won the shot putt with 49′  2 1/2″ , Lawrie Bryce won the hammer with 178′ 11″ and P Scott of Edinburgh was third in the hammer with 160′  4 1/2″.   As had happened in some other matches earlier in the season, some students preferred to use other affiliataions for the competition – eg AL Sutherland competed for Anglo Scots, HC Robertson for Bellahouston Harriers.   

.Dick Hodelet

As an indication of the quality of performance turned in by the students in 1966, the following athletes in running events were ranked by SATS.   Men first.

A very impressive list of names and performances.   The Scottish Universities contributed a lot to Scottish athletics over the years – their contribution to the field events was equally good.

BUSF, Westerlands, 1968

On 22nd April, 1967, Glasgow University defeated St Andrews University at Westerlands by 104 to 73 in the men’s match and the women’s by 76 to 43.   The man of the match was HC Robertson, Glasgow, who won no fewer than four events (120m hurdles, 440m hurdles, long jump, triple jump.)   Other winners for Glasgow were D Walker (100), K Clark (220), J Gilligan (440), W McDonald (880), J Bogan (Mile), A Jackson (high jump), AG Pollock (pole vault), and A Fraser (discus).    In the women’s competition, W Adams, Glasgow won the 100, 220 and 440, F Fernie, Glasgow won the high jump and shot putt.   Other women’s winners were A Ainslie, St Andrews (880), N Barron, Glasgow, (80m hurdles), L Monteforte, Glasgow, (long jump), J Paris, Glasgow, (javelin), A Dale, St Andrews (Discus) and Glasgow won the relay.

A week later Edinburgh defended the Appleton Trophy when they faced Glasgow at Westerlands.   Aberdeen University were included in the match which Edinburgh won with 76 to Aberdeen’s 66 and Glasgow’s 43; in the Appleton Trophy match, Edinburgh scored 109 and Glasgow  82.    The standard was remarkably high with Gareth Bryan-Jones winning the Mile and Iain Young the Three Miles for Edinburgh.   Nottage won both sprints for Aberdeen, Hathorn won the 440 and Sinclair the 880 (both Edinburgh), GL Brown won both hurdles races for Glasgow, and Aberdeen won the relay.   In the field events, HC Robertson won both long and triple jumps, Seale won the pole vault. D Clark of Aberdeen won both discus and shot, Fowlie of Aberdeen won the javelin and Scott of Edinburgh the hammer.   W Adam of Glasgow won both women’s sprints and E Taylor of Aberdeen won discus and shot.   In the other events, Barron of Aberdeen won the 440, Fleming of Edinburgh the hurdles, Fernie of Glasgow the high jump, McRoberts of Edinburgh the long jump and Paton of Aberdeen the javelin.

Seven Universities, including Edinburgh Glasgow, Strathclyde and Aberdeen fought out the Rowland Cup competition against Leeds, Durham  Carnegie and Sheffield at Durham on 7th May.   The result was a win for Leeds from Edinburgh with Strathclyde third, Aberdeen fourth and Glasgow fifth.   Scots victories were from Nottage in both sprints, GL Brown in both hurdles races, Bryan Jones in the steeplechase, Robertson in both jumps for distance, Balfour of Glasgow in the high jump, Seale in the pole vault, Fowlie in the javelin and Bryce, now competing for Strathclyde University, in the hammer. Back at home, Aberdeen defeated both Glasgow University and Jordanhill College at Westerlands.   

Bernie Nottage winning at King’s College, Aberdeen

The West District of the SAAA Coaching Committee held a series of trials at Nethercraigs on the south side of Glasgow where Doug Edmunds won the shot putt with 50′ 9″.   The last Saturday in May, 27th in 1967, was the time for the District Championships and in the West the Universities had quite a few good performances and the debut of John Myatt who was third in the Mile behind McCafferty and Stewart in the colours of Strathclyde University.   Other notable performances by University athletes were the two victories (long and triple jumps) and one second (120 yards hurdles by HC Robertson who was second in the latter event to GL Bronw of Glasgow University.   Brown also won the 440 hurdles, Robin Soutar of Glasgow was second top Crawford Fairbrother in the high jump, Foster of Glasgow was second in both long and triple jumps, Stevenson of Glasgow was second in the pole vault,  Edmunds won the shot and discus, and Lawrie Bryce won the hammer.   In the East, Ewing of Aberdeen University ran away with the steeplechase in the new record time of 9:06.2, Nottage won both sprints yet again with Aberdeen team mate Turnbull third in the 100, Sinclair of Edinburgh U won the half mile with team mate Macfie third, Bryan-Jones and RogerYoung of Edinburgh University had a first and second in the three miles, Allan and Blamire of Edinburgh University were second and third behind Ewing in the steeplechase, and Davidson was third in the sprint hurdles and Stevenson second in the 440 hurdles.   In the field events, in the high jump, Balfour of Edinburgh won and Cunningham of Heriot Watt was third, Gammell of Aberdeen University was second and Rogers  from Dundee University were second and third in the long jump, Balchin and Seale of Edinburgh were second and third behind David Stevenson in the pole vault, Clark of Aberdeen was third in the discus, Fowlie of Aberdeen won the javelin with Burnett of Edinburgh second, and finally, Wilkie of Aberdeen was second in the hammer.

The Scottish Universities Championships were held on 3rd June at Westerlands in Glasgow where, despite it being dry all after noon, a wind speed of 10 to 12 feet per second did the sprinters and long jumpers no favours.   The best championship performances were both in the field events, both in the throws and were by LM Bryce in the hammer (195′ 9″) and D Edmunds in the shot (49′ 8″).   In terms of championships won, Bernie Nottage won both sprints yet again, and in the women’s events A Barron won both 440 and 880 yards events.   GL Brown of Glasgow was favourite for both hurdles rces but broke down injured in his heat of the 440 yards event and could not continue.   Winners, men first:

100 yards:  B Nottage (A) 10.1;  220: B Nottage 22.8;  440: G Millar (S)  48.9

880:  M Sinclair (E) 1:58.6;   Mile: A Weatherhead  4:14.7;   Three Miles:  I Young (E)  14:16

120y H: R Davidson (E) 15.8;  440y H: H Stevenson (E) 57.2;  Steeplechase: G Bryan-Jones (E)  9:17.8

High Jump: R Soutar (G) 5′ 10″; Pole vault: S Seale (E) 13′ ;  Long jump: H Robertson (G) 23′ 1/4″;  Triple jump:  H Robertson (G) 

Javelin: S Seale (E) 181′ ;  Hammer: L Bryce (S) 195′ 9″;   Shot: D Edmunds (S)  49′ 8″;  Discus: D Edmunds (S) 139′ 7″

100y: W Adams (G)  12.3;  220:  G van der Lippe (E) 27.6;  440: A Barron (A)  60.8

880:  A Barron (A) 2:28.9;  80m H:  M Fleming (E) 13.4;   High jump: S Dennier (D) 5′ 2″

Long Jump: L Monteforte (G)  15′ 10  1/2″;  Javelin: E Shedden (E) 115′ 2″;  Shot: E Taylor (A) 37′ 6″

Aberdeen won the men’s relay and Edinburgh the women’s, and the points totals for the championship were:

Edinburgh 113, Strathclyde  82, Aberdeen 70, Glasgow 47, Heriot Watt 28, St Andrews 23, Dundee 14.    

The championships had almost doubled in the number of seats of learning taking part and Dunfermline College of Education and Jordanhill CPE were both knocking on the door, having taken part in a variety of inter varsity and triangular contests over the summer.

W Ewing, Aberdeen University

Appearances of the runners at the end of summer 1967 as they appeared in the SATS Annual for 1968 are as follows.

That the standard was high among the runners is not really in dispute, the tables for the field events are equally good and will be shown on another page.   The university athletics scene had changed dramatically from its beginnings with the four ‘ancients’ where the athletes knew each other, where the inter-varsity meetings and championships formed the major part of their season and where Scottish athletics generally had a keen eye on university athletes and athletics.    Strathclyde, Heriot-Watt and Dundee were already included, as already mentioned, Jordanhill and Dunfermline colleges were edging nto inter- university matches, Stirling was on the horizon.   In time Glasgow Caledonian, the University of the Highlands and Islands, the University of the West of Scotland and others would follow.   The close-knit atmosphere has gone by 1970.    

 

 

In the 1980’s several Scottish athletes won scholarships to American Universities – Angela Bridgeman, Margaret McSherry and Liz Lynch being the better known ones.   There were several at Alabama University in the mid 80’s – Susan Crawford, Liz Lynch, Pat Morris, Peter McColgan and Elspeth Turner all went there.   The University put out a media guide at the start of each year.   Unfortunately we don’t have the Women’s Guide for 1986 – I’ll keep looking – but we do have the mens’ from which the extracts below are taken.

The Scottish YMCA organisation has been of real benefit to Scotland in many ways – a Christian organisation which aimed to involve and help the young men of the country in practical ways, it organised libraries, educational meetings, money raising activities, self help skills and much more. The key tenet for the movement was YMCA Mission: To put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all. Core Values: Caring: to demonstrate a sincere concern for others, for their needs and well-being.     Sport was only a part of that, an important part, but it organised athletic clubs, harrier clubs, football teams, bowls clubs and more.   In many communities the Y building was a familiar sight and a focus for community activities.   The building above is the old Motherwell YMCA building in Brandon Street in Motherwell.   The purpose of this page is to set out some of the statistics relating to YMCA Harrier clubs.   

1.   First, let’s look at what the principal athletic clubs were.   There were many that we know about, and lots that we don’t know about because they were short lived or never won anything.   That doesn’t mean they didn’t do valuable work of course.  The ones we know about are – 

Aberdeen YMCA, Bellshill YMCA, Cambuslang YMCA, Carluke YMCA, Dumbarton YMCA, Dumfries YMCA, Dundee YMCA, Edinburgh YMCA,  Gala Red Triangle Club, Glasgow YMCA, Irvine YMCA, Johnstone YMCA, Kirkcaldy YMCA, Kirkintilloch YMCA, Lanark YMCA, Larbert YMCA, Larkhall YMCA, Motherwell YMCA, Paisley YMCA, Peebles YMCA, Renfrew YMCA.   In addition the YMCA Sports Federation was affiliated to the SAAA.   

2.  Top officials.    They contributed to the organisation of the sport at a national level and provided administrators of the highest calibre.   Note the following at National level – there was greater representation at County and District committees.

There were many others who helped the sport – men like Jimmy Scott of Glasgow YMCA who, after a shortish running career, became secretary, and one of the main driving spirits, of the Scottish Marathon Club from it’s foundation in 1944 until his death in the mod 70’s; Roddy Devon of Motherwell who served on numerous committees including the SCCU, the Scottish Marathon Club and the Scottish Veteran Harriers club.   In total the contribution of the movement across Scotland was immense.

3.   There were of course International Runners (first appearance in brackets): from Motherwell YMCA: J Barrie (1904), AH Brown (1955), AP Brown (1965), JA Fleming (1949), JNH Gardiner (29), J Linaker (1963), T Millar (1908), I McCafferty (1965), D Nelson (1952), D Simpson (1962), JA Somervile (1905). W Somerville (1946), J Quinn (1987)]  from Kirkcaldy YMCA: A Dow (1934);   from Irvine YMCA: D Fry 1931; T McNeish (1949), CP Wilson (1929), B Morrison (1969);   from Larkhall YMCA: J Egan (1984); W Burns (1970).   And arguably the greatest of them all, David Gracie from Larkhall (1950)

4.   Scottish National Cross-Country Team Champions: 1908  Motherwell; 1963  Motherwell.   

Another YMCA Building: Right in the middle of the Community

4.   YMCA teams in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay Race:  

1930: Motherwell (5th);    April 1931: Motherwell (12th), Glasgow (17th);  April 1933: Motherwell (13th); 1934: Motherwell ( 9th);  1935: Motherwell (8th), Larkhall (17th);  1936: Motherwell (8th);  1937: Motherwell (10th), Glasgow (11th), Larkhall (13th); 1938: Motherwell (9th), Glasgow (11th), Larkhall (14th); 1939: Motherwell (14th), Glasgow (15th), Larkhall (16th) 

April 1949: none; November 1949: Kirkcaldy (13th), Irvine (17th), Glasgow (19th), Motherwell (20th); 1950: Irvine (14th), Kirkcaldy (15th), Glasgow (19th), Motherwell (DNF); 1951: Irvine (12th), Motherwell (16th), Glasgow (18th), Kirkcaldy (20th); 1952: Irvine (6th), Kirkcaldy (16th), Glasgow (19th), Motherwell (20th);  1953: Irvine 9th, Motherwell (18th), Kirkcaldy (20th); 1954: Irvine (18th); 1955: Irvine (17th); 1956: Motherwell (12th), Irvine (17th); 1957: Motherwell (10th), Irvine (19th); 1958: Motherwell (5th), Irvine (20th); 1960: Motherwell (5th); 1961: Motherwell (3rd); 1962: Motherwell (1st); 1963: Motherwell (1st), Larkhall (18th); 1964: Motherwell (1st); 1965: Motherwell (2nd); 1966: Motherwell (3rd); 1967: Motherwell (16th); 1968: Motherwell (19th).   

6.   Scottish Cross-Country Champions

There were also of course team titles and places over the country and the YMCA clubs tended to be ‘harrier’ clubs.   There did compete on the track and some of the athletes were quite outstanding.   The Motherwell men of the 1960’s (McCafferty, Andy and Alex Brown, Bert McKay, etc) are well known but possibly the very best of the YMCA track men was David Gracie from Larkhall – a sprinter and hurdler who specialised in the 440 yards hurdles event he broke and rebroke the national record for the event no fewer than five times.   A Scottish and British internationalist he competed in the 1950′

Kirkcaldy YMCA began in 1886 in the Swan Memorial Halls in Kirk Wynd.   It started off mainly as a bible study group for young men before moving into other areas of young people’s life, including physical activities, tuition and even a public baths.

Kirkcaldy was always a focus for running and Colin Shields in his official history of the SCCU tells us that there was an East District Championship in 1899 which was won by J Harcus of Kirkcaldy Harriers, so there must have been some such activity before 1900.   Graham McDonald points out that there are three other clubs from the area named in the East District League Minutes – Kirkcaldy Boys Club joined the League in 1928, Kirkcaldy Old Boys in 1931 and Eastbank AC also in 1931.   None of them lasted for long and Kirkcaldy YMCA emerged as the local club.   According to the local Press the YMCA Harrier Club started up in 1909.   The following announcement appeared at the foot of a column of the Dundee Evening Telegraph of Wednesday, 1st September, 1909.  It read

“KIRKCALDY YMCA START A HARRIERS CLUB

At a largely attended meeting held in the Swan Memorial Hall last night it was decided to start a Harriers club to be known as the YMCA Club.   The club has secured the promise of several well-known sprinters to join and runs are to be arranged at a later date.   The following office-bearers were elected:- Captain  Mr JR Christie; Vice-Captain  Mr J Seath; secretary Mr J Ferguson; committee Messrs J Gibson, D Gray, and JS Marshall.   Monday and Friday were selected as running nights.”

Monday and Friday were not usual Harriers training nights and they were later altered to Tuesday and Thursday, with the club training from Valley Gardens in Kirkcaldy.

The club’s founding fathers knew what they wanted in a harrier club and, in addition to the two nights a week training, they set about organising events that would get them noticed.   Just over a month after that first meeting, this appeared on Friday 29th October, 1909, in the Dundee Courier:  “KIRKCALDY YMCA HARRIERS ARE TO HAVE A MARATHON.   Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers have arranged to have a marathon race, open to all amateurs in Fife, on New Years Day.   The club have been successful in securing the promise of a handsome silver cup.   The start of the route for the race will be at the club rooms in the Swan Memorial Hall.   The runners will then go right along the High Street and Links Street and out into the country round by the back of the Kinghorn Golf Course and the Loch.   The homeward journey will be through Burntisland and Kinghorn and finish at the clubrooms.   It is anticipated that the Provost Munro Ferguson, MP, will act as one of the officials at the start of the race.”

There was a report in the Scotsman of 3rd January, 1910, which read: “A Marathon Race was organised on Saturday by Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers.   The route was from Kirkcaldy to Burntisland and back, a  distance of  about thirteen miles.   Nineteen competitors took part.   Prize winners:-  1.  J Gilchrist, Matkinch; 2.  WA Ransay, St Andrews University;  3.  G Robertson, Dysart Harriers.   Club winners:- G Lawson and D Ramsay.   Time  1 hour 4 minutes.”

The race was obviously a success – 19 runners, a fast time and all on 1st January.   So much so that a year later, on Monday, 17th October, 1910, in the Glasgow based Scottish Referee: “A few members of Kirkcaldy YMCA had a splendid run of six miles on Saturday.   This club is only in its infancy but its members are doing ther  utmost to boom cross-country running in the ‘Lang Toon’ where a few years back it had a good hold, and we hope to see it regain its popularity again this season.”

In addition to the two week nights, they soon began to hold Saturday runs, Press notes appeared like this one, in its entirety, on 16th December,  1910, Scottish Referee: “Tomorrow’s Fixtures:   Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers … 3:15   Short and to the point – members would be looking for it.   

The ‘marathon’ of the previous year had been successful and they had another run at it.  On Monday 19th December, 1910, the Scottish Referee reported: “Entries for the Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers ten mile race to be held on Jan 2nd close on Dec 26th.   The event is to be decided under SAAA laws.”

And further down the same page – “Kirkcaldy Harriers hold a ten mile run on Saturday in view of the club’s open ten miles race.”   

The race was duly held and reported on by the Scotsman of 3rd January, 1911.   “The second annual Marathon race run under the auspices of the Kirkcaldy YMCA, for which the principal prize is the Fife Free Press Challenge Cup, took place at noon yesterday.   The weather conditions were ideal.   The route was by way of Auchtertool and covered some pretty hilly country.   Although the distance set was stated to be ten miles, only about nine miles were covered, as “through a misunderstanding” the runners omitted to include two laps of Beveridge Park.   Sixteen competitors took part, including Alex McPhee, junior, Clydesdale Harriers, a Scottish Junior Champion.   The race was a very close one, only four seconds covering the first three runners.   The prize winners were:-  1.  Alex McPhee, Clydesdale Harriers,  55 min 24 sec;  2.  H Hughes, West of Scotland; 3.  GH Ramsay   Edinburgh Southern Harriers; 4. J Hastie, Stirlingshire Central;  5.  WA Ramsay, Edinburgh Southern;  6.  J Stewart, Dundee Thistle Harriers;  7.  J Gilchrist, West of Scotland (last year’s Winner); 8.  G Lawson, Kirkcaldy YMCA.

Just as they were getting into their stride in Scottish athletics properly, along came the 1914-18 war and activities were put on hold for the duration. 

They started up again after the hostilities and were back holding club races, championships. inter-club runs and getting involved in open races quite quickly.   Like many another club they discovered the importance of having patrons and the following item appeared in the Fife Free Press and Kirkcaldy Guardian on Monday, May 26th, 1923: 

“KIRKCALDY YMCA HARRIERS. 

The above mentioned club is now in strict training for the Hexathlon Competition of the YMCA when practically every event has to be carrier through for maximum points.  In answer to a letter from Mr J Cameron, secretary of the club, asking Sir Robert Hutchison to assist by bec0ming Patron,  the under-mentioned is a copy of the reply received:-

House of Commons, 18th February.   Dear Sir, I will gladly become a Patron of the Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers and I am sure you will produce runners who will hold their own with anyone.   Believe me, I much appreciate this chance of associating myself with such a club.   Yours very truly, R Hutchison.”

It was the 1920’s and the club was doing well with all the activities that go to make up a successful athletics club – regular training (two nights and a Saturday), regular racing, club championships, fund raising activities, local and district competitions as well as national.   There were reports in all the local papers and every week there was something about or by the club.

The sport at this time was a bit different to the one practised in the twenty first century and we could take a look at a typical year as seen through the eyes of the local Press.   By 1924, the War was well over and the club was starting to perform really well   If we take 1924, and look at local Press reports and we get a bit of the flavour of the club.   

Saturday 12th January, 1924: Fife Free Press: “Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers decided the Davie’s Gold Medal Handicap on Saturday when a dozen competitors took part in the four and a half mile run from St Brycedale Church by way of Townsend Place, Dunnikier Estate, Overton Road, and Den Road, finishing at the starting point.   The conditions were favourable and a good contest was provided.   A Thompson (2 3/4 mins) was the winner, the time taken being 24 mins 5 secs, while A Wright (4 1/2 mins) was placed second, his time being 25 mins 25 secs and D Candlish (4 1/2 mins) was third, his time being 26 mins 35 secs.   he record time was broken by J Cameron who accomplished the distance in 23 mins 5 secs, half a minute faster than last year’s winner.   The handicapper was R Christie, formerly of Kirkcaldy YMCA now of Edinburgh University Hares and Hounds.”

Monday 8th February, 1924, Dundee Courier: “KIRKCALDY YMCA HARRIERS IN CLOSE FINISH.   Champion Beaten.   A fine race was witnessed in the Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers Open Championship on Saturday which was run off on a very trying course.   The route was over the Dunnekier Estate and three of the seven miles was water sodden ploughland.   J Grant was first home after a great finish, R Christie wh has held the cup for two years, coming in close behind Grant.   The winner broke away at the end and was timed at 42 minutes 45 seconds, 15 seconds before Christie.   Biggar was third.   The trophies were presented at a smoker after the race.  

Monday 11th February, 1924 The Scotsman:  “The annual cross-country championship of the Eastern District of Scotland was held at Galashiels on Saturday.  ….  Ten teams and about 120 runners started from the Gala policies and covered an excellent course of about seven miles.   …..   The weather broke down just as the race started and there was a driving wind with sleet and rain.   …   Team result:- 1.  Edinburgh Northern 55 pts;  2. Gala Harriers 118;  3.  Dundee Thistle 133;  4.  Edinburgh Southern  146;  5.  Heriot’s Athletic Club  200;  6.  Edinburgh Harriers 226;  7.  Teviotdale Harriers  276;  8. Kirkcaldy YMCA  328;  9.  Edinburgh University Hares & Hounds  339;  10.  Falkirk Victoria    345.   

Monday 18th February, 1924 Dundee Courier : “The members of Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers Club had a team race on Saturday from St Brycedale, the course being round the Beveridge Country Park, a distance of two and a half miles.   There was a good turnout and, the conditions being admirable, the run was a most enjoyable one.   The winning team was R Young, who finished third; J Wood who got in fifth; and A Mills who was eighth to finish, their points totalled 16.  A fine finish was witnessed, the individual rizes going to R Bigger who accomplished the distance in 13 minutes  50 seconds, R Cameron who was 15 second later and R Young who was 15 seconds behind the second prize-winner.”

Monday, 1st March, 1924, Dundee Courier: “An inter-club run along with Edinburgh Harriers and Edinburgh Northern Harriers was carried out on Saturday when a distance of six miles was covered, from the club rooms to Forth Avenue North, and afterwards into fields covering a circular route and home by way of Dunnikier.   At the end of the run a fine finish was made, which resulted in Peter Gourley, Kirkcaldy Harriers, being first for the slows, and J Gardiner, Edinburgh Harriers, first for the fasts.   The slow pack was paced by J Thompson, Kirkcaldy Harriers, and the whip was A Sinclair, Northern Harriers.   The fast pack was paced by JRP Smith, Edinburgh Harriers and the whip was J Cameron, Kirkcaldy Harriers.   On the whole the run was very satisfactorily carried out.   A social evening was spent in the Carlton afterwards.”

Monday, 8th March, 1924, Fife Free Press & Kirkcaldy Guardian: “KIRKCALDY YMCA HARRIERS.   The past two weeks have been taken up with practices for the coming ten miles road race on Saturday, March 15th, when the ‘Fife Free Press Cup’ is at stake.   It is expected that this will be a very keen race.   An ordinary club run takes place today.” 

Monday 17th March, 1924, Dundee Courier:  KIRKCALDY YMCA HARRIERS.   The ten mile marathon race carried out under the auspices of the Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers for a silver cup and gold badge, was run on Saturday under good conditions.   The route was from St Brycedale Church by way of Boglily Road, Glassmount to Kinghorn, returning by the main road.   A splendid race was witnessed, the result being:- 1  S Hunter; 2 P Gourlay; 3 J Lees.”

There was further coverage of this race in the Fife Free Press on Saturday, 22nd March, 1924, which added: “…  The actual time for the winner was 1 hour 10 mins 55 seconds.   One of the favourites got second place.   He had a handicap of seven and a half minutes and his time was 1 hour 7 minutes 25 seconds.   G Calder, who is the best timed man for the distance covered the route in 1 hour 5 mins and 10 secs.   R Biggar, the champion of the club, was second for time, which was 1 hour 6 mins 30 secs.   Calder had 3 minutes of handicap and Biggar was scratch.   Cameron, last year’s holder, did not compete through accident, and so the ‘Fife Free Press Trophy’ changes hands.”

Saturday, 29th March, 1924: “On Saturday last a practice run was carried out.   Today the Novice Championship takes place commencing from the top of Kirk Wynd for a distance of about four miles.”

Monday, 5th April, 1924, Fife Free Press & Kirkcaldy Guardian: “The novice championship of the Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers club was decided on Saturday when splendid weather conditions were experienced.   The starting point was St Brycedale UF Church, and the route was one of four miles.   The results were as follows:- 1  J Wood, 28 min 05 sec; 2  D Candlish  30 min 07 sec; 3  A Wright  32 min 07sec.  An ordinary race was run in conjunction with the above.   R Biggar covering the distance in 27 mins.”

Saturday, 10th May, 1924, Fife Free Press: “The club members are in training at present for the YMCA National Championships contest which is to be carried out between July and August at Stark’s Park.   A rally is to take place at the YMCA next Wednesday evening.”

Friday, 19 September, 1924.  Dundee Courier:  KIRKCALDY YMCA ELECT OFFICE-BEARERS.   At the annual general meeting of Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers Club, the resignation of club president (Mr DC Blewes) was intimated, and he was specially thanked for his valuable services.   Some forty members were present at the meeting, and the office-bearers for the ensuing year were elected as follows:- President  Mr Geo. Sandilands; Vice Presidents  Mr T Christie, Mr R Rough and Mr R Barrie; hon. secy.  Mr J Cameron; hon treasurer Mr George Calder; auditors  Mr JM Thom and Mr J Brodie; captain  R Biggar; vice-captain  J Braid.   The opening run will be on Saturday 27th September.

Monday, 13th Oct, 1924.   Dundee Courier:    “The members of Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers club competed in a cross-country race over a course of about three and a half miles on Saturday for a prize presented annually by Mr James Bogie.   The weather was fine but the going was somewhat heavy.   The fastest time was that by Mr R Biggar (scr) who covered the distance  in 17 minutes 30 seconds.   The results were:- 1  Mr P Philp 17 min (handicap 2 min 30 sec);  2  JS Cameron  17 min 30 sec (2 min 30 sec);  3  R Biggar  17 min 30 sec (scr); 4 J Walker 17 min 50 sec (2 min 30 sec).”

Friday, 28th November 1924, Dundee Courier: “Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers have selected the following team to compete in the McKenzie Trophy relay race which is to take place in Edinburgh on 6th December:- R Biggar, P Philp, J Cameron, P Gourlay.   Reserves G Calder and J Smart.

Monday, 13th December, 1924, the Fife Free Press:   KIRKCALDY YMCA.   A record entry turned out for the MacKenzie Trophy Relay Race  carried out in Edinburgh last Saturday.   The teams were composed as follows:- one each from Edinburgh University Hares & Hounds, two each from Edinburgh Harriers, Edinburgh Northern Harriers, Edinburgh Southern Harriers and Falkirk Victoria Harriers and one each from Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers, Heriot CC, Gala Harriers, Berwick & District Harriers, Stirlingshire CC and Linlithgow Harriers.   The course was one of two and a half miles, and was covered once by each member of the respective teams on relay, and the finish was 500 yards of stubble to this place.   Edinburgh Southern Harriers were proved winners.   Kirkcaldy Harriers landed ninth of the 18 teams with a side of the following menbers:- R Biggar, P Braid, P Gourlay and J Cameron.   On the whole they did very well, showing an increase of points from last time.   For Lirkcaldy Biggar had the best time and P Gourlay second best.   Today a five mile handicap takes place starting from the North School at 2:45 pm.   The route will be round  Chapel Village, finishing via Hendry Road.   A large entry is expected.”

Monday, 22nd December, 1924, Dundee Courier: THISTLE CLUB RUNNERS IN FINE FORM.   The first of the big inter-club runs which Dundee Thistle Harriers have arranged took place on Saturday, when Dundee Thistle, Dundee Hawkhill and Kirkcaldy YMCA met in a race over the severe cross-country course usually used by the Thistle harriers for their club championship.   The race proved an easy win for T Whitton, Thistle Harriers, who finished 500 yards in front of his Thistle clubmate, A Whyte, in the excellent time of 43 minutes 52 seconds for the seven and a half miles.   G Calder, Kirkcaldy, was third, with P Taylor Thistle in close attendance.  In the team race, the home club had another easy win, eight of their men being in the first twelve to finish.   Results:- 1.  T Whitton (Thistle H); 2.  A Whyte (Thistle H); 3.  G Calder (Kirkcaldy); 4. P Taylor (Thistle H).   Teams:-  1.  Dundee Thistle Harriers;  2.  Kirkcaldy YMCA;  3.  Dundee Hawkhill Harriers.” 

*

In 1924, then, the club was clearly in good fettle and at the end of the year, on 12th October – right at the start of the winter season, they joined the Edinburgh & District League (founded in 1924 by four Edinburgh clubs) which was the forerunner of the very successful East District League.   This league consisted of races at various venues over the course of the cross-country season, and Kirkcaldy YMCA hosted the second E&D League Cross-Country race of the 1925/26 season.  This may have been the first ever Cross-Country race in Fife ( although it is possible that St Andrews University had paper trail events before that).  They were a strong team in the League and in 1927 former Edinburgh Harrier and now Kirkcaldy member George Sandilands donated a Silver Shield to the E&D League to be presented to the winning Club in the League for the season. This trophy is still being presented at the East District League up to the present time.

1925 started with a visit from Dundee Thistle Harriers which was well attended and was a good year for the club which tied with Gala Harriers for first place in the East District Championships.   This was the first big team victory for the club even although it was shared with another club.   The report in the Dundee Courier read as follows: “The Eastern District oif Scotland Cross-Country Championships run in Dundee on Saturday, was tied for by Gala Harriers and Kirkcaldy YMCA.   This has never before occurred in this race, and will doubtless give rise to some controversy regarding the allocation of championship medals.   A crowd of about 2000 turned out to witness the start which took place in a downpour of rain.   Lord Provost High dropped the flag which sent the 130 runners up the Ancrum Road en route for the 7 1/2 miles of country which constituted the course.   In the first fifty yards it was noticeable that the Dundee Thistle man, T Whitton, who for two years has run second, had snatched a lead of two yards from his nearest rivals.   This lead he gradually increased and was never passed.

When the crowd, which at the finish had increased to about 3000, caught sight of Whitton entering the last quarter mile with no other runner in sight, the cheer that broke forth gave every evidence of the popularity of the Dundonian’s win.   He had run his race in what we have learned to call the ‘Nurmi way’ – that is he had run with no thought of the other runners in the race but had made his own pace – every runner knows how difficult it is to do that even for a mile – for the whole course and finished a good 400 yards in front of R Biggar of Kirkcaldy YMCA.

Biggar passed R Paterson, the Edinburgh Southern flier, in the last mile and had a lead of about 100 yards on Paterson at the finish.   JW Henderson, Gala Harriers, was fourth.   Results:-   1.   T Whitton, Dundee Thistle;   2.  R Biggar, Kirkcaldy YMCA;  3.  R Paterson, Edinburgh Southern.   Teams:-  1 and 2 equal  Gala Harriers, and Kirkcaldy YMCA   112 points each;  3.   Edinburgh Northern  128 points.”

In 1928 D. Ross was the first Fifer to win a league race at Musselburgh and they made a strong bid for the team title in 1929/30 being just pipped by Edinburgh Southern Harriers.   

The club had not run a team, or indeed any individual, in the National championships throughout the 1920’s.   They seemed to prefer a home run on the day of the race.   eg at the end of the 1928-29 season they had a New Members  v  Ex-Members race over 7 miles.   The result was a win for W Gibb (New Member) in 42:20 from J Grant (ex-club champion)   There was also a 5 miles sealed handicap for a special prize presented by President George Sandilands the following Saturday.       It would have been interesting to see what the club could have done in the National.

In the East District Cross-Country Championships in the 1930’s the club started well but fell away slightly as far as results were concerned – in 1930 they were second team, in 1931 they were fourth, in 1932 they were seventh and they were not in the first four despite Dow winning the race.  An interesting feature of Kirkcaldy athletics at this time is the number of clubs emanating from the area.   The final Edinburgh and District League of 1935 had no fewer than four such teams – Kirkcaldy YMCA was third, Kirkcaldy Eastbank was fourth, Kirkcaldy Old Boys Club was fifth and Kirkcaldy Boys Club was eighth.   The top Eastbank man was Dewar who finished second to Dow in the 1934 East District Championship.    There are also Press reports of a Kirkcaldy and District League – three meetings all apparently early in the winter.   In the 1934-35 winter they started with the East District Relays at Musselburgh and the team consisted of Dow, Duncan Wishart and Pryde.   They were again second club in the East District League in the ’34/’35 season when Alec Dow, see below, who is probably their most famous athlete, won the first race and they were second in the final, in addition to taking the 1934 East District championship title at Musselburgh. He went on to represent Scotland in five XC Internationals in the 1930s and was always in the first 3 scorers for Scotland.

The 1930’s was a a period when the YMCA movement was particularly strong in Scotland and there were many harrier clubs contesting their championships – Aberdeen, Cambuslang, Dundee, Glasgow, Hamilton, Irvine, Johnstone, Kirkcaldy, Kilmarnock, Larkhall, Motherwell, Paisley, Stevenston were the main ones. Among them all, Kirkcaldy more than held its own. Results in the championships in the decade up to the start of the war in 1939 were as follows.

Alex Dow was undoubtedly the top athlete from the club in the 1930’s .   You can, and should, read the detailed profile of this outstanding athlete at this link  .    There is just too much to include in this account.  Although he never won the National Cross-Country senior title, his best position was second in 1938, he was good enough in an era of top class endurance athletes to represent Scotland no fewer than five times in the international fixture being third in 1936 when he led the team home.   Known as a cross country man, he was also a more than capable track runner and won the SAAA 10 Miles track championship in 1934.   He ran in the international in 1934 (12th), 1935 (10th), 1936 (3rd), 1937 (17th) and 1938 (27th) and was a scoring runner every time.   Dow was still running for the club and acting on the Committee after the war was over and is one of the many Scots whose career was completely disrupted by the War.   

The message is that the club had done well during the 1930’s at both YMCA and District Championships, in both Kirkcaldy and Edinburgh & District Leagues as well as in inter-club fixtures.

 

The fact that YMCA clubs were more than just athletic clubs has been mentioned elsewhere on this website and the difference manifested itself in various ways.   The different activities were seen by the movement and the local committees (though maybe not by some of the members of the clubs or activities competing under the banner) as a means to an end.   The following advertising column appeared on Saturday 14th May, 1938, in the Fife Free Press:

 “A publicity campaign is being launched with a view to attracting members, and already several attractive posters are being displayed both inside and outside the Institute.   For the first time in many years Kirkcaldy YMCA is to be represented at the Scottish YMCA Golf Championship, the Eastern Section of which will be played off at Balwearie within the next few weeks.   Definite date and time will be annunced shortly.  The local entrants are:- Mr AA Christie, Mr WK Anderson and Mr GR Brodie.

The Harriers club continues to meet on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, at Beveridge Park, and will continue to do so during the summer.   Young men desiring to join this association activity are invited to call and see the general secretary at Kirk Wynd, or to communicate with the  secretary of the Harriers Club, Mr A Wishart.   The finance and general committee will meet on Monday evening, when plans for the winter programme will be discussed and several other important decisions will be taken.   

The YMCA Library is being re-organised, and several new and attractive volumes will be added in the religious, fiction and general interest categories.  The general secretary etends an invitation to young men who are interested in any of the threefold aspects of YMCA work, to call and have a talk with him any evening in his office at the Institute, Kirk Wynd.   

“The Young Men’s Christian Association,” says Mr Basil Matthews, the noted author and Christian scholar, ” ought to be the striking force of the Christian revolution.”   The YMCA has almost two million members in 57 countries.  Join in and swell the ranks of this mighty movement.”

It was quite a range of activities – golf, running, library and an Institute where many other interests could be pursued.   The club had been very active in the 20’s and 30’s but this activity was brought to a temporary standstill when the 1939-45 war broke out.   For a look back at this period through the eyes of the runners, read this article, published by the ‘Fife Leader’ .

Athletics had been put on a war-time footing for the duration and so it was possible to start up more quickly than had been possible after the first war when the sport had stopped completely.   The East District League started up again in 1946 and Kirkcaldy YMCA was one of the teams to host a fixture: beaten by Dundee Thistle in the first match, in the second match at Kirkcaldy, they won thanks to a great team effort from Preston (3), Clark (4), Duncan (7) and Peacock (8) who were all in the first eight, with support from Bell 18th and Dow (19th).   The presence of Dow would inspire them all.   They competed frequently in this period and at the start of the 1947-48 cross-country season they turned out in several relays – Emmet Farrell in the ‘Scots Athlete’ magazine of December 1947 took a look at the relay season beginning with the YMCA Relays: “Motherwell, reinforced by the inclusion of Olympic mile possible Jas. Fleming, not long back from overseas, had a sound win over Kirkcaldy YMCA who included the well-known ex-ten mile champion and internationalist Alex Dow.”   The East District Relays were held at the Edinburgh University King’s Buildings  trail on 6th December 1947, and the Kirkcaldy squad “finished 3rd thanks to a splendid run by the diminutive J Preston.”   The team was W Grieve (17:45), A Dow (18:34), J Ritchie (18:10) and J Preston (17:23)   Preston had the fifth fastest time of the day and Grieve had 13th quickest.   The East District Junior Championship was held at Galashiels on th February 1948 and the team of six was second behind Edinburgh Southern Harriers.  The runners were J Preston 6th, J Ritchie 10th, G Rennie 13th, WE Duncan 14th, W Grieve 15th, J Peacock 20th.   Team totals were 1.  ESH  63 points; 2nd KYMCA 78 pts;  3.  Edinburgh University 79 points.  

There had been no team from Kirkcaldy in the first (1946-47) national cross country championships after the war, but in the second championships, held on 6th March 1948 at Ayr Racecourse the Youths team won their championship.   Runners on the day were W Grieve (3rd), J Duncan (15th), A Motion (17th), J Beaton (19th) giving a team total of 53 points against St Modan’s 88.  Eighteen teams teams ran in the race.  There was good back up for the team from A Millar and J Dewar who finished 45th and 88th.    For two of the runners it was their second team medal of the season – earlier in the year the team had been second in the East District Championships behind Edinburgh Southern Harriers with the counters being J Preston (6th), J Ritchie (10th), G Rennie (13th), WE Duncan (14th), W Grieve (15th) and J Peacock (20th) and they also had men placed 21st, 52nd and 56th.   The club undoubtedly had the runners.   

Between the District and National championships, the race that had the headlines locally was the Scottish YMCA Championships in February 1948 when W Grieve won the Junior Championship.   I quote from the Fifeshire Advertiser of Saturday 28th February, 1948:

“W Grieve of Kirkcaldy ran the greatest race of his career when he won the Scottish YMCA Championships in Edinburgh on Saturday last when he led the Junior team to victory.   The two championships, Junior and Senior, were run from Dr Guthrie’s School.   The juniors, covering a course of three miles, were sent on their journey 15 minutes before the seniors who covered the course in two laps.   When the juniors came into view, W Grieve was leading by about four yards but, with more stamina than his challenger ran out an easy winner.   His team mates followed closely behind, six men finishing in the first sixteen.   Team placings:- 1 W Grieve; 3 J Duncan; 7 J Renton.  Total 11 pts.   2.  Johnstone YMCA 26 pts;  3. Motherwell YMCA 36 pts.   In the senior event, the club was represented by a complete new team, as Kirkcady won this event last year and were not eligible to compete with the same team this year.   Motherwell YMCA with men of the calibre of Alex Fleming, G Wood and Willie Sommerville counting 1, 2, and 3, gave little hope of any other club lowering Motherwell’s colours.   However, the Kirkcaldy club did remarkably well to finish third.   Result:- 1.  Motherwell 24 pts; 2. Glasgow YMCA 41 pts; 3. Kirkcaldy YMCA 44 pts.   Team:- 5th G Rennie, 6th P Husband, 16th J Bell, 17th G Millar. ”  

They were however very active in the Edinburgh and District League with fairly strong teams turning out over the winter. Into winter 1948-49 and in the Kingsway Relay on 16th October the team was 8th of the 23 competing.   They were also of course still competing in the League and  the race report reads “Results:- 1.  Edinburgh University  46 points; 2.  Edinburgh Southern  87 pts;  3.  Rosyth Caledonian 96 pts; 4.  Kirkcaldy YMCA 117 pts.   P Husband Kirkcaldy YMCA finished 5th, J Preston 7th, W Dunn 14th, which was good packing but the tail was weak which accounted for the club’s position and it is anticipated that an improvement will be shown in the next race.   Today the club will run over the McKenzie relay trophy course of two and a half miles.”   (Report from the Fife Free Press of 6th November, 1948)   

The second East  District League Match took place at Kirkcaldy on 4th December, ’48, with a team of W Duncan, D Beveridge, P Husband and J Preston and when the times were looked at, Preston was 7th fastest and Beveridge was 8th.   The East District Junior Championships were held on 5th January 1950 and the YM were second team with a total of ten runners running.   The scoring team was Husband 4th, Grieve 6th, W Duncan 12th, Gordon 18th, Rennie 19th and Beveridge 25th.   The back-up runners were Ritchie, Peacock, McCallum and Fraser.   

Valuable publicity was gained for the club from the participation of A Thomson in the Fiery Cross Relay from Edinburgh to London prior to the 1948 Olympic Games.   A group of Scottish runners led by Dunky Wright and Donald Macnab Robertson carried their crosses for various distances with each runner finishing his stint by handing the cross to the Mayor of the city where he ended his stint.   In Thomson’s case he performed the handover in a stadum filled with 6000 spectators to be received by the Mayor of Doncaster and ran, in total, 21 1/2 miles..   You will note that the men are holding their crosses upside down so that they look like wee swords.   At the start of the first stage, the torches heldd the right way up would not light,so they were turned upside down – and the lit first time and the photographs of the start have the runners leaving the Esplanade at the Castle bearing aloft what look like swords.

Thomson was not the only useful road runner in the club at the time: WE Duncan was third in the Perth to Dundee Race on 26th August 1950 when it was run in rain with thuder and flashes of lightning while the race was going on for the men to endure.   His time was 2:10:25 – exactly 60 seconds behind second placed Arbuckle of Monkland.   Then there was J Bell who ran in the Round the City marathon run in Edinburgh as part of the Highland Games on 2nd February, 1950.   He finished 10th in 3:10:51.   

The club was 6th in the East District Relays in November 1949 (Beveridge, Gordon, W Duncan, Husband).   On 21st November 1949,  the club felt strong enough to enter a team in their first ever Edinburgh to Glasgow eight stage relay where they finished 13th of the 22 clubs participating.   Their runners, in order, were D Beveridge, J Peacock, WE Duncan, RC Hewson, G Millar, P Husband, A Harrower and G Gordon.  On 18th December they travelled to Rosyth for an inter-club with the Caledonia club.  They followed this up with a team of Preston, Husband, Beveridge, Grieve, Rennie and Duncan in the Dundee Thistle Jubilee Relay over 4 miles: it was an unusual format with two runners running each lap.   The note in the Free Press finished by saying that the train to Dundee would leave at 11:35 am – a wee reminder to us all that getting to the races took a bit of organisation even in 1949.   On 4th February 1950 the club team was third in the East District championships with Rennie 6th, Duncan 13th, Gordon 22nd, Husband 32nd, Beveridge 33rd, and Peacock 35th being the main men, with support from Gray, Harrower, Millar, Taylor and Hewson.   They certainly had strength in depth and competition for places.   Towards the end of 1950, the club was fifth in the Kingsway Relay, 5th team in the first League Race (with both Duncans running: J Duncan on the third stage and W Duncan fourth) and on 4th November they were 12th in the District Relay and the Edinburgh to Glasgow came on the third Saturday.   The club race for the Hon President’s Prize was on 6th January and was won by AB Thomson from WE Duncan and G Mortimer. 

In the Eastern District Championships on 3rd February, the club was among the prizewinners again when the Senior team finished third behind Edinburgh University and Edinburgh Southern.   Their men were W Duncan 10th, G Mortimer 12th, J Duncan 13th, P Husband 16th, A Beveridge 32nd and G Bell 40th.   However when it came to the National Championship on 3rd March, the only runners from the club was A Rennie in 41st place in the junior with no other senior, junior or youth running.   The winter season was not yet at an end: the club race over ten miles was held on the last Saturday in March and was won by G Mortimer in 63 min – the report commented that ‘he won very readily and is definitely a winning prospect’.   Three of the more established club men were running later in the week in the YMCA International Championship in Manchester.   P Husband, W Duncan and G Rennie were the men in question.   

This was a sign of the times though – several other well established clubs did not turn out their best teams, or in fact turn out any teams consistently  in District or national championships.   Clubs such as the two main teams in Greenock, for instance, did not regularly turn out in National championships despite having some outstanding talent to draw on, and they were not alone in this.  For Kirkcaldy, the journey may have been a key factor – were they to go by train it would have meant at least one change of train in each direction.  Nevertheless, Kirkcaldy, for all their apparent strength in the 1940’s and early 50’s did not turn out any teams in the 1949 national and only one runner (W Grieve in the Junior race) in 1950.   Nevertheless, it was into the 1950’s with some optimism as far as the distance men were concerned.   Teams were out in almost every race, there were often ten men in a race where only six were to score, and they had entries many of the road races organised by the Scottish Marathon Club which, formed in 1944, pre-dated the English Road Runners Club.   

Gerry Mortimer (24)

KIRKCALDY YMCA IN THE 1950’s

Any club that is successful needs a good committee and the indications are that for the first half of the decade the club had a good group of administrators looking after their affairs.   At the meeting in February 1950, the following were elected as the main office-bearers: Hon. President  Mr A Wishart; President  J Peacock;  Hon. Vice Presidents  A Thomson, D Ross, A Dow, D Baldie, H Stoddart and Dr Wishart; Vice-President  W Duncan; Captain P Husband; Vice-captain  D Beveridge; hon secretary  RC Hewson; Assistant secretary  G Duncan; hon treasurer R Kirk; General Committee  G Mortimer, T Burns, G Dewar, A Gibson and G Gordon;  …..   Trainer T Burns.   

Competitively the 1950’s started well for the club with good solid performances over the country, on the road and on the track.  A brief look at the local track meetings is enlightening.   Inter-clubs were, a feature of a time when there were not too many competitions for the athletes and on 29th May, 1950, Kirkcaldy hosted Watsonians from Edinburgh.  It was a restricted programme but the top placings for the home club were as follows:

100 yards: 2nd  J Dewar;  440 yards: 3rd  R Curtis;  880 yards: 2nd G Mortimer;  Mile:  1st G Mortimer, 3rd P Husband;  High Jump: 1st J Hughes;  Long Jump: 1st J Hughes;  Hop, step and jump:  1st J Hughes, 2nd J Beveridge; Shot: 3rd A Gibson; Mile Medley Relay:  1st Kirkcaldy YMCA.   They had covered every event and only lost to Watsonians by five points (27 to 32).   

They also took part in local open meetings such as the one organised by the Scottish Industrial Sports Association at Stark’s Park in late June where J Dewar won the 100, 220 and 440 yards as well as being second in the high jump.   Ian Chrystal won the 880 yards and was third in the Mile; P Husband mirrored that when he won the Mile but was third in the 880 and finished up by winning the obstacle race.   

They also turned out in strength at the Dundee North End Sports on 8th July where all the other clubs from the North East were competing in what were mainly handicap events.  Principal Kirkcaldy performances were J Dewar’s triple victories in the 100, 220 and 440 yards; WE Duncan winning the 12 mile Road Race Handicap with J Peacock third; and D Beveridge winning the 2 miles Open Handicap from a mark of 190 yards.   

The club was clearly in fine form with good athletes across the board.   One of the main events for them of course was the YMCA national championships.     These were held in the middle of May every year and Kirkcaldy runners were successful at distances from 100 yards to two miles.   The best performers over the period were W Ewing (who won the Youths 100 yards in both 1954 and 1955, Junior 100 and 220 in 1957 and the senior 100 and 220 yards in 1958), G Mortimer (who won the 2 Miles in 1953 and 1954) and there were Junior sprint doubles in 1955 (J Dewar) and 1956 (RR Mullen).  

Arguably the best team performance by the club, in 1950 at least, was the victory in the first ever 16 miles Helensburgh to Clydebank Road race on 7th January 1950.   The report in the Courier read:   “On January 2nd in the inaugural Clydebank to Helensburgh 16 mile road race sponsored by the Dunbartonshire AAA, Kirkcaldy YMCA won the team race by two points from the famous Maryhill Harriers.   The team’s points were made up as follows:- 2nd G Gordon, 3rd J Peacock, 6th J Bell.   In the individual race the team were placed as follows:- 4th G Gordon, 5th J Peacock, 8th J Bell.   The club’s congratulations must go to these runners on this fine feat and also to J Chrystal for his fine running on December 31st in the Edinburgh Eastern Harriers Open Christmas Handicap in which, out of a field of 59, Ian was placed 3rd.   On Saturday January 7th, the club will hold its Hon President’s Prize, decided on a handicap basis on a 5 mile road course through Chapel.   Following this, the club will travel to Edinburgh on January 14th for the second League match.”

The win in the Helensburgh to Clydebank (the paper had the direction wrong!) was indeed significant with a victory over the celebrated Maryhill after the long journey from Kirkcaldy before the event.   The difference between the team placings and the actual placings is because the practice was to exclude individual entries from the team places.  

The apparent discrepancy in places is because, under the rules operating at the time, runners not in a team were excluded from the calculations for the team awards.   

The club seemed to have developed a taste for the longer distances and J Bell ran the SAAA Marathon in 1951 (23rd June) and finished third to win a senior man’s championship medal with his time of 2:50:38.  On 25th August came another team win in a long road race when they won the team race in the Perth to Dundee event.   J Bell was eighth in 2:13:49, WE Duncan was 11th in 2:18:05, P Husband was 13th in 2:22:17 and J Peacock was 15th in 2:26:04.   The result was a victory with 32 points to the Glasgow YMCA’s 42 points. 

Start of Perth to Dundee Race in 1951

 Two months later and Husband came down a few distances to run the last leg in the Scottish YMCA Relay championships: the team of Mortimer, Beveridge, Corroon and Husband was third with Mortimer being third fastest runner on the day.   That was in

January and they started the winter on 1950-51 with an excellent 5th place from 20 teams competing in the Dundee Kingsway Relay where they had two teams competing.   They were a very good road running squad.

How about over the country in 1950?   Starting on 17th February, 1950, with the Scottish YMCA Championships, the report in the Fife Free Press said:   “This year, for the first time since 1931, the Scottish YMCA National Cross Country Championships will be held in Kirkcaldy.   In these championships Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers have a fine record, having won twice in three years and being runners-up on the other occasion.   These performances may be regarded as particularly meritorious in view of the fact that every time a YMCA Harriers club wins, it must find fresh runners for the ensuing year.   Kirkcaldy Harriers have this year an undoubted chance despite the fact that they were the winning team last year at Motherwell, when the counting four of the winning team were:- G Rennie, P Husband, W Grieve and D Beveridge.   With the exception of W Grieve, these runners are competing this year in the individual.  The first nine in the individual represent Scotland in the international YMCA Cross-Country Race at Manchester in April, and Kirkcaldy hope to have several members in the team as they did last year.”

Several of the club did represent Scotland in the YMCA International at Manchester in April. With WE Duncan of the club acting as team captain, the first Scottish finisher was P Husband who was one of the counting six. WE Duncan and G Rennie were unlucky in suffering ‘stitches’ during the race and ran below form. Nevertheless it was a credit for the club to have so many in action. Remember that the Scottish championships had such as Aberdeen YMCA, Bellshill, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Irvine, Johnstone, Kirkcaldy, Larkhall, Motherwell, Paisley and others competing. It was not an easy vest to get.

The disappointing thing however is that they were not competing at national level despite having the talent and numbers to do so.   In the national at Hamilton on 4th March only one man was representing the club, and that was W Grieve who was seventh in the Junior race – one place ahead of John Stevenson of Wellpark who was a very good runner indeed, and one place behind the leading Victoria Park AAC man.   The story had been the same in the East District championships on 4th February when Grieve had been their only representative.   

Over the winter season 1950-51 they did well.   The club record of running in the East District Relays was a better one – for the first half of the decade at least.

   They turned out eight men in November 1950’s E-G relay, then finished third team in the East District championships on 3rd February (W Duncan, G Mortimer, J Duncan, P Husband, A Beveridge and G Bell).   But not a man in the SCCU Championships exactly one month later.    

They were still running well on the track in the early 1950’s.   For example on 9th June 1951, there was an item in the Fife Free Press which ran: “Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers did very well at the Open Sports Meeting held by Edinburgh Milton Wrestling Club at New Meadowbank on Saturday.   Members gained prizes at distances ranging from the 100 yards sprint to the 12 miles road race.   In the 100 yards J Dewar put in a strong finish to finsih third.   A spectacular success was gained by G Mortimer in the Open Mile.   Running from the second backmark of 75 yards, he gradually caught his field and finished very strongly to win by 10 yards in the fast time of 4 min 21 sec.   Another first prize was gained by P Husband in the 12 mile road race where he finished first beating that well-known road runner A Arbuckle, Monkland Harriers, by 50 yards.   A very encouraging sign for a runner who is attempting road running for the first time.”

The Scottish YMCA Championships were held in 1953 on 16th May, and it was a good day for Kircaldy YM in the Two Miles where G Mortimer won the Two miles in 9:47 and the club won the team race with 12 points.   Mortimer also won the Two Miles in the following year, 22nd May, when his time was 9 minutes 77 seconds and he was one of only two club runners to win – the other being E Ewing in the Youths 100 yards.

While working hard at home and in the local area, they did not have a single individual entered for the major Scottish cross-country championship in 1950, 51. 52, 53, 54, 55, or 56.   In 1957 there were 2 Youths (P Husband and W Smith).   Things started to look up in 1958 when there was a single senior (CW Foley), but a whole Youths team which just missed out on the awards by being fourth team.   This consisted of J Cooper 19th, A Milton 39, J Edmunds 68 and was led home by J Linaker in second place.   The following year Linaker ran in the colours of Pitreavie AAC in the same race.  He also won the Junior Mile in the Scottish YMCA Track Championships later in 1958.   It is an interesting sign of the times to see how his running for the YMCA came about.

At the time when Pitreavie AAC was formed, there were separate associations for Track and Cross-Country.  For some reason Pitreavie AAC registered with SAAA but not SCCU.   So although John (with Claude Foley and Alan Milton) was First Claim with Pitreavie it was only for track events, so he ran cross-country for Kirkcaldy YMCA H until Pitreavie registered with the SCCU in 1958.   He was not alone in this – another similar case that comes to mind was that of George Jackson who ran for St Modans AAC as well as Forth Valley.  However, the YMCA track championships were serious affairs with nine or ten clubs competing and international runners like Bert McKay and Andy Brown of Motherwell YMCA turned out in them.   Top competitor of them all, though, had to be DK Gracie of Larkhall YM who was Scottish and British internationalist and record breaker over the 440 hurdles and who regularly – even at the top of his form – won two sprints at these championships.    

On the road the major team event for any club had to be the Edinburgh to Glasgow 8 stage relay and after their first venture into the race in 1949, they ran in it in 1950 (15th), 1951 (20th), 1952 (16th) and 1953 (20th).  These were very good solid runs against all of the best clubs in the country and they finished ahead of some good opposition.  

Apart from the poor turnout in the national – by no means peculiar  to Kirkcaldy YMCA at this point – the club performances fell away in the second half of the 1950’s   Note their performances in the East District Championships: 

Also in the late 50’s, Andy Brown, junior, won the Scottish YMCA cross-country championship in February, 1954, and only one Kirkcaldy man made the team for the international, P Husband who had led the team home in 1950.   It was a time when the organisation was leaving the YMCA building in Kirk Wynd and moving to the new premises in Valley Gardens with a period of suspended animation between the closing of one building and the opening of the other  – except for the Harriers who had a season’s commitments to fulfil.   

On the track, the new ‘stadium’ opened in Dundee on 5th June, 1954, with lots of star names – eg Joe McGhee, RAF and Shettleston won the 13 miles road race, Donnie McDonald of Garscune Harriers, Pat Devine of the Q club and many others turned out- but there were some from the Kirkcaldy YMCA present.   In the men’s open 100 yards, A Gibson won his heat and was second in the final, in the 220 yards open handicap J Dewar won his heat but was unplaced in the final, W Ewing was third in the Youths 440 yards, and the Relay team won from Dundee AAC.   It was not a bad start to the season.   Then at the North End Sports on 19th July, there were some good performances by the club – J Dewar won the 100 yards for senior men and  W Ewing was third in the Youths 220 yards, and that was it.   In contrast to the 1950 meeting, there was a big group of athletes from Aberdeen and another from Perth and, in addition, the Hawkhill team was particularly strong at the time.   The reality was that at this point, the club which was not as strong as it had been at the start of the decade.   eg the last appearance in the Edinburgh to Glasgow was in 1954. Gerry Mortimer resigned from the club and was runnning for Edinburgh Eastern Harriers at the start of winter 1956/57 in the Kingsway Relay in Dundee.    He had moved house to Edinburgh and went on to have a good career as a runner there.   He even had a special trophy made for him after he finished second in the East District Three Miles (50, 51 and 52).   Interestingly his son, Ken, was also a runner, both loved the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay and between them they ran every stage in the race with a combined best time of about 3 hours 48 min – remarkable.

Individually the marathon men were doing quite well.   In 1952, the preview for the race in the Fife Free Press for 2nd August read: 

“The Scottish Marathon Championship over a course of 26 miles 385 yards from Perth to Dundee has attracted a good entry this year, and once more contestants have come forward from Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers.   This year three entries have been made in the names of J Bell, P Husband, and J Peacock.   The first named will find no difficulty in running prominently in this race as the veteran has finished fourth on several occasions.   P Husband and J Peacock are novices at this longest of all races, but have run well in former years in races approaching the marathon race in distance.   In this respect of entries for the marathon championship Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers may claim to be unique as there will be very few clubs in Scotland putting forward two entries far less three.”

At the finish, J Bell was tenth in the event in 2:59:28 with J Peacock thirteenth in 3:07:27, and in 1953 Bell was again tenth, this time in 2:58:11, and Peacock was again thirteenth in 3:03:18.   But the club as a whole was not running or racing as well over the shorter distances as it had been and it was the 1960’s before the upturn started to take place.   

Into the 1960’s

Cross-country first.  In contrast to most of the 1950’s the club turned out several very good cross-country teams throughout the 1960’s – particularly in the Youths (Under 17) and Boys (Under 15) age groups.   Following on from the Youths and Boys team results at the national in 1958 and 1959 the cross-country teams did very well.  These are noted in the table below.  First team in any category is the U17’s, second team is the U15’s.  (ie Y 1st/B 1st)

There is a copy of the programme for the National Cross-Country Championships of 1963 where you can see the relative strengths of the various age groups at the time to be seen at; 

 http://salroadrunningandcrosscountrymedalists.co.uk/Archive/Cross%20Country/National%20XC/Programmes/1960s/National%201962-3.pdf

The count is 14 Boys, 14 Youths, 5 Juniors and 1 Senior.   You will also note that the club uniform had changed from the one worn by Gerry Mortimer in the picture above to white with gold band.

On the track, the club had men forward in the District Championships, they had inter-club fixtures and of course the club championships continued to exercise the club members.   Good as the cross-country men were, the track men did not live up to these standards – or not in numbers.   Success was limited too in the YMCA Championships, M Lockhart won the Youths 1 Mile in 1960, WR Fleming won the senior mile in 1961, and again in 1962; D Linton won the Junior 100 and 220 yards double (10.8 and 24.6) and D Whitehill won the Youths shot putt in 1964.   It was a time in YM athletics when the Motherwell team was crushing all before it in the senior distance events – in 1964, Ian McCafferty had a superb double and in 1966 Bert Mackay (880 yards), Alex Brown (Mile), and Ian McCafferty (Three Miles) teamed up with Andy Brown to win the Mile medley relay while A Robertson won both sprints.   For Kirkcaldy, there were three wins in the Junior age group – D Henry won the Mile,   A McCulloch won the long jump and the club won the relay and in the Boys age group, D Wann won the 100 yards.   One of the club’s younger athletes was credited with a 100 yards time of 10.1 when Junior (ie Under 20) Ian Donaldson of Kirkcaldy HS and Kirkcaldy YMCA ran it in Anstruther in June.

In the 1967 championships, held at Grangemouth the Motherwell juggernaut was back in action with the Brown brothers, McCafferty and McKay leading a good senior team but the Kirkcaldy men were more noticeable than in previous years.   D Neilson was second in both 100 and 220 yards, J Hutt was second in the long jump and the Kirkcaldy senior men’s team won the medley relay.   They also won the Youths 4 x 200 yards relay and A Robertson won the 100 yards in 10.6.   A third relay success came in the Boys age group when they won the 4 x 110 yards relay as well as A Mitchell winning the long jump.   There was also a club points plaque competition for all age groups and Kirkcaldy won the trophies for the Youths (ie U17) and Boys (U15) age groups.   It had been a really good day for the club with the range of success spreading over all age groups and across all events.   These events show a developing club but there was not the same degree of success at the East District championships which were a step up.  However in May 1968 the Boys from Kirkcaldy showed the seniors the way: S Robertson won the Youths 100 and 220 yards events in 10,2 and 23.4 seconds – remarkably good times for an Under 17 athlete – and G Ferguson won the shot putt with a 41′ 2″ putt.   There was no follow up in terms of titles won at District level after that year but the club was represented at the East Championships.

In addition to the YMCA and East District Championships, there were numerous inter-club fixtures with other clubs such as Pitreavie AAC, Larbert YM, Forth Valley AC and Tillicoultry as well as some of the Edinburgh clubs.   There were also several appearances in the Scottish ranking lists.    Ian Donaldson  was credited with a ‘doubtful’ 100 yards time of 10.1 when a Junior (ie Under 20)  in Anstruther in June, 1966, and was ranked fifth in the 200 yards hurdles for his time of 24.6 run at the same meeting – he was also third in the Scottish Schools hurdles event iwth a time of 24.6.   In 1968, Alex W Robertson was ranked number two Youth in the country with his best 100 yards time of 10.2, and for the same event won the East District Championship (10.2), the Scottish Schools (10.8) and the SAAA (10.6); he was also second in the 220 yards list with 22.9, run at Grangemouth on 22nd June and he won the East, (23.4) the Schools (23.4) and the SAAA championships.22.9).   The Scottish athletics handbook of 1969 called the latter “his victorious sweep of the titles”, and the only Youth to have run faster was David Jenkins.   In the same year, R Sharp was eleventh in the 880 yards lists with a best of 2:03.3 run at the SSAA championship.   Robertson was also seventh in the 110 hurdles event with 14.8.   It was a good year for the Kirkcaldy Under 17’s – G Ferguson was ninth in the shot putt with 41′ 2″ and Peter Blyth was third in the Javelin rankings with 156′ 7″ – he had also been third in the SSAA with 147′ 8″.   Up among the Juniors, all Robertson’s marks saw him listed but added to them, David Smart was sixth in the 880 yards with 1:57.9 – he had also been second in the Schools championship in 1:59.4.   Metric distances were starting to appear and Robertson was also credited with an 11.5 second 100m at Grangemouth on 21st September which placed him eighth among the Scottish senior sprinters.   In 1969 Robertson was a Junior and was ranked 11th for 100m (11.5) – he was third in the schools with 11.8), seventh for 200m with 22.9 sec (second in East District with the same time) and second in the 110m hurdles with 15.0 sec (having won the East in 15.0 and been second in the SAAA 15.2).   Robertson was a product of Buckhaven High School which was producing many very good athletes in the technical events and they even had a highy ranked decathlete in Ronald Thomson.   Alex Latto had been ranked the previous year as a pupil at Kirkcaldy High School but in ’69 he was a member of the YMCA and topped the Youths shot putt with 46′ 10 1/2″, also winning the Schools (14’28) and the SAAA (13.95).   

The new East District League had ist frist meeting in Dundee in April. 1968 and the new clubs added to those competing were Kirkcaldy YMCA, Forth Valley, Dundee Hawkhill, City of Perth and Tayside AAC.   In the first match Kirkcaldy was third with 103 points behind Aberdeen and City of Perth.    The league included girls events too.   The club was clearly looking forward.

The club was undoubtedly doing well and recruiting from all the local schools – Kirkcaldy High School, Buckhaven HS, Glenrothes HS were only three of them.   With this talent at their disposal in the younger age groups, and particularly the U17 and U20 brackets, their future should have been assured.   They were winning cross-country titles in winter, on the track they had some outstanding young athletes across the board from sprints to middle distance and in ths throws and jumps.   

But the club seemed to disappear in 1970.  Having searched in vain through all the newspaper archives to which I had acess, I asked a long standing official, coach and administrator from Fife what had happened to the club.   Like me, he could find nothing after December 1970 when Kirkcaldy organised their last East District League race.   He thinks it may have been that a key figure in the administration and official roles left then, and adds, “After that Clubs like Glenrothes, Cupar & Fife Southern (Kirkcaldy based) appeared and eventually amalgamated to become Fife AC who have organised the odd East District Cross-Country League in the recent years.”

I asked an experienced competitor and official about how the success for the younger athletes for a whole decade came to pass and also asked whether there was any significant driving personality behind it.   His response: “However it happened and why it happened is still a bit of a mystery but it was a loss to the sport.   The club  had played its part in the sport, contributing at least its share of the work necessary – for instance it was an annual venue for one of the yearly three East District Cross-Country  League races, from 1925 till 1954. Other venues were asking to host races,  and the next one at Kirkcaldy after ’54 was in November 1963.    They supplied officials for local meetings and for championships.   One of the best known of these was Jimmy Cooper who was a full time Youth Development officer with them – he was very keen on Cross-Country so might have been a driving force behind them at that time. “

It is however still a bit of a puzzle how a club whose young athletes were doing so well could just cease to exist as Kirkcaldy YMCA Harriers seemed to do.

I’d like to thank Alex Jackson, Graham McDonald and Ken Mortimer for their help in doing the profile.