When Rod Dixon wore that Darth Vader videocam

Yeah, it was a horrible idea. What were they thinking? Does a camera mounted on a runner's head really give better coverage than a camera on a motorized vehicle?

Are there pics of this?

I doubt whether there are photos. But who knows? I did see it on television at the time. Dixon was wearing black clothes. I guess he wanted to remind everyone of his kiwi uniform and look like a bad ass at the same time. If Dixon will stalk the leader of the NYC Marathon for network television with a Darth Vader contraption attached to his head, is there anything he won't do for a buck?

there you go!!!

http://www.juanjosemartinez.com.mx/dixon_cam.html

juamarti, you are the man! That was a classic moment in running history.

Nice!!

Was he jumping in and out of a chase vehicle or did he run a portion of the race and drop out. I assume he didn't run the whole thing in that crazy getup.

He was in and out for some race segments, actually he really scared Saleh in the final stages (before to get caught by Pizzolato) because Saleh thought would be someone else...

Yeah! You are the man! Nice photo. So the stalkee was Ibrahim Hussein. Not Ahmed Salah. I stand corrected! LOL!

You're right, in the early stages Hussein and Barie were leading, but in the late stages he was actually running behind Saleh

Yeah it was a total joke. Worse than Bill Rodgers's efforts of TV commentary.

But they took a a wild chance of making 2 hours of people doing nothing but running look a little more interesting.

Who was the female marathoner that Dixon was accused of pacing during a major marathon? Might have been at L.A. Kind of stupid since every woman get's paced by every other 2:20 marathoner, but I remember some flack about that.

slaps wrote:

Who was the female marathoner that Dixon was accused of pacing during a major marathon? Might have been at L.A. Kind of stupid since every woman get's paced by every other 2:20 marathoner, but I remember some flack about that.

Perhaps you're thinking of another marathoner from New Zealand, Kevin Ryan, who ran next to Joan Benoit during her 2:22+ performance at the 1983 Boston Marathon. Apparently, Ryan was simply running next to Benoit to report on the women's race for a local television station. Benoit expressed annoyance that he was hanging around her the whole race. I'm very much against pacing arrangements, but that case appeared to be a bad rap against Benoit.

Nancy Ditz

It is probably rather annoying for a woman to be running a

WR while a 'reporter' can run next to her.

Living in the Past wrote:

So the stalkee was Ibrahim Hussein. Not Ahmed Salah. I stand corrected! LOL!

Think you were right the first time. It was Saleh who had the 'scared-stiff' look on his face when Dixon joined in behind him, I think, along Central Park South. The picture with Ibrahim must have been at a point earlier in the race. If I remember right, Ibrahim won in '86...maybe sixth or seventh in '85. I was with him the morning before the race in '86 and asked him "So, are you gonna win this thing?" "Definitely" he said, completely non-chalant. /Drew

DREW, from what I remember of it, Salah did the classic double-take. NYRRC supposedly informed all the elites that this was going to take place, but maybe they didn't inform Salah in French or Italian...which country colonized Djoubuti (sp)?

On the women's pacing topic. Many men have paced/sheltered women in marathons, starting with Waitz's husband Jack, also WEJO, and many more. I much prefer what NY marathon does now where they send off the elite women early. Sure does level the playing field and forces women to race each other.

My 2 cents, for what it is worth.