TRACKNEWSLETTER SupplementingTRACK & FIELD NEWS twice monthly. Vol. 8, No. 9 Dec. 20, 1961 Page 65 1932 OLYMPIC GA MES A Steeplechaser's Opinions Finn Wins Extra~Lap Steeplechase By John Disley, Great Britain By Waliy Donovan For the past two Olympiads, the Finns dominated the steeple­ (Reprinted from Long Distance Log. The author placed sixth chase and not even the necessity of running an ext ra lap because of in the steeplechase at the 1956 Olympic Games.) an "offi cial" error could stop this domination. Tom Evenson of Great Britain broke the Olympic record WHAT MAKES PEOPLE RUN? in the first heat with a 9: 18. 8 clocking but Volmari !so-Hollo of What Herod did for child welfare, logic will do eventually Finland lowered the record to 9: 14. 6 in the next heat. That set up for middle distance running. Luckily for the sport, it isn't until a things for the final on Aug. 6. runner slumps into the twilight of his career that he starts appre - The F inns had been having a bad time of it in the Games cia ting that track isn't logical. but !so-Hollo gave them their third straight victory in the event The successful middle distance runner has, by the tim e he despite the extra lap. The competitors we re forced to run the is over the top, wor n a deep groove in his local track and creased extra lap when the official scheduled to co unt the lap s was taken his pe rs onality to the ex tent that life is viewed through a corrugated ill and his substitute failed to hold up the numb ers the first time pai r of glasses. Life is a big dipper, troughs and crests, bad the athletes passed him. tim es and good times - - and I mean by the calendar and stop watch. But it didn 't seem to matter to !so-H ollo . He had taken th e R 1mn ing is eas y . Easier in fac;t than ·standing ·on your head, lead right from the start but allowed Glen Dawson of the United or teaching your grandmoth er to -suck eggS:_, '/1.i_long as the same leg States to set the pace for a brief moment. Then the Finn took over isn' t used twice in succ es sion, nothing much · can go wrong. again and was followed by Evenson, George Bailey of Great Britain, Traditionally, England pr oduces very 'fine middl e distance Dawson and Joe McCluskey of the U.S. nmn ers. We have around us milers, three and six milers, mara­ As they passed the halfway mark Isa-Hollo was out in front thon runne rs and steepl echasers who did, or will, challeng e the by 10 yards. After taking the water jump for the fifth time the Finn world's best with succ ess. We are in a good position to discover began to pick up the pace and left the others far behind. However, what motivates them. What drives them on past those pair of ego­ Jl.ere was quite a battle for second place between McCluskey and prot ec ting cliches - - "It's only a game" and "It's taking part that Evenson. They passed each other sev e ral times during the last really matters" - - into .the realm of top-class competition? stages of the race but with 40 yards to go Evenson passed McCluskey Middle distance running is like religion: it is all a matter for the last time and crossed the lin e ahead of the plucky American of belief. Somewhere way back in his impressionable youth, the from Fordham University. !so-Hollo had crossed the finish 80 runn e r heard the message. Perhaps he was allowed to win an in­ yards ahead of them and it was then that the red -faced officials nocuous interschool race. From then on, conversion sets in; the realized that the runners had gone an extra lap. Isa-Hollo timed in novitiate is strengthened by every race he wins. For the rest of 10:33.4 and his time at 3,000 met ers was approximated at 9:18.4. his career success at a higher level is imperative - - life itself It was almost two hours after the race .befo re any official depends upon it. ' announc eme nt came over the loudsp eakers . In tlle meantime offi - The dreadful anomaly of this condition is that, to reduce cials had been talking to the comp etitors who had the privilege of th e time actually spent running in a race, the time spent in train - asking for a runover. McCluskey was the only one affected by the ing has to be increased. Increased in a most disproportionate official's blunder as he was _actually second when the regulation manner. To take this phenomenon to its logicial conclusion, there distance was completed. However, he, along with others in the comes a time in an athlete's career when he can't afford the time race, refused to ask for the race to be run over. off from training to race. FIRST ROUND (Monday, Aug. 1) (fwo heats, five qualify) It is believed in certain circles that several British and _ I - Thomas Evenson (GB) 9:18.8 ; 2. Walter Pritchard (USA); 3. Ame ri can athletes have already reached this point of no return. Verner Toivonen (Finland); 4. Giuseppe Lippi (Italy); 5. Nella This condition is known in the trade as "dedication." Bartolini (Italy); 6. Roger Vigneron (France). Louis Oliva, Ar­ Just as it is logicial to worship at the altar of the god that gentina, dropped out. II - Volmari !so-Hollo (Finland) 9: 14. 6; first answers your prayers, so it is na·tural to pay allegiance to 2. Joe McCluskey (USA); 3. Glen Dawson (USA); 4. George the training system that wins you races. Just as there are many Batley (GB); 5. Martti Matilainen (Finland); 6. Alfredo Furia different forms of religion, so there are many methods of self­ (Italy). Harold Gallop (Canada) and Michael Murphy ,(Irelan~ destruction called training schedules. Each one of these methods dropp ed out. · demands its own agony of fulfilment. The novice searchrng for a FINAL (Saturday, Aug. 6) creed selects the schedule currently in fashion with the top people. 1:-Iso-Hollo 10:33.4; 2. Evenson 10:46.0; 3. McCluskey 10:46.2; He lives by this gospel for at least a season, and then, if he isn't 4. Matilainen 10:52.4; 5. Bailey; 6. Dawson; 7. Lippi; 8. Prit­ in the team of his winter's vision, he moves on to an alternative chard; 9. Toivonen; 10. Bartolini. form of torture. This procedure continues for several seasons until finally · Incident Mars 5,000 Race the athlete hits form. His name appears in one inch le_tters on the back pages of newspapers when he wins - - two inches high when he Ralph Hill · of Klamath Falls, Oregon, almost pulled the loses. Needles ·s to say, success arrives despite all the changes of biggest upset of the Olympic Games in the 5, 000 meters. The sys tems; it comes as a direct r es ult of four or five years of unre­ slim American finished only a step behind Lauri Lehtinen of mitting hard work. For the common factor in all the training meth­ Finland, the world record holder, but an unfortunate incident ods is pain. marred the _finish of this great race. The athlete's head is filled with loud, undiminishing echoes Hill and Lehtinen were locked in a fierce duel as they of the words - - faster and more. He cannot escape from the princi­ came around the final turn but just as Hill went wide and started ple of overloading. The bit that is doing him good at the end of a to pass the Finn swung wide. Hill then tried to go by on the inside work-out raises altrabilious visions of collapse as he struggles but Lehtinen closed in, forcing the American to c.ut his stride. down yet abother back str etch. Hill, however, continued his drive and almost mana _ged. to .catch · What is ·it that drives the middle distance runner down the (continued on page 69, column two) (continued on page 69, column one) _ I 21.5• Bo Roberson (Fhil. PO) MU (h3 )6/25 l 151,6 !lob Groazek (1- 21,5* Nate Adema (Cleveland Str.) AAU (h3)6/25 1:51. 7 Marty Zeibarth (Q 21.3 Bill Toomey (Colorado) AAUFenteth. (1)7/8 ' 1151.8 Luiz Rodriguez (01 1961 U.S. List ' 1151.e Dick Smith (Md) TI 220 yards (atreight course) l 151.8 Howard Deardorff ! Compiled by D. H. Potts l I 51.8 Jerome Wel-t~e(at:i The following contains the names and marks of 20,9 Sam Workmen (HS-Calif) duAl (1 )4/7 1151.8 Gery ~ill 'Clcla, the 26th through 50th best performers in eac h of the 20,9 Lawrence ~-ileon (Brooke A.l,:o) (1 )4/22 l 151.8 Jon Dente~llaa standard U.S. college dual meet events. A list con - 20.9 Jeck Higgins (fuget Sound) (1)4/15 taining the first through the 25th perform ers appe ars 20,9 Jim Wood (!des.St) vs.Alabama (1)4/29 eoo meters in the Novembe r issue of TRACK & FIELD NEWS. 20.9 Art Johnson (HS-Fle) District h(1)5/5 Since several of the marks have not appea red 20.9 Don Ramos (Sen Jose) AO (Sunnyvale) (1)5/5 1150.3 Mil Dehl (UO!.A)Sl before in the U.S.