University Track and Field: 1960 – ’64

Glasgow University Hares & Hounds, mid 60’s

Where Edinburgh was the top team of the 1950’s as far as universities were concerned, they did not have it all their own way in the next decade. the Glasgow University teams of the 1960’s were among the best in the country with athletes like Calum Laing, Allan Faulds, Doug Gifford, Brian Scobie, Menzies Campbell, Robin Souter and many others and with a good team manager in Willie Diverty (2nd right, middle row), and St Andrews had DJ Whyte, one of the country’s best long jumpers and no mean sprinter.

The Glasgow and Edinburgh rivals met on 30th April, 1960 at Westerlands for the annual contest for the Sir Edward Appleton Trophy and Edinburgh won 64 -55 in the men’s contest and 44 – 26 in the women’s. The report on the event read as follows. “A Millar (Glasgow) in the 100 and 220 yards, HM Mabon (Edinburgh) in the shot putt and discus, and J Addo (Glasgow) in the long jump and hop, step and jump, gained doubles in the men’s event. The most exciting race of the day was the medley relay which was just won by Glasgow. S Horn failed to hold AG Mowat over the half-mile relay, but Miller put in a splendid furlong effort and passed on to M Campbell with a slight lead. R McCrindle held on grimly, in spite of a fine effort by RL Hay to catch up over the final quarter mile. O Drummond (Edinburgh was the outstanding woman athlete with wins in the 100 yards, 220 yards and the long jump.”

The results were a mix of old and new faces – look at these and you will be able to spot the up-and-comers (M Campbell – Big Ming – has already been noted!) Men’s results:

100 yards: A Miller (G) 10.6 sec; 220 yards: A Miller 23.1; 440 yards: R McCrindle (G) 52 sec; 880 yards: AG Mowat (E) 2:0.7; Mile: J Bogan (G) 4:27.8; Three Miles: A Jackson (E) 15:10.4; Medley Relay: Glasgow (Horn, Miller, Campbell, McCrindle) 3:40.4 120 y hurdles: P Crawley (G) 16.1 sec; 440 y hurdles: RL Hay (E) 57 sec; High jump: GOA Ladido (G) 5′ 9″; Long Jump: J Addo (G) 21′ 7″; Hop Step and Jump: J Addo 43’11; Pole Vault: D Stevenson (E) 11′ 7″; Shot Putt: H Mabon (E) 45′ 9″; Discus: H Mabon 134′ 6″; Hammer: N McDonald (E) 1474′ 7″; Javelin: CR Keith (G) 173′ 1″ Glasgow won 10 events to Edinburgh’s 7

Women’s Match: 100: O Drummond (E) 12.2: 220: O Drummond 25 sec; 440: A Glen (G) 63.5; 4 x 110 yards relay: Edinburgh 53.1; High jump: A Langlands (G) 4′ 6″; Long jump: Drummond 16′ 3″; 80m hurdles:B Davies (E) 13.4; Discus: B Davies, 90′ 9″; Javelin: B Affleck (E) 74′ 1″; Shot Putt: B Affleck, 27′ 11″ Edinburgh won 8 events to Glasgow’s 2.

Although Edinburgh won. the men’s match was much closer and with sprinters such as Miller and Campbell for Glasgow, and field events men such as David Stevenson and Hunter Mabon coming in for Edinburgh there was promise of much good competition to come in 1960. In the Aberdeen v St Andrews match at St Andrews the home team won by 65 to 49 in the men’s match and their women won every event in their competition. I McPherson of Aberdeen won three of the throws events – shot discus and hammer – and DJ Whyte of St Andrews won both jumping events.

The following weekend saw the annual St Andrews v Glasgow v Queen’s, Belfast match held at St Andrews where the home team won. Points were St Andrews 74, Glasgow 63 and Queen’s 43. DJ Whyte won all three jumps and had a third in the 100 yards while WM Campbell of Glasgow ran 50.3 for the quarter-mile which was eight-tenths of a second quicker than JV Paterson’s record of four years earlier. Elkins (Queen’s) pole vaulted 11′ 9″ which added 1″ to the meeting record set by RF Edington, Glasgow 12 years earlier. In Glasgow, Edinburgh University defeated Shettleston at Barrachnie by 78 to 64.

Saturday 14th May was packed with action – Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen Universities all held their club championships and St Andrews hosted a triangular match with Edinburgh Southern and Shettleston. Points won: St Andrews 95 points, Southern 62 and Shettleston 27. There was a women’s competition too and the result there was a win for Jordanhill TC39, to Southern’s 36 and St Andrews 33. DJ Whyte again won high and long jumps and the 100 yards. In Edinburgh there were many notable results – David Stevenson ‘a freshman from Dumfries’ attempted a ground record for the pole vault but had to be content with equalling the existing record, RL Hay won 220y and 440y, AG Mowat , the cross-country captain won the half mile in 1:57.9, Adrian Jackson, the university’s long distance runner’ was defeated in the Mile by RA Clark from Paisley but did retain his Three Miles title. Weir won the 220 and 440 yards hurdles, HM Mabon won the shot putt (47′ 4 1/2″) and discus (140 11 1/2″), the shot with a university record by 1′ 7″.

In Glasgow a record was set in the javelin when CR Keith threw 169′ 4 1/2″ but there were several other good performances: Alex Miller won both sprints from WM Campbell, who won the 440 yards from McCrindle, Stan Horn won the half mile, Jim Bogan the Mile and Three Miles. Bobby Mills won both hurdles races, the 440 yards hurdle in 57 sec which was only four tenths outside Gracie’s meeting record. Addo won the long jump and had second places in both high jump and hop, step and jump.

On 21st May the Universities Athletics Union championships were held at Nottingham and there were several Scots involved. In the 440 yards hurdles, RL Hay (E) and RR Mills (G) were second and third in the 440 yards hurdles which was won in 53.1 seconds. D Stevenson (e) was third in the pole vault with 12 feet. In the women’s contest the small contingent from Edinburgh was third in the equivalent contest at Leicester. O Drummond was second in both sprints, B Davis was second in the 880 yards and J Hogarth was third in the 440 yards. Back at home, Glasgow and Aberdeen, both under strength tied on 60 points each and Edinburgh beat Jordanhill with 68 points to JTC’s 50.

The following week was the traditional date for the District championships and many university athletes were involved in these. A Miller (G) was third in the West District 100y and second in the 220. Ming Campbell won the 440, RR Mills was second in the 120y hurdles but won the 440y hurdles, John Addo won the long jump, A Robertson was third in the discus and CF Riach was second in the javelin and first in the shot putt. On the East coast, DJ Whyte won the javelin and discus and was second in the 100 yards. I Docherty was third in the Three Miles McLeod and Weir were first and third in the 120y hurdles and RL Hay won the 440 y hurdles. In the pole vault DD Stevenson was in control. HM Mabon again won the discus and shot.

Lots of interesting results there but when it came to the Scottish Universities championships on 4th June, the top team was Glasgow with 65 points to Edinburgh’s 55; it was the first time in ten years that Edinburgh had failed to come out on top. David Stevenson cleared 12′ 1″ for a meeting record and Hunter Mabon won the shot putt from I McPherson. There was an upset when John Addo and J Swai (both Glasgow) beat him into third place with Addo winning not only the long jump but also the high jump. RL Hay won the 440 yards and 440y hurdles – the latter only by inches from RR Mills (G). Another upset came when John Glennie (A) won the three miles from Jim Bogan (G). The other middle distance races went to Edinburgh with AG Mowat winning the 880y in 1:56.5, RG Clark winning the Mile from AS Jackson in 4:22. In the women’s events, O Drummond (E) won both sprints and the long jump and Ann Glen won the 440 yards.

The 120 yards hurdles had been won by RD McLeod of Aberdeen University who also won the SAAA championships in 15.2 seconds which would have been a new native record but for the fact that there was a following wind above the legal limit. Nevertheless it was a notable double. In the longer hurdles race, RL Hay won from RR Mills in 55 seconds. David Stevenson set a new junior championship record for the pole vault of 12′ 0″ when finishing second in the senior event. RG Clark, Edinburgh, was second to Morrison of Larkhall in the 880 yards after having run the fastest qualifying time.

At the start of July Hunter Watson, competing for Heriot’s AC, won the SAAA Decathlon title from RL Hay, Edinburgh University, with a total of 5103 points. Within the competition, individual events were won by RR Mills, Glasgow University, in the 1500m of 4:27 and DD Stevenson, Edinburgh University, cleared 11′ 3 /4″ in the pole vault. Stevenson tackled the AAA Junior championships at the end of July at Hurlingham in London and won in a new championship record of 12′ 2″. University track rankings are below – event/name/university/time/rank.

100 yards: A Miller (G) 10.1 10=

220 yards: A Miller (G) 22.5 9=

440 yards: R Hay (E) 49.7 7

880 yards: R Clark (E) 1:55.2 8

Mile: –

Three Miles: –

120y hurdles: R McLeod (A) 15.2 2; F Crawley (G) 15.6 3; K Gilham (St A) 15.8 6; D Wright (E) 15.9 8

440y hurdles: R Hay (E) 55.1 sec 1=; RR Mills *G) 55.1 1=; K Gilham (St A) 57.5 6; M Weir (E) 57.6 8;

E Davidson (St A) 58.5 9; E Smith (A) 58.5 9

DJ Whyte, winning the AAA’s Junior title with 23 feet 4 inches

The 1961 season began for the Universities on 29th April when Glasgow and Edinburgh fought out the Sir Edward Appleton Trophy at Craiglockhart. Glasgow won by 99 points to 90 in a match containing 27 events, both and women’s. The women won their contest by six points and Glasgow won the men’s event only after victory in the final, event, the relay. The Press agreed that the performance of the meeting was by Callum Laing in the Three Miles where he won in 14:44.4 which was 14.8 sec faster than the winner of the Scottish Universities title in 1960. RL Hay (440y and 440y hurdles), J Addo (longjump and hop, step and jump) and Miss M Thomson (E) (100y and 220 y) all won doubles. Among the other winners were D Stevenson (E) and J Bogan (Mile). In Aberdeen, St Andrews defeated Aberdeen University by 11 points (66 to 55) with DJ Whyte being the stand out performer with victories in all three jumps on the programme.

On 5th May, 1961, there was the annual triangular fixture between Glasgow, St Andrews and Queen’s, Belfast which was held at Westerlands. After a closely fought men’s contest St Andrews came out on top with 74 1/2 points to Glasgow’s 71. In the women’s event Thelma Hopkins again had a good day when she won five of the nine events on the programme. Her best performance, relatively speaking, was victory in the high jump with 5′ 3″ which was a ground record of six years previously. In the men’s contest, DJ Whyte of St Andrews had a triple succes winning the long jump, hop, step and jump and the high jump. WM Campbell won two events – 220 yards and 440 yards, and G Den of Glasgow won shot and discus. Callum Laing of Glasgow – a name that would become well known among the distance running fraternity – won the Three Miles in 15:01.5. Hopkins won 80m hurdles, long jump, high jump, discus and shot putt for Queen’s with J Atkinson, also of Queen’s, winning the 100 yards and 220 yards, A Glen of Glasgow won the 440 yards but Queen’s won the 4 x 110 yards relay giving them eight wins from nine events.

Edinburgh and Aberdeen Universities had their own inter-club at Craiglockhart where Edinburgh won the men’s match by 39 points and the women’s by 18. More new faces appeared in this fixture – MacFarquhar for Aberdeen and Craven for Edinburgh. RL Hay won the 220 and the 440 yards hurdles for Edinburgh. On the track, W Russell won the 100y for Aberdeen before finishing second to TG Bower in the 440y. Roddy MacFarquhar won the half-mile for Aberdeen, Clark the Mile for Edinburgh, then Martin Craven (E) and D Dingwall (E) dead heated for the Three Miles. DD Stevenson (E) won both the pole vault and hop, step and jump and J Nicholson won both shot and discus for Edinburgh. Among the women O Drummond again took the honours with a sprint double plus the relay victory.

13th May was the day for club championships. Menzies Campbell won the Biles Cup when he won the 220 yards in a personal best and university record of 21.7 seconds which was 0.6 faster than the record set by the watching JAM Robertson 19 years earlier. A Miller, the title holder who had earl;ier won the 100 yards, eased off in the finishing straight to avoid exacerbating a thigh injury. Campbell went on to win the 440y in 52 seconds. Callum Laing took 10.2 sec from D Johnstone’s record in the Three Miles when he ran 14:551.2. Other winners included J Bogan in the Mile, CD Young was unfortunate to be second to two different runners in the hurdles – Crawley in the 120y and Wilson in the 440. In the women’s events, A Paxton won three events (110y, 220y and long jump), N Fraser won the javelin in a new record of 95′ 2 1/2″and A Glen again won the 440 yards. In the Edinburgh championships, the Donovan Cup for the utstanding performance went to N McDonald who had a club and sports day record in the hammer throw with his best of 168′ 5 1/2″ which was over 9′ better than the club record. RL Hay won three titles – 220y, 220y hurdles and 440y hurdles, AG Mowat won the 440y and 880y, the latter in a sports day record of 1:55.5, David Stevenson won the hop, step and jump as well as the pole vault and H Mabon won both discus and shot. Martin Craven who was second to RG Clark in the Mile, won the Three Miles in 15:28.7.

St Andrews took on Shettleston and Edinburgh Southern Harriers at Barrachnie where DJ Whyte won all three jumping events.

DD Stevenson, Edinburgh

In the Universities Athletic Union championship on 27th May at Motspur Park in Surrey, DJ Whyte retained his British universities championship when he won the long jump with 23′ 10 1/2″. DD Stevenson was second in the pole vault with 12; 6″ anbd N McDonald was third in the hammer with a best of 156′ 5 1/2″. In the West District Championships Addo won the long jump and the hop, step and jump, Menzies Campbell won the 220y, the only race he contested, and in the East Districts B Jaiyeela of St Andrews won the 100 yards, B Linley, also St Andrews, won the 440y, and there were several others who performed well, eg HM Mabon, who were competing for clubs other than the university.

The universities championship was held at Aberdeen on 3rd June, and the report from the Glasgow Herald is reproduced here.

“Best championship performances were broken in five events on Saturday during the Scottish Universities athletic championships at Aberdeen. Glasgow and Edinburgh tied in the team event for the Rosebery Cup, each team scoring 55 points. St Andrews (50) and Aberdeen (15) were third and fourth. WM Campbell (Glasgow) beat the holder, RL Hay (Edinburgh) in a record quarter-mile time of 49.1 seconds – his personal best time. He also won the furlong race from a team mate, AM Miller, who lost his sprint title because of a bad start. Rod MacFarquhar (Aberdeen) beat the mile champion R Clark (Edinburgh) by five yards in 4:15.5, a record. Clark equalled the previous best of 4:16.2. C Laing (Glasgow) won the three miles, making the pace all the way and winning easily in a new championship best time of 14:37.8.

The other leading performers were DD Stevenson (Edinburgh) with a pole vault record of 12 feet 6 inches, and DJ Whyte (St Andrews) who set a high jump meeting record of 6 feet 0 3/4 inches. Whytre also won the long jump and hop, step and jump events. St Andrews won the women’s contest with 34 points, Glasgow had 28, Edinburgh 27 and Aberdeen 18.”

There were other commendable performances – with athletes like Campbell (100 yards), John Addo (both jumps for distance) and Craven (Three Miles) filling second places, some indication of the quality of student athletics at the time is seen. Hunter Mabon won shot and discus and CR Keith won the javelin. In the women’s match, Ann Glen (G) again won the 440 yards, this time in 62.6, K Fossey (E) won both sprints and C Walters (St Andrews) won 80m hurdles and long jump.

In the next major championships, the SAAA no less, Campbell again won from Hay in 49.0 seconds. The rivalry between the two students from different sides of the country was producing good times. Hay went on to win the 440y hurdles from FW Dick (Edinburgh Southern Harriers) in 54.9 seconds. and Campbell was third in the 100 yards. There were other students competing and winning medals – FK Crawley of Glasgow was second in the 120y hurdles, N McDonald was second in the hammer throw and DD Stevenson was third in the pole vault. There were some good athletes also competing in the Junior championships held on the same day: AJ Patrick (E) second in the 220y, WE Ewing (A) third in the Mile and AGS Tulloch (E) won the pole vault. The indefatigable Hay took part in the SAAA Decathlon the following week and finished third with his best events being 400m in 51.1 seconds and 1500m in 4:36.1.

There was a match against Atalanta the following week at Pitreavie. The Atalanta Club was a combined team representing the four ancient universities, and for more information on the club and its competitions go to: http://www.scottishdistancerunninghistory.scot/the-atalanta-club/

1962’s universities athletics season started with the contest for the Appleton Trophy contest between Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities which the hosts (Glasgow) won by 100 to 89. Glasgow won the men’s match (68 – 51) and Edinburgh the women’s (38 – 32). David Stevenson (E) set a ground record in the pole vault of 12′ 8″ and John Addo (G) won the other three jumping events. Menzies Campbell (G) won both the 220 yards (21.9) and the 440 yards (49.5). Other winners included AM Miller in the 100 yards for Glasgow but Edinburgh produced more top class endurance runners about whom we would hear more in the years to come – Chris Elson won the Mile in 4:21 and Fergus Murray won the Three Miles in 14:35.2. FK Crawley (G) won the 120 yards hurdles and RL Hay (E) won the 440 yards hurdles. In the throws AL Sutherland (G), another name to watch, won the shot puttwon both shot and discus. This list of names indicated the sheer quality of University athletics at this time – Campbell in the sprints would go on to do the treble (100,220 and 440) in the SAAA, run for and captain Great Britain, and when he ran in the Olympics in Tokyo Fergus Murray was also in the team. RL Hay was an outstanding hurdler, international athlete and Games competitor, David Stevenson top class international competitor for Scotland and Britain and another Olympian with Sandy Sutherland and John Addo top talents in their respective events.

In St Andrews, the home team defeated Aberdeen’s men and women in their inter-club fixture. Top man had to be Aberdeen’s W Russell who won 100 yards (10.6), 220 yards (23.5) and 440 yards (51.6) as well as runninbg in the relay. His team mate Alan Milne also had a double winning shot and discus and for St Andrews DJ Whyte won long and high jumps, and K Gilham won both hurdles events. The quality here was also very high with all those already mentioned being of a very high calibre plus P Judge who won the Mile and Mel Edwards who won the Three Miles for Aberdeen in 15:16.

May 12th was the date for the Universities championships – Glasgow at Westerlands, Edinburgh at Goldenacre and St Andrews had their annual triangular fixture with Shettleston Harriers and Edinburgh Southern at Fernieside. In Glasgow, five men’s records were broken and two equalled, while on the women’s side one was beaten and two equalled. The star athlete had to be Menzies Campbell who won the 100 yards in 10.0, the 440 yards in 49.2 (each equalling the best championship performance) and finished the day with a win in the 220 yards in 21.5 which eqqualled the Scottish native record. Callum Laing improved his championship time for the mile by 8.8 seconds when he won in 4:18.1; he later won the three miles, taking 9.2 seconds off his championship best, with 14:42.3. FK Crawley won the 120 yards hurdles in a new championship best time of 15.4 seconds, and AL Sutherland won the shot putt, also in a best distance of 45′ 6 1/2″ adding 1 1/2 inches to a 22 year old mark. Ann Glen was the only woman who broke a championship record when she ran 63.8 seconds and J Murray equalled the champiponship best for the 220 yards and for the 80m hurdles. CD Young won the 440 yards hurdles in 59.4 seconds. Laing had defeated Ray Baillie to win the Mile and Allan Faulds and Cameron Shepherd to win the Three Miles, and in the steeplechase Nick Rodgers won from Dick Hartley and Jim Bogan: all of these results indicating a qualiity in depth. In the field events, Addo had two firsts and a second in the high jump, while Sutherland won shot and discus and also finished second in the hammer.

Across the country in Edinburgh, the top man, and Donovan Cup winner, was David Stevenson for his pole vault of 12′ 11 1/2″ which beat his previous sports record by 10″. AJ Patrick equalled the record when he won the 100 yards and also won the 220 yards. P Brown won the women’s 220 yards and 440 yards. She equalled the record (26.8) in the former and set a new record of 60.4 seconds in the latter. Among the performers not mentioned above, RL Hay won the 440 yards and the 220 yards hurdles, F Dick won the half-mile, Fergus Murray won the Mile in 4:21.4, Martin Craven won the three miles in 15:17.2, and Lawrie Bryce won the shot and the hammer.

In the St Andrews triangular match, the university lost the match with Edinburgh Southern and won the match with Shettleston Harriers.

One week later and Glasgow beat Aberdeen in Aberdeen by 72 to 47. Menzies Campbell won both 220 and 440 yards events, after AM Miller won the 100 yards. In the middle distance events, Rod MacFarquhar (A) won the half Mile, Laing (G) won the Mile and A Faulds (G) won the three miles. CD Young (G) won both hurdles races and Glasgow won the relay. All but one of the track events went to Glasgow. In the field events, Sutherland of Glasgow won the shot pputt, but all the other throws went to Aberdeen – A Milne discus, A Hutchison javelin and D McMillan hammer. In the jumps, Glasgow won three – G Ladipo the high jump, W Thomson long jump and IH Bilsland pole vault – with J Grant Aberdeen’s sole winner when he took the triple jump. Meanwhile St Andrews won their contest with Bellahouston at St Andrews. They only won one track event – the Mile by P Judge – but in the field there were wins in long jump, triple jump and pole vault plus javelin and hammer.

In the District championships on 26th May, there were both highs and lows for the universities contingent. In the West Campbell was second in both short sprints to MG Hildrey and had not entered the 440 yards. In the Mile R Baillie was second to JP McLatchie but one of the highlights was Callum Laing’s victory in the Three Miles in 14:01.5 from Mike Ryan of St Modan’s. Laing also won the Six Miles for a remarkable double in 30:27.1. T Moncur of Glasgow, was third in the 440y hurdles, one place behind ex-university man RR Mills. JJ Addo won the long jump, and was second in what was now officially called the triple jump. AL Sutherland won the shot and discus events with P Davidson third in the former. CR Keith was third in the javelin behind Riach of Jordanhill and Hill of Victoria Park. On the East coast, Edinburgh University defeated the holders Edinburgh Southern for the team title, led by RL Hay who won both 44 yards and 440y hurdles. FW Dick won the 880 yards with B Stacey third, and CJ Elson won the Mile from WH Watson, both of Edinburgh University. AF Murray was third in the three miles behind Steve Taylor and Alastair Wood of Aberdeen. DD Stevenson was second in the pole vault, J Balfour third in the high jump, D McKechnie (E) won the long jump and triple jump to give Edinburgh four out of four for the jumps and Hobson of Edinburgh won the javelin. All in all an excellent day for the universities.

Fergus Murray

The programmes and the results for the inter-universities championships in 1961 and 1962 can be seen here .

The last big championship of the year was the SAAA Championships on 23rd June. Campbell was second in the 220y and first in the 440y. Stevenson in the pole vault cleared 14′ 0 1/2″ . Other winners from the universities included Sandy Sutherland (G) in the shot putt, DJ Whyte (St A) in the long jump and RL Hay (E) in the 440y hurdles. Placed athletes were LM Bryce (E) second in the hammer, Laing third in the three miles and CR Keith third in the javelin.

Then on 7th July Menzies Campbell did what many had been forecasting and set a new Scottish 100 yards record of 9.8 second in an invitation event in Edinburgh. The following week at the White City in London David Stevenson injured himelf in the pole vault when clearing 13′ 6″. That placed him fourth but he was out of the competition. There was an unusual result in the Gourock Highland Games where several Glasgow University men were taking part – TD Gifford was second to Ian Kerr in the 14 miles road race: it was unusual for students from any of the four universities to take part in races on the road at any time. The furthest any of them races in summer was the Six Miles track race, and that only infrequently.

The decade was by now well under way and the sprinters and field events athletes were all doing very well. The field events athletes rankings were interesting.

High Jump: David Whyte, St Andrews, 1.83m 9; Olanyi Lapido (Nigeria) Glasgow 1.83

Pole Vault: David Stevenson, Edinburgh, 4.28m 1; Ian Cuthbert, St Andrews, 3.66 6; Mchael Hill, St Andrews 3.50 8

Long Jump: David Whyte, St Andrews, 7.05 1; John Addo, (Ghana) Glasgow, 7.02; Ian Grant, Edinburgh 6.83 4; David Stevenson, Edinburgh 6.65 9

Triple Jump: John Addo (G) 14.54; David Whyte (St A) 13.99 3; David Stevenson (E) 13.73 5; Ian Grant (E) 13.61

Shot Putt: Sandy Sutherland, Glasgow 14.58 3; Lawrie Bryce, Edinburgh, 14.04 4; John Nicholson, Edinburgh, 13.66 6; George Hobson, Edinburgh, 13.30 8; James Tynan, Glasgow, 13.26 9

Discus: Ian McPherson, Aberdeen, 43.69 4; Sandy Sutherland, (G) 41.17 7; Robert Robertson, Glasgow, 38.25, 10

Hammer: Niall McDonald, Edinburgh, 50.41 4;

Javelin: Colin Keith, Glasgow, 56.41 3; George Hobson, Edinburgh, 53.24 6; James Tynan, Glasgow 51.89 9; A Derek Fraser, Glasgow, 51.59 10

There are a good number of international athletes there including at least two Olympians and even more GB internationalists.

Allan Faulds (G) leading Donald Macgregor (St A), Martin Craven and Fergus Murray (both E) in Scottish University Three Miles Championships, 1963 at Westerlands

From the ‘Glasgow Herald’ of April 22nd, 1963: “Edinburgh won the Appleton Trophy when they beat Glasgow in the first inter-university athletic contest for the seasonwith the combined aggregate of 102 points to 85 over the 27 event series for men and women at Craiglockhart on Saturday. The men’s match was won by Glasgow by 63 points to 54, Edinburgh won the women’s series by 48 to 22. Performances suffered because of strong winds and a soft track, which accounted for slow times from the quarter-mile upwards. There were four triple winners – WM Campbell (Glasgow) in the 100, 220 and 440 yards, DD Stevenson (Edinburgh) in the longand triple jumps and pole vault, Miss P Brown (Edinburgh) and Miss A Dixon (Edinburgh). ‘

The point about slow times is well made – Campbell running outside 54 seconds for the 440 yards is a good indicator of that. Glasgow had first and second in every event up to the 440, in the half mile Glasgow won with JC Wilson from B Stacey of Edinburgh and Barclay Kennedy (G) third; in the Mile Ray Baillie won from Jim Bogan – both Glasgow; in the Three Miles Martin Craven of Edinburgh won from Callum Laing and Allan Faulds, both Glasgow. In the hurdles, Glasgow won the 120 yards with JF Crawley and JE Davidson of Edinburgh won the 440 yards hurdles from Carter of Edinburgh. The only jump not won by Stevenson was the high jump which went to G Balfour of Edinburgh, and in the throws, L Bryce, Edinburgh, won the Shot Putt and the hammer, Keith of Glasgow won the javelin and Edmunds of Glasgow won the discus.

In the women’s events, Brown won 100, 220 and 440 yards, Dixon 80m hurdles, shot putt and javelin. F Kidd of Glasgow won the high jump, E Bruce of Edinburgh won the long jump.

On 4th May, Glasgow defeated St Andrews and Queen’s Belfast at St Andrews by a wide margin – Glasgow 106 points, St Andrews 43 and Queen’s 39/ Edinburgh had anpother good day when they beat Aberdeen by 75 to 43. Aberdeen’s top men were McDonald in the sprints and McFarquhar in the middle distance events while Stevenson was the best for the Edinburgh team. A week later, 11th May, Glasgow and Edinburgh both held their club championships. In Glasgow the Biles Cup was awarded to Doug Edmunds@ a former pupil at Str Joseph’s School in Dumfries he set a new record in the shot putt when he defeated holder Sandy Sutherland with 46′ 3″, and he also won the Hammer. In Edinburgh the Donovan Cup went to Fergus Murray for setting a new record in the Three Miles of 14:26.8.The winners in both events were

Event, Glasgow , Perf, Blank, Edinburgh , Perf

100y, A Gibbons, 10.2 sec, – , AJ Patrick, 10.5

220y, WM Campbell, 22.7, – , AJ Patrick, 23.1

440y, WM Campbell, 50.6, – , A McLean, 53.6

880y, JC Wilson, 1:59.5, – , R Sinclair, 1:58.9

Mile, R Baillie, 4:28.5, – , B Stacey, 4:32.3

Three Miles, C Laing, 15:06, – , AF Murray, 14:26.8

120yH, FK Crawley, 17 sec, – , R McDonald, 17.2

440yH, TF Moncur, 60.6 sec, – , E Davidson, 54.9

S/chase, J Bogan, 10:26.6, – , no event, , –

High jump, J Addo, 5′ 10″, – , G Balfour, 5′ 7″

Long Jump, J Addo, 22′ 1 1/4″, – , R Hallett, 21′ 2 1/2″

Triple Jump, J Addo, 45′ 1 1/2″, – , DD Stevenson, 40′ 10 1/2″

Pole vault, I Bilsland, – , – , DD Stevenson, 12′ 6″

Shot Putt, D Edmunds, 46′ 3″, – , J Nicholson, 45′ 8 1/2″

Discus, S Sutherland, – , – , J Boulton, 114′

Hammer, D Edmunds, 113′ 6 1/2″, – , LM Bryce, 153′ 10″

Javelin, CR Keith, – , – , ?Leefe, 164′ 8″

Sandy Sutherland, Goldenacre, 1961

Things were hotting up with the expected athletes not always winning, even at their own Sports Meetings and the Universities Athletic Union Championships were held on 18th May at Motspur Park in Surrey. Miss AD Dixon of Edinburgh University won two titles – the javelin (94′ 4 1/2″) and the shot putt (35′ 10 1/2″) and was third in the discus (89′ 10 1/2″). She was the only Scot to win any event at the championships although four men took second place. Two Glasgow men J Wilson and T Steel were second and third in the half mile behind JP Boulter. The other Scottish runners up were LM Bryce in the hammer with 157′ 4 1/2″, AL Sutherland in the shot putt with 47′ 5 1/2″ and DD Stevenson with a pole vault of 13′. R Hallett (E) was third in the long jump with 22′ 9 1/2″. Back at home that day, St Andrews was in a triangular match with Bellahouston and Victoriua Park at Corkerhill in Glasgow. The most noteworthy performance by a St Andrews man was by Donald Macgregor who won the six miles in 32:06.6, and Glasgow University defeated Aberdeen at Westerlands.

In the West District championships at Dam Park, Ayr, there were two Glasgow University men with double victories: Campbell won won the 100 yards (10.1) and 220 in 21.6, and Sutherland won both shot (47′ 5″) and Discus (134′ 7″) from fellow Glasgow student D Edmunds whom he beat by a full 19 feet in the discus. There were sevral placed men from the University too, Gibbons was third in the 100, Miller second in the 220, Steel third in the 880 yards, Wilson second in the Mile, Moncur was second to RR Mills of Dumbarton in the 440y hurdles,and McInroy was second in the long and triple jumps. At Meadowbank, the East championships were being held with one track and one field event record being set by University athletes. AF Murray won the Three Miles in 14:07.4 from Martin Craven and DD Stevenson won the pole vault with 13′ 1″. Other University medallists were Patrick (E) second in 100, McFarquhar (A) won the 880 from Sinclair (E), Balfour (E) was second in the high jump, Hallett (E) won the long jump, LM Bryce (E) won the hammer and was second in the long jump, and V Mitchell (A) won the javelin.

The Scottish Universities championships were held in Glasgow on 1st June, 1963 and Glasgow won the points competition over Edinburgh after a dramatic surge over the last three events. Scores were 76 for Glasgow, 70 for Edinburgh, Aberdeen 27 and St Andrews 11. Edinburgh did win the women’s contest however with 48 points from Aberdeen 22, St Andrews 19 and Glasgow 18. The report read: “WM Campbell (G) increased his collection of Scottish Universities Athletics titles when he won the 100 yards, in addition to retaining the furlong and quarter-mile titles at Westerlands on Saturday. With the the help of a wind that varied from 12 to 19 feet per second, Campbell equalled the best champiponship time of 9.8 secondsfor the 100 yards and beat by 0.4 seconds the furlong record of 21.6 seconds which was set 40 years ago by the late Eric Liddell. He was in such convincing form that he also took the quarter-mile by 10 yards in the respectable time of 50.3 sec and then did much to bring about the success of the Glasgow relay team, when he took over level with A Patrick (E) for the final 100 yards. Glasgow’s winning time of 43.4 sec was also a championship best.

F Crawley (G) with 15.1 seconds, cut 0.2 sec off the best championship time for the 120 yards hurdles, but he also was favoured by the wind.

The closest race of the afternoon was the half-mile. Rod MacFarquhar (A) always lay handy during three-quarters of the race behind JA Wilson (G) who set a warm pace, and, timing his effort judiciously, succeeded in warding off the challenges of G Reed (A) and Wilson. Less than three yards covered the three in the fine time of 1:54.7. Miss P Brown (E) had a fine treble in the women’s events – the 100 yards in 11.2 equalling the best championship time, the 220 yards in 25.8 sec and quarter mile in 60.6 sec – and helped her team win the relay in a best championship time of 51.8 sec. Miss A Dixon (E) established a shot put record of 38′ 8 1/4″ .

Among the winners not mentioned above, AF Murray (E) won the mile from W Ewing (A) in 4:18.8, M Craven (E) won the Three Miles from Murray and C Laing (G) in 14:33.4. G Shannon (E) won the high jump, J Addo (G) won the long jump and triple jump and was also third in the high jump, AL Sutherland won the shot putt and discus, LM Bryce the hammer, V Mitchell the javelin. The women’s winners were, in addition to those already mentioned, I Mackie (A) 80m hurdles and high jump, E Patrick (St A) long jump, and M Wilson (A) discus.

Not content with winning three university titles in one day, Campbell repeated the feat at the SAAA championships on 22nd June , also at Westerlands. 10.1, 23.2 and 48.4 were the winning times this time. There were several university athletes competing under club colours – Murray for Dundee Hawkhill won the Three Miles in 14:01.6 and Ewing for Aberdeen AAC third in the Mile – but medals won by athletes in their university colours included Miller GUAC) third in the 220y, Wilson (GUAC) third in the 880, Hallett of Edinburgh University won the long jump and Sutherland and Edmunds were second and third in the shot. It was a very good year for University athletics but would 1964 be any better?

The Appleton Trophy competition between Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities is traditionally the first real inter varsity match of the summer and it took place on 18th April, 1964, at Westerlands when the visitors won by 20 points – 108 to 88. In the absence of DD Stevenson who had won three events in 1963, Edinburgh depended on the women’s team (who beat Glasgow by 48 to 22 – for their victory. Top men’s athlete on the day was again Menzies Campbell who won 100 and 220 yards in 9.9 and 21.6 seconds before contributing mightily to victory in the relay where the changeover was a bit of a mess-up and he ran what was estimated to be the fastest 110 yard he ever ran. Fergus Murray had been second in a 3000 metres race (8:18.6) at Wembley the night before was outstanding in the Mile and Three Miles. He won both in 4:13.8 and 14:25.6. Dick Hodelet’s 880 yards was one of the fastest ever run at Westerlands when he defeated team mate J Steel in 1:54.5. In the women’s match Miss P Brown (E) won the 100, 220 and 440 plus a stage of the relay.

Glasgow staged a decathlon at Westerlands on Friday 24th and 25th April which was won by DD Stevenson (E) with 4895 points. And at St Andrews Aberdeen defeated St Andrews and the Royal College of Science and Technology.

The next of the traditional opening matches, however, was the triangular match between Glasgow, St Andrews and Queen’s University, Belfast. It was held on May 2nd at Westerlands and resulted in a win for Glasgow beating Queen’s by 60 points and St Andrews by 92. Campbell won the 100 and 220 yards races, Steel defeated Hodelet in a hard fought half mile, Wilson (G) defeated Scobie (G) in the Mile and Laing (G) beat Greenwood (Q) in the Three Miles. Addo again won both long and triple jumps with third in the high jump, Sutherland won both shot and discus. This was followed on 9th May by the Glasgow and Edinburgh championship meetings.

In Edinburgh, two records were set despite high winds. DD Stevenson added nine and a half inches to his pole vault record with 13′ 9″ and L Bryce added 3″ to his hammer record with 171′ 3″. The most prolific winner was C Young with four successes – 100 yards novice, 120 yards hurdles, 220 yards hurdles and 440 yards hurdles. G Evans won both quarter and half mile events and AF Murray won the Mile. At Westerlands, Campbell won the 100, 220 and 440 yards for which he received the Biles Trophy. J Tynan won shot, discus, hammer, and javelin defeating holder Sutherland in the first two. Wilson finished first in a disappointing half mile with the favourite R Hodelet finishing ten yards back. It should be pointed out that Hodelet did win the Mile, and Callum Laing woin the Three Miles from B Scobie. GL Brown won both jurdles races, Jim Bogan won the steeplechase from A Faulds and Addo won the long and triple jumps with third in the high jump.

The build up to the national university championships continued and on 16th May, Edinburgh University had a triangular match against Edinburgh Southern and Durham University at Craiglockhart which they won with 94 points to Southern’s 74 and Durham’s 16. Murray was again the hero – having just qualified for the Olympic 5000m, he set a new record for the Mile of 4:08.2. Lawrie Bryce won shot putt and hammer with a new ground record in the latter of 181′ 9″. A new member of the Edinburgh team was E Osbourne, a former English schools champion who finished second in the 220 yards. Meanwhile at St Andrews the students lost to Bellahouston in a triangular match with Octavians. In the UAU Championships at Oxford on 23rd May, there were several Scots in action, notably Edinburgh’s Lawrie Bryce who broke the championship record for the hammer by more than 22 feet when he threw 181′ 10″. E Osbourne (E) was second in the 220 yards, GL Brown (G) was second in the 120 yards hurdles, Fergus Murray second in the Mile, Miss E K Patrick (St A) first in the long jump, Miss P Brown (E) second in 220y and 880 yards, and Miss A Dixon (E) was third in the discus.

The last Saturday in May was the date of the District championships and at Westerlands John Addo won both long and triple jumps, Dick Hodelet won the half mile and GL Brown won the 120y hurdles. In the East, Lawrie Bryce won the hammer and the shot putt (both with new meeting records), DD Stevenson won the pole vault wit 14′ 0″, Chris Elson (E) defeated Murray in the Mile, Mel Edwards (A) won the Three Miles, and EL Heath won the javelin.

June 6th was the culmination of all the hard work put in so far on behalf of the universities when the Scottish Universities championships were held at St Andrews. The team competition results for the men were Glasgow 87, Edinburgh 57, St Andrews 24, the Royal College of Science and Technology (later Strathclyde University) had been admitted to the competition and had 19. The women’s competition result was Edinburgh 54, St Andrews 40 and Glasgow 13. The headlines had variations of “Campbell wins Three Sprints”.

It was becoming a habit for Menzies Campbell to win 100 yards, 220 yards, and 440 yards as well as take a hand in the relay and this time his times were 10.0, 22.0 and 49.1 seconds, and Glasgow won the relay. Four gold medals for one afternoon was becoming commonplace, as were meeting and ground records – the 220 and 440 times filled these slots for him. Other notable performances included

Miss A Dixon who held the British Universities shot putt title, also won three events – shot (36′ 8 3/4″ which was a new Scottish universities record), discus (93′ 3″) and javelin (92′ 3 1/2″) and was second in the 80m hurdles.
Miss E Patrick (St A) won the long jump breaking a 31 year old record with 18′ 2 1/4″, and also won the 80m hurdles.
John Addo (G) won thre events – long jump (21′ 8″), triple jump (46′ 9″) and high jump (5′ 10″).
DD Stevenson (E) won the pole vault with 14′ which equalled his ground breaking record.

In the middle distance events, RT Hodelet won the half mile, D Orr (E) won the Mile and W Eadie (RCST) won the Three Miles. GL Brown (G) won both hurdles races, D Edmunds won the shot and discus events, L Bryce (E) won the hammer and G Hobson (E) won the javelin. For the women in the events not already noted, the winners were E Bruce (E) 100y, P Brown (E) 220y and 440y, W McLaren (St A) high jump, and Edinburgh won the relay. The puzzle is, why were there no competitors from Aberdeen present? There was not a single Aberdonian among the results and, had they been there, athletes like Mel Edwards and Roddy MacFarquhar would certainly have figured among the results.

The Scottish Decathlon championships were held on 12th and 13th June and Glasgow University student Norrie Foster was the winner with 5633 points. At the Babcock & Wilcox Sports on 20th June, the Glasgow relay team of McGeoch, Gibbons, Ewan and Campbell won the SAAA Championship 4 x 110 relay, and then Foster, Wilson, Hodelet and Campbell won the SAAA 4 x 440 yards relay title. None of the runners emerged victorious in the inmdividual events – whether because they had not entered or because they were ‘handicapped out of it’ is unclear. The former is probably the reason since the SAAA track and field championships were coming up the next week.

On Monday 29th June, the headline in the ‘Glasgow Herald’ read “Campbell again takes three titles.” Still racing in the Glasgow University colours, he won the 100 in 10.1, the 220 in 21.4 and the 440 in 48.4 seconds. The headwind varied from 10 to 15 feet per second down the finishing straight, and that, the Herald correspondent suggested, indicated that on a still day, Campbell would have been inside the ‘seconds’ figures – ie sub-10 for 100 yards, sub-22 for 220 yards and sub-48 for 440. Despite fields of very high quality, only one record was broken at these championships and that was in the pole vault where Syevenson cleared 14′ 4″. There were however best championship performances by university men in the following events:

880 yards: RT Hodelet, Glasgow University, 1:52.6
pole vault: DD Stevenson, Edinburgh University, 14′ 4″
three miles: AF Murray, Edinburgh University, 13:47.8

Other students to be placed included Mel Edwards (Aberdeen U) third in the three miles, GL Brown (Glasgow) first in 120y hurdles, J Addo (Glasgow) second in long jump, N Foster (Glasgow) second in pole vault, DM Edmunds (Strathclyde) second in shot putt, J Tynan (Glasgow) second in javelin, and LM Bryce (Edinburgh) second in hammer.

These were the highlights of the domestic universities athletics year but it was of course an Olympic year with the Tokyo Games to be held in Autumn. Two of the winners above went to Japan with th team – WM Campbell (‘Big Ming’) was one and Fergus Murray was the other. The latter selection caused some controversy (what selection doesn’t?) but the fact that he qualified for the 5000m and was passed over in favour of English runners (nothing new there either) for the 5000m and was selected for the 10000m caused irritation to some commentators. But his selection was justified and he was on the plane. They were the only two Scots, university or not, whio were picked for the team. How did they do?

Selected for the 200m, Campbell won the second heat of the first round in 21.3 seconds from three other athletes all clocked at 21.5 seconds. In the second round, he was in the third heat (won by Harry Jerome in 21.2) he was sixth in 21.7 and eliminated. He also ran in the 4 x 100m relay where in a team of Radford, Ron Jones, Campbell and Lynn Davies, he qualified from the first heat where the team was third in 40.1 seconds. In the semi-finals the same team qualified for the final by finishing fourth in 40.1 seconds. In the final, won by America in a world record of 39.0 seconds, the same quartet ran faster (39.6 seconds) but finished eighth. Only six tenths behind a world record set by Drayton, Stebbins, Ashworth and Bob Hayes and they were eighth!

The 10000m was one of the most dramatic in Olympic history. There were 38 starters and 29 finishers. The field included Ron Clark, Mamo Wolde, Gerry Lindgren, Ron Hill and other top class 10000m runners. It was won by American Indian Billy Mills in a dramatic last lap where the leaders weaved their way through the crowds of lapped runners. Mills won in 29:24.4, an Olympic record from Mohammed Gammoudiand Ron Clark with Mamo Wolde fourth, Ivanov fifth, Tsuburaya sixth. Many good men dropped out including Ireland’s Jim Hogan, Kenya’s Naftali Temu and Dutov of the Soviet Union. The British runners were Ron Hill, Mike Bullivant and Fergus. They finished 18th (29:53), 21st (30:12.0) and 22nd (30:22.4). Imnmnediately behind Fergus were Barry Magee (NZ), Pyotr Bolotnikov (USSR) and Ron Larrieu (USA). Very good company, respectable run.

The early 60’s was a good time to be a student interested in athletics: every one of the four universities produced top class athletes and, by 1964, the four had become five with RCST becoming Strathclyde University and joining the various events. The universities continued to contribute to the Scottish athletics scene in a big way.