Historical Notes for July 14

It was nine years ago today that Hicham El Guerrouj ran 3:26.00 for 1500m to set a world record that still stands. Although El Guerrouj and others have come close since then, one wonders if any of the current crop of milers can threaten the record.

The second-fastest man ever is Bernard Lagat, but it seems unlikely that he will approach his times of a few years ago. In case you were wondering, Alan Webb stands at number 23 on the all-time list.

Will the 1500m record fall any time soon? I would guess not this season.

July 14 is also the anniversary of perhaps the single greatest 10000 meter run in history. On this day in 1965, Australian Ron Clarke lowered his own world record from 28:14 to 27:39, a staggering improvement of 35 seconds under the old standard. In the last century, no one has ever lowered the 10K record by so much. Clarke ran the race in Oslo at the Bislett stadium and took the lead early, as he always did. After a mile he was on his own but even without the aid of pacemakers, Clarke settled into a remarkable rhythm and seemed to gain strength as the race went on. Later he would describe the race as "magical."

It would be 7 years before Lasse Viren broke Clarke's record, running exactly one second faster in the finals of the 1972 Olympic Games. It would take 28 years and eight incremental improvements for runners to lower it 35 seconds.

To understand how great Clarke's record race really was, consider that at that time Clarke also held the world record for 5000m at 13:25.8. In his magical Oslo race, Clarke ran back-to-back 5000m's averaging slightly better than 13:50's. That means he was only 24s, or 8s per mile slower for his record 10K than for his record 5K. To put this in perspective, if today's 5000m world record holder Keninisa Bekele were capable of the same thing, he would lower his current 10000 record from 26:17 to 26:02!!

Clarke was an interesting figure in distance running. He set numerous world records, but fared less well in major championships. He rarely varied his training, which was always long and hard. He did little to peak for races, and that, as well as his habit of always running from the front, undoubtedly cost him an Olympic gold medal in the 1964 Olympics.

He was also denied a medal in Mexico City when he collapsed with altitude sickness in the 10,000 final. He got up and finished the race, but collapsed again after the line and nearly died before being revived after an hour of medical attention. That race did permanent damage to his heart and ended his career.

There is a famous story about Clarke and Emil Zatopek. The 10K world record holder Clarke visited the former world record holder Zatopek in 1966. At the end of the visit, Zatopek pressed a small box into Clarke's hand saying it was a gift. Later, when Clarke opened the present, he found Zatopek's Olympic 10000m gold medal from the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. There was a note in which Zatopek had written, "Not out of pity, but because you deserve it."