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Duncan McPhee in 1914

All pictures from Alex Wilson

Duncan McPhee was the dominant 880 yards/1 Mile runner in Scotland in the 1920’s.   He won the SAAA  880 yards in 1914, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, the mile in 1913, 1914, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923; AAA’s Mile Champion 1922, and represented Britain in the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp in the 1500m and 3000m team race.   A considerably good record.   He came from a good athletics background.   His father was a noted runner as was his brother (both called Alex).   Big brother Alex won two Scottish cross-country titles (1909, 1910) and three Scottish Cross-Country International vests – in 1909, 1910 and 1911.   Alex Wilson looked into the family background and found some interesting information:

“I found Duncan in the 1901 census. He was at the time the second youngest of 9 children of Flora and Alexander McPhee, a blacksmith of Nethercraigs, Paisley.  The smithy was on Corsebar Road next to the toll house. His brother Alex (b. 1887) was six years his senior. All his elder brothers including Alex were evidently in the  blacksmith trade.   But the 1911 census reveals that Duncan was earning his crust as a clerk in a threadmill, the Ferguslie Mills Thread Works of J&P Coats being just a few streets away. Anyhow, I`ve discovered that he had a bit of pedigree as it were. His dad, Alex, was himself a well-known runner in his day and competed against the likes of Robert Hindle, Cutty Smith and William Park; some of the biggest names in Scottish pedestrianism.”    

Alex also pointed out an article in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of 8th April, 1872, of a race involving Alex McPhee, Snr.    KILMARNOCK ATHLETIC SPORTS.   On Saturday a number of foot-races took place in the Cattle Market.  The weather being very favourable, there was a large turnout of people, the majority of whom were from the neighbourhood.   …   The chief feature of the meeting was a Six Mile race which was very well contested, and excited considerable interest.   The following were the prize-takers:   Six Mile Race:   1st William Smith, Paisley;   2nd Alex McPhee, Paisley;  3rd Allan Strachan, Galston.    Two Mile Race:  1st Robert Hindle, Paisley;   2nd William Smith;   3rd Alex McPhee.

So Duncan had a very good background in the sport and a family with a record of long involvement and success.   Like brother Alex, he started out as a member of Clydesdale Harriers and the first mention in the club’s annual handbook was in the 1912/13 edition when he had been a member of the team that was second in the West District Championship – he had been third counter, finishing 8th.   The club at that time tended to use the top men for the National and the ‘second string’ for the District and sure enough, big brother Alex was noted as finishing twentieth in the National Championships.   In June 1913 in the Clydesdale Harriers Sports held in Clydebank, he won the One and a Half Mile Handicap from a mark of 65 yards in 7 mins 11  3-5th secs.   Two weeks later he won his first SAAA Championship in 4:34 by inches from DF McNicol of West of Scotland eliciting the comment from the ‘Glasgow Herald’ that “McPhee is a young runner who has come rapidly to the front.”  This victory earned him selection for the international with Ireland at Celtic Park, Belfast, where he won the Mile in 4:34.6 from another Scot, WM Crabbie.   His next outing was on the first Saturday in August at the Rangers Sports where he competed in the half-mile.   “The half-mile handicap was notable for the fine running of Duncan McPhee, the Scottish mile champion.   Starting from 23 yards he won his heat easily, and in the final he beat E Owen, Broughton Harriers, who was on the 8 yards mark, by about his start, and going on for the full distance he was timed to do 1 min 58 4-5th sec – only 2-5th sec outside the Scottish native record.”   The ability of runners in a handicap race to go beyond the finishing line to a mark equal to their handicap so that they could get an accurate time for the distance, while having the incentive of a handicap race with a series of ‘hares’ was one of the positives in the handicap racing which was typical of the time.   The alternative of a scratch race in which  the best runner had no opposition was not as conducive to good times.  Duncan’s reward for this was to run off scratch himself in the 880 yards the following week at the Celtic FC Sports, organised by Willie Maley.   He could only finish second in a race won by G Kitson of Shettleston, running off 50 yards, who only won by about 3 yards.   It had been a good season with victory in the SAAA Championships and in the International with a flourish at the finish with two good runs in the Rangers and Celtic Sports.

The following winter (1913/14) Clydesdale Harriers handbook reported that D McPhee won the Mile in 1913 when he competed for the first time in a championship event, and that he had been second in the club 5 miles handicap, third in the West District championship where the team was placed fourth.   He was also on the club committee as Vice-Captain and a member of the handicapping sub-committee.   And then, for a reason as yet unclear, both Alex and Duncan moved allegiance from Clydesdale Harriers across the city to West of Scotland Harriers.

In the “Glasgow Herald” of May 11th, 1914 the columnist reported that “Duncan McPhee is running for the West of Scotland Harriers in the relay race at Parkhead on Saturday.   His main opponent will be E Owen of Broughton Harriers who is bringing a team north for this event.   The tussle between these two will be worth witnessing Owen has been discarding cross-country work this winter and confining his attention to shorter distances.   He has the English championship mile in view and to gain that honour one has to cultivate half-mile running, so we are likely to have a good performance from him at Parkhead.   The open handicap will also bring together McPhee and Owen, and this double ‘turn’ should add greatly to the attractiveness of the coming meeting of the Celtic FC and the West of Scotland Harriers.”    Came the race and the report read:   “There were large entries for most of the events with the half-mile having no fewer than 107, necessitating three Heats and a Final.   …. Duncan McPhee of West of Scotland Harriers won his Heat but in the Final, he and E Owen, Broughton Harriers, delayed their effort too long and at the finish they were too far in the rear.   West of Scotland Harriers secured a meritorious win the Mile relay race, Duncan McPhee finishing the half-mile with a commanding lead  and George Dallas leading by 10 yards at the tape.”  

The Medley Relay Race (880 yards, 220, 220 and 440) was a real favourite of Scottish spectators and reporters and it was often the highlight of a meeting.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ of 25th May, 1914 had a piece that read:   “RELAY RACING.   Anglo Scots Needed.   Relay Racing should receive more recognition from sports promoters.   It is an excellent substitute for scratch events, which are practically unknown in connection with track athletics.   Besides it is a departure from conventionalism, and anything removed from the beaten track is always acceptable.   The relay race at Parkhead the other day was the most arresting event in the day’s proceedings, inasmuch as it brought to the surface qualities of judgment and speed which are not often seen in handicap running.   Unfortunately, West of Scotland Harriers are much stronger in this department than other clubs, but by way of encouraging relay racing we would suggest that the handicapping principle be introduced, as it was by the Rangers at their meeting last August , when Polytechnic Harriers were asked to concede a handicap to the Rest of Scotland.   The race on that occasion was strenuously contested, and there is no reason why the same principle should not be introduced at all our sports functions.   Hawick are putting up a relay race in connection with the Common Riding celebrations, and West of Scotland will be represented by their famous quartette, Messrs McPhee, Dallas, Hamilton and Christie.”  

On 27th June he won his second SAAA Mile title in 4 min 37 1-5th sec and the half mile in 2 min 3 1-5th sec from former club mate Ralph Erskine (Clydesdale and GUAC) with George Dallas third.   Erskine is a very interesting character: his father was a founding member of the club and his brother T Barrie Erskine was one of the joint secretaries at the outbreak of war.   Ralph himself won a world lightweight boxing title – amateur of course – in New York and unfortunately, like his brother, was killed in the War.   After the championship Duncan was selected for the international to be held later in the summer.

In the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of 29th June, 1914 appears this paragraph: “Possibly others may go South for the English championships this weekend but we know of three – Duncan McPhee (West of Scotland Harriers), George Cummings (Bellahouston Harriers) and TR Nicolson (West of Scotland Harriers) – who will represent this corner of Scotland.   All have specialised in their respective events.   …   Duncan McPhee has never performed in London, and his visit to London this week marks a step forward in his career.   We will not be disappointed should he fail in the two events for which he is entered, not because we have not the greatest admiration for his pedestrian talent; but it is a very severe test for a runner of McPhee’s years to take part in the English championships.   The experience, however, will equip him all the more for the Triangular match the following week at Hampden Park, and with an environment more encouraging than Stamford Bridge is likely to be, we mat find him unfolding unsuspected powers.   McPhee is looking forward to his visit to London hopefully and this is the proper spirit in which to face the undertaking of this week.”

McPhee ran well enough to be third in the AAA’s championship in his first venture south of the border before heading to Hampden for the match against England and Ireland on 11th July in which England won 6 events, Scotland 3 events and Ireland 2 events.   McPhee won the Mile in 4:30.8 from Alexander of Ireland and E Owen of England.   He travelled to Celtic Park for the Maryhill Harriers meeting on the 18th but missed the start as ‘the race was well in progress before he was called by the steward.’   In the Greenock Glenpark Harriers meeting on 27th July, McPhee was the lead-off man for the West of Scotland relay team which won comfortably and he also ran in the handicap mile off scratch and finished third.   Entered for the three miles team race, he decided not to run after  the other two events.

On Monday August 3rd at a meeting promoted by Rangers FC, there was a special mile with the 22 entries including the following:   AG Hill (Polytechnic Harriers) 10 yards,  E Owen (Broughton Harriers) 30 yards, SS Stevenson (Clydesdale Harriers) 40 yards, D McPhee (West of Scotland) 20 yards,   CR Robertson (Auckland Harriers, NZ) , Alex McPhee (West of Scotland) 80  yards, and the limit man (T Barrie Erskine, Clydesdale Harriers) had 140 yards.   The result at the Monday evening race was a win for Hill in 4 min 25 3-5th sec, from McPhee.

The season drew to a close with McPhee having ‘done the double’ at the SAAA  Championships for the first time, won the international and won a medal at the AAA’s in London.   A successful season full of promise – unfortunately on the world  political scene, there were events taking place that would put more careers on hold than his and the next SAAA championships was to be in 1919.

McPhee in the 4:30.8 Mile in the International at Hampden in July 1914

As with many others, the 1914-18 War must have caused significant disruption but few could have won three SAAA titles, including a double in 1914, missed the War years and not restarted his career properly until 1920 and then gone on to more honours in Scotland, England and internationally.

In the preview of the 1919 championships, the ‘Glasgow Herald’ correspondent noted that “D McPhee, the half-mile and mile champion, is still on service abroad” and he did not contest the championships that year. By 1920 he had lost more than five years of his athletic career.   He was home and back in athletics harness in 1920 however and he was to become the best Scottish middle distance runner of the early 1920′ s before Tom Riddell came along.

On May 22nd, 1920, McPhee turned out in the Kilmarnock Harriers Open Sports Meeting where the ‘Herald’ merely notes that none of the fancied runners reached the prize list, including McPhee in this.   At the start of June, the fifth, he avoided the Queen’s Park Sports at Hampden preferring to run in the joint Bellahouston Harriers and Dumbarton FC Meeting at Dumbarton where he was back-marker in the Mile.   He ran ‘a grand race but was unable to get through the large field of 69.’  Not surprising – 69 runners on a track round, or possibly on, a football pitch would have been a bit of a crowd!

On 12th June, 1920, there was an Olympic Trials meeting at Ibrox and of course all men with pretensions at 100 and 1500m were there.  It was an ordinary meeting organised by West of Scotland Harriers and Pollokshaws Royal Arch Lodge No 153 which included Olympic trials at the distances mentioned.   The ‘Notes’ read: “McPhee showed a fine turn of speed and staying power in the 1500 metres.   McPhee has lost none of his old-time ability and should give a good account of himself in the championships towards the end of the month.    He had not a little to do with the winning of the relay race for his club, the West of Scotland Harriers, who thus checked the victorious career of Maryhill Harriers”.  McPhee won the race in  4 min 16 4-5th secs from James Wilson by a distance of 10 yards.   He was back at Ibrox the following week for the Clydesdale Harriers meeting and finished second in the half-mile, running from scratch    One week later was the SAAA Championships, for him the first since the War.

The ‘Glasgow Herald’ sporting notes comments on his running in the championships read,

“McPHEE’S RETURN TO FORM.   Duncan McPhee justified the optimism of those who have watched his return to form by regaining the two titles which he won in 1914, and which he was unable to defend last year.   In the Mile he displaced the holder of the title, WB Ross, who was far in the rear at the tape, while in the half-mile he had another comfortable win from a fancied candidate, WR Milligan of Oxford University AC.”     His times were 2:0.6 and 4:26 and the performances gained him selection for the triangular international at Crewe on 10th July.

The week after the SAAA was the AAA’s championship and McPhee travelled south to compete – and finished second to the Frenchman, A Burtin, and was first Briton to finish.   Then came the International at Crewe where he won the Mile in 4:30.2.   This concluded five races in five weeks including Olympic Trial, SAAA and AAA Championships and the international!    He made it six weeks in a row when he competed in the new meeting at Rothesay promoted by  West of Scotland Harriers.   There he was third in the 880 yards, running from scratch, and first in the Mile, again running from scratch.   After a week out, he was back in action on the last Saturday in July at the Greenock Glenpark Harriers Sports where, running from scratch, he was third behind JG McIntyre (Dumbarton – 95  yards) and CE Blewitt (Birchfield Harriers – 20 yards).    The first Saturday in August meant only one thing – The Rangers Sports at Ibrox.   McPhee was running in the invitation 100 yards against the ex-AAA Champion AG Hill who set a new all-comers record of 2:15 and behind him McPhee set a new Scottish native record of 2:16.   This was said to have affected him adversely because, after winning his heat in the handicap half-mile, he retired in the final and did not start in the Mile.   For most Scots, and indeed for McPhee himself, the summer usually finished in the first or second week of August.   But Duncan McPhee was not yet finished for the season.    There was the matter of the Olympics to come.

The first post-war Olympics were held in Antwerp between August 14th and September 12th and there were 22 sports being contested.   Invitations were not sent to Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey or Hungary although they were not forbidden to come.   29 countries were represented.   The 27 year old McPhee was taking part in two events, the first of which was the 1500m with heats on 18th August.   He ran very well to finish second in the second of four heats in a time of 4:07.2 – two tenths behind Lundgren of Sweden and two tenths ahead of Shields of the USA.   The English champion, Burtin, was fourth and did not qualify for the final.   The final was held the next day.   Run in the rain,  the 1500m final was pronounced the race of the day with Ray of the USA making the pace right from the start but Hill and Baker held back before coming through to take first and second.   McPhee did not finish in this fast race.    He was also a member of the British four-man 3000m team race with Hill, Blewitt and Seagrove.   The heats for this race were on 21st August, and McPhee led the GB team home when he was second in 8:59.1, again behind Lundgren, but ahead of Zander (also Sweden) with Blewitt and Seagrove fourth and fifth.   The British team won their way through to the Final.   But again McPhee dropped out but he did get a team silver since he was part of the GB six-man team.

His season was now really at an end and it had been a good one too, could 1921 be as good, was the question.

The start of the Olympic 1500m final, 1920.

McPhee second left: note the crouch starts!

On the last Saturday in May, 1921, McPhee was running in the Shettleston Harriers meeting at Celtic Park.    The attendance was poor and the scribe for the ‘Glasgow Herald’ remarked that “In some events the crowds were embarrassingly large, the half-mile with an entry of 113 having to be run in four heats.   Five half-mile races are too many for one afternoon, especially at this season when men of outstanding ability are hard to find.   D McPhee, the champion, did much to redeem the race of dullness by his judgment in the heat and success in the final, and the runner-up, D Massey, is to be complimented on drawing out McPhee all the way to the tape.”   Running from scratch, he won in 2:01.

June was championship month and McPhee began on 5th June in the Inter-City Mile Relay between Glasgow and Edinburgh at the Queen’s Park FC Sports by running the first 880 yards stage for the winning Glasgow team.   He followed this with a victory at the Corporation Tramworks and West of Scotland Sports meeting at Ibrox against 100 opponents in the Mile, and a fine ‘win’ over George Dallas on the first stage of the relay -“the most interesting race on the programme.”  He won the Mile by half a yard in 4:32 from club mate JG Scott (135 yards).   On to the SAAA Championship on the last Saturday in the month and the comment on the middle-distance races was: “Duncan McPhee retained his two championships, the half-mile and the mile.   The latter, through no fault of the winner, was a somewhat hollow victory.   Though there was an entry of eight, only one turned out and it is to the credit of I Dobbie that he made a race of it, knowing that he had a very slender chance of winning.”      The half-mile was won by three yards in 1:58.6 and the Mile in 4:45.4, also by three yards.

The AAA’s championship was the following week but McPhee chose to run at Tynecastle in Edinburgh in a meeting organised by the Heart of Mid-Lothian FC.  He ran in the medley relay and West of Scotland won, “Thanks to McPhee’s brilliancy”.   He also won the Mile Handicap from scratch in 4 min 23.4.   He did however miss a particularly fine Mile race at the AAA’s where AG Hill and Hyla Stallard fought  out a hard race with Hill winning in a record time of  4:14.2 .    As winner of the SAAA titles, McPhee was selected for the international match in Belfast on 9th July in which Scotland was victorious, winning 6 events to England’s 3 and Ireland’s 2.   He duly won the Mile in 4:32.2.   He next ran the Mile in the West Kilbride Sports a week later which he won from scratch in 4:42.   His next outing was not so successful – at the Greenock Glenpark Harriers meeting where the entire event was held under a real downpour, he could only finish second in the Invitation 1000 yards.   In the Rangers Sports the following week, “McPhee romped home in the half-mile and again in the three-quarter-mile.   In the latter event he received 20 yards from AG Hill, the one mile champion of England, who did not seem to run to anything approaching the form he disclosed at Stamford Bridge last month.   In the finishing straight McPhee travelled faster than the Englishman and secured his second win of the day.”   Times were 1:59.8 and 3:09.   The Celtic FC Sports were held the following week and although there was an invitation mile handicap but there was no Duncan McPhee and the race was the poorer for it since there was no one to ‘pull out’ AG Hill.

It had been a good season for Hill and although there was no Olympic Games to target, he was clearly the best middle-distance runner in Scotland and one of the best in Britain.

Duncan McPhee, Olympic 3000m, Antwerp, 1920

1922 had its own problems for Scottish athletics.   We have all read of the great depression of the 20’s but little has been written of its effect on sport, especially as far as the Scottish situation is concerned.   There was a paragraph in the ‘Cricket and Athletics’ column of the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of 8th May of that year which should be taken into account as far as the season is concerned.

“The first open athletic meeting of the season will be that of St Mary’s AC on Saturday next, and from that date until the middle of August there will be amateur athletic gatherings every Saturday.   The list is, however, somewhat smaller than in previous years, and already several intended meetings have been abandoned.   The Vale of Leven Football Club did not take up their date as the industrial depression in the district is so widespread that a sports meeting would almost certainly incur serious loss to the promoters.”  

The sport was not immune from the political situation – there was a note in the ‘Clydebank Press’ a few years later, for instance which reported that a runner had had the good fortune to get a job but “unfortunately for us [the club] it is of the Saturday variety’ and he would not be available for racing.    This is the context in which McPhee was racing in 1922.

His season started on the first Saturday in June at the Queens Park FC Sports where he was in the Inter-City Mile Relay running the half-mile in a running order which did not start with the 880 runner.   Eric Liddell ran for Edinburgh on the 440 yards leg and the report is taken up there.  “He (Liddell) ran better in the inter-city race, which would have been won by Edinburgh, but for the fine half-mile by D McPhee, the champion of the distance.   On starting McPhee was some 15 yards behind CB Mein; at the finish he was two yards in front, the Edinburgh runner being harassed by the strong by the strong adverse wind in the straight.”    The following week at the joint West of Scotland Harriers and Glasgow Corporation Tramways meeting he again ran in the relay for the winning team but appeared nowhere else either in the prize list or in the comments elsewhere.   In the joint sports organised by Edinburgh Southern Harriers and Hibernian Football Club,  McPhee ran in the mile but was unplaced.   Thereafter it was the SAAA Championships at Powderhall on the 23rd June.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ commented that his running the previous week had given some cause for some anxiety but he had shown his accustomed judgment and won both half-mile and mile.   The former was timed at 2 min 2 sec from CB Mein, and the latter at 4 min 31 1-5th sec from CS Brown.   In both cases the runner-up was representing Edinburgh University and in both cases he won by two yards.

The SAAA’s was followed a week later by the AAA’s championships on 1st July at Stamford Bridge.   This time McPhee did travel to the big event.   “There was a great surprise in the Mile, the Glasgow runner, D McPhee, beating HB Stallard.   Without grudging the winner his success, it was a disappointment to everyone to see Stallard go down in such moderate time as 4 min 27 2-5th sec.  He cannot be nearly as good as he was a year ago, but apart from this he ran with bad judgment, hanging behind in a very slow second lap instead of going to the front and ensuring a good pace.   He trusted to a sustained effort in the last quarter of a mile, but he could not keep it up to the end, McPhee passing him in the straight and winning by three yards.”   McPhee now had English gold to add to the bronze won in the half mile in 1914.   Two weekends, three gold medals.

As ever McPhee had been chosen for the triangular international to be held at Hampden the week after the AAA’s championship.   The race was run at an even slower pace but Stallard had his revenge on a miserable day and in front of an 8000 crowd.   “ It may be assumed that no inconsiderable portion of the crowd were attracted chiefly by the meeting in the Mile race of D McPhee and HB Stallard.   The previous week, it will be recalled, McPhee beat Stallard in the Mile at Stamford Bridge, and some curiosity was felt regarding his ability to repeat the performance  at the International Meeting.   The Cambridge University man, however, refused to be beaten again.   In a field of only five – Ireland having only one representative – the occasion was provided for the best man to win and unquestionably Stallard was the best of the five on the day’s form.   McPhee first, and later CB Brown, made the pace, the Englishman lying immediately behind until 220 yards from home when he suddenly flashed past McPhee who was quite unable to accept the challenge.   In the last 220 yards Stallard had matters all his own way, finishing fully ten yards in front of the Scottish and English champion.   It was a magnificent sprint and earned the applause of the crowd, though it meant the defeat of their favourite.   Incidentally, the defeat deprives McPhee of the honour of being the only winner of any one event at all the international meetings.”

 The last remark refers to the fact that the triangular match had started in 1914 when McPhee won the Mile, a feat he  had repeated in 1920 and 1921.

His next outing was at the Greenock Glenpark Sports at Cappielow Park where he disappointed the spectators by not running in the half-mile, reserving himself for the invitation 1000 yards – where he retired 40 yards from the tape ‘when he realised that any further progress was impossible.’   The Rangers Sports at the start of August took place in the finest of weather before a crowd of 30,000.  What more could an athlete ask but it was another disappointing week-end for McPhee’s supporters.   He did not run in the handicap half-mile which would have meant two races (heat and final) but went instead in the invitation half-mile where he could only finish fifth.   He redeemed himself in the Mile which he won from scratch by four yards in 4 min 23 4-5th sec from McIntyre of Shettleston Harriers.   In the Celtic FC Sports seven days later he won the half-mile fairly comfortably in 1:58 which was faster than the native record but he had started from the six yards mark.   He also ran the open mile where he finished second to Copeland of Motherwell (off 120) and ahead of JG McIntyre of Shettleston (off 60) in 4:28.   McPhee was running at a time when there were several very good athletes around but one of the very best was Eric Liddell and the two often turned out for Scotland together in the triangular international: on this day at the Celtic Sports Liddell won the 120 yards scratch race in an astounding 12.2 on a track not known for being one of the fastest.

It had been a good season with the victory in the AAA’s over Stallard probably being the high point.

McPhee in 1920 in West of Scotland colours

1923 – McPhee’s last year at the top – started out on 4th June with a run in the Inter-City Relay at the Queen’s Park FC Sports.   Glasgow won and the comment was that “as long as Glasgow are able to call on the services of D McPhee they are likely to win.”   On 9th June in the relay for the prestigious Wyoming Cup, McPhee running the relay brought the club home first on the 880 yards stage, despite the fine running of a young opponent in George Malcolm from Edinburgh Southern, for their fourth consecutive victory.   The following Saturday saw a return of the Edinburgh Southern Harriers and Hibernian Football Club Sports at the football club’s ground.   McPhee ran in both mile (‘D McPhee ran a strong race but was unplaced.’) and half-mile (‘McPhee again ran strongly but was unable to take his full field.’) but with no material success.   In the SAAA Championships on 23rd June, McPhee won both half-mile and mile for the fourth consecutive year.   “McPHEE’S FINE RUNNING.   The one mile race was somewhat disappointing, only three men turning out to challenge the champion.   G Malcolm was his most formidable opponent, and for some time it looked as if McPhee’s title was in danger.   His finishing sprnt however was one of the features of the meeting, redeeming the race to some extent from the dullness caused by the poor field.   In the half-mile the champion was strongly challenged by C Brown but here again he showed, as he has often done before, that a challenge only serves to provide him with the speed necessary to shake it off.    Great things will be expected of McPhee at the international next month, as well as at the AAA’s championships.”    The half-mile was won by a yard in 2:01, and the mile by 30 yards in 4:34.6.

In the Glasgow Police Sports seven days later, McPhee ran disappointingly in the half-mile and did not turn out in the Mile “having left for Edinburgh” before the event started.   He then travelled to the AAA’s the following week but the report tells us that “It was hoped rather than expected that D McPhee would retain his title in the mile championship.   The Scotsman appears to have gone somewhat stale since the Scottish championships, and, moreover, the winner’s time was considerably faster than any he has ever done, and in fact equals the Scottish native record.”   Stallard won the race by 150 yards in 4:21.6 and ‘the Scotsman was never in the running’.   The triangular international was McPhee’s chance for revenge over Stallard  but it was not to be and Stallard made the score 3-1 in his favour when he won from McPhee in second place in 4:23.2.   At Glengarnock on 21st July, he ran in both half-mile and mile but without getting far enough through the field to feature on the prize list, it was the same story at  the Greenock Glenpark Harriers race at Cappielow the following week and the tale at Ibrox at the start of August was no happier.   “D McPhee’s running at no time made its usual appeal.   In the one and a half mile invitation handicap he decided to forgo his start of 16 yards, and along with CE Blewitt got off from the scratch mark.  Neither the West of Scotland man nor the Birchfield Harrier had a say in the finish.   McPhee dropped out from the race with little more than a quarter to go.   T Riddell of Glasgow High School almost provided a rich surprise here, but the reserve power behind the Maryhill man, WH Calderwood, was too much for this youthful runner.   In the mile handicap McPhee introduced more  spirit into his effort but at no time did he look like challenging the placed men.”   Not a good spell for McPhee but note the young Tom Riddell mentioned who would soon take over McPhee’s pre-eminence in the mile.  His name does not appear at the Celtic Sports the following week although Tom Riddell had another good run, finishing third in the open mile.

Into Olympic year and like every other athlete in the kingdom, McPhee must have been hoping for the team selection.   Unfortunately his name was not only missing from the results, but it was noted several times that ‘had Duncan McPhee been running …’   Came the SAAA National Championships on 14th June Duncan McPhee had to miss them because of injury ‘and had he done so the old brigade might have made a better appearance.’   Nor does he seem to have raced at all in season 1924 and to all intents and purposes, his athletics career had come to an end.

It had been a marvellous career with nine Scottish championships, one AAA’s championship, three wins in the International Mile and selection for the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp.  The only honour missing was the lack of a Scottish record at either 880 yards or One Mile – although he did set records at 1000 yards (2:16.0 in 1920) and three-quarters of a mile (3:12.2 in 1921).   The SAT website at www.scotstats.net also refers to his 1920 3000m time of 8:59.1 as an inaugural Scottish record which would give him another record.  Bearing in mind that military service took him out of competition from 1915 to 1919  between the ages of 23 and 26 inclusive it has to be believed that he could have done and won so much more.

1923 International: McIntyre Number 28, on right, winner Blewitt is number 1 with

Belgian van der Broele in front was third, and the Frenchman Huest, No 50, was fourth

Photo from Alex Wilson

All through the history of athletics there are runners who have wonderful careers that just suddenly stop.   Sometimes it is because of the demands of their career, sometimes because of  injury or illness and many of course had their careers in the sport terminated by the start of one of the two great wars.   James G McIntyre seemed to have had such a career – between 1921 and 1924 he won three 10 miles championships, had three wins and one second in the 4 miles championship, ran in two international cross-country championships in one of which he only lost first place in the last few strides and of course he ran many very good races at home.   But as far as athletics historians were concerned, his career just stopped at the end of the 1924 track season.  Right when he should have been at his peak.   The question of why he stopped intrigued me.   Then after this profile was published, his son made contact and filled in several of the gaps and provided more photographs.

Special Prize Gold Medal awarded to McIntyre in 1919

JG McIntyre  began his athletic career with the newly formed Dumbarton AAC, founded immediately after the 1914 – 18 War, and the first time he was mentioned in Colin Shields’s excellent “Whatever The Weather” is after the 1921 Clydesdale Harriers Open Cross-Country race at Rouken Glen Park.   This race is notable for the fact that 200 runners had to turn up to run the race twice after a farmer lifted the paper marking the trail and many of the competitors  went off course, but it was won the second time round by JG McIntyre “then running for the newly formed Dumbarton AAC”    Shields then goes on to point out that “his success in this and other events caused Shettleston Harriers to sign him to strengthen their team.”   

Three of the trophies won by McIntyre in 1919

The summer of 1921 saw James McIntyre win the first of his three consecutive SAAA Four Miles titles when at Celtic Park on 25th June he defeated FC Watt to win in 20:59.   The ‘Glasgow Herald described the victory – “The second surprise of the day was the victory of James McIntyre in the Four Miles, or to put it another way, the non-success of several more fancied men –  WB Ross, John Cuthbert, the ten miles champion, and JH Motion, the cross-country champion, for example.   McIntyre set a fast pace, and doubtless the sweltering conditions were responsible for the numerous retirements, as was the case in the ten miles two months ago.”   Earlier in the season, on 4th June at Queen’s Park FC Sports, he had won the Mile in Dumbarton colours in 4 min 27 4-5th seconds from a mark of 60 yards by 20 yards from Russell of Paisley.  The week before the SAAA win at Celtic Park, he won the Two miles race from Jimmy Wilson on the line – fantastic form to take into the Championships.   His first appearance in the results columns after the SAAA Championship was on 30th July when he was placed third in the  Open Two Miles race on a rainy afternoon at the Greenock Glenpark Harriers meeting at Cappielow Park off a mark of 35 yards.   The longest race at Ibrox in the Rangers Sports the following Saturday was the Three Quarter Mile which was probably a bit short for him.   More likely he was resting up because in the Celtic Sports the following week  he not only ran in the Invitation Mile but actually won it by eight yards from a mark of 60 yards from no less a personality than A Hill (Polytechnic Harriers), scratch man, in 4 min 25 sec.   The Celtic meeting was the end of the summer and the ‘Glasgow Herald’ listed all the meetin gs that year that had been cancelled due to the ‘industrial strife’.   These included Kilmarnock Harriers, Vale of Leven FC, the Dumbarton AAC v Bellahouston Harriers at Dumbarton, Dumbarton Harp FC Sports and the St Vincent meeting at Celtic Park.   ‘The blighting effect of industrial unrest’ on the sport was blamed for these and other meetings not going ahead.   The programme below has him listed as ‘James McIntyre’ – apparently the ‘G’ was added to differentiate him from another talented runner from Garscube Harriers also called James McIntyre: they both ran in the same Scottish team in the internationals of 1923 in Maison-Lafitte, near Paris, and 1924 in Gosforth Park, Newcastle.

1921 SAAA Programme

The unrest continued into the next summer season but McIntyre’s membership of Dumbarton did not – when he won his first SAAA 10 Miles Championship on 22nd April 1922, it was in the colours of Shettleston Harriers.   “Held at Celtic Park on Saturday, by the favour of the directors of Celtic FC, distinction was lent to the the first of the season’s SAAA athletic championships by a record entry of 30 drawn from all parts of the country and including the cream of the devotees of cross-country running.   Of the entrants only J Strain (Shettleston Harriers),  T Hamilton (Bothwell Harriers), and H McLeod (Paisley YMCA) failed to answer to their names , and the runners had perforce to be drawn up in two rows.   When the pistol was fired AB Lawrie (Garscube Harriers) at once dashed to the front but was soon displaced by JG McIntyre (Shettleston Harriers), the Scottish Four Miles Champion, who set  such a fast pace that he was soon in possession of a clear advantage with JG Scott (West of Scotland Harriers) as his nearest attendant.    The veteran A Craig (Bellahouston Harriers) from whom much was expected was soon tailed off, and after his retirement at one mile, it transpired that he was far from well.   J Cuthbert (Garscube Harriers), who won last year, cracked before going two miles, and left the track in the eleventh lap.   Meantime McIntyre had been advancing from strength to strength and he had the issue in safe keeping thus early.   DM Wright (Clydesdale Harriers) forged into second place in the third circuit, closely followed by P Martin (Maryhill Harriers), and their positions were never disturbed.   In the end McIntyre who put in a strong finish beat Wright by 250 yards with Martin third 150 yards behind the last named, being the only other competitor to gain a standard medal for beating 57 minutes.   The winner’s time was 54 min 59 secs, Wright’s 55 min 55 1-5th sec and Martin’s 56 min 21 3-5th secs.   The others to complete the course were:- D Farmer (Clydesdale Harriers)  58:02; AB Lawrie (Garscube Harriers) 58:30; B Dawson (Greenock Glenpark Harriers) 58:34.8; JG Scott (West of Scotland Harriers) 59:52.8; J Spence (Falkirk Victoria Harriers) 60:23.6; J Stronach (Grange Harriers) 63:01.   

The winner’s mile times were as follows:- One Mile: 4 mins 56 sec; Two Miles: 10:19; Three Miles: 15:41.4; Four Miles: 21:10.6;  Five Miles: 26:45; Six Miles: 32:21; Seven Miles: 38:00.8; Eight Miles: 43:41.2; Nine Miles: 49:23.2; Ten Miles: 54:59. “

 He followed this up with a win from Dunky Wright (Clydesdale Harriers) in the 10 Miles Marathon at St Mary’s Charity Sports at Barrhead on May 15th for which no time was given.   (It’s maybe of interest to note that third place was won by P Martin of Maryhill Harriers – Dunky in the course of his career represented all three clubs (Shettleston, Clydesdale and Maryhill) at one time or another).   He did not appear in any other prize list – not even at the favoured Queen’s Park or Glasgow Police meetings – until the SAAA Championships at Powderhall on 24th June where he won the Four Miles from FC Watt in 20 minutes 0 4-5th seconds.   This gained him selection for the Triangular International against England and Wales at Hampden on 8th July.   Unfortunately he was suffering from a leg injury on the day and had to retire at three miles.   In the Rangers Sports on the first Saturday in August, McIntyre was second in the Open Mile, four yards behind Duncan McPhee.

McIntyre’s best two cross-country seasons were to be 1922-3, and 1923-4.   In the first of these he started the winter with first place in the Clydesdale Harriers Open Cross-Country race at Rouken Glen with the team finishing second to Garscube and followed this with a team victory at Maryhill.   In January 1923, he was third in the West District Championships and then it was in to the National at Bothwell Castle where he was second to Dunky Wright.   Twenty teams were forward for the race – 15 from the West and 5 from the East, to cover  a three lap course.   McIntyre was about 100 yards behind Clydesdale’s Wright and his efforts not only gained him selection for the international to be held at Maison-Lafitte near Paris, but also the National Junior title.   The international that year was possibly the best race that he ever ran.  The ‘Glasgow Herald’ report however ran to all of 14 lines. The winner of the race was CE Blewitt, the English champion who was ‘always up with the leading bunch’  and ‘sprinting he managed to beat McIntyre in the last 50 yards’      Among the other Scots to finish, W Nelson (WoS) was 23rd, Dunky Wright was 24th,  AB Lawrie (Garscube) was 30th, J McIntyre (Garscube) was 32nd.   It had been a very good winter’s work.

McIntyre with English champion Blewitt

In 1922 he had won the SAAA Four Miles and Ten Miles double, could he do it again and make it three Four Miles titles in succession?   The international had been on the last Saturday in March and the Ten Miles was held at Hampden Park on the 21st April – almost exactly a month later.   “Among the 18 competitors for the 10 Miles flat event appeared JG McIntyre (Shettleston Harriers) the holder of the title.   At half distance the field was reduced to 12 runners, but all the interest was centred on McIntyre and P Martin (Maryhill Harriers), who held a commanding lead and in a spirited finish McIntyre retained the honour, beating Martin in the final sprint to the tape.   The time recorded for the champion was 56 min 48 sec and Martin was the only other competitor to finish within the standard time of 57 min.”   And that’s the report in its entirety.   Nevertheless – 2 runs in the event, 2 wins.   The Four Miles was to come up on 23rd June at Celtic Park, but there were races to be run before then.   On 12th May, McIntyre was out at the St Peter’s AAC Sports at Celtic Park where he was second in the Open Mile where he was running from 30 yards, being defeated by Duncan McLean the Greenock policeman, running for Wellpark Harriers, off 75 yards who won in a time of 4 minutes 38 seconds.   On 26th May, he ran in the Shettleston Harriers Open Sports Two Miles race where, ‘he was not concerned in the finish’ as the report had it.   This was the meeting where schoolboy T Riddell made his appearance in the half mile and coming through 440 in 57 seconds, finishing in 2:04.4: taking this in conjunction with his running over a Mile the previous week, the reporter reckoned he was ‘a potential champion.’   The Queens Park Sports were always on the first Saturday in June, this was no exception and McIntyre was in action again.   McIntyre and Shettleston won the Two Miles Inter-Harriers clubs individual and team race.   His time was 9 minutes 33 4-5th seconds but he did not win without a battle against WGS Moor of Edinburgh University who ‘in the dash at the finish, could not live with the champion who won by 50 yards.’   Then all was quiet until the SAAA meeting where McIntyre duly won the Four Miles to make it three-in-a-row winning a grand race from WD Patterson of Edinburgh Southern and WH Calderwood of Maryhill in 20:55.4.    There was virtually no report on the race although there was a comment that it was his best championship win.   Again he was selected for the International to be held on July 14th at Stoke FC ground.   Unfortunately he did not figure in the results which only extended to the first three runners and no reason was give.  A pity because Scotland won the competition largely because of three victories by Eric Liddell.

Two weeks later he turned out in the Greenock Glenpark Sports in the Three Miles race where he ran from the scratch mark and was accordingly run out of the first three – he was giving the winner, Dunky Wright 88 yards, and the second placed W Nelson 150 yards – he could not give his two fellow internationalists such distances at that point when they were both featuring in the prize lists most weeks.   Missing the Rangers Sports the following week he turned out in the Celtic Sports on the second Saturday in August and was in a ferocious race over two miles in front of an 18,000 crowd.   The report read: “The most thrilling event was the two miles invitation,the finish of which will live in the memory of all present as the most thrilling of the season.   JG McIntyre, CE Blewitt and CH Johnston virtually hurled themselves at the tape almost simultaneously, the judges placing these runners in the order named.”    The result was 1.   JG McIntyre (Shettleston)  60 yards;   2.   CE Blewitt (Birchfield H) scratch;  3.   CH Johnston (Glasgow University) 60 yards.   Time 9 mins 35.4.   Blewitt was of course the English champion and the man who had just out-sprinted McIntyre in the International in France in March so it must have been rewarding for him to gain that particular scalp.

That was where McIntyre ended the summer season of 1923 and it was on to the cross-country for winter 1923-4.   Dunky Wright moved from Clydesdale Harriers that same winter and immediately became the top man in the club.   McIntyre ran less than the previous winter, missing even the District championship,  but turned out in the National where Dunky Wright won and McIntyre was second Shettleston runner home in sixth place which again earned him selection for the International, to be held that year at Newcastle.   He was second scoring runner for his country in the international as he had been for his club in the national – finishing position 17th.

The Ten Miles was back at Celtic Park on 19th April, 1924, and McIntyre won his third successive championship – this time in 54:57.8.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ report read: “Of the 20 entrants for this race there were 16 starters.   The four absentees were J McIntyre (Garscube), HFC Watt (West of Scotland), D Henderson (Edinburgh H) and JB Storrar (Edinburgh Southern Harriers).   Right away the holder of the title took the lead, which he retained, with WH Calderwood at his elbow for 6.5 miles.   At this point D McL Wright, the cross-country champion, who had been having a bad time, made a fine recovery and took the lead.   Thereafter ensued a great duel between Wright and McIntyre for Calderwood tailed off,    Just as the leaders were completing the ninth mile, McIntyre stumbled and fell heavily.   Wright who was running alongside at the time stopped and assisted the champion to his feet.   This fine sporting action, which was loudly cheered, possibly cost Wright the championship, for in the final straight McIntyre’s superior finishing powers carried him home by about 20 yards.  

The intermediate times were:  One Mile: 4 mins 59 3-5th sec;   Two Miles: 10 min 21 sec;   Three Miles: 15  mins 46 3-5th secs;   Four Miles: 21 mins 14 2-5th secs;   Five Miles: 26 min 50 sec;   Six Miles: 32 min 30 4-5th secs;  Seven Miles: 38 min 15 secs;   Eight Miles: 43 min 50 sec;   Nine Miles: 49 mins 29 4-5th sec;  Ten Miles: 54 mins 57 4-5th sec.

Results: 1.   J McIntyre (Shettleston Harriers);   2.   D Wright (Shettleston Harriers);   3.   WH Calderwood (Maryhill Harriers).   Won by 20 yards, fully 100 yards between second and third.   The standard time was 57 minutes and J Gardner (Edinburgh Harriers) and D Quinn (Garscube Harriers) qualified for standard medals.   The form showed was above the average, for the conditions were against fast times.   A feature was the number of competitors who completed the distance.”

McIntyre did not appear too often in the results and the press report on the Civil Service Championships at the end of May commented on his absence making the race a comfortable one for J Gardner of ESH who won the Mile in 4:49, and although the Shettleston Harriers Sports were held the following week, he did not appear in the results there either.   He did appear on 7th June however in the Two Miles team race at the Queen’s Park Sports and won by three yards in 9 minutes 57 seconds.   The SAAA Championships were held on 14th June at Hampden Park and after three wins in the Four Miles, the best that he could do was finish second to CH Johnston (Edinburgh University) who won in 20 min 32 1-5th secs.   This was the last race for which JG McIntyre was noted in the published results – not the Greenock Glenpark Sports, not the Rangers Sports nor in any other meeting that summer.

With Trophies and Trainer

Where had  he gone?   The Shettleston Harriers history rather churlishly surmises –

“The club would be without one of its key runners for the 1924-5 season.   James McIntyre had decided that his talents merited more than the regular medal, shield or canteen of cutlery.   As ‘The News’ put it, “he has forsaken the amateur for the professional track.”    The professionals regarded him as a ‘decided acquisition’ but he had a very short career.   After a few successes in minor events, he retired from athletics.   His best recorded performance at a pro event was 9:37 from scratch position in a two mile race at Powderhall in October 1924.”

That was not quite how the rest of the Scottish athletics saw his move from the amateur ranks.   Page 200 of “Powderhall and Pedestrianism” says that he turned pro in a fit of pique after the decision went against him in that last SAAA Four Miles Championship.   Apparently the race ended in a near dead-heat between himself and Johnston with both men being given the same time of 20:32.5.   Alex Wilson, an authority on the period, checked this out with ‘The Scotsman’, and it says that Johnston was given the nod, all judges being in agreement on the matter.   McIntyre was not satisfied with this and left the amateur ranks while Johnston was later selected to run in the Paris Olympics where he ran in the 5000m.    This is borne out in comments by his son, James, who says:

“My sister was born at the end of 1923, so he held both four and ten titles during her first year and was no doubt looking forward to holding on to them as the selection for the 1924 olympics in Paris would rest on them and other results.    The race is well documented in the newspapers of the day and ended in a tight finish which my dad always insisted he had won although the verdict of the judges eventually went against him after several had changed their minds.   My father always insisted that there was no winning tape put across. (This would be important to him for I have seen a photo of another dead heat finish between him, English champion Blewitt and a French champion.   On that occasion the verdict went in favour of my father because in the photo he was holding the tape).   Following the race and the uproar that followed, there were several conflicting newspaper reports.    Some said that, because of the dispute neither would by considered for the Olympics but, by the Monday evening papers, it was declared that BOTH would be in the frame.    He never went to Paris and, in the end, turned his back on the sport. It must be remembered that his rival was a university student who would have had a leisurely approach to the big day while my father was a working postman (the press called him the running Cardross postman) who had been up at four am and done a full day’s work prior to the race.   So what made him go?   Class differences….new born first child….grievance at verdict on his most important race…lure of big money? Who knows?”

So there you have it: he turned pro at the very top of his game.   He was not mentioned in the ‘Fifty Years of Athletics’ published in 1933 other than as winner of the six championships; there was no mention of him in the text.   For the SAAA, the amateur code was sacrosanct, to turn pro was to be cast into the outer darkness.   From his point of view, he may have been promised something to make the burning of his boats worth while, or he had not done his homework since it was clear that no one save for a few heavies could make a living from the sport.   It may be of course that any money earned in the dark days of the Twenties Depression was essential.   We know nothing about his personal circumstances at the time and it would be wrong to judge his action.   We must surely regret the loss of this talent from the sport.

His son James tells us that  “His professional career was brief but not without its triumphs.   He is still the only runner ever to win a distance race from a scratch position in the history of Powderhall.   And he once won a prize money of £75 during the depression him mid 1920s.   The runner up only got a couple on quid.   I believe he used his share of the money, after expenses, to buy a home for his parents.”

Wounded near the end of WW1

He goes on to tell us that “I believe his greatest ever day came about five years earlier in 1919 while he was still serving in Germany in the Machine Gun Corps.  On that one day towards the end of the year he won three…and probably four…events.   I have the silver cups he won at the half mile, the mile and the cross country all on the same day at the MGC sports.   There was also a silver rose bowl which went elsewhere in the family and, on my sister’s death in 2013 her daughter produced a solid gold medallion engraved “BAAA special prize December 27, 1919” which may refer collectively to that day’s achievements.”

His father, despite having left the amateur ranks behind, never really lost the friends and contacts made – I find it inconceivable on a personal level that that could happen.   But in McIntyre’s case, he retained many friend ships, most notably with Eric Liddell and his son remembers Liddell visiting the family home on one of his last home leaves from China.   He also recalls sitting with his Dad and McDonald Bailey at the top table at a Highland Games dinner.  The athletics friendships remained.

James McIntyre married twice and both his wives died in their early forties.    He continued to work for the post office and, having started out at a telegram boy he ended up as Chief Postal Inspector of the county of Dunbartonshire.    He died in 1970, aged 73, leaving a son and a daughter and four grand-children.