Mel Edwards was kind enough to donate copies of some hill running magazines that we were delighted to receive and which we publish here in their entirety. They were all for the period 1988/1989 and provide a brilliant in depth picture of Scottish hill running of the period.
First of all, the ‘Scottish Hill Runner Magazine, followed by ‘Runaway’:
[ January 1988 ] [ June 1988 ] [ October 1988 ] [ February 1989 ] [ May 1989 ] [ August 1989 ] [ December 1989 ] [ Runaway, January 1988 ]
There were also a couple of enclosures with the magazine in December –
Rangers Sports had always been on the first Saturday in August and for many years there was also a supplementary meeting on the following Monday. When the second world war started many things were closed down ‘for the duration’ including sports meetings and even league football was suspended. The news above came as a real boost to public morale just as the war was starting for real. The meeting when it came on 3rd August was well worth waiting for. I will simply reproduce the Glasgow Herald report in full.
WOODERSON KNOCKS 1 SEC OFF SCOTTISH
ALL-COMERS RECORD
SC Wooderson, the famous runner, realised expectations at Ibrox Stadium at Ibrox on Saturday, when, before a large crowd, he broke the Scottish all-comers record for the mile by 1 sec. His time was 4 min 11 sec. The occasion was the Rangers FC Annual Sports Meeting.
Wooderson , who holds the world’s record of 4 min 5 4-10th sec for the distance, showed that he had lost little of the pace which gave him the honour over a year ago. Over the first two laps he was paced by F Cross (Surrey), R Graham (whose record he was out to beat), GM Carstairs (Edinburgh University) and M Bingham (Finchley). His time for the half-mile was 2 min 5 sec, and by then he was comfortably placed with A Coogan (Maryhill) and L Stoker (Edinburgh University) still forging well ahead from the 130 yards and 115 yard marks respectively.
Covering three-quarters of the distance in 3 min 10 sec, Wooderson had to do the remainder in 61 sec to get under the 4 min 12 sec. So well did he progress over the final lap that when he entered the home straight he had the field beaten.
The other performance of note in a really fine programme of athletics was was the sprint victory of JAM Robertson (Glasgow University) in the 120 yards short limit handicap. From the three yards mark he won well despite the determined challenge by RM Smith (Dundee Hawkhill), and HT Mumme the powerful Uddingston youth. Robertson’s time of 11.5 sec was very creditable from this mark.
Rangers won their own five-a-side tournament but t was the virile Queens Park side that caught the eye in the early stages. Craft and not speed beat the amateurs at the finish.”
There were eight track events plus three cycle races and the five-a-side included all the Glasgow teams – Rangers, Celtic, Clyde, Third Lanark, Queens Park, Partick Thistle plus Hearts and St Mirren.
It would have been a good meeting at any time but to have it when the war was already being fought made it special.
Leslie Roy is one of the best known and hardest working officials in Scottish – maybe in British – athletics. She’s always the same, always smiling and always doing her best for the athletes. Leslie however started out in athletics as a very promising young runner, winning team and individual medals and trophies with her original club, Victoria Park AAC in the west end of Glasgow. She went to Scotstoun one Thursday and the following Saturday she was in a team competing in Balloch Park where she finished sixth. The following December she ran in the West District Championships at Bellahouston Park where she finished second in the Under 13 Girls race and then in the National cross-country championships she finished sixth.
Leslie finishing behind Judith Shepherd at Coatbridge, 1978
Clearly a promising young runner she specialised in the 800m on the track where she progressed from 2:21 in summer 1974 to a best of 2:12.6.
If we start in 1974, Leslie was second in the West District Championships and shortly afterwards she was fourth in the East v West match at Meadowbank on 26th May in that pb of 2:21. Leslie followed this up on 1st June, 1974, in the SWAAA championships for girls, juniors and intermediates at Grangemouth where she was fourth in a 1500m 5:09.1. In between times she won a 100m at the Glasgow Championships in 13.8 seconds.
Her best 800m in 1975 was 2:20.0 which ranked her number 20 in Scotland.
Early in the 1976 season, on 28th April, in a match between Glasgow AC, Glasgow University and Shettleston Harriers Ladies she won the 800m in 2:24.5. Then in the Glasgow Highland Games on 15th May, Leslie finished third in the 800m which was won by Evelyn McMeekin. That was followed by a third in the West District Championships at Grangemouth in the 800m with 2:26.4. At the national championships in June she was third in the Intermediate age group championship in 2:21.9. These performances were such that she was selected for and competed in the first Celtic Games, held at Balgownie, Aberdeen, on 14th August 1976 for the 800m. Scotland with 110 points defeated Wales (94), Republic of Ireland (84) and Northern Ireland (51). Her best performance that year was 2:15.8 which ranked her fourteenth in the country.
Leslie running at Scotstoun in 1980
A good club member she competed in several events in inter-club fixtures all over the country and was ranked every year from 1974 to 1983, usually in two events with best performances of 2:12.6 for 800m, 3:01.3 for 1000m, 4:43.3 for 1500m, 10:58.3 for 3000m and 68.07 for the 400m hurdles.
In 1977 in the SWAAA Championships Leslie ran 2:17.6. In 1978 she ran even better: In the East v West competition she finished second in 2:14 and then on 3rd June the result for her was a 2:12.6 timing in the SWAAA Championships at Meadowbank. This last was in a Commonwealth Games year and the standard was very high but the time ranked her eleventh among Scottish women that year: one place in front of Rosemary Wright (best of 2:14.1 with another future OIympian – young Lynne McDougall – further back again with 2:15 for the season.)
As a young senior she finished second to Christine McMeekin in the West District 1500m championship on 3rd May 1980. Now, in the twenty first century, there are many leagues providing competition as well as demands from team managers for athletes to turn out as often as possible but there were few leagues in the 1970’s and athletes ran in sports meetings and highland gatherings all over the country. Leslie was no exception and raced at such as Shotts, Carluke, Strathallan, Glasgow and Gourock. Leslie won various events on the circuit e.g. she won the 400m from scratch in the Gourock Highland Games in 67 seconds in May 1981; on 5th June 1982, Leslie won the 800m at the East Kilbride Games off a mark of 28 metres. Still running well in 1982 Leslie won the 800m in the East Kilbride Games in 2:24 and finished the year with a 68.07 for 400m Hurdles placing her eighteenth in the rankings and in 1982 she ran 3000m in 10:58.0 and 400m H in 69.5 seconds.
Clearly a good athlete, Leslie said in response to direct questions on that part of her career in the sport that her training partner in the 1970’s was Alice Linton who was second in the SWAAA 800m twice and had a personal best of 2:06. From about 1980 on she was coached by Iain Robertson and trained with Sandra Whittaker, Angela Bridgman and Yvonne Anderson. Iain was in my estimation the best Scottish coach that I had the pleasure of knowing and working with and the athletes mentioned were all really top class runners with Sandra being a fairly successful Olympian.
Her best race, in her own opinion, was the 1978 SWAAA 800m at Meadowbank where in a top class field of Ann Clarkson, Evelyn and Christine McMeekin and Alice Linton among others, the field was bunched at the bell with Leslie right in there. Then the athlete that she was tracking dropped out and she lost concentration. Easily done – tactics are often keyed to another runner and when that athlete disappears from the track when you are travelling at speed there is always a temporary lapse.
Celtic Games, 1976: Leslie is in the back row, to the right of the flag.
Leslie’s athletic career came to an end because of injury problems and, having been club captain in the early 80’s, she became club secretary in October 1985. This was a post that she held in Glasgow AC and then City of Glasgow AC until October 1999. She had already become involved in activities outside the club and from 1982 she had been officiating in admin roles such as presentations, helping with the preparations for meetings, getting to know the officials and generally learning the ropes. In 1984 Leslie got her qualification as a field events official: unfortunately it was just too late for her to officiate at the 1986 Meadowbank Commonwealth Games but she volunteered and got a job as a fire steward in the main stand which, she says, was a great position from which to watch all the athletics. From that date she has officiated at meetings of all standards: open graded, league meetings, championships at all levels and at UKA TV meetings.
Leslie as presentations official in 1984
Like all good committee members she became a club representative. In Leslie’s case she quickly became Division 1 secretary of the Scottish Women’s Athletic League (SWAL) 28th November 1989 until November 1992 when she was elected to the position of SWAL secretary. Leslie held that post until 2008 – 16 years in all. In addition to the club and league duties, Leslie had become the West District Representative on the SWAAA Executive Committee in 1990 and stayed there until the formation of the Scottish Athletics Federation in 1992.
Halfway through this period Leslie’s abilities and willingness to work were recognised and more roles were put in her way:
You will note the number of roles running parallel at this point with responsibilities encompassing Scottish athletics activities at club, district, national and (via team management and selection) international levels. All this in the short period since she had stopped running and racing. This was the point when Scottish athletics was being reorganised; when the SAAA, SWAAA, SCCU, SWCCU and Hill Runners all came under the one umbrella of the Scottish Athletics Federation. There were problems but it was generally a period of great excitement in the sport despite the inevitable teething troubles. In addition to the changes in Scotland, there were changes in the other governing bodies in the British Isles and in the relationship with UK Athletics.
With her prodigious appetite for hard work, her administrative experience gained since she had retired from running and her can-do attitude Leslie was a natural component of the new order. Her appointment on the Track & Field selection committee has already been mentioned and in 1999 she became chair of the Track and Field Commission and a member of the UKA Track & Field Advisory Group. In 2000 she became a Scottish athletics representative on the UK Athletics fixtures meetings. At the 2003 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Leslie was a technical official working in the technical information centre. New responsibilities came her way in 2011:
A considerable range of posts with a range of skills required do any of them properly.
Leslie at the scottishathletics awards presentation in 2015
Just as with the athletes, officials and administrators regard being involved in any major Games as a highlight of their career. Leslie has been involved with these since 2000. They can be easily listed:
Ten major events: none of these is a straightforward task: the problems of organising transport for 17 sports over several weeks in Delhi, for instance, must have been many and varied. To be involved at that level over a 15 year period represents a considerable dedication to the job. Many would be incapable of doing these jobs at all, some would be able to do several of the jobs, and others while competent would be unable. Leslie has always, as far as I am aware, had a good relationship with the athletes that she is working with. Indeed one young athlete that I spoke to after his first Commonwealth Games compared Scottish officials most favourably with the English ones and mentioned Leslie in particular as being helpful. The Gold Coast appointment is her fifth consecutive Commonwealth Games and must surely be some kind of record.
Athletics team at the Commonwealth Games, 2002
Undoubtedly Leslie has many outstanding qualities but in the beginning, and maybe for several years along the way, she would have had examples of how to do the work and when asked she said that there were three main influences.
“Isobel Dunkeld: was club Vice President and then President in the 70’s and 80’s and I learned a lot about club athletics from her.
George Duncan was my mentor. He encouraged me and helped me to recognise my own abilities. He and I ran the SWAL together for many years and were instrumental in making changes to the league. We recognised that clubs were struggling to field full teams so instead of small clubs turning out with a handful of athletes we encouraged clubs to get together and form a composite team thus reducing the league down to one division which created better competition for the athletes.
In fact George and I introduced this long before it ever happened at UK level. We would say that UKA got the idea from us.
Organisation of meetings was probably Margaret Brown. I picked up a lot of tips when she was West District Secretary and I got to know all the officials, constantly asking “Who’s that?”
She has over the course of her career so far collected several honours and awards but three that mean a lot to her are the life-membership of her club City of Glasgow AC which was awarded on 25th October 2000, life membership of scottishathletics in 2008 and the Tom Stillie sword which was presented in 2002 after the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
Leslie (centre) at the Commonwealth Games 2006
Leslie started out in athletics in the mid-70’s and started her officiating career in the 80’s – which are 30 and 40 years ago respectively, but she doesn’t seem to have lost either interest or momentum. In fact she is probably doing more and gaining momentum with every passing year.
Rodger Harkins, Director of Coaching at Scottish athletics, said: “I have known Leslie for a number of years. We first worked together on the Scottish Athletics Junior Commission in the early 90’s, as team managers for Scottish U15/U17 teams mainly Celtic Games, U20 teams at that time with the likes of Darren Ritchie, Sinead Dudgeon, Alison Curbishley, Lee McConnell, Ross Baillie, Andy Young, Ian Mackie and many others, U23’s and Senior teams.
I have always had the utmost respect for Leslie and her ability to ensure that the right thing is done. She is a very meticulous person in every detail and always manages to see things from various angles. Leslie is a very passionate lover of athletics and that is probably why she has been, and still is, involved with so many aspects of our sport.”
Hugh Murray, National Coach Mentor for Throws, has also worked fairly extensively with her and says this.
“I had worked with Leslie on Team trips prior to 1999. But it was round about then that circumstances brought our athletics involvement much closer together.
Leslie had been deputy to George Duncan who I believe saw her as his successor, and his untimely death resulted in Leslie being appointed as the Convenor of the Track and Field Commission which back then was a very important role. This coincided with an invitation to myself to take on the role of Director of Performance and Excellence (sounds more important than it was), with Scottish Athletics, as a replacement for John Anderson who was moving down South. So we sat on the Board of Management together. Meg Stone was still National Coach at the time.
It was a time of change at Scottish Athletics as they were in the process of becoming a professional National Governing Body and were changing from being a Federation to a Limited company which carried its responsibilities.
After a pretty lacklustre performance in Kuala Lumpur, we had a challenge. First of all we had to put together a fair and reasonable Selection Policy and process for Manchester 2002. We had to look at what progression over the next three years looked like for our athletes. The Bank of Scotland squads had not been going long but they were starting to produce some promising prospects, Chris Baillie, Richard MacDonald, Mhari Walters, Susan Scott to mention just a few. We also had to ensure that our promising athletes had the correct level of competition in their programme to prepare them for the big occasions. Leslie was key to all these decisions and to the work that went into it. Her organisational and logistical skills never failed to surprise me.
Our first trip to Gothenburg to the European Athletics Calendar Conference resulted in what was to become an Annual event for our Juniors of a match with Cyprus. Israel and Greece. We also achieved small team opportunities through to many European countries including Russia, Hungary, Belgium, France, Estonia, Lithuania and Croatia. Leslie ‘Team-Managed’ many of these trips and I ‘Team-Coached’.
Her organisational and management ability on these trips were second to none. I remember on one trip we had to do a transfer from one terminal to another at Heathrow airport. One young athlete on her first trip was somewhat confused, and said to me, “Hugh how do you know your way from one terminal to another?” As we stepped on an escalator I said to her, “I don’t – but don’t worry dear, when we think we are lost just look in front of you and you will find Leslie pointing you in the right direction.” We stepped off the escalator at the top and to her surprise, not mine, there was the smiling Leslie pointing in the right direction.
Leslie with Hugh and team members in 2006
Whenever we did trips together Leslie was always the tour rep. In our down time, and that could be substantial after competitions abroad Leslie could always be guaranteed to fix up a sight seeing trip to places of interest be it Red Square in Moscow, the old own of Tallin in Estonia or Reykjavik in Iceland and she was so well informed she could give you a guided tour without a tourist booklet.
Her dedication to Team Manager responsibilities is also an example to others. In 2002 after 2 gruelling days of competition in Manchester at the test event 2 weeks prior to the Commonwealth Games it was 7 pm and I had just escaped the Manchester traffic and was about to hit the M6 for the long drive home. I had on board Leslie and the Team Physio when her mobile phone rang. The call was from one of our more experienced Senior athletes who had been pulled for a drugs test after the last competition of the day. “Do you want a chaperone” says Leslie. I was already turning the car around by the time she told me we were going back. At 10 pm that evening the athlete finally peed. We were all grateful. She went on to team manage her first Commonwealth Games team two weeks later.
Our next big adventure together came with her appointment as Team Manager and mine as Head Coach to the Commonwealth Games Team for Melbourne in 2006. Her Team preparation from 2 years out was meticulous. Melbourne unlike Manchester was an early Spring Games on the other side of the World. Preparing the Team was the biggest challenge either of us had ever faced. We had had a practice with the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2004 in Australia and we drew upon that experience but this was something else. Together with Mary Anderson at Scottish Athletics Leslie spent hundreds of hours in advance looking after all the details such a trip requires. She worked closely with Commonwealth Games Scotland, Sports Scotland the Scottish Institute of Sport, our kit sponsors to mention just a few.
We had athletes leaving Scotland at different times to prepare for the Games in several different locations including Melbourne, Brisbane, and Johannesburg. I went out with the advance party but she made all the arrangements, and “Kept me right” until her arrival with the main party.
In 2010 I was not working for Scottish Athletics and so made my own way to Delhi for the Games as I had athletes taking part. Quite a challenge. Imagine my surprise when clearing Customs at the airport to look up and see Who? That’s right – Leslie Roy, the first person I saw on my arrival in a country with a population of 1.4 Billion. She gave me a hearty welcome and then guided me to the area where my driver was waiting. It turned out she was at the airport as part of her role as Transport Manager for Commonwealth Games Scotland. For anyone who has ever visited the capital city of India you will be aware of the nightmare of travelling across the city. Who better then to have in charge than Leslie Roy. No sacred cow is going to stand in her way as she moves athletes from the Village to the Competition venues.
I could give you so many more instances when Leslie has gone beyond the call of duty in the interests of our sport. The last one will be the cabaret act she put on for us at the Glasgow Games. At Major Championships like the Commonwealth Games there are often time when there is lot of waiting around especially at opening and closing ceremonies, and Glasgow was no different. About one and a half hours for each. To alleviate the boredom Leslie decided to single handedly entertain the troops. and what a great job she made of it. It included, singing, dancing and climbing high structures much to the delight of the Boxers and Rugby Sevens whose chant of ” Go Leslie” echoed in all our ears.
I have known Leslie for almost 30 years I have accompanied her on numerous trips including Team Duties, Warm Weather Training and Official Meetings. Her contribution to athletics is immeasurable she has served the sport as Administrator, Manager with Scottish and GB Athletics as well as Commonwealth Games Scotland, as well as Official and Athlete. She is currently President of Scottish Athletics. But I think if you were to ask her which part of these duties is closest to her heart it would be the Celtic Games. Leslie competed as an athlete in the very first Celtic Games when it used to be an all female event. I don’t think she has missed one since.
As the youngsters would say today – ” Leslie Roy” athletics legend.”
That’s where Hugh’s comments end but I should add that he knows whereof he speaks: his wife is a constant worrier when he travels without her to look after him. He is quite forgetful and she knows better than anyone. When she knows he is going on an athletics trip she asks who is going with him. When he says it’s Leslie, she breathes a sigh of relief and says, “You’ll be OK then.” They’ve never met but they have spoken many times on the phone. That, for me, sums up Leslie’s reliability and reputation.
Leslie officiating at the scottishathletics Indoor Open, 2015
Several contractors say on their business cards and advertisements “No job too big, no job too small” and despite all the committees, despite all the Games, despite all the honours Leslie could in all honesty say the same. I have known coaches and officials say that they had outgrown working with young athletes, or with athletes who were not of international class: that could never be said of any really good official or coach and it certainly is not true of Leslie. Two examples, the picture above shows her working in an open meeting in Glasgow in 2015 and until it ceased publication, Leslie could be seen walking round arenas selling copies of the Scottish Athletics Yearbook.
Leslie with athletics team staff, Glasgow 2014
Looking over this amazing career in the sport Leslie replied when asked what her biggest challenge so far had been:
“In some respects taking over from George Duncan as chair of the Track & Field Commission. George was very respected within the sport and was extremely knowledgeable, not just from a Scottish perspective but on any athletic subject UK wide. Due to ill health George was standing down so it was pretty daunting to take over from him.”
“The Commonwealth Games – every Games has been different with different challenges. From purchasing and arranging for 24 fridges to be delivered through security into the Glasgow 2014 village, making arrangements for 300 team Scotland members to get from the closing ceremony to the team party and not leave anyone behind in India and Glasgow and managing the athletics team on the other side of the world in Melbourne at the 2006 Games.”
What was her most rewarding experience as an administrator?
“Probably two things.
The Celtic Games have always been close to my heart, probably because I competed in the very first back in 1976! However it is always great to see the enthusiasm of youngsters starting out on their international journey.
The Commonwealth Games – there have been many great memories, many challenges, lots of hard work and friendships made from the Games I have been involved in but overall it is one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.
It has been a wonderful career in the sport – so far. Who knows what the future will bring for Leslie Roy?
Arnold Black is probably unique in Scottish athletics. Most of us start off as competitors and then move on to other aspects of the sport; many also come into the sport because they are parents of young athletes before they graduate to officialdom and many come in as competitors because their friends bring them along. Arnold is in none of these categories and yet is one of the busiest and best respected: he is a statistician and administrator who came into the sport as such because that is where his interests lay.
He is also probably unique in that there is no obvious successor as custodian of the website and the provision of statistics to the sport’s officials, athletes, selectors and supporters.
When you think of athletics stats two names come to mind immediately: Arnold Black and Colin Shields. He and his colleague Colin Shields are without doubt the best known statisticians in Scotland and also respected throughout Britain for their abilities. Scottish athletics has been well served by the men – almost always men – who collect the figures, make up the ranking lists, keep records up to date and record everything to do with the sport. Arnold and Colin are among the very best of them
They were the mainstays of the Scottish Athletics Yearbooks for two decades and collaborated on the magnificent ‘The Past Is A Foreign Country’ book. They are well suited with Colin being really well known for his work on cross-country and road running (his centenary history of the Scottish Cross-Country Union “Whatever The Weather” being published to great acclaim in 1990), Arnold is more involved in the track and field side of the sport. Their collaborations have generally been of the highest order. The SATS performance tables on the Scotstats website are much appreciated: clubs have started them in scoring their championships, they are used to decide the Scottish club championship and Arnold has been working with Scottish athletics to fit them into a new Thistle Awards scheme.
Although colleagues they are very different people with different backgrounds: while Colin was involved in the sport as a runner and official from the 1950’s, Arnold took a different route into the sport, never joined a club but has become a well known, respected and invaluable member of Scottish athletics.
Coming from the South Side of Glasgow Arnold Black was born in April 1955 and educated at the prestigious Hutchesons’ Boys Grammar School and later at Strathclyde University where he graduated with a degree in accountancy. Thereafter he worked for a number of companies, becoming officially involved in athletics in April 2001 as a non-executive finance director and board director for Scottish Athletics Ltd for almost six and a half years until August 2007 while continuing to advance through his career as an accountant with Alexander Sloan, Chartered Accountants. Currently self-employed he acts as consultant, accountant and adviser to individuals, and charities. He has worked for over 30 years in this field for both business and in the not for profit sector. He has been a mentor for Project Scotland mentoring volunteers with working placement in the charity sector. Arnold is also a charity trustee with Positive Action in Housing and with the MS Weir Trust (which also sponsors some athletes).
Arnold has several awards: in 2005 he received the Tom Stillie Award and he also has the honour of being a life member of Scottish Athletics. He was nominated for this latter honour by the widely-known and highly regarded Leslie Roy and the citation read out on the night of the award at Glasgow’s Marriott Hotel read:
“Arnold is the scottishathletics statistician keeping all records up to date and producing all the documentation required for selection meetings. He has a website where athlete performances can be found as soon after they happen as possible keeping the athletics community up to date.
The Scottish Association of Track Statisticians has documented athletics performances in Scotland for 50 years through the publication of the Scottish Athletics Yearbook. 2009 was the last time the yearbook was published as SATS went online from 1/1/2010. The website produces weekly performances, rankings, athlete profiles, records and documents the history of the sport in Scotland and all this work is produced by Arnold.
All coaches and athletes use the website as results can often be found on it prior to them appearing on powerof10. The website also identifies if a performance breaks a record or if it ranks highly in the years performances.
Arnold is always willing to provide data to the Performance Team and he is and Adviser on the T&F selection committee and a member of T&F commission. He also attends T&F meetings where he can usually be found seeding events.”
Clearly a man of many talents, he is still not as well known in the wider world of Scottish and British athletics as he should be. With this in mind we asked Arnold about his career in athletics and he was good enough to complete a questionnaire on his involvement in the sport as a statistician.
How did you get involved in the sport? Were you a competitor at school? Was there someone who encouraged you? “There was no background in sport – I wasn’t talented although I played football (for enjoyment) and table tennis. I came to the sport through the statistics side (as I learned later did Peter Matthews). I always had a great affinity with numbers and was attracted to all sports – my parents I think were worried that I was going to become a professional gambler, as horse racing attracted my attention for a while, but I settled on athletics and my interest was boosted around the time of the 1970 Games.”
Your Twitter account indicates that you are a Rangers fan: – were you never tempted to be a football statistician? “I keep football stats as well but I’m more attracted to the game than to the stats. I found when I turned to athletics that there weren’t many people doing it.”
Can you give me some dates – when you joined SATS, when you became involved with Scottish Athletics (or was it the SAAA then?) “I used to go to athletic meetings and take a note of the results and keep my own ranking lists. I think I probably eased off when I was studying but picked it up again in the early 1980’s. When Scotland’s Runner came out for the first time in 1986, you’ll find a letter from me in issue 2 bemoaning the poor coverage of results. When they started including ranking lists (1988) it was for women (by Ian Steedman) and junior men (Jeff Carter). When I asked about senior men, they asked if I would do it for them, and my first lists were published at the end of that year.
By that time (I’m a bit hazy on dates and sequences) Colin Shields had sought me out and I had joined the SAAA selection committee, under the chairmanship of the wonderful George Duncan. In 1989, the SAAA formed a Records and Statistics Sub-Committee, convened by Colin, to update the SAAA records and Colin and Myself have been on that Committee to this day, currently with Graham McDonald. Shortly after, I think I was appointed by the SAAA as their official statistician.
The SATS Yearbook had not been published since the 1983 edition and in 1992 I was part of a group who had expressed interest in reforming the SATS. The membership of SATS at that time (as in the 1993 Yearbook) included Colin Shields, Dudley Brotchie, Ritchie Bunker, Robert Carrie, Fraser Clyne, Norrie Griffiths, Derek McGinley, Margaret McInally, David Morrison and George Young and we put ranking lists together to restart the Yearbook in 1993.
At the turn of the century, I attended a Scottish athletics AGM by request from Colin to ask questions on a rather dodgy set of accounts. By that time (since 1993) I was a partner in the long-established Glasgow Chartered Accountancy practice of Alexander Sloan. Following the meeting, the finance director resigned and I was asked by David Joy if I would replace him. I acted in that (voluntary) role for a few years and stayed on the board for a year or so after. I resigned in 2007 after I fell out with the board over new selection procedures they were intent on bringing in.
Since then, I was on the track and field commission for a few years but came off that and reduced my work as an official (seeding). I retain my roles as adviser to the selection committee and on the records committee.”
How much time do you spend on statistics? “Varies – depends on what I’m researching. I tend to get a bit obsessive when I’m doing it. I guess it’s about 10 to 20 hours a week.”
Do you have a particular area of interest as a statistician? “My main aim is accuracy so it doesn’t matter what the event is. I also like researching the historical stuff – for the book and for the website. If you were to pin me down to favourite events, then it has to be the 800/1500m.”
How did you get involved in the website? Do you have a collaborator or army of collaborators to help? “The sales of the yearbook were falling and the last yearbook (2009) sold only 200 copies. The advent of the internet and the Power of 10 had taken away from the attraction of the yearbook and I really didn’t want to publish it when we were having such difficulty selling it. But I didn’t want to give up what I was doing and so decided to do the website. Alan Scobie helped set it up in 2010 and I’ve been doing it ever since. Everything on it (apart from the occasional submitted articles) is by me. No collaborators, although if someone was interested that would be great. In 2015 the website got 33, 664 visitors, visiting 2.47 pages on average. If this current January figures carry on, then 2014 will get over 40,000 visits.”
Why did you start the forum? “Initially I didn’t want a forum as I feel they can be dominated by a few individuals. I’d hoped people would be willing to submit articles but that never really took off. When the Unofficial SAL forum announced last year that it was winding up, I thought that it was important that a vehicle like it be continued as a voice to question issues in the sport. I had a look around the internet to see what was involved, found out that it was quite easy, and so offered to continue the forum on the scotstats site. It would be nice if we got more people joining and more contributing, but I’m quite happy with the way it has gone.”
How did you and Colin get together? How often do you meet up these days? It would have been mid-80s when he approached me for the SAAA selection committee, I think. We live less than a mile apart so it was easy to meet. We worked closely on the book after which we both probably needed a break from each other. I see him mainly for our quarterly records committee meetings but speak to him at other times.
Any more books in the pipeline? I’m hoping Colin and I can collaborate again later this year to put the book up on the website and continue to maintain and update it. But nothing else planned.
Nobody has a higher regard for Arnold than Colin Shields who said that their friendship goes back to the days of ‘Scotland’s Runner’: when the magazine folded they got in touch about SATS and the reintroduction of the annual yearbook. Arnold took over the administration side being responsible for the production and printing of the yearbook (collecting stats, typing the whole thing out, getting the disk to the printers) while Colin did the summaries and did the advertisers since he knew most of the road race organisers. They worked together on the content with Colin doing the summary of each event that appeared at the head of the statistics. We speak of the ‘Scottish Athletics Yearbook’ but we also need to look at just what the two colleagues did.
The first statistical booklet that I bought was ‘Scottish Athletics 1964’ and it cost 2/6d (12 1/2 p). It was smaller than A5 in size and ran to 22 pages plus the cover. It had been produced by Simon Pearson and was the fifth consecutive booklet that he had compiled. It covered only the top senior men and women and the depth in each event varied – for instance there were 33 in the 880 yards and 12 in the steeplechase. It was a valuable booklet in that it listed the top domestic performers and also had the marks of Scots living abroad. By 1967 he had enlarged it to 40 pages with a picture of Jim Alder on the cover. It covered Senior Men, Juniors and Youths (U17), Senior Women, Intermediates and Junior Ladies and Scots living abroad. The lists had one entry per athlete and the typical event section had (a) comments on the event; (b) results of championships; then for each athlete there was name, club, time/height or distance, position in the competition and date the mark was achieved. But Simon was emigrating later that year and he appealed for someone to continue the project.
It appeared the following year (Scottish Athletics 1968) thanks to the efforts of Dave Keddie, Ian Steedman and Ian Cameron. The information for each athlete was as outlined above. It was more of a book and ran to 83 page and was liberally illustrated with a host of advertisements. Edited by Duncan McKechnie who noted that this was the 24th edition of the yearbook and thanked Ian Steedman, Jeff Carter and John Softley for compiling the lists and various others who had taken care of the production, advertising and photographs. The content had expanded to include all-time lists. records and best performances, commonwealth games results, international matches results, league tables, championship results and of course best performances for 1982. It really was a good production but there were no more after 1983 until Arnold and Colin set about producing the book again in 1993 following the demise of the ‘Scotland’s Runner’ magazine which had been assiduously printing ranking lists, etc, since 1986.
The first joint production was called ‘Scottish Athletics Yearbook 1993 – statistical review of 1992’. It ran to 104 pages, by far the biggest ever, and included a lot of new material. There were Scottish national, native and all-comers records (mark, athlete venue and date) for all age groups, rankings (men, Juniors, Youths and Senior Boys; women Intermediates, Juniors, Girls and Minor Girls). For each event there was a comment on the event during the year and the standards within the event plus results of all district, schools and national championships, and then the individual rankings. This was another area where Black and Shields took a lot of trouble. There were separate columns for performance, name, club, date of birth, place in the competition, venue and date. Seven details for each mark. But they also began each list with the top 20 performances by Scots which meant that every good performance by any athlete could be seen, event dominance could be seen by the number of times a particular athlete appeared in the top twenty – eg in the 800m, Tom McKean had 12 times listed indicating a clear dominance. The book was a real pleasure to read and contained so much information. They went on in 1994 to turn out a book with a square spine that ran to almost 200 pages – almost double the size of the year before. SATS that year consisted of those listed by Arnold in his reply above but his introduction contained the interesting phrase “we have compiled these lists by pestering meeting organisers in our attempt to obtain 100% accuracy”, giving a clear indication that their role was more than a passive pen and ink task in the comfort of their front room. By now the yearbook included Commonwealth Games results, records, all-time best performances, 1993 Scottish champions, 1993 ranking lists, Veterans, Road and Cross-Country, 1993 international results, 1993 club competitions, indoor records and 1992/93 indoor ranking lists. There were many photographs and a number of advertisements.
The yearbook continued to grow – demand was high and it was eagerly looked forward to from about February. I used to buy three copies – one because athletes always wanted to refer and would sit around before or after training scrutinising it – on warm weather training breaks it was always at any time of day being picked over by idle athletes – officials at sports meetings often wanted to look at it to check what the record for a particular event was, the second was to use myself, and the third was to sit on the shelf in case of emergency. By 2009 it was 322 pages long with a glossy cover, it cost £6 (compared to £2 in 1993), contained colour photographs and many advertisements as well as the information sought after. Contents by now included athletes of the year, club of the year, My Most Memorable Race (Lawrie Spence), The Vicissitudes of Olympic Year (Ron Morrison), Performance Trends 2002-2003, Scottish records, All time best performances, Scottish Champions 1989-2008, 50 years of Scottish Rankings, Guide to 2008 rankings, Senior and Junior Men’s Ranking Lists, Photograph Section, Senior and Junior Women’s lists, Scotland’s Jumping Wiomen, The Lessons of History (Doug Gillon), In Memory – John Innes, Masters Athletics, Road and Cross-Country, International Results 2008, Club Competitions 2008, Indoor Athletics, Index to Advertisers, Commonwealth Games 2010. So much in there – note that from three advertisers back in the 60’s there were now so many that a special index had to be included! The articles on the sport were always welcome but the guts of the book was always the performances by the athletes and this yearbook was the authoritative focal point for all of these. It really was a wonderful production and real shame when it stopped. A very good reference book had become in the hands of SATS, under the Black and Shields leadership an essential tool for anyone interested in athletics.
As far as “The Past Is a Foreign Country” is concerned, both men wanted to put together a track and field book that would rival and complement the work done on ‘Whatever the Weather’. When they sat down to draw up the list of 100 names for part three, they agreed that every track and field event should have at least one representative. They each – separately – listed their own top 100: 86 names appeared on each list – a degree of agreement that it would take a statistician to calculate! But we’re not finished – after looking at each other’s remaining 14, they then listed their own candidates and found that they had agreed, sight unseen, on ten. Quite amazing. Not surprisingly Colin, like others I have spoken to, finds Arnold very easy to work with.
An interesting fact about the yearbook is that every member of the Scottish team for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014was given a copy when the team assembled at their Kilmarnock HQ, courtesy of Scottish athletics: they saw what they had to live up to!
Colin Shields (foreground)
So far we have only been looking at Arnold’s activities in Scotland but a statistician as good as he is will always being demand. Arnold is a member of NUTS – SATS older brother – and supplies statistics to a number of other bodies including Trackstats. In this context he has been presented with the prestigious Richard Szretzer Award an international award for statisticians. This was hosted by the NUTS at a Dinner in London and Arnold was invited down and the presentation was made there. I asked his colleague, the highly-regarded international statistician Bob Phillips who stayed with Arnold at the time of the Commonwealth Games, said “Of course, I’d known about the excellent work that Arnold and Colin Shields had been doing regarding the history and statistics of Scottish athletics, now supplemented by the invaluable Scottish distance running website, but I had never met Arnold. In recent years, having moved to South West France to live, my contacts with domestic athletics in Britain had vastly decreased, but I still regularly attended major international meetings in various countries and I was determined to get to at least a couple of days of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, having first attended that gathering as a very youthful enthusiast in Cardiff in 1958.
Arnold generously provided me with accommodation at his apartment in an appealing residential area of Glasgow. Not only that, but he and Colin arranged a sociable evening at a nearby restaurant for visiting members of the NUTS. That same year the wittily entitled “The Past Is A Foreign Country” was published to add immeasurably to our knowledge of the sport in Scotland.”
Of course there’s more to Arnold than athletics as you will see when you visit his Twitter account: oh, yes, he’s well into the twenty first century. It’s not just the website for scotstats – there is also a facebook page. His twitter address is https://twitter.com/ArnoldBlack1 where he says he describes himself as “Rangers fan, athletics historian, chartered accountant. My tweets will mainly be about Rangers and Scottish athletics, not so much about accountancy.” He didn’t realise that he’d have fellow Rangers fans following him and tweeting about the club’s finances! Go and have a look and check out the scotstats facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/SATS/179337328763234 – it is well worth a visit and has not just more information on the sport but different information with lots of photographs.
Arnold has other interests out side the sport of course – indeed athletics was a form of relaxation when he took it up while working as an accountant full time, and when he was younger he played table tennis: a sport in which his father was a good standard player who represented Glasgow. Although he still does work professionally with selected clients, he reads a lot, mainly using his Kindle, and likes to travel. Indeed he has a property in Spain where he spends some time every year.
Arnold will be a difficult act for anyone to follow.
Ralph Erskine
Ralph Erskine is not a name well-known to athletics supporters whether the casual observer or to the aficionado. The few who do know have only a scanty knowledge of the man and his career. He was a member of Clydesdale Harriers and won medals in Scottish championships as well as running in the Triangular International against Ireland and England. He was also part of a family which hadmore than its share of tragedy linked to the 1914-18 war. He is just one of the hundreds of young sportsmen who died during the First Great War, just one of dozens of Clydesdale Harriers who were sacrificed. The club had two joint secretaries when the war started, his brother Tom and Harold Servant, neither survived the conflict, nor did most of the club committee of the time. This is Ralph’s story.
Ralph Erskine was born on 10th March 1893 in Camlachie, Glasgow, the younger son of Captain James Erskine, Gordon Highlanders, and Janet (Jenny) Penman Barrie. His brother (Thomas Barrie Erskine) was three years older, his two sisters (Margaret and Agnes, known as Nancy) were respectively two and four years younger than Ralph. Margaret died of tubercular meningitis at eighteen months, when Ralph was three. When Ralph was just eight years old, in 1901, his mother Jenny died of consumption. That year the census return shows James and his two sons (11 and 8) living at Tollcross, Glasgow. The little sister was being looked after by an aunt, and she spent most of her childhood with an aunt and uncle in Wales. His father had been a founder member of Clydesdale Harriers when it was formed in 1885 and both boys would become very active members of the club in their turn. This was however only part of his sporting achievements and possibly not the greatest.
Ralph was educated at Allan Glen’s school, Glasgow, as was his brother. He was a gifted athlete and boxer, featherweight boxing champion of the world at age 17. Sporting success reported at the time included the Public Schools’ Boxing Championship of England in 1911, and the Feather-weight Amateur Championship of Scotland in 1912. Anent the former, the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of 5th June 1911 contained the following paragraph in its ‘Sports Miscellany’ column: “Professor G Ramsey, on hearing of Ralph Erskine’s success in the Public Schools’ boxing championships, sent the following congratulatory letter to Dr Kerr:- ‘I cannot tell you how pleased I am to see the old school in an important contest taking first place among the great public schools of England. I congratulate you with all my heart, knowing how you have cared for the physical as well as the intellectual side.”
He also won the European championship at Paris. In May 1911 Ralph sailed to New York for a fight for the (unofficial) Amateur World Featherweight Title. He fought at the famous National Sporting Club on 27th May 1911 and the following day the New York Times reported: “The star of the lot was Ralph Erskine, the 17 year old boy who fights in the 125 pound class. He fought Alfred Roffe, the Canadian champion, and simply toyed with his opponent all through the three rounds. He had all the actions of an experienced performer and the speed of a Jem Driscoll”. He easily outpointed Roffe.” * (A famous featherweight champion from Cardiff who fought his way from poverty to the British Championship before dying of consumption at the age of 44.) The Harriers yearbook for 1911-12 reported “One of our youngest members, Ralph Erskine, has achieved great success in the Boxing World during the past season. Amongst his numerous victories may be mentioned those in the English Public Schools Championship, the Scottish Championship, the World’s Amateur Featherweight Championship at New York and the defeat of the French Champion in Paris.” Ralph returned from New York to Liverpool in 1911 on the SS Lusitania.
Once back home he gave several exhibition bouts – one being at the Rangers FC Sports on 5th August 1911 against his cousin, George Barrie. “It was much appreciated and proved an interesting variation to the proceedings.”
British boxers including R Erskine (2nd from right) with E T Calver, Secretary of the Amateur Boxing Association (ca.1910)
Back at home, he was a committee member in season 1911-12 but while brother Tom became joint secretary and member of the finance committee, Ralph left after only one season. While his brother won several prizes at club level and took part in open meetings, Ralph seemed to race less frequently but with more success. Slighter of build than his brother, he had been a more ‘natural’ athlete and distance runner at Allan Glen’s.
If we look at his preparations for the championships where he won his first SAAA medal, 1913, he does not seem to have raced much. In the Clydesdale Harriers Sports on 31st May at Ibrox, he ran in the second heat of the 880 yards and, although beaten by George Dallas of Maryhill, qualified for the final where he was unplaced. On 21st June 1913 the Inter University Sports were held at Aberdeen and Erskine was out in the quarter- and half-mile races. He finished second in both – in the 440 yards to N Gibson who won in 53.4 secs and in the 880 yards to R Thorp whose time was 2:04.5. Then it was the championship where he was second to DF McNicol at Celtic Park on 28th June. There were two heats for the championship and twelve men taking part with McNicol only taking the lead off the last bend and winning by about 10 yards in 2:04.8. The international was held in Ireland on 19th July and Erskine was unplaced..
His lead in to the Scottish championships in 1914 was an interesting progression – and featured more races and a different pattern from the previous year. Not noted as a long distance runner, nevertheless he turned out in a two miles team race at the Greenock Morton Sports on 23rd May at Cappielow. Then as he neared the championship he came down via the mile to his favoured distance of 880 yards. At the start of June he ran 2:12.2 in Glasgow University colours at Anniesland. Then the University Championships were held the week before the SAAA event – on 20th June 1914 – and Erskine was out in the half mile and mile. The preview of the event reported that he had run inside 2 minutes 12 1-5th. The report read: “Both the mile and half-mile were won by R Thorp (Edinburgh University). In the longer race, Ralph Erskine of Glasgow led for half distance, when JA Young, Edinburgh, went forward. At the bell Erskine was overtaken by the winner, who ran neck-and-neck with Young for 50 yards when the holder shot out and won by ten yards, the Glasgow man being a bad third. Erskine was seen to greater advantage in the half-mile, in which he was hardly a couple of yards behind Thorp at the tape.”
In the national championships, Erskine was second again, this time to clubmate Duncan McPhee in 1914 at Powderhall. He was only two yards behind the winner at the finish who won in 2:05.2 with George Dallas of Maryhill Harriers third. This of course earned him selection for the triangular international to be held at Hampden Park on 11th July. Erskine led this one early on but was soon overtaken and, the pace was clearly too much for him with the winning time being 2:00.2 and he was again out of the first three.
When war broke out in 1914 Erskine, a medical student at Glasgow University, was an athletics blue and had served as sports secretary and secretary of the athletics section. On a hiking holiday in Arran with his friend Charles Higgins when war broke out and they immediately headed back to Glasgow to join up. Ralph was given a Commission in the Royal Scots Fusiliers, and, having landed at Boulogne on 9th July 1915, he was promoted to Captain and after some heavy fighting in France, fought in the Battle of Loos (25 September – 18 October 1915).
In July 1915, not long after Ralph had landed on the continent, his brother, Captain T Barrie Erskine MC, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, was killed in Flanders. Serving in the 1st Gordon Highlanders he was killed at Hooge.
In December 1915 Ralph relinquished the temporary rank of Captain, and joined the Royal Flying Corps, forerunner of the RAF (first spending some time with the Australian Forces Royal Flying Corps, probably for training). Given the nature of warfare on the Western Front, it is not difficult to imagine why men would seek to transfer into the Flying Corps. Many had experienced the misery and squalor of the trenches. Those who knew they would face danger as long as they were on the ground, preferred to face it in a corps which offered the promise of independence and glamour, as well as a degree of comfort unknown to the men in the trenches. Men who had already served in the ground forces reasoned that if they survived the day’s flying they would at least have the chance to sleep in a comfortable bed. Posters like the one below would have proved attractive to the young men.
Many of those who joined the squadrons on the Western Front had prior service. Many were recommended for admission by their commanding officers on no other ground than their good record as soldiers in the line. Many pilots were killed in accidents long before they could join a line squadron. Pilots who survived training were posted to operational squadrons where the thought of meeting the enemy in the sky was enough to give even the bravest men pause for thought. There was eight-months’ training before being sent to the front. The days when enemy airmen waved to each other on reconnaissance flights were long gone. Aircraft now carried machine-guns as standard equipment, and interrupter gears, developed in 1915, enabled pilots in single-seat fighters to fire straight ahead through their propellers.
By 1918 aircraft were being used in a variety of roles: some as fighters, others for reconnaissance or artillery spotting, and others for bombing operations inside enemy territory. The famous Sopwith Camel could reach 12,000 feet in 12 minutes, fully loaded with weapons and ammunition. Pilots and observers sat exposed to the elements in noisy open cockpits. Ralph Erskine served for a considerable time as an observer in France, where he was wounded, and mentioned in despatches.
On 9th March 1917, Captain Ralph Erskine RFC was married at St Columba’s Church of Scotland, Pont Street, by the Rev. J. C. Higgins, B.D., minister of Tarbolton, uncle of the bride, to Jane Lennox, only daughter of Mr and Mrs William Higgins, Glenafton, Church Road, Wimbledon.
Ralph and Lennie on their wedding day, March 1917
with James Erskine (left)
After getting his “wings” Ralph returned to France with 66 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps from 22nd September 1917 as a pilot. He was flying a Sopwith Camel, B6414.
Ralph was killed at the age of 25 when his aircraft was shot down in Northern Italy – the first British airman to fall there. “Force-landed in front line trenches near Flers. Aircraft destroyed by artillery fire.” According to information in a later family letter, he didn’t have a parachute. He was wounded in the leg, but died in captivity on 1 January 1918 and was buried at the British military cemetery in Tezze, near Venice. His former headmaster at Allan Glen’s spoke of Ralph as “a modest, kindly, courteous gentleman as finest quality as student, athlete and soldier, and probably the brightest spirit the school had ever known”.
Just two weeks after he was killed, on 16th January 1918, Ralph and Lennie’s son was born. He was baptised Ralph Barrie Erskine on 4th May at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Wimbledon by the minister, Dr Macgregor. Ralph junior was also killed at the age of 25 during WW2 at the battle of Longstop Hill, Tunisia.
Sopwith Camel
An obituary was printed Presbyterian Messenger (Local Supplement April 1918) as follows
Missing since the 1st January, 1918, now unofficially reported killed in air battle on that date, Ralph Erskine, captain, R.F.C., younger son of Captain James Erskine, Gordon Highlanders, and beloved husband of Lennie Higgins, Glenafton, Wimbledon. Captain Erskine, who was married to Miss Higgins little more than a year ago, had been for some weeks on the Italian front, and had highly distinguished himself on several occasions. After an engagement on New Year’s Day he was reported missing, and some weeks later news was received, through a neutral country, of his death. Captain Erskine was a man of splendid physique, one of the finest athletes perhaps in the whole Army, a complete master of aircraft, extraordinarily cool, resourceful, and courageous. His Major – himself killed since – bore the strongest testimony to his brilliant services. We can but think of him as true and faithful to duty to the last. The deepest sympathy is felt with his young widow and her little boy, with Mr and Mrs Higgins, and with Captain James Erskine, Gordon Highlanders, the fallen officer’s father, who has now lost both his sons and his son-in-law in the war.
Tezze British Cemetery, Italy (Ack. CWGC) Plot 6. Row C. Grave 16
Back in Glasgow, the Clydesdale Harriers had suspended their activities for the duration of the War and held their first post war meeting on 31st January, 1919, and present at the meeting and among the Honorary Presidents elected was Captain James Erskine.
That seems an appropriate place to stop. The information for the above came from
The Clydesdale Harriers Archive,
The Glasgow Herald’,
The University of Glasgow Story ( http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/ww1-browse/?start=20&max=20&o=&l=e )
the ‘Trinity Remembers’ website ( https://trinityremembers.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/ralph-erskine-1893-1918/ ),
Allan Glen’s Club Newsletter ( http://www.allanglens.com/images/newsletters/Mar2011.pdf )
the Erskine family/Lee family history ( https://leefamilyhistoryarchive.wordpress.com/category/erskine-family/
Clydesdale Harriers October 1913 – how many fought/died in the War?
Scots such as Mike Ryan (New Zealand) and Paul Bannon (Canada) have run wonderfully well in colours other than the blue of Scotland, they were not the first to do so and the photograph above is of another earlier Scot who built on domestic success to go on to success at a higher level.
On April 23 1915 Scotland lost one of its greatest distance running exports with the death of Private James Duffy. Jimmy Duffy, as he was known, was born James McNiff in Liscoghil in County Leitrim, Ireland, on 1 May 1890 and came to Scotland with his family in 1897 and settled in Edinburgh. They lived in the Cowgate district, an area known as Little Ireland and home to some 14,000 Irish people living in mostly overcrowded slum tenements. Later, for reasons unknown, the McNiffs changed their name to Duffy. A stonecutter by trade, Jimmy Duffy made his first public appearance in the 16 Miles Edinburgh Exhibition Marathon Race from Linlithgow to Edinburgh on 24 October 1908. He was then only a youth of 18, and, although not on the prize list, succeeded in gaining a standard medal. Duffy was spotted by a local talent scout and asked to join Edinburgh Harriers, where under the auspices of the club’s trainers he rose through the ranks with meteoric speed.
Within a few months of taking up serious training he finished tenth in the 1909 Scottish Cross Country Championship held on 13th March at Scotstoun Showgrounds over a distance of ten miles. There he won the special medal awarded to the first junior. He was also the only runner from outwith Glasgow to finish in the first ten. Selected to run for Scotland in the International Cross Country Championship at Derby one week later, he acquitted himself well to finish seventeenth, third counter in the bronze medal-winning Scottish team. During that first season with Edinburgh Harriers Duffy won the club’s challenge cup for 10 miles cross country, a trophy which he held for three years in succession.
The following year (1910), he was runner-up to Alex McPhee, of Clydesdale Harriers, in the National at Scotstoun and the ‘Glasgow Herald’ reported it as a good race with about 50 yards between the two and “Duffy is to be complimented on his very excellent appearance.” Selected for the international – held that year in Belfast, he was fifteenth and second Scot to finish after GCL Wallach had failed to finish: looking every inch a winner, Wallach tore his shorts on a barbed wire fence, was tackled and taken out of the race by a policeman because he was offending public decency! During the summer season, his most notable success on the track was gained at Powderhall on 4th June , when, in a five mile team race, he set a Scottish native record of 25.52.0. A man of light build, he stood 5’ 1/2” and ran with a “free swinging stride”. Also in 1910 , Duffy gained his first and only S.A.A.A. track medal when he finished a close third behind Alex McPhee and Tom Jack in the SAAA 4 miles championship in 20.40.0. With seven runners in the race, Duffy actually led until the penultimate lap when “McPhee went to the front. Duffy made a dash and led for 100 yards only, however to be dropped by McPhee and Jack, both of whom were running for position and it was just at the crucial point that the Paisley man shot to the front, warmly pursued by Jack. Reaching the finishing straight both nerved themselves for a great effort, and some idea of the intensity of the contest will be gained when it is stated that McPhee only won by a yard. Jack in the last five yards, when he saw that the task was impossible, slackening pace somewhat. The first mile was done in 4 min 57 2-5th sec, the second in 10 min 06 sec, the third in 15 min 26 2-5th sec and the full distance in 20 min 35 sec. Duffy finished third in 20 min 40 sec, the others being outside standard time.” The standard time for the distance was 21 minutes.
The 1910/11 cross country season again saw him finish runner-up in the National at Pollokshaws. 100 runners from eight clubs made up the field for the race at Sheep Farm Park and it was won by Sam S Watt of Clydesdale Harriers by 50 yards from Duffy – second year in second place for him but he did lead the Edinburgh Harriers club to victory in the team race. Selected again for the Five Nations International at Newport, Wales, he could finish no higher than thirty fifth and was not a scoring runner for the Scottish team.
Duffy’s promising running career in the colours of the thistle ended in the summer of 1911 when he emigrated to Canada, settling in Toronto, Ontario. Here, he found work as a tinsmith and continued his running career by joining the Central Y.M.C.A. Athletic Club. Emigration at that time was not at all unusual. Canada was a favoured destination, and those leaving included a fair number of athletes. Just two examples of this:
“Local athletes will be sorry in one sense and pleased in another to hear that A Stephen of the West of Scotland Harriers sailed for Canada a few days ago – sorry because a genial and high minded sportsman has left the city … “
“William Hamilton of Maryhill Harriers leaves shortly for Canada. One of the most promising of the younger school of runner, Hamilton’s departure is a distinct loss to Scottish athletics.”
These appeared within a fortnight in March 1910 and there were many more in the years leading to the First Great War but Duffy was to have one of the best athletics careers in his new home. When he left Scotland, his departure was also noted in the Press but at slightly greater length than most and the following extract is relevant here:
“During his first season with Edinburgh Harriers Club he won the Edinburgh Harriers Challenge Cup (10 miles cross-country), a trophy which he has held for three years in succession, viz: 1909, 1910 and 1911. His most notable success however was gained at Powderhall on 4th June last year when, in the five miles team race, he established the Scottish native record for the distance of 25 minutes 52 seconds. On 13th June, 1910, Duffy was first in the one mile open handicap held in connection with Falkirk Victoria Harriers Sports, and followed up this success the following week in the invitation team race at Queen’s Park FC Sports. With youth on his side, Duffy should gain further honours in the new country.”
In October 1911, not long after his arrival in Canada, he made a name for himself by finishing second in the “J.J. Ward Marathon” of 19 ¼ miles in Toronto. The following month he finished third in the prestigious Around the Bay Race at Burlington, completing the 19 mile 168 yard course in a fast time of 1h 51m 16s
Duffy in the 1912 Round the Bay race
Duffy switched allegiances to the Eaton Athletic Club in the spring of 1912 and came under the expert guidance of star Canadian coach Billy Cumming. In that year’s Olympic try-out over the Hamilton Bay course in the Spectator Bay Marathon he finished second to Harry Jensen of New York in a race with 25 starters but only eight finishers. This fine run earned a place in the Canadian team for the 1912 Olympic Marathon in Stockholm. The fierce Swedish midsummer heat claimed a string of victims, including the life of Portuguese runner Lazaro, but Duffy was unfazed and ran a beautifully judged race to finish fifth in 2h 42m 18.8s What a shame he wasn’t wearing a British vest because the best Briton, Harry Green, finished well down the order in fourteenth.
1912 Olympic Marathon: Duffy is 358
Later that season Duffy won the J.J. Ward Marathon and was a run-away winner of the Around the Bay Race in a fantastic time of 1h 46m 15s – a course record destined to remain unbeaten until 1936, when the course was shortened. 1913 saw Duffy lead home a quality field in the Yonkers Marathon, completing the 25 mile course in 2h 39m 29s, while also making a successful defence of his Around the Bay title in 1h 48m 38s. The Yonkers Marathon, held in October each year, is the second oldest marathon in the USA after the Boston race and is known for being a tough and hilly course.
After the Hamilton Bay race, Duffy joined the Hamilton Ramblers Bicycle Club where he received full-time coaching from Tommy Thomson. Subsequently Duffy won no fewer than seven consecutive marathons including Yonkers. Boston was probably to be his greatest triumph when he defeated French-Canadian runner Ed Fabre by 15 seconds to win the 1914 race in 2h 25m 1sec. He was so well known before the event that he was not only the favourite to win, but Boston bookmakers would not take bets on him. Fabre matched his pace all the way to the final mile when Duffy edged ahead to win by the slight margin.
Duffy was not your clean living type; he was an inveterate cigarette smoker and loved his pint of Bass. After the Boston race his first request was for a cigarette and after his post-race medical he asked for a bottle of beer! His amateur career ended only month after his Boston triumph when he was suspended by the Canadian AAU on allegations of professionalism. He kept running and in his first race as a pro he was beaten by Fabre.
Duffy winning the 1914 Boston Marathon
When the WW1 broke out, Duffy ditched his plans to meet the big pro runners and joined the Canadian contingent with the 16th (Canadian Scottish) Battalion. Three months after joining the war effort news came that he had died of wounds received in the Canadian offensive at Ypres and Langemarck on April 15th, 1915. At the time of his death Duffy was the fifth Scottish athletics international to be killed in active service. An obituary in the Toronto Daily Star described him as a “hard man to train and handle”, concluding: “If Jimmy Duffy fought the Germans as he fought out his many bitter road races then more than one Hun preceded him to the happy hunting grounds.”
His death was noted in Scotland under the heading “Scoto-Canadian Athlete Dead” and read “The death is reported to his mother in Edinburgh of Private James Duffy, 16th Battalion Canadians, who has died of wounds. Private Duffy, who went to Canada three or four years ago, joined the first Canadian contingent on the outbreak of war, and went to the front in January. He is the fifth Scottish athletic international to die in active service. He never had the good fortune to win a Scottish championship but was runner-up in the Scottish Cross-Country Championship to A McPhee in 1910, and SS Watt in 1911. There was no denying his pluck and stamina but his lack of speed in finishing barred him from gaining the highest honours in this country and it was only when he essayed the marathon distance in America that he showed what was really in him.”
Wikipedia points out that his death came eight days before his twenty fifth birthday and four days after Edouard Fabre had won the 1915 Boston Marathon.
There is a short clip of the 1912 Olympic Marathon at http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-stockholm-the-olympic-games-1912-1912/ in which Jimmy can be seen: he’s the Canadian in the Tam O’Shanter.
All photographs are from Alex Wilson.
Mel Sheppard
The 1905 Rangers Sports were held on Saturday 5th August before a crowd of 8000 which, according to the Press, was evidence of public apathy. There were athletes of genuine class taking part including a small party from Pennsylvania including hurdler EA Amsler, English athletes like George Butterfield and some outstanding Scots like Stronach the hurdler and TR Nicolson the hammer and shot star. Came the Monday session and there was a crowd of 5000 present. The report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ read:
“The Rangers Football Club continued their sports last night on Ibrox Park before 5000 spectators. The running throughout was good, the feature of the meeting being the 100 yards handicap which was won by JC Howie of St Mirren FC off 10 yards, Amsler of Pennsylvania University being only a few inches behind, with Stark, the Scottish champion, third. In the third heat of the 440 yards handicap, JR Taylor of Pennsylvania University gained a popular victory, but in the Final could make nothing of Charles McLachlan of Blackheath Harriers who was beaten for first place by RW Hepburn of West of Scotland Harriers, off 14 yards, by half a foot.”
The meeting included a 120 yards flat handicap for 15-17’s with six heats, 100 yards open handicap with 18 heats in which all sprinters of whatever standard took part with the best American and English men competing with all standards of Scottish runners and a 440 yards handicap with multiple heats. There was of course also a 5-a-side tournament which was won by Rangers from Queens Park.
A year later the star attraction was Wyndham Halswell who won the 440 yards in 50.2 (headwind up the finishing straight) with Stark winning the 100 yards in 10 seconds and McGough the half-mile in 1:58.8. A very good meeting was the verdict and on the Monday, the ‘feature of the meeting’ was the running of George Butterfield in the 1000 yards. A word about Butterfield is maybe appropriate at this point. He was an Englishman (born in Stockton-On-Tees in 1879) who won the AAA’s mile title in 1905, 1906 and 1907, he also ran the world’s fastest mile in 1906 and ran in the London Olympics in 1908 in both 800m and 1500m. There was a considerable body of knowledgeable opinion that favoured him for at least a medal in the Olympic 1500 but the London organisers had decided that only heat winners would go into the final. The Americans, among others, protested about this but it stood, and the draw for heats was made in secret. Butterfield was drawn in the same heat as America’s Mel Sheppard who won the heat in a new Olympic record time of 4:05.0. It was a bit of a travesty with several athletes mush slower than Butterfield making the final simply because they had been drawn in a slower heat. He died in the First World War serving with the Royal Garrison Artillery. Local papers were fond of the story that he once raced a greyhound – and the dog was second! Butterfield was a favourite at Ibrox where he raced several times over the years and his London conqueror Sheppard was also highly thought of by the Ibrox crowds.
The Monday meeting in 1907 was a purely domestic affair but none the worse for that. The report simply said that ‘The Rangers Football Club continued their sports last night at Ibrox Park. The weather was excellent and there was a capital attendance.’ And that was it. The results were listed showing that there was a 100 yards handicap with 12 heats, a 1000 yards handicap, a 220 yards handicap with 6 heats, a one and a half mile handicap plus the 5-a-sides in which Celtic won over Third Lanark by 2 goals to 1.
Reginald Walker
In 1908 quite a few Olympic athletes (the Games were held in London) stayed over and competed around the country for several months afterwards. The Rangers Sports had some real top notch athletes competing – Reggie Walker and Mel Sheppard being those who created most interest. The report on the Monday night meeting on 3rd August 1908 read:
“The Rangers FRC continued their sports last night on Ibrox Park and were again favoured with splendid weather. The crowd, which numbered close to 10000, witnessed some splendid racing, the features of the meeting being the magnificent running of RE Walker, of South Africa, in the final of the 100 yards flat handicap, and the splendid performance of MW Sheppard of the USA Olympic team, and the 800m and 1500 metres champion, in the half mile scratch race where he created a new Scottish all-comers record for the distance. In his heat of the 100 yards handicap Walker equalled his record of Saturday – 9.4 seconds. In the final J Spittal, of West of Scotland Harriers, off eight and a half yards, looked the winner, but in the last 20 yards Walker put in one of the finest efforts seen in Scotland for some time and won at the tape amidst the greatest enthusiasm. Sheppard’s effort in the half mile was also a notable achievement, his long stride and easy movement creating a most favourable impression amongst runners and spectators alike. The American’s time was 1 min 56 sec , the previous best in Scotland being 1 min 57 1-5th sec by LF Fairbairn-Crawford at the same ground last year.”
“Half Mile Scratch Race: This event was arranged to give MW Sheppard of the USA Olympic team, and winner of the 800m and 1500 metres at the OIlympic the opportunity of lowering the Scottish all-comers record. He had as pace makers George Butterfield, Darlington, and John McGough, Bellahouston, the latter going the first quarter in fine style. Sheppard covered the first quarter in 56 1-th sec. In the last lap McGough dropped out and Sheppard went on at great ace and finished in 1 min 56 sec, and beat the previous record by IF Fairbairn-Crawford made last year in the Irish International, also at Ibrox Park. Sheppard had a great reception at the finish.”
There was also a 1000 yards flat handicap won by HT Jamieson (Watson’s College – 20 yards) in 2:16 from Sam Stevenson of Clydesdale Harriers (off 26 yards): McGough and Butterfield were both entered but neither started. There were twelve heats of the 100 yards, result above, nine heats of the 220 yards, a mile and a half handicap in which Sam Stevenson (55 yards) was third behind Templeman of Bellahouston (110 yards) and Young of Paisley Harriers (170 yards) and an invitation quarter mile handicap in which Halswell (off scratch) finished third in 49.8 behind Young (Bellahuston – 18 yards) and Hepburn (West of Scotland – 27 yards). The obligatory 5-a-side had the six Glasgow clubs in it (Rangers, Celtic Queens Park, Third Lanark, Clyde and Partick Thistle) and, just to show that the draw was random, Rangers met Celtic in the first round and won 3 – 1. The final was won by Clyde who beat Third Lanark by 2 goals and 1 point to 1 point.
Arthur Robertson
The last sports of the decade held the Monday meeting on 9th August. It was a great success although the crowd was ‘only’ 6000. Seven record set on the night and top class runners including Olympic medallists Walker and Robertson to entertain the crowd.
“The Rangers FC brought their annual sports to a close last night on Ibrox Park. The weather was again fine and the attendance numbered 6000. During the evening no fewer than seven new records were created and the racing throughout was of the highest class. Chief honours lay with the Olympic champions RE Walker of South Africa who is in magnificent form and set new records in the 120 yards and 150 yards distances – performances which were enthusiastically cheered by the crowd. In the three miles walk no fewer than three new records were created. In the 1000 yards flat race, Adam Turnbull of the Clydesdale Harriers beat McGough’s native record, while in the mile and a half flat handicap Arthur J Robertson of Broughton Harriers broke Alfred Shrubb’s record for the distance made at the same track in 1904.”
Robertson actually finished third in the race running from scratch behind club mate William Scott of Broughton Harriers (75 yards) and Tom Jack from Edinburgh off 80 yards. There was a local runner from a club that I had never heard of called ‘Glasgow Hairdressers AC’ competing in the 100 yards and although he won his heat of the 100 yards, was unplaced in the semi final. Still, a very good meeting to end a decade of top class athletics.
