Congratulations to John Mackay recipient of The Tom Stillie Award 2022.
Tom Stillie was born in 1915 in Alva and enjoyed a successful spell in textiles as an assistant designer. He enlisted in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1940 and was subsequently commissioned into the Black Watch. However, he was seriously wounded towards the end of the war and the injuries he received affected him for the rest of his life.
In 1945 he was appointed lecturer in textile design at the Scottish Woollen Technical College. He had a keen interest in athletics, although his war wounds prevented him from competing, and was President of the Scottish Amateur Athletics Association in 1967. He showed an active interest in researching the history of tartan and tweed design and collecting fabric manufactured locally.
The tartan used in the Commonwealth Check for the 1970 Commonwealth Games was designed by Tom Stillie, used for the Scottish female team uniform, and fabric samples from Lochcarron and Gardiners of Selkirk. He died on 23 March 1978 while still in post as Senior Lecturer in Design at the Scottish Woollen Technical College. (https://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/about/history/tom-stillie-award).
The Tom Stillie Award is given each year to the person who has contributed the most to Scottish Athletics within the preceding year.
The Hilton Hotel in Glasgow was the venue for the Scottish Athletics awards this year. In one of the most successful years in the history our Sport it was great to see one of our most loyal servants being awarded the prestigious Tom Stillie award. The club board and all of our members congratulate John Mackay on receiving this award.
This is John’s 50th year in athletics! Starting as a 12-year-old in 1972 at St Columba’s High School in Clydebank. John has no schools’ medals and never counted in his school team. However, his school team was one of the most successful school teams in Scotland at this time. During his early days he competed for Clydesdale Harriers and Clydebank AC gaining International selection over 1500m as a 21years old. He won District and County Championships as he moved to the Junior / Senior age groups. He was also British College Champion (1982) over 800m/1500m as he finished his Teaching Qualification at St Andrews College. John was a late developer in terms of his athletic achievements.
In 1987 John and Elaine (nee Scally) were married and of course John joined Shettleston Harriers. Clydebank’s loss was Shettleston gain in so many ways. The Scally name has been associated with Shettleston Harriers for over 90 years. John joined Elaine’s Dad’s training group and Bill often said this brought discipline of training to the group which helped the club to a period of great success over many years.
During this time John contributed to 40 District / National Medals which the club won. This is not counting awards at County level and open races wins. He ran 4 European Cub Championships in Portugal and France representing Shettleston Harriers. He appeared in the Scottish rankings for over 20 years in 800m/1500/mile/3000m//5000m/10000m/10k/10miles and ½ marathon. Not a bad record for a boy who could not make his school team!
He was British Professional 3200m champion (Inverkeithing) and was proud of the fact he was the first amateur athlete to win at the World famous Professional Powderhall event over 3200m. The following year he won the 1 mile as back marker in both handicap races. Keeping up a family tradition of Allan Scally (Elaine’s grandfather) who won the 10mile event in 1920/30’s. John also competed for his District at Cross Country / Track and Road as well as Internationally at 1500m/3000m (indoor and outdoor) during this time. He was part of the record-breaking team in The Allan Scally Relay over the old course-a fact he is immensely proud of.
In the 1990’s he was asked to join the club committee and he is still there in 2022! During his time as club captain the club enjoyed major success. Winning numerous titles in Scotland and gaining medals at the English 6 stage / 12 stage relays. He serves on the West District Cross Country Commission /Scottish Cross Country Commission and has been an international selector as well as team manager in recent years. He is race director for the Allan Scally Memorial Relay and Babcock Shettleston 10km as well as a major helper for open graded events. His record in helping the refugee community in Glasgow over the past 15 years is well known throughout the UK.
He was the co-author of the club’s centenary book in 2004 and his daughter (Nicola) still remembers the 4 years of Saturday mornings in the Mitchell Library as he researched the club history. His love for the sport and the club is echoed by his wife Elaine.
In recent years John has a new love related to athletics. He has assisted many stalwarts of athletics in researching athletic history. In his retirement he spends hours on his pc to help complete club names of athletes as far back as 1887.
This sword has previously been won by Shettleston Harriers: Cameron Sharp (1982) Alex Naylor (1985) Edwin Taylor (1990) and Willie Laing (2006) all club legends.
When asked about this award John made the following comment “I consider this award is not only for myself but for the 1000’s of club members who have given their time to our club. I was a late developer and my ethos for running is what I wish to impart to young athletes to gain the same love for our sport. Running is simple, train hard and you cannot help but improve. My successes and pleasures in athletics I have enjoyed with support from Elaine and our family. “