On this day in 1967, Australian distance runner Derek Clayton set a world marathon best of 2:09:36.4 in the Fukuoka marathon, becoming the first human to run under 2:10. He would lower his own world's best again in 1969, running 2:08:33 in Antwerp. That time would stand as the world record for 12 more years, and would still be considered a world-class time today.
I remember reading about Clayton in Sports Illustrated back in the day. Clayton's training was always long and always fast. He logged 120-140 mile weeks for years until he finally sustained too many injuries to continue.
Clayton was not blessed with tremendous speed, but made up for it by developing the "Clayton shuffle," a low, economical stride that carried him along with little wasted effort. He rarely trained slower than 5:30 per mile pace.
Clayton competed in the 1968 and 1972 Olympics, finishing 7th and 13th respectively.
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