1885 Scottish Athletics Championships

The 1885 Scottish Athletics Championships were the third national athletics championships to be held in Scotland. They were held under the auspices of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association at Westmarch Stadium, the home of St Mirren FC in Paisley, on Saturday 27 June 1885. The track was described as being in very good condition but the weather was extremely hot and fewer than one thousand spectators turned out to see David Duncan win the 1 mile for the third successive year. He was President of SAAA at the time and remains the only man to have won a Scottish national athletics championship whilst President of the organising body. Kenneth Whitton (St George's FC) set Scottish Native and All-comers records in winning the hammer. This was thrown Scots' style, using a wooden handled hammer from a nine-foot square, wire handled hammers and the circle were not adopted until 1896.

1885 is also a notable landmark in Scottish athletics. Up to this point athletes had represented football clubs, rugby, cricket or rowing clubs, or their schools and universities. In 1885 actual athletic clubs were first formed in Scotland, the first two being Clydesdale Harriers in the West, formed in May 1885, closely followed in September by Edinburgh Harriers in the East.