Kenny McVey 1949 - 2017

The club received the sad news this week that Kenny McVey passed away last Sunday, the 5^th of March after a short illness. 

Kenny was born in Glasgow in 1949 and attended Scotstoun primary school and Victoria Drive secondary school before he sought employment on the Clyde.  He qualified as a marine engineer and worked for most of his career at Yarrows in Scotstoun.

He married his wife Kathy in Paisley in 1970 and their only child Kenneth was born in 1974.

Kenny’s first contact with Victoria Park A.C occurred in 1990 when he brought his 15 year old son Kenneth along to Scotstoun to start a successful athletic career.  Kenny soon followed his son into the club, tried some track running and was hooked, trying anything from sprints up to middle distance, cross country and road running.

He took part enthusiastically in confined club events, winning trophies on several occasions, such as the Knightswood Shield (handicap road races) in 1992, 96 and 98, Crawford Shield (scratch road races) in 2006 and 09, the coveted Jamie McClure Trophy (Christmas handicap) in 1997, 99 and 2004, and had a share in the George Munro trophy (handicap sprints) in 1997.  He represented the club countless times in cross country and road events, was very proud of his unbroken participation in the MacAndrew Relay (possibly a club record) and even gained selection for the prestigious Edinburgh to Glasgow relay shortly before it was disbanded.

 When he attained veteran status he branched out and took up other events so that he could participate in pentathlons and heptathlons, indoor and out, and won several national age group medals.  Ever a faithful club supporter, he was prepared to turn out in league matches to earn valuable points at times when we were short in certain events.  On one memorable occasion in Division 4 of the Men's League at Scotstoun in 1999 he took part in six events, three of them one after the other (400 hurdles, 800 and 100), helping to ensure our promotion as champions.

As age kicked in Kenny concentrated on longer distances, some of his favourite events being the Polaroid 10k series, the Paisley 10k, Alloa half marathon and, being a proud Renfrewshire resident, the Neilston Pad.  He also greatly enjoyed the comradeship and variety of events organised by the Scottish Veteran Harriers.

In addition to training and competition, Kenny was also of great value to the club in coaching and committee work.  He became a qualified UK coach in middle distance, and his most notable success came when Andy Young (now respected as coach of Laura Muir) won the World Schools 800m in Cyprus.  His favourite training sessions were the Sunday morning pack runs from the Allander Sports Centre at Milngavie, from where prodigious distances were racked up, all in a spirit of sporting camaraderie. Many a young athlete was introduced to the concept of ultra-distance at these sessions, of which Kenny became a lynchpin.

As a marine engineer with Yarrows and BAE Systems on the Clyde, where he was involved with the interior fitting out of new ships, Kenny sometimes had to spend time off shore during trials, but he did not let that interfere with his running.  He would pad round the deck if he could safely find room, then adjourn to the small multi gym set up for use of the crew so that on his return to shore he was fit enough to take part in his next 10k or pack run. 

In recent years Kenny was our men's cross country and road running convenor, doing sterling service in managing and entering teams for championship events.  This was not always an easy task, given the problems caused by injury and unavailability which beset all running clubs, but people like Kenny are vital to the health of the sport and its continuing prosperity.  When success came, as it surely did on many occasions, both athletes and Kenny were able to celebrate together.

Kenny’s wife Kathy said that he had three passions in his life, fishing, athletics and eating biscuits.  The latter he successfully kept secret from his leg-pulling club mates.

Kenny will be greatly missed by everyone at the club, he had many friends and was always popular with the youngsters.  He was notorious for tormenting the younger athletes which endeared him to them greatly.  He was almost as popular as his doppelganger Santa Claus.

The club have sent their deepest sympathy to his wife Kathy and his son Kenneth.

The funeral will take place at 1300 hrs on Thursday the 16th of March at Woodside Crematorium, 46 Broomlands Street, Paisley, PA1 2NP.

Hugh Stevenson/Gordon Innes

Guide Runner Required

Victoria Park’s Disability section is looking for a guide runner for a visually impaired athlete who lives in the Knightswood area.  He’s a male athlete aged about 30 years. 

He is currently running Park Runs, 5k and 10k.  His pb for the 5k is currently about 23 minutes.  He would like to improve his speed over these distances and to compete in cross country events.

He can be very flexible about training times.

Scottish Disability Sport have a visually impaired training evening coming up in the next few weeks.

If anyone is interested and would like to be involved, can you contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.for more information.

Competition Selection Policy

A few members, team managers, coaches and parents have asked for clarification of the Clubs selection policy in relation to league matches and relay teams. 

This is more important now than ever before as the numbers competing across the country has risen and this year, we may lose the Central and South of Scotland League, reducing opportunities for our members to compete.  If that were to happen, our U11’s would have no league competition to look forward to.

Whether or not this happens, the club will encourage and assist our members to attend at some of the many open graded meetings held across the west of Scotland.

VP Glasgow Competition Selection Policy

The aim of this statement is to provide an understanding for parents and athletes of the process employed by VP-Glasgow Team Managers when selecting athletes to compete for the Club. 

The club participates in the following leagues:

•         SAIL (Indoor League) (U11 & above)

•         YDL (U13 & above)

•         CSSAL (U11 & above)

•         SWAL (Female only) (U13 & above)

•         SAL (Men’s League) (U17 & above)

•         UKWAL (Female Only) (Senior)

Save for relay events only 2 athletes will be selected per event.

Selection will always be based upon rankings. That means the athlete with the fastest recorded time will be selected first; the athlete with the second fastest time will be selected second.

From a club perspective this system is used to ensure we field the strongest team for meetings. For the athlete it ensures fairness and expectation; encourages participation and sets a benchmark for standards.

Athletes are encouraged to participate in open graded meetings and championship races to obtain official times and/or distances. A timetable of events can be viewed on the Scottish Athletics website events page.

Athletes who are selected to race and commit to attending but fail to show without communicating their non-attendance and/or without a reasonable explanation, will not be selected to compete for future events regardless of their capability to do so.

Performance Assessments

Over the two weeks beginning on Monday the 13^th of February, the club will be using our electronic timing gates to record every athletes performance over 60m and 100m (or equivalent for age).  These times will be used in conjunction with future assessments to monitor every individuals progress leading up to the start of the outdoor season.

Once these tests have been completed, the officials and coaches charged with the task will include the other track and field events.

These tests are not intended to replace officially timed and measured competition performances but to inform coaches and athletes of their current standing.  We hope to encourage all of our athletes to be the best they can be and to identify the event or events they are most likely to succeed in.

In every league match, we require two 100m sprinters, two long jumpers and two javelin throwers yet if you look around the track at Scotstoun, you’ll see 40 sprinters for every thrower or jumper.

More of our coaches are including sessions for jumps and throws and we hope to increase the number participating over the coming months.

Gordon Innes

Club Secretary

Membership and Training Fees

The club currently has 550 paid up members, most of whom are based at Scotstoun Stadium.  While we’re delighted with the size of our membership we’re aware that this has been possible by charging very competitive prices.

To continue to offer our excellent coaching and competition opportunities at the same price, we do have to make sure that all of our members are paying the correct annual membership and training fees.

There is a small number who have not yet paid an annual membership fee and are not on our database.  Members of our committee will be visiting the trackside with a register to identify these athletes and will allow them one last opportunity to join the club.

Another small group of athletes who again train at Scotstoun have been paying cash for access to the stadium.  They will also receive a letter asking them to abide by the club constitution and pay the appropriate training fee by direct debit.  Anyone not paying the training fee by direct debit will have their membership suspended.  Remember, if you’re paying cash at the door, no money comes to the club and it weakens our ability to negotiate the access pricing on your behalf.

There is another small group of athletes who have been paying by standing order for over two years and are not on our current online database.  Through no fault of their own, they were left behind on the old system and have missed the prompts to switch to Direct Debit through PaySubsOnline.

If you’re still paying by standing order, please cancel and sign up via our website at http://www.vp-glasgow.com/information/joining.html  Once logged in, you can add the training fees through PaySubsOnline.

If anyone needs help logging into the PaySubsOnline system or advice about payments or club rules, you can contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.or telephone on 07983360804.

Gordon Innes

Club Secretary