Ross Baillie (26 September 1977 – 18 June 1999) was a Scottish track and field athlete, older brother of Commonwealth Silver medal winner Chris Baillie. Both his parents were also track and field athletes, father Hugh representing

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

400m The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

, and mother Sheila being a former Scottish champion at 80m hurdles (superseded by the

100m hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is p ...

since 1968). Deemed by Colin Jackson to be his natural successor in the

110m hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hurd ...

event for Great Britain, he died at the age of 21. Fittingly, since his death, the records set by Ross have been broken by his brother.

Early years

Attended Clydebank High School, winning the

Eric Liddell Eric Henry Liddell (; 16 January 1902 – 21 February 1945) was a Scottish sprinter, rugby player and Christian missionary. Born in Qing China to Scottish missionary parents, he attended boarding school near London, spending time when p ...

Memorial Trophy in 1994 and 1995 whilst representing the school at the Scottish Schools Athletics Association (SSAA) Scottish Schools Championships. He was a member of Victoria Park Athletic Club where he was coached by Bob Sommerville, and later joined Sale Harriers Manchester Athletics Club with whom he competed in English competitions.

Team Bath

Ross moved to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

to join

Team Bath TeamBath is the University of Bath's sporting organisation. In addition to entering teams in BUCS intervarsity competitions, TeamBath has also entered teams in national leagues and competitions. Team Bath F.C. reached the first round proper of t ...

and take advantage of the superior sports facilities at the University of Bath. Here he was coached by

Malcolm Arnold Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music ...

, becoming the training partner and flatmate of Colin Jackson.

Achievements

Death

Following a training session on 16 June 1999 Ross suffered a serious allergic reaction to

peanut oil Peanut oil, also known as groundnut oil or arachis oil, is a vegetable oil derived from peanuts. The oil usually has a mild or neutral flavor but, if made with roasted peanuts, has a stronger peanut flavor and aroma. It is often used in American ...

present in a coronation chicken sandwich whilst having lunch with his friend and fellow athlete Mark Foster. Despite being given an adrenalin injection by doctors at the nearby University of Bath he collapsed and failed to regain consciousness before dying due to complications arising from

anaphylaxis Anaphylaxis is a serious, potentially fatal allergic reaction and medical emergency that is rapid in onset and requires immediate medical attention regardless of use of emergency medication on site. It typically causes more than one of the follow ...

Royal United Hospital The Royal United Hospital (RUH) is a major acute-care hospital in the Weston suburb of Bath, England, which lies approximately west of the city centre. The hospital has 565 beds and occupies a site. It is the area's major accident and emergenc ...

at 11am on 18 June 1999. Organs of his, including his heart, were transplanted afterwards.

Tributes

Ross had been in contention for the Great Britain men's team at the 1999

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, but lost out to Tony Jarrett. The event took place the day following his death, with the British team observing a 2-minute silence in his memory and wore black ribbons at the event as a mark of respect.

Dwain Chambers Dwain Anthony Chambers (born 5 April 1978) is a British track sprinter. He has won international medals at World and European levels and is one of the fastest European sprinters in the history of athletics. His primary event is the 100 me ...

dedicated his victory in the

100m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

event to Ross and continued to wear black ribbons for the remainder of the season. Then at the 2002

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

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, Germany, Chambers dedicated another victory to the memory of Ross. The 110m hurdles event was withdrawn from the programme at the 1999 Scottish Championships the following week. Ross had been due to defend his title against his younger brother.

Legacy

The Ross Baillie Cup is awarded for the winner of the

60m hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds (Susanna Ka ...

at the Scottish Indoor Athletics Championships. The trophy was donated by his family, and was won by his brother in 2002 at the Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. His friend Mark Foster became patron of The Anaphylaxis Campaign in 2009, stating "I’m thrilled to be a patron for The Anaphylaxis Campaign. A friend of mine died of this terrible condition and I hope to be able to help raise the profile of this wonderful charity who help so many people with life-threatening allergies." He won £10,000 for the Campaign by participating in '' Who Wants to be a Millionaire?'', broadcast on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

on 8 September 2009.

References

External links

Sale Harriers ManchesterVictoria Park City of Glasgow Athletics ClubThe Anaphylaxis Campaign
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baillie, Ross Scottish male hurdlers Commonwealth Games competitors for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Team Bath track and field athletes Sportspeople from Clydebank People educated at Clydebank High School 1977 births 1999 deaths Universiade bronze medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 1997 Summer Universiade Organ transplant donors Accidental deaths in England