Stewart stormed to win against all odds in 1970
Fifty years later we look back on a historic day at the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games
NOW in my sixth decade of following sport, I have no hesitation in nominating my favourite moments by Scottish individuals in sport.
Andy Murray winning Olympic Gold and Wimbledon; Liz Lynch as she then was, winning the 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships in 1991; Ken Buchanan, Jim Watt, Alex Arthur, Scott Harrison and Ricky Burns becoming boxing world champions; Sandy Lyle’s astonishing US Masters win in 1988; Paul Lawrie’s even more astonishing win in the Open at Carnoustie – can it really be 21 years ago? Sir Jackie Stewart’s third world F1 title; David Wilkie, Allan Wells and Sir Chris Hoy’s golden performances at the Olympics; Willie Carson winning any one of his four Derbies and Dunfermline’s epic wins in the Oaks and St Leger; Graeme Obree’s world hour records; Shirley Robertson’s gold in the Europe class at the Sidney 2000 Olympics; so many more, and there have been so many other team performances in which individuals were outstanding.
Some of my favourite achievements were in the Commonwealth Games over the years and I’ve been privileged to see them in person and write about them – too many to mention really.
Yet my absolute favourite moment in Scottish sport in more than 50 years of watching it happened when I was just 11. The 50th anniversary of that event takes place on Monday.
Nobody, but nobody, gave Lachie Stewart a chance when he stepped onto the track at Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh just after 4pm on Saturday, July 18, for the final of the 10,000m. The hot favourite for the event was the very great Australian distance runner Ron Clarke, who by that time had set no fewer than 19 world records.
Also in the field was England’s Dick Taylor, holder of the British record for the distance, and Naftali Temu of Kenya, the reigning Commonwealth champion over Six Miles, as the event had been called up to 1966.
In the Vale of Leven in West Dunbartonshire, Lachie Stewart was probably not our first choice of hero. That person would usually ply his trade on the football field, and while Jim Baxter had been my first hero, he had been supplanted by Jimmy Johnstone – I was aye a contrarian.
Yet we all knew about Lachie and how good he was. He was a dental technician during the day and on his return from the pub at night, my dad would sometimes see him running through the streets of Alexandria and Bonhill. He continued that night running in Glasgow after he moved to the city’s Dental Hospital to work.
We knew he had won the first Scottish Boys CrossCountry Championship and that had decided him on running as his sport. They were all amateurs back then and Lachie’s biggest prizes, I was told, were books.
He had competed at the Games in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1966 but the 3,000 metres steeplechase was just too short for him. He had moved up to the 5,000m and 10,000m and by 1970 he was at his physical best as the Games approached.
Entirely self-coached, Lachie was probably not part of the athletics establishment but when he set a Scottish allcomers record at Meadowbank on June 5, everybody began to wonder if he could get a medal. He wasn’t going to catch world record holder Ron
Clarke whose best time of 27m 39.4 secs was almost a minute ahead of Lachie’s PB, but he could surely improve and maybe squeak into third.
I remember us crowding in front of the telly in Bonhill to watch the rain-sodden race. My dad said the rain wouldn’t help Clarke but might help Dick Taylor and Lachie and about seven laps from the end it was Clarke, Taylor and Lachie who broke away.
Several times it looked as though the big two would drop Lachie, but you could see him digging in to stay attached and then a miracle happened. David Coleman noted that neither Clarke nor Taylor had much of a finishing kick and Coleman also spotted that they were providing “a windbreak” for Lachie in the back straight. And it was true.
We all started screaming “come on Lachie” and then glory be, coming off the home turn did the Valeman not rush right by Clarke and forge ahead to win with a huge smile on his face? He would say later he felt he was flying as he set a PB some 21 seconds faster than he had ever run the distance. We went berserk and I can still hear the voices of our neighbours shouting out of their windows and coming out to clap in the street.
Our Lachie had won and the 1970 Commonwealth Games was off to a flyer. I always felt a bit sorry for Rosemary Payne, who I’m pretty certain was winning the discus that afternoon – hers was a great achievement but to all of us it was Lachie Stewart who had heroically overcome all the problems to win.
Now we have learned last week that at the age of 77, Lachie has had a lower leg amputation and will need a prosthetic limb. Permit me to send him all the best wishes on this golden anniversary and I’m sure our local hero will conquer this latest setback – he’s a Valeman and they don’t do lying down.