Peachtree City, Georgia was the site of the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) 2000 National Convention, held May 10-14. The convention featured numerous workshops on running issues, including race sponsorship, on-line registration, and Web page creation, as well as coaching workshops. Bart Yasso of RUNNER’S WORLD Magazine provided a slide show on adventure racing, including his participation in the Antarctica marathon. Bart also showed slides from his participation in the Bare Buns Run at the Kaniksu Ranch Family Nudist Park. He said it definitely is a race you do not want to run as hard as you can.
The All-Star Panel session featured famous runners reminiscing on their Olympic Trial and Olympic experience. They all chose to tell stories about other Olympic participants instead of just telling stories about themselves. Frank Shorter, 1972 Olympic Marathon gold medal winner and 1976 silver medal winner, said that he still remembered the selflessness of Jeff Galloway at the 1972 Olympic Trials. Jeff, who had already made the 10K team, stopped 5 feet from the marathon finish line to allow Jack Bacheler to take 3rd place and qualify for the team. The panel agreed that would never happen nowadays because of agents.
In response to the accolades from Frank Shorter, Jeff Galloway remembered Frank at the 1972 Olympic Trials 10K setting such a blistering pace that the other runners burned themselves out trying to stay with Frank. Jeff, running from the back of the pack, passed the exhausted runners one by one and finished in 2nd place.
Long jumper Ralph Boston, 1960 gold medal winner, 1964 silver medal winner, 1968 bronze medal winner, and breaker of Jesse Owens’ 25-year-old record, responded to a question from the audience about Bob Beamon. Ralph had tried to help Bob Beamon to his feet after Bob broke the 29-foot long jump barrier. Bob had been so overwhelmed that he fell to his knees and could not stand up. Finally Ralph thought, "Heck, there’s two other medals left!", so Ralph left to warm up.
Don Kardong, former RRCA president and 4th-place finisher in the 1976 Olympic Marathon (missing the bronze medal by 3 seconds), remembered the 1972 Olympic Marathon. An impostor had entered the stadium ahead of Frank Shorter, stealing the crowd’s cheers for the first-place finisher. Frank replied that it actually helped him realize why he ran, and he was not bothered by what had happened. He also said that the press got together and agreed that they would not publish the name of the perpetrator; he said that would not happen nowadays, unfortunately. Ironically, the impostor now is one of the most powerful politicians in Germany.
Since the convention occurred a week after the U.S. Men’s Olympic Marathon Trials debacle (only one U.S. male and one U.S. female qualified this year for the Olympics marathon), an audience member asked what each panelist thought of the Trials. The unanimous response was that the problem was not with the Trials, but with American athletes. Don Kardong did say that the "A" standard change came late in the game, and that any new selection criteria must be clear to everyone at the outset.
Jeff Galloway commented that he believed in the athlete controlling his or her destiny. He thought it was embarrassing that the current generation of American runners does not have the "fire in the belly."
Frank Shorter firmly believed in picking the top 3 finishers in the Olympic Marathon Trials to represent the U.S., instead of relying on other U.S. marathons through the year. Believing that runners need to learn how to train to peak for a particular day such as the Trials, Frank said, "2:14 is not that tough, no matter what day or place. The standard is there for a purpose." Frank commented that he never worried about the heat; it never bothered him.
Ironically, it was long jumper Ralph Boston who was the most conciliatory towards the Olympic Trial runners. He noted that, in 1972, there were 2 months between the Trials and the Olympics; yet America had its best performance in the Olympics marathon event. Ralph posed an interesting question: should we perhaps move the Trials closer in time to the Olympics?
Kathrine Switzer, NYC Marathon winner and the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with an official number (despite enraged BAA official Jock Sempel’s attempt to physically throw her off the course), also criticized the state of American running. During her keynote speech at the RRCA awards banquet, she commented on the recent Olympic Trials results. She said, "The real tragedy is the mediocrity of U.S. running."
To improve the current state of American running, she challenged the
running audience to become more involved and to aggressively promote
running events aimed at American youth. Ms. Switzer, the Program
Director for Avon Running, said, "It is up to us to get all those kids
to run. Talent is everywhere; it only needs an opportunity."