Got time for another Ron Clarke story (and also Jimmie Hogan and Abebe Bikila)? I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did, when Ron told it to us...
In 1964 in Tokyo, Ron had already run in the 5K and the 10K and was also entered in the Marathon. He was asked if he was trying to emulate Zatopek, who had run all three in a previous Games. Ron said no to that, he just wanted to get out and run. He said you could be locked up a village going "gaga", or you could get out and run, get up at the front, watch the race unfold, and then asked an amazing question...."What real athlete wouldn't want do do that?".... There's a good look inside the mind of the man, eh?
So the race started and Clarke and Jimmie Hogan took it out pretty fast - he told us the split, I can't remember it at the moment, but they ran a fast first 10K. And
although Hogan and Clarke were pushing the pace, Bikila was right there, tucked in behind them apparently.
So Hogan said "let's surge the bastard", so they did. Clarke said they ran pretty fast for a mile or so. And Hogan said, "that was easy". Then a bit further on, Hogan and Clarke still front-running, Ron said he heard the crowd cheering for Bikila. He looked around and Bikila was right there. They hadn't dropped him at all, and Ron said that Bikila was running so easily that they didn't even know he was there, until they heard the crowds cheering him on. Ron said that "Bikila was running so lightly, that you couldn't even hear him striking the ground, it was more like he was just gently stroking it once in a while"...
And then Bikila surged on them, and dropped them by the half-way, although Hogan was trying to chase after him. At about the 20 mile mark, Clarke saw Hogan sitting on the side of the road, so he says he sat down with him for a while....Whether he actually did or not, it makes for a great story. Finally Clarke got to the Olympic Stadium. (Bikila having finished long ago, and down his legendary exercises on the infield within a few seconds of finishing the Olympic Marathon, just to show how fresh he still was). Clarke said he was the only one to finish in the top 10 (he was 9th) of an Olympic Marathon who had to walk in the final lap of the Stadium.
He said he was trying to go in this direction, but his legs kept wanting to go in that direction, and it was all he could do to walk and jog to the finish line...
His description --- "Excrutiating, but a wonderful experience".
Hogan didn't finish, and did you know that Billy Mills also ran the Marathon, and finished about 14th...
That's my Clarkey sorry for today.
Got to keep bumping this thread up, you know...