Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: [email protected] ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected]), used with permission
This Day in Track & Field–October 7
1886—Wilson Coudon set a pre-AAU American Record of 99-1(30.20) in the Hammer Throw in Wilmington, Delaware.
Coudon, a 2-time U.S. Champion (1883,1886), later became a successful businessman and newspaper publisher/writer in Maryland.
http://www.cecildaily.com/our_cecil/article_0b46ccfb-f718-565a-8fe1-b5b69fa37b31.html
1887–Billy Page set a pre-IAAF World Record of 6-4(1.93) in a solo exhibition in Philadelphia. It was also his 10th (and last) American Record. Penn grad Page was a 3-time IC4A and U.S. Champion (1885-1887)
Page clearing 6-4, apparently using the long jump pit as his landing area!
1928–Paavo Nurmi set World Records for 10-miles (50:15) and the 1-hour run (19,210m) in Berlin.
1950— Lloyd LaBeach, “The Jamaican Flash”, ran the first 10.1-100 in history in Guayaquil, Ecuador, but there was no wind gauge on hand and the mark was never submitted for record ratification.
LaBeach was the bronze medalist in the 100 and 200 at the 1948 Olympics while competing for his family’s adopted country of Panama. Those were the first Olympic medals won by an athlete from Panama and he received a hero’s welcome when he returned home.
He spent one full year at Wisconsin, where he finished 6th in the Long Jump and 2nd in the 100y and 220y at the 1946 NCAA Championships. He then moved on to UCLA, where he was coached by Hall-of-Famer Elvin “Ducky” Drake. LaBeach was ranked #1 in the world by Track and Field News in the 100 and 200 in 1950.
Wisconsin Bio: http://www.uwbadgers.com/genrel/022811aac.html
UCLA: http://thesilverpeopleheritage.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/lloyd-labeach-and-life-at-ucla/
Forgotten Hero?: http://epiac1216.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/an-olympic-athlete-history-almost-forgot/
1988—Just 6 days after closing out her busy workload at the Seoul Olympics, where she won 3 golds and a silver, Florence Griffith-Joyner (10.91) ran the final race of her career, winning the 100-meters on a cool and rainy day at the Tokyo International. Trailing her were Evelyn Ashford (11.14) and East Germany’s Marlies Göhr (11.30), who also ended her career on this day.
2001–Kenya’s Catherine (“The Great”) Ndereba ran 2:18:47 in Chicago to set a World Record in the Women’s Marathon.
She was a 2-time World Champion (2003,2007) and 2-time Olympic silver medalist (2004,2008) in the Marathon.
Retirement: http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/marathon-great-catherine-ndereba-retires
WR Pogression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_world_record_progression
Gary Cohen Interview(2010) Past Winners
2001—Great Britain’s Paula Radcliffe set a World Record of 1:03:26 for 20k on her way to winning at the World Half Marathon Championships (1:06:47) in Bristol, England.
Haile Gebrselassie (1:00:03) edged fellow Ethiopian Tesfaye Jifar (1:00:04) to win the Men’s race.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_IAAF_World_Half_Marathon_Championships
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh5iioqzOEg
2018–Despite running almost 3-minutes faster (2:06:21) than he did in 2017 when he won the race, Galen Rupp finished 5th in this year’s Chicago Marathon, a race that was won by Great Britain’s Mo Farah (2:05:11), his former training partner.
Chicago Tribune Coverage Runner’s World (2017 Race)
2020—Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei ran 26:11.00 in Valencia, Spain, to break the 15-year old World Record of 26:17.53 that was set by Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele in 2005. He had earlier broken Bekele’s WR for the Men’s 5000-Meters (12:37.35) when he ran 12:35.36 in Monaco in August.
A 2nd World Record was set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey, who won the Women’s 5000 in 14:06.62, breaking the WR of 14:11.15, set by Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba in 2008.
Video-Both Races: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voCiHeGseZI
