Margaret McDowall (sprinter)

Last updated

Margaret McDowall
Personal information
NationalityBritish (Scottish)
Bornc.1920
Sport
SportAthletics
EventSprints
ClubArdeer & Kilmarnock Harriers

Margaret Marie McDowall (c.1920) [1] was a British sprinter who competed at the 1938 Empire Games (now Commonwealth Games). She was Scotland's sole female athletics competitor and only one of two Scottish women at the Games. [2]

Biography

Known as Peggy in he younger years, she was educated at Auchenharvie Academy and trained by Mr Agnew and made her athletic debut on 4 July 1935 and within the first year of competition won the Ardeer Sports meeting, Maryhill Sports meeting and Rothesay Highland Games and was described as an athletic prodigy. [3]

McDowall ran for the Ardeer & Kilmarnock Harriers. [4]

She became the Scottish 100 yards champion at the Scottish Athletics Championships and in August 1937 she set a Scottish record over 100 yards recording 11.1 sec, [5] which led to selection for the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney, Australia. [6]

She duly represented Scotland at the 1938 British Empire Games in the 100 yards and 220 yards, reaching the semi-final of the latter. [7] At the time of the 1938 Games she was still in full-time education and lived at 5 Sandhills in Stevenston, North Ayrshire. [1]

After the Games she continued to race [8] until the outbreak of World War II, taking part in a meeting on 27 May 1939, being given a half yard handicap ahead of Lily Hunter, who had usurped her Scottish title. [9]

References

  1. 1 2 "UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, Brisbane to London Arrival - 1 Apr 1938". Ancestry. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  2. ↑ "Scotland Sydney 1938". Commonwealth Games Federation. Archived from the original on 22 July 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  3. ↑ "Ardeer's Athletic Prodigy" . Kilmarnock Herald and North Ayrshire Gazette. 11 July 1936. Retrieved 28 August 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ↑ "Among the Footballers" . Kilmarnock Herald and North Ayrshire Gazette. 25 December 1937. Retrieved 28 August 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ↑ "40,000 See Lovelock's Time Beaten" . Reynolds's Newspaper. 8 August 1937. Retrieved 28 August 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. ↑ "Miss McDowall's Record" . Kilmarnock Herald and North Ayrshire Gazette. 8 August 1937. Retrieved 28 August 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ↑ "Records mark opening of Empire Games" . Birmingham Weekly Mercury. 6 February 1938. Retrieved 28 August 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ↑ "Miss McDowall's Fine Sprinting" . Midlothian Advertiser. 25 December 1937. Retrieved 28 August 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Monkland Harriers Sports" . Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser. 8 August 1937. Retrieved 28 August 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
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