History of St Ronans Border Games

St. Ronan's Border Games – 192nd Anniversary – 1827-2019

2019 marked the 192nd Anniversary of the oldest organised athletics meeting in Scotland.
St. Ronan’s Border Games has, with the exception of a year during the Crimean War and the
World War years, run continuously from its inception in September 1827 to the present day,
undergoing many changes over the period. Originally a “mini-Olympics”, enthusiastic
amateur sportsmen from all walks of life and from as far afield as Edinburgh, Cumbria and
throughout the Borders gathered to participate in the many and varied events. Their
versions of the sprint, middle distance race, triple jump, high jump, long jump, shot putt,
hammer and wrestling would be just as keenly contested then as now. In the early years a
second day’s sport comprised rifle shooting and archery, the winner of the latter receiving
the famous Silver Arrow.

Prizes, usually a silver medal or a Blue Border bonnet, were also awarded for quoits, tossing
the caber, tug-o-war and for the first one to successfully climb a greasy pole! Innerleithen
had its own handba’. Teams from Traquair (those living on the south side of the Tweed) and
from Leithen (resident on the north bank of the Tweed) “kicked-off” from roughly where the
War Memorial now stands. The “pitch” was the strip of land between the Leithen and the
Dam. The Traquair goal or “hail” was the foot of Leithen while that of Leithen lay at the
Cauld opposite the Auld Kirk just beyond Kirklands farm. No records of the yearly winners
were kept but by all accounts the rivalry was intense. The game was eventually discontinued
before a fatality occurred. Another sport not seen today is whippet racing which was
introduced in 1924 and continued for some years.

The Games appear to have assumed their present day format when professional running,
and the attendant betting facilities, were introduced for the first time in 1921. Though many
lamented the passing of the amateur sports the change probably reflected the desires of the
ordinary working people. Interestingly there is one race, first featured two years after the
inaugural meeting, which is still run over much of the original course – the Steeplechase,
better known locally as the “race up Curly”. Until fairly recently this was the final event of
the Games, finishing in Peebles Road at the junction with Hall Street. The event that opens
the Saturday’s sporting competition could hardly provide a greater contrast. For many years
the “Round the Town Race”, via Traquair Road, Miller Street, Waverley Road and the High
Street, has proved a stiff challenge for local lads who perhaps thought their chances were
better on road than on track. In 1993 Suzanne Douglas showed her competitors a clean pair
of heels to become the first woman to win the event.

The first meetings of St. Ronan’s Border Games took place on the flat haugh on the west
bank of the Leithen and known as “The Batty” after the butts used for archery practice (now
Leithen Crescent). With the construction of Leithen Mill and the gasworks, the venue was
shifted around 1846 to “The Green”, a much more confined area opposite the Cuddy Brig.
One of the earliest photographs of the Games is of a meeting at this location. From 1872
until the 1890s the sports were held on Pirn Haugh, which proved a popular venue, before
finally moving to the present day location at Victoria Park.

From the outset athletes from the Innerleithen, Traquair and Walkerburn area have featured
prominently in the Games. Innerleithen’s George Scougall, described as an “ox feller”, was
awarded his silver medal by Professor John Wilson (Christopher North) for winning the
wrestling at the first meeting. The following year Andrew Burnet of Traquair won a Border
bonnet for the standing hop, step and leap and a silver medal for first place in the 640-yard
foot race. In 1829 Scougall was again in the medals, this time for quoits and the hammer,
and Thomas Anderson, a tailor of diminutive stature known locally as “Tam the Rat”, won
the high leap with a jump of 5 feet 3 inches.

Between 1832 and 1835 the great William Leyden of Denholm was a dominant figure at the
Games, excelling at the high jump, putting the shot, foot racing, wrestling, and the hop,
step and leap (triple jump). In 1835, he won every event he entered. In 2005, his
descendent, Dudley White, loaned the silver medals awarded to Leyden by St. Ronan's
Border Club for the 1832 and 1835 hop, step and leap to St. Ronan's Border Games. These
are on display at St. Ronan's Wells and, together with the Silver Arrow and the St. Ronan's
Bow, are among the earliest surviving items of Games memorabilia.

A man who must rank as the forerunner of Daley Thompson dominated the sporting scene
in the 1870s. Tom Aitken from Walkerburn was a truly outstanding all-round athlete. He
won just about every contest in which he competed including such varied events as the
caber, the hammer, wrestling and hurdling. Most of his recorded “personal bests" would still
please any modern aspiring decathlete: 100 yards – 9.6 seconds; 130 yards – 12.75
seconds; high jump – 6 feet 1.2 inches; long jump – 22 feet 2 inches; pole vault – 10 feet
11 inches and for the mile – 4 minutes 42 seconds. He emigrated to America in 1879 where
he continued his sporting success.

The tradition has been maintained on the professional field and in recent years by many
local athletes including, the Whitefords, the Lothian Brothers - Alec & Ian, David Currie,
Sandy Pow, Ian Gordon, Alan Lindsay, Ronnie Wilson, Rab Thomson, Brian Scott, Brian
Slingsby, Rob Hamilton and Brian Stanage who have all excelled at St. Ronan’s as well as
further afield. Charlie Russell, too, has been an extremely influential figure on the Borders
athletics circuit, training dozens of local runners over many years.

As well as prize money, trophies are awarded for nearly all events in the present day
Games. In 1914 the U.S.A. Peeblesshire Society presented the American Cup for the 800
Metres Handicap, a race for local under 18s, to St. Ronan’s Border Games. Another “global”
piece of silverware is the New Zealand Cup. Presented by “Innerleithen Old Boys Residing in
New Zealand” the trophy was awarded for the first time in 1950 to the winner of the Youths
200 Metres Handicap, a race also confined to runners from Innerleithen, Traquair and
Walkerburn. A more recent acquisition is the Challenge Trophy for the winner of the
Steeplechase (“Curly Race”) which was donated in memory of the late D.B. Patterson, a
former member of the Games committee.
The ‘Games today continue to be at the forefront of Borders athletics and, of course, are
now the culmination of Games Week