Henry Rono should have won four NCAA cross country championships

Rono finished the race in 34:10.1, 237th place. In his book, he wrote that that he was proud of the fact that he never dropped out of a race.

Thank you for the correction.

No lead cart I suppose.

What I don't get is was he way ahead of everyone when he ran off course?

Anyone there? I'd like to see a written recap saying that's why he loss as I've seen other threads saying he had raced too much and was too cold. Which was it?

The course was not blanketed with snow. There was snow on the course but it wouldn't have hidden any turns. Everything I've ever read on the race is that Rono was never "in it" and just jogged it in.

Video of the race would seem to confirm this.

Gusy

that's why he loss

Reasons:

1) Henry was the only runner to run on snow that day.

2) Pulliam Washington never has snow.

3) He decided to make snow angels, something he had only seen on American TV before.

4) He wanted to secure his place in history for being the only runner to make both All-America (top 25) and Anti-America (bottom 25) teams.

5) All of the above.

I was not at the race, which was on November 20. But I was a student at the University of Wisconsin at that time and read about the race in the Madison newspaper. Presumably the journalist was there and even talked to Rono. The article said that Rono went off course after building a substantial lead over Alberto Salazar. It didn't say how large the lead was or where Henry went off course.

I talked to Rono about it briefly in Austin, Texas, in 1991 when he was in town for a road race. It was at the pre-race dinner. I said something to the effect that, "Didn't you take a wrong turn at that cross country race in Madison?" He smiled and said he did not see the turn. I didn't pursue it because I figured it was a sensitive topic. But in hindsight, I wish I had.

I was at the race that day. I had just run D3 regionals two days before and drove to Madison that weekend to visit a friend on the Wisconsin team and to watch NCAAs. It was 20 degrees with a stiff-steady wind from the northwest. There was only about a half inch of snow, and the ground was green as much as white. I think there was a lead cart (see video). Everyone thought Rono would win the individual title and that Oregon would take the team. Rudy Chapa was the bigger star at the time, not Salazar. UTEP was hardly on the map.

We saw Rono early on and then he disappeared into the pack by mile 2, and he was just jogging by the end.

The video is pretty grainy, looks like 1940s-50s but in color. There were a lot of good runners in the race. You can see Thom Hunt pushing the pace, Salazar and Chapa, Nyambui, Musyoki, Marc Hunter, Steve Lacy, Jim Spivey, et al.

In fairness... Henry turned 24 six months before he started at WSU. Sure he was all-world, but there's a "man against boys" factor that can't be ignored here.

This is exactly how I recall anything I've read on the event.

But was he jogging at the end because he ran off course, lost a ton of time and realized he couldn't win.

Or did him going off course not impact him much?

I want to know The following two things

1) ) How big was his lead in seconds when he went off course.

2) How much time in seconds do you think he lost for going off course?

3) At what mile point in the race did it happen.

4) What did his fellow competitors do when he ran off course? I would hope they would yell at him and try to get him to make the right turn. I'm having a hard time understanding how someone could be so far ahead that earlt that no one behind them wouldn't be able to help them.

UTEP was hardly on the map? Everybody funny. Now you funny too.

This SI article has some details about the race:

https://vault.si.com/vault/1978/12/04/big-week-for-the-old-runaround-in-back-to-back-collegiate-and-aau-cross-country-championships-the-entrants-were-confronted-by-a-variety-of-challenges-from-finding-a-way-to-keep-from-freezing-to-just-plain-finding-the-right-way-t

According to the article, 13 runners, including Rono, went off the course but only lost a few seconds.

My buddies dad finished in the bottom 15 in that 1978 race and always gives a good story about the time he beat Hebry Rono.

Correct. So the OP creates a narrative that very likely never existed and leave it Rojo to come up with "we need proof" in some format.

Incredible.

Henry was cold. That's it.

Being an old man and a Madison native, I was there that day. While there was some snow on the course, it was not "blanketed with snow". There were race officials at all key turns directing the leaders. Rono simply quit early that day and jogged it in - whether because he didn't have it or simply didn't want to run in the cold.

He was never really in it

From T&F News, December 1978, p34:

Out front early, he [Rono], along with Salazar and a couple of others, briefly detoured off the course near the 2M mark.

"It was just so cold and his ankle was so sore, he said, 'The hell with it.'" Chaplin [the WSU coach] is explaining that Rono had stepped in a hole as he took his short detour at 2M.