Obituary - John 'Jock' Duffy, marathon runner

Died 17th May, 2017

John (Jock) Duffy who has died aged 97 was Scotland’s oldest surviving marathon champion, having claimed the national title in 1953 from a field of 27.

Aged 33, in only his third race over the distance, which was run from Falkirk to Meadowbank, he prevailed over rival Alex McLean despite being over a minute behind him at the 24 mile mark.

Described in one report as looking ‘very sun bronzed and fit’, a strong finish saw him eclipse McLean by almost a minute, in a time only seconds outside the championship best, set six years previously by one of Scotland’s best ever marathon men,Donald M. Robertson. He won despite the rigours a 12-hour overnight train journey in the company of his wife and family from his home in Essex, arriving at his parents’ house in Broxburn at 3 a.m.

The previous year,in his debut in the Scottish Championship, he had finished a worthy second to champion Charlie Robertson, a former Black Watch major who was unfortunate not to have been selected for that summer’s Helsinki Olympics. With a few miles to the finish Duffy began to look a likely winner but Robertson recovered from cramp to clinch the title.

Duffy’s debut in the marathon had taken place earlier that year when he finished eighth in the Polytechnic race, winning the Lalande Trophy for the debutant finishing first. This gave him the incentive to travel north for the Scottish Championship.

After his 1953 success he was hopeful of selection for the 1954 Commonwealth Games [then the Empire Games] in Vancouver but was disappointed when only one athlete was picked, Joe McGhee, who at that time Duffy had defeated three times – although his cause was not helped when he had to drop out of the 1954 Scottish Championship after 17 miles.

McGhee won the Empire title in the memorable finale when the favourite, England’s Jim Peters, collapsed near the end because of sunstroke and the punishing pace he had set.

Peters and Duffy were friends who sometimes trained together in Essex and Peters wrote to the Scottish selectors backing Duffy, but to no avail. Despite that disappointment he continued competing until he retired in the late 1950’s.

Born in Broxburn, he initially worked as a shale miner locally before enlisting in the army in 1940 where he began his running career and dabbled in boxing. During the war he drove a Sherman tank in the Eighth Army in the North African and Italian campaigns and took part in cross country races, at one point winning the Central Mediterranean Forces championship. Awaiting demob., he was stationed in Southend where he met Londoner May Wheelwright, who he married.

They set up home in Hadleigh, Essex where he joined the local running club, the Olympiads, at first in an effort to lose weight. He also started working as a bricklayer and builder. Demanding manual work was not the ideal occupation for a distance runner whose training often totalled almost 90 miles per week. It was Jim Peters who suggested he tried road running and after success in local races, he stepped up to the marathon. There is little doubt that had the war not intervened his career would have reached even greater heights.

After retiring from work he moved back to live in Broxburn. He is survived by his three daughters and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Jack Davidson