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Scottish Athletics, stylised as scottishathletics, is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Scotland. As such it is responsible for organising annual championships, maintaining rules for competition and ratifying records. It also selects teams for international competition, and coordinates courses for those aspiring to coach or officiate at meetings. Scottish Athletics is a member of the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland, and part of UK Athletics, the national governing body for the sport in the United Kingdom. It was established as a limited company on 1 April 2001, when it succeeded the Scottish Athletics Federation (SAF), which had in turn succeeded the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association that had organised the sport since its inception in February 1883.
Powderhall Stadium, formerly the Powderhall Grounds, was a multi-sports facility overlooking the Water of Leith on Beaverhall Road, in the Powderhall (Broughton) area of northern Edinburgh, Scotland. It opened in January 1870 at the height of professional pedestrianism and was modelled on the stadium at Stamford Bridge in London. It hosted professional sprint races, track and field athletics, including the Scottish Amateur Athletics Championships on a number of occasions, professional football, international rugby, cycling, and dog races as well as boxing, quoits and pigeon shooting. For 100 years it hosted the Powderhall Sprint, the most famous professional sprint handicap in the world. With the decline of pedestrianism as a spectator sport in the 1920s it was converted to a greyhound stadium, hosting the Scottish Grand National for over sixty five years, and it also hosted professional speedway. The stadium finally closed in 1995 and the site is now a housing estate.
The 1883 AAA Championships was an outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA), held on Saturday 30 June at Lillie Bridge Grounds, London, England.
The Scottish Athletics Championships is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by Scottish Athletics that serves as the Scottish national championship for the sport. The competition is usually held over two days in June, with the 10,000 metres and combined event championships being held separately. The event was first held, for men only, in 1883, when they were organised by the Scottish Amateur Athletics Association. Women's championships started in 1931. In 1992 the three organising bodies for the sport in Scotland merged to form the Scottish Athletics Federation, and they organised the championships until 2001 when they were superseded by Scottish Athletics.
The 1885 Scottish Athletics Championships were the third national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Westmarch Stadium, the home of St Mirren FC in Paisley, on Saturday 27 June 1885. The track was described as being in very good condition but the weather was extremely hot and fewer than one thousand spectators turned out to see David Duncan win the 1 mile for the third successive year. He was President of SAAA at the time and remains the only man to have won a Scottish national athletics championship whilst President of the organising body. Kenneth Whitton set Scottish Native and All-comers records in winning the hammer. This was thrown Scots' style, using a wooden handled hammer from a nine-foot square, wire handled hammers and the circle were not adopted until 1896.
The 1886 Scottish Athletics Championships were the fourth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at the Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh on Saturday 26 June 1886. Although the weather was fine a strong west wind affected the attendance, and the Field commented that, "it is to be regretted that the followers of athletics will not accord their patronage to Powderhall, than which there is no finer inclosure in the kingdom." The wind also affected performances in many events and no records were set on the day. But in the ten miles track race on the following Monday Alexander Findlay rewrote the record book for distance running in Scotland. Colonel John Macdonald, the Lord Advocate, presented the prizes.
The 1887 Scottish Athletics Championships were the fifth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on Saturday 25 June 1887. Very hot weather was blamed for the low attendance of "probably not more than a thousand," but the Glasgow Police Sports held the same afternoon attracted a crowd of over 3,000 spectators. At Hampden Park, Ernest Latimer Stones broke the Scottish record for the pole vault with his winning height of 11 feet (3.35m). Born at Ulverston in the English Lake District in 1865, he played football for Partick Thistle, tied with Tom Ray for the AAA pole vault title in 1888, and won it outright in 1889. At Southport in June 1888, he set a world record of 11 feet 7 inches (3.53m). He will eventually win the Scottish title three times, and his Scottish record for the event of 11 feet 4 inches (3.45m) will not be broken in Scotland until 1924, and not by a Scottish athlete until 1930. The half mile was won by John Braid who competed in the Olympic Games in 1900, playing cricket, for France. Alex Findlay won the inaugural 4 miles championship on the Saturday, and in the 10 miles championship, held at the same venue on the following Monday, set a Scottish All-comers record for 9 miles en route to defending the title he had won last year, and was less than five seconds outside his own record for 10 miles. The prizes were presented by Mrs A. M. Hunter, the wife of the Hon. Sec. Scottish AAA, who would serve as President of the association in 1890.
The 1888 Scottish Athletics Championships were the sixth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Saturday 23 June 1888. The meet was held in "splendid" weather, and the track was reported to be "in first rate order," but a slight easterly wind affected performances. Ernest Stones set a Scottish All-comers record in defending his pole vault title. Three days after finishing second in the 4 miles at the championship Andrew Hannah set a Scottish All-comers record at the event running 21:02 2/5 at Ibrox Park, Glasgow. This was the first in a long list of almost three dozen records Hannah will set over the next seven years at all distances from 2 miles to 10 miles, becoming the dominant Scottish distance runner of the decade. For the first time the 10 miles championship was held separately, being held at the Powderhall Grounds on Saturday 7 April, and with twice as many entrants as any previous year the experiment was continued in the future. It didn't, however, affect the result with Alex Findlay easily retaining his title shortly before emigrating to the United States. The chief judge at the championships, in his year as President of the association, was M. P. Fraser of Glasgow University AC.
The 1889 Scottish Athletics Championships were the seventh national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on Saturday 22 June 1889. The championship prizes were presented by Mrs M. P. Fraser, wife of the President of the association.
The 1890 Scottish Athletics Championships were the eighth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Saturday 21 June 1890. The prizes were presented by A. M. Hunter, President of the association.
The 1891 Scottish Athletics Championships were the ninth national athletics championships held in Scotland. They were conducted under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on Saturday 20 June 1891.
The 1892 Scottish Athletics Championships were the tenth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Carolina Port, Dundee, on Saturday 25 June 1892. The prizes were presented by Stewart Lawrie, President of the association.
The 1893 Scottish Athletics Championships were the eleventh national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on Saturday 17 June 1893.
The 1894 Scottish Athletics Championships were the twelfth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Saturday 23 June 1894. The prizes were presented by Mrs James Greig, the wife of a prominent Scottish land owner and a judge at the championship.
The 1895 Scottish Athletics Championships were the thirteenth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, on Saturday 22 June 1895.
The 1896 Scottish Athletics Championships were the fourteenth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at the Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Saturday 27 June 1896. The prizes were presented by Mrs. J. H. A. Laing, the wife of Dr. Laing of Edinburgh University, who had been President of the Association in 1894.
The 1897 Scottish Athletics Championships were the fifteenth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Celtic Park, Glasgow, on Saturday 26 June 1897.
The 1898 Scottish Athletics Championships were the sixteenth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on Saturday 25 June 1898.
The 1899 Scottish Athletics Championships were the seventeenth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on Saturday 24 June 1898.
The 1900 Scottish Athletics Championships were the eighteenth national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at the Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Saturday 23 June 1900, in brilliant sunshine.
References
- ↑ Scottish Athletics 1883-1983, John W. Keddie (1982)
- ↑ Scottish Championship Results - Track
- ↑ Scottish Championship Results - Field
- ↑ Scottish Athletics Track Statisticians - Archive
- ↑ "Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News", Sat 30 Jun 1883 p. 11
- ↑ "Penny Illustrated Paper", Sat 30 Jun 1883 p. 10
- ↑ "Sporting Gazette", Sat 30 Jun 1883 p. 27