John Emmet Farrell of Maryhill Harriers took up running in 1934 and was one of the finest ever Scottish runners. Four years after taking up the sport he won the Scottish Cross Country Championship and won it again ten years later. He starred on the track and on the road as well as over the country. On the track he won the SAAA Three Miles title in 1946 in 15:17.4, the Six Miles title in 1938 (31:02.0) and 1946 (31:43.2) and the Ten Miles in 1938 (52:32.0), 1939 (52:09.0)* and 1946 (54:38.6. In 1939 he tied with W Sutherland for the title. He also set Record distances for the One Hour Run of 11 miles 77 yards in 1945 and 11 miles 287 yards in 1950. When it is considered that he only started in 1934, by the start of the War in 1939 he had three Scottish track titles to his name.
His record on the country is also worthy of the greatest respect. In the National Championships he was placed second in 1937, first in 1938, second in 1939, third in 1947, first in 1948 and third in 1949. He also represented Scotland in the Annual ICCU Championship ten times - 1937 (23rd), '38 (8th), '39 (7th), '46 (25), 47 (19), '48 (29), '49 (56), 50 (48), '51 (44) and '53 (59th). Had it not been for the War intervening, what would his list of representative honours have been like? I would suggest it would have been completely unparalleled by any athlete in any event.
On the road he had many, many fine performances in races and relays but I will only list his performances in the SAAA Marathon Championship.
| Year | Place | Time |
| 1947 | Second | 2:42:53 |
| 1948 | Second | 2:48:34 |
| 1950 | Third | 2:48:24 |
| 1952 | Third | 2:40:54 |
| 1954 | Second | 2:43:08 |
| pb | 1947 | 2:39:46 |
His track personal bests as researched by Alex Wilson were as follows:
Two Miles: 9:28.5 (1939); Three Miles: 14:46.4e (1937); Six Miles: 31:02 (1938); Ten Miles 52:32 (1938). The e after the Three Miles time is because only the winner's time was given. Jackie Laidlaw won in 14:44 with Emmet ten yards back. The standard estimate is 0.2 seconds per yard hence the time of 14:46.4.
Like all of his generation, he was an admirer of Paavo Nurmi and, possibly through Walter Ross who had a long correspondence with Arthur Newton and printed many fo his articles as well as selling copies of his books, he was very interested in what Newton had to say about training. However he read as widely as he could and there were probably several others who crossed his horizon. For example just reading the 'Scots Athlete' you get frequent articles by Percy Cerutty in Australia and from a variety of eminent US athletics coaches.
And when his career at the very top was over, when to use his own expression he had 'shed his silk as a runner', he adjusted well and then threw himself into the veterans scene when it sprung up in the late 1960's and 1970's. Right well did he do it with a whole host of performances set at meetings and championships all over the world. I only knew him slightly - we would meet at races, the last time I spoke to him was on a street corner in the centre of Glasgow where he was waiting for a friend. He was always the same - friendly, affable, cheerful, thoughtful and all his achievements didn't appear to have affected him at all.
It would take more than one page to do him justice, so there are some of us working on different aspects of his career and these will appear but it is not an easy task to write about someone like Emmet. Keep watching and you will see this section develop. The latest addition is his own account of the 1948 Olympic trial in the Running Commentary section.
Back to Marathon Stars Early Years John Emmet Farrell: Marathon Runner The Running Commentary