V 13 > 89 New Book "Distant Finish" by David D. Bruhn and Jack Leydig

 

Received a note in the mail today from David Bruhn about his new book on Northern California running boom in the 1970's.

Here's our back and forth and a description of the book.

Hello George, 

I wanted to make you aware that Distant Finish, a book devoted to road racing in northern 

California in the 1970s, is now available from the publisher, Heritage Books:

https://heritagebooks.com/products/distant-finish

 

 

 

Distant Finish takes readers back in time to the 1970s, an extraordinarily 

exciting period in the formative years of road racing. This era, 1969–1979, 

began just before the “running boom” spurred by Frank Shorter winning the

 gold medal in the 1972 Olympic Marathon; transitioned into the early years 

of Nike; and ended on the eve of the 1980s, a period that saw the advent of mass 

running events. As the popularity of running expanded rapidly in the 70s, 

myriad new running clubs “popped up” to support legions of newfound athletes,

 men, women, and children, eager to “take it to the streets.” A few, long-established,

 renowned races, and many new community-sponsored ones, provided opportunity

 for runners—young and old, experienced and novice—to test themselves against

 the courses, the distances, and their fellow competitors. This period was characterized

 by striped “Dolfin shorts” made famous by Shorter, cheap entry fees that included 

a cotton t-shirt, and fresh heroes, emerging along with running clubs, that to this day, 

inspire and support runners and races in their communities. Runners wanting to 

learn more about their new love, could subscribe to the holy trinity of distance 

running journalism (Nor-Cal Running Review, Track & Field News, and Runner’s World,

 all of which were, fittingly, based in northern California at the time). The so-called 

running fad that developed during this period never slowed down once it laced up its

 shoes. One hundred seventy-six photographs and maps; an appendix; and an index 

to full names add value to this work.

 

David D. Bruhn and Jack Leydig

David,

Thanks for sending.   I'll post this in a day or two.  I'm sure the west coasters 

will especially like this.   Nothing like an old $2.00 entry fee. After a few runners dropped

dead the liability lawyers and insurance companies got into it but it didn't destroy the sport.   

Thing is in those days the median times for all distance were much better.  Now we've got 

so many more non athletes 'jogging' the quality is down, but the health benefits are up for 

the public.  Unfortunately they all expect a reward and probably deserve it for their $50 and 

$100 entry fees.  We were lucky to have ribbons for the first three places.   Remember when 

the leader carried the stopwatch and if he got passed, he handed the watch to the new leader?  

Then the winner called out times to the rest of the field when they crossed the line.  And you 

hopefully got results mailed to you in a week.

David Bruhn	2:03 PM (17 minutes ago)
to me

Hello George,

Professor Britt Brewer, who wrote a foreword for Distant Finish, observed about the book and that era:

Perusing the plentiful snippets of race results in this book, I was struck by the astonishing quality 

and depth of the fields. In contrast with subsequent running booms and boomlets in this country, 

the one that transpired in northern California in the 1970s was marked not just by hordes of people 

running, but by hordes of people running fast! The emphasis on speed was apparent both in the front 

of the pack and further back, where age-group battles played out. Distant Finish details the exploits of 

many of the colorful characters and introverted ectomorphs who trod the roads, tracks, and trails. As a 

young runner, I benefited immensely from the advice, encouragement, generosity, mentoring, support, 

and transportation I received from many older runners—some well-known and others not—in multiple 

northern California running communities.

Sincerely,

David 

This came in from Geoff Pietsch (with his permission)

     In 1973 I ran the West Valley Marathon that was organized by Jack Leydig. I P.R.ed in 

2:31:18. A few weeks later I got a letter from Leydig asking if I could house overnight 3 other

 guys and him in in Miami. They were en route to Bogotá and had a layover. Jack, a 2:25 

marathoner himself was going as both runner and AAU rep. I said sure and asked who the 

others were. Answer: Frand Shorter, who had won gold in Munich a few months before, 

Jon Anderson who ran the 10,000 in those Games, and Jim Johnson, the #2 steeplechaser in

 the country. They flew in in late April, about 10 days after Anderson won Boston. So I had 

the reigning Olympic and Boston champs as guests. Just another night.

    At the time I lived on the campus of the college prep school where I taught. Next door was

 a Latin teacher who drank a bit, And every morning I would hear him toss his empties in the

 outside trash can as I was going for a run. Loser.... So when the elite guys flew in, the first 

thing Shorter asked was "Where can we get some beer? And in the morning I was throwing

 empties in that trash can.

    That morning we went for an easy ten miler. A few miles out Shorter commented to 

Anderson, "I see you toe in with your left foot just like me," and the thought crossed my

 mind that if I sent that story to Runners World in those early Running Boom days, I could

 have crippled half of the newbies. 

   After the run, on a typically hot, humid Miami day, we went for a swim in the school's pool.

 And I noticed that none of us could truly float. If we took and held a deep breath and 

relaxed, our legs and torsos would gradually sink and go vertical, and only our inflated lings 

enabled us, with heads back, to stay above water and breathe. 3% body fat will do that.

Geoff,

I heard that Frank didn't like to stay in hotels if he could help it.  When he ran at the Dayton River 

Corridor half marathon he stayed at Dr. Baker's house and slept in a bunk bed with one of the kids,

 Jeff.  One of the great moments in young Jeff's life.

George

I suspect Shorter et al stayed with me simply because in those days there was no money 

(except under the table) even for elite runners. Leydig contacted me simply because I was 

probably the only one he knew in Miami. Interestingly 

I was impressed by Leydig. That same year, 1973, the National AAU marathon, then a pretty 

big deal, was held on that West Valley course. And he also produced the results laden. 

NorCal Running Review for many, many years. Probably inspired by Browning Ross's Long 

Distance Log. Glad to hear he is still going. 

Interestingly Anderson was 3^rd in that same 1973 West Valley Marathon in 2:#3:57. Used it 

as a training run prep for Boston. He lived nearby during his stint working at dimething to 

satisfy his conscientious objector deferral. Ran a bunch of road races. And Ron Daws was 4^th 

in 2:26:58. I recall commiserating with him about his having to train in a Minnesota winter 

and he said it was preferable to my having to train in Miami heat/humidity.  

Love those personal story bits!  Looks like an interesting read. Now if there was a similar one on Southern California I’d be right on it. Some really fun road races back then. Darryl Taylor

Got a query as to who are the runners on the cover.  Here is David's reply.

On the front cover is National champion and All-American Bill "Mad Dog" Scobey, and ultra-marathoner Luanne Park.  On the back cover is All-American Bob Darling leading Mitch Kingery (National High School record holder in the marathon) in a race, and Mike Buzbee handing off to Tracy Smith (World indoor 3 mile record holder) at the Tahoe Relays.

Sincerely,

David (Bruhn)