I got to meet Mr. Ryun when he came to a summer running camp in PA. I was working as a counselor. This was about 2009. What a wonderfully nice man. Patient as the day is long. Very special.
World Record leading every step of the way! This and his 3:33.1 1500 that he ran this same year have to be some of the most remarkable middle distance runs ever. Look at the splits for both these races. With some good pacemakers Ryun could surely have gone sub 3:50 in this race? 1966 & 1967, Ryun may have been the greatest miler ever? In1968 he was slowed by illness and several injuries and he never believed he could run fast at altitude (Olympics in Mexico City!) The "experts" were saying that no sea level athlete could run faster than 3:39 for 1500 at 7000+ feet. Ryun actually ran 3:37.8 for his siver medal. One of the great "what ifs" is what could Ryun have achieved in Munich if he hadn't been tripped in his heat. In todays athletics he would almost certainly have been advanced to the semi finals.
I grew up in Bakersfield, California where Ryun set this record on the Bakersfield College track. I saw the race. The track was the fastest in our country, perhaps the world at the time. It was made up crushed brick, which until the artificial surfaces used today was the fastest known material. Brick was normally too expensive to use for a track, but one of the strongest earthquakes in California's history knocked down many brick buildings in 1952. Someone had the foresight to crush the free brick and put it on the local college track. Ryun specifically came to Bakersfield from Kansas just to run on this track! Many national and world records were set on it. It seemed like he ran the last 220 yards in around 22 seconds. This was after running 3 1/2 laps at a high pace. I still remember this race.
@@4min-cs565 On TH-cam I watched a Bakersfield news broadcast that commemorated the 50th anniversary of Ryun's record run. They tried to contact Ryun for the story, but he could not be reached. The newscaster added that Ryun said the track felt like sawdust and that he would come close to losing his footing going around the curves.
Footnotes: In this race Marty Liquori became the third high school runner to break four minutes. Ryun was the first, Tim Danielson who is also in the race was the second to break four. Danielson murdered his former wife in 2011 and is serving a 50 year to life sentence.
Oooooooooooh shit the commentary was totally SHIT, " HE DIDN'T RUN THAT 3:50 MILE" OH BUT HE'S RUN A NEW WORLD RECORD 3:51= * TERRIBLE COMMENTS!!!!! AMAZING GUY,,, HAD JIM BEEN AROUND NOW CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW FAST HE'D RUN ON THESE TRACKS AND PACEMAKERS????
actually the tracks in California back then were inferior to cinder. They were dirt with some sand. They would wet them down prior to the meet to compact them. If you ran early they weren't too bad. But as the meet progressed the top layer would dry out and it was very sandy. Your spikes would slide a little before you got traction and the spikes dug in. It felt weird kind of like you were on marbles. You could actually hear your foot slide on each stride. Even for distance we would have to wear 1inch maybe 1 and a quarter inch spike. People don't realize the difference in efficiency of that sandy surface compared to a modern track. Ryun's first race on an all weather surface he dropped a couple of seconds off his pr and set a world half mile record. For a powerful runner like Ryun the extra efficiency of a modern track would easily drop 3 seconds off his mile time. Modern training methods would more than match that in addition. You see back in the day you went totally by your training program. Recovery wasn't scientific at all, no pain no gain was the methodology back then and you ran through pain & illness. But that led to alot of breakdowns of top runners like Ryun. Now with what we know about recovery you would log his resting pulse upon waking and when it was too high because he had pushed too hard you would immediately dial back his training before he self destructed. Injury and overtraining plagued his career which could have been easily avoided with what we know now.
Because of this once I hit high school I went out for track and ran the mile all 4 years and loved it.thanks Mr ryan
If he had the track and the shoes and the athletic fitness assistance advancements of today, he'd still have the record.
I got to meet Mr. Ryun when he came to a summer running camp in PA. I was working as a counselor. This was about 2009. What a wonderfully nice man. Patient as the day is long. Very special.
World Record leading every step of the way! This and his 3:33.1 1500 that he ran this same year have to be some of the most remarkable middle distance runs ever. Look at the splits for both these races. With some good pacemakers Ryun could surely have gone sub 3:50 in this race? 1966 & 1967, Ryun may have been the greatest miler ever? In1968 he was slowed by illness and several injuries and he never believed he could run fast at altitude (Olympics in Mexico City!) The "experts" were saying that no sea level athlete could run faster than 3:39 for 1500 at 7000+ feet. Ryun actually ran 3:37.8 for his siver medal. One of the great "what ifs" is what could Ryun have achieved in Munich if he hadn't been tripped in his heat. In todays athletics he would almost certainly have been advanced to the semi finals.
Soloed a 3:51, on a dirt road--fantastic!
No, that was a few notches beyond "fantastic".
I grew up in Bakersfield, California where Ryun set this record on the Bakersfield College track. I saw the race. The track was the fastest in our country, perhaps the world at the time. It was made up crushed brick, which until the artificial surfaces used today was the fastest known material. Brick was normally too expensive to use for a track, but one of the strongest earthquakes in California's history knocked down many brick buildings in 1952. Someone had the foresight to crush the free brick and put it on the local college track. Ryun specifically came to Bakersfield from Kansas just to run on this track! Many national and world records were set on it. It seemed like he ran the last 220 yards in around 22 seconds. This was after running 3 1/2 laps at a high pace. I still remember this race.
@@4min-cs565 On TH-cam I watched a Bakersfield news broadcast that commemorated the 50th anniversary of Ryun's record run. They tried to contact Ryun for the story, but he could not be reached. The newscaster added that Ryun said the track felt like sawdust and that he would come close to losing his footing going around the curves.
You know it's surprising seems like he left a lot in the tank
Wow! What a kick!
Footnotes:
In this race Marty Liquori became the third high school runner to break four minutes. Ryun was the first, Tim Danielson who is also in the race was the second to break four.
Danielson murdered his former wife in 2011 and is serving a 50 year to life sentence.
Damn thats a twist
what a shame ...he could have run 347 easy with a proper track and some pace....my hero forever.
He beat his own world record from a year earlier by 0.2 seconds.
What stamina!! Any era.
I've never seen a more efficient stride.
Ryan said he threw up after every race. I can relate to that.
Started off running on cinder tracks.You had spikes on ,real spikes ,not as bad as it looks.Get the right track and you could fly.
Yeah, really, that he fell in 1972 was a damn shame.
Mr ryun
They had faster track's than dirt. It is about one second per lap slower than the faster surfaces. Am I right?
@futuremodal the bolt!
*was tripped
NO PACEMAKER??????????!!!!!!!!!!
ON A CINDER TRACK????????
Oooooooooooh shit the commentary was totally SHIT, " HE DIDN'T RUN THAT 3:50 MILE" OH BUT HE'S RUN A NEW WORLD RECORD 3:51= * TERRIBLE COMMENTS!!!!! AMAZING GUY,,, HAD JIM BEEN AROUND NOW CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW FAST HE'D RUN ON THESE TRACKS AND PACEMAKERS????
actually the tracks in California back then were inferior to cinder. They were dirt with some sand. They would wet them down prior to the meet to compact them. If you ran early they weren't too bad. But as the meet progressed the top layer would dry out and it was very sandy. Your spikes would slide a little before you got traction and the spikes dug in. It felt weird kind of like you were on marbles. You could actually hear your foot slide on each stride. Even for distance we would have to wear 1inch maybe 1 and a quarter inch spike. People don't realize the difference in efficiency of that sandy surface compared to a modern track. Ryun's first race on an all weather surface he dropped a couple of seconds off his pr and set a world half mile record. For a powerful runner like Ryun the extra efficiency of a modern track would easily drop 3 seconds off his mile time. Modern training methods would more than match that in addition. You see back in the day you went totally by your training program. Recovery wasn't scientific at all, no pain no gain was the methodology back then and you ran through pain & illness. But that led to alot of breakdowns of top runners like Ryun. Now with what we know about recovery you would log his resting pulse upon waking and when it was too high because he had pushed too hard you would immediately dial back his training before he self destructed. Injury and overtraining plagued his career which could have been easily avoided with what we know now.
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