What's your Prefontaine number?

I beat Lasse Viren in his own 20K in Finland. I also drank a beer with Frank Shorter.

RUNINTHESUN wrote:

I beat Lasse Viren in his own 20K in Finland. I also drank a beer with Frank Shorter.

I thought the viren 20k was in Malibu (a little north at Pt Magu)?

I also thought that Viren just ran it once.

I'm sure there is a faster way but short googling:

Pre raced Lasse Viren (Munich 5k)

Who raced Werner Schildhauer (Moscow 10k)

Who raced Salazar (1983 WC 10k)

Who raced Craig Virgin

Who raced Darren Klassen (1988 World XC Championships)

Who I embarrassingly out-kicked in a 15k when I was 22 and he was close to 50.

So I guess 6.

And if we go by the "beat" thing it could be similar.

I've beat Charles Philibert-Thiboutot

Who has beat Nate Brannen

Who has beat Kevin Sullivan

Who has beat El Guerrouj (1993 World Junior XC)

and someone else can finish that from there., but probably not much more than six.

Once lined up against Eamon Coghlan in a minor indoor meet, and Eamon raced Liquori who raced Pre, so that's a #3 Pre number.

Also lined up against Salazar numerous times in high school, I assume you could find a close link Salazar to Pre even though they never raced. As close as #3 perhaps but not closer.

I was, of course, lucky to line up against those guys, who cleaned my clock.

Oops... rules. That's a #4 for me.

A has-been who never was wrote:

I just realized that with the "beating people" rule I have a 2. I beat Viren, who beat Pre. Viren did not run well in off-season/off year. Beat him in heat and hills of San Blas, Puerto Rico in 1979 with something like a 68 or 69 minute half marathon.

Was the half marathon on the track?

I beat Tracy Hollister aka Lasse Viren in "Prefontaine" and he beat Pre so #2

or I beat Frank Shorter who beat Viren who beat Pre so #3

If I beat him once, is my number -1?

Did Nick Rose ever race Pre on the track? I know that they raced in the NCAA XC in 73, but can't find evidence of track races. If they did, then Rose would create a path for many in the UK, since he remained active for so long. It would likely get me to a Pre number of 3.

kartelite wrote:

A has-been who never was wrote:

I just realized that with the "beating people" rule I have a 2. I beat Viren, who beat Pre. Viren did not run well in off-season/off year. Beat him in heat and hills of San Blas, Puerto Rico in 1979 with something like a 68 or 69 minute half marathon.

Was the half marathon on the track?

You are still here, Kartelite?

Nice!

3

Pre

Centro Sr

Centro Jr

Frank Shorter ran last year's Prefontaine 10k in Coos Bay, so there are a few hundred right there. I'm 59 and did finish in front of Shorter, who I guess is probably five or six years older.

I think I probably ran against Dave Bedford and Ian Stewart in the English X-Country Nationals - failing by several minutes to beat either.

Realized I also come from the same town as John Bednarski - ex world junior x-country champion and ran with him and raced him several times. Never anywhere near him, but did outkick him at the end of a rep session when he wasn't very fit.

I know there is a picture of Bednarski, Pre and Lindgren in a x-country race in New York.

I'm at 2, I've raced Jim Ryun who raced Pre. I raced Ryun when I was 12 and he was 55 at a local race in Kansas, so I guess I'm one of the youngest to have a Pre number of 2. I'm now a 31 year old physicist, looks like my Erdos number is about 6 (not as impressive).

another old fart wrote:

malmo wrote:

I beat Marty Liquori who, in turn, beat Pre. #2

2 also. I lost to Liquori, however.

Alternative: I lost to Greg Fredericks who must have raced Pre.

If we are going by wins, my Prefontaine number is 3, but in a way different from anyone's else, I'd bet:

1) I beat Ron Laird at either the 1979 Pan Am 20k racewalk trials or the 1980 15k racewalk nationals - I can't remember which race it was.

2) Laird beat Gerry Lindgren in a local mile racewalk in southern CA in the 1960's. (This per Laird telling me.) Few people know that, although Lindgren didn't racewalk seriously, he wasn't too bad at it.

3) Lindgren beat Pre.

md guy wrote:

3

Pre

Centro Sr

Centro Jr

father and son have raced against each other?

another old fart wrote:

malmo wrote:

I beat Marty Liquori who, in turn, beat Pre. #2

2 also. I lost to Liquori, however.

Alternative: I lost to Greg Fredericks who must have raced Pre.

Of course they ran against each other. They went 1-5, 1-2, and 1-2 in the NCAA 5000m 70-72, the latter running the 3rd and 6th fastest US times ever.

Raced # is 3: Steve Scott --> John Walker --> Steve Prefontaine.

Won # is 4: Karl Paranya --> Steve Scott --> John Walker --> Steve Prefontaine.

This includes a race against a masters age Steve Scott.