Tom Byers - The Rabbit That Got Away

Do a search on youtube...

It’s not there anymore. It got taken down.

Has any pacemaker ever done that since? Maybe they changed the rules or promoters told the pacers they wouldn't get their payment if they didn't drop out?

I don't know what Tom Byers thinks he achieved. He didn't really beat Ovett or the rest of the field as they assumed as they should have that he was their simply to guide them to a fast time. The only reason he is remembered is because he tricked Steve Ovett once in a race he was supposed to be pacing him to a world record in.

The guy who beat Ovett in the 5000m post Moscow when he was celebrating too early won fair and square, but this guy hopefully doesn't tell his grandchildren that he 'beat the great Steve Ovett once'.

Coevett wrote:

Has any pacemaker ever done that since? Maybe they changed the rules or promoters told the pacers they wouldn't get their payment if they didn't drop out?

I don't know what Tom Byers thinks he achieved. He didn't really beat Ovett or the rest of the field as they assumed as they should have that he was their simply to guide them to a fast time. The only reason he is remembered is because he tricked Steve Ovett once in a race he was supposed to be pacing him to a world record in.

The guy who beat Ovett in the 5000m post Moscow when he was celebrating too early won fair and square, but this guy hopefully doesn't tell his grandchildren that he 'beat the great Steve Ovett once'.

Totally disagree. Byars was an entrant in the race and crossed the line first and it's on Ovett that he didn't win. The guy who beat Ovett in Moscow was John Treacy.

That totally sucks that video isn't available anymore. One of my favorites to revisit every so often.

Coevett wrote:

Has any pacemaker ever done that since? Maybe they changed the rules or promoters told the pacers they wouldn't get their payment if they didn't drop out?

I don't know what Tom Byers thinks he achieved. He didn't really beat Ovett or the rest of the field as they assumed as they should have that he was their simply to guide them to a fast time. The only reason he is remembered is because he tricked Steve Ovett once in a race he was supposed to be pacing him to a world record in.

The guy who beat Ovett in the 5000m post Moscow when he was celebrating too early won fair and square, but this guy hopefully doesn't tell his grandchildren that he 'beat the great Steve Ovett once'.

Paul Pilkington won the 1994 LA Marathon when he was the rabbit.

Have you seen the video of the Oslo race? It was most certainly on the field to not let the rabbit go the way they did. Byers won fair and square.

It was such a good race. Coming into the last 100, you think Ovett is going to catch him. Very close finish.

Correct ^^^^^

Coevett is butthurt. lol

Funny. I too occasionally replay that for people or forward it to them. Can't say that about any other race.

It happened because for some reason the pack was given the splits Byers was running. They assumed he was going way too fast.

Ovett took it all in stride, he was not bitter and gave Byers full credit.

Bump - Wejo, Rojo, Malmo? Y’all got any leads on this video?

eytuyteuteu wrote:

Coevett is butthurt. lol

Imagine how Coevett would feel if Byers was African.

Coevett wrote:

The only reason he is remembered is because he tricked Steve Ovett once in a race he was supposed to be pacing him to a world record in.

Yes, it was a world record attempt by Ovett but Byers tricked him into going too slow for the pace he was setting.

physics defiant wrote:

It happened because for some reason the pack was given the splits Byers was running. They assumed he was going way too fast.

Ovett took it all in stride, he was not bitter and gave Byers full credit.

A runner of Ovett's experience should have know he wasn't running at that pace as it was some way off.

Byers did well to hold off the chasers as for him the initial pace was too fast.

Coevett wrote:

Has any pacemaker ever done that since? Maybe they changed the rules or promoters told the pacers they wouldn't get their payment if they didn't drop out?

I don't know what Tom Byers thinks he achieved. He didn't really beat Ovett or the rest of the field as they assumed as they should have that he was their simply to guide them to a fast time. The only reason he is remembered is because he tricked Steve Ovett once in a race he was supposed to be pacing him to a world record in.

The guy who beat Ovett in the 5000m post Moscow when he was celebrating too early won fair and square, but this guy hopefully doesn't tell his grandchildren that he 'beat the great Steve Ovett once'.

Not following the pacer makes you a coward and all of those cowards, including "the great Steve Ovett" lost to Tom Byers that day.

And even if he did "trick" Ovett, distance racing is half mental, so "The Great Steve Ovett" allowed himself to be outsmarted, which lead to his glorious loss.

physics defiant wrote:

It happened because for some reason the pack was given the splits Byers was running. They assumed he was going way too fast.

Ovett took it all in stride, he was not bitter and gave Byers full credit.

Yeah, my favorite part of the video as how amused (bemused?) Ovett was by the whole thing. I can't imagine Coe, for example, taking it as well. I thought he was pretty classy.

It wasn’t the Olympics and Ovett chose to ignore the pacer. He could have easily sat on Byers and out kicked him. As it was, Ovett gained almost 9 seconds on Byers over the last lap. I couldn’t find Byers’ winning time, but wasn’t something like 3:37 or 3:38.