In the Championships that year he was thirteenth and out of the team medals. That was his last run in any County event over the country before his move to Livingston. He had run in seven County relay teams which won 5 gold medals and one silver, and in seven County Championship teams which won four gold and two silver after he returned from Australia.
An excellent record of quality runs for the club. If you are looking for the complete endurance runner, Ian is an obvious role model. He raced as much as any club member that I can remember and travelled all over Scotland to get to the races — local ones like the Balloch and the Helensburgh, Fort William and Kinlochleven for the big hill races, the middle distance ones like the Tom Scott at Motherwell, longer ones like Largs to Irvine, marathon races at Meadowbank and at Shettleston and many more.
In the Edinburgh to Glasgow he ran the second stage in in his first ever race in the event and dropped seven places against runners who were too good for him at that point — he should probably never have been asked to run that stage.
This leg was full of international runners and first class runners. I finished in nineteenth place out of twenty. His happiest memory of the race was when we finished sixth and won the medals for the most meritorious unplaced performance.
He ran on the third stage, had the sixth fastest time and remembers passing John Robson of Edinburgh Southern Harriers hanging over a fence at the A89 junction totally psyched out with other ESH members trying to get him back into the race; the next year he was seventh fastest on the fourth stage and in he ran into sixth place on the first stage.
This three year spell coincided with his best years on the country at County, District and National level. In general he just did what he did best — running all over the country, doing his considerable best and enjoying it.
I know that in Australia my best half mile was and mile was Although he never won the club cross country championship — the best ever club athlete not to have this honour — he did win several trophies. Ian and his wife Cathie were a popular couple who came to all the club functions and were among a group with Ian and Helen Donald, David and Evelyn Bowman and Brian and Betty McAusland who attended Marathon club dinners every year.
In when the World Veterans Road Running Championships were held in Glasgow he ran in the 10, metres on the Saturday and then turned out in the marathon the following morning.
He has kept on running and racing all over the country with many races for the Scottish Veterans in Championships and representative races all over the British Isles. Even today at almost 70 he is still racing well and regularly.
I owe a great debt to the boys of Clydesdale Harriers who set the standards and helped me on my road. I agree with him that we did have it good in our heyday with good winter quarters and a very good training track in summer — would that the club had them again — but like everything else it is the company that made the wee bit extra difference. The runners all got on well together, they trained together and there was great team spirit.
Ian had a lot to do with that with his sense of humour and reliability. Any club would have benefited from his presence. A final wee tale from Ian:. It was an invitation event to raise funds for an HIV testing unit within the complex. We were met at the gate and taken to our changing facilities and the prison officer had great pride in telling us that these were the gallows and it was the last place that an execution had ever been performed.
Eventually we lined up at the start with the inmates conspicuous in their white T-shirts and black plimsolls. At the age of 7 I lost my mother to cancer. This meant the family split through hardship, and I ended up in an orphanage for some time.
Facebook Twitter. Search for:. Upcoming events no event. The aim of Athletics is to push our limits and strive for the best we can do. As a club, we should highlight those who go into new ground.
As a club it was a successful event financially. Also a special mention to the girls who walked around selling raffle tickets. This is a tradition we are keen to continue. Think I was the only one!
Also the sessions I got to do with Melinda Gainsford. Flinders had a special feel about it — lots of camaraderie between athletes from all events. Every Saturday was a social memory! Highlight of the week for me Favourite Competition Memory: Hitting accidentally Cathy Freeman with my baton during a 4x m at Nationals. Also running the m at State Champs and winning a number of bets regarding breaking 60secs got LOTS of Magnum ice creams out of that one!
I keep in touch with Sam Osborn, and the others I try to keep up to date with via Facebook. Short-link Link Embed. Share from cover. Share from page:. It was the same one-two M50 this time in Ian picked up two more silver medals M60 ; and a silver and bronze in M At last, in , Ian Leggett won a very well deserved gold medal in the M70 category, and followed that with, guess what, a silver the following year. As the article below makes clear, he is not only a role model for ageing SVHC members, but also quite a character!
Married to Cathy for 52 years and blessed with 7 sons and 3 daughters before we purchased a television set. During National Service played football and was drafted into athletic involvement — anything to dodge drilling and cookhouse duties. My first connection with athletics came as a result of following the Jags around the Glasgow Sports at Ibrox.
In those days 5 a side football tournaments were highly contested summer events, but the highlight of that day was an Aberdeen runner by the name of Alastair Wood in the 3 mile race — left the other runners in the field for dead and made a lasting impression on me.
He went on to win marathons but probably his finest achievement came in winning the famous London to Brighton race in and breaking the record. We had great team camaraderie and absolutely fantastic changing facilities down in the basement of Clydebank Baths, with heated pipes and showers, where many a Bothy ballad rung out on a cold winter night after a training session.
Lots of friends, healthy wellbeing and, through Masters events, travelling to many places around the world I would probably have missed i. The last race I ran. Undoubtedly, as a novice runner, running the second leg of the Edinburgh to Glasgow relay.
0コメント