Ian had a good career as a runner but, unlike many, he stayed on to be an excellent organiser, both as a committee man and as an outstanding team manager.   There is no real doubt in the minds of any of us who were involved in the sport in Scotland that Edinburgh Southern Harriers was the top club in the country on the roads, over the country and, perhaps specially, in track and field athletics.   Taking the road and cross-country team first, Ian was the team manager throughout the 1970’s and 80’s.   The two big events in Scotland over the winter at that time were the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay and the National Cross-Country Championships.   The table below tells us that there were 33 medal winning teams out of a possible 40 races, and 16 of them were gold.

Year	E-G	National		Year	E-G	National
1970	2nd	1st		1980	4th	1st
1971	3rd	2nd		1981	1st	2nd
1972	3rd	4th		1982	1st	1st
1973	1st	3rd		1983	6th	1st
1974	1st	2nd		1984	6th	1st
1975	1st	2nd		1985	2nd	1st
1976	8th*	2nd		1986	3rd	1st
1977	1st	2nd		1987	6th	1st
1978	1st	2nd		1988	2nd	2nd
1979	3rd	1st		1989	6th	6th

 

The most outstanding of these performances was in 1978/79 when the club won all eight championships noted in the same season.   The certificate below belongs to Colin Youngson who has signed it along with many of the runners.   You will note Ian McKenzie’s signature below many illustrious names who had represented the club. 

 

Teams managed by Ian in the same 20 year period also

*   won the National Six Stage Relays (first one held in 1979) 7 times and were second twice in 11 years,

*   won the National 4 x 2.5 miles Cross-Country Relay Championships in 1978, 81, 82, 84 and 1986.

*   won the East District Championship 9 times in 12 years and 

*   the East District Relay 12 times between 1970 and 1989. 

*   the major road relay in England, in Britain,  every winter is the AAA 12 stage road relay in Sutton Park, near Birmingham. Edinburgh Southern Harriers was second team in two consecutive years, 1974 and ’75: a feat of which Ian is justifiably proud.

An interesting extra: Having won the Senior National Cross-Country Championships only four times in their first 75 years (in 1964, 65, 69 and 70) in the club’s final years they recorded no less than eight wins, including a record-equalling six wins in a row from 1982-87, following wins in 1979 and 1980. 

It is in all a quite amazing record of consistency  at a time when the standard of endurance running in Scotland was very high – apart from all the old foes such as Shettleston Harriers and Victoria Park, the ‘new kids on the block’ of Edinburgh AC were formidable rivals, especially in cross-country but also on the roads, and in the late 80’s the Cambuslang Harriers team was starting to make its mark in no small way.  

 

Ian was also part of the superb track and field team of the time.   In his own words: 

 During my period as ESH cross country team manager, the track & field team was very ably managed by Jim Smart and Ken Ballantyne. Although I was not manager I attended virtually every BAL match to assist with the management, but had no involvement in the selection, this was not my responsibility. I simply supported. When we amalgamated with EAC to form City of Edinburgh I took on the role of T&F manager for a period of two years and was successful in helping to achieve promotion to Div 1.  During that period I worked in conjunction with the SAL and Forth Valley league managers to ensure that any athlete performing well was considered for selection to the BAL team.   

 

 

He tells us – My proudest moment was when ESH won both the Ladies’ and Men’s Pye Gold Cups at Crystal Palace, the first time this had been achieved by any UK club.   The trophies are organised by the British Athletics League and there are four or five rounds at various venues across the British Isles with matches held in all four countries and the hard fought final was held at Crystal Palace in London.   The format is one competitor per event with all events on the programme.   Logistically, organising the team, the transport and the accommodation is very difficult.   Doug Gillon  in the December 1988 issue of the “Scotland’s Runner” tells how difficult and how expensive these meetings can be.   “The UK League is an expensive arena to compete in.   Fifty athletes have to be transported, fed and chaperoned for, unlike the men’s league, the women compete in three age groups (four in Scotland).   The trip to a London fixture  costs more than £2500.”    On one occasion a London Sunday newspaper was offering a two-for-one on flights to the Capital to those who collected enough tokens.   ESH encouraged all their members to collect enough tokens for their trip to London.   In this situation, the English clubs have a definite advantage, with those from London most advantaged.   

Ian says that his proudest moment was in 1975 when the Edinburgh Southern Men’s and Women’s teams both won the Pye Gold Cup – something no club had ever done before.   It was on 6th September 1975 at Crystal Palace in London with the Scots club having to travel to London with all the inconvenience and expense that that entailed while the opposition largely stayed at home, slept in their own beds and had their usual breakfast.   The opposition for the men included Thames Valley Harriers, Wolverhampton and Bilston, Hillingdon AC, Bristol AC and their rivals from Edinburgh, EAC who had also done well to make the final.   For the women, there were Mitcham AC, Stretford, Sale Harriers, Wolverhampton & Bilston, Bristol AC and, from Glasgow, Maryhill LAC.   The “Glasgow Herald” on the Monday began its report with 

The “Herald” agreed with Ian’s thoughts on the magnitude of the performance completely.   The report from the “Athletics Weekly” is below.

That is it, in all its detail, as described by Cliff Temple who was one of the most knowledgeable, as well as one of the fairest, of columnists.   Edinburgh certainly had several of its stars on display – Hutton, Black, McKenzie, Robson – but the opposition was of the very best with such as Bill Tancred, Mike Bull, John Sherwood, Paul Dickenson as well as Scots Drew McMaster and Jim Dingwall.   The women had to face down Tessa Sanderson, Andrea Lynch, Lorna Boothe but Moira Walls, Meg Ritchie and their team mates were more than able.   As the “Herald” said, “Edinburgh Southern’s women were rarely in trouble in their match.”   

There were unfortunately, no interviews with the back room crew.   To prove that it was not a one-off fluke they came seriously close to repeating the performance the following year when they came home with two second places.   Track honours over this period – 

 

Domestic Track and Field Team Honours

Scottish Athletics League (established 1960):

Winners in 1960, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 744, 82, 83, 84.

Dispatch Trophy East District Team Championship (established 1929)

Winners in 1948, 52, 60, 61, 63, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 76, 84, 86, 87, 94.

The National League / British Athletics League had been launched in 1969, with the top-ranked 18 clubs in Britain invited to participate in a three-division league. ESH embarked on a very distinguished unbroken 27 season, 107 match career in the League.   Southern spent 11 seasons in Division One, 12 seasons in Division Two, three in Division Three and one in Division Four – winning four divisional championships in 1970, 1982, 1983 and 1991.

 What were the qualities that Ian brought to the role that made him so successful?    We have comments from some of the team members and other friends   at this link. 

Ian McKenzie     Ian McKenzie: Runner    Ian McKenzie: Team Manager – an evaluation