Allan Watt (1922–2014) was a Scottish sprinter who represented Scotland and Great Britain in international competition.[1]

Athletics career

Junior

In 1939, Watt won the AAA Junior Championships 100 yards in 10 seconds (record) and the long jump with a distance of 6.78 metres at the White City Stadium in London.[2] He also won the 100 yards and the long jump at the 1939 Scottish junior championships.[3] At the 1940 Scottish junior championships he won the 100 yards, 220 yards and the long jump.[3]

War service

In 1941 he joined the British Army, serving with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps.[3] Watt gained a commission with the Royal Artillery (Field), attaining the rank of staff captain.[3] At the end of the war he was working in welfare and education in Kenya.[3] Following his demobilisation in 1946, he returned to training for his athletics career.[3]

Senior

At the British Games at White City in 1947 he was second to the American, Eddy Connell, in the 100 yards.[3] Connell set a new record of 9.6 seconds, with Watt running 9.85 seconds.[3] In June 1947 at the Scottish Athletics Championships at Hampden Park, he won the 100 yards in 10 seconds and the 220 yards in 22.5 seconds.[4] Watt was a member of the Shettleston Harriers running club in Glasgow.[4]

Later that year he competed at Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh in an England/Wales and Scotland/Ireland competition.[3] He was second to McDonald Bailey in the 100 yards and fourth in the 220 yards.[3] Watt was selected for Great Britain at a meet in Antwerp, finishing second to McDonald Bailey in the 100 metres and second to Britain's John Fairgrieve in the 200 metres.[3]

In 1948 he won the 100 yards at the Scottish Championships, and was second to D. D. MacKenzie in the 220 yards.[3] Watt was runner-up in the 100 metres at the International Match in White City representing Scotland, and also ran at the British Championships.[3] That summer he was a member of the Great Britain 4 × 400 metres relay team at the 1948 Summer Olympics.[3]

Businessman

Following his retirement from athletics he became a director of the family department store, Watt Brothers, on Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow.[1] Watt died in 2014.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Watt Brothers expansion plan will create hundreds of jobs". The Herald (Glasgow). 5 May 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  2. ↑ "AAA Junior Championships". Athletics Weekly. 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Allan Watt" (PDF). The Strathallian. Vol. 5, no. 1. November 1948. pp. 34–35. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Lesson for British champion high jumper". The Herald (Glasgow). 23 June 1947. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "Allan Watt, the third generation owner and father of William, the current owner, died, aged 92". Watt Brothers. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
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