Still Running (weakly). Issue 15

PAST – inspiration – This week, we start in the present to honour the retirement of Mo Farah, after he ran his last competitive race at the Great North Run on Sunday. He came 4th at an event he had won six times in the past. He said afterwards that he had wanted to end his career at the Olympics, but he had suffered injuries in 2021 and did not make the qualifying time for the 10,000 metres, which he had won at the two previous games.

Knowing when to call time on your career, if you are an elite sportsperson, is very difficult. Age inevitably catches up with everyone. Do you retire at the very top, like Herb Elliott, the Australian, who won Olympic and Commonwealth golds, set world records, and remained unbeaten in his entire adult career at 1,500 metres and the mile? He was only 22 when he stopped competing. Or do you keep “raging against the dying of the light,” like Daley Thompson, who tried to make his fifth Olympic team in 1992, having come 18th, 1st, 1st and 4th in the 1976-88 Olympics, but who only lasted 5 seconds on the comeback trail – half of the first event (100 metres) of his qualifying decathlon?

Personally, I think that there is something extremely noble about wringing every last ounce out of your talent and commitment, when you know you are past the height of your powers.

PRESENT – perspiration – “And the secret of distance running is about to unfold,” intoned Brendan Foster, commentating on the last two laps of the 2012 men’s Olympic 5,000 metres final. I consider it Mo Farah’s finest race, the global final that he won but came closest to losing. He had won the 10,000 seven days before, and many of his competitors had not raced that event. There was the 5,000 heat to contend with midweek. And he had a posse of world-class runners queuing up to challenge him.

But Mo went to the front with two laps to go, believing that he could stay there. There is a moment in the final 50 metres where it looks as if Gebremeskel is going to catch him, but it is just an optical illusion, as all of the other runners are going backwards, and Mo is actually preserving his two metres advantage over the Ethiopian.

The crowd made so much noise in that final lap that the vibrations caused the photo finish equipment to malfunction. Luckily, such artificial confirmation of Mo’s gold was not required. And, very luckily, I had got tickets for the stadium that day and my children and I were part of that noise! I shall never forget it.

FUTURE – suggestion – Mo’s race is very inspiring, and if you are struggling for motivation, you could do a lot worse than look at Youtube for something to get your heart beating. There are videos of races obviously, and, apart from Mo’s, Peter Snell’s power is incredible (type in “Snell Modesto”) as is Ovett’s acceleration (“Ovett Dusseldorf”), and it’s heart in mouth time, as Etienne Gailly tries valiantly to keep hold of his bronze medal position in the 1948 Olympic marathon.

For a change of pace, look at Salomon videos – Trail Dog, Mount Marathon and Of Fells and Hills – all short but all beautifully filmed and thoughtfully scripted.