THE marathon in Glasgow again? Bring it back!

I ran in the inaugural 1982 Glasgow event, what the then city Lord Provost Dr Michael Kelly termed “Scotland’s first people’s marathon”.

Since I was a newcomer to the distance, I didn’t want to line up at the massed start in the Saltmarket without some experience. So I ran my first and second marathons elsewhere.

Thus so ignorant was I that Glasgow proved my third 26-miler in 15 days, and I recorded three hours, 16 minutes. I might have done better, but by arrangement, my pipes were handed to me with 200 metres to go, and so the finishing line in Glasgow Green echoed to tunes of glory (I’ve never played so badly before or since).

In the quarter-century from 1982 to 2006, I ran 37 marathons in all, from New York to New Zealand, including 10 in London. But Glasgow topped them all for atmosphere. The city celebrated en masse. What joyous humanity.

I ran my last marathon at 64, giving up solely because of

a knee injury not incurred through running. At 76, I’d dearly love to undertake the classic distance again.

So if my knee operation due in January is a success, what chance that I may yet be able to line up in Glasgow once more?

Gordon Casely,

Crathes, Kincardineshire.