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Red Hose Race is a prestigious event at Carnwath in South Lanarkshire.
Def: Hose was the Scots word for stockings or long socks.
Each year a foot race is run at Carnwath and the local Laird must provide a pair of red stockings as the prize.
In olden days the name of the winner was cried from the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh. The origin of the race goes back to 1508 when James IV gave a Charter of the Lands of Carnwath to John, third Lord Somerville, in the following terms:
"Paying thence yearly....one pair of hose containing half an all of English cloth at the feast of St John the Baptist, called Midsummer, upon the ground of the said barony, to the man running most quickly from the east end of the town of Carnwath to the Cross called Cawlo Cross....."
There was probably a military reason for imposing this duty on the owners of Carnwath. A fast runner could bring news of any approaching invasion from the south to Edinburgh, and the Red Hose would be the insignia by which he would be recognised. A feudal duty like this may be compared to the common one of having to provide a number of men at arms when called upon to do so.
Between 1951 and 1966 a record was established by Mr. Michael Glen of Bathgate who won the mile long race 14 times in that period. Later in 1966 an alteration was made, with the consent of the Crown Authorities to the Rules governing the entries to the race so that only residents in the Parishes of Auchengray, Braehead, Carnwath, Carstairs, Covington, Dolphinton, Dunsyre, Elsrickle, Forth, Libberton, Quothquan, Thankerton and Walston may compete. Any employee of the Estate or of any of the Estate Tenants may also enter.
Only in an national emergency such as times of war, or local crisis as when foot and mouth disease threatened the district, has permission been obtained from the Crown to cancel the race (and it was not the case in 2001 as some other websites have mentioned).
Anyone winning the Red Hose in three successive years shall be ineligible to compete in the race for two years.
Although the lands of Carnwath have been sold down the years the clause relating to the Red Hose has always remained.
Down the centuries some of the traditions have disappeared, although the race must still be run to meet the requirements of the Crown Authorities whose written permission is needed for it to be cancelled as the race is the only one whose terms are determined by Royal charter.
In 2006, The race entered the World Guinness Book of Records as the "Oldest road race" in the world (Page 217, column1).
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