Still Running (weakly). Issue 165

PAST – inspiration –“200 metres to go in this devastating race.”  David Coleman wasn’t wrong.  Filbert Bayi of Tanzania had taken the 1974 Commonwealth Games 1500 by the scruff of the neck, running 54.9 for the opening 400 and 1:52.2 for the first 800 in Christchurch.

In previous races, he had rather overcooked it, running 52.5 and 1:51.0 in a race in Stockholm in 1973, where he had faded badly and Ben Jipcho had overtaken him in the last 200 to run the second-fastest mile of all time – 3:52.0.

15 metres ahead at the bell here, Bayi held off the illustrious cast behind him, which included Kiwis John Walker (1976 Olympic 1500 gold) and Rod Dixon (1972 Olympic 1500 bronze), Kenya’s Jipcho (who would win the 5000 and steeplechase at these games) and Brendan Foster (silver behind Jipcho in the 5000.)

In a pulsating last 100, Bayi had just enough to outlast Walker, as he broke Jim Ryun’s world record of 3:33.1 with 3:32.2.  Walker ran 3:32.5, Jipcho 3:33.2 with Foster breaking the British record in 7th place!

Bayi broke the mile record the next year running 3:51.0 to beat Ryun’s 3:51.1, but the African boycott meant no 1976 Olympics for him.  A silver behind Dave Moorcroft in the 1978 Commonwealth 1500 was followed by Tanzania’s first Olympic medal as he claimed steeplechase silver behind Poland’s Bronislaw Malinowski in 1980.

The advent of Ovett and Coe had forced him to move up distances, but his performance in 1974 remains my favourite Commonwealth Games moment.

PRESENT – perspiration – In the latest of our “Running in the family” series, may I present to you Isabelle Black?

The 400 metres runner improved her personal best from 51.15 to 50.47 in the semi-finals of the French national championships recently, also winning the final to qualify her for the Europeans in Birmingham in August.

She is the daughter of French 200 and 400 sprinter Elsa Devassoigne and Roger Black, who has form at those championships, having won 400 and 4x400 golds in 1986 and 1990, and 400 silver and relay gold in 1994.

Roger talked about the fact that Isabelle recently packed her bags and moved over here to a flat near Brunel University to train with Tony Lester’s group, “Because if you want to run fast, you’ve got to run with fast people.”

Good luck, Isabelle!

FUTURE – suggestion – Filbert Bayi is just one of many athletes who were told that their current way of competing could not work.  He was told that he would always fail, always lose to the more sensibly paced runners behind him.

But he kept at it.  He learnt from the races he lost, just as Sebastian Coe learnt from his 49.3 first lap in the 1978 European 800, where he was passed by Olaf Beyer and Steve Ovett in the second lap.  His father and coach, Peter, wanted him to learn from that fast first lap – and learn he did.

Hell, you know, people laughed at Paavo Nurmi and Emil Zatopek when they started training as they did.

I am reminded of a passage in Adrian Metcalfe’s book, Running.  Metcalfe was a 400 runner (1964 Olympic 4x400 silver.)  “Never ever give up,” he says.  “Even if the man ahead has yards to spare, he is feeling it as much and possibly more.  There is a chance that if you hang on grimly, he may hear you, falter, lose his rhythm and let you snatch his lead.  I remember in the semi-finals of the European Championships in Belgrade, lying third with two to qualify and only 50 yards left.  I was about to give up and settle for third behind Kowalski of Poland who was about two yards ahead of me, when his knees quite obviously started to buckle.  I immediately felt twice as strong, discovered a new lease of life, caught and passed him to qualify.  Yet I could have let it go and never known to this day that I had it in me.”

I can remember a similar experience in the London to Brighton Walk in the early 1980s.  Having been on the podium in the previous couple of years, I expected to do so again, but I was having a bad day, struggling in fourth place.  We were coming into Brighton and I had just about given up hope when two things happened simultaneously – the third-placed walker came into sight ahead of me and a started to feel a bit stronger.  (These may well have been connected!)  And yes, like Metcalfe, I passed him and once again climbed the podium – albeit somewhat painfully.

You don’t have to be running in the European 400 metres or battling into Brighton to take this on board.  Most of us will go through a bad patch in any race in which we are trying to set a new personal best or achieve a particular result.  But if we can just keep the faith, then you never know…………