PLUS ca change .
. . I've been reminded that scottishathletics would not always have needed to send athletes to Hampden to experience a large crowd, as they did recently. The governing body sent 14 athletes to the Scotland v Wales World Cup qualifier: a commendable idea ahead of next year's Commonwealth Games. Crowds at almost all contests would leave most Scottish competitors ill-prepared for the Glasgow 2014 stadium.
My mention of this jogged the memory of a Scot who once held the word mile record for his age. Exactly 51 years ago this week, Scotland beat England 2-0 at Hampden, in front of a 132,000 crowd: a remarkable result, given the Auld Enemy had trounced us 9-3 the previous year.
Hampden staged a junior invitation mile at half-time, including the ascendant star of Scottish middle distance, Glasgow teenager Hugh Barrow.
There was no need, in 1962, to expose athletes to such an experience, Hugh reminded me. "We were often invited to race at half-time, especially at Old Firm matches, to provide some kind of distraction." Victoria Park's blue and white hoops always brought the caveat not to wear the club vest.
Barrow had set a world record in 1961 for an under-17. His time of 4min 10.9sec in Dublin still ranks fourth in Britain. It survived as the world age best until 1964, when it was broken by Jim Ryun. In 1966 Ryun took 2.3 seconds from the outright world best and held it for almost nine years.
Injuries and studies got in Barrow's way, and he never got close to the American. "He went on to smash the world record and I went on to become secretary of Glasgow Hawks Rugby Club," says Barrow with typical self-deprecation.
A big motivation was to be first Scot under four minutes, but "the fire went out" the night he raced at Reading and Ian McCafferty led three Scots under the four-minute barrier.
"I staggered home in about 4:06," he said. "I might as well have been a spectator. I continued running until my hips disintegrated, but the fire sort of went out that night. I got down to 4:01, but that was it."
The Hampden race was organised by Dunky Wright, inaugural Empire Games marathon champion. "I was in awe of Dunky, who seemed to run Scottish athletics then," recalled Barrow. "We were instructed to report to a church hall at Lesser Hampden, where we were offered a full steak pie lunch."
He declined, and won from a field which included reigning AAA junior champion Frank Martin.
Barrow was interviewed immediately, trackside, by Wright. "Then I was fired across town to the BBC headquarters – almost a police escort for Dunky. It was a remarkable afternoon, given I was still a schoolboy at Glasgow Academy."
There were many big-crowd opportunities for athletes then, not all at football matches. Crowds of up to 30,000 saw British records set at the Cowal Gathering. Strathallan hosted up to 15,000, and dozens of smaller gatherings with 2000-5000 routinely outdid most of today's first-division football matches. Highland games were Scotland's second biggest spectator sport.
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