Fife Olympian Donald Macgregor’s legacy will last a lifetime

Mr Macgregor sadly passed away this week aged 80, leaving behind a legacy and a footprint which will be felt for decades to come.

He wasn’t just a runner, he was an Olympian.

He was also a teacher, a councillor for two decades, chair of the St Andrews Community Council, served on the St Andrews Links Trust and helped to create Fife AC.

Showing his creative side, Mr Macgregor was a published poet, too.

It was in sport, particularly the longer distances, where Donald first made his name.

He became an Olympian in 1972, racing to seventh place at the Munich games.

He also competed in two Commonwealth Games.

In 1970 in Edinburgh he finished eighth before a sixth place finish followed four years later in Christchurch where he set his best time of 2:14:15 - a time that still ranks him 13th in the Scottish all-time list.

During his career Don ran 51 marathons; 24 were under 2:20 and also included three gold and six silver marathon medals at the Scottish Championships.

Only four Scottish athletes ran sub 2:20 in Scotland in 2019.

One of those who knew him best was friend and clubmate at Fife AC, Ron Morrison.

Ron paid tribute to Don this week, hailing his efforts in 1972 in particular.

“Don will always be remembered for his seventh place at the Munich Olympic Games,” he said.

“Going into the race he was ranked 35th out of the 77 entrants but everything other than a small Achilles niggle had gone well in preparation.

“The altitude training in St Moritz, the Saltin carbohydrate loading diet and the race plan where he deployed his usual tactics of starting at a moderate pace hoping to finish fast.

“He often said he was so pleased to finish in the top ten that he wanted to enjoy the euphoria of running around the last lap in front of the large crowd.

“However, he also thought that his third place in the trial at the AAA Maxol was a better race in 2:15:06.”

The titles continued to roll in for the long distance athlete.

In 1979 and 1980 Don won World Masters’ M40 titles at 10,000m in Hanover - 30:04.2 and marathon in Glasgow – 2:19:23 and still holds Scottish M40 records at 5K, 10K and marathon.

In 1983 he won the first Dundee marathon at age 42 in a time of 2:17:24 that is still the fifth fastest M40 marathon in the UK.

Ron added: “Like most endurance runners of that era Don was mainly self-coached.

“His extensive knowledge of his own training was augmented by being a keen observer of the training practices of many others including his Scottish and International rivals.

“A major part of this was building in rest and recovery and is perhaps a testament to his remarkable longevity at the top and the fact that he had a 21–year span (1965-1986) between his first and last Scottish medal.”

At the end of his international career Don looked for places that he could contribute to the community.

The time was ripe for an athletic club in North East Fife and Don by then the St Andrews club treasurer took a healthy interest in uniting the St Andrews club with the well–established Cupar AC and a group at the Glenrothes Institute to form Fife AC in 1975. The group is still very much active to this day and Don continued to play a prominent part at it down the years.

Further information on Don is available at www.scottishathletics.org.uk