On a previous site, we had a page of links to videos dealing with the runners and races that were relevant to the sport and its heroes. We have been encouraged by Joe Small and others to re-instate the page. There were so many talented and hard working runners of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s that helped us more ordinary runners improve our performances by showing us that they had to work hard too. The earlier perceptions of champions effortlessly striding to victory and world records was in fact a misperception – they had to work hard too. Of course they were more gifted than we were but they also had to toil away in training, they had to put in the hours; it was not a case of cruising along on natural talent and setting a world record.
In this context looking back at what they had to say, and the way races were run, can be instructive as well as entertaining.