Author: Admin

Tom Riddell was born in Dennistoun, Glasgow on 3^rd June 1905 and was educated at Glasgow High School.    He went on to win eight SAAA Mile titles between 1925 and 1935 – it would probably have been more because he was working in Cork, Ireland, in 1927, 1928 and 1929 and was unable to compete.   A member of Shettleston Harriers, he first contested the championship in 1924 when he finished second to WR Seagrove who went on to win the AAA Championship in London a week later in 4:21.2.    This first defeat could be put down to experience, or lack of it, against a class runner.

The following year Tom gained the first of eight victories when he won in 4:27.8.   A very consistent runner he was never slower than 4:30 in his championship triumphs.   In 1933 he set a championship best performance of 4:18.6.    He had already lowered the Scottish record to 4:18.0 at the Rangers Sports in 1931.

The charismatic Riddell was one of the most popular athletes of his day because he was an out-and-out competitor and a man who liked to run from the front.   In the Rangers Sports two years later he improved his mile record again.   John Keddie says in his centenary history of the SAAA, “Alongside the Scot were the English cracks Reggie Thomas (RAF), the English native record holder at 4:13.4 and Cyril Ellis (Birchfield H) towards the end of an illustrious running career but still Scottish All-comers Record holder (4:16.2 in 1931) and the great New Zealander Jack Lovelock, who even before his great Olympic triumph  was one of the world’s top milers.   He was the British All-comers record holder (4:12.0 in 1932).   Thomas led over the first lap of the race (61.0), shortly after which Riddell took over, leading the field through the half mile in 2:03.8 and three-quarter mile in 3:10.6.   Tom held on grimly cheered on  by enthusiastic fellow-countrymen, but could not hold off Lovelock’s irresistible burst in the home straight, and it was the New Zealander who went on to win by four yards from Thomas who was about the same distance ahead of Riddell with Ellis fourth.   The times were outstanding: for Lovelock, a new Scottish All-comers record of 4:13.6. for Thomas 4:14.2, very near his best and for Riddell a new Scottish record of 4:15.0.   Truly one of Scotland’s ‘miles of the century!’”

Apart from thrice setting a Scottish record he also set new figures for 1000 yards, the three-quarter mile (twice) and one and a half miles.   His last public race was a real triumph.   Having beaten Alf Shrubb’s British one and a half miles record of 6:47.6 (set in 1902) by six seconds at Largs on 15^th July, he raced the distance again at Helenvale in Glasgow on 20^th August and set a new record of 6:36.5.   This stood for twenty five years before it was broken.

He only ran in the AAA’s championships once when he was third behind G Baraton (4:17.4) and Tom’s 4:19.0 was the fastest by a British runner for that summer season.    A week later he won the Triangular International in a slow 4:30.8 in a tactical race against the 1925 AAA winner B Macdonald.   He ran for GB several times with his fastest time being 3:54.2 for the 1500m in the match against Germany in Munich in August 1935 behind FW Schaumberg (3:53.9).    This was estimated to be the equivalent of a 4:13.0 mile.   He was short-listed for the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932 but had to turn down selection for business reasons.

He had a very good military career, surviving Dunkirk and retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel.   He retired to Fintry and kept his interest in athletics with not a few letters to the ‘Glasgow Herald’ about the sport.

His career is beautifully covered in Doug Gillon’s obituary in the ‘Herald’ of 22nd August 1998 which reads:

Tom Riddell, athlete; born June 3, 1905, died August 16, 1998
TOM Riddell may not have been the greatest athlete of his generation, for that honour, he would concede unequivocally, belonged to his contemporary, the Chariots of Fire inspiration, the 1924 Olympic 400 metres champion, Eric Liddell. Yet Riddell, who died peacefully in a Stirling hospital on Sunday in his 94th year, and who was believed to have been Britain’s oldest surviving international athlete, won more Scottish titles, set more national records, and in his own right was one of the most remarkable and charismatic of this nation’s twentieth-century sporting figures. It was only when he burned his legs quite severely, two years ago, setting his trousers alight as he disposed of rubbish in the garden of his home near Fintry, that he was forced to restrict his recreational activities. ”You are supposed to be dead before you cremate yourself,” was his comment on the matter. Yet even after, until the onset of the cancer which finally killed him, he performed stretching exercises, walking and jogging several miles daily; and rode an exercise bike which he kept in the hall of his cottage – a natural continuation of the discipline which helped earn a record eight Scottish mile titles and a clutch of records at various distances in the decade from 1925. He flirted with the idea of a knee replacement, ”so that I can get back running again,” at the age of 91, but even the burns never quenched his spirit. He was a regular writer of letters to this paper on a range of issues – but often a commentary on the decline of traditional values. He resigned his honorary life membership of the Scottish Amateur Athletics Association because he despised their hypocrisy in retaining the word ”amateur”. Yet he applauded the relaxation in the rules which allowed such as Tom McKean and Liz McColgan, from working-class backgrounds, legally to earn the money without which they could never have run at all. Born in Dennistoun and educated at Glasgow High School, Tom McLean Riddell won the first of his mile titles at the age of 20, and would undoubtedly have won more but for a three-year absence, while working in Ireland. He set two Scottish mile records, the second (4min 15.0sec) at a packed Rangers Sports in 1933, when he finished close behind Jack Lovelock. The New Zealander was then the British all-comers’ record holder, and became Olympic 1500m champion three years later. Shettleston Harrier Riddell also set several records at 1000 yards, three-quarter mile, and one and a half miles. He was named for the 1930 Empire Games and 1932 Olympics, but rejected both because of work commitments. His last two recorded public races, in 1935, saw him take 11 seconds from Alf Shrubb’s 31-year old UK best for a mile and a half. What nobody knew was that Riddell, aged 40, after the end of the Second World War, ran for his regiment in a battalion race in Germany. Dragooned into it by his superior, he won the three-mile event. The officer confessed he had ”won plenty off the wee man, here, in a wager,” – Field Marshall Montgomery. Riddell’s superior, General Sir Brian Horrocks, confessed he had backed Riddell only to finish in the first 10. ”You’re hell of a generous, sir,” retorted Riddell. ”There were only 12 in the race.” Horrocks, however, presented Riddell with #5 from his winnings, sufficient to forfeit his amateur status. Riddell gave the #5 to his men, to buy beer, kept mum, and remained an amateur. He set his fastest 1500m time in a match between Great Britain and Germany in Munich, in 1935. Though narrowly beaten by FW Schaumberg, he clocked 3-54.2 – equivalent of a 4-13 mile, and faster than his existing Scottish record. That night, Riddell was in the Munich Hoffbrauhaus, when a stylish young Nazi introduced himself, chatted fluently in English, and departed clicking his heels as he presented his card. It was Rudolf Hess. Their meeting was to provide one of history’s ironic twists of fate. A Dunkirk veteran, Riddell picked up an extra rifle while being evacuated from the beach head. Soon after, when his brother-in-law in the Home Guard bemoaned their armoury of pitchforks and sticks, Riddell gave him the rifle. When Hess landed at Eaglesham in 1941, he was detained at the point of that very same gun. ”There was no ammunition in it, because I had none to give,” Riddell recalled. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and his decorations included a military OBE, and the Czech equivalent of the Military Cross. He was a JP and a fellow of the Institute of Highway Engineers, ending his working life, at 75, as managing director of the Glasgow firm of McCrea, Taylor. Even in his ninth decade, his boyish enthusiasm and sense of mischief remained unquenched, as he visited his long time crony, the former Scotland rugby player Jimmy Ireland, also in his 90s. Sweeties from Fintry’s famous home-made confectionery shop were always produced from his pocket for visiting kids, old and young. When asked to open a children’s play area in his native Fintry recently, he was asked by a local newspaper if he could manage to sit and pose on the bottom of the slide. Tom looked, amused, at the photographer, skipped up the steps, and gleefully wheeched down. He is survived by Jean, his wife, and their daughter, Jan.

Hugh Barrow sent the following from his collection of cuttings, photos and memorabilia – a tribute to one great Scots athlete from another.

Recollections of Eric Liddell By The Hon. Lt. Col. T.M. Riddell

In 1923, to most School Boys, Eric Liddell was a Hero and this was not misplaced because he turned out to be – and is – the Greatest Athlete that Scotland and indeed the World has produced.

In 1923 I was privileged to represent The High School of Glasgow, at the Scottish Schools ‘Inter Scholastic Sports’ held at Inverleith and this in the Mile race. Fortune favoured me to the extent that I was “first through the Tape.” As I left the Arena I was confronted by My Hero, Eric Liddell, who shook me by the hand and expressed the hope that I would continue in the Sport and that he would meet me at the Season’s Sports Meetings. This was the beginning of a friendship which lasted until the War when we lost touch with each other.

On several occasions at country meetings I ran the 880 yards leg in the ‘Medley Relay’ while Eric ran the 440 yards leg.

Apart from Sports Meetings I met Eric with his Great “Guide – Philosopher and Friend” Neil Campbell, a fellow student who became Professor of the Faculty in which he and Eric qualified. Another of Eric’s co-operators was the Rev. D.P. Thompson, together they held seasonal Evangelical Meetings in Edinburgh and at Montrose Street Church in Glasgow. Those meetings were crammed to the door by two generations of young people.

So much has been recorded about Eric’s Athletic Achievements but they were in fact, as far as he was concerned, a Catalyst in the formation of his character and his perceivable Missions in life, which were:-

“To walk humbly with his God
and
to fulfill the ‘New Commandment'”

Gospel of St. John
Chapter 13,
Verse 34.

Note:

A great deal, due to his influence, I was “first through the tape” eight times in the Scottish Mile Championship and represented Great Britain Internationally over that distance on many occasions.

Thanks, Hugh

James Wilson in Paris

James Wilson was a truly outstanding Scottish runner of whom lamentably little is known in today’s Scottish athletics.   Alex Wilson has written this excellent profile of a man unique in Scottish distance running.

Anglo-Scot Jimmy Wilson has the distinction of being Britain’s first and, so far, Scotland’s only medallist in the Olympic 10,000 metres. It would be another fifty-six years until another Briton – Brendan Foster – repeated that feat in Montreal. Since then, two more Britons have made the podium in the Olympic 10,000 metres, these being Mike McLeod, who won silver in Los Angeles; and of course Mo Farah, who by clinching gold in London brought Britain’s grand total to just four in the hundred-year history of the event.

Whereas Jimmy Wilson’s athletic achievements are documented well enough, it has always been something of a mystery as to why this rising star of English athletics switched allegiances to Scotland.    This mystery can now, at last, perhaps be cleared up.

James Wilson was born in Windsor, Berkshire, on October 2, 1891. He and his twin brother, John, were the youngest of the five children of Isabella and Robert Wilson. His parents were Scottish migrant workers. His father hailed from Aberdeenshire and was the herdsman at the Prince Consort’s Shaw Farm in New Windsor, where he was responsible for Queen Victoria’s award-winning pure-bred cattle stock. This position came with privileges that included living at the Shaw Farm Lodge on the grounds of Windsor Castle. Children of Crown estate workers were eligible to attend Windsor Park Royal School, where in addition to the ‘three R’s’ the boys were taught farming and gardening. Every year on Christmas Eve the royal employees and their wives and children were invited to a banquet at Windsor Castle where Queen Victoria personally handed out presents and gifts of toys, clothing and books to the children.    Jimmy Wilson’s upbringing was, therefore, not exactly what you would call run-of-the-mill.   After leaving school, Jimmy did an apprenticeship with a local blackmith.

A life-changing event occurred in the summer of 1908 when the Olympic Marathon started from the East Lawn of Windsor Castle just a mile from the Wilson home. Like all the residents of Windsor that day, Jimmy was given the afternoon off to cheer the marathon runners.    Jimmy and his twin John must have been inspired by what they saw, because soon afterwards they joined local club Slough Harriers as novices.

Within months of joining Slough, Jimmy began to show great promise in the club’s regular muster runs from The Reindeer Inn and the Prince of Wales Public House and was selected to run in the 1910 North of the Thames Cross County Championship at Eastcote where he finished 59^th. The following month, he lead his club’s team home in 67^th place in the Southern Counties Cross Country Championship. Slough Harriers in their 1910 Annual Report referred to this as a “very creditable performance for a first-year man”.

After showing continued promise in 1911, Jimmy made a real breakthrough in 1912 when he won North of the Thames Cross County Championship at Wembley Park and led his club to a surprise team victory. Shortly afterwards he was guest of honour at a celebratory dinner held by Slough Harriers to mark the club’s historic double. Asked by the reporter for the Slough Chronicle for “training and dietary hints that might be useful to others wishing to emulate his feats”, he had little to divulge save that hard work was, he reckoned, the “best training a man could have”. He had apparently spent the fortnight before the race working from seven in the morning till nearly eleven at night. For all his reluctance to talk, however, Jimmy exuded a quiet confidence. Asked whether his success was unexpected, he immediately replied “Oh, no, I was pretty sure of winning”.

Jimmy continued to progress in leaps and bounds in 1913, finishing an unlucky runner-up the Southern Counties Cross Country Championship and 13^th in the National Cross Country Championship at Wolverhampton whereupon he was selected as an English reserve for the International Championship but did not compete.On the track he showed his paces that year by finishing 6^th in the AAA 4 mile championship at Stamford Bridge in 20:40.0.

James Wilson in the colours of Slough Harriers

Picture from Greenock Glenpark Harriers and Alex Wilson)

 Jimmy finally came of age in 1914 when he came 3^rd in the National at Chesham Park behind AAA steeplechase champion Charlie Ruffell and Ireland’s Frank O’Neill over a course acknowledged to be one of the longest and toughest in the event’s history. Selected to represent England in the International Championship, which was also held at Chesham Park, he justified the selector’s faith by finishing 6^th and earning himself a winner’s medal in the team contest.

That year it came to the attention the membership of Greenock Glenpark Harriers that Jimmy was of Scottish extraction and, perhaps, not averse to the idea of running for them. George Wallach might well have had something to do with this for he , like Jimmy, was an Anglo Scot, being a second claim member of Greenock Glenpark Harriers. No doubt the enterprising Willie Struthers, club president and senior S.C.C.U. official, also had a hand in recruiting Jimmy.

Jimmy made his first appearance on a Scottish track in the Scottish championships at Powderhall on 27^th June 1914 when he outsprinted Wallach to win the 4 mile championship in 20:30.0. To give an idea just how much of an unknown commodity he was at the time, Scottish sports journalists expressed surprise at his win.    A week after becoming Scottish champion Jimmy finished 4^th in the AAA four mile championship in 20:01.0 having had the misfortune to be spiked after leading the way for three miles.    Afterwards Jimmy was invited to run for England in the inaugural Triangular International between England, Ireland and Scotland at Hampden Park on 11^th July but, significantly, declined as he had already accepted Scotland’s invitation.

The Slough Chronicle reported that Jimmy had “the rather unique record of being both an English and a Scottish international,” adding, “It should be explained that he is qualified to represent England by residence and Scotland by birth.”

However something evidently tipped the balance in favour of Scotland. One could speculate as to why, but perhaps he just got on better with his Scottish friends.

After war broke out, Slough Harriers saw their numbers decimated by the members joining the military but initially kept up their winter fixtures and training runs as it was still widely thought that that the war would be won by Christmas. This was not to be and by 1915 however Slough Harriers were haemoraging members and forced to disband.

Jimmy did not enlist, unlike his twin brother, who was sent to the front and died in 1916 after contracting peritonitis.   Through his contacts in Greenock, Jimmy was able to spend the war in Greenock where his metalworking and fabricating skills made him eligible for an essential occupation, be it building dreadnoughts or submarines or manufacturing torpedoes or munitions.    While living in Greenock during the war Jimmy kept himself fit , appearing in various sports meetings in aid of war charities.   Even in 1915 some still thought that the 1916 Berlin Olympics could go ahead as planned and a  series of Olympic trials was held over metric distances at Ibrox Park.

 After the war Jimmy quickly regained his foothold running a close 2^nd to Willie Ross of Edinburgh Northern Harriers in the Scottish 10 mile championship on 5^th April 1919 in 56:12.4 and following up with a successful defense of his Scottish 4 mile title at Parkhead on 28^th June in 21:01.0.

 He kicked off his 1920 season with a comfortable victory in the Scottish Cross Country Championships at Rouken Glen, leading all the way and passing the finishing post quarter of a mile ahead of Alex Craig.

The following week Jimmy made the trip south to compete in the English National Cross Country Championships on his old home turf at Windsor Great Park. Although still a first claim member of Slough AC he was not allowed to run for the club at Windsor as, it was argued, he had not put in the necessary three qualifying runs. He was, however, allowed to compete as an individual for Greenock Glenpark Harriers and did well in the circumstances to finish 4^th in a race won, notably, by France’s Joseph Guillemot.

 Jimmy spearheaded the Scottish cross country team in the I.C.C.U. championship at Belvoir Park by Belfast on 3^rd April. Rain during most of the week rendered the going heavy, which suited Jimmy to a “T”. A crowd of 3,000 spectators watched in awe as he raced into an early lead and eventually won by a clear 150 yards from England’s Chris Vose. He of course also ran his way into the history books by becoming Scotland’s first ever winner of the international contest. But despite Jimmy’s commanding win, the Scottish team without the injured George Wallach too depleted to challenge for the Lumley Cup, the second Scot home being Angus Kerr in 18^th place.

On 17^th April Jimmy made short shrift of a domestic field in the Scottish 10 mile championship at Celtic Park, where he showed he meant business by racing through the first mile in well under five minutes and lapping the entire field after just four-and-a-half miles. His ground-eating stride and textbook running action eventually carried him to an easy win some two and a half laps ahead of an up-and-coming Dunky Wright. His time of 52:04.4 lowered George Wallach’s Scottish record by more than 44 seconds. Not only that, all of his intermediate times from five miles and up were also better than the previous marks.

On 26^th  June Jimmy made an impressive imperious defence of his 4 mile title, overcoming a stiff breeze to win by 500 yards in 20:22.4.   Though Jimmy did not contest the AAA 4 mile or 10 mile championships, he was selected to run in the 5,000 metres, the 10,000 metres and in the cross-country team contest at the upcoming Olympics in Antwerp where the Olympic flag with its five rings symbolising the participating continents made its first appearance.

An incredibly demanding timetable prompted Jimmy to opt out of the 5,000 metres and concentrate instead on the 10,000 metres and cross-country race.    The heats of the 10,000 metres were run on Thursday 19^th August in heavy rain before paltry crowd of spectators. Jimmy used his front running tactics to good effect, breaking away on the first lap and winning by about 60 yards from Finland’s Paavo Nurmi in 33:40.2. Jimmy was incidentally the only Briton who ever defeated the Flying Finn in any race whatsoever.

 The 10,000 metre runners had just one day to recover because the final was held the following day. The favourites were France’s Joseph Guillemot and Nurmi, the latter looking to avenge his defeat at the hands of the Frenchman in the 5,000 metres final three days earlier. Jimmy raced straight into the lead and set about carving out a fast pace which carried him clear of everyone except Guillemot, with Nurmi and Italy’s Augusto Maccario running together in close order. Jimmy was left to do all the donkey work until five laps to go when Guillemot made a break which Jimmy and Nurmi , unlike Maccario, were able to cover. For the next four laps the lead swung back and forth between Guillemot and Jimmy with the Nurmi drafting in their slipstream and poised to attack. When the bell rang Nurmi hit the front for the first time and utilised his superior stamina to win comfortably in 31:45.8. Extant footage shows an exhausted Guillemot staggering over the finishing line in 31:51.0e and Wilson finishing third about 30 metres ahead of Maccario in 31:56.0e.

Three days after the 10,000 metres final Jimmy was back in the Olympic Stadium for the cross-country race which was again witnessed by just a sparse crowd. The event followed the usual cross-country format of being both an individual event and a team event with separate medals awarded for each. The British team started with its full complement of six. In all, 48 runners faced this starter. Though advertised as 10 km the course was only about 8 km, starting and finishing in the Olympic Stadium. With lingering fatigue in his legs Jimmy was for once unable to take advantage of the heavy conditions; unlike the indefatiguable Nurmi , who despite running his fifth race in seven days looked remarkably fresh throughout and easily saw off the challenge of Sweden’s Eric Backman to claim his second individual gold of the Games. Nurmi’s principal rival Guillemot was forced to abandon the race after spraining an ankle at a level crossing a kilometre from the finish, allowing Jimmy to finish 4^th 30 seconds behind Nurmi and just 8 seconds behind bronze medallist Heikki Liimatainen of Finland. With three to count, the British team, which also included Frank Hegarty and Alf Nichols, won silver behind Finland in the team contest.

Jim Wilson’s 1920 Olympic Medals

(Participation, silver and bronze)

By winning bronze and silver in Antwerp, Jimmy Wilson belongs to the elite band of British distance runners to have won multiple medals at a single Olympics, the others being Sid Robinson (1900), Jack Rimmer (1900), Arthur Robertson (1908) and, most recently, Mo Farah (2012).

On his return to Britain Jimmy detoured via Paris to compete in an international meeting at the Colombes Stadium on Friday 28^th August. He ran in the 3000 metres and showed continued good form, narrowly losing to England’s Jim Hatton in a personal best of 9:01.4.

 After the 1920 Olympics Jimmy relocated to London and found work with London Transport as a mechanical engineer at the Neasden Power Station, the coal-fired power station built by the Metropolitan Railway for its electrification project. The Evening Telegraph lamented, “He will be a loss to Scottish athletics, as Wilson has given distinction to distance running the few years he has been in Scotland“.

 Ill health, injury and work commitments kept Jimmy away from athletics for a few years but he returned to competitive action in 1923 and joined Surrey Athletic Club.

On January 5 1924 Jimmy helped Surrey AC to victory in the inaugural ten-stage London to Brighton relay race, which was to become the most prestigious inter-club fixture in the UK race calendar until it was replaced by the National 12-Stage Road Relay in 1965.

After finishing 12^th in the National at Doncaster, Jimmy was again nominated to run for Scotland in the International at Gosforth Park. He placed 19^th behind team-mates Archie Craig (16^th), James McIntyre (17^th) and Dunky Wright (18^th), the Scotttish team packing well enough for 3^rd in the team championship.

Wilson opened his 1924/25 cross country campaign win a comfortable win in a match between Surrey AC and Oxford University at Wimbledon. He was slighted by The Times as a “former Scottish international” but that did not stop him from finishing a creditable 14^th in the I.C.C.U. championship at Baldoyle.    The 1925 season was however to be his last, the highlight being a 6^th place finish in the AAA 4 miles championship at Stamford Bridge.

A lifelong batchelor, Jimmy was a celebrated and upstanding citizen of Neasden until his death in 1973, aged 82.

After the profile was completed Jimmy’s grandson, Graham,  sent more information about his grandfather.  He married Annie Williams who was also known as Marge.    Unfortunately later in life he contracted bowel cancer which proved fatal after it ultimately spread to his spinal cord.    He had had an outstanding career being one of the top runners of his generation.

James Wilson has been inducted into the Scottish Athletics Hall of Fame.

J Suttie Smith was the dominant figure in Scottish distance running at the end of the 20’s and the start of the 30’s.   A man of many clubs – he turned out for no fewer than five in his day – his ability can be seen from the bare statistics presented below.   Let’s start with his track career and his track championship victories

John Keddie in the centenary history of the SAAA had a section on the SAAA 10 mile championship in which he said, “Over ten miles, John Suttie Smith (Dundee Thistle Harriers) in 1928 won his first ten mile title, and the following year and in 1933 won with sub-52 minute performances, the only occasions that 52 minutes was beaten for the entire series of championships up to 1948.   Smith’s record of 51:37.8 set in 1929 remained undefeated for 24 years .   His best placing in the AAA’s race was third in 1928.”

The 1929 10 miles race was really noteworthy: it became a duel between him and Frank Stevenson who was also from Dundee.   Smith led through 6 miles in 30:47.0 (two seconds outside the Scottish record), set a new 7 miles record of 36:01.   Stevenson then took over in front and set records at 8 (41:15) and 9 miles (46:30) only for Smith to pass him on the last lap to win in 5137.8 – taking 26.6 seconds from James Wilson’s nine year old record.   Stevenson was also inside the record.

It seems that 1928 and 1929 were his top years as a track runner with double victories in the championships, plus third in the AAA’s in 1928 and being awarded the Crabbie Cup for the most meritorious performance in the national championships.   The 10 miles record stood until no less than Ian Binnie broke it with a time of 50:11.0 at Dunoon on 28^th August 1953.

He was possibly even better over the country as the next table shows – five consecutive victories in the national championships and three top ten places in the international including a second and a third.   It is on his country career that we will be concentrating.

Colin Shields in his excellent centenary history of the Scottish Cross-Country Union, “Runs will take place, Whatever The Weather”, says that the Eastern District Cross-Country Championship in 1926 was an exciting race with the closest finish ever seen in a cross-country race in Scotland.   GA Farquharson of Dundee Thistle Harriers edged his clubmate J Suttie Smith.   This, says Colin Shields, was the first major race that he appeared in and he won the Eastern District title the following year before going on to athletic fame.     His club won the team race for the second year and in 1927 they won it for the third time when Suttie Smith won by two seconds from M Stewart of Edinburgh Northern.   However Dundee Thistle did not enter him for the Senior National, wanting to preserve his ‘Junior’ status so that he could win the Eastern title the next year.   This meant that Smith was ineligible for international selection since he did not run in the national.   Even though he had beaten his clubmate Thomas Whitton who was selected, he was not picked by the committee.   He did run in the national championship in 1927 finishing fifth over the course from Redford Barracks in Edinburgh.   The International race was held at Caerleon Racecourse at Newport in Wales where the weather was said to be appalling and Suttie Smith finished 18^th with Frank Stevenson of Greenock Wellpark being fourth and first Scot.   Smith’s first championship win came in 1928, reported as follows in “Whatever the Weather”:

“Excellent weather and fast underfoot conditions welcomed 220 runners from 20 clubs to the 1928 national championships at Hamilton Racecourse.  There were two laps round the button-hook race track and two large three 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.   Over the final three mile lap, the Dundonian raced away to establish a winning 120 yards  gap over Stevenson with Calderwood a similar distance behind. “

He goes on to say, “John Suttie Smith’s emergence to become national champion the first of a record five consecutive titles, was a fortunate result of a change of direction from his first sporting interest in gymnastics.   A member of the Dundee Gymnastics School, Smith won the District juvenile and junior championships, the Dickie Cup for the best rope climber and was a member of the team which won the Scottish Gymnastic Shield.   In 1925 he was persuaded to take part in Invergowrie Sports where his successes in the 880 yards and mile races led to him joining Dundee Thistle Harriers.   Short of stature, Smith nevertheless utilised an unusually long stride and high knee lift which required much energy.   This was provided by a rigorous training schedule and a unique lung capacity which placed him in the top five per cent of distance runners.     Suttie Smith had an outstanding number of successes.   As well as winning the National title five times, he won the SAAA nationaltrack ten mile championships four times, the track four miles three times, and won the Scottish YMCA cross-country title for seven consecutive years, in addition to representing Great Britain in the YMCA Olympiade Meeting at Amsterdam in 1928 when he won the 5000 metres.”

The 1928 International Championship was held at Ayr Racecourse over a flat course but with heavy rain falling Suttie Smith and Eckersley of England went straight to the front and after a very hard race, Eckersley was just too strong for the Scot who finished second although there were some who said he could have won had he exercised better judgment.

The following year the national was held at Hamilton again and again I quote Colin Shields: “The course had tricky conditions due to an overnight thaw leaving the ground treacherous to runners.   Suttie Smith set off in an emphatic manner leading from the start at such a pace that no one else could keep up with him.   The crimson vested Dundee runner led by 250 yards at half distance from clubmate Tom Whitton who ultimately finished second due to his close challengers Frank Stevenson being forced to retire after a heavy fall, and West District champion CP Wilson dropping out due to a knee injury.   Smith outclassed his rivals to win by 400 yards.”   Selected again for the international race, he again led the team home but was only sixteenth and the team finished fifth.

At the start of the 1929-1930 season Suttie Smith was part of the team with W Slidders, JM Petrie and P McGregor that easily won the East District Relay Championship at Corstorphine with Suttie Smith second fastest of the day.   The national was held at Hamilton with 270 runners from 20 clubs taking part but there were several absentees because 16 clubs had their own championships on the same day.   Suttie Smith won by 100 yards from Sutherland of Garscube with Stevenson of Monkland Harriers third.   A week later in the English national, he was running ‘in a forward position’ when he was forced to pull out with a leg injury at three miles while Sutherland (running for Birchfield Harriers) was   In the international that year, was twelfth.

Colin Shields tells us that a crowd of 30,000 spectators watched the international race at Royal Leamington Spa over a very hilly and rough course.     Suttie Smith’s leg was still troubling him and he could only finish thirteenth but the good news was that the Scottish team was third.

Medallists in the 1930 Scottish Championships

(Suttie Smith, RR Sutherland (Garscube Harriers) and FL Stevenson (Monkland Harriers)

The following season, 1930-31, saw John Suttie Smith running for Dundee YMCA Gymnastic Club after a fall-out with Dundee Thistle.   “Suttie Smith gave a machine-like display of running to win for the fourth successive time bettering the previous record of three successive wins by James Patterson (Watsonians) 1898/99 and 1900, and Dunky Wright 1923/24/25.”   He led from the start and won the race, over 10 miles, in 59:20.   In the international at Baldoyle Racecourse with Smith finishing tenth and the Scottish team being equal second with France.   This was their best ever position in the international fixture.

Every national championship for the past four years had had the same winners – Suttie Smith won the individual title while Maryhill Harriers took the team race.   At Hamilton in 1932 history repeated itself when Suttie Smith won comfortably for his fifth title in a row.   He was seventh in the international, held that year at Brussels with the team finishing third.

Season 1932-33 was the year of James Flockhart’s breakthrough.   The Shettleston Harrier would go on to go one better than Suttie Smith and win the international cross-country championship.   He won everything that year while the Dundonian again changed clubs, this time running for Canon ASC.   “Suttie Smith led for the first five miles with Flockhart and James Wilson in close attendance.   At seven and a half miles James Flockhart had an 80 yard lead with Suttie Smith a further 50 yards behind.   Over the final lap, Flockhart drew further away to double his lead over Wilson with Suttie Smith, failing in his bid to record six  individual wins in a row, third.”   In the international at Caerleon Racecourse, Robert Sutherland was second and Suttie Smith third, Flockhart being injured early in the race, with the Scottish team being second behind England.

An amusing story from “Whatever The Weather” concerns the trip back to Scotland when the train dropped the team at a deserted Darlington Station for their connection.   In the totally deserted station they made friends with a troupe of  Theatrical Variety Artistes who challenged them to a football match.   The pitch was paced out and marked on the platform and in the ensuing game, the Scots won.   The next challenge was to a sprint and the team manager, George Dallas, rolled up his trousers, handed his jacket, wallet, papers and spare cash to one of them and proceeded to defeat their star sprinter.   The best was yet to come.   Confident of success, an acrobat challenged the Scots to produce someone to race him on their hands!   Suttie Smith who had been an excellent gymnast, took up the challenge and won, as Colin says, ‘hands down’!      3 – 0 to the Scots.

Not in the first six in the national, Suttie Smith was nevertheless selected for the International where he finished 23^rd in a disappointing Scottish team which was third although expected to be higher.    His young brother Charles Smith, also a former gymnast, won the Novice title in season 1934-35 and followed with a victory in the Eastern District Championships at Galashiels.   Suttie Smith (running for Edinburgh Northern by this time) was third in the National at Hamilton and led his team to the team championship with six in 33.   Naturally he was selected for the international which was held at the Hippodrome d’Autevil in Paris.   Suttie Smith ran well to be third Scot in twelfth place and the team was second to England.

In 1936 his 5’2” brother Charles was fourth in the national with Suttie himself dropping out at half distance.   He was selected for the International where no fewer than three of the team had been runner-up in previous years: himself. Robert Sutherland and C Wylie.   Held at Blackpool in very hot sunny weather, he finished fourth and the team was third.    In 1937 he was running for his brother’s club of Dundee Hawkhill Harriers but although Charles was fourth and made the international team for the third consecutive year, Suttie was nineteenth.   An interesting sideline is that Hawkhill’s sixth counter was C Haskett in 102^nd place.

I can find no trace of him in any further national championships but no note of any distance runner of merit would be complete without mentioning the Edinburgh to Glasgow eight man relay which started up in 1930.   In the first year, Suttie Smith ran on the sixth stage for Dundee Thistle and had fastest time by 42 seconds in the team which finished second.   In 1931, there was no Dundee Thistle team in the race but his record for the sixth stage was not challenged.   With no race in 1932, his club was second again in 1933 but he was not part of the team.   None of his other clubs took part in the race so he was not able to showcase his road running ability in this, the blue riband of road relays.

There is no doubt of his supremacy in 1928 or 1929 and it is clear that with his collection of medals on the track, domestically and internationally over the country and as a road runner that he would have been a top man in any generation.

Suttie Smith (in the Canon ASC colours) shaking hands with his successor, Jim Flockhart, 1933

There are two excellent articles on Suttie Smith which are fairly recent and very informative.    The first is at

  http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/Content/Help/index.aspx?2171#suttie

and has a lot of information about the man himself as distinct from the runner, but includes the following :  When it came to training, his training routine depended on the weather. When it was dry, he ran in the country or on a local track. When it rained, he ran up and down the stairs in the Dundee tenement where he lived. All his training took place after work, at weekends or on rare days off. 

There is also a good article in ‘The Scotsman’ of  30th April 2012, based on an interview with his daughter and which has a couple of good pictures.    It reads:

It was all a bit different back in 1928, when the Games were held in Amsterdam. It was not far for British athletes to travel, of course – but that was just as well for John Suttie Smith, who did not even get an extra day off work before making the journey.

The Dundonian, a self-coached distance runner, had no hi-tech equipment either. He ran outside, on the track or across country, when it was dry. When it rained he ran up and down the stairs in the tenement in the Hilltown where he lived. Suttie was his middle name – there were thousands of other John Smiths, so he changed. And although he is not as well remembered now as Eric Liddell, in his day he was a star, as his daughter, Irene Gibson, can recall.

Now 72, Gibson grew up knowing that her father was held in high esteem in his own community. Not because of any boasting – he did not care to discuss his own achievements – but because of the attention he got.

“If you asked him, he would talk about it, but he was pretty quiet,” she remembers. “He was a celebrity, though. There was something in the papers about him every other week.”

 The best example of that celebrity, she says, was a simple anecdote told to her after her father’s death at the age of 69 in 1975. “After my dad died, one of his pals told me ‘I used to feel dead chuffed walking in the town with your dad, because heads would turn and folk would say ‘There’s Suttie Smith, there’s Suttie Smith’.”

Born in 1905, Smith was selected for the 10,000 metres at the 1928 Olympics by virtue of having become European champion the year before. In spite of that success, however, his real prowess was over a longer distance, and preferably over muddy, strength-sapping fields than round and round a track.

Ten miles was his best distance, not the six and a bit which that 10,000m amounts to, and that probably showed in the fact he was only tenth at the Games. But lack of time off to prepare might also have been a factor compared to some more leisured opponents.

A carpet-weaver, he finished work on a Friday, so the story goes, and travelled to the Netherlands the following day. He spent a quiet Sunday, competed on the Monday, then set off back for Tayside on the Tuesday.

“In these days you didn’t get special coaching, and you didn’t get off your work for a race,” Gibson says. “Obviously he got off for the Olympics, but that was the exception. He never got time off to train. Okay, he was tenth in the 10,000m. But he got there.”

Smith went on to win several Scottish cross-country titles, and, as his daugher remembers, he excelled at other sports too – though not all have received Olympic recognition.

“He taught us to swim, because he was a good swimmer. He won medals for swimming and gymnastics. He was really good at walking on his hands as well. Even in his 50s and 60s I remember him walking on his hands about the house. Once, when he and some other Harriers runners were on their way home from a meeting in England, they had to change trains at Crewe. While waiting there, they met a group of acrobats and had a game of football, which the Harriers won.

“Then they had a race, and the Harriers won that too, so the acrobats said ‘Right, we’ve done your stuff, now you’ll have to take us on what we do. Let’s have a race walking on our hands.’ Well, they did, and my dad won that too. Or as it said in an article, ‘Needless to say, Suttie Smith won hands down’.”

Rightly proud of her father and of the colleagues with whom he ran, Gibson feels more should be done to celebrate the achievements of those past generations of sporting Scots. She certainly believes that Dundee itself could do more to honour a man who was once one of its most famous citizens.

“I phoned the local museum and asked if they would be interested in putting on an exhibition, seeing as this is Olympic year,” she explains. “But they said they couldn’t because they were doing stuff about the Queen’s jubilee.”

This did not go down well. “Dinnae get me started. I’m very anti-royalist.”