Forgotten hero

It WAS good to read (Perspective, 19 July) that Stephen McGinty is now “game for Games” but disappointing that he is yet another to fail to mention Joe McGhee in his homage to Jim Peters, who collapsed on the finishing track when well in the lead of the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (as it was then known) in Vancouver. Peters, the world record holder, was renowned for going out fast, sometimes too fast, in the marathon. In an interview many years later, he said: “My lasting grief is that all the headlines for my idiocy denied just deserts for the actual gold medal winner.”

That was Scotland’s Joe McGhee, who ran with great fortitude in the searing heat to come first of only six of the 16 starters to finish. Time he was given due recognition.

Bill MacDonald

Harmony Court
Bonnyrigg, Midlothian