Still Running (weakly). Issue 133

PAST – inspiration – “I don't quit until my hands bleed,” said Parry O’Brien, the world’s greatest ever shot putter.  He came first, first, second and fourth in his four Olympics (1952-64), set 16 world records, including the first ever 60-foot throw, was unbeaten in 116 consecutive competitions (a record until Ed Moses came along), and revolutionised the event with his ‘O’Brien glide’ technique.

The 60-foot shot was regarded as one of the most important milestones in athletics and, fittingly, it came just two days after Roger Bannister’s first four-minute mile!

In his last meeting before the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, O’Brien bettered 62 feet on all six throws – far beyond what any other thrower in the world had done – breaking his own world record in the third (62-8) and fifth (63-2) rounds.  This was deservedly labelled the greatest series in track and field history until 1975, when Karl-Heinz Riehm threw his hammer beyond the previous world record on all six efforts!  The existing record was 76.66 and Riehm threw 76.70, 77.56, 77.10, 78.50, 77.16 and 77.28.

You will not be surprised to learn that Parry O’Brien was intensely competitive.  After one Fresno Relays competition, where he was defeated by Otis Chandler, O’Brien returned to his home in Santa Monica.  Around 3:00 am the next morning, his father was jolted awake by the sounds of a repeated grunt followed by a thud – his son getting in more training.

“I didn't like to lose,” he later said, “and whenever I did, I wanted to do something about it as soon as possible.”

That fire lasted until the very end.  Having retired in 1966, he came back to win masters events and set age group records in the shot and discus in the 80s.  When the strain of that on his body became too much, he took up competitive swimming.  And in fact, he died after suffering a heart attack in a 500-metre freestyle race, in 2007 at the age of 75. 

PRESENT – perspiration – Imran Sherwani’s competitiveness was of a quieter variety than O’Brien’s.  Sherwani it was who scored two goals in Great Britain’s Olympic hockey final triumph over West Germany in 1988.

His fitness was legendary: in that game, when the ball was chipped the full length of the pitch to Stephen Batchelor on the wing, Sherwani was still on the halfway line but sprinted to get on the end of Batchelor’s cross to score the crucial third goal.  As Barry Davies famously put it in commentary: “Where were the Germans?  But frankly, who cares?”

He put such stamina and speed down to (sorry if you’re eating!), “all those puke making runs up Trentham Hill,” near Stoke-on-Trent where his father ran a newsagent’s.

An incredibly modest man, Imran Sherwani, who died in November at the age of 63, said that his proudest achievement was not that Olympic final performance, but helping his side, Leek, get promoted to the National League in 2003 by taking part in their 6-2 win over Old Georgians.

RIP Sir

FUTURE – suggestion – “When they nail me down, I’ll be thinking about the next race,” is one of my favourite quotes – from Roger Mills, European bronze medal winning 20km race walker from 1974.

He almost did not make it to that most crucial of finish lines, as, weakened by the heat and humidity, he weaved across the track in those final metres in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.  “I thought the Italian police were going to arrest me for being drunk and disorderly,” he later joked on BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

He was on the show to receive his medal, a celebration denied him at the championships, because he had actually finished the race in fourth place, but the Russian in third was later found to have doped.  The BBC rightly honoured him with a podium and a presentation for his efforts.

Ron Hill was so famous for his daily running streak, eventually ending at more than 52 years, that he joked that, when he died, if he hadn’t recorded that day’s run, he’d poke his head out of the coffin and shout, “May [his wife], stick another 4 miles in the diary.”

As you know, I have always stressed the importance of having a target, but what motivates us as our powers dwindle?

I love it when runners – especially those of a certain age – share their goals with me.

There’s Malcolm, still training hard at 60, and travelling to run marathons and halves in Poland and Italy.  There’s Sue, searching for the speedwork that will get her back under 30 for parkrun.  There’s Chris, an ex-Gurkha officer, planning an epic run across Nepal.  There’s Viv, beset by medical problems at present, but already with a training plan in place – and the determination to match – that will kick in at the right time in 2026.  And there’s another Chris, Runner’s World cover model and London Marathon ever-present, Mr. Finill, planning on at least 5 more Londons, to make it 50 not out!

As 2025 rushes to a close faster than an ageing parkrunner sprinting for a PB, and we start to think about what might be possible in the new year, please feel free, if you would like, to share those goals with me.  A little accountability in a public newsletter never hurt anyone, though please do say if you’d rather not be outed in such a fashion or would rather have your target aired anonymously!