This Day in Track & Field–September 28
1878—Rene La Montague ran 10.0 for 100-yards at the West Brighton Grounds on NY’s Staten Island to equal his own American Record. He actually ran 101 yards, since, under the rules in effect at the time, he had been assessed the extra yard for committing a false start!
1968—The highlight of this pre-Olympic meet in Victoria, BC, was the men’s 4×100 relay, where a U.S. “B” team (39.1) of Charlie Mays, Larry Questad, John Carlos, and Tommie Smith beat the “A” team that consisted of Charlie Greene, Mel Pender, Ronnie Ray Smith, and Jim Hines. The “A” team went on to win the gold medals at the Mexico City Olympics.
(scroll down-#8): https://forum.trackandfieldnews.com/forum/historical/1730140-john-carlos
1975–Tom Fleming won the 6th NY City Marathon in 2:19:27 (he also won in 1973). This was the last year the race, which also served as the U.S. Women’s Championship, was held entirely in Central Park before stretching out to all five boroughs in 1976. The women’s winner was Kim Merritt in 2:46:14. Sheldon Karlin, the 1972 winner, finished 10th (2:33:27). Fleming passed away in 2017 at the age of 65.
Starters/Finishers: 532/339 Men: 488/303, Women: 44/36
A Look Back(2011): http://www.garycohenrunning.com
Past Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_New_York_City_Marathon
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/sports/tom-fleming-died-new-york-marathon-winner.html?mcubz=3
1975—The Netherlands’ Jos Hermens, now one of the world’s leading athlete managers, set a World Record of 57:31.6 for 20,000-Meters and continued on to set a 2nd WR of 20,907-meters for the 1-hour run in Papendal. The previous Record of 57:44.4 and 20,784m was set by Belgium’s Gaston Roelants in 1972.
1985–Ireland’s Frank O’Mara (3:52.28), a late addition to the race, won the 5th Avenue Mile over Ross Donoghue (3:52.81). Others in this loaded field included Steve Ovett (3rd-3:53.36), Eamonn Coghlan (4th-3:54.39), Mike Boit (6th-3:54.65), Abdi Bile (7th-3:54.78), Ray Flynn (8th-3:56.97), and John Walker (10th-3:58.80).
Canada’s Lynn Williams won the Women’s race in 4:25.03, with Francie Larrieu-Smith finishing 5th in 4:33.16.
Winner of the high school boys race for the 2nd year in a row was John Trautmann (4:04.65), while Shola Lynch won the girls race in 4:48.20.
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