Ken Ballantyne
KEN BALLANTYNE 1940- 2016
Ken Ballantyne was a very talented and elegant runner who had a remarkable track career as well as being a top quality road and cross-country man.
It was a very good career over a long period of time spanning two distinct eras of Scottish middle distance running.
It went from the heyday of Hugh Barrow, Graham Everett, Graham Stark, Jim McLatchie and Mike Beresford through to the days when the likes of Ian McCafferty, Lachie Stewart, Ian Stewart, Frank Clement and Adtrian Weatherhead ruled the roost; from the days when the four minute mile was a rarity, perhaps even a dream, to the days when it was almost commonplace.
Kenny Ballantyne enjoyed an illustrious running career and inspired many club-mates in Edinburgh Southern Harriers, a top Scottish club which he served with distinction, as athlete and official. He was a great competitor, invaluable in team events, and always friendly and encouraging – a true gentleman.
In the Scottish Junior National cross-country, he won team silver in 1961 and followed that in the Senior National with team gold (1964, 1965 and 1969), silver (1967 when he finished ninth) and bronze (1966 and 1968). Kenny was also very effective in the Edinburgh to Glasgow Road Relay. His first team medal in the event was in 1961 when ESH finished second with Kenny recording the fastest time for Stage 8, when he broke the record. His team was again second in 1963 and third in 1964. In 1966, Kenny was fastest on the prestigious Stage Two, in front of Hugh Barrow, Andy Brown and Alastair Wood. There was another bronze in 1968 and finally the longed-for gold medal in 1969. In 1970 ESH were squeezed into second but Kenny was fastest on Stage 8. A final bronze followed in 1971.
Kenny was even more successful on the track, representing Scotland every year from 1961 to 1966. His best distance was One Mile/1500m and, on the 21st July 1965 at Motspur Park, he raced a mile in 4.01.1, which at the time made him the fastest-ever Home Scot and topped the Scottish rankings that year. Donald Macgregor, who was to finish seventh in the 1972 Olympic marathon, relates in his autobiography that he was training with his ESH club-mate Kenny around then, and that they had changed over to Arthur Lydiard style training, doubling their weekly mileage from April onwards but taking care not to run too fast until closer to an important race.
In 1964 Kenny Ballantyne won the SAAA Mile title. He gained another one silver and three bronze medals in the event. In addition, he was East District Mile champion in 1965, 1966 and 1968.
Kenny’s other personal bests included: 1.53.2 (880 yards), 8.51.0 (2 miles) and 14.05.3 (3 miles).
He was a stalwart member of Edinburgh Southern Harriers for whom he competed with distinction at the top level of the Scottish and British Leagues, scoring many valuable match points. Between 1961 and ’66 he represented Scotland eight times in international contests against countries including Wales, Ireland and Belgium.
Once he stopped competing he joined the ESH committee and became their British League assistant team manager before taking over from Jimmy Smart in 1982. During his involvement the club enjoyed a period of considerable success throughout the U.K., competing with distinction in the first division of the British League and in 1975 winning the British Gold Cup. As a dedicated and selfless official he contributed much to the club.
Kenny’s talent for running first emerged at Blairmore prep school near Huntly.
He then attended Strathallan School where he gained his first notable success winning the Scottish Schools’ Championship mile in 1958. The following year he won the Scottish junior mile title setting a championship best, smashing the record by almost five seconds, equivalent to about thirty yards.
Taking up a position as trainee manager with the Commercial Union insurance company in its George Street office in Edinburgh he joined ESH, which was to play a large part in his life. He trained initially at various venues including old Meadowbank and Inverleith Park with teammates Ian Mackenzie and future Olympians Fergus Murray and Donald McGregor. Like many at the time he was self-coached, learning training methods from books, latterly a disciple of Arthur Lydiard, the famous New Zealand coach.
There is no doubt that had he been exposed more frequently to the high calibre of opposition faced in his 1965 record run, he too would have broken the 4 minute barrier. His win four days later in the invitation mile at the prestigious Sward Trophy meeting at Chiswick supports that contention.
His friend and fellow athlete Ian Mackenzie commented, “Ken was a very affable and friendly man who did lots of good work for the various organisations he was involved with, always giving 100% in all he did. As a runner he was a seriously hard trainer and one of the best athletes of his time.”
Jack Davidson