Author: Admin

The Clydesdale Harriers Sports were held at various times at Ibrox Park, Meadowside Park, Dunoon, Kilbowie Park and, of course since Willie and Tom Maley were club members, at Celtic Park.   The 1905 and 06 programme are interesting for a number of features:

The athletes were advertising – some were plugging Irn Bru, others were advocating Oxo.   

They were also the target of advertising – eg Nervtonine and Elliman’s as well as sports clothing.

The prizes were noted on the programme: eg in 1906, a 600 yards with Wyndham Halswell, WH Welsh, John McGough and many other top athletes had two flower pots for third, a silver ink and flower stand for second, and a gents leather fitted bag for first.   

The two timekeepers, A Ross Scott and A Hannah, were both timekeepers at the 1908 London Olympics and Ross Scott officiated at the infamous 400 metres race where the race was declared null and void because of the boring induged in by the American athlete at the expense of Halswell.

There were twenty four heats of the 100 yards

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The early connections between Clydesdale Harriers and the Rangers Football Club are well known.   The Harriers trained at Kinning Park and also at Ibrox until after the 1914/18 War.   Their club championships were also held there and they were quite remarkable affairs with very big numbers competing.   We are lucky that some copies of the events are still available and only two of them are reproduced here for general information.   The first is of a meeting in May 1914 and because of the numbers involved only two events were covered that day: the 100 yards and the half mile.   They were typed out on to foolscap paper which is a bit longer than A4 so the bottom line is missing from some of the sheets.   

Some scribbles on the outside of the programme – notes of prizes, etc with some details of the type, etc.   Below is a photograph of a rosebowl won by J Paterson of Maybole for winning the club one Mile handicap in 1918: I saw the bowl when I visited him in the 1980s’ when the rosebowl held pride of place in the front room.

Of course the Harriers individual members ran in the Rangers Sports too – witness the certificate below won by Charlie Middler for running in the Road Race in 1932 – he has another for the same race in 1933.

Note the signature at the bottom of the certificate.   There was another meeting later in the same year and 1914 was a significant year for the entire world.   Many of the men competing above would feature in the lists of wartime casualties – eg Thomas B Erskine would be killed in action in July 1915, his brother Ralph would die in January 1918, Gilbert Brock died in hospital after being injured in action, Harold B Servant would die on a troopship of ‘flu on the way home from the East in a troopship after the war was over.   By the time of the August meeting many Harriers had already enlisted.   

Charlie Middler’s certificate for the Road Race in 1933 –  

There wre also the Annual Sports Meetings: extracts from the 1907 programme:

The Summit track team started as they started the cross-country season: quietly but successfully and there was a clear progress as the season went on.   Have a look at these results.   

On 20th March, 2019: it was Bend  v   Summit.  The team did well but note Jim’s comments:  

“The team ran well in 40+ degree temperatures: they had 3 of the 800 girls in the 400 and the girls 4×400 team entirely made up of distance runners. In the girls 1500 – Jim told the 14 year old to to go out in 80’s  at the front but she went 34 for 200m and was approaching 400 around 71.   Jim had to stand in front of her in lane 1 to slow her down; her next lap was 84 seconds.   “She will be tough to beat when she learns pace”

The results are at  https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/370430/results

Came 22nd April and this was the Summit Invitational Meet.   A very good meeting, the results are at https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/348794/results .   This was followed by the Nike Jesuit Twilight Relays on 3rd May where Jim’s comments were:

District championships were next with two to qualify for the State Championships.   Unfortunately for the  runners the wind was strong, gusting up to 20 mph.   The men’s team did OK with sprinters Jaden Maydew and Dylan La,mbert doing well in the sprints but the result of the day for Summit had to be the girls 800m final: timed at first, second and fourth in the epreliminaries, they went on to be first, second and third in the final.

800 Meters  Varsity – Finalsx
1.	11	Isabel Max		2:13.39a	Summit
2.	9	Magdalene Williams		2:19.73a	Summit
3.	11	Azza Borovicka Swanson		2:20.40a	Summit

They also had the first two in the 2500m (Fiona Max and Teaghan Knox) with Ashley Boone also under 5 minutes in fifth place; and the 3000 metres saw three in the first five – Fiona adding the victory in the 3000 to that already taken in the 1500m.  Results at 

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/MeetResults.aspx?Meet=351855&show=all

We even have some pictures from this meeting: see them here

mpionships, 2019

Izzy with 100 to go

Teaghan (Number 6) 6 feet tall and 15 years old.   

Fiona with 300 to go in the 3000 metres

Fiona with 120 to go in the 1500m: she had won the 3000m and the other runner was fresh for the race but –

fear not – Fiona won!

Alex Jackson

Alex Jackson, runner, oficial, administrator, Life Member of Scottish athletics, British athletics official of the year in 2008 and much more besides says:  

“Dave Lothian was a name that came to my notice in the early 1980s when I became secretary of the East District Cross Country League. He was a prominent member of the strong Falkirk Victoria Harriers team which dominated in East Cross Country at that time.    An East League meeting at Hawick around that time sticks in my mind when the Senior points totals at the meeting were 1st Falkirk VH “A” ,2nd Falkirk VH “B”, this with 6 to count. 
In more recent times its been working with Dave as one of the principal course setters at the National Cross Country at Callender Park. The National has been there since 2006,a significant element of the  success of the National at this venue is down to Dave and his team at Falkirk Victoria for being host club ” 

Stuart Easton takes the baton for Falkirk Victoria in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay

A former team mate of David’s and a top flight runner in his own right, Stuart Easton has this to say: 

Grant Plenderleith

Grant Plenderleith, one of David’s athletes pays him this compliment:

“David was the man who pioneered and finalised my change in sporting direction when I returned to athletics from a lengthy period playing professional football. 

David was my fathers P.E teacher back in his teaching days so the family connection was already established. 

Through diligent planning of training sessions and knowing when enough is enough, David has helped me reached heights in my athletics career so far that I wouldn’t have ever thought would be possible…and there is still more to come. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the sport with a willingness learn and engage in discussions with other coaches in the international field to expand his own memory bank of the sport. Without his drive and willingness for me to succeed in the sport, I would not be in the fortunate position I am in today with my recognitions and accolades. 

We have established a balanced approach to the way we both tackle training blocks and competition phases to get the best out of every opportunity that is delivered. The mindset that David has installed in me is “always be ready, and the opportunities will follow”. 

David’s character is always admired and valued by all his athletes and fellow coaches at both club and international level. This shows the type of man he really is, a gentleman would be more accurate.” 

Leslie Roy quotes from the citation when David was nominated for Honorary Life Membership of Scottish athletics in 2017:

David has served athletics in Scotland for over 40 years, a measure of his interest and dedication to the sport.

•  As a promising young middle distance athlete, David was originally a member of Forth Valley Athletics Club. University years as a P E student at Jordanhill saw David join Shettleston Harriers. Upon graduating as a PE teacher David joined Falkirk Victoria Harriers (FVH) and became fully immersed in the club as an athlete; the Men’s team Captain organising very successful teams in track, road and cross country competitions; coach and committee member.
• As a talented athlete David was also a great team man, being a counter in several of the clubs National Cross Country medal winning teams of the late 70’s and early 1980’s. Cross Country relay medals were also won during this period and on the roads David managed the FVH team through an amazing period of success for a provincial club in the annual Edinburgh to Glasgow road relay which included two wins. Like many athletes David moved up the distances he competed in throughout his time as an athlete, running the inaugural London marathon in 1981 and returning a further nine years in a row.   As team Captain David has competed in every track and field event for the Club in Scottish Athletics League matches, on top of the years of dedication in selecting teams for, and attending, events the length and breadth of the country and abroad; 12 months of every year.
• Whilst still competing at the high level, David began coaching at FVH almost immediately upon joining. As a predominately middle to long distance running club at this time with few field event coaches, David worked at hard identifying athletes and then coaching them in a number of disciplines such as hurdles, sprints, high and long jumps and throws to strengthen FVH teams in track and field competitions. Many of these athletes were pupils from his schools where David set up training groups to encourage youngsters to become involved in our sport and join an athletics club. Several of these athletes went on to win national and Schools medals and gain representative honours. Now retired, David is still heavily involved in coaching, presently seven days a week concentrating mainly on sprints, middle distances and cross country. 
• Aside from competing and coaching David has been heavily involved in the organisational side of the club serving as a committee member for over 40 years, 20 of them as club president and maintains a continual involvement today as honorary President. David was instrumental in FVH becoming involved in organisation and administration of the annual Round the Houses 10km years more and. In the late 70’s and 80’s the club hosted a few national and district cross country championships, as well as regular East Cross Country League matches which David helped with. Since 2000 the club has been involved in hosting either an International or National Cross Country event at Calendar Park and David has been involved / assisted at them all. This hasn’t just been the on the day work, but also the hours of behind the scenes work planning, attending meetings, getting helpers and volunteers to turn up, etc. In recent years, David has been involved in the design of the course, with his input required in the minor revisions with were required from year to year. Following the change in race distances for this years championships, David made a large contribution to the redesign and measuring of the course. The incremental changes required many hours of work on the venue in liaison with all contributing partners over many months to result in a course and venue which ensured another successful championship with record breaking participation, not forgetting the challenges on the day caused by the weather.
• On a wider front beyond FVH, David has for many years served as a Committee member of the Scottish Schools Athletics Association (SSAA) including, again, a period as the President. This service to our sport exceeds 30 years and has included convening, organising and officiating at all of the various SSAA championships, be it cross country, road or track(indoors and out). David has also for many years been a team manager on the international trips attended by literally hundreds of athletes, many of whom had their first experience of international competition and competing for Scotland before going on to even greater achievements, aided by the experienced gained on these trips.

Scottish athletics has had many very good athletes who went on to become coaches and/or administrators.  David Lothian is one of the very best.   He has been  top class runner with very good times at distance from 100 metres to the marathon, he has run in medal winning teams with many of  Scotland’s best ever athletes such as Lachie Stewart, Lawrie Spence, Nat Muir, Jim Dingwall, and Willie Day. as a coach he has worked with athletes of all standards from club runners to senior international standard, as an administrator he has worked on national events on the track and over the country and has  worked as an official at individual events.   He is also a man who is a good club servant – he does what his club needs him to do, and then does a wee bit more.   As a role model for the sport, you would go a long way to find a better.   We asked him to complete the questionnaire to start the profile on his beginnings in the sport and career as an athlete and the replies are below.   

*

…Joe Walker, third right in the blazer with Scottish team in Iceland, 1964.

Joe started …  There’s a good article by Alastair here …

The Birth of the Scottish Marathon Club

JOSEPH F WALKER OBE 1908 -1982:

by his son Jim Walker

Joe Walker had a very wide ranging and amazing commitment to the development, support, coordination and encouragement of others in athletics. This can be seen in a summary of his roles in that sport over his lifetime.   He had an association throughout his life with athletics and distance running in Scotland. He ran as a schoolboy at St Mungo’s Academy, Glasgow and raced until his 40’s with St Modan’s AAC, Stirling.

After graduating with a First Class Honours in Chemistry from Glasgow University he trained as a teacher at Jordanhill. He briefly taught Science at St Mungo’s Academy before moving to St Modan’s High School in Stirling when it opened in 1933. He also taught and coordinated evening classes at Stirling High School.

In 1949 he transferred to a role in Technical Education Coordination in the West of Scotland and progressed to become Chief Officer of SCOTEC, the Scottish Technical Education Council.    He was awarded an OBE in 1969 for his work in Technical Education.

St Modan’s Athletic Club
1933 – Founder and President of St Modan’s Amateur Athletic Club, Stirling
Scottish Schools Association
1933-49 Member of the Executive of the Scottish Schools Amateur Athletic Association and in 1949 he became an Honorary Vice President
1937-39 Member of the Executive of the Stirlingshire County Schools’ Sports Association
1936-48 Founder and Hon. Secretary of the Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire Branch of Scottish Schools Amateur Athletic Association
Scottish Marathon Club
1944 Co-founder of the Scottish Marathon Club
1946-49 Honorary Treasurer
1949-61 Vice President
1962-69 President of the SMC
1969-81 Committee member
1972- Honorary Vice President
Scottish Amateur Athletic Association
1948-82 Grade 1 Judge of Track, Jumps, Throws and Marksman
1950-53 Member of the Executive
1952-53 Minute Secretary
1964 Vice President
1965 President of the SAAA
1976-82 Honorary Life Member

All these commitments ran alongside helping his wife Cath bring up a family of six children. One of their agreements was that when the children were young that he put them to bed at six before going out to meetings or to train, much to the unpopularity of the older children. All of the family helped out at some time in the tasks and errands associated with athletics and running. However his enthusiasm and commitment to athletics must have rubbed off on two of his sons.
His eldest, Joseph Q Walker, co-founded the Strathclyde University Athletic Club and was their President in 1965. His youngest son James ran for Bellahouston Harriers and Edinburgh University.

Joe Walker’s enthusiasm for athletics took him to two Olympic Games. At the 1936 Berlin Olympics he told the story of Hitler leaving the arena when Jesse Owens won the 100 metres. He also attended and helped at the Marathon at the 1948 Olympics in London, a much reduced but welcome event in the aftermath and recovery from the Second World War.   Joe, amongst his many other roles, had a long association with Bridge Of Allan Highland Games. He encouraged them to convert from a professional gathering to becoming an amateur event, which they did in 1957. This broadened the games and aimed to encourage amateur athletes in Scotland. He served as Director of the Games for many years and in 1977 was the Games Chieftain.

Following Joe Walker’s death his wife Cath donated a cup in his memory to the Scottish Marathon Club to be presented annually for an outstanding contribution to marathon running.

A few of the available photos and achievements of Joe Walker running are shown next along with his influence on Joe McGhee, Commonwealth Games Marathon Champion in 1954, concluding with some recollections of his athletics involvement.

Joe third from the left can be seen setting off below on the 14 mile road race at the Glasgow Police Sports at Hampden.

Joe Walker achieved a standard medal in the Perth to Dundee Scottish Marathon Championship in 1948 when he was 40.

Joe McGhee, who won the 1954 Commonwealth Games Marathon in Vancouver taught and ran with Joe Walker at St Modan’s. In a radio interview after his Vancouver win Joe McGhee recognised the support, influence and encouragement Joe Walker had given him in his athletics career. There was a lot of controversy and media comment at the time on Jim Peters’ collapse from dehydration and that he did not finish. Joe Walker spoke out saying that Joe McGhee had won the race by modifying his pace to take account of the heat of that day. Interestingly when Jim Peters and Joe McGhee met at the London Marathon in 1996 the Evening Standard interviewed them together and quoted Jim Peters saying “Joe is the man who deserves every credit for having won on that terrible day. He was and remains the winner”

Joe McGhee himself taught and encouraged Mike Ryan who went to St Modans. After Mike emigrated to New Zealand in 1963 he won bronze at the 1966 Commonwealth Games Marathon in Jamaica behind Scottish gold medallist Jim Alder. Mike also won bronze at the 1968 Mexico Olympics Marathon and said as he was running he thought of the influence of Joe McGhee had on him.

Joe Walker’s son James accompanied his father as a teenager to many road racing, track and championship events as well as on the Highland Games circuit.

Some of James’s notable memories include attending the 1965 AAA’s Championships at White City during Joe’s SAAA presidential year. He recalls watching Ron Clarke the gentlemanly Australian, so outstandingly breaking the three mile world record that night. He was intrigued that Fergus Murray, Edinburgh University, finished sixth running in bare feet in that race!   Afterwards at the team hotel his father introduced him to Harold Abrahams the 1924 Paris Olympics 100 metre winner. Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell were central to the later Chariots of Fire film which Joe had greatly enjoyed.
In one of the Edinburgh to Glasgow ultra-long distance races Joe was the referee. There was some concern long after all the other runners had finished that one runner was unaccounted for. As the referee, Joe was told that there had been a cyclist accompanying the runner who had taken him in for tea at his house during the race. Joe then retraced the route to try to find the runner. He came across him in Springburn and he told him that all the timekeepers and officials had gone home and he was disqualified. This was despite the very vocal support to the runner from the crowd of men emerging from a local pub!
At the 1970 Commonwealth Games James remembers the euphoria when Lachie Stewart ‘set the games alight’ in overtaking Ron Clarke, Australia, in the home straight to win the 10,000 metres. Joe organised the Marathon at the Commonwealth Games which was a very successful event with Ron Hill, England winning from Scotland’s Jim Alder.

Joe’s role on the 1970 Commonwealth Games Athletics Technical sub-committee and as organiser of the Marathon was recognised in the Official History Book copy he was given. It was signed by Willie Carmichael Director of Organisation, Rab Forman Athletics Organiser and Ernie Walker, 1970 SAAA President.

In 1966 Joe was the Technical Official for the Scottish Athletics Team competing against Iceland. The memorable story he told of that trip was of the night Dougie Edmunds a heavyweight Scottish thrower was refused entry to an Icelandic restaurant because he was improperly dressed, he was wearing a kilt!

Joe Walker is on the right wearing a blazer

Appendix 1

(Extracts from the Scottish Marathon Club Minutes and records by Colin Youngson who received the JF Walker award from the Scottish Marathon Club in 1990)

A review of the SMC minutes available show that for many years, Joe was present at every SMC AGM and committee meeting, unless SAAA meetings clashed.

He was a delegate on the SAAA sub-committee to decide who won the annual Donald Robertson memorial trophy, for the most-deserving Scottish marathon (or ultra) runner of the year.

By 1961, Joe was organising the SAAA Track 10 Miles Championship and the SAAA Marathon Championship.

In 1966, Dunky Wright became Commandant of the Scottish team for the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Jamaica. Despite Jim Alder winning the Commonwealth marathon, rather oddly the Robertson Trophy was presented (five votes to four) to Gordon Eadie, for winning the Manchester to Blackpool ultra.

By 1967, arguments rumbled on for several years about whether or not to accept Alastair Wood’s 2.13.45 European record marathon time in Forres 1966. (This was accepted in 1967 by the AAA and Athletics Weekly; and in recent years agreed by the prestigious American Road Running Statisticians to be the 1966 fastest time in the world; but was never ratified by SMC or SAAA.)

In 1968, along with his son James, Jimmy Scott and David Bowman, Joe walked the planned course for the SAAA Marathon held at Grangemouth in both 1967 and 1968. They rolled out a measuring wheel of one yard circumference; and found the turning point and the whole course to be accurate.

In 1971, the minutes make clear that Joe had been convener for the SAAA marathon championships for many years – he continued to fulfil this important responsibility until 1972. By then, his club had changed to Stirling AAC.

By 1977, Dunky Wright (1976) and Jimmy Scott (1977) had died, and Joe delivered an eloquent tribute to his old SMC friends. John Softley became Secretary/Treasurer.

At a committee meeting in November 1979, reference was made to the first Glasgow International Marathon (held on 14th October). This had been “very successful, due to the hard work of Mr J F Walker, in organising officials and the course”.
The last minutes in this journal were for a committee meeting on 23rd February 1981. Joe Walker reported that the 1981 SAAA Marathon would no longer be on the usual out and back course from Meadowbank Stadium. The police and local retailers had objected.

Appendix 2
Joe Walker can be seen in the photo of the inaugural muster run of the Scottish Marathon Club in 1944, in their 1984 magazine which celebrated their 40th Anniversary. It records Joe’s account of the club’s inception and challenges that runners faced in those early days.

“This year sees the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Scottish Marathon Club so it is perhaps an opportune time to recount the story of the birth of the club. The SMC has grown numerically from a handful of enthusiasts in 1944 to around 500 members at the present time and I am sure that many newcomers will be interested to hear of the environment in which the club was conceived and the problems of being a distance runner during the War. This article has been based on one written by John Softley in 1978 and on more recent material supplied by founder member Alex McDonald.

But first let’s hear how the late Joe Walker remembered the early days as he wrote in 1978 – ‘the first meeting of the Scottish Marathon Club was held on 14th February 1944 in the Central Halls, Bath Street, Glasgow. My recollection of the important occasion was that I travelled by train from Stirling to Glasgow and because of the war, the black-out restrictions and the dim light in the railway carriage it was impossible to read. Travelling in the evening from places outside Glasgow was difficult and this affected the attendance. There was no difficulty in deciding to form a club but there was considerable discussion of the conditions of membership. It was finally agreed that all applications for membership must be first claim members of other clubs and must have experience of running in road races over 10 miles. The objective of the club was very quickly decided – to foster marathon running throughout Scotland – thus the name of the club followed logically – the Scottish Marathon Club as against the Scottish Road Runners Club. As a consequence of the club’s objective it followed that the club would bring pressure to bear on the SAAA to organise a Scottish Championship Marathon Race. This was done when the first of the annual championship races was held in 1946 from Falkirk to Old Meadowbank, Edinburgh. The race was won by Donald MacNab Robertson (Maryhill Harriers) with a time of 2: 46:02. At the first meeting of the Marathon Club Duncan McLeod Wright, Maryhill Harriers was appointed Chairman and Roddy Devon, Motherwell YMCA, Secretary and all others present were members of the Committee. Unfortunately the Minutes of the very early meetings of the club no longer exist nevertheless they would not tell of the background to the club’s formation, something which I hope will interest younger members. Duncan McLeod Wright, one of Britain’s outstanding marathon runners, competitor at the 1924, 1928 and 1932 Olympic Games (finishing fourth at the latter Games), winner of the first Empire Games Marathon in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, in 1930, won one of the qualifying marathon races to be used for selection for the 1936 Olympic Games and was advised that it would not be necessary to compete in any of the other selection races to gain his place in the British team. Because of his age he decided to retire from competitive athletics.

When the Second World War began in 1939 he was appointed Sports Officer to a Home Guard Battalion and as a consequence became interested in keeping himself fit. One of the ways of doing this was to gather together persons who were interested in cross country running in the winter and road running in the summer. The enthusiasts for road running came from all over the West of Scotland and muster runs were held in Glasgow, Stirling, Greenock, West Kilbride, etc. From his business contacts he knew many persons responsible for campaigns to collect savings for the war effort in different parts of the country and he was able to coax the organisers of these campaigns to have a road race incorporated into their publicity arrangements. eg Stirling, Hamilton, Bridge of Allan or encourage sports promoters to incorporate a road race in their Sports Programme (eg Shotts, Lennoxtown, Kilbarchan, Milngavie and Port Glasgow) or help to have road races such as Perth to Dundee revived.

The heavy programme of muster runs and races each year soon wore out the soles of our sandshoes (gym shoes) which were the athlete’s normal footwear. The replacement of these shoes required the purchase of new ones but the biggest problem was that one was required to surrendered in addition clothing coupons. Each person’s annual supply of clothing coupons was very limited and it was difficult to spread them over the normal clothing requirements without having to allocate some for additional needs. As the War wore on it became more and more difficult for each athlete to allocate coupons for sandshoes and thus road running would soon have ceased for the duration of the War. However Duncan managed to obtain for us replacements for our worn out sandshoes – the standard issue having brown canvas uppers with a very thin rubber or composite sole and heel. To protect the heel Jimmy McNamara who was the oldest member of the group and a full time member of the A.R.P. obtained a supply of the pads used to reinforce the worn by Fire Brigade personnel. The pads had to be amply smeared with Vaseline otherwise the friction between the heel and the pad generated so much heat that the heel became badly blistered and if the blister burst the material of the pad adhered to the skin with very painful results.
From the foregoing it can be readily appreciated that the friendship which existed amongst the group of road running enthusiasts during the War years had naturally a desire to form a club which would enable road runners of the future to have the same kind of friendship. As you will have gathered the late Dunky Wright was a man much admired by all and Alex McDonald takes up the story in the same vein….”there is no doubt that the resuscitation of athletics in Scotland in the middle war years was due to the dynamic enthusiasm and drive of the one and only Dunky Wright. In 1943 he chaired a meeting to be called in Glasgow for representatives from all clubs which were still operative in the Midland and South Western Districts and, as a result, the ‘temporary’ Scottish Cross Country Association was ‘constitutionally’ formed. ‘Temporary’ because it had pledged itself to disband as soon as the SAAA and NCCU resumed command and ‘constitutionally’ because its chief constitutional aim was to present Scottish Athletics in a healthy a state as possible to the post war era. Perhaps the most positive indication of its success lies in the fact that in 1946 Scotland was in a position to host the first post war international cross country championships at Ayr Racecourse.

Let me make it clear that the SCCA did not of itself give birth to the Scottish Marathon Club but it was the members of that Association – again with Duncan Wright in the driving seat – who created the SMC on February 14th, 1944. The first muster run was held from Pollokshaws Baths on 7th April 1944 and the second from Auchmountain Harriers’ (my club) pavilion in Greenock on 28th April 1944.

When I joined Auchmountain Harriers aged 17 in the 1929/1930 cross country season the ‘old timers’ of the club declared that if a runner trained oftener than three times a week he was in grave danger of going ‘stale’. This theory had of course been exploded in the outer world and Dunky Wright was I think the first Scottish disciple of Paavo Nurmi who pioneered fast even paced running and more – much more – concentrated training but only the great ambitious enthusiasts imbibed in that practice at that time.

During the War most of us were fortunate if we could indulge in three training sessions a week and many were too tired by overtime working to attempt it. After the War of course the Zatopek standards of dedicated perpetual slogging, the individual study of body building for the job in hand and of artificial film loops with sensible diets, etc, etc became musts for the ambitious athlete whose twice a day, six days a week training became commonplace.

One wonders what one missed? In ’33 aged 20 I ran 10 miles at Hampden under 55 minutes, took half a minute off that in ’38 and was only 20 seconds slower in ’46. What might I have done with today’s training and knowledge?

But I thoroughly enjoyed it all the way and met a host of great guys like Duncan Wright, Jim Morton, Joe Walker, Roddy Devon, Jimmy Scott, George Pickering, Jimmy McNamara, Andy Blair to name but a few. Friendships such as these are far richer prizes than things that glitter. It would have been nice to have climbed some higher mountains but the Scottish Marathon Club was – and I know still is – as great a friendship club as it is an athletic club and long may it continue that way!”

***

Joe telling Jim Dingwall that he had finished the 1977 SAAA marathon

Jim suffered his stroke last year just as the season was coming to a peak.   He had contributed so much over the years and was a kind of talisman for the team.   His nature was always one of getting on with the work and enjoying doing it.   True to form he was back attending the next race – asked the hospital for a Saturday pass so tat he could do it.   Some guy!   Here is his own story of the year and the stroke incident.

“Training the cross country team was interesting as we had a bunch of kids that wanted to train hard and listened what the coaches were telling them. A few weeks before the State championships the varsity girls approached d Carol and I, asking “why Summit never performed well at Nationals.“   We told them that most of the kids take off on Thanksgiving vacation to Hawaii, Mexico or skiing, and when they return to school they are out of shape.

We told them that if you want to perform well at Nationals providing you qualify you need to ask your parents to postpone your vacation and stay in Bend and train. We gave them a few days to come back with an answer. All the girls informed us that they would be in Bend during the holidays and wanted to train for Nationals.

I had another health scare where I nearly kicked the bucket. One night I was watching TV when all of a sudden the room started spinning and I couldn’t see.   I thought, “Oh shit here comes the big one.” Carol was playing Bunco with friends at another location. I managed to find my phone, called Carol – that call went to her answering machine. I then tried to call my next door neighbor to no avail as I couldn’t see his number. I knew where 911 was on the phone which I called, told the dispatcher where I lived and thought I was having a stroke. While talking to the lady I started feeling sick and made a bee-line for the kitchen to throw up in the sink. As I could not see I ran into the kitchen table which knocked me on my arse. I managed to get up and make it to the sink. While throwing up I could hear the ambulance’s siren. I was still throwing up when help arrived. They put me in gurney asked me some questions and gave me an IV.   

Next thing I knew I was in hospital and a doctor asked if he had permission to give me clot buster. I said yes. Next thing I knew a friend was with me in the Intensive Care unit and said to me that if someone asks who she is tell her she is your niece. I guess I was in ER Care for 3 days before being transferred to Intensive Care. I had suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage on the right side of the brain where the clot was lodged.

Carol was at the hospital same time as me as Fred my neighbor when he saw the ambulance at the door called his wife to tell Carol to get home immediately. Seemingly when I tried to call she had turned off her phone because parents were calling her about their kids, and since she was having a night out with her friends she did not want to talk to parents.

One evening while in Intensive Care I had to go to the bathroom. After I had finished doing my business I tried to stand up and down I went hitting my head in the wall. I called for help and my daughter Amy opened the door and went running for a nurse. Between the two of them they managed to get me back to bed. Seemingly I was not to be left alone but when the nurse stepped out for something, down I went. I was rushed to have a scan, and when the results came back the bleeding in my brain had stopped. Being me I said to the Doctor that hitting one’s head on a wall might be part of the recovery process.

The first week I had to attend rehab and could hardly do anything. I couldn’t walk up or down 4 stairs without help. I was on a tether when they had me walking. I was hopeful without help. I made my mind up that I have to get out of this place.

Each day I was getting stronger and the medical staff kept asking what I wanted to do. I replied it is simple, “get me out of here.”

The Wednesday before the District Cross Country Championships which were being held in Bend. I told the medical staff it was imperative that I be allowed to attend the Champions. On Thursday they had me walking outside on the grass with a walker to see how I navigated grass and obstacles. I passed with flying colors. The staff had a meeting and decided to give me a pass to attend the meet as long as I had someone keep their eye on me.

I was picked up from the hospital by a good friend, Aaron Gordon who took me to the races. When I arrived I was enlightened to see Olivia Brooks an athlete whom I trained and now attends the University of Colorado. It was great day as Summit won all four races.

Aaron took me back to the hospital where I had to have a nap. Next day I had a battery of tests which I had failed seven days ago. This time I passed with flying colors scoring 35 out of 36. One of the tests was to stand on one leg then repeat with eyes closed. I never ever thought I would be standing with my eyes closed, on one leg, and I wasn’t even drunk.

After the tests there was a meeting with the doctors and Physical Therapy staff that I could home tomorrow. Thank goodness, I am out of here. Hospitals are great for taking care of you and getting you back on your feet. I like my own bed and surroundings and really dislike getting wakened up every hour. I know it is a necessity but if you don’t get sufficient sleep you are no use to anyone.

Even though I was delirious at times that when asked what the workout was for the runners, I could always come up with a workout they had to do. Most times I don’t remember her asking, but what I said was documented and the kids did the workout.

Carol was there every day helping me get around, cajoling me to behave myself and slow down. Amy my daughter for driving from Portland offering moral support and attending to my needs. Heather my daughter in Houston for calling every day and giving me words of encouragement. I would not let Heather fly up from Houston as I told her I will be up and about as I am going to beat this thing. I told her to visit when I was out of hospital which she did. I must thank all the people that showed up at the hospital to give me hell and good wishes. The Physical Therapy staff that brought me back from a physical wreck to near normal. Some people tell me that this will never happen as I don’t know what normal is.

I was discharged around lunch time on a Monday and showed up at the hills later to watch the team do the workout which I had prescribed earlier. It was an emotional moment for all and reminded them to focus on the task at hand which was to qualify and place at nationals. I wasn’t too worried about winning State as we had Jesuits number.

2018 – National Champions

The night before the State championships Carol invited Peter Thompson to give the runners a motivational speech which was a hit, and even today some of the team talk about the inspiration that received from the talk.

I kept the level of workouts at a high level and only eased up the week of nationals. I didn’t change the training protocol at all. Damian Olsen was in charge of taking care of developing the runner’s body strength through a regime of exercises developing core. Carol took care of the logistics, Dave Sjogren and Brendan Layden helped me monitor the workouts that I had developed. We had a good support team which one needs on the journey to compete well at a National level. We won state over Jesuits by 39 to 68 points. Fiona won the title and probably would have broken the course record if she didn’t have a hiccup the last 300 meters

The following week we headed to Boise for the Regional Championships where the top two team attend the National Championships. I told the girls to run as a team and we will be on the Dais. The girls won fairly easy with a score of 54 to 106 over Jesuit.

 Carol and I asked Stacey Hager one of our assistant coaches if she would be in charge of the team at Nationals which she accepted. Carol had to attend the USATF national convention. I couldn’t handle another championship where you are dictated as to where to go and what time you had to be there. At my age I am not too keen on following a regimented procedure.

I said I would show up the night prior to the race and would be there for the team on race day. I received a ride to Portland. Dave dropped me off at the hotel where I met up with Stacey and discussed the plans for tomorrow.

I rode the bus with the teams, and when we arrived at the race course. I went and walked the course noting where the water and mud was on the course. I returned to the holding area where I spent some time with the team before the start. At the start I told them where all the tough parts were on the course and said, “Run you usual race and with 1 kilometer from the finish, hit it and you will win this thing.” On leaving I looked at their faces and could see they were ready.

When I heard we were the leading team at 1 & 2 miles I said to myself there is no way we can lose this race as our team doesn’t start racing until 1 mile to the finish.

I headed towards the finish and stood at the bottom of the hill which is about 300 yards from the finish. As one of our runners approached the hill I would shout out “150’s.” (We do 150’s every workout.) Watching them take off I knew we had it in the bag.

After the race seeking out the kids I rounded them up and told them job well done. I was approached by an official and told to head to the awards stage with the team. The girls asked me “Well, how do you think we finished?” I replied, “We won the f*****g championship.” The organizers had three teams on the stage and they go through the drama of introducing the third team and then the second team and when that is done everyone knows who won.

We were announced as the winners with 120 points with North Napierville second with 186 points. We had went from leading by 16 points to 66 over the last mile. We were the first team from west of the Mississippi to win the nationals with a team that will be back next year to defend.

I was tired and emotionally drained and informed Stacey and Dave I am going home. They can attend the awards ceremony for Carol and I. Later we were to find out that we were announced as coaches of the meet.

It was amazing how many coaches would ask me “How many miles are the kids running?” Response, “Don’t know we run for minutes not miles.” Or the question, “How far are your tempo runs?” Response, “Don’t do any as we are only racing 5000 meters and there is no need for them.”

Dave Turnbull who is Summit’s head track coach gave me a ride home. When I entered the house, I opened a beer and smiled saying out loud, “We did it.”

Introduction

The Summit high school girls’ varsity cross country running team as a group early in the season approached coaches Carol and Jim McLatchie and said that every one of the girls is committed to staying and training together in Bend over Thanksgiving break to prepare for Nike Cross Nationals (NXN). This was the first time every runner committed to train together over Thanksgiving break and it showed a true commitment to the team and the belief that this could be a special season. A successful cross country season is made up of consistent hard work and key milestones along the way. Committing to train with the team 100% was certainly one. An additional significant event that occurred late in the season was when coach Jim McLatchie suffered a stroke which necessitated lifesaving treatment in the ambulance and the emergency room at the hospital, multiple days in the critical care center, and additional days and nights in the hospital rehab center. Jim had a lot of visitors and while he couldn’t remember
every person who came to see him and sit by his side, every day he told coach Carol McLatchie, his wife, the varsity team’s workout for that day. Jim was recovering quickly after some days in the rehab center and he talked his way into being let out of the hospital for part of the day to attend the district cross country meet at Central Oregon Community College.   Jim’s commitment to the team is such that being in the hospital wasn’t going to keep him from thinking up workouts and attending every race possible to help the team; even if it meant he had to agree to having a person shadow him the whole time to make sure he didn’t fall and had to  return to the hospital right after the race. The Summit girls won the race, qualified for the State meet, celebrated with hugs all around, and then prepared for the next training day. There are certainly key moments that stand out during a season that make it a memorable season. There are also the daily workouts, races, and recovery days and while these days may not get the spotlight they build on the day before and are what make a great team. A successful season is created by showing up every day, putting in the hard work, and enjoying the process. And, when it does happen, it certainly helps to really come together as a team and commit to achieving something that is impossible to achieve as individuals.
On Saturday, December 1st 2018 our Summit high school’s girls’ cross country running team, running as the team name Central Oregon, won Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) in Portland Oregon. Summit is the first team west of Minnesota and only the second team outside of New York to win NXN. Summit’s (OR) team’s score was 120 (runners 1-5), North Naperville (IL), the second place team’s score was 186, and Wayzata (MN), the third placed team’s score was 207. Every team that raced at NXN put in a lot of hard work, dedication, and training to make it to NXN. Summit’s goal is to put in the hard work that will help our team be competitive in every race we enter and it was a great achievement to win a National Championship. Cross country is a team sport and our coaching staff and runners have benefited immensely from coaches across the country and the world who have selflessly shared their training knowledge.

We are sharing our 2018 season training plan and we hope that high school runners and coaches find it interesting and find some things that will work for their teams. Our hope is that  coaches continue to share their knowledge to continually improve the sport of cross country that we all love. Please, if you have ideas to share to help improve our team and running community,  let us know.

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of our 2018 training program we want to present a general overview of the coaching support we have, the environment we are fortunate to train in, and additional things we hope you find of interest.   Also, many who read this will likely be well versed in how cross country running races are scored. For those who may not know, in a varsity cross country running 5K race each team can enter seven runners and the top five finishers on each team score points for their team. As an example, the first place finisher in the race scores 1 point and the tenth place finisher in the race scores 10 points. The goal is for the team to score the lowest amount of points.

Team

Summit cross country benefits from having over 80 runners on the team and a large number of coaches who help supervise workouts. We have 10 coaches, some split salaries, and the majority volunteer their time. We want to thank our coaches for their dedication to our high  school runners, Carol McLatchie (head coach), and assistant coaches Jim McLatchie, Chris Shunk, Damian Olson, Stacey Hager, Dave Sjogren, Brendan Layden, Carrie Carney, J.D. Downing, and Kari Strang.   Our high school runners train in one of three training groups. Black group, silver group, and green group. All groups are co-ed and they are based on current running ability. We have a 4K time trial at the beginning of the season to place runners into their appropriate ability running groups. Our fastest girls and boys train in the black group and this year the black group was made up of 32 runners. Some runners moved down groups and some up groups during the year based on their race times. Many parents are very involved in supporting our team and a great way they help with team bonding is by hosting team dinners.

Environment

We are fortunate to live in train in Bend, Oregon and many of our parents are athletes so our runners have grown up in the outdoors and being active. Bend is at 3,623 feet elevation and we usually have sunny days and moderate temperatures.
Month High / Low (°F) Rain
July 82° / 47° 2 days
August 81° / 46° 2 days
September 74° / 39° 1 day
October 62° / 33° 3 days
November 48° / 28° 4 days
We train on the surfaces we race on. We have an 800 meter grass loop at our school; a rectangle around soccer, baseball, and softball fields. Our school is a half mile from dirt running trails. The hills we run on are dirt and we fortified one long hill with crushed stone for level footing. We have a track and we mainly use it for 150 meter pickups at the end of practice, but otherwise it is rare that we train on our track during the cross country season.   These past two years we have suffered from smoky summers, smoky days during preseason, and smoky early season practices which has forced us to train indoors due to air quality advisories. We run in the school hallways and lift in the weight room.

Captains and Team Attendance

Captains are chosen at the beginning of the year by their peers voting for them and coaches also have input. Captains help out in numerous ways. One main way is in taking attendance every day at practice by having clip boards and each individual runner is responsible for checking in with them and being marked present. If a runner misses practice they have to contact head coach Carol McLatchie and let her know the reason. Committing to training and being accountable are keys to success. 
Training During the “Off-Season”
We collect the email addresses for every runner on the team and they are sent a monthly calendar with the dates and details of practices and races. Calendars are also posted on the team website, www.summitcrosscountry.com. During the winter we have practices on Sundays at Drake Park and while these are open to everyone on the team, the majority of the runners who show up are varsity runners. We do have runners from other local high school attend these training sessions. We also have a winter track program were a number of our runners will run, lift in the weight room, and often attend a couple of indoor track meets. During the spring season the majority of our varsity runners run track and train for the 800, 1500 and/or 3,000. During the summer we hold captain practices and we meet three days a week to train. Coaches and parents are in attendance as their summer schedule allows.

Moving from 5A to 6A this year   Moving from 5A to 6A our team did pretty much the same workouts, but we made the workouts tougher. This year we increased our captain’s practices in the summer from two days per week to three days per week.  

Annual Team Camp:   We hold an early season team camp at Scout Lake near Sisters, OR for three days of running and team bonding. We have team easy runs, a competition running up to the top of Cache mountain where the top 10 girls and boys receive a prize, and the final day we a three person team relay that includes running and swimming. We also have a parent cookout night where all parents are invited to grill, eat, and spend quality time with each other and our team. 

4K Time Trial to Choose Training Groups: We hold a 4K team time trial at Drake Park and based on runner’s times they are placed into the black, silver, or green running groups. Runners of similar ability train together to get the most out of their training. Runners are often motivated to improve and we allow them to run themselves into different groups during the XC season. We invite parents and former runners to cheer on the current team and enjoy each other’s company.
In Season Workouts:  Every workout should have a purpose and the coach should be able to articulate the purpose for every workout.

Weekly Workouts (General)
Monday – Hills workout. Strides.
Tuesday – Easy run (45-60 mins.) Strides. Core workout. Weights.
Wednesday – Grass workout (800 meter loop). Strides.
Thursday – Easy run (45-60 mins.) Strides. Core workout.
Friday – Easy run (30-40 mins.) Strides.
Saturday – Race
Sunday – Easy run (45-60 mins.)
Additional Morning Shakeout Run
For some top and motivated runners they will run 30 mins shake out in the morning
during the week. This year we had 2-3 runners on the girls varsity team doing these easy early
morning runs.
Workouts are Modified as Needed

As a principal, workouts are not set in stone, they can change due to weather and race schedule. Also if a runner is sick or tired their workout will be either cancelled or adjusted as needed. We have no problem telling a runner to cut the workout short if they can’t sustain their target pace, if they become injured, or another significant reason.

Every Practice
Every practice Monday through Friday starts with a warm up run (800 meters), drills (see list for drills), and after the daily workout has been completed, finishes with strides which are 4 x 150 meters where each runner progresses progress up to race pace or faster. The 150s at the end of every practice are very important because it trains our runners to know that when they are  tired after a workout, and at the end of the race, they can still run very fast and we let them know in a race they should be passing people or not getting passed.

Daily Team Warm Up and Drills
800 meters easy warm-up run
Forward Skip – 50 yards
Backwards Skip – 50 yards
Side Shuffle with arm swings – 50 yards
Backwards run – 50 yards
Knee Pulls – 6
Quad Pulls – 6
Toe Touch – 6

Side Lunges – 5 yards
Regular Lunges – 10 yards
A-Skips – 4 X 20 yards
B-Skips – 2 X 20 yards
“Old School B-Skips” – 2 X 20 yards – good for fast days: provides good range of motion
to warm-up hamstrings
High Heels – 2 X 10 meters
Tip and Gos – 4 X 100 meters (catch breath between sets)
On an Easy Run Day
On an easy run day we will do a plyometric session in addition to the warm up.

Pogos
Tuck Jumps or Box Jumps
Regular Bounding Progression
Speed Bound
Core
Tippy Birds
Plank Rolls
Windshield Wipers
Suitcases
Leg Throws
Balance Toss w/ Med Ball
Push Ups

Weights
We meet each runner where they currently are in their ability to lift weights and not every runner will perform the same weight lifting routine. We have coaches teach lifting techniques and we have coaches in the weight room to monitor for correct form.
Here is the list of the main lifts we do. Sometimes we’ll throw in other things to change it up, but not often. The lifts are in the order we do them, but we do different combinations depending on the time of year. Warm up is usually a good morning/front squat/press/deadlift complex with a light bar or PVC pipe. On more dynamic days we’ll do box jumps before our power cleans or deadlifts.
Lifts:
Deadlift
Power Clean
Hang Clean
Push Press
Split Jerk
Half Squats
Step Downs
Step Ups
Overhead Lunges
Dumbbell Lunges
Stranding Military Press
Shoulder Swings

Hill Workouts (Monday)
For hill workouts, we ask our co-ed runners to run at 90-95% effort. We train on two hills that are about a .5 mile from our school and our team can run to these hills. One hill we run is 500 meters to the top and we have it marked off in 100 meter segments. We instill in our runners that we run past the top, not just run to the top. The second hill is Overturf Butte, a loop that is, depending whether we are running clockwise or counterclockwise, 365 meters uphill and 425 meters downhill, or 425 meters uphill and 365 meters downhill. In a workout we will mix up the direction; for example 6 clockwise and then 6 counterclockwise

Easy Runs (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday)
Easy runs are 1.5 – 2 mins. slower than race pace. For example, if race pace is 6 min. miles, then an easy run is at 7.5 – 8 min. mile pace. We will have girls run with boys if their recovery run speed is similar. We don’t have our runners do tempo runs because we believe easy days are very important to recover from hard days and we believe that it is very difficult to get high school runners to do tempo runs in groups that are specific to their individual speed.  
We try and have co-ed runners of similar abilities run together on their easy runs, but we know that some runners will choose to run in groups that are above their easy pace and they are in essence doing a long tempo run or a hard run which may compromise their training and ability to fully recover from hard training days. This can be a recipe for injury or burnout and one that we try to avoid. Easy should be easy, recover days are ways to consolidate all the hard training that was done, and easy days are when the body repairs itself and grows stronger.
We do get questions asking if our team does tempo runs and our grass workouts are the closest we get to tempo runs and probably some runners are doing tempo on “easy days” because they are running with a group of faster runners and they don’t know how to run easy or think it is helpful to have easy runs. This will wear runners out and it will show up in their practice and race performance.

Grass Workouts (Wednesday)
At the beginning of every grass day workout we put runners in co-ed groups based on similar pace and depending on the workout tell them to run at either 80% or 90% of their race pace. The total distance of the grass loop is 800 meters. Specifically, the length of the grass we run on is long, there is a 10 meter hill, that leads to a 200 meter slightly downhill asphalt section, and the remaining grass section of 400 to 600 meters are a mix of wet to swampy grass due to the sprinkler system and a drainage issues on the outer grass fields.

Choosing the Team for Race Day
Coaches meet in the days before a meet to decide who will run varsity and submit the names of the seven girls who will race varsity. The team mostly picks itself by their race results from their prior race. We sometimes have runners who run a great J.V. race and race themselves onto the varsity starting seven. But, coaches have the discretion to decide the final varsity team for the upcoming race because a number of factors can be at play in deciding who will run varsity this week; including if a runner was sick, injured, had a bad race, or any current circumstance that factors into who should race varsity in the upcoming race. This is also a good time for the coaches to check in with each other about how all the training groups are going and how they are doing personally as well. We try and look out for our runners and our coaches wellbeing.

Race Day
On race day coach Jim McLatchie will walk the course and tell our team where all the holes, wet spots, and dangerous corners are located. If Jim has any concerns about holes or dangerous parts on the course he shares this information with the race organizer to try and make the course safe for all runners. He then meets with the varsity runners tells them the race strategy for the day.  An hour before the race the varsity girls will go for a group warm up run. Fifteen minutes before the race the team will go to the starting box and start their drills and strides. Coaches will be at the start with baskets to take warmups and other clothing back to the tent. If it’s a cold day coach Carol McLatchie will have olive oil on hand to give to the girls so they can rub it on their exposed skin to keep themselves warm at the start of the race. As the race progresses the skin heats up and the layer of olive oil “sweats” off.   Coaches are strategically placed around different parts of the course to yell out split times, encouragement, and sometimes that all important “go now” (if you can) directive. At the end of the race the girls return to the team tent to put on warm clothes, hear some encouraging words from teammates, coaches, and parents, and then they are off together for either the awards ceremony and/or their team cooldown. Finally, it’s time to pack up the tents and gear, get on the bus, and because we usually race out of town, get food at a grocery store before the bus ride back over the mountains.

Races in 2018 and Race Strategies
Our varsity girls team raced 10 races this season. We had 7 races on our calendar including districts, then our 8th race was State, 9th race was Nike Cross Regionals (NXR), and 10th race was Nike Cross Nationals (NXN). All season long the whole team really cheered each other on. We trained for our early season and mid-season races by training at today’s race pace; the current pace our runners were racing at. Then we cranked up the training in late season for State, NXR, and NXN training at goal pace, which we call “winning pace” the pace coaches think each individual girl will be capable of racing at.
We trained through State and NXR, meaning that we didn’t taper during this time. The evening before the State meet, Peter Thompson, a coach for over 50 years, talked with the girlsand boys teams. He reminded them that they had already put in all the hard work in their training and that it was important tonight and tomorrow morning “to keep the lid on the kettle”, to control and contain their emotional energy – until it was time, at the gun, “to let the lid off the kettle and put all the hard work and ’emotional steam’ to work during the race”. Following State, the athletes carried this thought into NXR and NXN.   From NXR to NXN we tapered one week before NXN where we eliminated hills, eliminated weights, and tapered overall running. An important point to highlight is that to go to NXN and race our best we needed our team to commit to staying in Bend and training with the whole team over Thanksgiving break. That conversation started well before State. Runners and parents recognized this great opportunity to be competitive at State, NXR, and NXN. Our whole team trained together for the first time over Thanksgiving and it ultimately showed in our NXN
race results.

Our NXN race strategy was to go out quick, but not too quick. To believe that we can win this. We put in the hard work and on the start line it was, again, time, “to take the lid off the kettle”. And, at the 4K mark it was the time to go for it all, in the final 1K.
Annual Soccer Game
And importantly, we have a yearly end of season tradition where we play a soccer game on the turf field because Jim McLatchie is a huge soccer fan, it’s Scotland vs. USA, and it’s awesome.   Sharing with our Running Community We have had a number of cross country great seasons, this season was very special, and we are already putting in the work daily for the upcoming track and cross country seasons. We have fun because we see the progress and improvement in every runner who works hard. It is fulfilling as a runner to improve and as a coach to see the improvement. Our hope is that sharing our workouts will provide you with some ideas to incorporate into your training and racing plans.

Our hope is that you will also share your training and racing plans with our team and additional teams so that high school cross country runners can continue to develop and improve. Here is a calendar listing every workout for our 2018 season.

From left – Jim McLatchie, Jasper Fievet (SO), Stella Skovborg (JR), Isabel Max (JR), Teaghan Knox (FR), Fiona Max (JR), Kelsey Gripekoven (JR), Azza Borovicka-Swanson (JR) and Stacey Hager 

Full Year 2018 Training Schedule, Every Single Workout

____________________

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Saturday, December 1 2018, NXN Nike Cross Nationals, Glendoveer Golf Course, Portland, OR
1. CENTRAL OREGON (Summit) team score 120
Time spread between runners 1-5 (17:29-18:42 = 1:13)
2. North Naperville 186
3. Wayzata 207
Central Oregon (Summit) 11, 42, 67, 77, 96, 134, (7th runner did not finish due to illness, this
race includes unattached runners)
28
2018 NXN Champions – Central Oregon (Summit High School)
Athletes Coaches
Fiona Max (JR) Carol McLatchie (Head coach)
Teaghan Knox (FR) Jim McLatchie
Kelsey Gripekoven (JR) Dave Sjogren Stacey Hager
Isabel Max (JR) Kari Strang Damian Olson
Azza Borovicka-Swanson (JR) Brendan Layden Carrie Carney
Stella Skovborg (JR) Chris Shunk J.D. Downing
Jasper Fievet (SO)
Head Coach
Carol McLatchie
Carol and Jim McLatchie
2018 USTFCCCA
High School Girls Cross Country
Coach of the Year – Oregon
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“The key is team and a part of that concept includes the teamwork between
coaches. Jim has been coaching for over 64 years and we have been married for
over 35 years. Prior to that I ran, with Jim as my coach for 5 years. My name is
listed as ‘Head coach’, but Jim and I operate as a team, so the credit should go to
Jim, myself and the rest of our team, including our athletic directors (Gabe
Pagano and now Mike Carpenter), principals (Alice DeWittie now Michael
McDonald), Dave Turnbull (Head track and field coach) and close friends and
parents that are always there for us and the athletes. Summit’s mascot is the
‘Storm’. 2018 was our ‘Perfect Storm’, for our team of coaches and a team of
girls and boys that all came together for one huge goal: to win the Oregon state
XC meet and NXN. Go Storm! I am so proud of you all.”
Carol McLatchie
2018 USTFCCCA National High School Girls Cross Country Coach of the Year

Photos by Stacey Hager, Peter Thompson, Kari Strang and John Swenson
Andy Fleming, April 2019

Ricky Dunbar

There was a public debate at one time in the 1960’s as to who was Scotland’s fastest sprinter.   Some said WM (Ming) Campbell and some said Ricky Dunbar.   Each runner was said to be happy to face the other but it was not to be.   Why not?   Because Ricky was a professional athlete and so Campbell was not permitted by the SAAA to race against him for that reason.   It was a pity because they were both very good indeed: a friend who was a professional runner at the time spoke of Dunbar coming into the arena after a ‘prep’  looking like superman.   Campbell had ‘done the treble’ (100/220/440 titles on the same day) at the Scottish championships.   But that’s the way it was.   

Dunbar was trained by Jim Bradley, world famous sprints coach from Edinburgh and, as the picture above shows, he was still racing and winning races at the age of 77 in 2017.  Note too the red silk vest and shorts – all Bradley’s runners were said to race in that kit.    Martin Flanagan wrote an article for the Sydney Morning Herald in May 2017 about Dunbar and starts by describing the man’s appearance before he ran in the New Year’s Day races at Burnie in Tasmania in 1967.   The article is well worth reading and starts with the following description of Dunbar: