Who are some names of least known great distance runners?

My bad.... I have been on these boards off and on for a few years and I rarely see either name mentioned, just figured I would mention a couple of my favorite runners....

Suomi wrote:

Quite a few of the people mentioned here are not that obscure at all. But I have to go with the guy who menionted Pekka Vasala. He was an Olympic gold medalist, and no one knows he is, or could even ID his photo.

I had a beautiful poster of Vasala and Keino on the same point in the stride, forward knees high, back legs nearly straight, like they were taking off on a long jump. Must have been winding up for the final sprint. I bet some of you oldtimers remeber this photo.

Ray

It's in the old RW Complete Book of Running too. Smallish. It's a fantastic picture, but I can't find a reasonable rendition on-line.

history student wrote:

Overlooked by runners.

Who was/is buddy edelon? What did he do?

I hadn't heard of Edelen until recently either. He's got a great biography, A cold, clear day or something like that.

He won the 1964 olympic marathon trials by 20 frickin minutes.

Rob Denmark

800 1:48.84 1990

1500 3:37.99 1995

1M 3:55.38 1990

2k 5:04.11 1996

3k 7:39.55 1993

2M 8:21.97 1991

5k 13:10.24 1992

5KR 13:30 1996

5MR 22:41 1995

10k 28:03.31 2000

10kR 28:36 1992

10MR 46:50+ 1994

10MR 49:10 1999

HMar 62:37 1994

Commonwealth Games 5000m Gold 1994

European Champs 5000m Silver 1994

World Indoor Champs 3000m Bronze 1991

Pekka Vasala is very easy to pick out. He had that Van Dyke beard and ran on his toes, sort of like Rick Wohlhuter used to do.

Rick Wohlhuter is the most underrated American middle-distance runner from the 1970s. He is in the same league with Shorter, Prefontaine, Rodgers, and Liquori.

Does anyone remember Tom Spangler of Harvard? He was a stellar indoor miler. Some other largely forgotten mile greats are Len Hilton and Steve Lacy. They both ran the mile in 3:55.

Another undeservedly obscure miler is Tony Waldrop. In 1974, he set the world indoor record for the mile. He broke Tom O\'Hara\'s decade-long record of 3:56.4.

And what about the Russian 800-meter champion Yevgeniy Arzhanov? He was unbeaten for about three years and was heavily favored to win the gold at Munich. But he was nipped at the tape by Dave Wottle, who is another underappreciated 800-meter man from the 1970s. (The real thorn in Arzhanov\'s side was Dieter Fromm of East Germany, who often pushed Arzhanov to the limit.)

And how about Australian 800-meter man Graham Rootham? He ran 1:45 in 1970, but no one ever talks about him anymore.

And then there was that trio of great 800-meter guys from South Africa named Danie Malan, Dickie Broberg, and Fannie Van Zijl. They set the track on fire in the early 1970s. Unfortunately for them, South Africans were barred from the Olympics.

Lorenzo the Mafnificent wrote:

It's in the old RW Complete Book of Running too. Smallish. It's a fantastic picture, but I can't find a reasonable rendition on-line.

Here's a similar photo from the other side. MIne was from the infield, in color.

Pekka Vasala later said he regretted not running the 800 meters in Munich. He likely would have gotten two gold medals. I doubt Wottle would have overtaken him. And Arzhanov was obviously having an off day in the final. I think Wottle was the luckiest guy on the track at Munich.

(By the way, I forgot to mention that Tony Waldrop's world indoor mile record in 1974 was 3:55.0.)

Peter Welsh.

Ran 8:29.6 to win the 1966 Commonwealth Games steeplechase at a time when the world record was "only" 8:26. If my memory is OK, and this was 9 years before my birth, Welsh's time was 2nd fastest ever. The world record holder at the time has not been mentioned on this thread if I wasn't reading too quickly. He's probably another good one, though I'll leave that for someone else to contribute. Another Belgian, from the days when Belgium was more of a force in the sport.

In the process Welsh beat Kerry O'Brien (Australia) who later held the world record (8:22 in 1970) and Kogo who got the Mexico silver.

Welsh was a medical student at the time, and although he represented NZ in Mexico City never did anything that approached his Commonwealth gold medal.

Excellent post. Peter Welsh. And you're right that Gaston Roelants is another underappreciated great runner.

let me add jon anderson of eugene, oregon

educated at cornell university

1972 olympian in the 10,000

1973 boston marathon winner

ran seriously through 1983/1984

one of the sport's great people

Men's 3000m. Steeplechase Final. Olympic Games 1976

1. Anders GARDERUDWHO???(SWE) 8:08.2 WR

2. Bronislaw MALINOWSKI POL) 8:09.2

3. Frank BAUMGARTL (GDR) 8:10.4

4. Tapio KANTANEN (FIN) 8:12.6

5. Michael KARST (GER) 8:20.1

6. Euan ROBERTSON (NZL) 8:21.1

7. Dan GLANS (SWE) 8:21.5

8. Antonio CAMPOS (SPA) 8:22.7

Roelants: Tokyo Olympics 3000SC gold medal, world record SC, world record 20,000m/1-hour run, winner of Mexico City Pre Olympics marathon. Didn't he win World Cross Country Champs as well? Love this thread!

May not be classified as "great" but how about Tom Byer, the guy who stopped Steve Ovett's winning streak? He was so talented that he really could have been great. US had so many great middle distance and distance runners in the 70s and 80s.

I have a sequential running form picture of Wohlhuter. He was so small (compared to other big guys like Walker and Van Dam) yet so upright and bouncy... He and Lopes was my model form when I was in high school. I also remember there was this long-haired guy with knee high socks who beat Wohlhuter in the US champs in 800 in, I believe, 75. He was a big strong guy that I thought could be great.

Does anyone recall that Prefontaine beat Anders Garderud at the Bislett Games in 1972? He won the 3000 meters in &:44.2.

Was that Prefontaine's greatest international victory?

I think Prefontaine's greatest international performance was in July 18, 1974, at the "July Games" in Stockholm.

He ran the two mile in 8:18.29, finishing third behind Dixon and Puttemans.

8:14.32 Rod Dixon NZL 1 Stockholm

8:16.55 Emiel Puttemans BEL 2 Stockholm

8:18.29 Steve Prefontaine USA 3 Stockholm

There's a great photo of that race in "Kiwis Can Fly".

I just receieved a Japanese running magazine. I'm surprised to find out that so many Japanese middle distance and distance men (and women) are now running in Europe. The late Kiyoshi Nakamura used to take his runners to Europe and they did really well. I remember at one point Kennedy was pretty much the only American distance man who went to Europe and he did really well. Of course, now we see Webb and Jen Rines running in Europe and I think it's very good. At least, for one, Europeans appreciate T&F much better!

There was this Italian guy, silver medalist at 88 Olympics but perhaps very little known in the US, Antibo; not the smoothest looking guy (shoulders carried a bit high and tight) but one year at European Champs (87, I believe) he won 5 and 10k. I think he fell at the start of 10 and was some 30 yards behind everybody at the first lap but sprinted to catch the leaders quickly and then established the lead early and never been challenged. Then in 5, at about 200 to go, he was trying to pass other runners (English man) and almost tripped and fell--you can see him losing balance--yet bullied through and won it. That double was one of the most exciting 5-10 double I've ever witnessed. Great runner he was.

I don't think Barry Magee gets the consideration he earned.

Bronze Medal in Rome Olympics, part of the 4x1 mile world record relay team, Fukuoka Winner in '60 and at various times either world record holder or close at several distances.

Yeah, I was always impressed with Antibo, and I mentioned him earlier in this thread. You're right about his flowing stride. I remember watching him one year in the World Cross Country Championships. It was just he and Ngugi and a bunch of other Kenyans. He was the smoothest of them all. I think that was in 1988. The guy never won a big championship. But he could run with anybody in the world. He had a relatively long career, too, finishing 7th at the world cross as early as 1981.

Mr. Magee: the first man to break 2:20 in Japanese soil.