I met old friend and training partner Alistair McFarlane in Perth on Friday and the conversation got around to the standard of Scottish marathon running. I was talking about correspondence that I had with Jim Dingwall in 1985 in which he said that the lowest annual mileage he had done since 1972 was 3990. That I think works out at about 77 miles per week. We are talking about that mileage at least for a period of 13 years. Mind you he was really exceptional in talent (Scottish titles from 1500 metres up to the marathon and a pb of 2:11.)and determination often running five marathons a year in or under 2:20. Unfortunately most of the top men from that period - Don McGregor, Sandy Keith, Fergus Murray and the rest are all away from the sport now but let's not forget what they achieved. The Don ran 24 marathons inside 2:20 and was still doing so at the age of 46, Fraser Clyne did 22 marathons inside 2:20, Colin Youngson ran 40 marathons inside 2:30 and 9 inside 2:20. The fact that they are no longer for consultation means that present day marathon runners are 'running blind' without the reference points that would guide or even just illuminate their training.
Our talk turned to the Scottish Marathon Club. I had joined in 1961 and Alistair in 1975. Founded in 1945 by some marathon enthusiasts with the sole objective which appeared on it's annual fixture list as "to foster marathon running in Scotland." The main men were Dunky Wright and Jim Scott who was a superb hard working secretary, treasurer/race organiser and whatever else needed doing. They printed out an annual fixture list - nowadays it would probably be on their own website. They spoke to and assisted race organisers and had their own SMC Championship spread over 4 races - a 12 miler at Springburn, 16 Miles at Clydebank to Helensburgh, 20 miles at Strathallan and the Scottish Marathon Championship. The championship was decided on points won at three of these races with the marathon a compulsory race. The target was the marathon - and that helped to improve the state of road racing generally.
Is there a case for the resurrection of the SMC? Well there are similarities in the situation now and in 1945. The standard is low, despite the apparent imminently successful career looming for Andrew Lemoncello, Scottish marathon running has seldom if ever been so poor. Now as then, the governing body seems almost completely uninterested in its development. Now as then there are many good runners who want to improve their times and now as then there is no real support system available to bring these people together.
Almost all marathon runners joined over the years - top class men such as Ian Harris, Alistair Wood, Fergus Murray, Doug Gunstone, Sandy Keith, Jim Dingwall and so on joined up. It was not an elite club though - David Bowman, Willie Howie and I from Clydesdale, Jim Sloss and Ian Mckenna from Beith, Wallace Crawford from Victoria Park, Eddie Campbell from Lochaber, Colin Martin and Alistair Milroy from Dumbarton and many others became members. Remember they were not all actual marathon men when they joined but wanted to be. The club also organised an annual 45 mile Edinburgh to Glasgow race and took athletes to the annual London to Brighton as well as the Ben Nevis race. It encouraged women to take up the sport and the first woman to hold the world record for the marathon was Dale Greig from Paisley who was the only woman in the club at the time although several joined during the 70's and 80's
The question now is - would such a club be a good idea NOW or not? Interest has been expressed in such from Aberdeen and Glasgow. What do our club members think? I'm seriously looking for a response here from the road and distance running people in the club. Do you think that there is a need for such a club, would you join it if there were one? Opinions, either way, hoped for! The more the merrier!
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2 comments:
As you say quite correctly the standard of Scottish running (and indeed British ) is very poor at present. I watched a tv documentary today (prior to a long run) about training for a marathon.
A guy (Alex i think) was a beer drinking 16 stone guy who wanted to run a Sub 2:20 marathon. He'd previously run just ONE marathon in about 4 hrs 20 !
Anyway,he got a coach,changed his lifesyle, undertook massive training (upwards of 100 mls a wk)
and inside 2 yrs had run inside 1:15 for a half. His target was London 2008 but in the weeks before the race, he got injured and missed the race. However,he's back running and im sure he will achieve his goal...soon ?
Im like a few of us in the club are training for a marathon this year and im sure i speak for everyone in saying its a mental, hard and tough road out there but the rewards on the day, makes it worthwhile.
A Marathon club (in my oppinion) would be a terrific idea. To train, race and chat to runners who do upwards of say 16 mls on a regular run would benefit you. There is bound to be athletes of similar or slighter better times than you but to train and compete against these guys(and girls) would make you stronger and faster.
Incidently in London 2005 there was just FIVE British men inside 2:20.
Can we improove upon that. Possibly. But to do so would require hard work, motivation and the desire to achieve a realistic goal.
Bring back the SMC !!
As a past member of the marathon club I think it would be a great idea to resurrect it. While the overall standard of Marathon running has dropped there is a constant rise in the amount of athletes taking part in the events around the country. The event organization has improved but the overall running standard needs to catch up. I agree with Brian in that we don’t have enough of the odd distance races to support athletes preparation for the marathon. Standardisation of distances to 10k and 13.1m is fine to get people into the sport but marathon runners need to be running 15, 16, 20 and 22mile races in their race prep and perhaps a new Scottish Marathon Club can help organize some of these events as before.
A new format would need move with the times and look at providing an online format similar to the online running resources at Fetcheveryone, Mapmyrun or goodrunguide where you can get advice, measure route, online training diary etc. but provide these with more of a Scottish slant in mind, promoting local races and encouraging athletes to try different distances and surfaces.
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