Scottish Sports Hall of Fame

McRae honoured in Scottish Sports Hall Of Fame

Monday 3 November 2008

Today, one of motor rallying’s greatest ever talents, the late Colin McRae MBE was honoured as one of four new inductees into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Scotland. Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon presided over the occasion, that also saw rugby legend David Sole OBE, Olympic swimmer Catherine Brown (nee Gibson) and disability sportswoman Isabel Newstead MBE recognised for their outstanding sporting achievements.

Launched in 2002, the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame has been developed through a unique partnership between sportscotland and National Museums Scotland. Sports halls of fame are an internationally recognised way of acknowledging past performers, promoting excellence in sport and instilling sport as a key part of a nation’s culture. By providing a public record of Scotland’s greatest sportsmen and women, the Hall aims to inspire younger generations and promote a culture of Scots recognising and celebrating Scottish success across a range of sports.

Ms Sturgeon said: “It is a fantastic privilege to be able to pay tribute to Catherine, Colin, David and Isabel. Honouring these sporting greats highlights our outstanding achievements as a nation and gives us a great opportunity to look back on the many champions that our country has produced. Their induction into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame will help ensure that their legacy continues to inspire for generations to come.”

Following in the footsteps of his father, the five-time British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae, Colin began his competitive career in motorsport at an early age when he started riding schoolboy motorcross and trial bikes. At the age of 16, he traded in his bike for a Mini Cooper and started competing in Autotests. The following year, he entered his first rally, finishing first in his class and 14th overall.

In 1988, Colin won the Scottish Rally Championship, following it up with the 1991 and 1992 British Rally titles. In 1995, he reached the top of his sport, when he became the first Briton to win the World Rally Drivers’ title.

He played a crucial role in helping Subaru win the World Rally Championship Constructors’ title in 1995, 1996 and 1997, then moved to the Ford World Rally Sport team. Their four-year partnership yielded nine event wins. In 2003, Colin moved to the Citroen World Rally Team and helped them to win the first of three consecutive manufacturers’ titles. In total Colin had 25 World Rally Championship wins and was a true inspiration and role model to motorsport fans the world over, before his life was tragically cut short in a helicopter crash in September 2007.

Accepting the award on behalf of Colin was his wife Alison and father Jim. Alison said: “Colin would have been honoured and privileged to become a member of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame and take his place alongside the greats of Scottish sporting history.”

An inspirational leader and a dynamic handling forward, David Sole will be forever remembered as the captain of Scotland’s 1990 Grand Slam winning side. The first of his 44 caps for Scotland was in 1986 in the 18-17 victory over France. David was the archetypal modern forward, with excellent handling skills, ferociously competitive in the loose, and with a turn of pace that belied the traditional prop’s attributes.

As well as his Scotland duties, David was the first choice loose-head prop with the victorious 1989 British and Irish Lions in Australia, performing magnificently in all three Tests, deputising as captain in two. David also captained the Barbarians on several occasions and, in 1992, led a World Invitation XV to a rare victory over New Zealand.

Catherine Brown (nee Gibson) is one of Scotland’s most successful ever female swimmers. Over a 16 year career, where she trained for eight hours a day alongside a full-time job, she achieved no less than 29 British records. In 1947 she won three European Championship medals, two silver and a bronze and went on to swim at the 1948 Olympic Games in London where she won bronze in the 400m freestyle. It was to be Britain's only swimming medal and Scotland’s only individual medal at the 1948 Olympic Games. Cathy will no doubt be watching the London 2012 Games with great interest.

In the early years of disability sport, it was common for the top disabled athletes to compete in several sports, and Isabel Newstead excelled in swimming, athletics and shooting. At the 1984 Paralympic Games, Isabel won nine medals across all three sports, a remarkable achievement for a spinally injured athlete in one of the most severely physically disabled competition classes.

Health problems forced her to drop swimming, but in 1988 she competed again at the Paralympic Games in Seoul in athletics and shooting winning four medals for the British team. However, the Paralympic Games in Athens in 2004 was possibly her finest hour, with a gold medal in the women’s air pistol. Sadly Isabel died last year, but she certainly played her part in Paralympic sport in Britain going from strength to strength. The award was collected on her behalf by Paralympian swimmer Maggie McEleny MBE.

Congratulating the 2008 inductees, Louise Martin CBE, Chair, sportscotland and Chair of the Selection Panel, said: “I am delighted to be here today as we induct a further four Scottish sporting legends into the Sports Hall of Fame, which celebrates some of the world’s greatest sporting achievements. Colin, David, Catherine and Isabel are a huge inspiration to sporting generations past, present and future and it is right that their achievements are recognised by our nation in this way.”

Dr Gordon Rintoul, Director of National Museums Scotland, said: “We are delighted to welcome four new inductees into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame. The Hall is a key part of our newly opened Scotland: A Changing Nation gallery which is proving to be tremendously popular with visitors from Scotland and beyond. We are pleased that so many visitors now have the opportunity to marvel at past sporting achievements as we look forward to and anticipate sporting success at both London 2012 and the Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2014.”

This brings the total number of sportsmen and women honoured in the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame to 82.