VeryRed wrote:
Actually, Tartan was used at Franklin Field in 1967. I ran the Spiked Shoe Invitation there. Huge difference compared to anything else I would run that year.
Ah, yes, GrassTex. Totally unforgiving surface. We just put a very short, very sharp spike into the Tokyo’s or Meteors when we encountered it, which was not frequent.
As a point of reference, the last NCAA outdoor championships on clay was 1968 at UC-Berkeley. The last AAU Championships on clay was 1970 in Bakersville, Ca.
I definitely think adidas Tokyo's would have worked better on cinders/clay. And the same applies to the grass tracks of NZ & Aus. Grass Tex tracks were around in some places for a long time that could not afford to replace them with Tartan. Grass Tex came out in mid sixties. Remember 1965 AAU in San Diego? I think that same track was still around when George Young ran his 8:22 2 mile there in 1968. Have run my share on Grasstex - on a warm day, Grasstex was quite lovely to run on. On a cold day = bloody murder.
Believe Jim Ryun's 1966 half mile WR was on Terre Haute, IN grasstex track...........on a warm spring day.
If I was running a 5,000 or a 10,000 on the track (even a tartan track) I think I would chose adidas Titan over adidas Tokyo. Dave Bedford ran 1971 Helsinki Euro champs in Titans.
Preceeding the 1972 Munich Olympics, adidas began to produce track spikes for middle/long that more replicated a road racing flat.
Focus on Rod Dixon Munich shoe here:
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/kip-keino-of-kenya-leading-brendan-foster-of-great-britain-news-photo/498450730?adppopup=true