1892 Scottish Athletics Championships

The stadium in Dundee had been purpose-built for athletics and cycling by the Dundee Athletic Company and was the first sports arena in Scotland to be built and operated by a publicly owned company. But only a few hundred spectators showed up to watch and this was the last time the national championship was held outside of either Edinburgh or Glasgow until 1967. It started to rain around two hours before the first race and continued throughout the meet, "without intermission," leaving the competitors at a distinct disadvantage and as a consequence the general standard of performance was not as high as might have been expected and no records were broken.

The 220 yards was held for the first time and Norman MacLeod (Glasgow Academicals), who had twice finished second in the 100 yards, made no mistake at the longer distance. Robert Mitchell (St Mirren FC) won the 880 yards for the fourth consecutive year. Charles Pennycook, the national cross country champion, narrowly failed to win a title in his home town but local boy James MacIntosh (West End Rowing Club) won both the shot put and hammer.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

The 10-mile championship took place at the Powderhall Grounds, Edinburgh, on Thursday 24 March in front of 200 spectators. The weather was fine but there was a noticeable breeze in the home straight. Andrew Hannah, the holder of the title, had entered to defend his title but his younger brother died shortly before the race and he withdrew. Charles Pennycook (Clydesdale H.), who had won the Scottish cross country championships just ten days prior, missed his train, and this left just seven men to start the race with Patrick McMorrow (West of Scotland H.) against six men from Edinburgh Harriers. Of the starters, Thomas Hunter was thought to be the favourite, largely on account of his proven abilities in a final sprint. By four miles the race had become a match race between two men, with Hunter, a young man with a lot of potential, leading from Peter Addison, described as, "one of the oldest runners on the Scottish track." There was barely a yard between them as one by one the other competitors fell away, but the pace was not fast and it became clear that both men were basing their chances on a final sprint. At eight and three-quarter miles they lapped Patrick McMorrow, the only other runner still in the race, and whatever happened now it would be the closest contested race in the series. As the bell rang to announce the start of the final lap they were still a yard apart, Hunter in front, as he had been for the previous five miles. With 300 yards to go Addison "shot clean away" and quickly established a very popular winning lead of forty yards. McMorrow finished approximately 500 yards behind Hunter. The time was the slowest by a winner of the championship so far. splits (Field) 1 mile: 5:11.6, 10:37.6 (5:26.0), 16:03.2 (5:25.6), 21:34.0 (5:30.8), 27:11.2 (5:37.2), 32:46.0 (5:34.8), 38:43.6 (5:57.6), 44:28.2 (5:44.6), 50:20.6 (5:52.4), 56:06.4 (5:45.8).[8][9][10]

• Scottish Athletics
• Scottish Athletics Championships