TRIBUTE TO MARTIN HYMAN - by Mel Watman

Martin Hyman, who died on April 3 aged 87, admitted that as a runner his "physical abilities were very limited." He possessed so little natural speed that he never ran faster than 57.5 for 440 yards, nor could he break 2 minutes for the half mile. And yet by sheer perseverance and application, he became a world class distance runner, setting a UK record for 6 miles in 1961, placing third in the International Cross Country Championship earlier that year and going close to medals at the 1958 Commonwealth Games and 1962 European Champs.

His early life was perilous. Born in Southampton on 3 July 1933, he was evacuated to Jersey when war broke out – but that was a very dangerous place for him to be, for his father had been a Jewish trade union official in Germany and had they not fled back to the mainland a week or two before the German Army occupied the Channel Islands they surely would not have survived. In a profile by John Cobley, Hyman admitted "I was a useless runner; I had very little talent apart from great determination. Because I was a weak and sickly child and wanted to prove I could do something, I was full of determination to get better."

He entered Southampton University in 1951, aged 18, and the following year joined the university's cross country club. On the track he began with a modest 15:22.1 for 3 miles in 1953 but improved drastically to 14:37.8 a year later as a member of Portsmouth AC. After graduating he was called up for National Service but declared himself a conscientious objector and instead served in an ambulance unit in Austria, dealing with Hungarian refugees who had left their country after the Soviet invasion. By the time he returned to Southampton University for a teaching diploma course, his track times had improved out of all recognition. In 1957 ran ran 13:57.4 for 3 miles and 29:30.6 for 6 miles and in 1958 he clocked 13:34.0 (the day after his wedding!) and 28:18.8. That was the year he gained his first international vest, placing fourth in the Commonwealth Games 6 miles, up with the three medallists until the bell, despite wearing an unsuitable pair of spikes which left him blooded and blistered.

He and clubmate Bruce Tulloh, both of them self-coached after absorbing all the training information they could find, became two of Britain's most consistent and successful distance runners over the next few years. Hyman, who attracted attention off the track also in his role as a leading member of CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), ran his fastest 3 miles time of 13:29.2 in 1959 and at the following year's Olympics in Rome he finished ninth in the 10,000m after leading briefly shortly after halfway and in medal contention up to 7000m. He did well to make the team as his training was severely curtailed by illness and injury in the eight months prior to the Games.

HIs big year was 1961. He was set up nicely for the track season after placing third in the International Cross Country Championship, and a May Bank Holiday crowd of over 25,000 at the White City witnessed Hyman smash Stan Eldon's British record of 28:05.0 with 27:54.4, just missing Murray Halberg's Commonwealth record 27:52.2. As I reported for Athletics Weekly at the time, Hyman "planned and executed his six miles campaign in a manner befitting his near neighbour in Alton (Hampshire), Field Marshal Montgomery." With his distinctive high stepping action and running his usual even paced race, he covered the first half in 13:58.0, the second in 13:56.4. In other races that season, he and Basil Heatley deliberately dead-heated in first place at 6 miles against the USA and 10,000m against West Germany. He even ran a decent mile time of 4:12.5, and he ended the year on a high note by winning the prestigious "Round The Houses" New Year's Eve 7.3k road race in São Paulo, defeating Abebe Bikila no less.

Hyman improved his 6 miles time in 1962 when third at the AAA Champs in 27:52.0 behind Roy Fowler and Mike Bullivant whose joint 27:49.8 broke Hyman's UK record. At the European Champs, appointed team captain, he equalled his 10,000m pb of 29:02.0 but, gallingly, was just edged out of the bronze medal by team-mate Roy Fowler with the same time. He had quite an adventurous year, for he tried the steeplechase for the first time (9:21.8) and ran his first and only marathon at the Commonwealth Games in Perth, finishing ninth in 2:32:06 five days after his fifth place in the 6 miles. He had never run further than 11 miles before!

The 1964 AAA 6 miles proved to be a great race as Mike Bullivant lowered the UK record to 27:26.44 ahead of Ron Hill (27:27.01), Jim Hogan (27:35.03) and Hyman in a career best of 27:36.09. Controversially, Hyman did not get selected for the Tokyo Olympics. Hogan repres-ented Ireland at that time but young Fergus Murray won the third place in the British team even though his best 6M time was 28:11.8 ... and Hyman's distinguished international career was at an end. He was at the time Chairman of the International Athletes' Club and because of his constant campaigning for a better deal for athletes he was not popular with the powers-that-be. "That was the reason I wasn't selected. And I was never selected after that. It was totally political."     

He continued racing for several years for his beloved Portsmouth AC (he was a member for 65 years), before moving to Scotland in 1979 and joining Livingston & District AAC and co-founding Lothian Running Club. There he combined his duties as a biology teacher until retirement with coaching young athletes and working with the British Orienteering Squad, which he founded, and the hill running community. He could look back on a fine career, made all the more remarkable as he was burdened with asthma in the winter and hay fever in the summer. Ever modest about his achievements, he remarked: "I do not care much for what I have done as an athlete. My preoccupation is with coaching." For more than 35 years he held a weekly training session in Edinburgh, encouraging his athletes to explore the options open to them. "My aim as a coach is to move away from the traditional coach role of telling youngsters what to do and towards empowering youngsters to decide where they want to go and to think about how best to get there." Countless men and women welcomed his approach and have become runners for life. That is his true legacy.

With thanks to Mel Watman for use of this tribute to Martin Hyman, first published in Athletics International.

Martin Hyman, 3 July 1933 - 3 April 2021

BARROWFORD, 3 April 2021.

Beth Potter ran a time faster than the current world women's 5km record at a race in the Lancashire village of Barrowford when she clocked a time of 14 minutes 41 seconds on Saturday. 

Only Kenya's Joyciline Jepkosgei has ever run faster - recording 14:32 during a 10km race in Prague in 2017. However, 5km road racing has only been recognised as an official world record event since January 2018, meaning Potter may have set a world record time.

That mark is currently held by steeplechase world champion Beatrice Chepkoech, who ran 14:43 at the Monaco Run in February.

Potter's time at the Podium 5km event may not be ratified as a world record by World Athletics if there was an absence of anti-doping officers or any irregularities in the size of laps and the course measurement.

8 February 2021. One of the features of the website is our Archive section in which you can find championship 1-2-3s, district championships, schools championships and progressive best performances, as well as details of over 11,000 athletes who have featured in the Scottish ranking lists since the firsts lists were published for the 1959 year.

Our rankings archive has been brought up to date and you can now see how athletics has progressed since 1959, men and women, showing the annual top ten in each event.

Over 60 years of Scottish top tens in two documents - one for men, one for women. You can find the links to the publications at this link.

29 January 2021. John Keddie has been active during lockdown and his latest publication is  Scotland's Track and Field Olympians, Part 1 - 1896-1980.  The book identifies and describes the performances of Scottish track and field athletes who competed in the Olympic Games between 1896 and 1980, telling the story of Scots or descendants of Scots, who took part in Olympic track and field athletics.

He has also produced an update of Then Came A Cloud, the story of K. G. Macleod, whom he describes as Scotland's Greatest Sporting All-rounder, the book first being published in 2016. 

Both are available through Amazon and Lulu.com and enquiries can also be sent to john at the email address: sshp.johnkeddie@yahoo.com. 

Finally, there's a new edition of his book on Eric Liddell, Running the Race, first published in 2007 and now available in an updated 2020 edition from Christian Focus Publications.

You can find the publications on Amazon at the following link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=john+w+keddie&ref=nb_sb_noss

1 December 2020. The scottishathletics selection policy for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham has been announced. You can see the policy in our Commonwealth Games pages in the Scotland section or by clicking here.

The selection standards follow the same system as recent Games with the standards aimed to be equivalent to a top six placing in the final of an event, based on recent Games results.

There are spaces in the team for 23 athletes to be selected. This is the same number as competed at the last Games in England, in Manchester in 2002.