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Stage Four was another difficult one and, arguably, the toughest after the second and sixth stages.    Partly because the standard of runners was often higher than on legs other than two and six .   Clubs tried to maximise the contribution from their strongest runners by putting them on the longest stages OR by placing them strategically along the route.   After a good run on Stage Two, Stage Four had to be good to repair immediately any loss of position on Three (the shortest) before the notoriously open, exposed and often very windy fifth leg where picking up places would be difficult.   All legs were difficult in this marvellous event, but some were a wee bittie more difficult than others!

1958: Kelly to Fox, Shettleston at the changeover from three to four

Tom O’Reilly, Stage Four, 1954

Alex Miller, Law and District, on Stage Four in 1974

1983: Ian Graves (Fife – 12) and Tom Gillespie (GUAC – 13)

Graham Getty, Bellahouston Harriers, 1984

1983, Tom Gillespie (13  GUH&H) and Ian Graves (12 Fife AC)

Jim Orr to Eddie Stewart, Cambuslang, 1983

Alex Gilmour 1984

Brian Carty, Shettleston, 1985

Doug Runciman, Cambuslang Harriers, 1994

Shane Daly to Kheredine Idessane at the start of fourth stage, 1997

Kheredine Idessane, Clydesdale, 1997

Scott Cohen, Robert Fitzgerald, 1998

Donnie Bain (FVH) and Adrian Callan (Springburn)

Same race: Dougie Bain and Adrian Callan (Springburn)

1958: Billy Goodwin (Bellahouston) and George White (Clydesdale)

Gordon Nelson, Bellahouston, 1958

1959: Billy Goodwin (Bellahouston) and J Ewing (Victoria Park)

Alistair Blamire, (EU H&H) leading Ian Binnie (VPAAC)  in 1965

1976

Both above from 1982: 19 Tommy Wiseman, 5 Robert McWatt, 13 Donald Macgregor, 9 Nigel Jones, 

1984: Hugh McKay (5), Adrian Callan (18), Simon Axon (21), Iain Steele (8), Donnie Bain (10) and Alan Currie

Paul Dugdale, Adrian Weatherhead, Mark Wallace (VPAAC) and Jim Orr ,Cambuslang, 1986

Ian Steel (ESH *) and Simon Axon (North District 21)   1986

First stage: 1987

Lachie Stewart and David McMeekin on the first stage in 1987

At the end of stage one the long drag up from the Barnton Roundabout to the top and the ‘One Mile to Go’ sign really sorted out the field.   This is the view supporters got when looking back down for their runner.

Andy Daly had broken away from the group he was running with at this point

Withe Andy gone, Ian Archibald leads the chasing group with Jim Dingwall dropping off.

1984

1990: Great shot posted by A Laird on Graham’s website

1986

Steve Taylor leads Graham Everett, Derek Ibbotson, Laszlo Tabori, Ken Wood and Stan Taylor  at Ibrox in the Mile in 1960

Looking at athletics memorabilia is fascinating: we learn not only about the events in which an athlete has been competing but also about the wider field of athletics at that time.   Scottish athletics in my lifetime has undergone any changes but none more so that in the type of competition offered to the athletes or to the range of competition either.   We have Andy Forbes’ programmes and cuttings elsewhere on the site and what we have here are some of the photographs and programmes from Steve Taylor’s collection.

Certificate for thirty-fifth place in the International Cross-Country in 1962: He was third Scot

Certificate received after winning Shettleston Marathon in 1971

Certificate for fourth place in Morpeth to Newcastle, 1960

1961 E-G for Aberdeen AAC: Top Duffy to Taylor, Below Taylor (3rd fastest on stage 6) to Howie

SAAA Mile, 1960: Top leading Ken Ballantyne in the Heat; below leading Graham Everett in the Final (Steve was second)

En route to victory in the Carry Cup Trophy Race (Aberdeen v Dundee Cross-Country)

North East CC League, Dundee 1961.   Leading from Alastair Wood

Joe McGhee at Hamilton Race course before the SCCU Champs, c 1957

1972, Walton on Thames.   RRC 20 miles track race shortly after the start. Jim Alder (1) set a new UK best of 1.40.50. Steve (11) finished 5th.

Don Ritchie, the future ultra running great, was 6th. Don is just in front of Steve in this photo. In front of Don is Ian Macintosh (6), who won the 1978 SAAA marathon

This programme front cover is for the 1960 International at Hamilton Park Racecourse.

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The Rangers Sports was a wonderful meeting with top athletes competing on the same track and sharing the dressing rooms with the regular Scottish runners who were competing in handicap races.

This is a particularly interesting one in that it was one of the very first floodlight meetings in Scottish athletics.   Many of the runners from the just-finished Rome Olympics.   There were many athletics meetings originating in the 1920’s where Olympic athletes came to Glasgow after the meeting before returning home: one of my first meetings was in broad daylight but included such as Lindy Remigino, Herb McKenley, Arthur Wint and others on their way home from Helsinki.   These days have gone but it must have been a wonderful experience for Steve to run at such a meeting.  

Colin says: “In 1960 many Olympic stars came to Glasgow.   Steve had watched them in Rome and here he was the pacemaker in the Mile!   Bill Dellinger (who in 1964 was third in the Olympic 5000m) won in front of Graham Everett, Laszlo Tabori and Mike Beresford, with Steve 5^th in front of Max Truex (USA) etc. The three miles featured – in finishing order –  Albie Thomas (Aus), Gordon Pirie, Nyandika (the first successful Kenyan), Frank Salvat and Alastair Wood. The 440 yards featured Otis Davis (1960 Olympic 400m gold), Robbie Brightwell and Mal Spence. The Women’s sprints included Australia’s 1956 Olympic 100m/200m (and 1964 400m) victor Betty Cuthbert. Steve also collected some autographs and, for my own collection, I have printed out folk like Thomas, Tabori, Dellinger, Truex, Derek Ibbotson plus several top Scots and English.”

There were often such international fixtures against the smaller nations such as Iceland and the other Scandinavian countries and they were great occasions for the athletes, and the spectators but it seems that there are no facilities for such fixtures in the twenty first century.

The Edinburgh Highland Games, traditionally held on the short, grass track at Murrayfield, also attracted the very best athletes and there were some surprisingly good times run in dire conditions there.

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This was one of a series of attempts to have a dedicated athletics magazine in Scotland.   This one was edited and produced by Walter Ross as a successor to the first rate ‘Scots Athlete’ magazine.

The two athletes pictured, both running cross-country for Cambridge University, are Mike Turner and Herb Elliott, the legendary Australian miler.

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Stage three was always the shortest, no matter how many times the trail was tweaked.   Described as ‘undulating’ there was certainly a switchback element to the road covered but the finish was ferocious – the ‘Mile to go’ sign led on to a long down hill stretch which encouraged the enthusiastic runner to really push hard before it came as a wee shock to his system to find a long uphill drag to the changeover opposite the farmer’s barn-cum-temporary toilet.   Photographs below from the Jim Irvine, Scots Athlete, Graham MacIndoe and the Andy Fair pictures were submitted to Graham MacIndoe’s site by, I believe, Andy himself.

John Stevenson (Springburn) receiving the baton in 1954

John Stevenson, running the third stage

Passing the baton at the end of the stage

Eddie Bannon (Shettleston) in 1955

Pat Moy, Vale of Leven, to Bob Steele at the start of three

1958: Jim Irvine has just passed J Taylor, VPAAC

1959: Des Dickson, Bellahouston, at the start of three

1959: Hugh Mitchell takes over for Shettleston at the start of stage three

Bert Irving (Bellahouston Harriers) to Jim Irvine at the second changeover in 1961

Ronnie Kane (VPAAC) hands over to John McLaren at the end of stage 3 in 1955

Fergus Murray (EU H&H, fastest on Stage Two) to G Evans at the start of Stage 3 in 1964

George White, Clydesdale, 1956

Joe Clare, AAAC, 1967

Neil Thin, ESH, 1984

Pat Morris starts Stage Three, taking over from Eddie Stewart in 1984

Colin Youngson finishing stage three, aged 51, and handing over to Mark Johnston for Metro Aberdeen

Hugh Forgie, Law and District, leading Paul Ross, Clydesdale

Joe Forte, Haddington ELP

Ewan Calvert, Clydesdale, 1997

Andy Fair, Teviotdale

Andy Fair at Broxburn changeover to B Knox

Scott Cohen, Leslie Deans, 1993

Shane Daly, Clydesdale, 1995

From time to time there appears a magazine dedicated to Scottish athletics – usually with an emphasis on road and cross-country running.   The post-war ‘The Scots Athlete’ produced by Walter Ross using the technology available at the time is still a good, well-produced magazine with several excellent writers, its successor ‘The International Athlete’ was not as good a production and the coverage of domestic athletics was much sparser,   In the 1970’s George Stevenson in Edinburgh gave us ‘Athletics in Scotland’.   The content of this offering was really top-class.   It gave race results in some detail, interviews with athletes and coaches as well as a range of other topics such as coaching – the edition with coaching of the sprints by Jimmy Campbell was particularly good.    It was done on a shoestring but was a real loss when it went the way of all flesh after too few years.   A really determined attempt to produce a quality magazine dealing with the sport using all the latest technology by a team of professional journalists was made in 1986 when ‘Scotland’s Runner’ became available.   It ran monthly until mid-1993.   We couldn’t have asked for more from a magazine but the sport could not provide the support necessary to sustain it.   

When Aberdeen AAC won the Edinburgh to Glasgow in 1988, the race was well covered and what follows is the series of photographs following the race from the first stage to the last.

The Aberdeen team consisted that day of Ian Mathieson (7th on the first stage), Chris Hall (3rd at the changeover), Ray Cresswell (1st), David Duguid (1st), Graham Laing (1st), Fraser Clyne (1st), Simon Axon (1st), and Colin Youngson (1st).   The team’s winning margin was 21 seconds from Edinburgh Southern Harriers, with Ray Cresswell being the only member to turn in the fastest stage time.

The Edinburgh AC team at the finish in 1994 in Crown Point before the sponsor’s backdrop

For almost its entire duration, the race finished in Exchange Square in Glasgow, and there was always a crowd all the way along the road to the banner – originally a News of the World banner, then the Barr’s Irn Bru gateway.   The first runner, in this case Colin Youngson of Aberdeen AAC, crossed the line and was immediately surrounded by officials who made sure that he was OK, then led him to the Lord Provost or his representative who retrieved the message from his counterpart in Edinburgh from the baton.   All this while, the other runners from other clubs were crossing the finishing line and they, in their turn, were swamped by club supporters.   The colour photographs below are from Des Yuill.   Not sure where the one above came from but it typifies the relief of any club that performed up to expectations in the race.

Colin Youngson crosses the line first

Charlie Haskett, Dundee Hawkhill

Bobby Young, Clydesdale

Edinburgh University team in Glasgow: 1991

Winners in 1993

Alan Robson

But whatever the year, the message from Lord Provost to Lord Provost was passed by hand all the way across Scotland: below are some of the hands at the start and some at the finish …

Think of any of Scotland’s top distance men at any time between 1930 and 2000 and you can bet that they ran on this stage of the Edinburgh to Glasgow.   Emmet Farrell, Joe McGhee, Ian Binnie, Graham Everett, Alastair Wood all did their best for their club.   Donald Macgregor, Jim Dingwall, Lachie Stewart all managed to find their way over the seven miles from the Forestfield Inn to the War Memorial at Airdrie.    What follows is, first, some photographs from the original programmes, then a selection of photographs from 1967.   Then some from 1985   (photographs were taken by Graham MacIndoe), then Graham Haddow’s and then  some more.

Harry Fenion (Bellahouston)

Clark Wallace to Eddie Bannon for Shettleston in 1960, start of Stage 6

For ESH, Ross to Ballantyne in 1960

Peter Duffy (AAAC) to Steve Taylor at the start of Six

Ian Donald to Graham Everett for Shettleston in 1961

Lyall to Fraser, ESH, in 1961

 Cameron Shepherd, Glasgow University, to Dougie Gifford in 1961

Fergus Murray (ESH)

Gareth Bryan-Jones (EU H&H)

Pat Maclagan (VPAAC)

Andy Daly (Bellahouston) 1983

Charlie Haskett, 1983

J Graham, 1983

Evan Cameron, ESH, 1984

Colin Youngson, 1985

Simon Axon (AAAC) leading Graham Crawford (Springburn) 1985

Jim Dingwall, Falkirk Victoria Harriers, 1985

Neil Tennant, Edinburgh Southern

Lindsay Robertson, Edinburgh AC

Bobby Quinn, Kilbarchan

Lawrie Spence, 1985

Alistair Douglas, Victoria Park

Peter  Fleming, Bellahouston

Simon Axon, Aberdeen, leading Graham Crawford, Springburn

Terry Mitchell, Fife AC

Craig Hunter 1986

Above: Fraser Clyne, AAAC 1986

Below: Steven Connaghan to Lawrie Spence, Spango Valley, 1986

Tommy Murray, 1986

Ian Murphy, Clydesdale, and Drew Nicol, Victoria Park

Ian Murphy, Clydesdale Harriers

Peter Fleming (Mizuno) and Graeme Wight (Shettleston) 1996

1996, Doug Runcieman on Five handing over to Graeme Croll , Stage Six for Cambuslang

Glen Stewart, 1999.

Glen Stewart leading Phil Mowbray in 2001

Phil Mowbray started that leg 10 seconds ahead of Glen Stewart; after 6 miles at the end of the leg Glen was 1 second ahead of Phil.   2 fastest 6 stage times of the day, great race by 2 fine athletes

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The toughest two stages in a very tough race were undoubtedly two and six.   Both attracted the top men.   Six, at seven miles, was the longest but maybe two had the edge in quality.   Poor teams put their top man there to try and improve their position while the field was still close together; good teams put their top gun there in the hope of maintaining their expected position near the front and, if possible, capitalising on it.   Many, many great runs and hard fought duels were witnessed on this stage.   

 Donald Macgregor running in 1959 in the colours of St Andrews University.   He moved up from 16th to 12th

Craig Douglas to Fergus Murray at the start of the second stage in 1970

Fergus Murray racing Dick Wedlock with Hugh Barrow chasing in 1970.   Lachie Stewart looking on

1982: Steve Binns (Falkirk) leading Alan Robson

Eddie Stewart, Cambuslang

Chris Robison, Spango Valley, leading Craig Ross, Dundee Hawkhill

John Graham, Motherwell

McDonald and Puckrin, 1983

Neil Thin passing the baton to Craig Hunter, Edinburgh Southern Harriers

Lawrie Spence, 1984, Spango Valley

Chris Robison, 1985

Joe Forte taking over from Johnny Ross for Haddington ELP

1985: Joseph Nzau (left); Neil Thin (ESH), Calum Murray (Cambuslang), A Jenkins (EAC)

Tony Coyne, Bellahgouston, 1985

Tony Coyne, Bellahouston, 1985

1986: Eddie Stewart leading Edinburgh AC

1986: Tommy Murray

1986: John Pentecost (FVH 11), Iain Steele (ESH  and American J Stirrat (Massachusetts guest team)

1987: John Pentecost

Alex Gilmour and Chris Robertson

Steven Doig, Clydesdale, 1990

Graham Crawford, Springburn, 1984

Alistair Douglas, Victoria Park, and Richie Barrie, Dundee Hawkhill

Graham Laing, Aberdeen

Tommy Murray chasing the pack in front, second stage, 1986

Alan Currie, Edinburgh University

Nat Muir, 1992

The original Edinburgh to Glasgow was followed by a meal and presentation of prizes in the Cad’oro restaurant in Glasgow with officials, administrators, the sponsor’s representatives of course and civic dignitaries present.   A proper sit-down, knife-and-forker with waitress service, napkins at every place setting.   It was often held on the same Saturday as the Glasgow Christmas lights were switched on and was a prelude to an enjoyable evening. 

1937 Winners above; Runners-up below

1957 Presentation: Johnny Stirling, VPAAC

1958 Presentation: Bellahouston Harriers

1959 Presentation: Shettleston Harriers

1961 Presentation: Shettleston Harriers

Winning Cambuslang Harriers team, 1987

When the News of the World found it too difficult to continue, Des Yuill managed to persuade Barr’s soft drinks company to take over and the presentation of prizes, plus meal, was in the Strathclyde University Staff Club in Glasgow city centre.   It moved again but it was the only race with such a conclusion to the day’s activities.   The photographs below are from Des’s collection and give an indication of the nature of the occasion.

First, there is the platform party, the sponsor’s logo and advertising front and centre.

and speeches, this one by Ian Clifton, SCCU,

The presentation, by Des Yuill with the runners getting, in addition to the medal, a bottle of the best,

Medal and certificate in the one hand and the 2 litres of Irn Bru in the other.

The team made the cover of “Scotland’s Runner” …

… and the runners received a name check in Colin Shields’s book

… as did the Edinburgh Univerity team of 1965 ..

EU   H&H  1992

Back: P Mowbray, R Sutherland, A Eyre-Walker, T Delahunt;   Front S Birch, J Jarvis, J Pyrah, T Hely

The winning 1993 team with their Irn Bru – and the trophy and medals

Mizuno AC: Winning team 2001

As far as the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight man relay was concerned, the race was the thing; the occasion was unequalled in the sport but as in all athletic contests, every club was striving for success.   The sought after success varied from club to club, but at the sharp end of the field, success was measured in medals won.   The medals, sponsored by’ The News of the World’ newspaper, were specifically designed for this race and are worth inspection.    Those in the first illustration show the real design:   on the one side it showed Edinburgh Castle as the starting point of the relay while the Glasgow City Chambers was shown inside a laurel wreath to the left of the castle.   The medals came in gold, silver and bronze with a fourth set to be awarded to the club who, in the opinion of the judges, had turned in the ‘most meritorious unplaced performance’ 

The reverse of the medal had the inscription ‘The Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay Race” round the medal inside the rim with the sponsors name in the middle and the year of the race.   The medals above come from the collection of Colin Youngson’s collection, and his record in the race will be reviewed below.

After the News of the World stopped its sponsorship, it looked as though the race would become a major casualty.   Its existence was in jeopardy but due at least in part to the efforts of Des Yuill and his manager at Barr’s, the sponsorship was taken over by the soft drinks manufacturer.   Shortly thereafter, new medals were struck and examples of those, also from Colin’s collection, are shown below.

There were several differences: the medals were much larger, while the reverse still had the race title round the rim and the sponsor’s name in the middle with the date, the obverse had the crest of the Scottish Cross Country Union – the five bar gate with the rampant lion front and centre.  They were still special medals but many would have liked the two cities represented on them.   The medals retained the same  design for first, second and third teams, and for the most meritorious performance come to that, with only the colour differentiating them.

Colin had a wonderful record as a road runner and, arguably, reflected the real heyday of Scottish road running.   It was an era that is unlikely ever to be repeated.   Many road races at all distances all over Scotland, the SAAA marathon championship held as part of the National Athletics Championships, the Edinburgh to Glasgow as the pinnacle of the winter season.    There were small teams sent to races at home and abroad, and every encouragement was given by the governing body to athletes to travel and compete in them.    For Colin’s complete career, please read his profile which can be found here.   More SAAA marathon medals than anyone else, more appearances in the Edinburgh to Glasgow than anyone else with major contributions to medal winning teams for no fewer than five clubs.  

His comments on the illustrations above are as follows:

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

     2.   The 1978 winning trophy (with ESH); plus the 2 big gold ones (with Aberdeen AAC) from 1986 and 1988.

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

 I ran five with Aberdeen University 1966-70; two with VP 1971-2; seven with ESH 1974-80; eleven with AAAC 1981-91; and five with Metro 1994-99. Did not take part in 1973 (in Sweden), 1992-3 (Metro not invited) and 1995 (injured).

Colin freely admits that he loved the Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay!