orville sets world record

Judy,

Thanks for the answers. You have stirred up so many memories. I knew everyone you mentioned. Last saw them as follows;

Whitey in 1987 at the world Championships in Rome. He passed me in the middle of a people's 12? mile race just before St Peter's square. I knoe he is gone.

Gord in Beijing on the last day of track at the 2008 Olympics as we each were about to climb those 225 steps to our seats. There was only one small elevator for the handicaped

Ron, in Helsinki in 2005 at the world Championships. He was with Gordie and Whitey's son-in-law.

Gerard in 1977 as I warmed up for the US Marathon Championships on the east coast. I was in a gym and he was smoking a cigar as he had done after each of his 4 Boston Marathon wins.

I did run and train with East York for 5 years. Bruce and I did many of our long runs together. Bruce was the best known but our best runner was Bill Crothers with an Olympic Silver Medal and a ranking of first in the world in 63 and 64. Second to Snell in 64. I left Canada for the US by way of Tokyo in the fall of 1964.

I also knew Dave Ellis, Paul Poce and others in the Toronto Olympic Club. Peter Buniak, (Jerome Drayton) came a couple of years later but I saw him run in High School when I visited Toronto.

We will have to keep in touch. You will have a lot of stories to tell. I have posted many of mine on Letsrun. See the Bruce Kidd thread started by Steve Hoag several years ago.

There are at least two errors in my last post.

I last saw Gerard Cote in 1967.

Track and Field News World ranked Bill Crothers first in 1963 and 1965, second to Peter Snill in 1964, nineth in 1966 and eighth in 1967.

By the way, Bruce Kidd was ranked second in the World by Track and Field News in the 5,000 in 1962 while still a teenager.

Yes,Orville,I recall all those others you mentioned.Whitey was a great friend with whom I corresponded and mutually visited over many years after we left Canada in 1968.

I saw Crothers beat Snell in Toronto at 800m,he was a top racer with good 400m speed.

Ellis,a pommy originally like me,he blossomed when Kidd retired.Paul Poce was a great coach and I think he was still doing it up to recent times.I asked Paul to coach me but he deferred saying that I knew enough at my age(about 32) to coach myself,think that he gave me more credit than I deserved.

I also remember the young Buniak(Drayton) one could see that he was going to be a great runner,as he turned out to be.Do you remember Andy Boychuk,who gave Ellis many a race?He was a great bloke who came to work a while in OZ.

We old buggars could go on for ever with our memories but I suppose our discourse is of little interest to others.

Stay healthy.

jim.beisty@bigpond.com

Here is the link to the WORLD MASTER INDOOR TRACK MEET results:

http://www.kamloops2010masters.com/Results/index.htm

Thank you,Ageless One.The ranks sure do thin in the older age groups.