Ian Thompson's training in 1974

Thanks Mopak.

I asked Kiwi Kim Stephenson if he thought that Christchurch

was as fast as Berlin. Kim said the road surfaces are not

as good as US and German roads and that Christchurch is often quite cold during that marathon.

It sounds like a pretty good course that on a good weather

day could be pretty fast. The '74 Commonwealth Marathon probably was a good weather day.

Foster had a string of good times that do not make 2:11 seem odd at all.

Thompson won his first 4 marathons in his first year as a marathoner. He ran 2.12 on debut then blitzed them in the CG. He then won the Athens Marathon a few months later I think in 2.13 in tough conditions. He then won the Euro in Rome by a good margin. He never seemed to get back to that form again. Maybe 4 brilliant runs in one year took their toll. He did run a close 2d to Jerome Drayton at Fukuoka (76) in 2.12. Drayton won Fukuoka the previous year in 2.10.

The Auckland short course debacle may well have been a 2.11 if he held his pace for the missing couple of kms.

dasfafsdaasfsadfdsasd@hasd.com wrote: As far as Jack, whenever a 41 year old guy cuts a min off his PR after running seriously for years, I am a bit suspicious:)

were you suspicious when the same guy finished 8th in the Olympic marathon less than 2 years prior?

Apologies Robert. When you asked me about the marathon course in Christchurch I thought you meant the current one. Not the '74 one. The '74 Comm Games were held in Late Jan that year. Nice and warm in Christchurch then. The current Christchurch marathon only does sections of the 'old' course. But the whole thing was flat. Road surface on much of the old one was very good.

He was only 39 then:) Marathons are tricky. No one runs a lot of them (few people run more than 20 in a career when they are in peak shape), weather and course play a huge role, and then having competition make it likely that most people don't get as close to their potential as they do in something like a 5k on the track.

The Ghost of Harry Murphy wrote:

dasfafsdaasfsadfdsasd@hasd.com wrote: As far as Jack, whenever a 41 year old guy cuts a min off his PR after running seriously for years, I am a bit suspicious:)

were you suspicious when the same guy finished 8th in the Olympic marathon less than 2 years prior?

dasfafsdaasfsadfdsasd@hasd.com wrote:

He was only 39 then:) Marathons are tricky. No one runs a lot of them (few people run more than 20 in a career when they are in peak shape), weather and course play a huge role, and then having competition make it likely that most people don't get as close to their potential as they do in something like a 5k on the track.

So your basically talking out of your ass, are unfamiliar with the facts but you figure you'll offer an opinion anyway.

We got you.

As I said I have no clue if the course was short. It is a reasonable question though.As far the age, I guess you don't have much of a sense of humor. As you get older, you get slower. 2 years can be a lot.

The Ghost of Harry Murphy wrote:

dasfafsdaasfsadfdsasd@hasd.com wrote:

He was only 39 then:) Marathons are tricky. No one runs a lot of them (few people run more than 20 in a career when they are in peak shape), weather and course play a huge role, and then having competition make it likely that most people don't get as close to their potential as they do in something like a 5k on the track.

So your basically talking out of your ass, are unfamiliar with the facts but you figure you'll offer an opinion anyway.

We got you.

I knew Jack Foster, I ran with Jack Foster You have no idea about Jack Foster.

Dig deeper into the History and find out a little about him. One small RW Booklet (Interesting story behind that as well !!) is only but a small insight.

Your suspicions have no ground at all !!

Why is it a reasonable question?

Jack was still running well enough 3 years later in 1977 to finish 33d in the World XC just ahead of Rob DeCastella.

Kim Stevenson wrote:

Apologies Robert. When you asked me about the marathon course in Christchurch I thought you meant the current one. Not the '74 one. The '74 Comm Games were held in Late Jan that year. Nice and warm in Christchurch then. The current Christchurch marathon only does sections of the 'old' course. But the whole thing was flat. Road surface on much of the old one was very good.

1:43.9

3:32.2

8:20.8

13.14.2

27:46.4

Think these times indicate the weather at 1974 BCG was quite spectacular.

Also, highly doubt NZAAA would allow the marathon course for a major international championship to be short.

No doubt measured & re-measured.

Totally agree old fossill.In fact watching the games on TV in Britain (and weather conditions) is what bought my wife out here to NZ.

NZ has just celebrated 50 years of TV and I would hazzard a guess that the most played piece of action would be Dick Tayler winning that 10k.

dasfafsdaasfsadfdsasd@hasd.com wrote:

As I said I have no clue if the course was short. It is a reasonable question though.

As far the age, I guess you don't have much of a sense of humor. As you get older, you get slower. 2 years can be a lot.

You should have stopped at "As I said I have no clue" because you clearly have done no research on Jack Foster.

1974 AW interview by Dave Cocksedge

Height: 5'6

Weight 126lb.

Pulse at rest: 55

Club: Luton United AC

Uncoached, single, student (Post Grad course in Spanish at Trinity College Leeds)

Best marks: 1:58.8 800, 3:51.0 1500, 14:05.6 5000, 2:09:12 Commonwealth Games Marathon champion

My mileage will reach 140 a week for a few weeks as a peak and about a month beforehand, I'll ease down. I'm planning a lot of track sessions — I'm doing three a week at present — plenty of hill runs and some good, long 30 mile runs. I want to make 140 miles a week as interesting and as varied as I can.

Sundays I do a long run — about 28 to 30 miles. Every lunch hour from Monday I do a 6. On a Monday I run another 6 in the evening after the lunch hour run; Tuesday I run the 6 and do a track session in the evening; Wednesdays I have two easy road runs, then Thursday another track session after the 6 and on in the evening. Saturdays I either race or do another fairly long run. I like to get the long run in, and then fit the rest of my essions around that.

I live very much from day to day with my running, so I've hardly ever bothered to think that far ahead to Montreal. I always enjoy my training, it's never been a chore to me. I'm quite used to high mileage now as I've been averaging 140 a week at times since I was 21.

Don't assume that I'm running 140 a week all the time though, mostly I suppose I average 90, but occasionally I bump it up to 140. When I tried to average that figure week in week out I found I couldn't cope with it — my body didn't have time to recover.

I simply love running for the sheer hell of it. I've been running for ten years, since I was fourteen, at club level, without a great deal deal of success to spur me on. When I'm out on my own, feeling fit and the running is coming easy, I'm just flowing along the roads on a bright sunny day and it's just good to be alive and well, enjoying the sensation.

At the moment I have the freedom to train all I want, though my studies have inevitably suffered as you can imagine. The successful amateurs are people who have been able to fit their job in with their training, with the athletics having first consideration.

Training runs can be tough mentally, though, I can think of my long run this last week: it was a murderous thing. I felt tied and heavy, I wasn't flowing as well as I'd like to, and time was dragging by. I kept thinking of the work I should have been doing at home; and anything and everything really, just to fill up the time until I could finish.

Train! Do a lot of training for a marathon. That will give you confidence as well as prepare you physically. Long runs regularly which will give you the relaxed rhythm you need.

(What else in life excites you, besides racing?)

Hard to say, really. Not a great deal.

Much appreciated south dakota

good info - thanks