TOllRIll AIIIIUAT SPRINGBANK INTERNATI(lNAL SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th, 1971, LONDON, ONTARIO WORLD RECORD HOLDERS IN ACTION: canada's Jerome Drayton (left) and Great Britain's Ron Hill race stride for stride in last year's thrilling Springbank '12', won by Hill in record time on a final quarter-mile sprint, See inside for a complete pictorial record of this memorable race. High School'3' - 1970 (left to rightl: Joe Sax, Toronto, founh; Larry Brown. E iot Lake, second; Bryan Stride, Guelph, tirst; Jackie Dufresne, North Bay, third; and Ron Vanderi<raats, Toronto, fi{th. (lefr 9"nio^'.19' . 1970- to right) : Oick Packard, Bosron, fou rrh; Tony Sapienza, Bosron, second; An laylor, Kitchener-Waterloo, first; Jim tvlenlove, Detroit, third; and Roland Anspach, Dayton. Ohio. fifth. S1lORTTR !il c0ilrRot Florida Track Club ace Frank Shorter, who was to rank second in the wortd at six miles - 10,000 metresfor 197q raced smoothly to victory against a star,studded Iield in the 1970 Springbank '4%'. (Bight). He was one oI a leading group of lour approaching two miles (lslt to right) Shorter, Grant McLaren, Bob Finlay and Bex Maddaford. But lrom 2% miles onwards (below) the Yale graduate was on his own, heading unconcernedlV towards the tape in his light, driving style. Crossing the finish line, relaxed and smiling (below right), in 19:52, he hardly looked the parr oI a runner who had just ripped a whooping 54 seconds off the race record. l0 AFTER THE RACE - Shorter attentive in post-race interview with Springbank meet director - announcer Dave Prokop. lrr.: ii,eir'i\;'. rra r '' ' n S CCI\'IMIS VICTORY PRESENTATION - W.F. Read, Presidenl of Labatt Breweriesol Ontario, presentsthe Labatt Trophy to the winner oI the'472' (left to rightlj Rex Maddaford, New Zealand, {ourth; Grant McLaren, UWO. second; Shorter; Bob Finlay, Toronto, third;and Jack Bacheler, Florida, rifth. ll .GREATTST RAST I'YE EYTR STEII' ..... Jock Senple, London, Ontaio, Sunday, Septemb er 27th, 1970. With these words Jock Semple, co-race director oI To be sure, a great race was whal everyone expect' the famous Boston Marathon and long an import, ed when Hill and Drayton met. ln '1970 the 32- ant figure on the North American road running year'old research chemist Hill had emerged as the scene, rummed up the thrilling Ron Hill - Jerome world's top marathon runner, winning both the Draylon race in the 1970 Springbank '12'. The Boston and Commonwealth Games Marathons overwhelming maiority of the 3,000 people who in record time. Drayton, who failed to finish witnessed the race probably shar€d the 67-year-old both races, had ranked number one in the vlorld Somple's teeling6. in the marathon the previous year. At any di$ tance between 10 - 15 miles Hill and Drayton almost certainly ranked as the best two in the world. The proof of that lay in the f6ct that three neeks earlier Drayton had s€t a new world l0- mile record oI 46:37.6 breaking the mark prev- iously held by Hill. The Briton still held the rlorld records at 15 miles aod 25,000 metres. Ar the introduction Hill iabove) was grimly seri- ous, Drayton (below) smilinsly nonchalant. The {orthcoming race seemed to appeal 1o the Canad- ian's sense of humour, Hill later said that as they stepped to the line lfor their fourth meeting in less than a year) Drayton looked at him and quip' p€d, "Well, here we go ag6in." It was'here we go agaan' indeed. After half a lap Drayton was setting a wicked pace with Hill right behind. The rest of the field had already fallen be' hind. 16 A few days before the race Springbank meet di. rector Dave Prokop noted that onlv twice before had Canada been the site of a rootrace matching lhe acknowledged best two men in th€ world ai a specific distance, The Roger Bannister - John Landy mile at Vancouver in '54 was the first such race and the Peter Snell - Bill Crothers half mile in Toronto in '65 was the s€cond- Ron Hill versus Jerome Orayton at the Spring- tank lnternational would be the third. Although it was never reported in the press, an un- usual incident in the race was that Ron Hill thought he'd heard the incredibly fast time of 12:51 shouted out at the end oJ the {irst lap, (The actual first Iap time was '13:42,by 23 seconds the fastest first lap ever in the racd.) Bather than being unnerved by the 12:51, Hill strode boldly into rhe lead. "l thought 12:51 was probably wrong," he said later, "But assuming it wasn't I felt l'll sp€ed it up even more - make him think a little." A mile later, approaching the end of the Iirst lap, Drayton still held the lead. Always the psychologist, Hill woutd lead each time they went up the so{alled Animal Hill, largest climb on the course. t7 But Drayton would invariably be back in lront on the backstretch ol the course, 't8 So it went, mil€ after mile, neither athlets willing to yield. pace ,,flat The was, as Drayton would laler say. out all the way." ,I9 j J I .: Locked toqether, with laps oI 13:42, '13:53 and '14:08 behind them. the two road racing giants go into the final lap. Few Gces have seen the equal of the excitement and drama that had now built up among the spectators. The Iinish - Ron Hill, his devastating sprint over Drayton crosses the finish line 15 seconds later. rhe linal quarter mile breaking him clear of Dray- Hillexplained the '1s-second differential: "lt was ton, wins in 55:34.6, almost three minutes under the diflerence between a man who's sprinting and the old record. So fast was lhe pace that the slow- a man who's given up," Drayton said. "l couldn'l est lap - - the 14:08 third lap - - was only three respond. When he kicked he just moved away l seconds slower than the fastest single lap every run Irom me as i{ I were running on the spot." in lhe Springbank '12'previously! 20 Hill ofrers congratulstions and condolences t. ;,f_" ^"'t young€r rival moments after the finish. The two then took a warmdown jog down the road and away from the crowd, tooking hardty rh6 MI I -' Ron.Hilr acc€prs rhe city_of London cup frcm London arderman rerry Ferris, nrmselrY'::lll al::::l:r_.: tormer runner. Lelt to ridhr a.. Mike Kimball lobscured), fourth; Drayton; Hill; Andy Boy_' chuk, third; and Amby Burfoot, fifih. 21 t- IIIiIED TO RUIIIIIR'S ]|AIL OF TAilIT The late Jack Caffrey of Hamalton, winner of the Boston Marathon in i gOO and 1901. and Nova Scotia's Johnny Miles, winner at Boston in 1926 and i 929, have been named to the C;nadian Road Runners Hall oI Fame for 1971. The.twojoin-Tom Longboal, Gerard C6rd, Billy Sherring and Scotty Bankine. who were admitted to rhe Hall in 1969 and 1970_ Caffrey and lMiles are rhe onty rwo Canadians orher than Gerard C6tdto have won the Boston Mara- rnon twrce or more, !;ote won tt tour times, The Boston Marathon was only three years old in 1900 when Ca{frey.23, raced to victory in ,,torethe 2:39:44. It was lhe firsl y€ar Canadians had competed at Boston and, in the v;inaaular, they race a- part", Hamilton's Billy Sherring finishing second, after leading at what proved to be too,tan-a-pace from ooe mile ro l5 miles, and anorher Canadian, Frank Hughson, finishing third. The following year CaI{rey returned to Boston bringing with him his protege Bill Davis, a l,4ohawk lndian, Calfrey won again, in another new recotd,2i29,23, with Davis, tater to coach Tom Longboat, finishing second,, Calfrey, a 5'8". 128-lb, carpenter, was known as an extremety competitive runner. He and Billy Sher- ring were bitt€r rivals. The rivalry stemmed {rom the 1899 Around-the-Bay Bace in Hamilton, won by Sherring. Ca{fr€y claimed Sherring had intent;onatly tripped him late in the race. From that date on the two apparently werenrl on speaking terms. In head to head m€etings between them in major races, Caffrey appeared to have the better record, winning at Boston the next spring (1900) and then beating Sherring in the Around-the-Bay Race th€ next fall, lt is one of rhe ironies of sport that in '1906, when the Olympics were held in Athens, Sher- ring made the trip, partly through the backing of ,riends, while Catfrey stayed home. Sherring's vic- lory in the race propelled him to instant {ame; CaI{rey and all he'd accomplished was le{t permanently in the shadow of that fame. Jack Caf{rey died in the e6rly twenties during the influenza epidemic in Hamilton, The aptly named, for a dislance runner, Johnny N4iles was a 19-y6ar old. rosy{heeked grocery wagon driver trom Sydney lVIines, Nova Scotia in 1926 when he made his first start at Boston a victorious one, outrunning Finland's Albin Stenroos, the 1924 Olympic [4arathon champ, and the legendary Clarence Del/lar, who'd been a close third in the'24 Olympic race. Miles, who had never run the marathon dis, tance before, slashed four minutes off DeN4ar's course record! Stenroos was a distant second, despite recording his best time ever. Delvlar was third. lvliles returned to Boston the nexl year but dropped out after five miles due to heat-wave conditions, saying, "lt's crazy to run on a day like this." The Nova Scotian was living in Hamilton in 1929 when he won his second Boston Marathon, running 2:33:08, a new record for the Iull 26 mile.