McClatchey represented Scotland in the 1974 British Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand.[4] In 1975 he swam for Scotland at the Three-nations tournament in Prague, Czechoslovakia and at the eight-nations swimming tournament in Mallorca, Spain.[5] He won a silver medal at the 1975 World Championships in Cali, Colombia as part of the British 4 × 200 m freestyle relay with Gordon Downie, Brian Brinkley and Gary Jameson[6] In 1976, apart from winning a bronze medal at the Olympics, he broke the British records for the 400 m freestyle, the 200 m butterfly and the 400 m individual medley, the latter while swimming for Great Britain at the Europa Cup in Italy.[5] He also swam for Britain in the 1977 European Aquatics Championships in Jönköping, Sweden,[7] won seven Scottish and seven British championships that year and represented Scotland at the annual eight-nations match.[5] He represented Scotland at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and at a four-nations match in the Netherlands the same year.[5] McClatchey again represented Scotland at the eight-nations tournament in 1979, broke the Scottish record for the 100 yards butterfly and swam in the 1979 Summer Universiade (World University Games) in Mexico.[5] In 1980 McClatchey swam for Scotland in the eight-nations match (at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh) for the last time and also represented Scotland at an international match in Bremen, Germany.[5]