Four champions open MOWA Indoor Athletics Exhibition Glasgow 24 – World Athletics – Chris Turner

Dear friends of the MOWA – The Leader of Glasgow City Council was joined by four Scottish running aces for the opening of the MOWA Indoor Athletics Exhibition Glasgow 24 last night (Friday 2nd).

Located in the St. Enoch Centre shopping mall in the heart of the city, the latest Museum of World Athletics exhibition is open to the public for a month, closing at the end of the last day of World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 (1-3 March).

The Leader of Glasgow City Council Councillor Susan Aitken, European Athletics Vice President Cherry Alexander OBE., and the CEO of Commonwealth Games Scotland Jon Doig OBE., delivered their official welcoming speeches, following an introduction by World Athletics Heritage Director Chris Turner.

With those formalities concluded, a distinguished group of Scottish champion athletes, 2014 European 400m hurdles gold medallist Eilidh Doyle, 1993 World Indoor champions Yvonne Murray-Mooney (3000m) & Tom McKean (800m), and 1980 Olympic 100m champion Allan Wells were interviewed and presented their competition artefacts to the museum’s collection.

World Athletics Director Chris Turner (l) – Photo: Mark F Gibson / Gibson Digital

Appropriately, two of the items had been worn in the World Athletics Indoor Championships. Doyle handed over to Turner her 2018 Birmingham crop top, which she wore when taking the 400m bronze, while Murray’s Toronto 1993 winning spikes were accepted by Aitken on behalf of the MOWA.

McKean presented the singlet & shorts which he wore when winning the 800m at the 1989 World Cup of Athletics in Barcelona. McKean’s kit was received for the MOWA by Alexander who is the Competition Director of Glasgow 24.

Finally, and very much by no means least, Wells handed to Doig the singlet and spikes which he wore at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games where he sprinted to the 100m title and 200m silver.

Visit three exhibitions and watch Glasgow 24 live

Among over 130 guests attended the MOWA ceremony were young athletes from Shettleston Harriers and Victoria Park Glasgow Athletics Club as well as young athletes from the team that represented Glasgow at the European City Challenge last October.

The ceremony also marked the opening in St Enoch Centre (first floor) of a Team Scotland Exhibition celebrating the 10^th anniversary of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

A third sports exhibition celebrating the life of Paris 1924 Olympic 400m champion Eric Liddell, will open in St Enoch Centre in a fortnight.

During the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 there will also be a fan zone in the shopping mall from where visitors will be able to watch the three-day championships whose stadium is sold-out.

With more than 700 athletes from over 130 countries competing in next month’s world indoor championships, they will be the most global sporting event ever to have been hosted in Scotland.

The MOWA Indoor Athletics Exhibition Glasgow 24, on the ground floor of the St Enoch Centre, 55 St Enoch Square, Glasgow G1 4BW, is open daily to the public from 11am to 6pm. The exhibition will close on the final day of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24 (1-3 March 2024).

Chris Turner
Director of Heritage & curator of MOWA

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