Category: Track and Field

The medley relay remained a very popular event after the war and many sports and athletic meetings had it in their programme.  There were inter-club races,  there were medleys for senior men, senior women,  junior men, inter-area, inter-city, inter-works relays and various others.   Then there were the SAAA Championship events that the crowds had flocked to see.   Unfortunately, the new governing body did not want to have them at the SAAA track and field championships.   They were farmed out all over the place – to Helenvale for the Transport Sports on a midweek evening, to the Police Sports at Ibrox, to Shotts Highland Games, and to the Junior Championships.   They were run on proper tracks – but also on narrow tracks with no lane markings.   The way they were shuffled around was nothing short of a disgrace.   The current situation is that there is no official list of dates or venues  of these championship events.   What is noted here is what I have been able to dig up from the internet, from old ranking lists and back numbers of newspapers.   Apologies for the gaps which will be filled as the information becomes available.   

1948’s SAAA Junior Championships were held at New Meadowbank which pleased just about everybody who had been to the 1947 version at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock.   Both senior relays, 4 x 110 yards and the medley (800, 200, 200, 400) were contested – the 4 x 110 being won by Edinburgh University from Victoria Park and Shettleston in 43.8 seconds.   The winning team was AT Bruce, St C Taylor, JL Hunter and DD MacKenzie.  

For the longer one, James Logan commented on the medley relay for ‘The Scots Athlete’ “In the Mile Medley Relay J Smart confirmed his position as Scottish champion by laying the foundation of Edinburgh Southern Harriers victory with a fast ‘half’ and the other members of the team carried on the good work.   The time 3 minutes 36.8 seconds was first-class as this event was run in a rain storm.”   The winning team was J Smart, HW Mercer, J Thomson and J Crow.   Victoria Park was second and Glasgow University third.  

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The medley relay championship in 1949 was moved to Helenvale Park and held on on 27th June.   It was a Wednesday evening and the occasion was the Glasgow Transport Sports and was notable because a new record for the event was set by the winnng Glasgow University AC team (T Begg, RM Ward, JPH Paton and DK Gracie) of 3:31.7 which was 1.2 seconds inside the time set by Bellahouston in 1938. 

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They were back at the  SAAA Junior championships when they were held at New Meadowbank on 8th July in 1950 and both sprint and medley relays were held in the course of the afternoon.   The medley relay was won by a good Glasgow University team of T Begg, RM Ward, R Dow and DK Gracie in 3:32.4 and Edinburgh University won the 440 yards relay in 43.4 seconds.

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New Meadowbank was the venue on 7th July, 1951, the SAAA Junior Championships the occasion, when the medley relay, along with the 4 x 110 yards was contested.   Victoria Park’s team of W Jack, R Quinn, W Kennedy and W Christie (pictured above) won the shorter race from Garscube Harriers and Edinburgh University in 45 seconds.  This was the start of something big.   It was the start of a series of relay triumphs that is unlikely, even 60 years later, to be beaten.  Nine wins in succession and ten out of eleven.   Astonishing.

In the longer race, the Scotstoun team had to give best to Edinburgh Southern Harriers who won in 3 minutes 31.7 seconds with a team of J Smart, J Pearson, J Hardmuir (?) and J Crowe.   Victoria Park was second and Glasgow University third. 

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The medley relay plus the sprint relay were back again at Helenvale on 12th July, 1952 and incorporated into the SAAA Junior track and field championships.   Both were won by the same club – Victoria Park AAC from Scotstoun on the other side of Glasgow.   In the 4 x 110 their squad was G McDonald, R Quinn, N Wilson and R Whitelock and they won in 44.2 seconds from Garscube Harriers in second and Shettleston Harriers third.   In the Mile Medley, their squad consisted of F Sime, R Quinn, R Whitelock and R Mill.   They won from Garscube Harriers in second and Bellahouston in 3 minutes 36.8 seconds.

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The senior relays were again held at the Scottish Junior Track and Field Championships on 4th July 1953, but this time at Westerlands in Glasgow and both sprint and medley relays went to Victoria Park AAC.   In the 4 x 110 yards the team was M Wilson, R Whitelock, H Quinn and R Quinn and they defeated Heriot’s  AC and Shettleston Harriers in a time of 44 seconds dead.   In the Medley relay, JS Hamilton, R Whitelock, H Quinn and R Quinn defeated Bellahouston Harriers and Maryhill Harriers in a time of 3 minutes 33.9 seconds.   

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The medley relay was held for the third time at the SAAA Junior Championships in 1954 at Westerlands with Victoria Park determined to hold on to their two senior relay titles.   This they did with some style.   Read this from the Glasgow Herald:  “A feature of the meeting was the dual success of Victoria Park AAC in the 4 x 110 yards and medley relays.   They have thus won all five championship relays , a record which cannot be beaten and probably never be equalled.”   

WS Breingan, W Kennedy, A Archibald and R Quinn won the sprint relay in 44.5 seconds, and T Begg, Breingan, JA Herron and R Quinn took the medley in 3:37.5.

Whitelock, Quinn, ? , Henson

The events had been successfully held at the Junior Championships.   Well organised, on good tracks that were accessible – so they were moved to one of the biggest meetings in the country.   Glasgow Police Sports a Ibrox in 1955 were held a week earlier than usual and probably as a consequence, none of the University teams took part  because it was the date of the Universities Championships.   The winners of the medley were again  Victoria Park AAC whose team of D Henson, JV Hamilton, A Archibald and R Quinn recorded 3 minutes 32.5 seconds.   The club’s sprinters, needless to say – they were a class apart in the 1950’s –  took the 4 x 110 yards again.   This was the fourth time in succession that they had taken the medley title but their record in the shorter sprint relay was incredible – they first won it in 1951 and they won it every year from then until 1959, missed a year when Glasgow University won it, then went on to win again in 1961!   10 wins in 11 years. 

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June 9th, 1956 at the Glasgow Police Sports, held at Ibrox, was the date of another victory for a University team – between the wars the university teams from Edinburgh and Glasgow were key players in the event and were still a force to be reckoned with after the second war.   Their victory was largely due to the running of JV Paterson who ran the fastest half mile of his career.   Their time of 3:50.5 was not a record since CAR Dennis, who ran the last stage, was not a Scotsman; it could only be recorded as a championship best performance.  Victoria Park was second and Bellahouston Harriers third.

The 1957 Medley relay was held at the Glasgow Police Sports for the third time, again at Ibrox Park,  on 15th June.   Edinburgh University won the title from Bellahouston Harriers.   There was some controversy about the result which had been hinted at the year before:

“In winning the Scottish one mile medley relay championship Edinburgh University put up new record figures of 3 minutes 27.2 seconds.   The foundation of their success was laid by JV Paterson who returned the fast time of 1 min 52.4 sec for the half mile.    The students time will not be accepted as a national record for CAR Dennis is not Scottish.   Bellahouston Harriers whose team clocked 3 min 30,2 sec and beat Glasgow University’s previous best time of 3 min 31.7 will be the new record holders.”

The result:

1.   Edinburgh University AC (JV Paterson, RA Robertson, I Sutherland  and CAR Dennis);

2.   Bellahouston Harriers (DL Fraser, P McPherson, GR Fleck and KA Fleck)

3.   Shettleston Harriers.

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The Victoria Park medley relay team after the AAA’s championships at Kirkby in 1957

The relay had been farmed out to the Shotts Highland Games held on the first Saturday in September in 1959.   It was an unfortunate date and venue for the event and looked more like a desire to get the event away from the national championship in June.   Why so?  Well, the time of year was not one where the warm weather needed for good championship standard racing would be very likely.   Nor was the choice of venue one that would maximise spectator numbers: Shotts was always a good meeting and one that was well supported by runners from the central belt and often from the north of England but very difficult for athletes from such places as Dundee, Aberdeen, and so on to get to.   The track was a narrow one where getting more than three teams to run in lanes would be virtually impossible, the consistency of the track was variable and it sloped won in the back straight and up in the home straight.  But Shotts had always been a popular meeting and it had for some time featured a medley relay.   In 1957 it had been won by a Glasgow University team ed off by Scottish half mile champion J Boyd and in 1958 the winners were a well balanced Clydesdale Harriers team of Bobby Clark, John Aird, George Rodger and Bill Purdie.  

lThe first national championship there was held on 5th September, 1959, and the winners were Shettleston Harriers.   Given a substantial lead by Graham Everett, the team also had to runners who had been members of the club team that had been runners up in the AAA junior sprint relay championship.   The result was a win for the Glasgow club in 3:41.2 from Edinburgh Southern Harriers and Victoria Park AAC.   

It was, however, held on 3rd September, 1960, and the reigning champions, Shettleston did not run.   The race was won by Edinburgh Southern Harriers whose lead runner over the half mile was Kenny Ballantyne  who handed over a five yard advantage from Bellahouston Harriers and Victoria Park which the remaining team members –  RD Cockburn,   J Togher and C Watson – were able to maintain.   The winning time was 3 minutes 36.2 seconds.   It was not much faster than when they had previously won it in 1948 (3:36.8) and slower than the best pre-war time of 3:32.9 run by Bellahouston Harriers in 1938.   

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Southern were back the following year (1961) when the relay was held again at Shotts and faced fairly strong opposition.   The report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ read as follows:   “One of the closest races at Shotts Highland Games held at Hannah Park was the Scottish Mile Medley Relay championship.   Bellahouston Harriers won by two yards in the good time of 3 minutes 38.8 but their success was by no means assured until the final lap.   With Bellahouston third and 12 yards behind the leaders,  Ayr Seaforth AC, at the three-quarter mile mark,  young R Greig  made such good progress that he overtook and beat the runners ahead of him including JR Boyd (Ayr) the holder of the half-mile record.   Some watches showed that young Greig had returned his personal best time of 50.3.”   The order at the finish was 1.   Bellahouston Harriers (J Currie, R Rae, R Steele, R Greig);  2.   Edinburgh Southern Harriers; 3rd  Ayr Seaforth AC.

Jim McLatchie

Number 7 in the Ayr Seaforth vest

There were many outstanding athletes at Shotts in 1962 including WM Campbell, JP McLatchie, John Anderson and JJ Hillen (of Saltwell), Hugh Barrow, JP McLatchie and many more when the Medley Relay Championships were again held at Hannah Park.   Victoria Park AAC had won the event in four consecutive years between 1952 and 1956.   The club were generally good relay runners with SAAA titles in all varieties – 4 x 100, 4 x 440 and medley.   This year they had a very good team out led off by the prodigious young Hug Barrow against strong tams from Ayr Seaforth and Bellahouston.   On the first stage McLatchie beat Barrow home and Ayr led the field until the final quarter-mile stage when A Ballantyne caught and passed the very good young Ayrshire runner JC Stewart who was the reigning Junior 440 yards champion.   Finishing order was Victoria Park from Ayr Seaforth with Bellahouston Harriers third.   Winning time was 3 minutes 34 seconds.   

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7th September 1963, saw the Shotts Highland Games host the medley relay championships for men and women once again but this time, it was pointed out by the Press that the defending champions Victoria Park had turned out a weakened team because their leading half-milers were engaged elsewhere.   After coming so near to winning in 1962. the Ayr Seaforth team made no mistake this time round.   They led throughout and defeated Bellahouston Harriers by three yards in 3 minutes 38 seconds – four whole seconds slower than the VP team of the previous year.   Their team consisted of J Davidson, C Stewart, R McCrindle and R Billson.   Bellahouston were second and the Edinburgh team of Octavians was third.   

In 1964, the title was won by the Glasgow University team that was really flying high and with a team containing Brian Scobie and Ming Campbell won the title for the first time since 1950.   It was a slightly different scenario in 1965.     On another wet afternoon in Shotts – the weather over the years had not been kind to the meeting – the University squad of Scobie, Campbell, McGeoch and Barclay Kennedy had to give best to the Bellahouston Harriers team.   Mike McLean was the lead off runner for the Harriers and was 20 yards plus upon Scobie at the end of the half-mile stage.    H Robertson, W Robertson and Hugh Baillie maintained the lead and the University had lost the title.   They won by 25 yards with Dumbarton AAC third.   

In 1966, once it was known that Scotttish 440 yards champion Hugh Baillie was not running for Bellahouston the club was regarded as joint favourite with Edinburgh’s Octavians club.   W Robertson, normally a 220 yards runner, stepped up to the quarter mile leg and the club won from Octavians and Edinburgh AC.   The winning time was 3:32.1 and the team was composed of M McLean, J Williams, W Carmichael and W Robertson.   

In 1967,  Baillie was back in the team and maybe wished he weren’t.   I quote the report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’.

“One Scottish title was settled – and in the most frustrating manner possible for the former holders, Bellahouston.   Victoria Park, having been second in the AAA’s Championships earlier in the year, were favourites even without the services of P Hepburn, one of their 220y runners.   An unconvincing first leg (880 yards) by WH Barrow left Victoria Park with only a slight lead, and as the last leg (440 yards) was about to begin, they had at most a yard in hand over Bellahouston, although – enough we thought, for H Baillie (Bellahouston) to catch RT Laurie.   In a scrambled changeover, however, Baillie was knocked prostrate on the track by an incoming opponent, Laurie was gone, unaware of his rival’s bad luck, and he raced home a clear winner.

The blame really rests with an association which can award the holding of a national event to a meeting whose track has no lane markings, and is approximately 17 feet wide instead of at least 24. “

The final result was first, Victoria Park AAC in 3:4.8 with a team of WH Barrow, A Wood, J Duguid and RT Laurie from Edinburgh AC in 3:36.8 and Bellahouston in 3:37.3.   

Whoever was responsible for Baillie’s tumble, The outcome for Shotts Highland Games was a bad one.   This was the last year that the SAAA One Mile Medley Relay was held at Hannah Park.   Complain as the reporter might, it was the longest period since the War that the relay had been held at the one venue – nine championship races in all.      The 1968 relay was won by Bellahouston in a time of 3:37.8 to give them three championships in four years – it might so easily have been four in four.

1968 was also the last year in which the medley relay was an imperial mile distance: with the Empire and Commonwealth Games coming in 1970, all track distances became metric.   The medley relay was now a 1600m event and the first was won by the quartet at the top of the page in 1969.

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Tom Riddell, Shettleston

Maryhill and Edinburgh University AC might have swapped the title for the first 11 years of its running, but they were only to win it once each in the ten years from 1930 to the outbreak of war in 1939.  

The SAAA championships were held on the last Saturday in June but one week earlier, on 20th June 1930, there was an invitation relay at the Glasgow Police Sports at Ibrox which gave the main contenders a chance to test their team against the opposition.   Glasgow University, Maryhill Harriers, Shettleston Harriers and Edinburgh Harriers were all n the starting line, and all had their top men out.  The race went to Glasgow University whose team of N Morison, JL Smith, R Murdoch and I Borland was too good for their Edinburgh equivalents, represented by HC Maingay, RA Howson, FP Reid and GM Wells, winning by five yards in 3 minutes 39 3/5th seconds.   Maryhill Harriers were third.   The headline on the article reporting the race was “Borland’s Great Effort in Relay Race”, and the report said:

“The best running of Crawford and Borland on Saturday was accomplished in the mile relay race, one of the most interesting events, by the way, of the season.   Crawford, running one of the furlongs for Shettleston, exhibited all his wonted smoothness of action, and he was much better here than in his heat in the sprint where he appeared to have some trouble opening up.   The intervening week however should see him properly tuned up for the Championships.  

The disappointment of the race was HC Maingay.   Either he was under form or he under estimated the finishing powers of J Hood, the Shettleston runner, for he was content to remain in the ruck until the finishing straight,  and when he did go out he was unable to peg back Hood’s lead, being beaten by almost five yards.   Maingay’s big swinging stride demands plenty of room, and had he gone into the lead right away there would have been a different story to tell.   He was obviously cramped, moving away from the head of his field.   Hood’s time for the half mile was 2 min 2 sec, and only last week at the St Peter’s meeting Maingay was returned as doing 1 min 55 1/5th sec.   The Glasgow University’s winning time was 3 min 38 3/5th sec – 1 3/5th sec outside the record created by Edinburgh University at the same meeting last year.”

The same four clubs contested the national championships but with a much different result.   Shettleston switched Hood from the 880y opening stage to the 440y last leg, and ran Tom Riddell on the first stage against Maingay and Calderwood.   Maingay had won the half mile but on the half mile leg of the medley relay he had to give best to Riddell and Shettleston went on to win the event for the first time and break the duopoly of Edinburgh UAC and Maryhill Harriers.   They won by 12 yards in a time of 3 minutes 45 seconds from Edinburgh with Maryhill third and Glasgow University fourth.  

The Police Sports in 1931, held on 20th June at Ibrox before a crowd of 15000 spectators, again held an invitation relay in which the Maryhill Harriers team of Calderwood, Hamilton, Turner and P Dolan won by 20 yards from Shettleston Harriers, Glasgow University and Dublin Metropolitan Guards in a time of 3 minutes 40 seconds.   Came the championship the following week and there were some significant changes in personnel.   Maryhill ran D McBride in place of Hamilton, and Shettleston ran sprinter Crawford who hadn’t run the week before, and J Hood, who had won the half mile, on the 440 yards leg of the relay.  Going in to the race, Tom Riddell had won the mile easily (by 30 yards) and James Hood had won the half mile by inches from Wells (EUAC) and Calderwood.  The Glasgow Herald report read:

“James Crawford did not defend his title in the 100 yards, but he turned out for Shettleston in the relay.   He was obviously far from his best, but with Riddell returning 2 min 1 3-5th sec in the half mile sector, and Hood running the quarter in 52 sec, the champions stalled off Maryhill’s challenge.   This was one of the best relay races seen in the championships, the margin between the two teams never large, and the issue in doubt until the last few yards.   The time – 3 min 40 1-5th sec – has only once been bettered in the championships, and that by Edinburgh University in 1922.”

R Graham

In 1932 the report on the Glasgow Police Sports at Ibrox on 18th June began 

“If it were for nothing else than the fact that it produced the finest relay race seen in Scotland for many years, the Glasgow Police meeting held on Saturday must be written down as one of the most successful in a long series extending back for almost half a century.   It is a coincidence that the existing native relay record of 3 min 37 sec  was made by the Edinburgh University team at the same meeting three years ago and that new figures should have been set up at the Police meeting again and also by a students team, this time from Glasgow.   There was some criticism on the last occasion of admitting the Edinburgh performance as a native record on the grounds that RL Howland, an Englishman, was a member of the team.   There can be none this time, for N Morison, M Stone, I Murdoch and IM Borland , the winning quartette on Saturday, are all Scottish born.

“After the opening half mile sector of the race, a new record was always in prospect, and it was no surprise that the time, 3 min 34 3-5th sec,  2 2-5th sec faster than the old time,  was announced.   This represented excellent racing on the part of all four students, and also by all four Maryhill men, as the national champions finished only inches behind the winners and well inside the record also.   Figures on the record book are there, they say, for all to read, but what will matter to Saturday’s twenty thousand spectators is not so much the time, excellent though it is, but the memory of a magnificent race by both teams redolent of the highest courage.

“So evenly were both teams matched that the decision was in doubt from the time the half=milers started racing seriously, 300 yards from the first changeover, until the tape was broken.   Where all did well it is possibly dangerous to to select individuals for special mention, but it is an undoubted fact that the two men who contributed most to the excellence  of the race as a spectacle were Neil Morison in the half mile and FW Brown in the quarter.   Morison has been well known as a miler for the past few seasons, and has recorded many good performances over that distance, but few, even among his Westerlands admirers realised that he could get the half mile under even time as he did on Saturday.  Nor was it expected of Brown, already regarded as a sprinter, would concede Ian Borland three yards over a quarter and come very near to springing the surprise of the season.   Yet both things happened with the result that the race was intensely exciting.”

What a build up to the SAAA Championship the following Saturday!   The facts of the result: 

1,   Glasgow University (Morison, Stone, Murdoch and Borland)  2.   Maryhill Harriers (Calderwood, McBride, Turner and Brown)  3.   Springburn Harriers   

In the championships, an experimental holding of the heats for the sprints on the Friday night was declared a great success and the racing in the short sprints of the highest quality – but there was no reporting of the relay with only the result being given.   This was possibly because of the absence of a strong Glasgow University team despite the fact that all of their men from the previous week were competing.    In their absence, Maryhill Harriers won with a team of Calderwood, McBride, Hamilton and Brown in a time of 3 min 37 sec.   Second was Shettleston Harriers (Riddell, Kennedly, McLaughlin and Buchan) and third Springburn Harriers (Scott, Carson, McKee and Keill).   A very weak Glasgow University team was noted as having ‘also competed’.   This was Maryhill Harriers’ sixth victory in the event.

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In 1933 the Glasgow Herald report on the Police Sports Meeting was headlined ‘EXCITING RELAY AT POLICE SPORTS MEETING’.   15,000 spectators were present on what was described as a cold, blustery windy day with showers of rain to see what was a good day’s athletics.   The report on the medley relay went on –

“The outstanding feature of the afternoon, as last year, was the Mile Relay and although the time recorded by the Glasgow Police team was slower than the record of 3 min 34 3-5th sec set up by Glasgow University a year ago, conditions were much worse on Saturday.   As a race it was the keenest relay seen on a Scottish track for many years, and the three teams that finished first, second and third were so evenly balanced that interest was maintained from the pistol to the tape.   Each of the three teams led in turn, Glasgow Police at the first changeover, Maryhill at the end of the first quarter, Glasgow University at the final change over and the Police came in again at the finish to win by a bare two yards from the students.

“In the half-mile sector run in 2 min 3 sec J Scott had the measure of WH Calderwood who has yet to find his best form.   The furlongs provided some good running.   AD Turner and Robin Murdoch ran impressively.   Murdoch, called upon to concede PW Brown three yards, overhauled his man and led him a yard at the change over.   SE McKinnon, the ex-Shettleston man now with the Police, also ran excellently against the wind and it was this that gave R Davie his chance in the quarter mile.   

Davie is running better than ever and much more consistently, and on this showing must possess an excellent chance of winning over this distance at the Scottish championships.   He defeated both NM Glen, the inter-University champion, and R Graham after being behind at the final change over.   He was unofficially timed as being slightly under 50 sec.   Glen ran  a good race but despite the fact that he spiked himself at the first bend, a wound that necessitated three stitches when he went to the Western Infirmary afterwards for treatment.   The toll that his recent operation has taken on his strength was noticeable in R Graham’s running.   He was with Davie and Glen until 200 yards from the tape but failed to last home.”

The result   1.   Glasgow Police (J Scott, M Shaw, SE McKinnon and R Davie)   3 min 40 1-5th sec;   2.   Glasgow University (N Morison, I Borland, R Murdoch and NM Glen);   3.   Maryhill Harriers  (WH Calderwood, AD Turner, PW Brown and R Graham).   Won by two yards.

Edinburgh University AC won the SAAA Championships in 3 min 37 2-5th sec.    It is a bit ironic that at a time when the public were avid relay enthusiasts and when the events were hotly contested by the clubs, the national championships were scantily reported upon.  In 1933 neither the Glasgow Herald nor the Scotsman reported this event at the championships and we have only the results available.   These are as follows:

1.   Edinburgh University AC     GA Smith, SE Martin, RA Howieson, RB Wylde   3 min 37 2-5th sec   Won by three yards
2.   Shettleston Harriers   TM Riddell,  J McRoberts, W Kennedy, J Hood
3.   Glasgow Police AC       J Scott, M Shaw, E McKinnon, R Davie

Maryhill Harriers, the holders did not compete.    

Donald MacLean

The decade began with the club’s sports being held on June 9th, 1930.    It was a typcially busy June Saturday’s athletics with meetings being held in Edinburgh, Shotts and Alloa in addition to the sports held by Catrine AAC, Singer’s Factory and Falkirk Scouts.   There was also a whole range of Schools championships including Glasgow High, Hutcheson’s Grammar, Bellahouston Academy, Larchfield School, Hyndland Secondary, North Kelvinside, Jordanhill, Greenock Academy and Ardrossan Academy.  And always on the first Saturday of June, there was the Scottish University Championships – held in 1930 in Edinburgh.  They were all well supported and reported on in the pages of the ‘Glasgow Herald’ which said of the Queen’s Park FC Sports, held in front of a crowd of approximately 5000 spectators:

  The outstandingt feature of an excellent Queen’s Park meeting was the much improved form shown by Donald MacLean the ex-Mile champion.   Running in the two mile team race, he disposed of a field which included WJ Gunn, WH Calderwood and F Stevenson, in excellent style.   The pace he set and maintained in the  final lap was too much for even these experienced runners, and his winning time of 9 mins 30 3-5th secs was better than that of J Suttie Smith a week ago at Tynecastle, where MacLean only finished fifth, a long way behind the Dundonian.   So it is evident that MacLean has found some running in the interval, and a continuance of that will bring him right into the picture at the Scottish championships.   

The other two special events were not so satisfactory, as Duncan Wright had only local runners opposing him in the 13 mile road race, and, veteran though he is, he is still much too good for anyone in Scotland in an event of this kind.   The absence of the students from the Edinburgh team robbed the intercity relay of much of its interest, Glasgow winning very easily.  One would have liked, however, to have seen J Drummond, the Stewarts master, in better circumstances.   His running in the quarter was promising in face of an impossible task.

James Crawford made a fleeting first appearance of the season, running only in the heats of the 100 yards.   Here he was beaten out of a place behind two runners who dead-heated in 10 4-5th secs. and it was apparent that he was short of his best and had only turned out in loyalty to his club.   Open sprints are very hot races this season   , and in this particular one even time was recorded in five of the heats and also in the Final won by that sterling runner, AD Turner off 4 yards.   Turner also qualified for the Final of the furlong but failed to get through to a place.   In this event, W McLaughlin of Springburn ran a fine race, only being beaten off five yards in 22 3-5th sec.   As at Maryhill’s meeting, the Mile was divided into two sections, a much more sensible fashion than asking back-markers to plough through a crowded field.   SK Tombe of West of Scotland, who has been under something of a cloud this season, ran a well-judged race to win one of the heats in good time.   The final of the half mile was an exciting one, JB Donaldson of Edinburgh Northern, defeating J McKell of Springburn, only after a struggle which lasted over the last 80 yards.”

The names mentioned were all very good one – Dunky Wright had won the British Empire Games in 1930, Walter Gunn, Walter Calderwood, Sammy Tombe and Donald Maclean were noted distance runners and Scottish internationalists too while Crawford and Donaldson were national sprint champions.   Many of the Scottish football clubs had their own sports meetings – Rangers, Celtic, St Mirren and Queen’s Park were among those who held amateur meetings while Clyde FC’s Sports meeting was a professional one whch only became amateur after the 1939-45 War.   The big names tended to head for Ibrox and Parkhead where the expenses were probably better  but Queen’s Park had more than it’s share of international athletes competing.

Tom Riddell

There was no report at the end of May or start of June in 1931 of a club sports meeting – possibly because it was a Glasgow Civic Week Sports Day and many excellent events were organised in the course of the first week in June, but they were back in 1932.   On 30th May, the ‘Glasgow Herald reported on the meeting under the headline “NEW SCOTTISH RECORDS AT HAMPDEN:  RIDDELL AND SMITH RUN BRILLIANTLY ”  11 open events, six invitation events and a five-a-side tournament won 1-0 by Rangers over Third Lanark.   Held in ‘showery’ weather and before another 5000 crowd, the track was reported as being fast – it could hardly be anything else with two Scottish records and other fast races on the programme.   The report is accordingly a bit longer than the usual, and it reads:

“Although the rain made things somewhat disagreeable for the crowd at Queen’s Park FC meeting at Hampden on Saturday afternoon, it had little effect on the excellently prepared track, and when the blustery wind which blew at the commencement of proceedings died away the conditions were excellent for fast running and outstanding performances.   Both were forthcoming, for not only was fast time recorded in the track events without exception, but two new Scottish native records were created.    

The first of these fell to T Riddell, the Scottish mile champion who crossed from Belfast to run at the meeting.   Runnin g from scratch in the three-quarter mile handicap, he cobered the distance in  3 min 6 1-5th sec, this being 3 4-5th sec faster than the previous record made by himself at the evening meeting of the Shettleston and West of Scotland clubs on the same track three years ago.   Riddell ran a magnificent race, caught his men a furlong from home and went on to win by 15 yards.   He finished so fresh that the impression was left that had he been pushed in the last quarter his time would have ben even better.   He returned 59 sec in the first quarter, 63 sec in the second and 64 1-5th sec in the final lap.   Riddell’s races have been comparatively few on the Scottish tracks in the past three seasons but on each occasion he has demonstrated the loss sustained by Scottish athletics when he took up permanent residence in Ireland.

The three mile scratch race was in some respects the best of the afternoon as it provided the man-to-man duel that is always acceptable to the people on the terracing.   J Suttie Smith and JF Wood were the central figures and it was the rivalry between the pair that enabled Smith to slice 3 sec off the 14 min 44 1-5th recorded by Wood when running against Paavo Nurmi at the Rangers meeting last August.   During the past two seasons Smith has been somewhat over shadowed but on this occasion he was at his very best, running with an easiness and poise and with a confidence that was impressive.   He was content to let Wood do  the pacing practically throughout the whole journey, but when the final lap was entered upon he was within strikingdistance, and getting on terms halfway down the back straight, passed Wood to win by a good 10 yards.   Wood ran up to form.   He equalled his own record time, but for the afternoon he had met his master.   The revival shown by the Dundee man was a welcome one and a great race is promised when R Sutherland and Wood meet in the Scottish championships a month hence.   

FP Reid took part in two races, the 120 yards and the intercity relay, and ran well in both.   At the time the sprint was run off there was a troublesome head wind, and in the circumstances his time of 12 2-5th sec, altough slower than his two times at Ibrox last Monday evening was quite satisfactory.   His victory however was a narrow one, DA Brownlee, the inter-scholastic champion, disputing the verdict right to the tape.

There was an interesting  meeting in the second of the furlongs between Reid and AD Turner, the hope of the West.  The Maryhill man has been laid off with an injured muscle, but seemed to run with all his old power.  At the take-over Turner was about three yards ahead, but the chmpion was quicker into his stride and caught the Glasgow runner to hand over two yards in the lead.   His good race was, however of no avail, as CD Hume proved no match for Ian Borland over the quarter on this slender lead.   Borland ran an excellent quarter, probably as good as anything he has done in fully two years, and indeed the running all round in this race was distinctly above the ordinary, as the time 3 min 45 4-5th sec indicates.   This is 1 1-5th inside the Scottish record, but being accompished by a composite team, will not rank.   JP Laidlaw and J Hood had an interesting tussle over the half-mile section, and RHH Wallace of Stewart’s ran very well when opposed to PW Brown in the first of the furlongs.

The absence of WJ Gunn and M Rayne from the Plebeians team reduced the team race to a struggle between Maryhill and Shettleston, the former being declared winner by 21 points to 23.   It transpired afterwards that some mistake had been made in Maryhill’s placings and their total should have been 16.   The difference came through one man being omitted and it might have been serious if the first decision had been overturned.  

In all the open events run on the cinders, the times returned were very fast.   In the 220 yards 22 2-5 was recorded by the winner, in the 440 yards 50 2-5th, in the half-mile 1 min 57 1-5th, and in the two Miles (first and second class) 4 min 21 4-5th and 4 min 20 3-5th.   The outstanding performance in this section was undoubtedly that of R Graham (Motherwell) who  won thefirst class Mile of 25 yards.   This marks him out as running  inside 4 min 27 sec and that puts him right among the best in Scotland.   Since coming into prominence in the closing meetings of last season he has made rapid progress.   For a Youth his judgement in running is exceedingly good and his finishing shows perfect timing and stamina.”

The complete results are available in the Glasgow Herald and make for interesting reading – eg Rab Foreman from Edinburgh had the only double at the meeting and he went on to be President and Secretary of the SAAA and he was also team manager for the Empire Games team.

R Graham

On 29th May, 1933  there was another record at the Queen’s Park Sports as well as a major upset when Tom Riddell was beaten by Jackie Laidlaw over 1000 yards.   Held in excellent conditions, the spectators again numbered about 5000.    The record was for the three miles and was set by Tom Blakely of Maryhill Harriers.   His time was 14:33 which was 5.2 secs faster than his own existing record, set at Parkhead a year earlier.   It was also his second record of the week: he had set the two miles record six days earlier at 9:19.8.   In comparison to Shrubb’s all-comers record, Blakely’s three miles was onl 5.8 seconds slower.    It was quite exceptional running.   Splits?   First mile in 4:45, second in 4:57.   Plebeian Harrierswon the team race.

Riddell was beaten by Jackie Laidlaw who was off 10 yards, but that made no difference as Laidlaw’s time was actually faster tan Riddells’ who was well beaten.   It was Laidlaw’s third victory in ten days: he won two miles at Monkland Sports the previous Saturday, and then won a half mile at Maryhill on the Monday.   Against that it was Riddell’s first race of the season.   Most of the sprinters from the previous year were in action – Reid and Turner were specially mentioned and the 440 yards for the Eric Liddell Bowl was another great race won by E Davis – formerly Springburn but now running for Glasgow Police.   Laidlaw ran the first (half mile) stage of the relay.   Calderwood of Glasgow was only five yards down however and  AD Turner, Robin Murdoch and Ian Borland saw the Glasgow team win.

It was a good afternoon with seven open events, six invitation events, one cycle race and a five-a-side tournament which Celtic won 1 – 0 over Partick Thistle.

Jackie Laidlaw

There were no results of any QPFC meetng in 1934, so the next one to look at is the one held on 1st June 1935.    There were more consecutive reports of outstanding meetings held by Queen’s Park in the 1930’s than I can remember in any previous decade.   This one began (and I only quote the first two paras):

“The principal open meeting on Saturday was that of Queen’s Park, and it is questionable whether during its long and honourable history our premier club has staged as satisfactory and afternoon’s sport.   The class of competitor was the best that Scotland can produce, and if the conditions were not perfect – there was a strong breeze troubling the runners in the track events – the performances on the whole were of a distinctly good standard.”

There were four events chosen as of particular merit.   The first of these was the inter-city relay which was won by Edinburgh.   R Graham of Glasgow ‘won’ the first stage in 2 minutes but Turner and Murdoch lost a lot of ground over the two furlongs to Littlejohn and Blair.  Wylde of Edinburgh had a good eight yards lead on Murray of Glasgow at the start of the final quarter and, although he eventually caught his man, he could not maintain his effort and the resulting Edinburgh win was regarded as a bit of an upset.   Tom Riddell made his first appearance of the season in a ‘special mile’ invitation held ten years after hehad fought out a thrilling Mile against MacLean of Maryhill but this time, although he was running, MacLean was not able to figure in the race.   Riddell had forecast lap times and managed to hit them – 62 sec, 2 min 6 2-5th, and 3 min 13 25th – and won in 4 min 18 sec.   The third race highlighted was the 440 yards, won by Charlie Francis (the old Kelvinside Academy pupil) from CF Campbell of Springburn with back-marker Botha (scratch) third.   In the three miles, the sub-headline read ‘Laidlaw Wins Again’ and that was the story.   He defeated W Sutherland of Shettleston in 14 min 59 2-5th sec although Shettleston won the team race.

As for the other events, Edinburgh also won the half-mile relay and one of thes surprises of the meeting was the form of the Springburn athletes who won the 100 yards (A Campbell), 100 yards Youths (JJ Watters), 220 yards (A Campbell), Mile (A Montgomery) and had seconds in the half-mille (AE Nimmo) and high jump (EG Laird).

In the five-a-sides, Hamilton Academicals beat Rangers in the final by 2 goals to none.   Yet again were the Sports held in fine weather and yet again the crowd numbered approx 5000.

The first Saturday in June in 1936 was the 6th, and there was good news and bad news for the club.   First of all the meeting ‘was favoured with the presence of outstanding English athletes’  but on the other hand the spectators totalled only about 3500.   The weather was dry but apparently not conducive to good times although W Roberts of Salford and Sweeney of Milocarians performed well.    Bill Roberts was a top class 440 yards runner who ran at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin where he was fourth in the final of the 400m, and was a member of the gold medal winning 4 x 400m team.   He also ran in the 1948 Olympics but did not progress beyond the heats.   His best time in 1948 was 48 seconds but when he ran at Hampden in 1936 he had run 46.8 seconds.   He won comfortably in 49 3-10th secs, despite having to run wide on the two bends, from eight of Scotland’s finest.

As for Sweeney, the report read: AW Sweeney, the English 100 yards and Empire sprint champion, ran in the heat and semi-final of the open 100 yards besides appearing in the 120 yards.   Throughout he showed how superior he was to all on view.   He won his 100 heat from scratch in 9 8-10th sec, but went out in the semi-final.   The sprint, by the way, fell to JE Creegan, Uddingston, who conquered Sweeney in the cross tie and won the final in 9 6-10th sec from his mark of 6 yards – probably the fastest sprint ever run at Hampden.   

There was no report of a meeting in 1938 – that was the year of the Empire Exhibition event and there were many events put on that summer.   Many events were also cancelled for the festival and maybe the Queen’s Park Games was one of them: maybe it was moved to another date or even included in another meeting.   Whatever the reason there was no Sports held by the club at the end of May or start of June that year.   Withe the War starting the following year, that was also a blank as far the meeting was concerned.

John Astley Cooper was born in Adelaide in 1858 but lived all of his adult life in England where he died in 1930.   He is listed in the Oxford Index as ‘a propagandist for athleticism’ and it is this role that affects the appearance of the British Empire Games.

 In 1891, John Astley Cooper proposed the establishment of a periodic festival to celebrate the industrial, cultural, and athletic prowess of the Anglo-Saxon race.   He publicised his idea of a sporting event that would include the British Empire and include the United States wherever he could.  Notably he wrote letters and articles in ‘Greater Britain’ of July 1891, a letter to The Times in October of the same year, and articles in ‘Nineteenth Century’ in September 1892 and July 1893, suggesting a Pan Brittanic, Pan Anglican Contest every four years as a means of increasing goodwill and understan’ding of the British Empire.   The scheme was one of many designed to strengthen links within the Empire, but its uniqueness lay in the fact that although he saw it as having three aspects – industrial, cultural and sporting – the athletic portion soon overshadowed the other two aspects, and Cooper’s Pan-Britannic Festival concept was the first detailed plan of a multi-sport gathering for the Empire to appear in print.

When Baron Pierre de Coubertin was working up the concept of the Olympic Games, he asked for ideas and comments from many people and in England he visited Much Wenlock and discussed their version of the Olympics, and also visited and spoke with Cooper.   But where Cooper’s Games were ethnic in nature and had the aim of strengthening and celebrating the Empire, de Coubertin’s Games were much wider in concept.

In 1911, the Festival of the Empire was held at The Crystal Palace in London to celebrate the coronation of George V. As part of the Festival of the Empire, an Inter-Empire Championships was held in which teams from Australasia, Canada, South Africa, and the United Kingdom competed in athletics, boxing, wrestling and swimming events.   Cooper’s ideas were known throughout the Empire and this was especially the case with Australia where Richard Coombes in particular advanced the cause.   Coombes had been born and educated in England and moved to Australia in 1886.   He was heavily involved in athletics, helping to found the New South Wales AAA.   He wrote many articles supporting the notion of a Pan Britannic Festival under several different pen-names and his version included rowing, running and cricket.   Katherine Moore of Queeen’s University, Belfast, in a paper entitled ‘One Voice in the Wilderness: Richard Coombes and the Promotion of Pan-Britannic Festival Concept in Australia, 1891-1911′ sad of Cooper’s letter to ‘The Times’ in 1891: 

The Times published a letter in which Cooper sought to present his concept in a more precise form. The industrial and culture sections of the proposal were outlined in some detail, but this article will concentrate on the sporting suggestions. The future relationship of the various portions of the Empire, wrote Cooper, rested chiefly in the hands of the young men of the Empire, including young England, young Australia, young South Africa, and young Canada, and an Imperial athletic contest would be very attractive to most Englishmen whether settled in the United Kingdom or resident  beyond the seas.  This certainly proved to be true in the case of Richard Coombes. The proposed athletic contests initially included rowing, running, and cricket, that great Imperial link. The argument for Cooper’s Pan-Britannic Festival was strengthened by his perceptive comment that the cultural, industrial and athletic links already were in existence, and he was merely identifying some funding schemes whereby those ties could be made firmer by coming together periodically for a celebration of Imperial achievements”

Moore’s paper is easily found on the internet and anyone with interest in the genesis of the Commonwealth Games should maybe read it.

Bobby Robinson of Canada took up the cause fter the 1930 Olympic Games where he was incensed by the behaviour of the Americans and Germans and is the one generally credited with starting up the British Empire Games.   When the announcement of these Games was made, Astley Cooper claimed much of the credit but his aim had been ‘to show through a Festival of sport and culture that Anglo-Saxons ruled the world.   Americans would have been invited, there would have been cricket matches, and an Imperial Holiday.’  [The quote is from Brian Oliver’s book on ‘The Commonwealth Games’ , 2014]

Oliver continues: “Robimson, three years old when Cooper wrote his letter to ‘The Times’ to set out his plans, would have been intrigued by a report in ‘The Observer’ in 1929 looking ahead to the Games in Hamilton.   ‘Mr James Astley Cooper is known in diferent parts of the Empire as the pioneer of this project,” wrote the correspondent after interviewing Astley Cooper, then in his seventies.   Astley Cooper then said “I am satisfied with indirect results, as far as they have been obtained.   Though my scheme did not attain in fulfilment … as I planned, I have done some spade work for the idea of the Imperial Games for the British peoples.  He made no mention of Canada or Bobby Robinson.

British newspaper readers were left in no doubt after the Games, Canada had ‘cut herself loose from the American orbit, and given a lead to the Empire that should inspire British sportsmen all around the globe.’.   Harold Abrahams, the British sprinter who won Olympic gold in 1924 before becoming one of the most influential voices in athletics in the first half of the twentieth century put the record straight.   “But for the unbounded enthusiasm and persistency of Mr Robinson”, he wrote, “the whole thing would never have started.”

Despite all the articles and discussions, Astley Cooper did not live to see his dream fulfilled – he died six months before the inaugural British Empire Games were held in Canada in 1930.

The above picture, taken on the boat across the Atlantic, has a caption that is a bit misleading: eg JF Wood is kneeling on the left, and Dunky Wright is kneeling on the right of the front row.   The very first Commonwealth Games squad to represent Scotland.  Ten other countries took part: England, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, Wales, British Guiana and Ireland.   Teams are listed here in order of the number of medals won.  The Scottish medal tally was three golds, three silvers and five bronze.   This was across all sports.   The sports covered were Aquatics (Swiming and diving), Athletics, Boxing, Lawn Bowls, Rowing and Wrestling.  While the Olympic Games used metric distances, the British Empire used (what else?) Imperial Measure Distances.

In the 100 yards, Canadian Percy Williams was first in 9.9 seconds while his team mate Fitzpatrick was third; they were split by an Englishman EL Page.  Roy Hamilton of Scotland was fourth in Heat two and did not qualify for the final, while team mate Ian Borland did not start.    Up a distance, in the 220 yards, the order was England (Englehart), Canada (Fitzpatrick), and South Africa (Walters) with Borland in heat three out of qualifying.   The quarter-mile Borland, third in the first heat, failed to get beyong the single race.   In the half-mile Tom Riddell failed to qualify and in the Mile, there was only Robert Sutherland who finished sixth.   Sutherland ran better in the Three Miles, finishing fourth and missing bronce by two fifths of a second.   Distance men are made of stern stuff and Sutherland was also fifth in the Six Miles, one place behind JF Wood for Scotland.   There were no Scots in the steeplechase, but Dunky Wright ended the medals drought when he won the marathon by over half a mile from England’s Sam Ferris.   There were no Scots in either of the hurdles races, nor were there teams in either of the relays.   In the field events, there were no representatives in the shot, discus or javelin but in the hammer Alexander Smith missed bronze by 6 inches and Archibald Murray was fifth, 5 feet further back.   There were no Scotsmen in any of the four jumps events.   The traditional Scottish strengths – distance running and hammer throwing with some sprinting – were to be seen in this, the very first Games.

The Greenock Glenpark Harriers crest

Everybody knows something about the sports meetings held by the big football clubs – Rangers, Celtic, Queen’s Park, etc, and there are works meetings such as the Babcock and Wilcox Sports at Renfrew and Dirrans Sports in Kilwinning but knowledge of the Greenock Glenpark Sports in the athletics community is strictly limited.   Held on the last Saturday in July, it was the start of three weekends of athletics meetings that drew big crowds.   Rangers Sports were on the first Saturday in August and Celtic on the second Saturday.   Held at Cappielow Park, home of Greenock Morton FC, they drew crowds of up to 11,000 spectators and attracted athletes from England, Ireland and even further field at times.   In the 1920’s such athletes as Eric Liddell were annual competitors at the meeting, but in the period before that the 1914-18 war made athletics difficult but the committee of the club did well and the meeting was held every year of the war.   We start this section in 1914 with a report from the ‘Glasgow Herald’.

“An unusually varied programme and the presence of several well-known competitors from England and Ireland attracted fully 5000 spectators to the athletic meeting of Greenock Glenpark Harriers at Cappielow Park on Saturday.   The weather was fair but cold, a strong breeze prevailing throughout the afternoon.   The wind favoured the sprinters and fast times were registered in the Heats of the 100 yards handicap, while the Final was won from scratch in a shade under 10 seconds.   The Irish champion, FRS Shaw, was a popular winner in this event and he also qualified for the final of the 220 yards, but to the disappointment of spectators, he was prevented by sickness from competing.   HJ Christie, who won his Heat easily, secured a narrow victory in the Final in which he improved his earlier time by a second.   In the three miles invitation handicap, FJ Ryder, Clonliffe Harriers, gave a fine exhibition of staying power and speed.   Starting from scratch, and conceding starts up to 280 yards, he gradually overtook a large field and won by 10 yards from W Brodie, Paisley YMCA Harriers, the winner of the two miles handicap at Ayr the previous Saturday.   Along with Ryder on the scratch mark, were GCL Wallach, ex-champion at four miles, and James Wilson, the ex-champion.   The trio kept together for fully two miles when Wallack fell back, and a little later Wilson also lost ground.   In the last lap Ryder made his effort, and with a fine burst of speed, overtook the field finishing strongly, as stated.   E Glover, Hallamshire Harriers, was entered for both the mile and the three miles but he did not compete.   Duncan McPhee. the Scottish half-mile and mile champion, was also an entrant for the three miles, but reserved himself for the shorter distance  in which he secured third place from AG Lang, Greenock Glenpark, and WP Brown, Glasgow YMCA Harriers.   Wallach also ran in the Mile, reserving 30 yards from McPhee but he was unplaced, securing however the prize for the first Glenpark man home after the three placed men.   The relay race proved an easy victory for the West of Scotland Harriers.   More than ordinary interest was imparted to the two miles walk by the presence of the English champion, R Bridge.   With the limit man 350 yards away, Bridge walked at a very fast pace throughout and finished half a lap ahead of the Scottish champion, Alex Justice, and finished in the very fast time of 13 min 57 3-5th sec, only 2-5th sec outside the Scottish all comers record.”

Held on 25th July, the sports were a great success with more than ten events plus the usual five-a-side competition in which Rangers beat Celtic 1-0 in the final.   The local club did well – in the relay they were second to the West team with Clydesdale Harriers third, the winner of the handicap mile, and finalists in almost every event.

GCL Wallach

By July 1915 hostilities had been joined and the war was well under way but a sports meeting was held organised by Glenpark on 31st July.   Under the heading of  Greenock Glenpark Harriers, the report read:

“An athletic meeting was held in aid of dependants of soldiers and sailors was held at Cappielow Park on Saturday afternoon.   The promoters were the Glenpark Harriers, and the meeting was under the patronage of Sir Hugh Shaw Stewart, Bart; the Lady Alice Shaw Stewart, the Provost, Magistrates and Town Councils of Greenock, Gourock and Port Glasgow; the Directorate of the Morton Football Club; the military and naval officers stationed in Western Renfrewshire, and a large number of prominent people in the district.   The programme embraced no fewer than eleven events, in addition to races for the Boy Scouts and the Boys Brigade, and the open and invitation events were supported by nearly all the Scottish runners and a number of well-known English and Irish competitors.    The military marathon race, for teams of twelve, attracted an entry of thirteen teams.   Competitors were required to cover a course of about 10 miles in miltary equipment, each team travelling and finishing as a unit.  The winning team proved to be one of those representing the 8th Provisional Battalion, HLI, who also furnished the runners-up, there being less than a minute in the times of the two teams.   In the two miles walking handicap, R Bridge the English champion gave a good exhibition of his unique talent, conceding starts of up to 350 yards, and winning by fully 200 yards.   Two of the invitation events, the quarter and the halfmile were won by G Dallas, Maryhill Harriers, who was followed in the shorter distance by GH Gray, of Salford Harriers, the winner of the hurdle race.   The latter event was over a distance of 220 yards, instead of the more usual 120, and the English champion was able to concede 16 yards to HD Soutter and won y a yard.

Fine weather prevailed and there was a crowd of 8000, the drawings at gate and stand amounting to about £300.   To this is to be added the sum of £45:1:9d, being the amount of a subscription amongst the workers in the Greenock Torpedo Factory.”

It is surprising that such meetings were able to be conducted thorughout the war period, albeit that the fields were a bit restricted because of the numbers on active service, but every did their bit and the money raised was put to good use.   The military marathon was a bit more of a challenge tha some of the events restricted to serving personnel – some were normal events (100 yards for soldiers only), others were more specific to the cause (‘stretcher races with a ‘body’ strapped to the stretcher), and some were simply displays.   On the same day there were sports at Tynecastle in Edinburgh ehere there were 11,000 spectators and drawings were £270 which went to the Red Cross Society

R Bridge appeared on the programme as  ‘London Walking Club and Glenpark Harriers’, and FJ Ryder, again from scratch, was second to a Glenpark runner to who he was conceding 295 yards.

James Wilson

The 1916 version of the Greenock Glenpark Sports was held on 29th July and instead of a report as such on the meeting, the ‘Glasgow Haerld’ commented at length in its ‘Notes on Sports’ column.

“It says much for the influence of Mr William Struthers, of Glenpark Harriers, that he is able to attract to the annual gala of his club so many visitors from England and Ireland.   The presence of such notable performers as Corporal Gamble of the Irish Guards, Bridge, the champion walker of England, Lieutenant Taylor, the rival of Applegarth, Gray, the famous hurdler, and Ryder of Ireland gave distinction to a full and varied programme.   Of those mentioned, only Gamble met with any great success.   He ran a magnificent race in the half mile and won on the tape after finding himself rather curtailed for room at the bend into the home straight.   He is a splendid specimen of athletic manhood, big of body and lithe of limb, and his pace and action are a delight to the eye.   Bridge did not feel too well after a night of travelling, and had to retires owing to that vexatious athletic infliction commonly known as ‘stitch’.   In any case he would have had to make a supreme effort to overtake the Scottish champion, Justice, who walked with great determination and pace and ultimately finished an easy winner.   Then Gray did not seem enamoured of the line of hurdles running diagonally across the pitch and did well to finish close up to Soutter of the promoting clubin the good time of 15 sec.   Wilson, the Scottish champion, a slim and graceful runner, had a splendid victory from scratch in the three miles handicap, in which he had more trouble in disposing of Lance Corporal Ross, the winner at Ayr, than in defeating such notabilities as Wallach and Ryder.   The dapper little Salford Harrier, Shelmardine, shone at the shorter distances.   A very nondescript Celtic five were defeated by Morton, and a team of Royal Scots Fusiliers, captained by the well-known athlete Sergeant Gutteridge, won the military marathon.   In view of the enterprise displayed by the promoters, it was gratifying to find the attendance of 7000 present, so that the local war funds will substantially benefit.”

The military marathon had been cut in half from the revious year, being held over only five miles in 1916.   The William Struthers mentioned was a hard working and highly respected official throughout Scottish athletics: he had been president of the SCCU in 1912-14 and would go on to be president of the SAAA in season 1922-23.

Duncan McPhee

There were three fixtures on 28th July, 1917 – Greenock Glenpark, Edinburgh and the professional meeting at Shawfield organised by Clyde FC.   As the war progressed so thenumber of events was reduced – partly because so many men were being sent to the front line to fight in the bloody battles of the 1914-18 War, partly because travel to meetings was difficult and partly because time was not available for training.    Nevertheless the Greenock meeting attracted a crowd of 5000 on a bright, sunny, July afternoon at Cappielow.   “Despite the absence of sporting celebrities from the fields of the south, the attendance was as large as ever and this was particularly gratifying in view of the subject to which the proceeds are to be devoted – The Greenock Sailors and Soldiers Families Association.   It was once more made evident that sporting interest does not so much depend on individual distinction as upon a certain equality of ability which ensures keen competition and engenders liveliness.   As so often occurs, members of the organising club figured prominently in the prize list: indeed they won three of the four open events.  LA Osborne was a double winner, and ran with great brightness and life in the hundred and furlong.   It was pleasing to find J Wilson, the Scottish four miles champion, successful in winning the half-mile, and for a time he looked like emulating Osborne’s feat by adding the two miles to the shorter distance, but a magnificnt finishing dash by Ross, the Edinburgh runner, deprived the local man of the double distinction.   Military items bulked largely in the programme, and as usual the aid of football was invoked to attract and entertain the crowd.   Our experience this season has been that these football tournaments are generally tedious because of their length, and uninteresting because of the incapacity of the average player to adapt himself to changed conditions. Most programmes would gain if the entries were limited to four or five teams as was the case at Cappielow. “

The programme was reduced to five events (heats for the sprints) plus the football, and the military marathon was now limited to the 3rd Royal Scots Fusilers, and run over six miles.   Winners were H Company, G Company and F Company; the five-a-sides were won by Celtic (1-0) over a Military Five, from Maryhill.

*

In 1918, still suffering from the exigencies of the war, the sports went ahead on 27th June.   There were several small scale meetings on that day and Glenpark’s was one of them.   “There was a large number of sports meetings promoted by a great variety of organisations.   For reasons connected chiefly with past history, the gala of Greenock Glenpark Harriers may be given pride of place.   It attracted a fine crowd, who were for the most part pleased that members of the home club figured so prominently in the prize list; for instance they monopolised all the laurels in the furlong.   It must be confessed that there is a tendency to sameness about athletic programmes these days – seldom is there any novelty in regard to the personel of the competitors or the nature of the competition, so that the appearance of GCL Wallach, a “pre-war Scottish champion” at Cappielow was a welcome variation from the ordinary. He ran well in the two miles but was unable to overtake Cuthbert, who finished in dashing style.   The Railwaymen’s Union had a successful gathering at Ibrox Park which should be of substantial assistance to the Orphan Fund.   The sport calls for little comment.”

There were five events (with heats in the 100 and 220 yards) and a five a side in which St Mirren beat Rangers 2-0.   The crowd totalled 8000 so the money raised for the families of serving members of the forces would have been considerable.   At Ibrox there were five events plus a tug o’war (won by Bargeddie and a five-a-side in which Vale of Clyde beat Benburb 3-0.   The Glenpark meeting with international runners taking part and lots of locals was clearly the meeting to be seen at.   It should be noted though that,as had been the case all along, the professional meeting at Shawfield, organised by Clyde FC had a much bigger crowd than any of the others with 20,000 in attendance on this weekend.   It also had the best five-a-side with Rangers beating Clydebank in the final by 2 – 0.

Cappielow Park, Home of Greenock Morton FC

After the war, on 26th July, 1919, matters were starting to get back to normal as was shown by the report in the ‘Glasgow Herald’.   Glenpark Harriers meeeting at Greenock on Saturday recalled some great athletic meetings of former days when the most famous amateur performers from England, Ireland and abroad came to the west of Scotland.   Among the competitors at Cappielow were two from New Zealand, one from Canada and several from England.   The presence of the Colonials in this country is, of course, due to the war, all three being members of the fighting forces, and it was an excellent idea of the Glenpark management to persuade them to compete.   Their running imparted distinction to the meeting, which otherwise could hardly have  reached the standard usually associated with Greenock.   The entries were not numerous, and some of the more prominent runners were engaged elsewhere but Sergeant Mason, Sergeant Lindsay, Sergeant Phillips and AM Nichols made amends for much and the meeting will stand out as one of the most interesting of the season.  Mason, who won the half-mile, is a commanding personality and a runner of exceptional ability.  

The first Heat had little more than started when it became apparent that none of the other runners could stay the pace he set.   He won as he liked in 2 min dead, and in the Final he improved to the extent of four fifths of a second, and left the impression that he could have done much better if necessary.   It is true that he was challenged in the straight by I Dobbie to whom he was conceding 35 yards, but the New Zealander found with no apparent difficulty the extra pace necessary to secure first position by a substantial margin.

No fewer than three Scottish champions were among the competitors – Sergeant Phillips, J Wilson and AH Goodwin.   The Canadian, who gained championship honours at Parkhead two weeksa month ago, did not start in the half-mile handicap but he rendered useful service to Glenpark, of which club he is a member, in the relay race, and he won the invitation quarter-mile from scratch, beating Mason narrowly in the last ten yards.   It was a matter for regret that the latter did not start in the invitation mile, as his running in the half-mile suggested that he would have given a good account of himself.   AH Nichols of the Surrey AC, was also a non-starter but he was reserving himself for the three miles in which he out distanced the field in the early stages  and ran the last lap like a quarter miler.   James Wilson, the four miles champion, and GCL Wallach, an ex-champion, ran together for a time but  the latter tired early, and Wilson had to go on alone most of the way.   Of the home competitors the most successful was A Forrester, of the promoting club,  who captured the 100 and 220 yards open handicaps.   Maryhill narrowly beat Glenpark in the relay race, though but for a faulty exchange in the furlongs, the Greenock team might have had the better of the champions.   The meeting was well handled and finished ahead of schedule with the final of the football tournament a win for the home five sending the crowd home in a good humour.”

Sergeant Phillips of Canada ran in the 800m in the 1924 Olympics in Paris.   The initiative shown during the period of the war and in its immediate aftermath would be shown to good effect in the 1920’s and would culminate in a match between Scotland and Canada at the Glenpark Harriers Games.

Greenock Glenpark Sports, 1920 – 1929