This is your moment

Dr Julian Kennedy, MBChB 1976

Anne Burgess, Economics 1969

In 1969, as a member of the EU Ski Club, I was prevailed upon to participate in the British Universities and Scottish Ladies' giant slalom on Cairngorm (or it might have been Scottish Universities and British Ladies' - I don't recall exactly). There were 50 competitors and I was seeded 49th, which was not exactly encouraging.

However the day came and I duly took my place in the start gate. When I emerged I realised that the whole course was ice, and that the previous 48 competitors, all choosing the same best line, had carved a deep, steep, meandering icy groove down the mountainside. Terrified, I slid slowly down in a snowplough, avoiding the icy groove as far as possible, and heaved an immense sigh of relief when I reached the bottom in one piece, vowing never to undertake anything quite so daft again.

To my amazement, I finished about 20th. The better skiers had almost all lost control on the ice and either fallen or missed a gate, putting themselves out of contention.

I have never again shone even as dimly as that in any other form of sporting endeavour, and I have never taken part in any other sporting competition since (apart from some sailing races and two minor gliding competitions, but that's another story that ends up 'flown 2, bent 2'). I intend shortly to spend my 70th birthday on skis.

EUAFC; playing a pre-season friendly against Hearts in 1984. It was one of my early first XI appearances as right back. I was marking Willie Johnston of 1978 World Cup notoriety on the left wing. He taught me more lessons in toe stamping and shirt pulling in 90 minutes than you would want in any sporting lifetime. He didn’t score and at the end he said that I played well and would be better if I learned to foul back and he was doing it to ‘teach me’.   

We basically had 90 minutes of fun.

The next year I marked Gordon Durie in pre-season against Cowdenbeath before he went to Hibs and Chelsea. He was as strong as an ox. He again said that I had played well and asked in his broad Fife accent ‘where did you learn to foul like that?’ I didn’t tell him.

1957. At the beginning of my first term at Edinburgh University, I signed up to play hockey. To do this one had to go to the notice boards in the quad of the medical schools near to the McEwan hall, the students’ union.

The medics studied for six or more years as opposed to the three or four of almost everyone else, so the majority of the four hockey (and the rugby) teams were usually filled by medics in their final years. After one afternoon of trials where I obviously didn’t impress, I found myself down as centre-forward in the fourth team for the first Saturday match. I turned up and played; we won 5-0, and I scored five goals. On the Wednesday following, I found myself raised to the third team. We won by at least four goals; I scored four. On the next Saturday I was in the second team and scored three; and on the second Wednesday I found myself in the university team, where I scored twice. I scored once in the next match but then had a lean period.

I never managed to mesh in very well with the first team’s style of play and eventually settled into the second team, which I captained the next season and again in my fourth year after returning from a year in Germany. But I doubt whether many others have played for all four teams in their first four games, and scored 14 goals in the process.

My proudest sporting moment was escorting Her Majesty the Queen around the Athletes Village at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Being invited to be Village Chieftain was a special honour, the culmination of years of voluntary work, to bring the Games to Glasgow and ensure that the athletes would be at the heart of the spectacle. It was my fifth Commonwealth Games, each has given me wonderful memories, but the atmosphere in Glasgow was truly exceptional.