Lament for the Edinburgh - Glasgow Relay

From the 1930's into the twenty first century the top event of the winter (maybe apart from the National Championship) was undoubtedly the E-G eight stage relay. Only twenty teams took part and they had to be invited. It was different because it was between Scotland's two biggest cities, it was different because it was invitation only, it was different because the stages varied in length between 3+ and 7 miles and it was different because it required eight runners from every team. The first fifteen in any year received an automatic invitation for the following year and the others had to qualify. One criterion was to finish in the first fifteen in the National Senior Cross Country Championship and the remaining teams had to be selected from the short relays. It was vital that every club had at least eight senior/junior road and cross country runners for the team. More was better because the team needed reserves. Excitement was intense and the event was talked about for months beforehand - who would be in the team, what stages they wanted to run and were these the best stages for them to run and so on. It was a disgrace when the event was murdered by scottishathletics.

What is the significance for us now? Quite simply, having four good runners is not to me or anyone with half a brain an indicator of a club's strength. Short four man relays can be seriously influenced by one or even two good athletes - for instance Springburn won many medals with indifferent teams simply because Adrian Callan ran the last leg. One man can have a disproportionate effect in a four man team. A better measure of Clydesdale's position in County athletics is where the second team finishes. If five of our first eight are faster than five of the Kelvin top eight, we're better than them! Is our eighth man or woman better than Garscube's? Short relays are important - partly because we don't have any long relays! - and we need to do well in them but a club's strength is measured by more than their top three (women) or four (men)!

Come back E-G, scottishathletics needs you.