“I hoped l’d do better, but I’m glad to be back.” – Jim Ryun
Loudat Wins Bud-Light Legends Mile as Ryun and Lindgren Make Masters Debuts
It was billed as the annual Oregon Twilight track and field meet, but, from the standing ovation at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon on May 16, the race the crowd had come to see was the Bud Light Legends Mile.
And why not? Jim Ryun, who turned 40 on April 29, was about to compete in his first race as a masters runner. Gerry Lindgren, 41, was making his first competitive appearance under his real name in at least seven years.
Meet promoter Jim Healey had also lured former Olympians and masters New World and U.S. luminaries Mike Manley, Ray Hatton, Bob Schul, Kenny Moore, Al Swenson, Web Loudat, Sam Bair, Tom Heinonen, Damian Koch, Jim Hampton and Vic Wolfe to the starting line. And to top it off, the starter was Peter
Snell.
It was arguably the finest field of masters milers ever assembled, and the shouting crowd of 6,932 made it one of the most dramatic and exciting events in the two-year history of masters running.
Bill Stewart, 44, the U.S. masters indoor-mile record-holder, was there. So was Tracy Smith, 42, the reigning U.S. masters 10K and mile champion.
The favorite, off current form, was Tracy Smith, who had won the Millrose Masters Mile and recently set a U.S. masters 10K record of 29:50.
Smith led the pack through a 65-second first lap as the field of 15 bunched together. The field split on the second lap with Smith, Loudat, Koch, Swenson and Stewart forming the leading group.
On the third lap, with 660 to go, Swenson and Loudat broke from the top five and turned it into a two-man race. They ran together for 600 meters until Loudat out-sprinted Swenson to the tape to set a new American masters outdoor-mile record of 4:20.89. The time broke Hatton’s 12-year old mark of 4:24.0. (Stewart’s indoor world veterans mark is 4: 11.0, while New Zealand”s Jim McDonald holds the world 40+ outdoor mile standard of 4:18.5. A 4:13.8 by Britain’s Derek Vaughn is pending.)
Swenson, who was runner-up to Smith at the Indoor Nationals in Madison, March 28, again took a silver medal, in 4:21.75 Koch was third (4:26.35), followed by Smith (4:27.15), Stewart (4:28.26), Bair (4:29.25) and Ryun (4:30.98). Lindgren finished 11th in 4:39.6.
Hatton, 55, finished 13th in 4:45.1, a new U.S. M55 record, which broke Don Gammie’s mark of 4:46.5. Times would have been faster, but for a strong wind blowing across the track.
After the race, Ryun said: “I hoped l’d do better, but I’m glad to be back. I hope to go to Melbourne this autumn to compete in the World Veterans Games.”
Smith said he just didn’t feel right. “I had good workouts all week, so I have no excuses,” he said. But a four-hour drive from his home in Bishop, California to the nearest airport (Reno NV) might have taken a toll on his legs.
Lindgren, the subject of an lengthy article by Olympian-turned-author Moore in Sports Illustrated (May 18), said: “I had a problem with a groin pull, but when I heard the crowd yelling, I decided to go for it. I’ll run the event again, if they’ll have me after the way I ran tonight.”
Lindgren won six NCAA distance titles for Washington State in the mid-60s.
Lindgren said he decided to enter the race “to set the record straight” about his disappearance seven years ago, when he left his wife, three children and a bankrupt athletic footwear business in Tacoma, Wash. He was the subject of an ll-year-old paternity lawsuit at the time. He was discovered by NMN columnist Mike Tymn, who recognized Lindgren running under the name of Gale Young in a road race in Honolulu last year.
Lindgren briefly remained in Eugene to attend the wedding of Moore, who finished 14th in 4:48.3.
Lindgren was greeted warmly by former competitors at a Friday night banquet and exchanged hugs with his high school coach, Tracy Walters of Spokane.
“I can’t comment on family things,” Lindgren said. “It’s sad I broke up with my wife and sad how it all happened, but I don’t want to air dirty laundry in public. There is a lot more to it than people need to know. I don’t really think I was in hiding as much as avoiding that paternity situation.
“I hid things, I suppose, because I was in an adverse situation and I was a little afraid of it. I shouldn’t have been, because the legal difficulties I had have long since been cleared up.”
Healey, an assistant coach at the U. of Oregon in Eugene, spent four months putting the race together.
“When I saw the tremendous crowd reaction to the Millrose Mile (in New York City on Jan. 30), I had to try to do something,” he said. “I contacted Kodak, IBM and others before Bud Light came through with travel expenses for the athletes.”
Healey said the budget didn’t permit prize-money, but added: “I’d like to get this going on a national basis, and offer big money to any 40-or-over runner who can break 4-minutes for a mile.”
The Eugene Register-Guard ran a photo of the event, while the Portland Oregonian (the largest newspaper in the state) devoted half of its meet story to the Legends Mile. The Los Angeles Times did a two-column story – mainly on Lindgren – and the event was mentioned in USA Today.
Healey said he picked the name “Legends” out of the air. “The sponsor felt the name ‘Masters’ didn’t fit the event,” he said.
The final meet on the existing Hayward Field track will be the Pre Classic on June 6. A new $225,000, Pro-turf track will then be laid in time for the 1987 U.S. National Masters Championships, August 14-16.
Source: National Masters News.
“The official world and U.S. publication for Masters track & field. long distance running and race walking.” 106th Issue. June 1987. $1.95.
Editor: AI Sheahen Associate Editor: Jerry Wojcik Assistant Editor: Tom Sturak Editorial Assistant: Teri Ingram
There’s no byline on the Legends Masters Miles piece, but if I had to guess, I’d guess the estimable Mike Tymn.
Kenny’s 1987 Sports Illustrated article about Gerry concluded thusly:
“Lindgren turned 41 in March and says he intends to race contemporaries Jim Ryun and Tracy Smith on the newly popular masters circuit. His first chance will come May 16, in the Bud Light Legends Mile, on the same Eugene track where he held off Smith and sprinted into the spotlight 24 years ago.
”I’d like to run, and run really well, to show age is no barrier,” he says, his voice edging into the old song. ”And maybe talk to kids afterward about how if they believe and work, they can do anything. And then . . . then ideally I could go ‘Poof. . . .’
“He tosses up his hands, as if filling the air with magic smoke. . . . And be back in my secret, simple place.”
Space. If I had to guess.