Ian Thompson - 3.51, 14.05, 29.33, 2:09.12, Flashback

Ghost1 · 2020-08-02T08:52:56-04:00

Born in the Merseyside town of Birkenhead, Ian Thompson was regarded as just an ordinary club athlete and ranked 90th in Britain's 5,000 metres list at the time,[1] but suddenly broke through to world class as a marathon runner when asked to make up the numbers for his club, Luton United, in the Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA) marathon championship on 27 October 1973. It was his first race of over 10 miles, but he won in 2:12:40, at the time, the fastest ever debut at the distance and qualified him for the Commonwealth Games three months later Commonwealth gold Thompson travelled to Christchurch for the 1974 British Commonwealth Games with little expectation that he would be able to reproduce the performance that got him there. This was not the case however and he won with a margin of over 2 minutes in a time of 2:09:12, the fastest ever run in a championship race, a British record and only 39 seconds off the then world record of 2:08:34.[nb 1] This is currently (27 December 2006) the ninth fastest time by a British Athlete (sixth fastest individual) and still a Commonwealth Games record.[4] European gold In the early autumn of 1974, Thompson competed at the European Championships in Rome, again he proved to be the class act of the field. He stayed with the leading group until the 20 kilometre mark and then steadily opening up a gap on the rest of the field[5] that stood at 98 seconds when he won in a time of 2:13:18.8. Thompson's achievements were recognised in the 1974 SJA Annual Sports awards, where he was runner up to John Conteh in the Sportsmen of the Year category.[6] Olympics In 1976, he suffered cramps and finished only seventh in the trials for the Olympics, for which he was not selected. Although for many years among Britain's best, he never regained his 1974 eminence and contested only one more major championship. He won the AAA title in 1980 to gain selection for the Moscow Olympics but dropped out at the Games. His best times each year between 1977 and 1982 were in the 2:12 to 2:15 range. Personal life His wife Margaret was an early pioneer of marathon running for women in Britain and ran a British best time of 3:07:47 in Korso, Finland on 26 October 1975 and for a few months they held both the men and women's British marathon records, until Margaret's time was beaten by Christine Readdy (Kilkenny) in Feltham on 4 April 1976. Margaret (nee Tunstall) trained at Bedford College of Physical Education. At the time of his victory at the Commonwealth Games Thompson was studying for a PGCE at Trinity and All Saints College (TASC).[7] Thompson was famously quoted at his 1974 peak as saying "I prefer to remain in blissful ignorance of the opposition. That way I'm not frightened by anyone's reputation".[8] Personal Bests Event Time Date Location Marathon 2:09:12 31 January 1974 Christchurch 25,000 m 1:17:36.4 15 May 1975 Oulu 15,000 m 44:56.0 15 May 1975 Oulu 10,000 m 29:33.0 1979 5,000 m 14:05.4 19 June 1971 Cardiff 1,500 m 3:51.0 1969 One hour 19.831 km 15 May 1975 Oulu

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5 years ago 08/03/2020 10:22pm EDT

re: Mopac

Pretty sure Garry Henry was on the dole during that 79/80 period.

His training log is an insane read. Often 3 a day , lots of 1 k reps. High volume, high quality.

I think Chettle was on the dole during his buildup to his 2.10.20 2d place at Fukuoka. He was doing 250 plus kms of high quality running inthe leadup.

5 years ago 08/03/2020 10:32pm EDT

re: Mopac

I would love to see what Haywood did for training. He truly was amazing. Maybe our covid stimulus package will let guys get to 200-250 km weeks and be really fit but with nowhere to race.

5 years ago 08/04/2020 9:37am EDT

re: Ghost1

quote]ex-runner wrote:

Take any other world-class athlete in the marathon and I believe it would be very difficult or impossible to find an athlete whose best time is three minutes better than his second best time over a career of marathoning. We have to look at this thing objectively and not from an emotional point of you. His 2:09.12 marathon was three minutes better than his next best time over a career of marathons and this means it was a kilometer better in running terms. That is huge.[/quote]

Mike Gratton and Tony Milosorov spring to mind. Certainly in the days before highly controlled races with pacemakers there one offs were far more likely to occur.

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