1888 Scottish Athletics Championships

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 (Ulverston AC) 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 (Ayr FC) 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.[1][2][3][4][5][6]