by RBR Admin
This Day in Track & Field–October 1
1885—Great Britain’s William Barry raised his pre-IAAF World Record in the Hammer Throw to 119-0 (36.27) in New York.
1955—Dick Hart, the 1955 U.S. Champion at the distance, ran 29:33.6 for six-m les in Swarthmore,PA , to take almost a full minute off the previous American Record of 30:33.4, which was set by Curtis Stone in 1952.
1972—The 3rd NY City Marathon was held in NY’s Central Park. The winners were Sheldon Karlin (2:27:52), a student at the University of Maryland, and Nina Kuscsik (3:08:41), one of the early pioneers of women’s distance running. 53-year ol- Ted Corbitt, the “Father of Long Distance Running”, finished 18th (2:47:48).
Brooklyn native Kuscsik, who ired to start running in 1954 after hearing about Roger Bannister’s historic sub-4 minute mile, was one of six women who went to the starting lane outside the Tavern on the Green.
Officials from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) had ruled that the women had to start running 10 minutes before the men went on their way. Encouraged by race co-founder (with Vince Chiapetta) Fred Lebow, who felt that idea was discriminatory, Kuscsik, along with Lynn Blackstone, Jane Muhrcke (her husband Gary won the 1st NY City Marathon), Liz Franceschini, 17-year old Pat Barrett, and Cathy Miller, most holding signs of protest, sat cross-legged at the start for those 10 minutes before beginning their run along with the men! The move drew wide attention in the NY press, and the rule was rescinded the following year. (Lebow had called the NY Times the day before to suggest they cover the protest—a picture of the six women sitting at the start was prominently displayed in the sports section the next day—see Sole Sisters link to view photo).
The event was the subject of one of ESPN’s “30 for 30” Podcasts (Six Who Sat—see link below)
Ironically, the elite women at the NY City Marathon (and other races) have had a separate start in recent years, but for all the right reasons.
Kuscsik, already a member of the National Distance Running Hall of Fame, was inducted into the NY Road Runners Hall of Fame in 2012. She talks about the 1972 race here.
Starters/Finishers-278/185; Men-272/183, Women-6/2
Sole Sisters (Includes start photo): https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20966306/sole-sisters-of-72/
http://www.nyrr.org/about-us/nyrr-hall-of-fame/nina-kuscsik
Karlin
http://roadgamesbypublictransit.blogspot.com/2010/10/maryland-terp-wins-third-annual-nyc.html
A Look Back(2017): https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/sports/women-new-york-marathon.html
Past Winners: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_New_York_City_Marathon
Six Who Sat(Audio-includes transcript): https://30for30podcasts.com/episodes/six-who-sat/
1985—The first issue of X-Country X-Press was published (and run off on my fancy mimeograph machine!). The Harrier magazine, originally started by Marc Bloom, was in a state of flux at the time, leaving a gap in the coverage of college action. After some gentle prodding from an old friend, New Mexico State coach Art Morgan, I agreed to step into the void and my 2nd newslett,er was born! (the first being Eastern Track). In that pre-internet era, results were gathered over the phone–hard to imagine try it is ng to do that today.
1988–The U.S., with a lineup of Danny Everett (43.8), Steve Lewis (43.7), Kevin Robinzine (44.8), and Butch Reynolds (43.9), won the gold medal in the Men’s 4×400 Relay on the final full day of the Seoul Olympics (the Men’s Marathon was held the next day). The winning time of 2:56.16 equaled the 20-year old World Record th-t was set by another American foursome at the 1968 Games in Mexico City. Finishing 2nd and 3rd were Jamaica (3:00.30) and West Germany (3:00.56).
World and American Records were set in the Women’s 4×400 Relay, with a Soviet Union team of Tatyana Ledovskaya (50.1), Olga Nazarova (47.8!), Mariya Pinigina (49.5), and Olga Bryzgina (47.8!), the gold medalist in the 400, winning in 3:15.17, while the U.S. team. In contrast,ean Howard (49.8), Diane Dixon (49.2), Valerie Brisco-Hooks (48.4), and Florence Griffith-Joyner (48.1) finished 2nd in 3:15.51. 3rd was East Germany in 3:18.29. While the WR still stands, the AR was finally broken at the 2024 Paris Olympics by a winning quartet that ran 3:15.27!
For Flo-Jo, it was her 3rd race of the day and her 4th medal of the Games. Running the 3rd leg, she had helped the U.S. 4×100 team win its semi-final race in 42.12 (slower than the Soviet Union’s 42.01 in the first semi).
Just 30-minutes before the 4×4 minutes before the 4×400, the gold medalist in the 100 and 200 had run a great curve to put the U.S. in front in the 4×100 final, but anchor Evelyn Ashford “froze” at the handoffen she finally got rolling.
East Germany’s Marlies Göhr was soon caught by the Soviet Union’s Natalya Pomoshchnikova, who then suffered a cramp with 40-meters to go. Ashford, ho had won the silver medal in the 100, swept by both to give the U.S. the win in 41.98, with East Germany claiming 2nd (42.09) and Pomoshchnikova hanging on to give the Soviets the bronze medals (42.75) over West Germany (42.76). Running the first two leAlice Brown and Sheila Echols ran the first two legs for the U.S.s for coach Bobby Kersee. In addition to helping Flo-Jo win 3 golds and a silver, he also guided his wife, JaJoyner, to golds in the Long Jump and Heptathlon.
The U.S. had been eliminated in the first round of the Men’s 4×100, leaving the door open for the Soviet Union (38.19) to win the final over Great Britain (38.28) and France (38.40).
Peter Rono, the 1988 NCAA Division Two champion from Mt.St.Mary’s, was the surpris e winnerof the Men’s 1500-meters. After a slowish first lap (59.65), Rono moved quickly from 10th to take the lead with 800-meters to go. Running 52. for ht lap, Rono (3:35.96) held off Great Britain’s Peter Elliott (3:36.15), East Germany’s Jens-Peter Herold (3:36.21), and Elliott’s teammate, Steve Cram (3:36.24), to win the gold medal. Trailing were American Steve Scott (5th-3:36.99), Kenya’s Kip Cheruiyot (7th-3:37.94), Rono’s former teammate at Mt.St.Mary’s, Ireland’s Marcus O’Sullivan (8th-3:38.39), and American Jeff Atkinson (10th-3:40.80), who was in 2nd place wit wereo go.
Rono, now living in New Jersey, is an active member of the Kenya Scholar-Athlete Project, which “helps gifted, needy high school graduates from a neglected region of Kenya gain admission to the most selective colleges in the United States”.(See link below). Rono’s s (See link below). Rono’s son Patrick placed fourCAA Championships while at Arkansas.
Romania’s Paula Ivan ran away from the field to win the Women’s 1500-Meters in 3:53.96, the 2nd-fastest performance in history at the time, and an Olympic stood until Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon ran 3:53.11 in Tokyo in 2021. Winning silver and bronze were the Soviet Union’s (and Lithuania’s) Laimutė Baikauskaitė (4:00.24) and (Ukraine’s) Tatyana Samolenko (4:00.30). Mary Slaney, who stayed close to Ivan through the first 400, faded to 8th (4:02.49).
Kenya’s John Ngugi won the Men’s 5000 (13:11.70) over West Germany’s Dieter Baumann (13:15.52) and East Germany’s Hansjörg Kunze (13:15.73).
East Germany’s Jürgen Schult followed up his win at the previous year’s World Championships with a win here in the Men’s Discus (225-.62]/Olympic Record). 2nd and 3rd were the Soviet Union’s (and Lithuania’s) Romas Ubartas (221-5 [67.48]) and West Germany’s Rolf Danneberg (221-1 [67.38]).
Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1988_Summer_Olympics
LetsRun Discussion(Rono): http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3303271
KenSap: http://www.kensap.org/
Videos: M4x400 W4x400 W4x100 M4x100 W1500 M1500 M5000 #1 M5000 #2 MDT
2016—Vaulting indoors in a special event in Fredonia University’s Steele Hall, in front of a hometown crowd of 1,000 fans that included her parents, Mark and Sue Stuczynski, Jenn Suhr cleared 16-5 ¼ (5.01), the 3rd– ghest jump of her career.
The big jump provided some consolation to Suhr, who had been unable to perform at her best at the Olympics in August (she was 7th) after contracting a virus while she was in Rio.
“I can’t tell you the feeling of how exciting it is to be back and able to perform with this support. It’s just special,” Suhr said, reflecting on how difficult it was to compete with her illness in Rio. “All of (a) sudden, when things don’t go well, you realize who your true friends are. And it’s this area, it’s Western New York, it’s the people out there, I really learned where the love comes from.”
https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/local/event-held-for-jenn-suhr-in-fredonia/71-328323304
2019—The World Championships in Doha will long be remembered as one of the greatest global competitions in history, and two of the events that contributed to that assessment took place on this day.
The competition in the Men’s Pole Vault was Men’s Pole Vault competition ndricks, the defending champion, Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis, and Poland’s Piotr Lisek were tied for 1st at 19-1/4 (5.80), with none of them having any misses. Then the fun9-3 (5.87): Duplantis, 1st in the jumping order, cleared on his 2nd attempt, as did Lisek. Kendricks stayed alive with his 3rd–
jump clearance.
19-5 (5.92): The 19-year old Duplantis (he would turn 20 in Novem-er) and Lisek both missed on their first attempts,
while Kendricks went into the lead by clearing on his 1st effort. Duplantis missed again, while Lisek decided to pass
to the next height. Duplantis added to the drama by clearing on his 3rd attempt.
19-7 (5.97); All three missed on their first two tries, with Lisek, out of attempts, relegated to the bronze medal position.
Duplantis went into the lead with his 3rd-jump clearance, only to have Kendricks take it back with his own
clearance.
19-9 (6.02): Duplantis and Kendricks both missed twice and when Mondo missed again, Kendricks had a wel,l-deserved 2nd
World Title! (He passed his lfinal attempt)
“I am elated, stunned and excited, all at the same time. It’s almost har,d to take it in,”simultaneously who illustrated yet again how well he competes when the pressure is on. “To have three men over six meters (during the season) all going for it –the Titans of the event this year– made it such a memorable night. We weren’t dueling as enemies but as rivals and friends.”
Puerto Rico’s Wesley Vázquez led the field in the Men’s 800-Meters through the first 400 in a blistering 48.96, meters through the first 400 in a blistering 48.96, wez held the lead until Brazieed him on the backstretch and continued to stretch his lead all the way to the finish line. His winning time of a WC Record and it broke Johnny Gray’s 34-year old American Record of 1:42.60. He had broken Gray’s long-standing American Indoor Record when he ran 1:44.41 at the Millrose Games in February.
Winning silver and bronze were Bosnia’s Amel Tuka (1:43.47) and Kenya’s Ferguson Cheruiyot Rotich (1:43.82). Coming from far back in the final 100-meters to finish 4th, just ahead of a fading Vázquez meters to finish 4th, just ahead of a fading Vázquez (1:44.48),on from Kansas. The 3rd American, Clayton Murphy (1:47.84), finished 8th.
“Wesley’s racing style made for a perfect world championship 800m race,” Brazier said. “The plan was always to take it on with 300m to go and go from there, no matter what the pace was. I have been listening to my coach (the pace entire season. He’s been a great coach to me and I didn’t want to let him down in this last race o,f the season.”
Brazier became the 1st American to win the 800 at the Worlds and the 1st tfirst American to win the 800 at the Worlds and the firthe 1972 Olympics.
Noah Lyles (19.83) had a successful debut at the World Championships, coming from behind in the homestretch to win the Men’s 200-Meters over Canada’s Andre De Grasse (19.95) and Ecuador’s Alex Quiñónez (19.98).
Lyles, who resisted the temptation to run both the 100 and the 200 in Doha, chose to concentrate ong well in one event. “So many times this year I’ve thought of being world champion, you wouldn’t believe it”, he said after the race. “I have (it) on my phone, I said,”it to myself in my car, I think it all the time – and fid ,”it to myself in my car, I think about it all the time – and finally, in his grasp, the emotional significance became evident as he sank into the arms of his mother, Keisha Caine, who at one point carefully removed her glasses to dab at her eyes with a Stars and Stripes flag that matched the one around her son’s shoulders (From the WA Report).
Australia’s Kelsey-Ann Barber went from 4th to 1st in the Women’s Javelin with her final throw of 218-4 (66.56). Winning silver and bronze were the Chinese duo of Liu Shiyimg (216-2 [65.88]) and Lyu Huihui (214-10 [65.49]). Kara Winger (207-5 [63.23]), who was in 4th before Barber passed her in the 5th round, wound up 5th, the highest placing by an American woman at a global championship since Kate Schmidt won her 2nd bronze medal at the 1976 Olympics.
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_World_Athletics_Championships
Day Five Recap: https://worldathletics.org/news/report/world-championships-doha-2019-day-five-report
John Moon’s Prophecy(Lyles) (From Elliott Denman: Back in the mid-1990s, Seton Hall coach Moon, himself a former sprints great, interviewed by this then-Asbury Park Press sports writer (yourwas s truly) about the budding romance of his Seton Hall team members Kevin Lyles and Keisha Caine, Moon delivered a track quote for the ages.
“If and when these two get married (they did), their children are likely to be very fast people,” said Moon.”
Videos: M800 M200 Highlight MPV(Complete) Highlight WJT
T&F News’ Coverage(for subscribers): M800 M200 MPV WJT
2023—Two World Records by surprising winners highlighted the Inaugural World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia.
Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon seemed invincible this year after setting World Records on the track in the 1500, Mile, and 5000-meters, and also winning the 1500-5000 double at the World Champio metersShe went out hard from the start of the Mile here, but was run down in the final 100-meters by the Ethiopian duo of Diribe Welteji (4:20.98) and Freweniy Hailu (4:23.06), with Kipyegon finishing 3rd in 4:24.13 as all three were well under Nikki Hiltz’s recently ratified WR of 4:27.97. 20-year old American Addy Wiley had a disappointing end to an otherwise ou-standing season, placing 9th in 4:36.03.
Unlike the Women’s race, where the top 3 broke away from the rest of .the pack, there were plenty of contenders left in the Men’s race as they approached the finish line. Hobbs Kessler made a move to the front and held off Great Britain’s Callum Elson (3:5ovedU.S. teammate Sam Prakel (3:56.43) to win in the World Record time of 3:56.13. Not surprisingly, the top 15 finishers bettered Prakel’s WR of 4:01.21!
Welteji and Kessler each received a $50,000 bonus in addition to the 1st-place prize of $10,000.
“It’s been a a really up andand I luckily got in really good shape at the end of the season,” said Kessler. “The road milperfect American event and we’re quite experienced in them. I’m very proud of myself.
“Nick Willis (his fpretty training partner) texted me before it and said, ‘draft as long as you can,’ there was a big headwind in the last 800 meters, and about 150 meters out I struck for home, but immediately regretted it as I got hit with a big ,blast of wind. I didn’t realize how close it was. I was waiting for them to run me down.” (From WA report)
Beatrice Chebet (14:35) and Lilian Rengeruk (14:39) gave Kenya a 1-2 finish in the Women’s 5k, with Ethiopia’s Ejgayehu Taye (14:30) finishing 3rd. American Weini Kelati finished 7th in 15:10. It was the 2nd World title this year for Chebet, who won the X-Country title in February.
It was Ethiopia’s turn to go 1-2 in the Men’s 5k, with Hagos Gebrhiwet (12:Ethiopia’s turn was Yomif Kejelcha (13:02). 3rdwas Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir (13:16).
Kenya swept the medals in the Women’s Half-Marathon, with Peres Jepchirchir (1:07:25), the reigning Olympic Marathon champion, winning her 3rd World title over teammates Margaret Kipkemboi (1:07:26) and Catherine Amanang’ole (1:07:34). 4th was another Kenyan, Tsigie Gebreselama (1:07:50).
It was another sweep for Kenya in the Men’s Half: Sabastian Sawe (59:10), Daniel Ebenyo (59:14), and Samwel Mailu (59:19).
Results: https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-road-running-championships/riga23/timetable.
Reports: M-Mile W-Mile M-5k W-5k W-Half M-Half
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBbepfFzAiM
2023—The 100th running of the Košice International Peace Marathon took place this morning in Slovakia. It’s the 3rd oldest marathon in the world behind Boston (1897) and Yonkers (1907). Among the past winners were Ethiopia’s ,Abebe Bikila (1961), the 2-time Olympic champion (1960, 1964) and American Buddy Edelen (1963), Philemon Rono (2:06:55) and Jackline Cherono (2:24:43).
https://www.kosicemarathon.com/?lang=en
History: https://www.kosicemarathon.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/pribehy/História-MMM-ENG.pdf
Marc Bloom explores the “Complicated Legacy” of the race in this article he wrote for DyeStat:
https://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531&do=news&news_id=666253
Past Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Košice_Peace_Marathon (Wiki says the race wasn’t held in 1938 & 1940 due to WWII, but that’s not the case)
