Scotstoun thoughts: Why Team Scotland merit our support and admiration

Monday 3rd August 2026

Photo by Bobby Gavin

Seventh heaven! Four golds help towards second best medal haul for 44 years

By Peter Jardine, Head of Communications

Decathlete Joel McFarlane will very soon be back knocking on doors in Texas seeking to persuade the good people of Fort Worth to buy a new roof.

It is one of three jobs Joel takes on in the afternoons and evenings to help fund his athletics career.

Sprinter Bradley Francis will this week be back in an exam hall at the University of Aberdeen as he pursues a career in medicine. When he isn’t trying to pass exames he is passing the baton round at a home Commonwealth Games, that is.

Long jumper Stephen Mackenzie will by now be retreating to the Highland coastal community of Ullapool – population 1500 (all of them now doubtless long jump fans). Next week he will compete for GB and NI for the first time at Senior level at the European Championships in Birmingham as his athletics career leaps forward.

Just three back story examples from our Team Scotland athletes with more than half of the 39 selected not full-time in the sport.

We mention them so we can applaud them.

Maximising talent only comes with hard work and for the last couple of weeks we would like to think we have shone a light on that.

Even those only in their early to mid-20s are likely to have had around 15 years in the sport. That commitment to training and being the best they can be demands our appreciation and admiration.

That applies equally to the likes of Josh Kerr, Laura Muir and Eilish McColgan regardless of them being in a different earning postcode from those mentioned above.

Wheelchair racer Sean Frame summed it up rather well with the determination he brings writ large across in a raw post-race interview at Scotstoun

‘I want to go again in four years – absolutely I do,’ said Sean.

‘Hopefully there will be a marathon in India in 2030 but if it is the track then I am up for doing that again.

‘I love my sport. It is my life. It is my career and I hope to do it for many more years to come.’

Andy Butchart probably falls somewhere in between those mentioned above and the father-of-two will now try to extend his time earning a living from sport via road racing.

‘All the guys racing the 10,000m have put in the same effort,’ said the double Olympian who made his mark via cross country with Central AC after last Tuesday’s race in the Scotstoun monsoon.

‘Being an elite athlete is not an easy game. Often it is not a long-term game. I feel I have been lucky to be around a long time.

‘There are sacrifices in every walk of life I guess so we embrace the ones in athletics and are just lucky to be representing Scotland.’

There were some poor performances. Athletes themselves will know that and admit that. But frankly that doesn’t detract from the journey to be there stories and dedication.

Team Scotland track and field: we salute you and thank you for the memories.

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Melanie Woods gladly signed up for two events at the Commonwealth Games when the Para programme was mapped out. But the double bronze medallist from the World Para Champs last September could not have envisaged taking on almost 4k on the track.

That’s what she faced when her T54 1500m win last Wednesday was wiped out early on Thursday morning and a rerun was inserted into the Friday schedule.

Team Scotland contacts suggest she accepted the Jury of Appeal rerun decision with a calmness and steely concentration. It looked that way when she won the rerun, then a 400m heat and then the 400m final.

Come Sunday night and the Games Closing Ceremony and there was one last postscript to her hectic and emotional week.

Melanie was the on-stage recipient of the David Dixon Award from Commonwealth Sport for ‘Performance, Fair Play and Contribution to Sport.’

Thinks we love to see . . .

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(Photo by Ross McDonald SNSpix)

Back to Butchart. Or, rather, Bobby Gavin.

We love this photo above from Saturday and the end of the Men’s 5000m. Andy told Bobby it was his last track race and thanked him for countless photos over the years.

The image – taken by Ross McDonald of SNS (thank you) – sums up perfectly the respect and esteem athletes have for our Official Photographer.

In his fourth Games for us, it felt again as if Bobby knew the photos we needed even before the event has started. It takes patience, experience and a tireless energy to deliver that over 14+ hour days for six days.

Bobby never sends us a photo of an athlete underperforming or in distress. He likes nothing better than promoting and projecting athletics in Scotland.

We’ve told him this one above is our favourite Bobby Gavin photo ever. But he knows we are only joking . . .

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A few more random thoughts . . .

*Megan Keith’s 100-year-old grandfather: a great story which gathered great traction. Interest then went to another level with Megan’s bronze medal in the Women’s 5000m.

*Ben Sandilands is building rather a stellar CV in the T20 Para classification. That’s World Para title, Paralympic gold and Commonwealth Games glory against the Fife AC athlete’s name now. His great, great grandfather who ran for Scotland in 1910 would be proud.

*Did we mention Josh Kerr? Amid everything else, almost our favourite story of the week featured the World Record holder arriving in Games hotel and asking after Owen Miller, his National Academy pal from 10 years ago.

*We can’t leave out our Officials and volunteers. Every time turned a corner at Scotstoun or walked 100m, there was another familiar face in Games kit. Scotland and Glasgow delivered.

*Feels like progress in Combined Events and Relays from 5-10 years ago. Three CE selections and top eight finishes for Callum Newby and Joel McFarlane (with Allie Routledge in heptathlon). Relay teams in finals setting Bests and Native Records – when the margin for error on those is high, that’s solid performances.

*Big thank you to my colleagues Morven Bruce and Eilidh Miller. Commonwealth Games debutants who shifted and shared an unbelievable amount of content.

We may well come back to you at later date about the reach/number of views – but seeing a combined 3.7 million across Instagram and Facebook for the week. Yes, 3.7 million !!