Marjorie Small

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Marjorie finishing the Glasgow Marathon in 1986 – her first

Marjorie Small was not a runner at school yet became a very good hill runner with outstanding performances at some very tough and demanding courses such as the Great Wilderness Challenge and the Laraig Ghru race.   

When asked about her school sports involvement, Marjorie tells us that “I always enjoyed sport at school but didn’t take up running.”   She was a competitor however and continues, “I would think, yes, I was a bit competitive.    I played hockey and netball at school and loved PE. I also swim once a week and have done for years, used to be 80 lengths of the pool but now 50.”   The next step was to take up running – a bit different because it is nor a team sport like the others mentioned.  

How did that come about?   My daughter took up running at Park Mains high school and joined Clydesdale Harriers when Bobby Bell and Billy Hyslop took a group of an evening.  After a while instead of driving back and forward I decided just to join them. Later went to Whitecrook on Tuesday and Thursdays.    She also credited both coaches for encouraging her to race, adding that Bobby Shields also inspired her.   Marjorie and her daughter Lesley both appear as club members in the Centenary Handbook.

Initially she raced on the roads and over the country with her friend and ‘running pal’ Shelagh King because, as she says, there is no point in doing the training and not doing the racing.   “I had been doing that for a few years,” she said, “I had run quite a lot of 10ks, half marathons and the Glasgow Marathon twice”    

Two successful runs in the Glasgow marathon as well as some more very good running on the roads at various distances, when did she take to the hills?   The hill running came when. “Shelagh and I went to run a hill race but it ended up a road race with a big road hill. That was to be our first hill race!  After that Bobby Shields encouraged us to go to Tinto race and after that I was hooked.”    Hill racing, she decided, was far more sociable than road races and she met a lot of lovely people who were very encouraging.

One of these was Christine Menhennet, a quite superb hill runner who represented Scotland and Great Britain.   Christine, Shelagh and Marjorie are still friends and meet up from time to time: note her comment in the “Voices from the Hills” book: “She soon moved to Clydesdale Harriers.   She was encouraged to do so by Bobby Shields and his wife, and there met two other early lady hill runners, Shelagh King and Marjorie Small, both of whom are still running to this day.   (“Voices from the Hills” by Steve Chilton – pioneering women fell and mountain runners.)  

Her talent was obvious early on when she was seventh overall in the Scottish Hill Runner of the Year competition in 1989.   The extract from the table as printed in the Scottish Hill Runner shows that Marjorie was seventh and her friend Shelagh King was twelfth with Susanne Niedrum who had come up from Leeds to work and run in Scotland for a few years was eleventh.   Note the presence too of Christine Menhennet of Bellahouston who would soon be running for Clydesdale.   The Scottish Hill Running Championships result that year was as follows:

  1. Tricia Calder          ESPC AC 
  2. Ann Curtis Livingston
  3. Chris Menhennet Bellahouston
  4. J Spencely   Carnethy
  5. Joyce Salvona Livingston
  6. Paula Martin ESPC AC
  7. Marjorie Small       Clydesdale
  8. Helen Martin Irvine
  9. Barbara Murray Westerlands
  10. Chris Whalley Livingston
  11. Susanne Niedrum Clydesdale
  12. Shelagh King Clydesdale

If we take a look at some of Marjorie’s races in the 1990’s now we see  good runs over a range of distances and a spread of venues  across the whole of Scotland (including the islands). .

In 1990 her run in the Carnethy hill race saw her finish 323rd in 86 minutes 45 seconds but in the much longer Carlsberg Culter race on 3rd June she was fourth Lady in a time of 2:56:31.   A good time but not quite as good as the Great Wilderness Challenge later in the year.   This one was on 18th August and she was timed at 4 hours 38 minutes 31 seconds for fourth place.  

The Great Wilderness Challenge is a 25 miles race held every August.   It starts in Corrie Halle, just south of Dundonnell, comes past Gruinard Bay, and through Aultbea to finish at Poolewe.   Marjorie finished equal 41st with clubmate Cathie Farrell in. 4:38:31.   There were 58 finishers –  the last three were eight runners between 5 hours and 6 hours and four more outside 6 hours. The first Lady was 31st in 4:16:35 – not far in front given the distances covered – And Cathie and Marjorie were third and fourth Lady finishers.   Remember that she had only taken up the sport with not previous experience in the mid 1980’s.

In 1990, Marjorie also ran in the three Ladies Track League Matches partnering Hylda Stewart in the 300m event.   Indeed, in the first match she doubled it up with the 1500m as there was no one else doing it.   Places and times below.

Race ‘A’ Runner Place Time ‘B’ Runner Place Time
3000m H Stewart 2nd 11:05 M Small 2nd 12:19
1500m M Small 3rd 5:43 – – –
3000m  H Stewart 1st 11:15.4 M Small 1st 12:28.9
3000m H Stewart ? 11:36.3 M Small 1st 12:25.7

In the last of the three meetings, her training partner Shelagh ran in the 1500m.   Shelagh also ran in the League matches – although not those noted above, even tackling the 400m hurdles.  Also in the last of the three, Marjorie was a member of the relay team with Sloan, Harper and Stewart!

 

While this was taking place, she was running in the hill races that she loved so much.   In the Carnethy race in 1991 Marjorie had improved to 81 minutes 08 seconds for 281st place: over five minutes quicker and a gain of 32 places.   On 1st July she tackled the fearsome Laraig Ghru and was first Lady to finish in a time of 4:43:49.    She was actually the first Lady to run in this one, thanks to Christine Menhennet who got the license for females to run and then wasn’t able to run in it herself.  She ran it the following year and was first finisher again.

A month later, 11th August, it was third place at Dalchully in 41:31.   Another month and she ran in the Ben Nevis race.   In the Scottish Hill Runners Championship she was fifth after three counting races and gained a place to fourth by the end.

If she ran well over the long two- and four-hour races, she was no slouch over the shorter ones.   One of the grand old men of Scottish athletics often posed the question “Does Distance Blunt Speed?”   Clearly not if Marjorie’s running is any guide.   She started the year by being first Lady Veteran in the 1992 Midweek league which was points event staged over five races – the Whangie Whiz, Dumyat, the Kilpatricks, Ben Sheann and Cort ma Law. Two typical races were on 6th May in the Whangie she was first Lady Veteran, and on 24th June at Cort ma Law she occupied a similar place.

In the Carnethy race, she ran a time of 81:30, not quite as quick as the previous year but when she got back on familiar territory on 1st July at the Laraig Ghru she was a bit faster than the year before in 4:27:41.   She also ran in the Ben Lomond race where she finished in 81:30 and then ran the difficult Isle of Jura race where she took 5 hours 26 minutes 37 seconds..   She reckons that the Jura was a hard race – the first time they had run it the weather was bad and the course was shortened; the mist was down and Shelagh and Marjorie both missed a couple of check points.   In 1992 it was a lovely day and even better she says because she won a Jura decanter and two bottles of whisky!

The 1991 race was described in the “Fellrunner” magazine as follows:

The first Saturday in September is the date for the Ben Nevis race and in 1994 Marjorie was among the starters and finished  301st  in 2:43:56.    We should not forget that Marjorie, as a good club member, ran in all the club championship races and won the Club Veterans Cross-Country Championship and was first lady in the Sinclair Trophy races in 1995, 1997, 1998 and

A good road runner as well as good over the longer hill races, she competed in the Polaroid series of races as well.   The Polaroid races were held over 10K and in Clydebank, Dumbarton, Helensburgh and Vale of Leven and were very competitive with large fields of all ages.  Her record in these races over the period 2000 – 2002 is in the table below.   She was competing as a FV50 in all these races.

Date Venue Place Time Finishers
25 May 2000 Helensburgh 246 44:04 792
8 June 2000 Dumbarton 193 43:04 694
25 June 2000 Vale of Leven 189 44:03 694
24 June 2001 Vale of Leven 255 46:44 706
23 May 2002 Helensburgh 354 47:32 850
30 May 2002 Clydebank 294 45:34 707

Within the club she had been first Lady to finish in the Sinclair Trophy road race in January 1996 and January 1997, and in 1997 she was fastest Lady in the annual Christmas Handicap at a time when the club was particularly strong. 

Staying on the road she ran in the Brampton to Carlisle on 18th November 2000 where she was 27th Lady and first LV50 with a time of 1:15:21.   She was back there on 17th November the following year and was second LV55 in 1:12:01.   The Polaroid races were regular open road races, near home and had many club members and friends running so she did many of them.   Eg in 2002 she was first V50 in the Clydebank race in 45:34, and again the Helensburgh race where her time was 47:32 and she was 354th of 850 finishers.

Marjorie’s Three Lairig Ghru Plaques (1990. 1991 and 1992)

Her “best race”?   The question brought another in reply – Marjorie said “Do you mean time wise or enjoyment?   Time-wise I think it was the Land O’Burns Half Marathon.   It was the only race I had split times written on my hand.   I think I finished in a few seconds after 90 minutes!”   Two races that I really enjoyed.   Lairig Ghru and Jura hill race.   First Lady to run Lairig Ghru, thanks to Christine.  (see above).   First lady, only lady.   Second year there were two other ladies so I had competition and came in first lady.   Jura was a hard race.   First year the weather was bad and the course was shortened.   The mist was down and like some others Shelagh and I missed a couple of check point.   Second year was a lovely day and even better as I won a Jura decanter and two bottles of whisky.   Think I was first lady or super vet – that was 1992.   

The plaques – a Better View!

One to forget?   The Two Breweries.   Took a wrong bearing and ended up with quite a few extra miles to run, two guys followed, poor souls.

What did she get from running?   Good friends.   Great times at Clydesdale Harriers training nights and weekends away.   Lots of great memories of races and socialising all over the country.

Finally we asked her if there were any goals that she had had that she had not achieved.  “No, very happy with what I achieved.”

The last remark is a bit unusual in that many good runners say “well, if only ….” Or something similar but with a tinge of regret at some aspect of their career.   Marjorie came to the sport later than many, ran well and had a good career travelling the length and breadth of the country, making friends that she still has along the way.