Obituaries
Eddie Harvey – An Appreciation
Eddie Harvey, who died in April 2020, joined Carnethy shortly after the club was established, and was an active member until the early 2000s when an ankle injury led him to stop running. Long-standing club members will remember him as a good friend, a man who loved the mountains and knew them well, a superb navigator, a great conversationalist, someone with encyclopaedic knowledge and strongly held views, which he was not afraid to voice. He was a regular on club trips including Loch Ossian, Rum, the Torridon log house. He cut a dashing figure on the dance floor at club dinners and ceilidhs and entertained us on the fiddle at Burns Suppers, and with his many journal articles. Through most of the 1990s Eddie rented a large house in Ullapool for a week over New Year and invited several Carnethies who, along with his orienteering friends and beloved dog Creachan, enjoyed winter mountaineering, long runs, good food and company.
Eddie did lots of races, long, short, hill (his best Carnethy 5 time was 59minutes), trail, cross country, and always orienteering, through which we met him in the late 1970s/ early 80s. He taught geography at an Edinburgh high school and introduced many youngsters to the sport at which he excelled, competing at national level and being very involved in planning, organising and controlling events until fairly recently. He was a regular at Tuesday intervals and Thursday Meggetland (later Myreside) interclub training, and continued to go for a post-training pint with friends after he stopped running. We had many adventures with him, winter mountaineering in Torridon at New Year through the 1980s, an epic 6 week trip to Nepal in 1987, being guided by him up the Inn Pinn on Skye ( not the ideal place for a first abseil!) and loads more.
Robin Sloan says “Eddie was one of the best sorts, one of the kind of people, who by their friendliness, personality and common interests, are why those of us involved in sports like hill racing and orienteering stay committed. I know we are different, because you don’t meet the blank stare of non-participants when you try to explain why you run in all weathers in wild and potentially dangerous terrain.”, and Keith Burns remembers a Great Wilderness Race in the early 90s from Dundonald. “A perfect day’s weather and we hardly lost sight of each other throughout the long race, chatting and not really taking racing seriously – until we reached the Fionn Loch causeway below Carn Mhor Crag. Without discussion, we both seemed to decide we ought to start trying. Despite desperate efforts from both, we couldn’t shake each other off. After the last 10 miles of desperate struggle with leads swapping, we collapsed over the line at Poolewe together. I don’t remember who was in front. It didn’t matter. The sun had shone the whole way.”
One of Eddie’s newsletter articles, illustrated with a sketch map, covered the Great Canal Run, 62 miles from Bowling to Edinburgh along the Forth-Clyde and Union canals which five of us undertook in March 1990, a fascinating journey through rural and industrial history, and no mean feat before the millennium project which joined sections up and made the entire route navigable. We had to grope our way through the dripping dark Falkirk tunnel (nowadays lit), and make a complicated diversion to cross the M8, which was later raised to accommodate the canal. Part way through the day, Eddie informed us that a marathon was the furthest he had run before! He also wrote a beautiful, eloquent article in the Carnethy Hillennium Book (the Millenium Journal) entitled “The Pentland Hills”. It is well worth reading, covering geography, geology, history, wildlife, touching on some of his experiences and his strongly held views about land management.
John Coyle remembers doing the slab route on Skye with Eddie, and playing out the scene from the Highlander. John also remembers their great adventure, attempting the Matterhorn in Switzerland in 1993, turning back wisely before the summit. The story is retold in another of Eddie’s newsletter articles (below) which illustrates his mountaineering expertise, his dry humour and his ability to laugh at himself. Several Carnethies were staying in Chandolin whilst competing in some Swiss races, and that night Eddie came back earlier than expected to find we had sublet his bed to clubmate Beverly Redfern (who went on to win the Sierre Zinal race). Eddie was typically chivalrous about it and slept on the floor. Still recovering from the Matterhorn, Eddie developed cramp during the race and, supressing his usual competitive streak, decided just to enjoy the experience. He finished, still in a decent time, enthusing about the massage he had at the Hotel Weisshorn, the musicians en route and the quality of the refreshment stations.
Eddie was always very youthful and private about his age. Bill Gauld remembers being beaten by him at the Eildon race in the early 1980s. Bill, however, left with the veterans’ prize because Eddie chose not to declare his status.
Eddie took early retirement, and seemed set to continue with his many interests, music, learning Gaelic, geology, reading, however another big adventure was in store for a man who had already packed so much into his lifetime. He met Moira – another orienteering romance – and they married in 2003, going on to have three children of whom he was rightly proud. They have Eddie and Moira’s enthusiasm for sport and the outdoors. Patrick, 15, is actively involved in Scouting and recently cycled from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Tara and Rona, twins aged 12, are talented athletes, Tara in gymnastics and Rona in football, their dad’s first sport.
Moira recalls Eddie having a story about running up every hill they saw together. Completing the Scottish Island Peaks Race was one hill running achievement she know he was particularly proud of. He had phoned in sick to work, citing a bad back, as he knew he’d not be given time off. His cover was blown when he was interviewed after the race on Radio Scotland! His “bad back” did not prevent him helping carry our furniture, including washing machine, boxes of books and a mattress down four flights of stairs, along the street and up two flights when we moved flat in 1986. His housewarming gift to us is still on our wall, a terracotta sheaf of corn bearing words which seem so appropriate:
For good food and for good friends, praise be!
A selection of Eddie’s newsletter articles: The Canal Run; The Matterhorn Epic; The Pentland Hills
Hilary and Andy Spenceley
Harry Lawson 1933 – 2020
Harry was a member that all clubs need: the guy who’s there to support all the crazy things that a club gets up to as well as being an enthusiastic competitor himself. He became an early recruit in the days when the main flow of members came from a mountaineering or other vaguely “athletic” background. Harry’s background was cycling and orienteering. Calling orienteering “vaguely athletic” is insulting in the extreme of course, but like climbing and cycling, it was outside the athletic mainstream in the mid-1980s. Most of Carnethy at the time only dabbled in serious competition and were gently “coached” by the small group of “proper athletes” we had amongst us.
Part of the club’s engagement with “proper” athletics was the Carnethy club handicap race series, and Harry was one of its early promoters as a champion of the underdogs and also-rans. These concepts that generated a measure of anxiety at the time as members tried to avoid the tag “also-ran” – viz Colin Pritchard’s memorable poem “I also ran”. The handicap races were to give all a chance of fleeting glory as a winner on the basis of effort and enthusiasm alone, not speed, and the series continues today, once we can get out together again. Harry was a worthy winner of the very first handicap race series in 1989. It would be ignoble to remember whether he was the resident handicapper at the time! The handicaps are a lasting tribute to Harry’s initiative. He went on to support and compete in a diverse range of novel and extremely athletic but unusual pursuits.
One example recalled was the 15-mile club Moorfoots Race which used to take place on the day of the club dinner. Harry failed to appear at the finish and we were all getting worried about him, as well as the prospect of being late for the dinner. He turned up at dusk with an account of his route which remains rather vague to this day, but it left Harry much wiser to the differences between navigation for orienteers and that needed for hill runners. The dinner that night introduced the club to eating “nouvelle cuisine”. Harry fronted the protest at this foreign phrase deciding that apparently it just meant “hardly any food” – especially after running 15 miles.
Harry was probably the first club member to compete in the Yorkshire Three Peaks Cyclo Cross Race in 1989 along with Keith Burns. Their objective was simply to survive, which they did, just. Along with Bill Gauld, Harry was a key member of the support team for most of the Southern Uplands Way record breaking Run in 1996. Hilary Spencely particularly remembers him fighting a losing battle with midges at Caldon’s campsite in Galloway. Nicki Innes recalls that he was a kind and nice man to support them. Harry had an equally tough battle in his midge ridden tent at the first Scottish Mountain Trial at Crianlarich.
Richard and Paddy Robertson wrote that he was such a lovely man, full of kindness and lots of common sense. The said “We first met him at a hill race in the eighties or possibly the seventies. We always got on well, he was such a fine man, we are so sorry.”
Harry supported Hilary’s West Highland Way race in 1989 along with Andy Spenceley, 22 hours of meeting, feeding, sock changing, encouraging, motivating, re-provisioning. “I couldn’t have asked for more support. All I had to do was run! And no complaints when, rather than the food they’d prepared for me, I nicked the ham sandwiches which were intended for them.”
Hilary also recalls a memorable club run from Dalwhinnie to Fort William- “the one where we nearly got wiped out by a train 2 minutes after starting! Harry dropped us off at the Dalwhinnie railway crossing and then drove round to meet us at the other end, running in from Glen Nevis to meet us with a bag of cakes from a Fort William baker.”
Murdo McEwan recalls a long-ago Pentland Skyline Race in foul weather when he was trudging up Black Hill through the heather feeling a bit sorry for himself (no well-trod path then). The flat boggy summit area was thick mist in rain; pretty godforsaken. There was Harry, marshalling in a wee bivvy shelter checking runners through, a real hero. During marshalling Carnethy 5; and sharing transport to The Howe with Murdo, Harry recalled how he’d been meandering in the remote SW Pentlands when he’d come across an intact Army shell, probably from WW2 exercises. Against all the advice he’d picked it up and carried it in his pack for a bit. Then he reflected that “It might not be a good idea after all”; so he stuffed it down a rabbit hole, and continued on his way. Murdo remembers some of the navigational challenges, but mainly remembers Harry as “an enthusiastic, capable supporter of some long distance things I was part of.”
Beyond the club, Harry was a talented craftsman with a comprehensive workshop for his model engineering and bike maintenance activities. Hilary recalls phoning him for plumbing advice about a failing toilet flush. He repaired it and explained how it was Margaret Thatcher’s fault as she had demanded reduced capacity toilet cisterns to solve the water shortage crisis.
Keith Burns was introduced to tandem racing by Harry at the annual Tranent time trial in the early 90s. Keith suffered continuous reprimands as Stoker on the tandem for shuffling around on the back and not delivering a smooth stable power flow. They still won their age group though.
Harry is at peace now after his long illness. He leaves warm trails of memories amongst many running and orienteering friends. The Carnethy Club, its many members and racing friends from other clubs, send a friendly salute from a distance to Harry as he heads on his next race. Our best wishes and thoughts go to Marion and the family at Mortonhall as we reflect on happier times before Covid-19.
Robin Morris
As many of you know by now, one of the stalwarts of Scottish Hill Running, Robin Morris died on Sunday at the age of 68. Robin was for many years a member of Carnethy, being one of the very first club members, and he was also one of the founders of Scottish Hill Runners. Not only was he the first Secretary of the SHR (or SHRA, as it was then), he won the inaugural championship to became the first Scottish Hill Running champion (in 1983).
During his time with Carnethy, he was organiser for many years of Glamaig, Tinto and Pentlands Skyline. He was awarded the club’s Burns Scott Trophy in 1997 for his services to the club. Over the years he ran in 22 Carnethy 5 races (see below), with an amazing run of results from 1976 to 1986 – 10 top 10 positions in a row!; He won many races in the 1980s, including North Berwick Law, Creag Dubh, Dollar and competed in a wide range of events including the Scottish Islands Peaks Race and Mountain Marathons, although he would be the first to admit he preferred the short, sharp races.
Robin was interviewed for the club journal in 1999 and the interview is worth a read. Robin was always very involved in hill running politics and in later years Robin left Carnethy, when their visions diverged, and ran for Lothian. He was one of the great personalities of Scottish Hill running and will be missed.
ROBIN MORRIS – 22 CARNETHY HILL RACES | |||||
Year | Position | Name | Club | Time | Category |
1971 | 17 | Robin Morris | Octavians AC | 53.28 | |
1977 | 3 | Robin Morris | Edinburgh Athletic Club | 55.27 | |
1978 | 3 | Robin Morris | Edinburgh Athletic Club | 53.40 | |
1979 | 5 | Robin Morris | Edinburgh Athletic Club | 53.24 | |
1980 | 5 | Robin Morris | Edinburgh Athletic Club | Unofficial Race | |
1981 | 5 | Robin Morris | Edinburgh Athletic Club | 52.06 | |
1982 | 3 | Robin Morris | Edinburgh Athletic Club | 51.24 | |
1983 | 7 | Robin Morris | Edinburgh Athletic Club | 52.14 | |
1984 | 9 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 54.06 | |
1985 | 7 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 52.28 | |
1986 | 6 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 64.59 | |
1987 | 16 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 52.46 | |
1991 | 42 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 61.27 | M40 |
1993 | 53 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 59.00 | M40 |
1995 | 251 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 72.22 | M40 |
2000 | 155 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 67.23 | M50 |
2003 | 213 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 70.28 | M50 |
2004 | 164 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 68.13 | M50 |
2006 | 181 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 70.21 | M50 |
2007 | 204 | Robin Morris | Carnethy HRC | 70.14 | M50 |
2010 | 237 | Robin Morris | Lothian Running Club | 74.45 | M60 |
2015 | 419 | Robin Morris | Lothian Running Club | 92.19 | M60 |
Obituary – John Littlewood
It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my friend and long time Carnethy Member – John Littlewood.
John died peacefully at home last week. He had been living with cancer for many years but had carried on playing tennis and climbing until very close to his death.
John has been a member of Carnethy since 1996 ad had taken part in many Mountain Marathons. He was a regular on the Esk Run until a couple of years ago.
There will be a non-religious funeral for him at Mortonhall crematorium at 10am on Saturday 9th December, followed by an informal gathering from1-3pm at Alien Rock, 8 Pier Place Edinburgh EH6 4LP.
Our sympathies go to Margaret and his family.
Willie Gibson
John Blair-Fish, 1950-2013
http://carnethy.com/obituaries/John%20Blair-Fish.htm