Vol. 4 No. 3 Sir Christopher Chataway R.I.P.

Chris Chataway passed away this weekend.  His obituary appeared in the New York Times today, January 20, 2013.  

He led the third lap of Roger Bannister's epic first four minute mile at the Iffley Road track in Oxford, England.    He was 82 years old.   At the age of 64 he returned to Iffley Road and ran a 5:48 mile.    During his career he set world records at 5000 meters and  twice at three miles, once defeating Vladimir Kuts in a tremendous race at London's White City Stadium.  He finished fifth in the 5000 meters at Helsinki in 1952 after taking a tumble on the last lap  and 11th at Melbourne in 1956.   His life did not end with athletics.  He went on  television and then to serve his nation in parliament and as a cabinet minister.     Chris Brasher , the third runner in that four minute mile died a few years ago.  Now only Roger Bannister remains. 

 Below are obituaties from several of the world's leading newspapers

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/20/sports/chris-chataway-british-runner-and-politician-dies-at-82.html?ref=obituaries&_r=0

The Telegraph and Guardian  have probably the most definitive obituary including a youtube clip
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/19/sir-christopher-chataway-athlete-dies-82

.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10582675/Sir-Christopher-Chataway-obituary.html

beginning of last lap at Iffley Rd.

a few weeks later in Turku, Finland when Landy ran the second sub 4

 

 

Chataway's story brings back memories of the storied era of British middle and long distance running. Sadly, and perhaps politically incorrect, the prominence of the European runners is definitely a relic of the past. As the Africans took over, I feel the global interest in distance running waned. Even people like me find it difficult to keep up with it all as we are deluged with more and younger Kenyans, Tunesians, and Moroccans popping up in meet results. I wonder if we will ever see any parity in the world of distance running. Maybe not, if one takes to heart the findings in "The Sports Gene".

I hope all of you have a good day. It is beastly cold here and we can expect more of the same with an expected low of -5 on tap for Thursday.    Steve 

 

Don't forget, Cram, Coe, and Ovett kept the tradition going into the 80's.   Even though I had the experience of living and working in Kenya and Tanzania for a number of years, I too find it difficult to keep up with all these great African runners.  I couldn't from memory name a single runner who won an Olympic distance medal after 1984.   It was easy with the advent of Keino,  Jipcho, Temu , Bayi, and Rono but they too seem to have gotten swamped by all these new chaps.  Maybe it's just the process of aging on my part.   George


 

I didn't forget, just temporarily stored the information elsewhere ......believe that ?  Steve

Vol. 3 No. 74 Two Letters from Orville Atkins and John Bork

Our mention of Franz Stampfl in the previous post elicited several nice letters from readers

The first letter is from Orville Atkins, giving us the Canadian perspective of the early days of 4 minute miling.    The second is from John Bork on the Mexico Olympics. We've added a few photos and some research on Dr. David Bailey.

 

From Orville Atkins:

Hi George, Thanks for keeping the good info from those olden days coming. 
I remember when Bannister broke 4 minutes.  It was 1954, the same year that the new magazine "Sports Illustrated" was published.  Their first athlete of the year was Bannister.
Then on August 7, 1954 Bannister defeated John Landy in the British Empire Games.

You can see that Vancouver mile in its entirety at the following link.  Please forgive in advance the commentator who obviously knows little of the event, and badly miscalls this race from the start.
Nothing new to track and field TV announcers of our modern era. ed.
http://www.cbc.ca/player/Digital+Archives/Sports/Athletics/ID/1721045321/




Canadian Rich Ferguson was 3rd in that race with a new Canadian Record4.04.6.               


                  Rich Ferguson

 In the early 1960s several other Canadians aimed at that 4 minute barrier.----

Ergas Leps ran 4.01.1,
                                                   Lepps (59)   in a 1500 heat  at Tokyo 1964


Bruce Kidd 4.01.4, Jim Irons 4.01.9,

                                                                     Jim Irons


Bill Crothers 4.02.4, John Valiant 4.02.7, Vic Reeve 4.03.4, and Allan Birtles 4.03.9.  Also 17 year David Bailey ran what I think was a World age Group record of 4.07.7 in 1962.
In 1972, I was at at a Track and Field News banquet with many of the most knowledgeable Track and Field experts of the era when a tall, thin man and without warning stepped out on the stage.  The whole audience stood and gave him a 5 min+ standing ovation.  It was Sir Roger.

             Dr. David Bailey

 Several East York Track Club team mates of David Bailey were to run in a meet in San Diego on June 11, 1966 but the meet officials would not provide David with a plane ticked so Coach Fred Foot gave him his own ticket and did not go.  David went on to run Canada's first mile under 4 minutes by running 3.59.1.
On July 22, 1967, David Bailey and Bill Crothers ran in a mile race at Varsity Stadium at the University of Toronto.  Bill stepped of the track at the three quarter point and David Bailey went on to run 3.57.7 becoming the first Canadian to run under four minutes on Canadian soil.


 Several years ago, David Bailey, PhD was in London England.  He called Dr. Bannister and asked to meet with him.  Sir Roger drove up at ten on the dot and they walked around Iffley Field.  David then said:
"Thank you for leading the way."'  "Thank you for changing my Life."

Dr. David Bailey is today a renowned pharmacology researcher who has elaborated  the adverse effects of grapefruit on uptake of many common drugs we take daily.  If you use any statin drugs for controlling cholesterol levels in your blood,  and your doctor has warned you not to consume grapefruit, you can thank David Bailey for making that discovery.  Grapefruit can have the effect of augmenting the uptake to cause an overdose.   Over 85 different drugs are affected in this way by grapefruit. ed

George,
You did a great job of adding pictures to my short history of Canada's first sub four minute mile. 
I still have all of my programmes from the 1964 Olympics with the times written in as they were run.
Leps was 4th in his heat in 3:46.4..  W. Baran of Poland was first in  3:45.3.  J.L. Davies of New Zealand was second in 3:45.5 and Dyrol Burleson was third in 3.45.6.
You can see Burleson in lane 2 over Leps right shoulder in the picture.
"The first four in each heat together with the two fastest losers will quqlify for the semi-final".  I never liked that phrase.  If they go on to the next round they are far from losers.
#416 in the picture was R. Subramaniam  (Mal) was not in the top six.
Leps was 8th in the first semi-final and Burleson won the second in 3.41.5 and was 5th in 3.40.0 according to what I wrote.
Did you know the there was at least one United States citizen  in every men's running event in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics?
I consider it the best Olympic Games of the 7 that I have seen I have seen.
Orville

 

 

 George:

When I went to the 1968 Mexico Olympics, I met Ralph Doubell, Tony Sneazwell and others.
                         Ralph Doubell Today

    Ralph Doubell Taking the 800 at Mexico City 1968
 

It was my first Olympic Promotion for Onituska Tiger.
 

I traded a Strider T-Shirt with Tony Sneazwell for one of his Olympic Singlets, which I still have.

I also traded with Arndt Krueger (UCLA) who ran the 1,500M for Germany.and traded a Strider shirt for an German olympic singlet.as well. That's how prestigious the Striders were in those days!

If Wade Bell had not been incapacitated by Montezuma's revenge, I think that the home stretch run with Bell an Doubell would have made "Special History".

PS, My former charge, Jack Bacheler from Miami of Ohio, was also stricken with Dysentery and could not make the start of the 5,000M.  He would have been my only "Tiger Shoe" performer. Conrad  Nightingale had been lured away from me by Adidas with $$.

Conrad Nightingale
in Halstead Kansas HS photo
He ran in the Steeplechase in 1968

I just finished reading "Something in the Air" by Richard Hoffer, last night.

I think that it is well researched and a fairly accurate account of the Mexico Games.

However, I think that his view of "officialdom and authority, while accurate is still somewhat overblown.

Yet, It is hard to overstate the disdain most us had for Avery Brundage.

I was sitting on the stadium's front rail directly in front of the long jump pit with Art Walker, our Strider Triple Jumper when Bob Beamon made his gigantic leap of 29'2"  When Beamon passed by us he was literally 2-4" higher in the air than the previous jumpers.

 

Then when they rolled out the surveyors measuring devise which was on a track and, it fell of the track at the end. (which was at 28' for good measure.)

I had my Track & Field News Metric Conversion tables in hand so, when they finally got a tape measure and then listed

8.9 Meters on the score board I quickly flipped thru my tables and said, "Art, this is 29 feet 2" inches. Can that be correct.?"

Then, as I looked over to the bench were Ralph Boston, Ter-Ovaneysan, Charlie May and others were seated, the looks on the faces said "It's all over" Never in my life have I seen world record holders and former world record holders so defeated. Not before, nor after.

 John Bork

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vol. 3 No. 63 Photos from the Banks of the Seine

Our friend and connaisseur  Jerry McFadden has done the archeology bit at the booksellers along the Seine in Paris and come up with these old photos.   Merci beaucoup, Jerry.

George,

I thought I would send these along to you. I have some more in the same vein but I will send those along next week. 

1. Roger Bannister beating John Landy in the famous Commonwealth Mile in Vancouver in 1954: 3:58.8 vs 3:59.6, which was considered an amazing race at that time. Bannister was the first to break four minutes earlier in May in 3:59.4. Despite losing, Landy still held on to his world record of 3:58.0 set in Turku, Finland, in July of that year. 

2. Bruce Tulloh leading M. Bogy in the 5K during the France vs England match 1960 (?) and then winning in 14:08.1. Note Tulloh's bare feet. The French press, from where this photo was taken, was amazed that someone would run bare feet at this level of competition. 

Hope all is well,

Jerry

p.s. You've given me a new hobby when I am in Paris: Scrounging through those book stalls along the Seine to find old running magazines. 

Photos

Jerry notes that Landy still held the mile record set in Turku, Finland ,  even though Bannister ran him down in the stretch in this race.  This was one of the great mile duals of all time when it happened in Vancouver in 1954.   Bannister retired shortly after this race and devoted his time to medical school and his work.  Landy went on to run in the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 and win a bronze medal in the 1500, behind Ron Delany of Ireland and Walter Richtezen of Germany. 

I thought nothing ever happened in Turku, Finland after Landy's record,  but scrounging the files last year I came upon this assassination attempt on the Finnish prime minister.  So fifty five year cycles in Turku must be heeded.

October 22, 2012 
A MAN WIELDING a knife tried to attack Finnish Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen in the south-western town of Turku on Monday, but was swiftly arrested by police, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
“Prime Minister Katainen’s security men have apprehended a person who had brought a sharp weapon to Prime Minister Katainen’s electoral meeting in Turku,” said the statement.
“The Prime Minister was not injured and the programme will continue as planned.”
Security guards quickly swooped in to protect Katainen, 41, and removed him from the scene. He returned shortly afterwards to resume campaigning.
A young “dishevelled”-looking man had approached the prime minister to shake his hand, saying he was in a difficult situation and needed help, newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet reported.
“Then the man went down on his knees, pulled out a knife and said something about killing,” photographer Robert Seger, who witnessed the event, told the paper.
Katainen had been discussing taxes on diesel and the taxes paid by the elderly before the incident.
Do you think PM Katainen discussed this event at dinner tonight? GB

Vol. 3 No. 49 Photos from the 1950's

Some great photos from the 1950's, sent by Jerry McFadden  ,  a 4:05 miler from U. of Missouri , 1963.  He has contributed a number of pieces to the blog.  We ran against each other when I was at the U. of Oklahoma.  We both had served in the Peace Corps, he in Morocco, me in Tanzania, both married French women we met overseas.  Two of the athletes  Jerry coached in Morocco knew me when I lived in Quebec.   For thirty years they always asked me if I knew Jerry and where he was.  We finally reconnected two years ago.  George Brose


George,

I have no idea if these old time photos are of any interest to your blog or not but I thought I would send them along. 

2 are of Vladimir Kuts when he set the 5,000 meter world record at 13:46.8 on September 18, 1956 at Belgrade.

Another is of Zatopek during the 10,000 meters at the European Championships at Bern in 1954

2 are of Roger Bannister winning the 1.500 meters at the European Championships at Bern in 1954

Another of Alain Mimoun in front of Becket in the 3 mile in the France vs. GB at White City in August, 1951 in 14.11.4 

Finally, a photo of a "young" Michel Jazy defeating  Michel Bernard at the French National Championships in August 1956.

All of these were taken from copies of  the magazine Le Reflet du Sport  that I found at the old booksellers along the river Seine in Paris.

Hope all is going well.

Jerry

Roger Bannister

Bannister

Michel Jazy leading Michel Bernard

Vladimir Kuts

Kuts

Mimoun, note the low cut shoes

Zatopek

Vol. 2 No. 20 Bring Back the Mile

From Feb. 18, 2012 Washington Post
Brought to our attention by Felix Leblanc of Kettering, OH

Step by step, grassroots group hopes to bring the mile back to track and field

By Associated Press,

It’s the race that cemented Roger Bannister’s name into history and the distance that everyday runners use to gauge their progress and pace.

Yet, over the years, the mile has been cut out of most mainstream track meets, replaced by metric numbers that don’t have nearly the same meaning, at least to Americans.


A grass-roots group of runners led by Ryan Lamppa, who once ran the mile in 4:11, want to change that. The group called Bring Back The Mile has sprouted on the Internet and elsewhere. Their goal: To make the mile the standard for middle-distance running and, while they’re at it, maybe bring some passion back to a portion of their sport that has lost some of its pizazz over the years.

“It’s a distance people get,” Lamppa said. “We can tell from the people who sign up with us. People are passionate about the mile. It really does have prominence in our culture. Not only on signs and odometers, but there’s something about the mile that’s very different from any other track event.”

Bannister knew that. After finishing a disappointing fourth in the 1500 meters at the 1952 Olympics — where metric measurements have always been in place — the Englishman looked for another mountain to climb. He set out to become the first person to break the 4-minute barrier in the mile. In 1954, he accomplished his goal during a meet at the Iffley Road Track in Oxford.

More than 50 years later, it’s hard to recall who won that Olympic gold in 1952. (For the record, it was Luxembourg’s Josy Barthel). But mentions of Bannister’s name and accomplishment still come up routinely. Lamppa said in the past two weeks, he saw eight media stories referencing Bannister and his sub-4 minute mile.

“And these articles, except for one of them, had nothing to do with track and field,” Lamppa said. “Here’s a mark that transcends sports. It’s something that’s so embedded in our culture and other cultures that it’s referenced outside the sport.”

Jumping on the Bring Back The Mile bandwagon is Jim Ryun, the former Kansas congressman who in 1964 became the first high school runner to break four minutes. A nice, easy, round number for an average fan to judge by. Not like trying to figure out what running 1500 meters in 3 minutes, 34 seconds really means. (That’s a pace for a 3:49 mile, by the way).

“You have to be an astute track fan to really understand that’s about 110 yards short and you’re going to add anywhere from 15 to 17 seconds,” Ryun said. “By the time you do all of that, you’ve lost a large share of the general public. Bring back the mile, that’s the goal of the whole program.”

Lamppa is hoping to gain traction for this movement by asking his “Mile Maniacs” to petition state high school activities associations around the country, almost all of which scrapped the mile and two-mile races for metrics decades ago.

The changes began in the late 1970s, when the United States was in the middle of a big push for metric conversion to match the distance-measuring system used by most of the world. The effort largely fizzled over the next decade, but before it did many new high school tracks were built with metric measurements. During this period, state activities associations converted their races to 1500 meters, which matched the Olympic distance, and 1600 meters, which still remains the official distance in many high school meets.

“Back then, I was a young coach and there was some resistance from those who’d been involved in high school running for a long time,” said Mario Martinez, a retired track coach in New Mexico who is in that state’s high school hall of honor. “They wanted to know, what happened to all their records, things like that. We went ahead and listed those and, obviously, they’re going to be there forever now.”

Though Martinez appreciates the effort to bring back the mile — “Just the other day, I was watching a movie about Jim Ryun and what a big accomplishment that was,” he said — he feels the Milers are fighting an uphill battle.

“You would have to adjust starting and finish lines at every track and you’d have to measure that,” Martinez said. “Not that that would be that big a deal, but obviously, then people would say, ‘Why are we doing this in the mile and not everything else?’”

Lamppa said he wants to take that debate one step at a time. The mile, he says, is the best chance to grab a foothold, maybe at the high school level and with a series of pro races around the country. Then, maybe the two-mile race. And after that, well, who knows where the movement might go?

“If they went to a mile in the Olympics at some point in our lifetime, I’d think that would be beyond our wildest dreams,” he said. “That would be something that would be like, ‘Wow, we really did do something with this mile event.’”

___

AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.