James Reston pictured on Dumbarton rock on a trip home later in his life.
James Reston was a member of Clydesdale Harriers right at the start of the 20th century and ran in the first two cross-country internationals. His story away from the running arena was one of a continued struggle against poverty and after a failed attempt to make a successful emigration to the USA he went for a second time in 1920 and made a go of it but his son James junior became a world famous journalist who interviewed every American President frpm Truman through until his death on the 1990’s. You can read his profile at this link.
We now have a profile of a man many will know up on site – Hamish Robertson of Edinburgh Southern Harriers. A runner, pictured above in the SAAA Marathon championship wearing number 4. He was also an official and administrator and father of the talented Alex. Written by Colin Youngson, you will find it at this link .
Athletics competitors and supporters were well catered for in the early days of the sport and many of the promoters continued right up to the Second World War. In terms of competitive opportunities, they were in many ways better provided than today. For a brief look at the scene go here .
We have added a gallery of ten pictures to Pamela McCrossan’s profile and you can see them at this link
We have now completed the coverage of the inter-scholastics championships with the period 1926 – 1929 which can be found here . The complete coverage from the late 19th century can be found at this link,
Pamela McCrossan, above, of Clydesdale Harriers, has had an excellent career as a veteran runner, winning races, setting records, running for Scotland and being ranked in the top ten in Britain several times. Read about her by clicking on her name above.
We continue our look at the Inter-Scholastics, or Scottish Schools, Championships with coverage of the 1930-1934, 1935 – 40 Games and 1946-1950 Games and you can find them by clicking the links.
John Blane was a Clydesdale Harrier of the late 1880’s and very early 1890’s. He was one of the men racing hard and trying to get the Mile record below 4 minutes 30 seconds and was only just beaten to it by DS Duncan. His grandson had a collection of all the major trophies and medals won by him and many years ago let us photograph most of them. Some of them are shown here along with a very brief note of the man’s achievements.
Having covered the first 25 years of the Inter-Scholastic Games from 1900 when they were organised by the SAAA. it is interesting to note that there were some inter-school games held in Edinburgh for fee paying Edinburgh schools from 1866. The coverage of these meetings from 1866 – 1876 (as far as we have them) of these is now on site with notes on three of the five competing schools’ games of ’66 linked to it. It is at this link .
The coverage of the inter-scholastics continues with the sports of 1923 , 1924 , and 1925 now up on site. We have all the sports from 1900 to 1925 now available and they can all be accessed at this link : Inter Scholastics 1900 to 1925
The coverage of the Inter-Scholastics has now been updated to report on the War Years of 1914 to 1918 plus the first two years after the War. Despite the absence of such as Fettes the numbers continued to swell – there were 18 schools by 1919 including Vale of Leven Academy, Leith Academy, Whitehill in Glasgow and Trinity in Edinburgh. By 1920 there were 23 participating schools including Falkirk HS and Broughton as well as Gillespie’s. Read about them here .
| Year | Winner | Year | Winner |
| 1900 | George Watson’s College | 1905 | Allan Glen’s School |
| 1901 | Glasgow Academy | 1906 | Glasgow High School |
| 1902 | George Watson’s College | 1907 | Glasgow High School? |
| 1903 | Dollar Institution | 1908 | No Team Contest. |
| 1904 | Dollar Institution | 1909 | Allan Glen’s School |
The table above lists the winners of the Inter Scholastic Games (which became the Scottish Schools Athletic Championships) from 1900 to 1908. Just click on the year to see the report. The sports of 1908 were very interesting in that there was no team aspect to the event. Many of the private schools failed to support it and there are articles from the Edinburgh Evening News’ and the ‘Scottish Referee’ that outline the petty rivalries behind this. Click on the 1908 link above for them. 1909 will be added soon.
George Watson’s College: winners of the first Inter-Scholastics Games in 1890
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