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Frank Stevenson following Suttie Smith in the 10 miles championship of 1930

Frank Stevenson was one of the best runners in the country in the late 1920’s and early 1930s and he went on competing for his club (Monkland Harriers) when he was well past his best right up to the start of the Second World War.   The Coatbridge club was comparatively strong at the time with Intenational vests being won by to more of his colleagues at the time.   He was good on the track with gold, silver and bronze medals in the SAAA Championships defeating such good runners as J Suttie Smith, Dunky Wright and many others; he won silver and bronze in the Scottish Cross-Country Championships and even led the Scottish team home in the International Championships in 1927; and although it probably came too late for him, he ran in three Edinburgh to Glasgow Relays turning in the fastest time on his stage in 1930 and having two third fastest runs.    Nor did he just hang up his spikes when he had, as Emmet Farrell said in a different context, ‘shed his silk’ – he ran right up to 1939 in the national finishing twice in the 40’s and twice in the 60’s.    He sounds like a ‘runner’s runner’ to me!

He first appears in the prize lists on 18th April, 1925 when at Celtic Park he was third in the SAAA Ten Miles championship behind Dunky Wright and John Mitchell.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ reported as follows: “The 10 Miles championship was an interesting race.   Twenty two out of an entry of twenty nine faced the starter.   Soon it was observed that the race would resolve itself into a tussle between D McL Wright (Shettleston), James Mitchell (Mauchline) and F Stevenson (Monkland), a comparatively new recruit to distance running.   Wright and Mitchell eventually got clear of the field and despite repeated efforts on the part of Wright to shake off Mitchell, the latter refused to be dropped  on the way.   At the bell, Wright piled on the pace and still Mitchell clung on.   Coming into the straight the latter was unable to withstand the final burst and Wright ran home a winner by nearly 10 yards in the time of 54 mins 2 3-5th secs.    F Stevenson (Monkland), W Plant (Monkland), A Pettigrew (Greenock Glenpark), ME Anderson (Shettleston), W Stewart (Paisley Harriers) and D Mussell (Aberdeen University) succeeded in getting inside standard time.”    This bronze was the first of seven consecutive medals that he would win in the event.

On 6th Match 1926 he ran in the National Championships where he finished third and Colin Shields describes the race: “After a long absence the 1926 National championship returned to Hamilton Park Racecourse where a flooding River Clyde prevented the use of the grassland between the river and Hamilton Palace with the result that the race distance did not exceed 9 miles.   The rapidly improving James Micthell, now running for Kilmarnock H, had just finished 10 yards behind Dunky Wright in the previous summer’s 10 miles track race, quickly went into the lead.   At half distance Mitchell had Wright (Caledonia AC) on his heels, with Frank Stevenson (Monkland) and WH Calderwood (Maryhill) a fair distance behind.   Over the final two miles, Mitchell powered clear from the defending champion  to win from right by 14 seconds, with Stevenson winning the Junior title in third position. ”   The run gained Stevenson his first international cap with the race being run in Brussels and he was 16th finisher and the team was third.  

In 1926 the Ten Miles track championship was again held at Celtic Park and this time he gained another bronze medal, this time behind Dunky Wright and D Quinn.   “At the start champion D McL Wright was content to maintain a forward position without actually assuming the lead.   For the first three miles F Stevenson made the pace, but when another half-mile had been covered, Wright forged ahead and thereafter the issue was never in doubt.  At the tape the margin in favour of the title holder was but a few yards short of a quarter of a mile.   Wright’s time last year was quicker by some 16 seconds but on that occasion he was chased all the way by James Mitchell, Kilmarnock Harriers, whereas on Saturday he did not have to exert himself unduly.   Mitchell who last month deprived Wright of his Scottish cross-country title, was an absentee owing to a foot injury sustained after the international in Brussels three weeks ago.    Result:   1.   D Wright   54:25; 2.   D Quinn, Garscube Harriers,   55:48.6; 3.   F Stevenson, Monkland Harriers,   56:13.4′  4.   J S Smith, Dundee Thistle Harriers,  56:43.2.   The foregoing were the only competitors to complete the distance within the standard time of 57 minutes”.   On 26th June he had a good run in the SAAA Four Miles where he finished behind WH Calderwood but turned the tables on Dunky Wright who was third.   Wright had run in he AAA marathon just two weeks before had probably not helped his cause.

In the 1927 National held  at Redford Barracks in Edinburgh on 6th March, he was second.   “Three times National Champion Wright led from 6 miles followed by Frank Stevenson and West District champion CH Johnston.   On the final lap he opened up a 50 yard gap over Stevenson to win in 60 minutes 23 seconds – the slow time reflecting the heavy going over the tough country which slowed him to one of the slowest winning times over 10 miles since the race was inaugurated,  ”    was how Shields reported on the event.    He goes on to report on the international race “The International Championship was held at Caerleon Racecourse in Newport and, as so often was the case at this Welsh venue, the weather was appalling.   Frank Stevenson had the best run of his career when finishing fourth, just beaten by two seconds in the finishing sprint for third place with H Gallet (France).    With the rest of the Scottish team performing without merit Scotland took third place behind France and England in the five nation competition.” Stevenson’s  team mate WC Plant (fourth in the 1925 SAAA 10 miles championship) was also selected for the Scottish team and finished forty second.

Later that year, on 16th April at Celtic Park, he turned out in the SAAA 10 Miles and defeated two really outstanding runners at whose hands he suffered many defeats –  Suttie Smith and Dunky Wright.  The ‘Glasgow Herald’  report read as follows.   “Duncan Wright, Maryhill Harriers, last year’s 10mile champion had to country strong opposition from which CH Johnstone, Glasgow University, was a notable absentee.   At the end of the first mile, A Mitchell, Maryhill Harriers, led the field, Wright being second in 4 min 58.2-5th sec.   From this point until being dispossessed of the lead in the final mile, Wright fulfilled the duties of pacemaker.   The order practically throughout was Wright, F Stevenson (Monkland Harriers) and J Suttie Smith (Dundee Thistle Harriers), all being in close succession, with A Pettigrew (Glenpark Harriers) temporarily on the lead in the third mile.   Except those mentioned none of the eighteen starters at any stage appeared likely to disturb the leaders and with Pettigrew also dropping back in the sixth mile, the race resolved itself into a contest with Wright, Stevenson and Suttie Smith.   The last named headed Wright at nine and a half miles but had in turn to give way to Stevenson whose sustained effort over the last 600 yards carried him to the tape some 20 yards ahead of the Dundee runner with Wright 35 yards behind Smith.  

Result:   1.   F Stevenson (Monkland Harriers) 53 min 31.1 sec;   2.   J Suttie Smith (Dundee Thistle Harriers)  53 min 35 sec;   3.   D Wright  (Maryhill Harriers)   53 min 43 sec;  4.   A Pettigrew (Greenock Glenpark Harriers) 55 min 33 2-5th sec; 5.   W Stewart (Paisley Harriers)  56 min 41 3-5th sec.   These all qualified for standard medals.”   

In the SAAA Championships at Hampden on 25th June Suttie Smith regained the initiative when he won the Four Miles Championships.   “Smith ran a well-judged race.  He allowed Stevenson to make the pace and still had sufficient speed left in reserve to win with something in hand.”   

In the National in March 1928 he was again second.   Coln Shields chronicled the event as follows.  “Excellent weather with good, fast underfoot conditions welcomed 220 runners from 20 clubs to the National Championships at Hamilton Racecourse.   There were two one and a half mile laps round the button-hook race track and two large 3 mile laps sweeping out into the country at Low Park by the River Clyde.   The leading group of runners were together until the 6 mile point when Suttie Smith and Frank Stevenson, running together, opened up a 50 yard gap from WH Calderwood (Maryhill).   Over the final 3 mile lap, the Dundonian raced away to establish a winning 120 yard gap over Stevenson with Calderwood a similar distance behind in third position.”   His second second place in the National had him safely intto the International team for the match to be held that year in Ayr.    Stevenson was fourteenth.

 Into summer 1928 and in the Ten Miles at Celtic Park on , he split Suttie Smith (1st) and Dunky Wright (3rd) to take the silver medal.   It was a similar result at Craiglockhart in Edinburgh in the Four Miles when he was second to Suttie Smith with JF Wood behind him in third.   “Suttie Smith in the Four Miles had to extend himself to shake off his great rival, FL Stevenson who despite the fact that the Dundonian had beaten him every time they have met this season, always comes back pluckily to make a fight of it.   Smith’s time of 20 min 24 2-5th sec has been equalled only twice in the history of the championships.”

The 1929 national was held at Hamilton over a course with difficult underfoot conditions – a slight thaw the previous night making footing difficult.   Stevenson was only one of several who had to drop out following a heavy fall.    He was nonetheless selected for the International to be held in Paris where there were ten countries competing.   Stevenson finished in twenty first place to be a scoring runner for the team which was fifth.

On the 20th April 1929, the Ten Miles was held at Hampden Park and he was again second to Suttie Smith, who had had an unusual off day at the international, with H McDonald third.   It was some race and the ‘Herald’ was quite excited about it!   “SUTTIE SMITH’S NARROW WIN FROM STEVENSON.”   was the headline and the article read “At Hampden Park on Saturday an exciting race between J Suttie Smith, Dundee and F Stevenson,  Monkland, for the ten miles championship of Scotland resulted in four Scottish records being broken.   In winning the race Smith broke the record for the distance.   Over seven miles he created a new record and Stevenson set up new records over eight miles and nine miles.  For the ten miles Smith was 26 3-5th seconds inside the record established at Celtic Park in 1920 by James Wilson of Glenpark Harriers.    The detailed report followed  “once the field had settled down, it was seen that a repetition of last year’s duel between  J Suttie Smith (holder) and F Stevenson (winner in 1927).   These two great rivals were of a class apart, and soon there was a wide gap between them and the rest of the field.   Smith was invariably in the lead but Stevenson was always in close touch with the champion and kept him from taking things easy had he been so inclined.   Thus the miles were reeled off until at half-distance it was obvious that there was a prospect of  some records being broken.   Smith’s time at six miles was only a couple of seconds slower than the record, but when another mile had been covered it was found that the old figures had received a bit of a shake-up.   The further they went the better the time returned, new figures being set for 8, 9 and 10 miles, the time for the full journey being almost half a minute inside the old record.   A better race has not been seen in Glasgow for a long time, for not only was the issue in doubt right to the end, but the form of the two leaders that they are just about the best pair of ten milers Scotland has produced.  

While Stevenson failed to regain the title – there was little more than ten yards in it at the tape – his was nevertheless a glorious failure, for besides placing the Scottish records for his credit, he also had the satisfaction of knowing that his time for the full distance, even if 3 1-5th seconds slower than Smith is considerably faster than anything recorded in the past.   The old and new figures follow (old figures bracketed).  

7 Miles: J  Smith 36 min 01 sec (36 min 7 3-5th sec);   8 Miles :  F Stevenson  41 min 17 sec (41 min 29 3-5th sec); 9 Miles: F Stevenson  46 min 30 sec (46 min 48 3-5th sec); 10 Miles: JS Smith 51 min 37 4-5th sec (52min 04 3-5th sec).     The old records stood to the credit of James Wilson, Greenock Glenpark Harriers,  and were set at Celtic Park nine years ago.”     The rivals met up again  in the Scottish Championships in June in the SAAA Four Miles at Hampden.   The ‘Herald’ had little to say of the race only that it surprised them that Suttie Smith had eighteen rivals in the four miles.   He won comfortably in 20:25.4 from Stevenson and JF ‘Ginger’ Wood.    –

In the 1930 National cross-country championship, he was third – not a bad record – two seconds, two thirds and a dnf (injured) in five years.   This time Suttie Smith won by 150 yards from Robert Sutherland with Stevenson a further 150 yards down.   The International at Royal Leamington Spa was run in front of a huge crowd of 30,000 spectators.   Stevenson was twenty second in this race which was notable for the tough finish in which Robert Sutherland was second to Evenson of England (look at the picture in Sutherland’s profile on this website).

 There are many rivalries in sport where an excellent athlete continually finishes second to the same victor time after time with very few exceptions – Mimoun behind Zatopek, Lincoln behind Elliot are two that spring immediately to mind – and Frank Stevenson certainly finished second to Suttie Smith very often.   It was no different in the Ten Miles of 1930 at Hampden Park when he was behind the great man once again after a race in which he actually led Smith by over 50 yards.  “Twenty six of the twenty eight entrants faced the starter and 16 of them finished the course.   Suttie Smith, the holder jumped into the lead right away and, with FL Stevenson at his heels, rapidly drew away from the field.   The pair ran together until five and a quarter miles when Smith had some trouble with one of his shoes.   Ere he had this adjusted Stevenson had gained a lead of 60 yards, but before the seven miles ark had been passed, Smith was in front again.   The pair ran together until the ninth mile when Smith began to draw away from his rival, and eventually broke the tape 60 yards ahead.   Stevenson put up a plucky fight but was beaten for pace in the final half-mile.   It had been pointed out earlier in the report that a strong wind was blowing from one end of the field to the other and that during the ten miles there was a heavy shower of hailstones.   The times were irrelevant and the race was all.   For the record, Suttis Smith ran 53:17 and it should be noted that JF Wood and RR Sutherland both failed to finish.       In the Four Miles at Hampden on 28th June, there was no Suttie Smith in the field and after a hard race, Robert R Sutherland won from ‘Ginger’ Wood with Frank Stevenson third.   The Edinburgh to Glasgow eight man relay was first run in 1930 and Stevenson ran on the eighth stage into the finish in Glasgow – he set the fastest time of the day and it was a record that would last for many years.

In 1931, he did not run in the National, and there were to be no more international appearances for him – his run of five consecutive appearances ended in 1930.    He had more medals to win on the track however and in the Ten Miles at Hamden on 18th April he was third behind JF Wood and DT Muir.  His time of 55 minutes 04 seconds was almost a minute behind the winner. In the Edinburgh to Glasgow that year he was ‘promoted’ to the long sixth stage where he held on to sixth position with the third fastest time of the afternoon.

Finishing twenty ninth in the National, he was not even in the running for the international but his club mate P Peattie was fourth and was called into the Scottish team to be the third from Monkland Harriers in the team in four years.   In the Edinburgh to Glasgow later that year he was equal third fastest time on the eighth stage to start a winter that would lead to him finishing fortieth in the National in 1933.   Edinburgh to Glasgow details for the years 1933, ’34, ’35 are not available for Monkland Harriers although they were in the race in each of these years,  and they were not included in the event between 1936 and ’19 inclusive.

He went on running in the National and finished  twenty ninth in 1934, twenty fourth in 1935, sixty fourth in 196 when the Monkland team was seventeenth, forty sixth in 1937 running as an individual and sixty fifth in 1938 when his team was eleventh.

Frank Stevenson clearly loved his sport turning out year after year, on all surfaces, always with the same club, regardless of its fortunes, and was the kind of runner who garners respect from athletes of all generations.   He raced against the very top men of his generation and more than held his own.

Robert Sutherland

Robert R Sutherland of Garscube Harriers and Birchfield Harriers was probably the best unknown runner that Scotland has ever had.   Seven cross-country international appearances (first Scot to finish three times), two silver medals in the ICCU International, three silvers in the Scottish cross-country championships,  14 Army Championships, 5 inter-services championships, twice third in the English Cross-Country championships, three times fifth in the same championships, and as a member of Birchfield Harriers led them to the team championship seven times in eight years.    And he is not known at all in Scottish cross-country circles.    His problem?    He was running at the same time as Suttie Smith and Jim Flockhart.    In summary, his cross-country feats included twice second in the International Championships where he was first Scot to finish three times and seven appearances in ten years in the International team.   On the track he he won the Scottish four miles title twice being the only man ever to get under 20 minutes for the championship and third in the AAA’s championship, as well as winning the national steeplechase championship.

Sutherland on the right in the black jersey

Sutherland first came to prominence in the National Cross-Country Championship of 1928 where, finishing fourth, he won the National Junior title.   Colin Shields says, Lance-Corporal Robert R Sutherland of the Scots Dragoon Guards, running as an individual for Garscube Harriers, finished fourth and gained the National Junior title.   Sutherland, a Govan man, had own the British Army 10 mile cross-country championship just seven days earlier and was to run in the English National a week later for Birchfield Harriers with whom he was to win many English team honours.”   In the international itself he finished eighteenth and third Scot behind Suttie Smith (second) and Frank Stevenson of Monkland Harriers (fourteenth).

Sutherland missed the championships of 1929 and most of his running career came during the 1930’s and in the introduction to this period, Shields remarks: “The Thirties was by far the most successful period in international competition.   In the 27 years since the inception of the international championships in 1903, Scotland had won just five medals, together with placing runners-up in the team championship on just four occasions, all before the First World War when no more than five countries took part in the championshi

The Thirties were completely different with six medals gained –  one gold from James Flockhart (1937), three silvers from Robert Sutherland (1930, 1933) and WC Wylie (1935) and two bronze medals from J Suttie Smith (1933) and Alex Dow (1936).”   He goes on to mention that one of the two memorable high-spots was in 1933 when Sutherland and Suttie Smith finished second and third behind England’s Jack Holden.

The ‘Glasgow Herald’ described the 1930 Championship as follows: “The competitors were set to cover a course of fully nine miles in four laps, the first of one and a half miles, the other three of fully two and a half miles each.   When the first lap had been covered in 8 min 06 sec, the field was led by a group of a dozen of the strongest candidates, including of course J Suttie Smith and Frank Stevenson.   The next time round (time 24 min 51 2-5th sec), Smith and Stevenson were running together with Sergeant Sutherland 10 yards behind.   At the end of the third lap (41 min 49 1-5th sec), Suttie Smith was 60 yards ahead of Stevenson with Sutherland another 15 yards in the rear.   These three were well clear of the field.   Going out for the last lap, Sutherland who gained the junior title two years ago, soon passed Stevenson but the champion kept well in front.   He doubled his lead to run out a splendid winner by 150 yards.   Stevenson finished a like distance in the rear of Sutherland.”

In the English National, he had come twelfth  and was a member of the winning Birchfield team.

The Herald reported on the international race in the edition of 24th March under the headline “Sutherland’s Fine Running” and commented, “Thirty thousand saw the big field cover the course of nine miles and the finish between Evenson (of England) and RR Sutherland (Garscube Harriers) was a fine finish to a splendid race.   …..   Sutherland began to pull up rapidly in the last mile and he challenged Evenson in the final hundred yards, the Scot being beaten by a matter of two yards …     From the Scottish point of view the most satisfactory thing was the forward place taken by RR Sutherland of Garscube Harriers.   Sutherland who was Army champion in 1927 and 1928 has finished second in three big events this season.   He was second to J Suttie Smith in the National Championship at Hamilton and to Lance-Corporal Broadley in the Army Championships last Tuesday.   On Saturday he defeated both but had the misfortune again to run up against another runner who just defeated him.”

The finish of the international; in 1930: see how close Sutherland was to Evenson, the winner.

(Picture from Alex Wilson)

Colin Shields reports that after running so well in these races (three quality long distance races in fifteen days), Sutherland was invited to race in an invitation race in Paris on 30th March.   There were 1600 runners and over 7 miles.   Would you believe it – Sutherland was second only one second behind the winner!   A superb season but he could be forgiven for thinking that it was not his year.   Calling him the great unsung hero of Scottish cross-county, Shields remarks that it had been a daunting programme but one that Sutherland repeated regularly over the next few years with great success but little recognition as he never won either the Scottish or English nationals or the international any of which would have won him eternal fame and inclusion in the cross-country record books.

In summer 1930, Sutherland won the first of his three Scottish titles over Four Miles in a time of 20:15.4.    Big and strong – look at him in the photographs with the Scottish team – he was demonstrating speed as well.   For this victory, he was awarded the Crabbie Cup for the most meritorious performance in the SAAA Championships.    He was also third in the English championship, one place behind JF Wood of Heriot’s.   The first ever Empire Games was held that year in Hamilton and he was the only Scot in the Three Mile event where he finished fourth only 0.4 seconds behind third place.    Maybe ironically fifth finisher was England’s Tom Evenson who had defeated him in the international!   This was an incredibly close finish with places and times being: 3rd 14:29.0; 4th 14:29.4; 5th 14:29.6; 6th 14:29.8!   The SAAA Championship was described in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ as follows: “The four miles was expected to be the race of the afternoon and anticipations were fully realised.   It was full of incident from the pistol, and was capped by as brilliant and spectacular burst of speed from Sutherland over the final 300 yards as has been seen on a Scottish track for a long time.   The earlier stages of the race were notable for a duel between Suttie Smith and JF Wood for the leading place and the Heriot man’s worrying tactics proved so disastrous for the champion that he dropped out at two and a half miles after losing the lead and being 60 yards behind.   They had no effect however on Sutherland, who continued to move with powerful stride and obvious reserve, and although Wood continued to contest the issue until the bell, he was left standing on the last lap.   On this running the soldier is in the first rank of British distance runnersand it will be interesting to see how he fares at Stamford Bridge on Saturday first.”

The National championships in March 1931 were again at Hamilton and Sutherland was second.   In the English Championships however, he was third finisher and led  Birchfield to the team title.   In the ‘Herald’ we are told that in the international, Sutherland was thirty fourth at the end of the first lap finished in eighth place.   Scotland and France were equal second.

Summer 1931 was another good one for him.   He again won the SAAA Four Miles title -this time in 19:59.8 which was the only time that twenty minutes was beaten in this championship.

The 1931-32 winter season was to be yet another good one for the consistent Scot.   The national was run again at Hamilton and was remarkable for the very fast start ‘for which JF Wood was chiefly responsible’.     Sutherland was not mentioned in the report of the early part of the race but towards the end when Suttie Smith was clear,  “Sutherland managed to get on terms with Wood, as did Stobbs, but the real struggle for second place was between the first two.   It was a great duel over the last few hundred yards.   Sutherland got in front at last and stayed there despite repeated challenges.  The result was in doubt until the last few yards, but in the end the soldier, for the third year in succession, filled the position of runner-up.”    Tenth in the English National championship, again leading Birchfield to team gold, he was unable to run in the international in Brussels as he was “prevented by Army duties from running.”

Season 1932-33 was the one which was to be Jim Flockhart’s big break-through season – Sutherland had been second to Suttie Smith since he came into the sport and here was another phenomenon!   It is probably not stretching it too far to say that those three – Smith Sutherland and Flockhart – were probably the best in Britain throughout the 30’s.   Some, including Alex Wilson would beg to differ and say that Jack Holden (who won the ICCU Cross-Country title four times between 1933 and 1939) was THE top man but they’re at least in very good company!Sergeant Sutherland was fourth in the National in March 1933 behind Flockhart, Wilson and Suttie Smith.   One week later and he was third in the English National and again Birchfield won the team race – for the sixth year in succession – and again Sutherland held back from the early pace and came through on the last lap to finish 14 seconds behind the winner.   The 1933 international was held in heatwave conditions and Flockhart injured his foot leaving the battle to Sutherland and Suttie Smith.   They ran the final two miles together with Sutherland proving the stronger and finishing second with Suttie Smith third.

In summer 1933 he again won the SAAA Four Miles title – this time in 20:24 – before heading into the 1933 – 1934 season.   In the National in March 1934, there was another silver medal for Sutherland who was 150 yards behind Flockhart.     In the English championship he was sixth individual, first Birchfield Harrier and the team again struck gold.    In the International Championship Sutherland was sixth and second Scot to finish but the ‘Glasgow Herald’ felt obliged to say “Sutherland obviously felt the strain of his mud-week race in the Army Championships, this being his fourth big race within the month.”    The Army 10 mile cross-country championship in the middle of the week leading to the international would hardly have been ideal preparation for the international championship.

In March 1935 he missed the National in Scotland and the International.    The reasons for this are not clear but he was back in 1936 and ran a very good National in March 1936 to be second to Flockhart.    Not mentioned in the exceptionally short ‘Herald’ report on the English National (which did mention that Birchfield who had lost their title in 1935, won it back again in 1936).    On a very warm day in Blackpool for the international Sutherland finished fourteenth after running in tenth for much of the race, to be second counting runner for the third placed Scottish team ahead of both Flockhart and Suttie Smith.

The SAAA Steeplechase championship had been first run in 1934 and Sutherland took part in and won it in 1937 in 10:59.9.   With his height, natural strength (4 major cross country championships in one month almost every March) and speed as demonstrated in some of the fast finishes and pace over the 4 miles distance, it might be thought that he would have been a natural for this event.   It would have been interesting to note what he could have done earlier in his career.    The following winter he was third in the National championship 9 seconds behind second placed Emmet Farrell: needless to say Jim Flockhart took the title.   In the International in Belgium, the big talking point was the Scottish victory by Jim Flockhart while Sutherland was twentieth and third placed Scot in what was to be his final cross-country championship in the blue of Scotland.

He had had a superb career – one that 99% of athletes could only dream of – with individual gold medals on the track and in Army championships, team golds in the English championships, silver and bronze individual medals in Scottish, English and international championships as well as several fine runs in other events.

International 1933:  Flockhart 25,  Suttie Smith 27 and Sutherland 28

I am indebted to Alex Wilson for the following information on Sutherland’s track career.

  “Robbie’s pb for the  mile was 4:26.4, set when winning the 1930 Army title at Aldershot; his pb for  the 2 miles steeplechase was 10:29.0, set when finishing runner-up to WC Wylie  in the 1937 AAAs; and his pb for 6 miles was 30:50.0, set when finishing  runner-up to Jack Holden in the 1933 AAAs. He was nothing if not  versatile!
I have in my notes (maybe from Birchfield historian Wilf  Morgan, I`m not sure!) that he was an Army PE instructor. His Army chores  were such that much of his time was spent in the gymn demonstrating and  lecturing on a variety of sports including boxing. 
Another little-known  fact about this little-known runner was that he also tried his hand at the  marathon in the twilight of his athletic career, when he ran 13th in his one and  only marathon – the 1936 Poly – in 2:51:01.”

Thanks, Alex

Robert Reid of Doon Harriers ran superbly wekk from the days when he was a Youth (Under 17) in Doon Harriers until after his last international appearance in 1952 winning track as well as cross country titles and was as Colin Shields says, “!the first runner whose lifestyle was lifestyle was to benefit from his running ability.”     Information for this profile has come from The Glasgow Herald, The Scots Athlete, Scottish Athletics by David Keddie but mainly from what is probably the best history of any athletics discipline in Britain, Colin’s “Whatever the Weather” which is a mine of information.   

 The first trophy of any sort won by Robert Reid was in 1937 when he won the Scottish Youths cross-country championship which he won from John Muir of West of Scotland.   He won the title again in 1938 but made the headlines that season for another race altogether.    I quote directly from “Whatever the Weather”:   “The National Novice Championship amply justified its title as the most popular of all the NCCU Championships when over 300 runners from 41 clubs lined up for the start of the 1937 race at Bothwell Castle.   The strange rules of the event were demonstrated when 16 year old Robert Reid of Doon Harriers, the National Youth Champion, lined up with rivals twice his age who had been trying for years to win the title.   Reid followed AT Peters (Maryhill) the British TA mile champion, round the early stages of the five mile course.   He went into the lead at three miles and, displaying power and stamina far beyond that expected for a lad of his years, crowded on the pace to win in 24:36, 18 seconds in front of Peters, who had just 3 seconds to spare from Jim Morton (Springburn).

Reid’s victory caused great administrative trouble for it was subsequently revealed that he was a re-instated amateur.   A clause in the championship rules stated that ‘Competitors shall be ineligible who have been reinstated to the amateur ranks.’   But this had slipped through the scrutiny committee and Reid had been allowed to enter.   He was disqualified  and the novice title awarded to the runner-up, AT Peters.   As a schoolboy, just a few weeks after his fourteenth birthday, Reid had won a nominal prize of just a few shillings in an unpermitted Coronation Sports Meeting, when totally unaware of the amateur laws but nevertheless losing his amateur status.   Doon Harriers appealed against his disquaification, and there was a great deal of sympathy for Reid who had been wrongly advised that he was eligible to compete in the National Novice Championship.   A special meeting of the General Committee was called to determine ‘whether it was meant that the law should have specified clearly that it was not applicable to members whose certificate of re-instatement stated that their offences were of a minor nature, carrying no extreme penalties.’     

General Committee by an overwhelming majority approved an amendment to the law in question which ensured that Reid, and all the other runners whose re-instatement came under the category of Minor Offences would be eligible for the National Novice Championship.   At the AGM in September 1938 the rule change was approved and made retrospective to the start of the 1937-38 season, so that Reid was duly recognised as the National Novice Champion almost exactly a year after the race.”  

I think it’s clear from the above which side Colin is on – he was always an athletes’ man – and I think that any fair minded person would have been on Reid’s side.    The fact that the governing body took its decision by a great majority is to its credit but this is yet another example of the difficulties of enforcing laws on amateurism that have bedevilled Scottish athletics since the 1880’s.       Reid had a very good start to the following cross-country season which he started by winning the South-Western District title with ease after leading from start to finish, and followed this up with victory in the Ayrshire championship.   He then went on to win the National title in great style, and it was reported in The Glasgow Herald under the headline:   “Cross Country Triumph: Reid Invincible at Lanark:   Imposing record of achievement” and read as follows:

“As was anticipated R Reid of Doon Harriers won both the Senior and Junior by finishing an easy first over a course of  fully nine and a half miles at Lanark Racecourse on Saturday.   It was actually the first time that Reid had raced a greater distance than seven miles and it was also his first test against the entire array of Scotland’s experienced distance runners.   But Reid surmounted these difficulties in the manner of a real champion, winning by 200 yards from PJ Allwell and 450 yards from the holder, JE Farrell of Maryhill.   As in all his previous races, Reid finished quite fresh.   His list of achievements is already formidable: Scottish youths cross-country champion twice; SAAA one mile youths holder once;   national novice champion (later title was declared void); South-Western, Ayrshire and now junior and national   champion.”    

This was only the fifth time in the 53 year history of the event that the junior and senior titles had been won by the same runner – his predecessors being P McCafferty (1903), T Jack (1907), J Motion (1921) and J Flockhart (1933).      The international championship that year was held at Ely Racecourse in Cardiff and was a big disappointment for young Reid.   He started off as usual by going straight to the front at a fast clip and was twelfth at three miles.    However as the race developed he dropped further and further back to finish 31st, out of the counting six for the team race and probably learned a lesson or two.

The war intervened and his next chance to redeem himself in the blue vest of Scotland in an international came in 1946.    By this time he was living in Birmingham and running in the colours of Birchfield Harriers.    Colin Shields describes the move: “Reid, who initially ran for Doon Harriers, was the first runner whose lifestyle was to benefit from his running ability.   A baker’s apprentice at Dalmellington, Ayrshire, Reid was just 19 years old when, as Scottish champion, he ran in the 1939 International championships at Ely racecourse in Cardiff.    Overawed by the occasion he finished outside the Scottish counting six but his obvious potential attracted the attention and patronage of CAJ Emery, the 1938 international winner who arranged a job for him in the BSA factory in Birmingham.   Once settled there, he joined Birchfield Harriers as so many other Scottish runners did before and after him, and gained athletic honours in Midland and English championships.”

Reid did not run in the Scottish championships, preferring to race in England but his form was such that he was selected for the international where he finished twenty sixth – a big improvement on 1939 but not quite as well as had been hoped from his racing south of the border.    He did not race again in the Scottish championships until 1950 but was running so well that he never missed an international, finishing 20th in 1947, 12th (and first Scot home) in 1948 and 29th in 1949.

The Glasgow Herald report on the 1950 championship read simply: “R Reid (Birchfield Harriers, Birmingham) a former member of Doon Harriers, won the Scottish nine miles cross-country championships at Hamilton on Saturday, when  his powerful finishing burst proved too strong for another Anglo-Scot, F Sinclair (Blaydon), the former Scottish Mile champion.”    Not a lot there, but as usual the report on the race in “Whatever the Weather” gives a lot more insight, adding, “Reid’s victory came 11 years after his initial win in 1939 and was only his second competitive appearance in the championships, having preferred to run each year in the English National, but turning in such good performances in England that the selectors made him an ‘ever present’ in the Scottish team.    Indeed this victory gave him a unique record in the Scottish championship – that of having won every race he contested!    He won both the Youth titles in 1937 and 1938, and the two Senior titles in 1939 and 1950. “

What a career – packed with incident and illustrative of so many aspects of Scottish athletics: the professional/amateur interface; unbeaten in the Scottish National; profiting from his running, not by winning money but by getting better employment and housing.    Had it not been for the War, his eight internationals might have been 13 or 14.

I have commented elsewhere on the lack of historical data about the start of the women’s athletic scene in Scotland in the 1930’s in the introduction to the Jean Tait profile.    The athlete this time is Georgina Ballantine who was a very good runner indeed and her career also sheds light on the pre-war athletics scene in Scotland.

The competitive excellence and sporting success of the women’s section when it was first formed in 1930 took everyone by surprise.    The members were all novices to start with but achieved victories that could never have been foreseen.     Among these talented women Georgina Ballantine was one of the very best.

 Georgie joined the club in season 1933/34.   She was a friend of Peggy Ellison and Anne Gilchrist who were already club members.  They encouraged her to come along and try cross country running.   Originally a hockey player, she wore a gymslip in her first run because it was the only practical costume that she had.   The Ladies trained on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and the basic run was about 15 – 20 minutes.   This suited the racing of the time with a National Cross Country Championship of about three miles.   In the summer they trained at the Yoker FC Park and ran on the outside track – they were not allowed on the grass!   As far as track racing was concerned almost all the cross country women ran the half mile and their medley relay team was very good.    They won medals and certificates in almost every race they contested: Georgina was in the team that won the Medley Relay in 1936 and in the team that finished second in 1937.   The certificate below is from the Scottish Medley Relay Championship of 1937.   The team of Allison Ritchie, Isa Hunter, Georgie  Ballantine and Jean Tait were all regulars.   There were other girls who could slot in including Mary Martin, Martha Orr and BG Anderson.   The year earlier the girls had won with BG Anderson running instead of Georgie.

The Ladies Training was organised by her father, George Ballantine who had been a professional athlete himself.  He helped the men as a trainer on occasion but he is best remembered as the Ladies Coach.   He usually wore a white dustcoat and because he was working with women he arranged for Mrs Thursby to come along and help out because he felt that it was not appropriate for a man to coach them on his own.  Some of the men helped out from time to time – Tom Sinclair and Arthur Shields ran with them when they were out on the roads and the canal bank to start with and in later years Dan McDonald and other were there in that capacity.

Jean and Georgie flank the trophy, Mr Ballantine and Mrs Thursby at either side at the back

Although a good cross country runner, on the track Georgie specialised in the half mile and most races at the time were handicap meetings.  She was very quick and reported to be good tactically.   On the other hand, on several occasions she had been instructed by her father to ‘just win and no more’ or her handicap would suffer.   She generally went along with this but on one occasion she just thought she could win well and ran away from the opposition to win the race by a distance.   As she left the track, the handicapper took her by the elbow and said “You’ll no’ do that to me again, lassie.”   In addition her Dad gave her a real talking to as well.   And she didn’t do it to the handicapper again!

If we go back to the start of her career in the Harriers, the first report that appeared was for the Johnstone Castle Policies Sports where she ran in the 100 yards.   “A ‘guid wee yin’ in Georgie Ballantine galloped into second place in the 100 yards for girls Under 16.   This is her first success since she won the title of sports champion of the High School.   A dinky little clock now gets her up bright and early.”    In September 1933 at the Ladies AGM she was elected Assistant Treasurer.

 She created an upset in her first club cross country championship race in February 1934 when she defeated reigning champion Jean Tait to take first place.   Tom Millar in the ‘Clydebank Press’ was very enthusiastic about the new talent in the club saying: “A sensation was caused in the club championship last Saturday when the champion, Jean Tait, was forced to relinquish it to Georgina Ballantine.   Allison Ritchie, a former champion, was third.   I have no details as to how the race went but anyone who can beat Jean Tait must be a ‘guid yin’.   The Scottish Championships is to be decided a week tomorrow and the first six girls will represent Scotland in the women’s international;   we may yet see a Clydebank girl gain a ‘cap’”.  A week later she was one place behind Jean in the Scottish Championships but where sixth earned Jean a place in the Scottish team for the international Blackpool, Georgina’s seventh was only good enough for non-travelling first reserve.   However it was a very dramatic couple of weeks for a newcomer who could only have been 16 years old at most.

In her first national cross country championship the club team was third at Bishopbriggs.   There were not many Ladies Clubs in the country at the time – Dundee Hawkhill Harriers, Bellahouston Harriers, Maryhill Harriers, Shettleston Harriers and Greenock provided the main opposition, but the standard was high with Mildred Storrar of Dundee being the top cross country runner of the time.   Her cross country record was a good one – club champion and first reserve for Scotland (in 1935) was an excellent start.   The following year she did not run in the club championship and in the National where she was third club runner when the club had four in the first seven.   Jean Tait was second, Mary Martin third and Georgie fourth with Betty Anderson seventh.   As the ‘Press’ report said her father as coach to the team must have been delighted.   The club won the National title three times in three years- 1936, 1937 and 1938. Georgie’s best performance was being second in 1938.   Her medal is below.

 The extract on the left is from the SWAAA Programme for the Championships of 1967 in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow and lists the winning teams from past years.   It also shows the club as winning three times in a row.   Georgie told me that the club had won the ‘Daily Record’ Cup for the three years and were allowed to keep the cup.   Unfortunately it was stolen from their house before she went to South Africa.   She left the country for South Africa after her marriage to Tom Young and returned in the 1990’s.    Invited to the club Presentation in 2000, she met up with Jean Tait again and both wore their 1936 Championship winning medals in pendant form for the occasion.

 Some Indoor Work.   George’s training was never boring and included many routines that are now commonplace but weren’t then.

Subsequently she donated the Georgie Ballantine Young Cup to the club for the Under 17 Ladies Cross Country Champion.   Ironically for one previously so fast on her feet she had difficulty getting around and was confined to the house and died in 2006.

When I was running and racing in the 1960s and later, I had the impression that the SWAAA were better organised than the men’s side of the sport.    I now realise that that was not the case.   Especially when researching or trying to investigate the women’s side of the sport, there are no formal histories such as Keddie’s excellent centenary history of the SAAA or Shields’s cross-country masterpiece.   Women’s athletics took off in the 1930’s and there is not even a complete record of team and individual winners available: Ron Morrison is slowly but surely completing such a record but none exists at present.   I have a couple of studies of individual women athletes from the 30’s that I profiled for a Clydesdale Harriers book that I was writing and the profile here is of Jean Tait who won the women’s cross-country championship and was a member of the team that won the championship three times in a row before the War started in 1939.   It is interesting from many points of view.   Jean died on 17th December, 2013 at the age of 97.

 When Graeme Reid won the Scottish Cross Country title in 2003 it was hailed as the first win in a National Cross Country Championship since Dunky Wright in 1923.   The club had in fact had a National Cross Country more recently than that – Jean Tait won the Scottish Women’s Cross Country Championship in 1937.    It all started for the most successful Harrier of the Inter War Years in 1930. 

Clydesdale Harriers Committee Meeting, 22^nd September 1930: extract from Minute:

“Ladies Section: Mr A McGregor inquired if there was any demand locally for this.    Mr (Frank) Semple intimated that he had received about twenty names of ladies who were interested.   Thereupon Mr A McGregor moved that the Secretary should convene a meeting for the purpose of founding a Ladies Section.   This was seconded by Mr T McAulay.   Mr McGregor also moved, seconded by W Wilkinson that the Y.M.C.A. Hall should be booked and that October 3^rd be the probable date for the meeting.   It was made clear that once started the Ladies Section should be entirely self governing and self supporting.   The President, Secretary, Treasurer, Captain and Mr McGregor were appointed to attend this meeting as representing the Committee.”

 At a time when the men’s section was thriving numerically and socially but in the doldrums competitively, few if any could have foreseen the standards that would be achieved by this new section.   The top three or four were of a very high standard indeed and none higher than the club’s first women’s national cross country champion Jean Tait.   When the section started the ladies were training on Mondays, Wednesdays and on Saturdays at the week end.   The ‘Press’ report for 12^th February 1932 said that the Ladies Championships would be held that weekend over a distance of not less than one mile and the winner would get the Cup donated to the club by Mrs Thursby.   Nan Stopani won from Allison Ritchie and in the SWAAA Championships (only the second ever) Clydesdale were third behind Maryhill and Dundee Hawkhill.   The counting runners were Nan Stopani (13^th), Allison Ritchie (14), Nan Stephenson (17 and Mary Campbell (21).    A year later and the ‘Press’ report read that the club was third again behind the same two teams but much closer and went on to say in an article headed  Hail Jessie Tait:

“The bright feature as far as the locals are concerned was the brilliant running of Jessie Tait.   Let me say here and now that every one of the local team acquitted themselves splendidly but Jessie went one better by taking actual third position.   In other words here in Clydesdale we have the third best runner in Scotland.   Only two hundred yards separated her from the winner and she was only beaten for second by forty yards …………”    Jean was third, Allison Ritchie was fourth and Nan Stephenson and Annie Lindsay were the club’s counting runners.   The following week was a sealed handicap race from Whitecrook Pavilion and Jean overhauled a 250 yards lead held by the club champion Allison Ritchie to win.

Jean is front row, extreme right

In April 1933 the General Committee granted Clydesdale Harriers Ladies Section permission to use the club design for a badge to be presented to Miss Jean Tait after she had finished second in the SWCCU Championships.

The summer of 1933 started with the St Peter’s Sports where she was third in the obstacle race but then came the Johnstone Castle Policies Sports.   “In the half mile which was by general agreement the best race of the day, Jean Tait was beaten by inches for first place.   Her clubmate Allison Ritchie followed her closely which gave Clydesdale Harriers second and third.   Jean has now put away half a dozen tea knives in a certain chest and Allison is showing a neat manicure set.” 

It was a good summer and at the Ladies General Meeting in September Jean was elected Assistant Secretary and Georgina Ballantine was Assistant Treasurer.   However despite being elected Assistant Secretary the following notice appeared: “New members should get in touch with the Secretary, Miss Jean Tait, 12 Spencer Street, Clydebank.”

Whoever was Secretary there was a momentum building up in the Ladies Section.   In January 1934 they arranged a muster run of all the clubs in the Glasgow District.   Maryhill, Shettleston, Bellahouston and South Glasgow Ladies all came to Clydebank for the run.   In March 1934 the team could ‘only’ finish fourth in the Scottish Championships but Jean was again third finisher.   Tom Millar reported: “A mere one hundred and sixty yards separated the Clydesdale lady champion from the Dundee girl who triumphed.   In between came a Maryhill girl.   This is a remarkable performance, more especially since this is the second time that Jean has finished third.   As a team the local ladies did not do so well as last year and dropped one place.  Jean Tait is due every credit for her plucky displays in these races and on behalf of my colleagues in the men’s section I offer sincere congratulations.”   As the report says, two weeks earlier Jean had won the club championship from Allison Ritchie who led until the last 200 metres when “superior finishing power enabled Jean to win by fifteen yards.”

 Although the results of the Men’s Section were being eclipsed by those of the Ladies, the General Committee seemed determined that it would have the whip hand in the relationship with the Ladies Section. Several fairly senior members seemed to be actively opposed to what was termed ‘amalgamation’.   But the Ladies wanted to be included.   In March 1934 they wrote formally to the Committee asking for permission to present their prizes at the Men’s Presentation.   This was unanimously agreed and the occasion was a great success.   In September of the same year there was a letter from Mrs Thursby asking for a representative to be sent to the Ladies Section AGM.   This was agreed and Fred Yorwarth was the representative.   A month later (1^st October) there were two letters from the Ladies.   The first was asking for two ‘coaches’ from the men’s Section to run with them on Monday and Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons.   This was agreed.   The second contained the desire of their members to amalgamate with the Men’s Section.   This was postponed to the end of the evening before being discussed.   It was found impossible to amalgamate but the Committee agreed provisionally to send representatives to the Ladies’ Section meeting.   They were to collect information and act as an advisory committee which had to be ‘ruled’ by the General Committee.   The representatives were to be Fred Yorwarth, Dan McDonald, Tom Sinclair and Kenny Robb.   In July 1934 at the Maryhill Meeting all three prizes in the Ladies half mile came to the club with Allison Ritchie winning from Jean with Isa Hunter third.   Then at the Singer’s Sports in Clydebank, Jean won the half mile from Mary Martin and Georgie Ballantine.   Other than that there was no reporting of the ladies summer’s racing in the local Press or club minutes which seemed to be fixated on the cross country season.

In the club championships in February 1935 there was a bit of an upset when Georgina Ballantine beat Jean for first place and Tom Millar reported “A sensation was caused in the club championships when the holder of the title, Jean Tait was forced to relinquish it to Georgina Ballantine.”    In the Scottish Championships the team was second but Jean in sixth place was selected for the International Cross Country Championship in Blackpool.   Georgina was one place behind – and first reserve for the team.   Club positions in the race were Jean 6^th, Georgina 7^th, Betty Reid 11^th and Allison Ritchie eighteenth.   The report in the ‘Press’ went as follows: “I am forced to give top place to our wonderful ladies this week.   They have done what we have not been able to do.   In the Scottish Women’s Cross Country Championships at Springburn last Saturday they took second place to the holders and favourites, Dundee Hawkhill Ladies.   Hold back those cheers for just a little longer.   Jean Tait by finishing actual sixth in the race made sure of her place in the international team race at Morecambe on April 20^th.    Her team mate Georgie Ballantine finished close behind her and is first reserve.   Thus the town which built the largest ship in the world is further honoured by having two of its young ladies selected for their country.   Now for those cheers – hip, hip, hooray.   But I am not unmindful of the rest of the team and Betty Reid and Allison Ritchie supported the stars well.   The former was eleventh and the latter eighteenth.   Clydesdale were the youngest team in the race.”

A year later Jean regained the club title in an excellent race.   “The finest championship since the inception of the ladies club five years ago took place last Saturday over a two and a quarter mile trail.   Nine eager competitors strove with each other for the honour of being known as club champion.   For a mile they raced together and no one was outstanding.   Gradually Jean Tait drew out followed by Mary Martin and Mary Orr.   The last two named only joined up this season but they certainly made a brave show.   Jean Tait, ex-club champion and Scottish internationalist had to go all out to break the tape five seconds ahead of Mary Martin who was ten seconds ahead of Mary Orr.   The holder Georgie Ballantine did not compete.   This result is highly satisfactory to the club when so many are close up to the champion and augurs well for their chance in the National race.”    

Two weeks later and ‘Excelsior’ was ecstatic again: “Pride of place must be given to Clydesdale Harriers ladies this week.   Last Saturday at Bishopbriggs they blasted the hopes of Dundee Ladies in the two mile Scottish Championship.   The Dundee girls were expected to be easy winners of this race but this idea was not shared by the locals.   For weeks they had prepared, training regularly and enthusiastically to lift that cup.   To the surprise of everyone but themselves they succeeded.   Therefore Clydebank at present harbours both the championship of the world and the lady champions of Scotland.    

Nobly led by their champion, Jean Tait, the Clydesdale Ladies responded magnificently and counted four in the first seven placers.   Mildred Storrar of Dundee, a big powerful girl and champion for the past two years, was first in evidence after the start but gradually Jean Tait took command and early on held a thirty yards lead.   Eighty yards from home ‘our Jean’ still led and looked a certain winner.   Here Mildred Storrar put forth her finishing effort and drew up to the Clydesdale girl.   Thirty yards from the tape they were still level  but excitement caused Jean to falter slightly and the holder retained her title by a few yards – her hardest won victory yet.   The locals went wild when Mary Martin and Georgie Ballantine followed Jean Tait and then Betty Anderson made sure of their team victory by finishing in seventh place.   The individual times and places were:   1.   M Storrar 13:33; 2.   J Tait 13:37; 3. M Martin 14:00; 4.   G Ballantine 14:07.   Mr G Ballantine the trainer is due the highest praise for the splendid condition of his girls.”

I have no detailed Press reports from then on and there is less in the club minutes than before about the Section but we know that in 1937 not only did the team win the title again, but Jean picked up the title and the Championship Shield and is pictured winning at the top of the first page.   Jean was Scottish Champion at last.    Clydesdale Ladies won yet again in 1938 to make it three consecutive years as Scottish champions in 1936, ’37 and ’38.

In March 1936 the men seemed to be getting the message.   It was moved by Dan McDonald and seconded by Arthur Shields that the Ladies Section be invited to distribute their prizes at the Men’s Presentation.   There was an amendment proposed that no such thing be done.   The amendment lost and the Ladies were invited.   I could find no reference to the SWAAA Championships or Relay Championships on the track in the club minutes for that year.  I have copies of certificates which say that Jean was second in the half mile in 1936 and the Medley Relay Team (of Jean Tait, Isa Hunter, Georgie Ballantine and BG Anderson) won on the very same night in June.   A year later the relay team (of Jean Tait, Georgie Ballantine, Allison Ritchie and Isa Hunter) was second in the Mile Medley Relay in July 1937.   They continued winning races as teams and individuals – see Jean’s certificate below for being second in the SWAAA Half Mile Championships in 1936.    If the Men’s Section had a grand winning run broken by the War in 1918, the Ladies had their winning streak terminated by the War in 1939!    The women would come back quite quickly after the war with runners representing Scotland – and even winning British titles and medals in the 1950’s.

After the war the club started up quite quickly thanks to the efforts of the War Time Committee to keep things ticking over.   Jean had married Andy McMillan in November 1937 and she was one of the main spirits in having the Ladies Section start up again after the War.   The following note appeared in the ‘Clydebank Press’ in 1947:  “Ladies Section:   Will all members of the above section and any other ladies interested in running please get in touch with Mrs A McMillan, 23 Duntocher Road, Dalmuir with a view to getting the Section restarted.”   A week later the following notice appeared: “A few young ladies showed their enthusiasm by turning out prepared to run at Mountblow on Tuesday night.   Any other young ladies wishing to come along should do so on Tuesday or Thursday at Mountblow”    For the next track season a proper Committee was set up with Cathie Hammond as Captain, Isa Irvine as Vice Captain, and a General Committee of Mrs McMillan, Mrs Shields, Misses E McCauley, M Cochrane and E Reid.     Tom Sinclair’s remark about a Matrimonial Agency was not too wide of the mark – apart from Jean and Andy and Jim and Allison, Willie Wright married Anne Gilchrist, Frank Semple married Jessie Raitt and there were many more.   The Ladies Section was back in action and Jean McMillan was playing her part.

 In the early 2000’s and she came along to the club Presentation twice renewing her acquaintance with Georgie Ballantine, David Bowman, Pat Younger and James P Shields among others.   More than that, she donated a trophy (illustrated below) for annual presentation to the club’s Junior Woman Cross Country Champion.

 From the ‘Clydebank Post’