Over the years, I’ve given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started.
It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement. – Pre
Special Report to Running Times by Jack D. Welch
Eugene, June 4 – Pre would have been pleased. This was the way track used to be.
Sponsored by Nike, televised by CBS, filmed by Hollywood, the 1995 edition of the Prefontaine Classic offered a glimpse of what might have been.
A crowd of 13,665, the largest since the ’76 Olympic Trials, filled the stands at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field. Pre’s people. Fans, two and three deep, many dressed in clothing from a by-gone era, pressed the fence circling the track. His crowd. Bill Bowerman, Frank Shorter, Kenny Moore, Mac Wilkins. Just like the good ol’ days.
The only thing missing was Pre. His spirit was everywhere, but nowhere more evident than on the track.
Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, Quincy Watts, Butch Reynolds, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Dan O’Brien, Roger Kingdom, Gail Devers, you get the picture. Enough stars to fill a summer night’s sky. This is the way track is supposed to be.
Some highlights from a meet which never saw a dull moment.
1,000 meters. Pre was like the Pied Piper. For the past 20 years, runners have moved to Eugene hoping to mine some of his magic. Runners like Maria Mutola and Suzy Hamilton.
While the powerfully-built Mutola, the world’s dominant 800m runner with 40 consecutive victories, led from the start, the elfin Hamilton has never looked tougher. She actually pushed Mutola enough to make the Mozambique star appear a little nervous. Mutola won in 2:32.33, an African record. “It helped to have Suzy there,” she said, “but I can go faster,” No doubt.
“The American record never even popped into my mind,” admitted Suzy Hamilton, who finished second. “In fact, I didn’t even know what the record was.”
The record – 2:33.93 – is now Hamilton’s.
3,000 meters. After a race, Pre would take a victory lap at, well, he didn’t slow down much.
Like Pre, Annette Peters is a former Fightin’ Duck star, an Olympian and the American record holder at 5000m. Like Pre, she’s not afraid to run from the front. But with a lap to go, former roadie Laura Mykytok, long and lanky, leaped into the lead. Peters had no answer to Laura’s loping kick. Nor to Mykytok’s 8:51.37.
“The fans here have been so good to me,” said Peters after finishing 2nd in 8:54.75. “I hate to lose in front of them. They deserve to see me win. It hurts.”
Mykytok, feeling no pain, sailed around the track in a most Pre-like victory lap. “It’s still early in my career,” she said. “Time-wise, the sky’s the limit for me. I don’t know yet what I am capable of. I was just tickled up my spine. With this crowd almost anything is possible. I wish every place was just like Eugene, Oregon.”
Mile. This was never Pre’s best distance but he was a great miler. So is Steve Holman, who, before the race, was boldly talking about a sub-3:50. He took his best shot, closing with an apparently effortless 55-second final lap.
“I knew if I wanted to run a decent time, I’d have to put the hammer down,” Holman explained after a field record 3:52.89. “It was a great crowd to run for.” Then he started talking about breaking the AR this summer. Pre used to talk like that.
Has there been a deeper mile run on U.S. soil? Shannon Lemora ran 3:58.12 and placed 13th. Swoosh!
Two-mile. Pre is history; Bob Kennedy and Todd Williams are the future.No need for a rabbit here. Kennedy shot into the lead before the echo of the starter’s pistol faded. “As soon as the gun went off, it was just another race,” Kennedy said. Just another record attempt.
“We were putting the pressure on from the start,” the 24-year-old noted. “It was push, push, push.” After the rabbit ran out of gas, Kennedy and Williams, as planned, took turns leading. Until the final 600 meters.
“Todd was supposed to take it, but he didn’t,” explained Kennedy. “He said, ‘I’m sick of you sitting on my back and outkicking me.'”
“When he comes to the line, Bob raises his game almost a whole new notch,” said Williams, who has been able to keep up with Kennedy as the two train together.
“This is the loudest crowd I’ve experienced in the U.S.,” Kennedy exclaimed after the stirring duel.
Nobody was more excited than injured Marc Davis, the current 2M record holder, who shouted ‘Yes!” as Kennedy crossed the finish in 8:14.53.
It seemed no one wanted to leave. The cheering lasted long after the meet was over. Pre! Pre! Pre! Pre!
The king is gone but he’s not forgot.
