by Jeff Benjamin
Geordie Beamish in front leading the pack with the On Athletic Club! , photo courtesy of On Running
Geordie Beamish, photo by On Running
Jeff Benjamin, RunBlogRun’s Senior East Coast Editor, reached out to New Zealand great Rod Dixon about his thoughts on the huge win by young Kiwi Geordie Beamish. Geordie will be competing in the Tommy Leonard Mile at the 2022 New Balance Indoor Champs on Feb. 6, 2022. NBC Sports will cover in US, tickets still for sale!
As many of us know Covid crisis has sadly led to separations of friends, family and the like for almost 2 years now.
Count New Zealand running legend Rod Dixon among them as well.
Usually known for traveling to and from the USA and other countries, the 1972 Olympic 1500 Bronze medalist and 1983 NYC Marathon Champion has “exiled” himself to his native country since early 2020.
Despite the isolation however, Dixon still carries that never-ending optimistic enthusiasm through communications & keeping up to date with the world, including in the Sport we all love.
So one can imagine the Kiwi’s enthusiasm as he watched live last week the men’s 3000 meter race!
Observing the top distance runners battle it out at the Armory Track & Field facility live on NBC, Dixon could hardly contain himself as fellow Kiwi Geordie Beamish, who looked seemingly out of contention, blew by top Americans Cooper Teare (7:39.61 PR) & Cole Hocker (7:39.83 PR) in the final meters of the race to cross the finish line first in a New Zealand National Record time of 7:39.50.
“It was just unbelievable,” exclaimed Dixon. “The way he surged – it didn’t look like an all-out straining sprint but just smooth raw power.”
“Geordie reminds me of John Walker!”
A late bloomer to the Sport, Beamish might’ve been hard pressed almost a decade ago to have known who Rod Dixon and John Walker (the 1976 Olympic 1500 Champion & the first man to break 3:50 for the Mile!) are!
“I followed in the footsteps of my older brother Hugo who competed for Villanova,” said Beamish. “I started running in my last couple of years of high school and ran well enough to get a scholarship to the US!”
” I wasn’t much of a student of the sport growing up so I only really started to learn of Rod, John, Peter Snell and Dick Quax’s reputations and their history in my final years at high school and throughout college.”
At Arizona University Beamish earned Two-time NCAA All-American status in cross country & won the NCAA Indoor Men’s Mile in 2019.
Now coached by another running legend – Dathan Ritzenhein – Beamish has emerged as a world-class runner for the On Athletic Club.
Jeff Benjamin and Geordie Beamish, photo by Jeff Benjamin
This upcoming Sunday, Beamish will be competing at the lightning fast Ocean Breeze Indoor Track on Staten Island, but this time in the Tommy Leonard Memorial Mile, which has a loaded field including Americans Colby Alexander, Johnny Gregorek, Hobbs Kessler, Sam Prakel and a host of other competitors.
“Try not to put too much pressure on yourself,” advised Beamish to young runners. “Success comes with time and consistency in the Sport and the best way to do that is to enjoy that!”
“I just want to continue on the incredible legacy of middle distance running they pioneered in NZ.”
No doubt Dixon will be glued into NBC on Sunday.
“Absolutely,” said Dixon. “Geordie is just fabulous and I can’t wait to see what he’ll do!”
Geordie Beamish, photo by Jeff Benjamin
Stay tuned!
To learn more about Geordie Beamish, please check out RunBlogRun’s #SocialingtheDistance interview: https://www.runblogrun.com/2020/09/socialing-the-distance-featuing-geordie-beamish-complete-inteview.html
BELL LAP: The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix will be broadcast live on NBC from noon to 2 p.m. To purchase tickets for the meet, or for more information please go to www.nbindoorgrandprix.com
