‘Everyone in our sport can savour great memories from 2023 – Colin Hutchison

Saturday 25th November 2023

By Colin Hutchison, chief executive of scottishathletics

As the old adage goes – you wait an hour for a bus and then two come along at once.

Well, after a 31-year wait for a gold medal from a Scottish athlete at the World Championships, Josh Kerr delivered the second one in the space of 12 months!

Success for Josh, and Jake Wightman’s triumph in Oregon back in 2022, will live long in the memory as they both held off the competition in arguably one of the strongest events currently in athletics to become the World Champion.

Our congratulations of course go to Josh, his family, his coach Danny Mackey, and everyone at Edinburgh AC. I would also like to offer my congratulations to all of the athletes selected for the World Championships, the World Para Championships (covered in last edition of PB), the GB an NI age group teams and World Mountain Running teams and the Commonwealth Youth Games this summer.

‘Power of People’ was the theme at the recent National Club Conference. Although these World successes sometimes feel a step removed from the work everyone in athletics in Scotland does on a day-to-day basis, I feel they are a great opportunity to reflect on the role that everyone plays.

This is a topic we developed at the 4J Annual Awards later that same day and is reflected in our PB magazine coverage.

If you look at the successes of Scottish athletes in recent years at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the World Championships and World Para Championships, the vast majority of the athletes have grown up within the club and competition system in Scotland.

That is a cause for celebration for everyone involved in athletics in Scotland – the work that you do whether that is a club leader, a parent, a fellow athlete, a coach or an Official, contributes significantly to the career of athletes in your club and beyond.

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The recent scottishathletics AGM was a significant one for the organisation.

Four stalwarts of our sport, Ron Morrison, Leslie Roy MBE, Hugh Buchanan and Margaret Brown stepped down from the Board on completion of their terms in office.

All four have contributed an immeasurable amount to our sport and have played a significant role in the modernisation of the governing body with Convenors of each of our four Commissions now Directors of the Board.

Our Chair, David Ovens, paid tribute to all four at the AGM, but I would also like to add my thanks to them all for their outstanding contribution to athletics in Scotland and for their support of myself and the staff team.

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Big crowds and big fields at the Lindsays Short Course XC at Lanark (photo by Bobby Gavin)

As always, the 4J Studios scottishathletics Annual Awards provided the perfect opportunity to reflect on the successes of the past 12 months and to recognise the outstanding contributions of athletes, volunteers, coaches, and officials across the sport.

The Awards always provide a poignant moment to stop and reflect on the dedication and selflessness of those involved in athletics in Scotland.

It is a pleasure to be able to recognise many of these people on the night and to appreciate many others beyond the Awards room who also deserve recognition.

As this is the last PB edition of 2023, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued commitment to athletics and running in Scotland, and for the great work you continue to do year on year to make our sport an incredible place to be.

The recent record entries at the Lindsays scottishathletics Short Course XC Championships provided another indicator of the current strength of athletics in Scotland and we look forward to working with you in 2024 and continuing the positive momentum.

Best wishes to you all and your families for the festive period and I hope 2024 brings many more successes on and off the track.