Luke Mathews. Aussie legend and friendly bloke, sad we never got to see the best out of him (imo). Good to see him back enjoying the sport lately though, even just as humble hobbyjogger like the rest of us.
The streets will never forget that vicious move in the ncaa mile. No one could touch Ches in the ncaa, then along comes this unknown mid-major kid with an altitude conversion and sonic the hedgehog socks. It's like he was Louden Swain in Vision Quest or something. Cheserek won the race, but Soratos won our hearts.
I’ll say college Jenny Barringer. Obviously her pro career doesn’t belong on this list as she got as many accolades as one could get, but recently on a jane hedengren thread there was discussion about the greatest ncaa women of all time and no one was mentioning Barringer (Simpson) bc she only has 4 titles. But ‘09 Jenny Barringer? The streets will never forget
With a decent parkrun win count and therefore well known on the local "streets" but with very little in the way of credentials beyond that, it's got to be ... me!
People forget this was around the last time mid major and small schools were producing athletes who were the caliber of Soratos, Clayton Murphy, and Eric Jenkins. The streets will never forget Eric Jenkins.
So if you're a football (or soccer) fan like me, you know the term "streets won't forget" refers to those cultish figures who had moments of brilliance but not the kind that will be remembered in the record books or trophy cabinets. But the streets won't forget them! Guys like Adel Taarabt at QPR, Hatem Ben Arfa at Newcastle, etc. I was wondering, who are runners who have this kind of career? Some that came to mind were: 2010 Andrew Wheating, 2010 Chris Solinsky, Matt Tegenkamp (could be a few years but probably 2007), Lopez Lomong (multiple years and arguably too good to be on this list), XC Chris Derrick. Anybody else you can think of?
Mad Len..
Ciarán O'Lionard.. European Bronze medalist over the 3000m. Blazed a fire in the sky got injured and became a house DJ