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John Rodger presents Ron Morrison with UK Athletics award back in 2019 (photo by Bobby Gavin)<\/strong><\/p>\n By Katy Barden<\/strong><\/p>\n Aries<\/strong> is one of the most active Zodiac signs. While astrology is not supported by science (and no correlation has been found between birth dates and personality or intelligence), those born between 21 March and 18 April are said to be ambitious, determined, honest and passionate.<\/em><\/p>\n Aries individuals are considered pioneering, high-energy trailblazers who lead with action, courage, and speed. They are reported to have excellent organisational skills and they embrace togetherness and teamwork. They possess youthful strength and energy, regardless of their age, and when faced with a challenge they will quickly assess the situation and come to a solution.<\/p>\n Born in April 1946, John Rodger <\/strong>and Ron Morrison<\/strong> recently celebrated their 80th<\/sup> birthdays.<\/p>\n Well-known and respected throughout our sport, the duo continue to have a tremendous impact in Scottish athletics in a variety of roles.<\/p>\n Astrology believers or not, it\u2019s hard to challenge such an accurate description of these two outstanding Aries men.<\/p>\n \u2018John and Ron are giants of our sport in Scotland,\u2019 says John Mackay<\/strong> of Shettleston Harriers, who has known the pair for decades.<\/p>\n John (Rodger) is the current president of scottish<\/strong>athletics and a former sales and marketing director for a major software development company.<\/p>\n His lifelong interest in the sport began as a 13-year-old when he joined Paisley Harriers, competing in his first National Cross Country Championship at Hamilton Park Racecourse in 1960.<\/p>\n Since 1974 he has been a member of Kilbarchan AAC and in addition to competing for the club, he has been a long-serving committee member and two-time president.<\/p>\n He campaigned successfully to build an all-weather athletics facility within Renfrewshire which was opened in 1991. More recently, he was instrumental in raising funds to construct an indoor athletics facility adjacent to the outdoor track that opened in 2021.<\/p>\n At national level, he has been a selector and team manager for\u00a0scottis<\/strong>hathletics and has served two terms as convenor of the Road and Cross Country Commission.<\/p>\n \u2018John is also a very good coach,\u2019\u00a0 says John (Mackay).\u00a0 \u2018He is involved in so many other things that a lot of people probably don\u2019t realise he coaches a fantastic group of young athletes including Josh Mungin<\/strong> and Alistair Street.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018He\u2019s been heavily involved in championships, too. He took the National Cross Country Championships to Linwood in 2003 for the first time, and he still organises the West District Cross Country Championships. We\u2019ve actually been on the West District Committee together forever \u2013 once you go on there, you have to die to get off it! \u2013 and then John recruited me to the Road Running Commission as well.<\/p>\n Birthday celebrations for John Rodger (photo by Jim Green)<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018I remember when he got asked about the scottish<\/strong>athletics presidency he phoned me and he was a wee bit worried, \u2018Do you think I\u2019d be ok doing that John?<\/em>\u2019, he said.<\/p>\n \u2018He\u2019s not a showman. He can be quite outspoken at times but I think he\u2019s more of the quiet man who just gets on of the task.<\/p>\n \u2018He has a real sense of humour, as well, which a lot of people won\u2019t know as they see a more serious aspect to him.<\/p>\n \u2018I was at his 80th<\/sup> birthday party and there was a great story \u2013 one of the barmaids is a bit of a gossip, so he\u2019d told her that he\u2019d taken Botox knowing that she would spread it around the pub.<\/p>\n \u2018So John\u2019s in there with his pals and this guy comes up and says, \u2018Is it true, John, that you\u2019ve got Botox?<\/em>\u2019. So he\u2019s got a wry kind of humour about him. Maybe he does take Botox, I don\u2019t know, but he certainly doesn\u2019t look 80.<\/p>\n \u2018He\u2019s also a good friend to lots of people. He\u2019ll always help out and he\u2019s very good at giving advice.\u2019<\/p>\n +++<\/p>\n John and Ron (front) with fellow Presidents Alan Potts and Leslie Roy with Laura Muir at the Lindsays National XC at Falkirk this year<\/strong><\/p>\n Ron is a former president of scottish<\/strong>athletics and the only member to have served two terms (1997-1999 and 2019-2023). He was also president of the Scottish Cross Country Union in 1985.<\/p>\n Formerly head of the computing science department at the University of St Andrews, he retired in 2008. That same year he refereed the World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh.<\/p>\n Ron says he was \u2018born a Shettleston Harrier\u2019 and he was a successful team manager for the west coast team in the early 1970s, but he is best known now as a stalwart of Fife AC.<\/p>\n A club committee member and former president, he is also a well-respected coach, most notably guiding Great Britain international Andrew Lemoncello to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.<\/p>\n A excellent and detailed career profile on Ron written by Brian McAusland<\/strong> can be found on Anent Scottish Running at http:\/\/www.anentscottishrunning.com\/ron-morrison\/<\/a>,<\/p>\n For those who regularly see him at East District and Scottish National events, he is rarely without his partner in crime, Alex Jackson, <\/strong>who has many of his own stories to tell.<\/p>\n Ron and Logan Rees with one of our Lindsays Trophy awards for cross country<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018The thing I think about with Ron is that he really was the architect of scottish<\/strong>athletics,the governing body,\u2019 says Alex.<\/p>\n \u2018Not only was he the driving force behind it coming about in 1992 (it was previously four separate organisations), but he was the driving force behind making it a professional governing body with staff. This resulted in the appointment of David Joy<\/strong> as the first chief executive in 1998.<\/p>\n \u2018Ron had always had the idea that that\u2019s how things should happen. The other thing he was very ahead of compared to the other Home Countries was the equalisation of distances and teams. He was also well ahead of everybody else in the UK with the results archive.<\/p>\n \u2018\u201cHe has strong views on things and not everybody agrees with him, but he knows how to get the best out of people. We often have different views.<\/p>\n \u2018I remember one time going to Scone Palace in Perth to look at a cross country course. We were walking around with a guy from Perth who didn\u2019t know us that well. At the end, he said, \u2018Blimey, you two are like the old guys out of Last of the Summer Wine<\/em> because you just bicker all the time!\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018At the 2025 National Cross Country in Falkirk we had to make a whole load of changes \u2013 we had a different finish and we couldn\u2019t use the Antonine wall \u2013 and Ron came along at the beginning of the day and said, \u2018I don\u2019t think this is going to work<\/em>\u2019, but by the end of the day he admitted, \u2018That was quite good<\/em>!\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018Ron does not suffer fools gladly either. I remember being at the East District Cross Country Relays in Dunfermline and we were in the gazebo. He asked for a hanky or something then he says, \u2018Can you pull my boots off?<\/em>\u2019. I said, \u2018What did your last servant die of<\/em>?, and Ron replied, \u2018He talked back<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n +++<\/p>\n There is one oft-told story Alex refers to \u2013 The Beard Story<\/strong> \u2013 that Ron will never be allowed to forget.<\/p>\n It has been told and re-told, but for the purpose of this piece it is lifted as written in McAusland\u2019s profile:<\/p>\n In 1980 there was an athletics film being made in which a scene with runners running along the sand at St Andrews was to be shot. Donald Macgregor<\/strong> was asked to get together a group of runners as possibles for it. His good friend Ron Morrison was put forward as one, he was accepted provided he took off his beard. Ron was fond of his beard, declined and wasn\u2019t in the scene. He thought it was a little film which might not even make general release. It was Chariots of Fire<\/strong> which was nominated for seven Oscars and won four. That scene in particular was described by Paul Gambaccini<\/strong> as \u2018One of the iconic moments in world cinema\u2019. If he had known that the beard might well have come off.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Ron with UK Athletics Official award in 2019 (photo by Bobby Gavin)<\/strong><\/p>\n +++<\/p>\n David Ovens<\/strong>, chair of scottish<\/strong>athletics, knows both men well. David stresses that selfless commitment of volunteers carries athletics in Scotland a long way . . .<\/p>\n \u2018John and Ron are prime examples of good volunteers \u2013 selfless in terms of the time that they devote to the sport,\u2019 concludes David.<\/p>\n \u2018As a member of Fife AC I\u2019ve known Ron for a long time and I really look to him as a type of mentor. When I first became chair we\u2019d go for a cup of coffee and I\u2019d say, \u2018Right, okay, what do I need to be doing here, Ron?<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019ve got to know John more over the last five years and he\u2019s a sort of wise owl. He\u2019s a sensible head and smart man in business \u2013 you can see that in his contributions at the Board meetings.<\/p>\n \u2018We\u2019re so lucky to have them both. When the time comes for them to take a step back they\u2019re going to be very difficult to replace.<\/p>\n \u2018But one of the great things about them is that they\u2019re so passionate about the sport and so ingrained in the grassroots and the club system, that they\u2019re already doing what we need to do in terms of encouraging the next generation and managing succession.\u2019<\/p>\n John and Ron are athletics men, but they are, it seems, Aries men too; energetic, bold, and natural born leaders.<\/p>\n We are so fortunate to have them in our sport. But, above all else, we are privileged to be able to call them our friends.<\/strong><\/p>\n +++<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Tags:<\/strong>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.scottishathletics.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/SALAwards25-913537.jpg\")
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