Track & Field News February 1982
Half-Marathon PR For Benji
Savannah, Georgia, January 9 – The Savannah Half-Marathon is not exactly a major waystop on the big-time road circuit. But the distance is a nice one and the town is rather marvelous. And sometimes it helps to get out of the snowy North, perhaps to tune up for another competition in the near future.
Such was the setting as Dick Beardsley, Benji Durden and Gordon Minty. All were pointing towards Houston a fortnight later, so the big question must have been, “How much did you cut back on your mileage?”
No one was talking.
Englishman Jeremy Odlin was running hard at the gun, followed by the stars, content in the majesty of their previous achievements. Mike Wachholz was in over his head, but he knew it.
The leaders passed 1M in 4:51, 2M in 9:45 and 3M went by at 14:45. Beardsley and Doug Kurtis – good enough perhaps to become a star – seemed to be pressing the pace.
Shortly after that, Durden began to push, and Kurtis did the same in response. Odlin (5th in 1:06:16) and Wachholz (6th in 1:06:28) fell away, so when 4M went by in 19:34, Durden, Beardsley, Minty (3rd in 1:04:41) and Kurtis (4th in 1:05:10) formed a stellar quartet.
Durden, wishing to establish a solo act and a psychological advantage for Houston, continued to pick up the pace. Swapping the lead, Durden and Beardsley slowly began to pull away. They ran should-to-shoulder between miles eight and nine, because, as Durden explained, “I didn’t want to yield to Dick, but I didn’t want to lead either.”
So, Beardsley surged first, and BD drafted him. And so it went, surge after surge, for two miles, as Beardsley dodged around, trying to lose his shadow as they passed 10M in 48:24.
Durden finally pulled alongside Beardsley and “blew” by for a twenty meter lead, increasing it over the final mile. He shattered his own course record of 1:05:31 with a PR 1:03:11 that moves him to No. 10 on the all-time U.S. list.
Beardsley was 21 seconds back and both men were still thinking about Houston and that $10,000 First-Prize.
“Right now,” Beardsley said,” “I feel I’m in good shape for a 2:09 or 2:10.”
Durden opined, “This tells me that I can stay with anyone who surges at Houston. If I lose, it won’t be for a lack of speed.”
Benji remembers this:
It was a windy day and from about five miles we had a head wind. For a few miles I tried to get Beardsley to work with me into the wind, but as I remember it, he seem reluctant to let me lead and so I drafted.
Around eleven miles Dick, in the lead, looked back, but not at me, rather to see where Gordon was. At the point I knew he was concerned about holding second place and I surged and continued to pull away all the way to the finish.
To this day, Benji claims he trained through.