Did Prefontaine ever win a race internationally?

And people have the right to choose whom they will admire and to what degree.

Dave Bedford was one of my favorite runners. This "wannabe" guy is making me extremely ill. Let's all move on, shall we?

My idolatry? Where?

I don't think he was responding to you personally, since he was making a point about Pre's reputation about always giving his all whether in a workout, a race, or whatever.

I haven't read any of the Prefontaine books, but I wonder if any of them talk about Pre's performance in this low-key race? I doubt it, since it wouldn't fit the legend.

davebedfordwannabe wrote:

I haven't read any of the Prefontaine books, but I wonder if any of them talk about Pre's performance in this low-key race? I doubt it, since it wouldn't fit the legend.

What's wrong with you? What difference does a low key workout matter to you? It doesn't matter to anyone else. It matters to 2 people on entire god forsaken planet, YOU and GARY TUTTLE. That's it.

You're probably right. I made the same "mistake" on the other thread, which is pretty easy to confuse with this one. I always hit the reply for whatever post I'm answering and thought everyone did that too. Evidently not.

By the way, I met Bedford last fall in New York. He's a really decent guy who happily pointed me toward the free bar in exchange for having me bring him a beer from it.

And while I really have to get off this board and do other stuff, it might be worth mentioning that the word I've gotten from people who knew him was that track was never his first love. He always, I was told, considered himself a cross country runner and that may have had something to do with the difficulties he had in some track races.

Then why do you keep posting on this thread?

Enough. wrote:

Dave Bedford was one of my favorite runners. This "wannabe" guy is making me extremely ill.

One of mine too. This jerk (bedfordwannabe)is ruining it for everyone.

Who knows? Bedford might be drinking a couple of beers right now and laughing his head off.

davebedfordwannabe wrote:

Then why do you keep posting on this thread?

Because the title of the thread isn't titled "Also-rans who won a single low-key workout," is it? No, it's titled "Did Prefontaine ever win a race internationally?"

The answer to that question is "YES: 14 wins, 10 2nds, 4 3rds, 1 4th, and 1 11th" That 11th place was a 3:38 1500, run the day after he set the AR in the 5000!

International 7/26/70 Moscow 1500 Meters 3:44.9 1st

Vs. Africa 7/16/71 Durham 5000 Meters 13:57.6 1st

Pan Am Games 8/2/71 Cali 5000 Meters 13:52.6 1st

Bislett Games 8/2/72 Oslo 1500 Meters 3:39.4 2nd

Bislett Games 8/3/72 Oslo 3000 Meters 7:44.2(AR) 1st

Pre-Olympic 8/24/72 Munich 2 Mile 8:19.4(AR) 1st

Olympic Prelim Heat 9/7/72 Munich 5000 Meters 13:32.6 2nd

Olympic Finals 9/10/72 Munich 5000 Meters 13:28.3 4th

Zauli Memorial 9/13/72 Rome 5000 Meters 13:26.4 2nd

Coca-Cola 9/15/72 London 2 Mile 8:24.8 2nd

International 6/23/73 Helsinki 1500 Meters 3:43.1 3rd

World Games 6/27/73 Helsinki 5000 Meters 13:22.4(AR) 2nd

World Games 6/28/73 Helsinki 1500 Meters 3:38.1 11th

International 7/1/73 Kajaani 1500 Meters 3:46.5 2nd

International 7/2/73 Joensuu 1500 Meters 3:48.2 3rd

International 7/4/73 Oulu 5000 Meters 13:40.6 1st

Vs. W. Germany, Sweden 7/12/73 Munich 5000 Meters 13:23.8 2nd

International 7/15/73 Louvain 5000 Meters 13:35.2 2nd

International 6/18/74 Tampere 3000 Meters 7:55.8 1st

International 6/20/74 Kauhava 3000 Meters 8:00.4 1st

International 6/22/74 Saarijarvi 3000 Meters 8:07.4 1st

World Games 6/26/74 Helsinki 5000 Meters 13:21.9(AR) 2nd

International 7/2/74 Milan 3000 Meters 7:42.6(AR) 2nd

International 7/9/74 Varkaus 3000 Meters 7:57.4 1st

International 7/14/74 Joutseno 5000 Meters 13:55.6 1st

July Games 7/18/74 Stockholm 2 Mile 8:18.4(AR) 3rd

International 9/10/74 Helsinki 5000 Meters 13:27.4 3rd

Finnish Tour 5/4/75 Madras 3000 Meters 8:26.4 1st

Finnish Tour 5/9/75 Coos Bay 2000 Meters 5:01.4(AR) 1st

Finnish Tour 5/15/75 Burnaby 5000 Meters 13:46.8 1st

How did Gary Tuttle and Dave Bedford do in those races? To be fair to Tuttle he skipped the Olympics to prepare for the Dallas 6 mile time trial. I heard that he won it, and still brags about it to this day. He should be proud.

Bedford shows up in the results only once:

Men - 5000 Metres - Final - 10 Sep 72

1 Lasse Viren FIN 13:26.42

2 Mohamed Gammoudi TUN 13:27.33

3 Ian Stewart 13:27.61

4 Steve Prefontaine USA 13.28.4

5 Emiel Puttemans BEL 13.30.8

6 Harald Norpoth FRG 13.32.6

7 Per Halle NOR 13.34.4

8 Nikolay Sviridov URS 13.39.4

11 Ian McCafferty 13:43.20

12 Dave Bedford 13:43.22

Perhaps had he been training with Tuttle, Bedford could have done something?

So you're saying that Prefontaine was as good as anyone in his era, even though he never won a race against major international competition?

As already pointed out, the PRs that he set in Europe were in races in which he finished second or worse. To me, this belies the myth that he was as good as any of his competitors. I keep making this point over and over on this thread, but somehow it's not sinking in.

davebedfordwannabe wrote:

I keep making this point over and over on this thread, but somehow it's not sinking in.

Don Quixote had the same problem.

That's right, Don Quixote believed in myths. You obviously believe in the myth about Prefontaine.

davebedfordwannabe wrote:

That's right, Don Quixote believed in myths. You obviously believe in the myth about Prefontaine.

Better than believing in the myth of Bedford and Tuttle any day.

davebedfordwannabe wrote:

As already pointed out, the PRs that he set in Europe were in races in which he finished second or worse. To me, this belies the myth that he was as good as any of his competitors.

Bislett Games 8/3/72 Oslo 3000 Meters 7:44.2(AR) 1st

Pre-Olympic 8/24/72 Munich 2 Mile 8:19.4(AR) 1st

World Games 6/27/73 Helsinki 5000 Meters 13:22.4(AR) 2nd

World Games 6/26/74 Helsinki 5000 Meters 13:21.9(AR) 2nd

International 7/2/74 Milan 3000 Meters 7:42.6(AR) 2nd

July Games 7/18/74 Stockholm 2 Mile 8:18.4(AR) 3rd

Finnish Tour 5/9/75 Coos Bay 2000 Meters 5:01.4(AR) 1st

Uhh, dude. 7 PRs. Won 3 times, second 3 times, 3rd once.

30 races. Finished 2nd or better 24 times (80%), 3rd or better 28 times (93%). There is no myth, Pre was just as good as anyone eh competed against.

I have continuously proved you wrong and mysteriously you never respond. YOU ARE A STRAIGHT UP PUSSY. And yes I am attacking you personally because you know I have proved you wrong but by you not admitting up to it on the board you think it will just go away.

I listed many international races that pre won which answer the posts subject of "Did Prefontaine ever win a race internationally?"

I also told you that pre was always more than willing to pace other guys in races (and thus lose them) to help them try to get a record and I know he did this for a miler at some point.

milefan wrote:

I also told you that pre was always more than willing to pace other guys in races (and thus lose them) to help them try to get a record and I know he did this for a miler at some point.

He did this for Dave Waddle. Dave just missed the WR. I think he set an AR though.

THANK YOU TIMMY....

I knew it was close and it was a miler

Seriously, everyone chill out. You're all getting angry about something that happened thirty years ago.

Dave- you're not going to win any of these people over. For whatever reason, they don't like you and Pre is their god.

Urban Legend- your comebacks and slams are juvenile and add nothing to the dicussion. If Dave is so annoying and worthless, stop letting him bother you.

Everyone else: Whether you love Pre, hate him, or lie somewhere in the middle, it only undermines your own credibility to call other people pussies or morons or trolls beyond a veil of internet privacy.

The question at hand is "Did Pre win any big International Races?" He did win in Europe, as several people have pointed out. Did he ever acheive anything on the scale of, say, Frank Shorter's 4 consecutive marathon victories in the Fukuoka (that is horrendously misspelled) Marathon in Japan? I don't think he did. I noticed that with at least several of Pre's wins in Europe, the time wasn't so spectacular. I'm thinking these are the smaller meets with crappy fields that Pre likely ran for some cash. Reference his 3:44 1500. However, it seems that in many of his "less-impressive" placings, he was setting AR's or PB's.

So yes, Pre won in Europe. No, he wasn't the best of his era. People on both sides of the argument need to deal with that. We should all also keep in mind that calling someone a pussy doens't exactly endear that person to our point of view.

Craig