Always travel with a saltire, you never know when it will be useful!

Always travel with a saltire.

Scottish Athletes were victorious this year at the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile on September 11th.
Pictures of Winners Laura Muir and Jake Wightman posing for the cameras with Union Jacks and a Scottish Saltire were well distributed and viewed.

This is the story of how the Saltire made its way to appear in that 5th Avenue photograph began back in July.

A West Coast Road Trip

My two daughters had time on their hands owing to a change in work circumstances, so they embarked on a US adventure in early July. The first stop was Seattle. The second stop after a short northwest coastal road trip was meeting old friends in Eugene, Oregon, to take in a few days of the World Athletics championships. As lifelong track fans having attended several major athletics championships visited, of course, they packed flags for the trip. They were even caught on camera by the BBC as Matt Hudson-Smith did his lap of honour after his superb bronze medal in the 400 metres.
Oregon done and dusted with much cheering and flag waving, they moved on with their west coast adventures with friends, taking in Lake Tahoe, Yosemite and other iconic west coast destinations.
Mid-August saw them heading to the East Coast and more visiting friends in the New York area.
September saw them helping at the Sri Chinmoy 3100-mile race in Queens, New York. They were part of the helper team for Susan Marshall from New Zealand, who ultimately became only the 9th woman to finish when she won the 2022 race. It has been called the ultimate ultra, with the small field of runners having 52 days to run 3,100 miles around the famous half-mile block.

The 5th Avenue Mile

The weekend of September 11th was the 5th Avenue Mile. Knowing that Jake and Laura and several other notable Brits were competing, there was no way they were not going to go and watch. They took with them that by now much travelled Saltire.

Like many Edinburgh runners, we got to know the Wightman family when they lived in the city. I got to know Jake’s dad Geoff, through his work with Scottish Athletics. As we lived close to each other, I even got dragged along on occasional early morning runs with Geoff.

Jake also spent a week one summer holiday doing work experience at Run and Become, the running store our family managed for many years.

Positioning themselves close to the finish line on 5th Avenue, they cheered Laura and Jake to their respective victories.

After Jake’s victory, he ran back down the route for a little to take the customary applause and couldn’t miss a couple of enthusiastic girls madly waving a saltire and shouting his name.

On spotting them and realising he was amongst old friends, a brief conversation and selfie ensued before Jake moved on to do all his media responsibilities. After winning his race, he was given a Union Jack by the organisers. However, being proud to represent Scotland and keen to celebrate a Scottish clean sweep, he asked, “Can I borrow your Saltire? It would be great to get a picture with Laura and the flag. I’ll bring it back to you in a few minutes.”

Laura and Jake then posed in front of the World’s photographers with the Saltire as a backdrop.

The moral is if your a Scot when travelling, always travel with a Saltire. You never know when it night be useful.

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