Walt Murphy is one of the best trailers I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, a great daily service that provides truly fascinating stories about our sport. You can test the service for FREE with a one-month free trial subscription. (e-mail WaltMurphy44@gmail.com ) for the entire daily service. We’ll be posting a few historical moments every day starting February 1, 2024.
By Walt Murphy News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission
This day in athletics – September 26
1967— A fundraising dinner was held in Vancouver, British Columbia, site of the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, featuring the Miracle Mile, the race in which the first two 4-minute milers ever met in a classic duel.
England’s Roger Bannister beat Australia’s John Landy in that race and both were the main guests of the meeting. They were joined by Canadian sprinting legends Percy Williams, 1928 Olympic gold medalist in the 100 and 200, and Harry Jerome, the 1964 NCAA champion at Oregon, and … comedian Bob Hope.
http://www.miraclemile1954.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Williams_(sprinter)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Jerome
1981— In the inaugural Pepsi Challenge Fifth Avenue Mile on New York’s famous street, Sydney Marie beat a formidable field that included Eamon Coughlan, Steve Scott, John Walker, Steve Cram, Ray Flynn and runner-up Mike Boyt by two seconds. 3:47.52, which remained the fastest time in the event’s history until Scotland’s Josh Kerr ran 3:44.3 in 2024. Over the next four years, Marie would go on to set American records in the 1,500, mile, and 5,000 meters. American Lynn Warren won the women’s race in 4:25.21.
Mare’s fast time, 2th only Sebastian Coe’s WR 3:47.33 at the time was attributed to the fact that when the runners reached the top of the one-uphill section of the track, they could see the finish line and started hitting, and the 600m was still to come. go!
Ross Donoghue, the designated hare, led the field through the first 1/4 mile in 53.2, while Tom Byers took the lead at the halfway mark in 1:52.8. Marie soon took the lead, crossing the ¾ split in 2:52.6 before cruising to her impressive victory.
“I’ve never had oxygen debt like that,” Walker said. Boyt said: “It was so hard. I could see the end. I ran as fast as I could. But I wasn’t taking positions.”
Originally, every five blocks were supposed to be speed clocks, but even if they were installed, they would be ignored. “We couldn’t turn around to look at them,” said Irishman Ray Flynn. “It was a very tense race. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Villanova grad Marie, a new US permanent resident, had won her 2ndth NCAA 1,500-meter title in June and competed internationally for the first time this summer after being previously banned because of her South African heritage. He said after the race. “This race was a thank you to the American people, the officials of American athletics and the people who trusted me and allowed me to compete internationally. “I wanted to give them a good show.”
The brainchild of Fred Lebow, the visionary head of the NY Road Runners, the event drew 100,000 fans who lined both sides of the 5.th avenue, and still going strong. And, as in 1976 The New York City Marathon, which inspired other major city marathons, road miles are famous around the world. (The course started in 82th St.-62th St., while it now operates from 80th St.-60:th St.)
Results:
Men1. Sydney Marie 3:47.52, 2. Mike Boyt (Kenya) 3:49.59, 3. Thomas Wessinghage (Germany) 3:50.48, 4. Steve Cram (Great Britain) 3:50.78, 5. Ry. 3:51.49, 6. John Walker (New Zealand) 3:53.26
7. Steve Scott 3:53.84, 8. Tom Byers 3:56.24, 9. Eamon Coghlan (Ireland) 3:57.23, 10. Ross Donoghue 3:58.74, 11. Omar Khalifa (Sudan) 3:59. .Vince Drudy 4:01.0(ht), 13.Craig Masbeck 4:08.3
Women:1. Lynn Warren (USA) 4:25.31, 2. Britt McRoberts (CAN) 4:28.34, 3. Boxer (GBR) 4:28.90, 4. Jan Merrill (USA) 4:31.49), 5. Monica Joyce ( IRL) 4:32.20, 6. Joan Hansen (USA) 4:32.8, 7. Maggie Keyes (USA) 4:34.7, 8. Kim Gallagher (Upper Dublin, HS, PA) 4:36.4, 9. Cindy Bremser (USA) ) 4:29.3, 10. Ellen Wessinghag (West Germany) 4:39.4, 11. Brenda Webb (USA) 4:41.1, 12. Katie Toomey (USA) 4:42.9.
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/27/sports/maree-runs-3-47.52-wins-5th-ave-mile.html
How was the race?: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/28/sports/fifth-avenue-mile-tribute-to-runners.html
Video of the race: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAnHs6eTYgU
Sports Illustrated Vault (Lebow)
Winners:: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Avenue_Mile
1988–After 3 rounds in the previous three days of the Seoul Olympics, the stage was set for the wild final. Men’s 800 meters.
It was a loaded field with Kenya’s Nixon Kiprotic and the Brazilian duo of Jose Luis Barbosa and Joaquim Cruz, the reigning Olympic champion, battling for the lead at the rear and crossing the 200 split in 24 seconds.
Barbosa led the way in the 400 meters in 49.54, followed by Kiprotic, Cruz, Britain’s Peter Elliott, American record holder Johnny Gray, Morocco’s Said Aouita and Kenya’s Paul Ereng, the NCAA champion from Virginia who often ran from behind.
Positions continued to change as they headed into the final turn, with no more than two meters separating the top 6, while Gray slipped back slightly.
As Cruz, Elliott and Auita battled for the lead as they approached the home stretch, Ereng, 6th With 200 meters to go, passed Barbosa and Kiprotic and set his sights on Cruz, who had by now pulled away from Elliott and Auitta. As Cruz began to wither after a blistering early pace, Ehreng, hugging the rail line, moved into 2nd place and then raced into the lead, completing his upset victory in a personal best time of 1:43.45. Cruz (1:43.90) was secondthWith Auitah (1:44.06) Elliott (1:44.12) 3rd aheadth.
Ehreng, a former 400 specialist with a personal best of 45.6, only picked up the 800 earlier in the year at the urging of Virginia coach Fred Hardy. Ereng is currently the Head X-Country Coach at Texas A&M.
Less than an hour to finish 2th In his heat of the 200 meters, Carl Lewis opened his Olympic defense Long jump title with a first-round leap of 27-7 ¼ (8.41) that advanced him for good. The first man to win back-to-back Olympic titles in the event, Lewis led the U.S. medal haul with Mike Powell taking silver (27-10 ¼ (8.49)) and Larry Myricks taking bronze (27-1 ¾). (8.27).
Lewis had drawn the #1 jumping position for the opening 3 rounds, but the officials, knowing he had run the 200 earlier, allowed him to jump last. He had to jump 1 thoughSt as the event was moved to the last 3 rounds, meaning he had to do two jumps in a row. The officials stuck to the protocol this time, and Lewis, who got the break he sought after 15 minutes of wrangling, responded with his longest jump of the day, 28-7 ¼ (8.72). (from T&F News)
Another two-time winner was Roger Kingdom (12.98/Olympic Record), who won his 2nd.th in the gold medal 110-barrier Against Great Britain’s Colin Jackson (13.28) and American teammate Tony Campbell (13.38). Florida State’s Arthur Blake looked like a potential medalist after catching a fly at first, but ended up last after hitting too many hurdles.
The East German duo of Zigrun Wodars (1:56.10) and Christine Wachtel (1:56.64) won gold and silver medals. Women’s 800American Kim Gallagher won the bronze medal to go along with the silver she won 4 years ago in Los Angeles. Her time of 1:56.91 was just 0.01 seconds off Mary Slaney’s American record of 1:56.90. USA teammate
Delisa-Walton Floyd placed 5thth (1:57.80).
It was a sweep of the Eastern Bloc Women’s 400 metersMedals went to Soviet Olga Bryzgina (gold-48.65) and Olga Nazarova (bronze-49.90) and East German Petra Muller (silver-49.45), American women Valerie Briscoe-Hooks (50.16), current champion Diane Dixon (50.16). 50.72) and Dan Howard (51.12) finishing 4-5-6.
Yuri Sedikh’s quest for 3th Olympic title (1976, 1980) Men’s hammer USSR teammate Sergey Litvinov crashes, 278-2 (84.80) to 274-10 (83.76). Making it a Soviet sweep, Yuri Tamm (266-3 (81.16)) won the bronze medal. Both Sedikh and Tamm died in September 2021
The representative of Morocco, Brahim Boutaib, won (27:21.46). 10,000 men over Italy’s Salvatore Antibo (27:23.55) and Kenya’s Kipkemboi Kimeli (27:25.16). 4:th was France’s Jean-Louis Prianon (27:36.43) as all 4 beat the Olympic record of 27:38.35 set by Finland’s Lasse Viren in 1972 (the then world record).
The race was hot from the start and the 21-year-old Boutayeb dropped back in the closing stages of the race. After 9,000 meters, he was still 4 seconds off the world record pace (27:13.81), but slowed a bit in the last kilometer.
World record holder Petra Felke of East Germany threw an Olympic record 245-0 (74.68) to win the event. Women’s spear. Silver and bronze were won by Great Britain’s Fatima Whitbread (230-8 (70.32)) and East Germany’s Beate Koch (220-9 (67.30)).
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1988_Summer_Olympics
“Olympedia Reports”.: https://www.olympedia.org/editions/22/sports/ATH
Videos:: M800: M110h: W800 (Semifinals and Finals) W400: M10k (Last 5000) MLJ
