Springbank Int'l Road Races, London, ON '74

Double Oly champ followed by three Boston winners with a world record indoor miler just for grins. Good company. Give me some info on Baldwin.

Scott, Laura Craven ran there around 78-79.

(Laura ran 35:33 at 14 years old in the U.S.)

I was there (ran the shorter one). Miruts shadowed Neil for about 11 miles. I ran back to the finish line after seeing them with about a half mile to go. Low and behold, all alone is Miruts, Neil being nowhere in sight. I wondered how he did it. At the Maple Leaf games later in the year, Miruts was entered in the two mile; then I saw how he did it with his fantastic kick - out of the world.

Lorenzo the Magnificent wrote:

Double Oly champ followed by three Boston winners with a world record indoor miler just for grins. Good company. Give me some info on Baldwin.

Imagine how much it'd cost to put together fields like this now....yikes!

Paul B ran for UKentucky in the early 70's and I believe ran in the '72 Oly Trials 5000m. He ran quite a few good races thru the 70's, then ran some good races in the late 80's. He's worked for GM in Flint forever & has an interest in a tanning place, lives in Swartz Creek. Knee aches have limited his running in recent years. Has an 8:37 2m PR!

I ran just under an hour in the long race in about '77, chasing Doug Kurtis to the line (before he found his niche as a marathoner).

There've been many, many marvelous talents run Springbank. LCraven is one of many. I'll post up other results as I find them.

Results from '72 Springbank, 3 weeks after the Oly Marathon:

Long race

1. Frank Shorter 55:46

2. Ron Hill 56:12

3. Karel Lismont 57:33

Oly Marathon

1. Shorter

2. Lismont

6. Hill

David Prokop did it Scott. I have talked to him a couple of times this summer. Unfortunately, he does not have a computer.

Orville, while doing my 'research,' found a few pieces from you in RW. One was about your Breakfast Bunch ('72 or so)which you've referred to here on Letsrun. You've outlasted many a runner, my friend!

'70 Springbank w/Ron Hill & Jerome Drayton on the RW cover:

Long race

1. Ron Hill 55:34

2. Jerome Drayton 55:49

3. Andy Boychuk 57:17

4. Mike Kimball 57:29

5. Amby Burfoot

Short(er) race

1. Frank Shorter 19:52

Bumping this back up for the weekday crowd.

Anyone out there have more results (top ten finishers) for the Springbank races that were held in the 1970s? Thanks.

Scott, I believe the U. Kentucky runner who ran 1972 Oly trials was Jim Buell. Please confirm.

I think that this came from a Springbank race:

"We run because we must, through the great wide spaces. Within each man exists a demon. Some men are able to quiet it, other men are driven by it. In being driven, they encounter loneliness, but they discover themselves and find exhilaration. They find too a peace which many men seek, but few attain. I congratulate the long distance runner for his self discipline, I share with him his loneliness, I envy him his peace." -Pierre Elliott Trudeau

Always kind of liked it.

Check the London Pacers website. They have posted most of the race programs. The program had the results of the previous year.

http://www.londonpacers.on.ca/Pages/Our_results.htm

Check here in "Long Distabce Log" Oct. issues:

http://www.rrcahistory.org/longdistancelog.html

Thanks for posting these results from Springbank. I ran there in 1975 and I recall it being one of the best events I ever raced in (it helped that we had beautiful fall weather!) Great fields for all races- mens and womens. Shorter, Rodgers, Drayton, Vitale,Ian Thompson, Cusack, Jon Anderson Geis, etc., etc. I placed 5th in the ""12" mile (actually about 11 1/2 mi.), passing Tom Hollander and Jon Anderson in the last lap. I have very fond memories of this event; it's nice to see the printed results after all these years. Steve Hoag, Minneapolis

The Springbank races were an important part of the history of running. You will see Al Salazar winning the high school race. Apparently Mirutz Yifter ran his first road race there. It had one of the early masters-only races. It is even mentioned in Once a Runner as "Springbank, Canada". Some classic battles occurred. The programs were great - the photos just excellent.

It has a page in the Road Race Statisticians site as well.

http://www.arrs.net/HP_SpringbankHM.htm

You guys are the best! Thanks so much! I'm not exaggerating when I say I've been looking for those results for 30+ years. Wonderful to see all the great names. Amby Burfoot was right there in the top ten for several years. Also surprised to see Bruce Kidd in the results, who was competing again in the early 70s, though not with the same success he had as an 18 and 19 and 20 year old--what a prodigy. Really appreciate the referrals to those links.

Great results.

Would anyone have similar results from Coaumo, Puerto Rico - San Blas Half Marathon. Looking for 1979.

Really glad people are getting to see these. Too many of the old results are sitting in boxes and trunks and they are not being shared. The London club decided it was time to dust these off and get them out there for everyone.

The ARRS group is doing a great job compiling race histories. They are always looking for input.

I ran Springbank in 1977, I think that was the year. It was just a great event, probably my favorite road race of all time. It seemed a great model for the future of road racing with multiple events in a pleasant, spectator-friendly setting. Always planned to go back but couldn't make it work for the next few years and then the event was gone.