Category: Track and Field

HJ Christie has won the medal generously presented to the West of Scotland Harriers by Mr William Maley of the Celtic club, for the most number of points in connection with the evening meetings which that club has held during the summer months at Parkhead.    Christie last Wednesday won the handicap 300 yards in dashing style.   No one seems to have profited more than Christie from these handicaps and his success is an example and incentive to all who go in for track enjoyment and recreation.    It is the intention of the West of Scotland Harriers to hold one or two more evening meetings ere the season closes.

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The Scottish Amateur Athletic Association will entertain the Irish team and friends after the international match on Saturday in Milne’s Hotel in Edinburgh.   Mr Thomas Jack will be in the chair.   This is always a highly interesting function, the Irishmen making it so with their quaint humour and fine feeling, and no doubt there will be a pleasant revival of these and other features at the banquet on Saturday evening.

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Queen’s Park FC are making an interesting departure early in August in connection with their confined sports.   They will include either two or three handicaps open to all comers.   It is just possible the meeting will be sandwiched between the Rangers and Celtic functions with the hope, no doubt, of getting one or two of the big guns who are coming to Glasgow for these meetings to show their paces.   The Queen’s Park, to the great dismay of many of their warmest supporters, dropped their meeting in June, and it is by way of compensating for that disappointment that they are including a few open races at their club games next month.   If the American and other Olympic competitors are in Glasgow in the first ten days of August, it will be interesting to see if they are allured by the Hampden bait.

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The Ayr Football Club hold supplementary sports at Somerset Park this evening.   By an arrangement with Mr Shaw, the Ayr races will begin earlier than usual, so as not to interfere in any way with the sports at Somerset.   The entries show a falling off compared with last year, but the quality is as good if not better in some events, particularly in the cycle events and quality is preferable at any time to quantity.   Indeed, if we had fewer entries there would be less monotony in everyday amateur games.   We are never crestfallen when we see limited fields so long as the quality is above the average.   There will be no invitation sprint handicap this evening, and we think that the Ayr committee have made a mistake here.   They should cater as liberally for home runners as they do for strangers, however eminent.   Douglas McNicol, the SAAA Mile champion, will run in the 220 yards and 1000 yards handicaps.   He has seven yards in the sprint and is scratch in the distance race.

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Every thing points to a keen contest between Scotland and Ireland at Powderhall on Saturday.   Indeed the feeling is gaining ground that Ireland may pickup winning points, and if she does, no one will be greatly hurt for it is well that the honours should go round as frequently as possible.   Ireland, of course, has a very considerable lead though of late years Scotland has done uncommonly well.   HM Macintosh of Cambridge University AC has cried of and small wonder.   He has been more or less in harness since the beginning of the year and any little staleness he has been showing lately must be put down to that fact.   Six months constant training, which involves much self denial if it is to be effective, must have a staling influence, and the withdrawal of the old Glenalmond boy, while regretted, will be regarded as the inevitable result of his long and assiduous devotion to track preparation.   RC Duncan will run in his place.  It is to be hoped that WA Stewart and GLR Anderson, and other Olympic representatives will find it convenient to  be present.   Most of them will reach London on Wednesday and it is understood one or two will make tracks for Edinburgh without spending any time in the Metropolis.   There is always a most illuminating and educative display of athleticism at the matches between Scotland and Ireland and the one on Saturday is not likely to prove an exception in that respect.

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Cycle racing is always an important item in the programme of the Celtic Sports which always attracts the leading riders from England and Ireland as well as a full representation of native talent.   The following well-known cyclists among others, have intimated their intention of competing at Parkhead on 10th prox.:   RL Player, Cambridge, Victor Johnston, Birmingham,  FA Bamforth, Goole, F Boor, Cambridge, WP Murray, Belfast, E Payne, Worcester, CW White, Scunthorpe, TM Bancroft, Manchester, A White, Scunthorpe, and WH Kerr, Belfast.   With those and a number of the competitors in the Olympics present, the meeting will be more than usually international in character.

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It is gratifying to find the names of well-known athletes bulking so largely in recent medical passes and class honours lists at Edinburgh University.   GV Bogle, hon secretary of the Edinburgh University Athletic Club and a “triple blue” and SBB Campbell, the Irish international forward, have passed with distinction for degrees in medicine and surgery, and ordinary pases have been obtained by JM Elliott and E StJ Seelby (hockey internationals), TP Herriot (cricket international), G McConnell (Irish international forward), GG Marshall (Dalkeith Cricket Club), AWS Sichel (University Rugby Club) and W Ross Stewart (Edinburgh Academicals).   The following have also passed in less advanced examinations: AS Taylor (the Irish international three-quarter back), AW Gunn (the Scottish international half back), RM Hume (Edinburgh Harriers), LG Thomas and ARC McKerrow (University rugby blues), W Bird and MP Inglis (athletic blues), AR Hudson and HD Wright (cricket blues).   Class honours have been taken by WL Hunter, winner recently of the Edinburgh University athletic championships, EG Pyott (Watsonians), HJ Davidson, JHD Watson, AM Stewart and GD Ferguson (Edinburgh Academicals)JH Hood and P McCallum (athletic blues), AH Budler (cricket blue), A Cleland (golf gold medallist of the University), RHH Newton (hockey internationalist), S Arnott (rugby blue), GM Levack, FG Foster, RW Russell-Jones and JRS Mackay (Edinburgh Wanderers) and TA Fuller, RF Cesari, and C Dundee (Edinburgh University  A fifteen).

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Berlin has been chosen as the venue for the Olympic Games in 1916.   There is a feeling, growing in volume and influence, are coming too frequently and many would like to see the interval extended from four to ten years.   And Games every ten years would comply with all the objects and conditions laid down by the Olympic Association as fully and beneficially as as Games every four years.   The question of expense, too, is beginning to be felt by some of the countries.   Even England, with all its love of sport, and limitless financial resources, is finding it difficult to finance these Games, and unless something in the shape of a government grant is made, there will be a shortage of funds for the Berlin function of 1916.   The cost of sending a team to Sweden is enormous, and unless the British Olympic Association funds are amply replenished, the enthusiasm regarding the Berlin venture four years hence will be less fervent than it has been regarding the venture now in full swing in Stockholm.   The future of the Olympic Games, in fact, is bound up in the question of finance, and this has been discovered long ago by those who know something of the inner life of athletics, not only in Britain but in other countries as well.

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James T Soutter will make the International Match between Scotland and Ireland his last appearance for the season.   Mr Crichton extended an invitation for him to run at the Rangers Sports, but he had to decline for academic reasons.

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A party of Scottish competitors for the Olympic Games sailed from Granton on Saturday afternoon, including, among others, RC Duncan (West of Scotland Harriers, R Burton (Berwick Harriers) Miss Bella Moore (Glasgow), GT Cornet (Inverness), W Pearson (Paisley),  W Kirkwood (Paisley) and the team of cyclists who are to take part in the great 200 miles road race.

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Lord Desborough , who is taking a very keen interest in the Olympic Games, has just created what must be regarded as a rather novel kind of record.   His election for the presidency of the Four-in-Hand Driving Club brought the number of natinal governing bodies in sport  of which he is president to nine, as follows – MCC, Amateur Fencing Association, British Olympic Council, Lawn Tennis Association, Croquet Association, Thames Punting Club, Four-in-Hand Driving Club, Coaching Club, Eoyal Life-Saving Society and Wimbledon Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

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At the summer meeting of the London Athletic Club last week, HM Macintosh, the old Glenalmond boy, won the 100 metres in 11 sec., beating among others D MacMillan and AED Anderson.   This is Macintosh’s best effort, and is in striking contrast to his poor performance at the AAA’s championships.   RFC Yorke won the 1000 yards in 2 min 17 sec which is an LAC record.   Yorke is a popular member of the London Scottish and a runner who can cover the 1000 yards in a time that ties with Scottish record is one upon whom the SAAA should keep a  watchful eye.

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George Hepburn, the old West of Scotland Harrier, shares the honour of having discovered JA Howard of Winnipeg who is expected to do something impressive at the Olympic Games.    He is a negro, stands six foot three inches and scales twelve stone.   With practically no training, Howard ran Meyers, of the New York AC, a very close race at Winnipeg last season, and the very fact that he is Canada’s first string for the sprints at Stockholm would seem to indicate that he is a first class runner.   Howard is employed at a dairy farm, the owner of which is an old West of Scotland Harrier.   It is possible therefore that he may visit Glasgow at the end of the Stockholm Games.

The Rangers FC are going to have a high class meeting this season.   GH Patching, WA Stewart, WG Applegarth, CN Seedhouse, GRL Anderson, AED Anderson, E Owen, Douglas McNicol and H Braun have all promised to come to Ibrox on Aug 3rd.   This will be Braun’s only appearance in Scotland.   It is just possible one or two of America’s Olympic representatives may also take part in the Rangers meeting.   Melvin Sheppard has pleasant recollections of his visit to the Rangers ground four years ago, and doubtless he will be keen to cement old friendships.   In the meantime it is the Rangers intention to confine their sports to one day with football a strong feature.   No meeting should exceed three hours, and the Rangers would do well to bear that in mind when making their final arrangements.   There is such a thing as sporting dyspepsia.

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Beith Football Club have the field all to themselves on Saturday first, and the success of their meeting is assured if one is to judge of the number of entries already received.   There was a representative of the committee at the Hamilton Academicals Sports on Saturday, and the manner in which entry forms were taken up was proof, if any were wanted, of the popularity of the Beith function among Western amateurs.   W Law of Bellahouston Harriers will make his first  appearance for the season at Beith.   He is one of the best sprinters in the District, and as Halswell’s ‘mascot‘ was a prominent figure on the path when that great runner was charming us with his marvellous speed gifts.   Last year Goodwin of Ayr FC was discovered at Beith; he won the 100 yards very cleverly, and confirmed the genuineness of his sprinting by holding his own at other meetings.   Goodwin is expected to take part in the sports at Beith on Saturday, and there are other Ayrshire runners who are coming to the support of the Beith club.

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Ireland will be represented by the following athletes in the contest with Scotland at Powderhall on 20th July:

100 yards flat race: S McCombe (Belfast, JH McVey (Belfast)

220 yards flat race:   FR Shaw (Dublin University), JH McVey (Belfast)

440 yards flat race:   J Gray (Limerick), JM Hill (Queens Park Harriers)

880 yards flat race:   JM Hill (Queens Park Harriers), R Hales (Bandon)

One Mile flat race:   R Hales (Bandon), FI Ryder (Dublin).

Five Miles Flat Race:   H Murphy (Hallamshire Harriers), FIO McNeill (Dublin),  FI Ryder (Dublin).

120 yards hurdles:   CR Dugmere (London), F Kirwan (Waterford).

Putting the Shot:   J Irwin (Dublin).

Throwing the Hammer:   JJ Flanagan (Kilmallack), D Carey (Dublin).

Long Jump:   F Kirwan (Waterford), T O’Donghue (Liverpool)

High Jump:   T Carroll (Kinsale), T O’Donoghue (Liverpool)

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England carries the palm for high-class performances at championships.   Except in the hammer she heads the list in every event, and in somethe superiority is more marked than in others.   With the 100 yards captured by a South African, the 880 yards by a German, the hurdles by an Anglo-Scot, the broad jump by an Irishman, the hammer by a Scotsman and the shot by an Irishman, England however does not have a great deal to boast of, and in a triangular international with Scotland and Ireland the fight would be much closer than some people are prepared to concede.   Something of a novel kind is required to quicken public interest in athletics, even in London, and thatsomething might be provided in a triangular international match.   The following table gives the championship results for the season:-

Events                                  England                 Scotland                 Ireland                Wales

100 yards:                             9 4-5ths                10 1-5th                  10 2-5ths             10 3-5ths

220 yards:                            22 secs                  23 1-5th                  23 4-5th               23 3-5ths

440 yards:                            49 4-5th               51 4-5th                   51 4-5th               56 3-5ths

880 Yards:                          1 min 58 1-5th      2 min 1 4-5th        2 min 2 sec          2 min 6 4-5th

Mile:                                     4 min 21 2-5th      4 min 31 4-5th      4 min 32 3-5th   4 min 30 3-th

Four Miles:                         20 min 10 4-5th     20 in 46 sec          20 min 52 sec              –

Hurdles:                               15 3-5th                    17 1-5th                 17 sec                     19 3-5th

High Jump:                         6ft 0 in                      5 ft 9 in                 6ft 1 in                   5 ft 5 in

Broad Jump:                       23 ft 2 1/2in            20 ft 9 in                22 ft 3 in               19 ft 5 in

Hammer:                             162 ft 3 1/4 in          150 ft 3 1/2in        165 ft 8 in                       –

Putting:                                44 ft 10 in                 48 ft 2 in                46 ft 10 1/2 in

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Owing to the large number of entries for the fencing events at the Olympic Games, the period of time allotted to them has been extended.   It was originally decided that they should begin on July 6th and conclude on July 14th but they will now begin on July 4th and finish on July 17th,   There will be adequate representation of the UK at the Olympic Games so far as numbers are concerned, the revised entries to date being as follows:

Wrestling … 12

Football … 18

Swimming … 32

Gymnastics … 34

Fencing … 24

National Rifle Association … 34

Clay Bird Shooting … 9

Athletics … 74

Cycling … About 20

Modern Pentathlon … 3

Rowing … 20

Horse Riding (Military) … 4

Grand Total   284

The yachting entries have to be added to the above and competitors and officials from the United Kingdon will number well over 300.

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HM Macintosh, the runner-up in the SAAA 100 yards championship will be able to make the journey to Sweden but cannot assist Scotland against Ireland at Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on July 20th.

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T Jack, President of the SAAA who has run and won his last championship, cannot get to Stockholm for the Olympic Games.   The British team will be all the poorer for the absence of one of the most genuine amateurs who has ever adorned the cinder track

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When in Glasgow DF McNicol, the SAAA Mile champion, indicated that owing to business reasons, he would probably withdraw from the Olympic team, and CFR Ruffell of Highgate Harriers may also for similar reasons decline the invitation of the AAA.   Both are outstanding runners, and the British team will be all the poorer should they not be able to go to Stockholm.

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Scotland’s reserves for the match against Ireland at Powderhall next month have now received the publicity they deserve.   George Dallas, Maryhill Harriers, will run in the quarter in the event of his services being required.   Eric Macdougall, West of Scotland Harriers, and Nicol Whitlie, Edinburgh Southern  Harriers, are the half mile reserves, WM CRabbie, Edinburgh Academicals, the mile; JC Thomson Edinburgh Harriers and Harry Hughes, West of Scotland Hariers, the three miles.

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The relay race at the London Athletic Club this evening over eight furlongs should be one of the best ever seen in this country.   The LAC will select their men from Messrs Stewart, Haley, Skeet, McMillan, Seedhouse, AE Anderson, Russell, Brown, Lilly, Gunton and  Palmer – all well-known South of England runners.   Skeet is at one of the London hospitals and some idea of his pace will be gained when we mention that in a 220 yards race some ten days ago he beat WA Stewart, the Scottish sprint and furlong champion.   Skeet I an Australian but for some regrettable reason has not been asked to represent the Commonwealth nation at the Olympic Games.

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Hamilton Academicals are on Saturday reviving what was one of the best amateur meetings in the Western District.   That was when WW Tait, TG McConnell and others of pleasant memory were ornaments of the track, and if we mistake not, Mr DS Duncan who has acted so long and with such acceptance as honorary secretary of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association, has one of the best miles standing to his credit under the auspices of the Hamilton Academicals.   At all events there are interesting recollections in connection with amateur athletics at Hamilton, and the Academicals are to be congratulated on reviving the function.   The arrangements are in the hands of Mr Thomas Moore who is well up in sports managements, from which point of view as well as others, the meeting on Saturday will be all that the most fastidious could wish.    There being no counter attractions of a similar kind in the Western District, all the best runners will be competing.

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The Glasgow Police Sports is one of the sporting institutions of the city.   They have a long and honourable tradition and there is no one in the whole force who does more to add to the prestige of the gathering than Lieutenant Mennie of the Northern.   He has held the convenership for a long number of years, more than he now cares to admit, and there is always something fresh in his arrangements.   Much has been written about dropping the field events for all comers, but the step, we are assured was not taken without the most careful consideration.    Professional heavy men will no doubt feel the loss of these events but they may be revived next year.   The fact is, there is a growing feeling within the force that, if it were possible, it would be better in every way if the meeting were run under SAAA Rules.   There have been informed discussions on the subject by leading gentlemen of both sides – the SAAA and Police Athletic Club – but the obstacles are formidable, and prejudices so strong that in the meantime no forward step can be taken.

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The Territorial Championships are to be held at the Marine Gardens on Saturday.   These should appeal to the Edinburgh imagination where volunteering has always been popular.   The London Scottish, now known as the 14th Battalion, won the London championship a few days ago with 23 points, the 12th Battalion being second with 17 and the 28th Battalion third with 12.   There are a number of good athletes in the London Scottish, one of the best being RFC York who won the mile as he liked in 4 min 36 2-5th sec York is a member of the London Athletics Club and he takes part regularly in open meetings, and if he comes North this week, as he is almost certain to, both T Jack and WM Crabbie, if they are again running, will not have matters all their own way.   It was at one of the Territorial functions that Crabbie formed a taste for open athletics, and the fact that he was provisionally chosen for the Olympic Games and is now reserve for the mile in the match Scotland  v  Ireland , would seem to indicate that his powers are held in high esteem by officials in the East of Scotland.   The twelve miles go-as-you-please in marching order , will most likely again end in a struggle between the “Greys” of London, and the “Greys” of Glasgow for first honours, with a preference for the former, who the other day broke their own record.   They would seem to be invincible at this form of athletic exercise and there would be no small excitement, even in Edinburgh, were the old 1st Lanark who have been training most assiduously, to break the continuity of triumph which has attended the London Scottish since marching of this kind was introduced into the Territorial Army.   The “team” at Parkhead on Tuesday were not particularly brilliant, but placing the results alongside the London Territorials, Glasgow should pick up a number of points, while Edinburgh, which has a strong University corps, including DS Campbell and others, may be trusted to guard the interests of the Scottish capital.

A Glasgow High School boy draws our attention to the interesting fact that at the recent sports of the Glasgow University AC as many as eight firsts out of eleven were captured by old pupils of that school.

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Either three or four of Australia’s Olympic team, all of whom claim Scottish blood, will take part in the Scottish championships on Saturday.   Murray, who has put up great times as a walker, is one and Hill, a very fine mile runner, is another.

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Harry Hughes (West of Scotland Harriers) described by an English paper as “the greatest distance runner in the country for his weight, 7 st 1 lb” may take part in the four miles SAAA championship on Saturday.   He has been doing excellent work on the track lately, his win in the three miles handicap at the Clydesdale Harriers sports demonstrating that there are great possibilities in this “physical marvel.”

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JA Campbell, who won the SAAA broad jump championship in 1902 with 21 ft 3 1/2 inches and in 1904 with 21 ft 9 inches, is home on a visit from South Africa.   Mr Campbell was schooled at Watson’s College, at whose sports he more than once distinguished himself; and whilein Glasgow he ran under the West of Scotland Harriers colours.   Mr Campbell’s interest in athletics is still keen and he hopes to witness the SAAA Championships at Ibrox this week.

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Clydesdale Harriers are holding sports at Clydebank on the 22nd.   They draw a lot of members from that district which is ripe for the introduction of amateur games of the class associated with the name Clydesdale Harriers.   A local colouring will be given in the programme, and possibly the Clydebank Football Club  will be asked to lend their help; at any rate, the sports will be held on their ground.

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At one time Bellahouston Harriers contemplated running an evening meeting, but they have now decided to confine their efforts in that direction to a few races for members of the club, and these will be brought off, probably next month.   Bellahouston Harriers have never made anything from their sports, and they are not disposed in the meantime to increase their liabilities – a very sensible resolution in view of the scant interest taken in athletics by the citizens of Glasgow.

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Babcoick and Wilcox Athletic Club are holding open sports on their ground at Renfrew on Saturday, and although clashing with the Championships at Ibrox, they are hopeful of getting a good entry.   The short mark men will of course be at the championships, and in their absence the others should run with an irresponsibility that in other circumstances they would not have the chance to display.   The B&WAC has done good work for athletics since it was formed, and the fact that they are holding an open meeting is an indication that they are fully alive to their responsibilities.

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HM Macintosh of Cambridge University has entered for the Scottish Championships this week.   In view of the reputation he has earned in English athletic circles, it may be interesting to mention that Macintosh was born in Kelso, and lived near Glasgow for 10 years before going to Glenalmond School.   Macintosh is 19 years of age.   Macmillan, also of Cambridge, will not be a competitor at Ibrox.   His connections with Scotland are not so strong as Macintosh.   Macmillan’s father was Scotch and his mother English, and his home is in the South of England.   He was at Felstead School before going to Trinity College.

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WA Stewart (holder of the Scottish 100 yards championship), who is studying at one of the London hospitals, has decided to run for Australia at the Olympic Games, and his place in the 400 metres will be taken by DH Jacobs (Herne Hill Harriers).   FG Black, who ran in the Scottish trials at Parkhead, has withdrawn his name from the English team and his place in the 1600 metres relay race will be taken by GRL Anderson.   Black, it may be remembered, made a very disappointing display in the 400 and 800 metres at Parkhead, and possibly that, combined with other reasons, has caused him to withdraw from the British team.     Neither JJ Flanagan nor D Horgan is in the official list of entries sent to Stockholm, and if TR Nicolson of Kyles of Bute does not go to the Games, Britain will be very weak in the field events.

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If all, or only a few of the crack Scotsmen who have been enriching the fame of English athletics this season come North for the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association Championships at Ibrox on Saturday, there should be some very fine performances.   Last year the Anglo-Scots were very prominent at Hampden Park, while the year previous we all have cherished recollections of what GRL Anderson of Oxford University accomplished in the hurdles and quarter mile.   Anderson has enhanced his reputation greatly in the interval, and as he is a certain starter in the hurdles and quarter this week he should appeal to the sporting imagination as impressively as did Lieutenant Halswell a few seasons ago.    There are others of equal note over different distances such as DF McNicol, WA Stewart and RA Lindsay, all holders of Scottish honours, and if the ambition to retain these is as burning as it was to become possessed of them, they are all certain to be at Ibrox on Saturday.   The entries do not close until today with Mr Copeland, and we hope to give the names in tomorrow’s “Herald”.   Never, perhaps, will so many first-class athletes have taken part in a Scottish Championship meeting, and as a number of the competitors are among the chosen for the Olympic Games, we are therefore promised a foretaste of what will be disclosed at Stockholm next month.   The Glasgow public will belie its reputation for broadminded sporting taste if it does not turn out in large numbers on Saturday.

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James Curran, an old Scottish amateur who was well known in the Border shires, in an interesting contribution on American athletics, says:-

“America’s chances at Stockholm look brighter than ever.   Some wonderful performances have been recorded in dual meets these last two weeks, though this is the worst Spring I have ever seen for getting a team in shape.   Mike Murphy says he has been in the game for 30 years and a worse spring he has never encountered.   Look out for records this year when the boys get into condition.   America will send over the greatest team this year that has ever been gathered together.   It will take 12 feet 6 inches to win a berth in a team of pole vaulters, and about 6 feet 3 inches for the high jumpers.   I saw Mercer of Pennsylvania, do 23 feet 6 inches broad jumping last Saturday, and he is not the best long jumper in America by a long shot.   If the track at Pennsylvania Relays had been in good condition, I feel that Gutterson of Vermont University would have done close on 25 feet.   He did 24 in mud.   I should not be surprised to see four men do 24 feet.   No wonderful time has been done in the sprints as yet, but that is owing, I think, to the cold weather.   In the 440 and 880 some great running will be done.   All the 440 men who leave here will do 49 sec and the half-milers will make Melvin Sheppard run his best.   My boy Meredith will do 1:54 or better and at least 48 3-5th sec for the quarter.   This is for the full distance – 440 and 880 yards  – and when you consider the Olympic distances the times will be correspondingly lower.   The milers will all do 4 min 20 and Barns of Cornell, who ran the two miles in 9 min 17 sec  two weeks ago, will need some watching in the longer distances.” 

All this reads like a romance, and if Curran’s predictions are fulfilled, Britain would seem to have small chance of success in any of the pedestrian events at Stockholm.   But much the same tale was told at the time of the last Olympics at London, and it may be remembered that the Union Jack was hoisted at some events over which the Stars and Stripes were expected to wave merrily.   And history often has the knack of repeating itself.

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Students of comparative form should be interested in the adjoined table.   It gives the English and Scottish Olympic trials and the Olympic records, thus showing at a glance what our athletes have to do in the way of practice ere they can hope to become possessed of the guerdons which are to be put up for competition at Stockholm in July.   The Scottish performances are by no means glowing, and yet it is admitted that they are much better than they seem.   The conditions at Parkhead were against anything in the way of sensational sport, but even allowing for that, better results might have been achieved in the 400 and 800 at least.   The Scottish performances, with the exception of TR Nicolson’s hammer throw, are far behind those of England, while in turn the English performances fall short of Olympic ideals as symbolised in the records.   English officials however are well satisfied with the recent trials at Stamford Bridge, and the feeling is that with a month’s training, the performances at the championship meeting should touch a higher standard than has been the case for some years.   That being so, the “times” given in the following table should undergo a process of transformation.

Event            English                  Scottish                  Olympic Records

100m                 11 sec                      11 4-5th sec                    10 4-5th sec

200m                22 2-5th                 23 4-5th sec                   21  3-5th sec

400m                49 1-5th sec           52 sec                              48 2-5th

800m                1m 57 3-5ths          1m 59 3-5th                   1m 52 4-5th

1500m              4m 6 1-5th              4m 23s                            4m 3 3-5ths

5000m              15m 13 3-5th             –                                            –

Hurdles             15 4-5th s                  –                                       15.0 sec

Hammer            134′ 8 1/2″             140′ 10″                             170′ 4 1/2″

Weight               41′ 10 1/2″                –                                        48′ 7″

SB Jump            5′ 6″                           –                                        11′ 4 1/2″

RB Jump           22′ 4″                        20′ 10″                              24′ 6 1/2″

RH Jump           6’11”                          6′                                        6′ 3″

SH Jump            4’8″                           –                                          6’4 1/4″

Hop Step&J       43’10”                       –                                          48′ 11 1/4″

Pole Vault            –                               –                                           12′ 2″

Javelin                137′ 3 1/2″               –                                          179′ 10 1/2″

Discus                 134′ 5 1/2″               –                                          134′ 3″

This should be read in conjunction with the comments made  here

Mr Peter Buchanan is again secretary of the Whitehill School Games which will be held at Celtic Park on June 1.   The programme includes three handicaps open to former pupils, the distances being 100 yards, 220 yards and 440 yards.

Amateur running has taken a fresh lease of life in London.   Over 70 entries have been for the 100 yards handicap at the London AC meeting on Saturday last.   It is twenty years since this number was equalled at one of the LAC Gatherings.

In the event of Australia not being represented at the Olympic Games, WA Stewart of the London Hospitals AC and holder of the 100 yards Scottish championship, will probably be included in the England team.   It is understood that Stewart will take part in the England trials on Saturday first.

Sports may be held at Kirkcaldy during the season; at any event there is a movement on foot to run an amateur meeting on up-to-date lines  and if the influences at work meet with any encouragement, Fifeshire once more should be in line with all the progressive sporting centres.

There is a statement to the effect that Glasgow University AC is setting its house in order in view of the approaching inter-University games at St Andrews next month.   We hope that this is true.   Glasgow is far behind in these academic contests, and it is just about time that the ‘honours’ were going round.

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In young Patterson Glasgow Academy has a natural hurdles racer and he is also a very good high jumper.   His hurdle performance at the school games was perhaps the most polished example of running during the whole proceedings, and in expert hands he would make almost as good a ‘timber topper’ as Norman MacLeod or Bertie Stronach, both of whose names stand high on the merits of amateur running in Scotland.

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The Queens Park FC have intimated to the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association that the new committee has decided not to hold sports on June 22nd – a date exclusively reserved for them by the Association.   This means that the recommendation, if not the reasoned decision of the old committee has been rejected, and it also means a regrettable departure for the time being, if not for all time, from the line of policy in regard to amateur athletics which has won for Queen’s Park the admiration of all broad minded sportsmen.

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GRL Anderson, the old SAAA Champion, has gone back to his first love – hurdle racing, at which he accomplished two brilliant performances at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.   He was competing at the London Athletic Club Sports and won the 120 yards hurdles challenge cup in 15 1-5th sec beating K Powell, the old Oxford crack, by a couple of yards, while in the open handicap he won his heat, owing 18 yards  in 17 1-5th secs.   Anderson did not take part in the Final which Powell won in 17 2-5th secs owing 16 yards.   The outstanding feature of these performances is their consistency.    Anderson and Powell will represent B retain at Stockholm.

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The English and Scottish Olympic Trials are down for decision on Saturday, the former at Stamford Bridge, the latter at Celtic Park.   Both tracks will facilitate the performers, so on that score there are no reflections to make.   Each has a Marathon race.   The English entry is a very influential one, embracing as it does all the great amateur distance amateurs across the Border, and if the trumpet call of the AAA meets with the same response from the other events, there will be some brilliant racing.   Of course, England has some rich resources to draw upon and it is well for the reputation of Britain that this is the case, for the best of our athletic talent will be required at Stockholm if the national sporting supremacy is to be upheld.    The Scottish trials are always later in getting into form than those across the Border, the recent genial weather has been the means of luring many of our leading runners from their winter cloisters earlier than has usually been the case.   Entries have been received from, among others, JF Soutter of St Andrews University AC, FG Black of Cambridge University AC, and WM Crabbie of Edinburgh Academical AC.   Neither Soutter nor Black has appeared so far this season but both are said to be in good form.   Crabbie on the other hand the 1000 metres trial at Watson’s games, while on Saturday he was third in the open mile handicap at Stewart’s College sports.    The time was slow – 4 min 45 1-5th sec.   Soutter is said to have entered for four events.

The Marathon is naturally exciting considerable interest.   Unlike other races of a similar kind, however, that of Saturday is confined to Scotsmen, or those of other nationalities who have been resident in Scotland for six months prior to the race.   The arrangements are in the hands of the West of Scotland Harriers , who have all the necessary experience, as they have already held two Marathons – one at Hampden and the other at Celtic Park.   The country is easier reached from the former than from the latter but the ‘West’ have mapped out a course in the East End which combines admirably the elements for the Marathon test.   We understand that the en try, like that of the AAA, will include the cream of distance runners and a strenuous struggle is anticipated.   Those who go to Celtic Park will witness the start and the finish, while in addition there will be a number of flat and field trials, three flat handicaps, and three Scottish Cyclists Union championships, the whole constituting a bill of fare which for variety at least has rarely been surpassed in the city.   It will be a wonder therefore if Parkhead is not fully taxed on Saturday with lovers of sport.

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The photograph above is of Reginald Walker, the South African who won the Olympic 100m in 1908 and equalled the world record of 10.8 seconds.    He was only 19 at the time and later in the same year he equalled the world record of 11.4 seconds for the 120 metres.   He wrote the first ever textbook on sprinting in 1910.

Now, in the twenty first century, if a sports meeting gets over 1000 spectators, it is doing well but it was not such a big deal a hundred years ago.  This page looks at the Monday sessions at Ibrox between 1910 and 1915.    Many sports meeting not only held their competitions on a Saturday but held a supplementary event on the Monday evening to which people would come after their day’s work in the shipyards, the factories or wherever.   The biggest was usually the Rangers Sports and their meeting on 8th August 1910 had a crowd of about 9000.   The report in the Glasgow Herald read as follows:

“The Rangers FC concluded their sports at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, last night before a crowd that fell little short of that of Saturday, there being 9000 spectators.    The main attraction was a five-a-side football tournament in which eight teams took part, victory ultimately resting with the representatives of the ground club.   There were also two sprints on the card – 100 yards and 220 yards.   In the former both RE Walker (South Africa) and FL Ramsdell (Pensylvania University) ran, but neither of the distinguished strangers gave a very impressive exhibition.   Of the two Walker made the better appearance, Ramsdell being beaten in his heat which was won in 10 1-5th sec.   The winner turned up in AJ Coyle (St Aloysius AC) who,  off the eleven and a half yard mark had a foot advantage in a tight finish over WS Stewart, Glasgow HS, off nine and a half yards.   The 220 heats developed some fine running, the outstanding winner being the Scottish champion, RC Duncan, West of Scotland Harrier, and LJ de E Reed, South London Harriers, the latter of whom was strongly fancied for the Final.    However a surprise came with some strong running by JC Cockburn, Gala Harriers, who won in a time of 22 2-5th sec from WS Stewart.   Duncan was half a yard behind the winner while Reedfound the task too much for him.”            

Henry Gissing wearing the ‘winged fist’ singlet of the Irish American AC

The report on the meeting of 7th August, 1911, read as follows:

“Rangers FC continued their sports last night at Ibrox Park in fine weather and in front of 5000 spectators.   The feature of the meeting was the splendid running of HE Gissing, New York and D McNicol of Polytechnic Harriers, in the Thousand Yards Flat Handicap.   Thirty three started but interest centred on the scratch men.   Entering the last lap McNicol led Gissing by about a yard and this lead he maintained until entering the straight.   The American then made his effort and, going in magnificent style, caught McNicol about 25 yards from the finish, and then caught WF Taylor, Bellahouston Harriers, off 60 yards, a few inches from the tape.   Gissing’s time was 2 min 16 3-5th sec, thus creating a new Scottish all-comers’ record, beating George Butterfield’s time of August 1906, by one fifth of a second.   McNicol who finished third deserves all praise for the pace he set, had the satisfaction of setting a new native record  his time being 2 min 17.0 sec, which is four fifths of a second better than A Turnbull’s record set in August 1909.    Another fine finish was witnessed in the 120 yards flat handicap in which HJ Christie, West of Scotland Harriers, off three and a half yards, beat RF Duncan, from scratch, on the post.”

Gissing and McNicol had both run on the Saturday where Gissing had beaten J Soutter in the invitation half mile in 1:56.2 and McNicol had been second in that race before winning heat and final of the open half-mile.   Another Monday night supplementary meeting, two more Scottish records.

Hannes Kolehmainen

There were foreign stars present at the 1912 sports – H Braun of Germany was out in the half-mile and Hannes Kolehmainen in the Two Miles – as well as the by-now-normal presence of several of the best of English runners as a challenge to the Scots.   Braun had won silver (relay) and bronze (880 yards) at the 1908 Olympics and silver in the quarter-mile at the 1912 Olympic Games, so he was a class act to have in Glasgow.   Class he may have had but he was unable to catch Sam S Watt of Clydesdale Harriers (45 yards) or E Owen of Broughton Harriers who was second from a mark of 20 yards.   Kolehmainen had won three gold and a silver at the 1912 Olympics (5000m, 10000m, individual cross-country + silver for the team cross-country) and would win the marathon in 1920.   Another outstanding talent.   He could only finish fourth in the Two Miles invitation handicap which was won by A Craig off a mark of 160 yards.  Owen,who finished third, had fallen with two laps to go, got up again, and ran on to defeat the Finnish runner who was times at 9:51 against the record of 9:03.6 set by Shrubb in 1904    It was nevertheless a very good meeting on a cold and wet Monday evening before a crowd of 6000 paying customers.

On August 3rd, 1914, there were even more top drawer athletes on the programme including Homer Baker, the American Olympian, AG Hill the Olympic middle distance runner and WR Applegarth, the superb English sprinter, but they failed to draw the crowds as only 200 spectators graced the terraces of Ibrox on a night of ‘unfavourable’ weather.   Results:

100 yards handicap:   1.   J Cattanach (EUAC – 10y);   2.   JM Harper (Shettleston – 10y)   9.9 sec.   [Applegarth beaten in the first heat].

220 yards handicap:   1.   Applegarth (Polytechnic – scr);   2.   J Rooney (Polytechnic – 4y)   22.8

1000 yards invitation:   1.   H Baker (NYAC – scr);   2.   SS Watt (Clydesdale – 30y);    2 min 16 2-5th sec, new Scottish all-comers’ record.

One Mile handicap:   1.   AG Hill (Polytechnic – 10y);   2.   D McPhee (West of Scotland)  4:23 3-5th.

5-a-side:   Clyde beat Rangers by 2 goals and 1 corner, to 2 goals.

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The Police Sports of the1930’s was a well-supported domestic meeting with crowds up to 20,000 attending.   Famous for two things – the range of activities on offer (1939 at Hampden had a demonstration by working sheep dogs) and the time it took to get through the programme.   The Glasgow Police Sports was always -with very few exceptions – held on the third Saturday of June which was the week before the SAAA Championships.   In 1930 this fell on the twenty third and a crowd of approximately 15,000 attended and the report in ‘The Glasgow Herald’ repeated the complaint that there was too much on the programme – not a problem encountered very often in the twenty first century.   This abbreviated report read:

“If fault were to be found with the 47th annual gala of the Glasgow Police Club, held at Ibrox on Saturday afternoon, that would not be on the score of the quality of the athletic fare provided.   Competition was keen throughout and performances were up to the excellent level expected.   But is it not time that the organisers gave some thought to the size of their programme?   Five crowded hours of athletics can be a trial even to the most enthusiastic, and while sympathising with the aim of the promoters in seeking to cater for as wide an athletic field as possible, it looks as if a little judicious trimming to bring the programme to normal limits will have to be undertaken in the near future.   Coming as it does on the eve of the Scottish Championships, this meeting of the Police has an interest of its own.

“In the first class mile, WH Calderwood served up quite a good display, although neither he nor WJ Gunn was concerned in the finish.   The race was won by J MItchell of Shettleston in 4 min 22 4-5th secs, but Calderwood, in addition to defeating Gunn, was quite well placed in the time for the complete run out of 4 min 22 sec.    The Mile Champion has evidently found his form in good time, for both last Saturday and this he has given good evidence of much better running than he did in the early part of the season when he appeared sluggish and stale.

“The half-mile was won in 1 min 57 1-5th sec by SF Kennedy, a member of West of Scotland Harriers, running from 38 yards and the ease with which he accomplished his victory suggests that this youth has a bright athletics career before him.   Kennedy, a product of Glenalmond and possibly an inheritor of the Seagrove tradition, has been running mostly in sprints hitherto and has only recently turned his attention to the longer distance.”

How big was the programme that gave rise to the comments about its length?    Well, the confined events were 100 yards (girls, boys and senior men), 220 yards, 880 yards and Mile.   The open events were 100 yards (youths), 100 yards (men), 220 yards, 880 yards, one mile (first class), one mile (second class), high jump, one mile relay invitation.    Women’s events were 100 yards 880 yards relay.   Then there was the 880y relay schools, putting the weight, putting the 56 lb weight, throwing the discus, tossing the caber, wrestling, highland dancing and cycling.    Maybe he had something to complain about!

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The report on the meeting on 21st June the following year came up with it again.      Under the headline “CHAMPIONS OUT AT IBROX” it said:

“The Glasgow Police meeting has always been noted for its comprehensive programme as well as for the excellent sport it provides, and Saturday’s gathering at Ibrox lived up to the reputation gained by its 47 predecessors.   Yet, despite judicious pruning, the timetable set out by the promoters with characteristic optimism never looked like being kept to, and it was only after five hours activity that the programme reached its conclusion – much too long this for even the special public which the police club cater for, and next year  the pruning knife will have to be called for again, although, frankly, it will be difficult to eliminate any of the features that make the meeting exceptional in Scottish amateur athletics.   …”

The report went on to describe the sprints up to the quarter-mile and the relay although all events seemed to be well supported by good quality Scottish runners.   The principal running results were as follows.

100 yards:   1.   AD Turner (Maryhill)  2.5 yards;  2.   LT Montgomerie (Springburn) 5.5 yards;    3.   C Dale   (Manchester City Police) 7 yards.   Time: 10 sec

220 yards:   1.   R Murdoch (Glasgow University)  2 yards;   2.   DT Ferguson (Garscube H) 18 yards;   3.   TL Neilson (Plebeian Harriers) 22 yards   Time: 22 2-5th secs

440 yards (Invitation):   1.   R Hamilton (Maryhill Harriers) 5 yards;   2.   LT Montgomerie (Springburn Harriers) 13 yards;   3.    JC Scott (Springburn Harriers) 11 yards.   Time: 51 1-5th sec.

880 yards:   1.   A Spencer (Shawfield Harriers) 54 yards;   2.   J McWilliams (St Peters AC)  16 yards;   3.   J McNaught (Shettleston Harriers) 58 yards.   Time: 2 mins 01 sec

Mile (First Class):   1.   WH Dunlop (Glasgow University) 90 yards:   2.   WC Plant (Monkland Harriers) 110 yards;   3.   A Ingram (Plebeian Harriers) 105 yards.   Time:  4 min 26 4-5th sec

Mile (Second Class):   1.   A McNie (Springburn Harriers) 135 yards;   2.   W Sutherland (Shettleston Harriers) 100 yards;   3.   SK Tombe (Plebeian Harriers).   Time: 4 min 27 2-5th sec

The high jump was won with a height of 5’9.5″ by Sgt E Carey of the HLI and A Nicholson of Glasgow Police won the Open Pitting the Weight and Putting the 56lb weight.

18th June 1932 was the date for the Police Sports that year and the main source of excitement was the relay.   In those days ‘the relay’ meant the medley relay where teams consisted of runners over 880 yards, 2 x 220 yards and a 440 to finish.   That was the Scots way of running the race, the English way was to switch the 880 and 440 so that to some minds it was a closer race for longer.   It was only in about 1999 or 2000 that Scots started to mimic the English version and conclude with the 880.   So for all the relays at this time, the teams started out with their 880 yard star!   The meeting came the week before the SAAA Championships at Hampden, hence the sub-hgeadline of ‘Pointers for Hampden.’

“ATHLETICS.   Record Relay Race.   Glasgow Students success at Police Sports.   If it were for nothing else than the fact that it provided the finest relay race seen in Scotland for many  years, the Glasgow Police meeting, held at Ibrox Park on Saturday afternoon, must go down as one of the most successful in the long series extending back almost half a century.   Promoters of a meeting such as that on Saturday are always handicapped by the size of the programme, and that it was brought successfully to a close within reasonable time reflects great credit on the organisation.   With the track in excellent condition, and atmospheric conditions propitious, times ruled fast, and there were many fine performances recorded, not only by the leading runners but also by the handicap men.

NEW NATIVE RECORD.   It is a coincidence that the existing native relay record of 3 mins 37 sec was made by the Edinburgh University team at the same meeting three years ago and that the 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 on admitting the Edinburgh performance as a national record because of the fact the RL Howland, an Englishman, was a member of the team.   There can be none this time, as M Morrison, M Stone, R Murdoch and IE Dorland 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 when the time, 3 mins 34 3-5ths,    2 2-5th faster than the old time was announced.   This represented excellent running on the part of all four students, and 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, they say, are there for all to see, but what will matter to Saturday’s twenty odd thousand spectators is not so much the time, excellent though it was, 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, three hundred yards from the first change-over, until the tape was broken.   Where all did well it is possibly ungenerous 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 that Brown, chiefly regarded as a sprinter, could concede Ian Borland three yards over the quarter and come close to springing the surprise of the season.   Yet both things happened with the result that the race was intensely exciting.  

POINTERS FOR HAMPDEN.   The race itself threw some light on the problems to be solved next week-end, particularly in the half-mile which is the most open race on the championship programme.   On his showing in Saturday’s race and his indifferent form during the present season, James Hood, the reigning champion, is not likely to repeat his victory, but JC Scott of Springburn, WH Calderwood of Maryhill and N Morison if he can reproduce the same form, are distinct possibilities.   JC Scott has made a rapid advance during the season.   He ran a very strong race on Saturday and, although beaten by both Calderwood and Morison, it must be recollected that earlier in the afternoon he had won the Police half-mile in 1 min 59 1-5th sec.   Calderwood finished as strongly as he always does that he too must possess a decent chance.

Robin Murdoch and AD Turner met in the third sector and the champion getting away three yards clear of the Maryhill man and at the final change-over he had retained his lead and even slightly added to it.   Murdoch was moving better than he has done this season but Turner was somewhat disappointing and it was evident that the break in his training caused by his leg injury has taken some of the fire out of him.   The next week should see him better tuned up, though under the circumstances, his trainer expressed himself as satisfied.

To the best of recollection, FW Brown had only run one quarter in public prior to Saturday, and that at Knightswood earlier in the season, but after Saturday’s experience, he might be tempted to give more attention to that distance.   Had he delayed his challenge for another 20 yards or so, he might have won.   As it was, when he caught Borland 20 yards from the tape and got in front, it was only the reserve strength of the old Cantab that got him home by the barest margin.”

Relay result:   1.  Glasgow University (N Morison, N Stone, R Murdoch, IH Borland);   2.   Maryhill Harriers (WH Calderwood, D McBride (?), AD Turner, FW Brown).

The 1933 Games were almost a replay of the headlines for the meeting.   “Exciting Relay At Police Meeting”  topped the article and a sub-head halfway down read “A Championship Pointer”.    The relay was just as exciting but the result was different – Glasgow Police won from Glasgow University with Maryhill Harriers third – although many of the personnel were the same.    The big race of the meeting however was an invitation mile with all the best men in the country invited.   Although there was one withdrawal on the day, the star miler of the thirties, the man with the charisma and talent to match, Tom Riddell did appear in what was a good race.

“TOM RIDDELL’S VICTORY.   The invitation mile was shorn of some of its interest by the absence of JPLaidlaw, but Tom Riddell ran his usual sterling race under probably the worst conditions of the afternoon.   The wind was at its strongest and the rain was falling, so that record breaking was out of the question, and the mile champion concentrated on running a race suitable  to the conditions.  He forced the pace in the first three laps, yet was strong enough to  catch the leader, J Gifford, in the back straight, to go on and win comfortably by 10 yards in 4 min 25 sec, a time that was distinctly good under the circumstances.”

Comments on the weather were interesting:  cold blustery rain with blustery showers kept the crowd down, but as the report said, most of the sports promoting clubs would be pleased if they could attract 15000 spectators under even the most pleasant of circumstances!    Results of the Mile and Mile relay:

Mile:   1.   TM Riddell (Shettleston)   scr;  2.   J Gifford (Victoria Park AAC)   15 yards;   3.   WJ Gunn (Plebeian H)   40 yards.   4:26

Mile Relay:   1.   Glasgow Police (J Scott, M Shaw, E McKinnon, and R Davie);   2.   Glasgow University (N Morison, I Borland, R Murdoch and NM Glen);   3.   Maryhill Harriers (WH Calderwood, AD Turner, FWBrown and R Graham)   won by two yards.   3:40.2

JR Scott of the Glasgow Police was the star man of the meeting on June 2nd, 1934, when he won the first stage of the medley relay in 1:58.8 and Duncan MacLean in the confined handicap half-mile was not far behind when he won in 1:58.6 from a mark of 8 yards.    The Police team won the relay for the second year in succession from Glasgow University and Maryhill Harriers in 3:37.6.   No big names although there were several former SAAA Champions, but it was a good meeting with a good crowd on a good day weather-wise.   The next year’s meeting was on June 17, 1935, when the big name on the programme was Tom Riddell and Bobby Graham and Harry Haughie -well known to post-1945 runners – were also on the programme.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ report said:

“The Glasgow Police Club have a public all their own and it was not surprising to find their annual meeting, the 52nd of the series, attracted the best attendance of the season to Ibrox Park on Saturday afternoon.   Because of their particular place in the realm of Scottish athletics, the Glasgow club are committed to a programme which because of its variety is always colourful, but one is tempted to think that because of this same variety the purely athletic side is apt to be submerged.  

TM Riddell was the outstanding competitor, and the Scottish champion chose to run in the ordinary mile handicap instead of  a small selected field.   This was reminiscent of old times, when the reigning Scottish champion made a practice of it, but it was obvious on Saturday that Riddell, with over 100 runners in front of him, had set himself a hard task.   This was not so apparent in the first two laps, but in the third when he began to pick up his men he was compelled to chop his stride repeatedly in threading his way through with the result that his pace was slowed down.   He was 50 yards behind the leaders at the bell, and although he made ground over the last quarter, was 30 yards behind when the winner broke the tape.   Riddell’s lap times were 60 5-10th, 66, 70 and 66 1-10th sec.   H Haughie of Springburn Harriers, who won the race off 140 yards in 4 mins 18 4-10th sec,  has been competing at open meetings for nine seasons yet this represented his first prize in open handicaps.   The runner-up, JL Ferguson of Motherwell YMCA, is having a good season this being the sixth time he has been in the prize-list.

As was foreshadowed on Tuesday evening by his running in the Renfrewshire championships, DJ Tait, West of Scotland Harriers, scored a ‘double’ in the sprints, and heredity was justified by the victory of N Corbett in the Youths sprint, and R Corbett in the high jump.   Both are members of a well-known Falkirk family who have been prominent for the past three decades in Scottish athletics.   When one recalls the stirring relay races seen at this meeting,  that of Saturday was distinctly disappointing, for it clearly indicated the dearth of good half-milers which exists in the West at present.   Maryhill were fortunate to have the call on R Graham who was compelled to stand down at Motherwell last week owing to a slight strain, and the master superiority of the Scottish record holder over his opponents in the half-mile sector transformed the race into something of a procession with Maryhill’s supremacy never in doubt.   The time – 3 min 41 8-10th sec – compares unfavourably with those of past races yet it is a tribute to the all-round team-work of the winners.”

The remainder of the report was given over to cycling and wrestling but the results show that there were 16 track and field events from 100 yards to the mile.    With 20,000 spectators it did indeed have a special place in the calendar as far as spectators were concerned and the comment that Tom Riddell lined up behind over 100 runners shows that it was popular with the athletes as well.   It was probably used as a tune-up for the SAAA championships which always came a week later, but any similarity between charging through such a big field on a track churned up by previous races as well as the field in the mile  and the smaller field on the better track of the championships, must have been slight.

The quality of the relay in 1935 may have been criticised by the Press but there was no doubt about the standard in 1936 when Bellahouston Harriers not only defeated all the previous star teams – Glasgow Police, Glasgow University, Maryhill Harriers – but set a record for the event.   The short report read: “ATHLETIC MEETINGS.   POLICE SPORTS.   Bellahouston Record In Mile Relay.     Although only one record was broken in the huge programme carried through by the Glasgow Police at Ibrox on Saturday, the crowd evidently enjoyed every minute of its four hours duration.   There was one performance of the gathering demanding minute attention, and that was the win of Bellahouston Harriers in the one mile  invitation medley relay race which they won in the new Scottish record time of 3 mins 34 2-10th sec,  2-10th sec faster than the time put up by Glasgow University at the same sports four years ago.   It was the half-miler Jack Gifford who really did much to help Bellahouston achieve this performance.   He went round the half-mile at the heels of Robert Graham, always appearing to have an abundance of pace, while it seemed that the joint mile record-holder (whose record was broken by SC Wooderson in Saturday’s Southern Championships) never relished the  forcing tactics of the erect running style of Gifford.   Coming into the straight Graham was in front trying hard to get rid of Gifford but the latter refused to be shaken off and became the challenger in chief, with the result that Bellahouston enjoyed the slight advantage of a change-over so close was the struggle; and the time for the half-mile was 1 min 58 2-10th sec, a sign of a record in the making.

Sprinter G Young and J Bone carried on the good work for Bellahouston and when Charlie France got the baton for the quarter-mile the race was virtually over, although Maryhill Harriers were putting up as big a fight as possible against the odds.   Had France been compelled to race with more vigour there would have been a bigger cut on the previous figures for the distance.

The programme contained one invitation event, ten open track and field events, three confined (to policemen) events, two wrestling bouts, two tug-o’war competitions, two cycle races, and a five-a-side competition in which a Rangers team made up of Meiklejohn, McAulay, Venters, Turnbull and Stewart, lost 1-0 to a Celtic team of Hogg, Morrison, Buchan, Fagan and Fitzsimons.   The other teams were Clyde and Partick Thistle.      Five sports over four hours – quite an afternoon!

 In 1937 JL Law of Shawfield Harriers won both sprints in good time:  the 100 yards in 9.6 sec and 220 yards in 21.9 secs – and quite comfortably   No stars in the competition, the attraction was the invitation to Salford Harriers to enter a team for the medley relay in which they had to concede 20 yards to the Scottish teams.   They won anyway with their opening runner catching all the Scots except Robert Graham who only beat him to the change-over by a single yard.    There were not other outstanding performances unless Andy Forbes.of Victoria Park winning the Mile off 160 yards in 4:14 is seen as the start of his subsequent glorious career over longer distances.

In 1938 one of the highlights was Bellahouston Harriers winning the relay – which was by now the official SAAA Championship – for the third successive year in a new record time of 3:32.9.   Other stand-out items were the fast sprinting, Bilsland’s victory in the half-mile but the complaints about the length of the meeting re-surfaced when the event, which had started at 2:00 pm, did not finish until 7:00 pm.   There was included in the programme a demonstration of sheep-dog trials was added.   In the relay, GM Carstairs made the early running in the 880 sector but was overtaken in the finishing straight by Gifford of Bellahouston.

1939 might be seen as the first of the big Police Sports Meetings that would carry on after the war.  Unusually, it was held at Hampden and not at Ibrox.  There were AAA champions, Norwegians in the field events, a great win by Donald Robertson in the road race and controversy in some of the finishes.   No sheep dogs anywhere to be seen though.   The report is fairly lengthy and only extracts will be reproduced.

“THRILLING HALF-MILE FINISH AT IBROX.   Champion’s Rally To Oust Scot at the Finish: Road Race Triumph.   NORWEGIANS COMPLAINT AT POLICE SPORTS”  shouted the headlines.   The report read:

“In spectacular interest two events stood out in the splendid sports programme carried through at Hampden Park on Saturday.   They were the invitation half-mile which provided many thrills in its closing stages, and the road race from Kilmarnock to Glasgow won by Donald Robertson of Maryhill Harriers, the noted marathon runner.   In the half-mile JRS Robertson (Shettleston Harriers) made full use of his 33 yards allowance to lead the field right into the finishing straight, but he weakened at that crucial stage and a group of prominent back-markers then figured in a stirring struggle.   AJ Collyer, the AAA’s champion (scr), and R Graham, the Scottish mile champion (15 yards), took up the running, with RTH Littlejohns, the Scottish half-mile champion, about seven yards behind.   One hundred yards from the tape Littlejohns commenced the devastating  finishing burst for which he is noted, and brought the spectators to a high pitch of excitement as he speedily closed the gap.   Forty yards from the tape he passed Graham, ten yards farther and he was ahead of Collyer.   It seemed certain that Littlejohns would win, buit the British champion rallied superbly, challenged strongly, and when Littlejohns faltered just at the tape, Collyer made his last bid winning by the most slender of margins in  literally the last stride of the race.   In such windy conditions the time of 1:56.3 was commendable.

There was tremendous applause for Donald Robertson.    When the Maryhill runner finished after twenty one and three quarter miles the next runner was about three quarters of a mile from Hampden Park. The crowd marvelled at Robertson’s fresh condition and his remarkable sprint up the finishing straight.   Robertson himself said that he is completely satisfied with his condition.   He is to attempt to regain the AAA marathon title next month.”  

The reporter was disappointed with the performances of the Norwegian students with only the field eventers performing up to expectations.   Javelin thrower Erdahl Aase achieved ‘well nigh perfect trajectory’ and had a best of 183′ 2.5″, well clear of the nearest Scot, Helge Sivertsen in shot and discus threw  44′ 10.75″ and  143′ 10″ although neither of those won the events for him: S Sollid,another Norwegian, had a 4′ 9″ allowance in the shot, and DR Young had an allowance of 7′ in the discus which allowed them to win the events.   However, “the visitors from Norway were astounded at the offhand manner with which the field events were treated.   People frequently crossed their paths, and concentration in an arena of such animation was understandability difficult of attainment.”