Drew McMaster

Andrew Emlyn McMaster was born on 10 May 1957. Olympic records give his birthplace as Edinburgh, while the Edinburgh Evening News described him as East Lothian born and a proud son of Tranent, whose natives are known locally as Belters. He ran for Edinburgh AC and emerged as a teenage sprinter in the mid 1970s, winning the Scottish, AAA indoor and junior 200 metres titles in 1976.

McMaster won further Scottish 200 metres titles in 1977 and 1978. At the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada, he was part of the Scotland 4x100 metres relay team with David Jenkins, Allan Wells and Cameron Sharp that won the gold medal.

He finished second at the UK Championships over 100 metres in 1978 and over 200 metres in 1980. Selected for Great Britain at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, he reached the quarter final of the 100 metres and ran the anchor leg for the British 4x100 metres relay team, which finished fourth in the final in 38.62 seconds, a British record at the time.

At the 1981 AAA Championships he finished third in the 100 metres behind Mel Lattany and Ernest Obeng, and as the highest placed British athlete he was regarded as British champion. He won the Scottish 100 metres title in 1981 and 1982. At the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane he reached the final of the 100 metres, finishing eighth, and won a bronze medal with the Scotland sprint relay team. His personal bests were 10.37 seconds for 100 metres and 20.77 seconds for 200 metres.

At Christmas 1979 McMaster married Elaine Davidson, a fellow Scottish international sprinter from Danderhall. In 1995 he admitted publicly that he had taken performance enhancing drugs during his career. In 2016 he told BBC Scotland that he had taken steroids to run faster and that he knew for certain that at least six other athletes had done the same in the 1980s.

Away from athletics he was a familiar figure in East Lothian, and friends remembered him enjoying life at The Mercat in Haddington and at the Keepers, now the Tranent Arms, in Tranent.

Drew McMaster died at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh on the evening of Wednesday 4 November 2026, aged 69. No cause of death was made public. His death was reported on 6 November 2026 by the Edinburgh Evening News. His close friend Michael Coleman said he was deeply saddened and called him an extraordinary athlete, adding that many would miss his stories, jokes, teasing and unmistakable laugh. Funeral arrangements had not been reported at the time.

McMaster belonged to a golden generation of Scottish sprinting alongside Allan Wells, and his 1978 Commonwealth relay gold remains one of the high points of Scottish athletics. His fourth place with Great Britain in the Moscow Olympic relay set a British record. His later candour about doping made him an uncomfortable but important voice in debates about honesty in athletics. His friend summed him up in three words: icon, athlete, belter.