European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 18, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse He s 31, but going for that stories by Mike Spear staff writer n Early january of this year Dick Buerkle a Contact Lens Salesman from Rochester n.y., Felt it was time to go out and make his Niche in history. The season s first big indoor track meet on the East coast was coming up at the University of Maryland. And there he decided he would go for the indoor Mil record. So what if he had been racing for years As a 5000-meter Man Buerkle a Villanova graduate decided at the age of 30 a time when Many might take a More conserva Tive approach to their endeavours that he wanted to run the mile again. He d raced at that distance Back i High school at Rochester. To get ready he got the help of an acquaintance from his Days As a Spanish teacher at a Buffalo High school. He believed the track coach there Bob Ivory was the Man he needed and that proved to be Correct. With hard training and guidance from Ivory who he says believes in going out fast in the mile he Felt he Only tackle the mile but also break the record. I thought i could go out and do it he was saying in his Frankfurt hotel room before he ran the Frankfurt mile at the recent Frankfurt International track and Field meet. Buerkle pronounced Buerk Ley is a Small Man at 5-feet-7 and 130 pounds but still he fits the textbook Mold of a Middle distance runner. His appearance is striking because the Only hair on his head grows in a Small Black moustache and in a Small Patch along his left Eyebrow. He is charged with enthusiasm and curiosity and if you Are not careful he will be conducting the interview. He has the Confidence of one who appears to know where he s been and where he s going. The Date of his record race Friday the 13th, was of no concern to him. And before it he dutifully called his father and advised him to be there explaining in effect that the existing record was living on borrowed time. Was t that being a Little cocky his father wanted to know no he answered with conviction. But when he got the record it did not come exactly As he planned. Never mind that he had a hard time getting to the race. For a Man obsessed with a goal the Friday the 13th events of Early in the Day did t bother him. He admits however that leaving Buffalo for washing ton by plane broke his concentration for a bit. We took off in a snowstorm so intense that i could t see the terminal he says i could t be Lieve it. I thought this company has got insurance policies like crazy. It s got this plane that is Worth is photos by Pete Milia Dick Buerkle world indoor mile record Holder studies the Competition in Frankfurt. Longer racing distances to a Shorter one. I Don t know Why people get the idea that As you go up a you go to the longer distances. I Don t even know ire people get the idea that it s a trend. Look at Kip Keino of Kenya. He went from the 10, meters to the 1,500 in Mexico City 1968 olympics won the Gold medal and he was Over 30. He was like Buerkle does t deny age has its drawbacks but curly it Only affects his flexibility he says. He s having 30 minutes of stretching exercises daily. Says next year is an important year for him be a besides the attempt on the outdoor mile record he decide which distance the 1,500, 5,000 or 10,000, he seek to compete in at the Moscow olympics. I la run a couple of different races next year and i la e my decision about this time september next he says. He has t run the 5,000 meters since the pics or the 10,000 since the Penn relays the Samer. Iut right now he s thinking primarily about the mile improving himself. He feels his biggest problem is stride which his wife Jean Calls i be been called ungraceful and i suppose it s be. I be seen myself run he says. I need to run 1th my Knees higher. I would like my stride to be Tore fluid and i d like to be More on my in outdoor mile record is about five seconds faster the indoor record and Buerkle attributes that to the ing season schedule partly the indoor season coming her when runners Aren t always in top form. Also the indoor track is much narrower he says Here is less room to jockey and you Are forced into a Aller space which somehow always seems to slow you Buerkle s travels As a Salesman present several prob there Are the business lunches which keep him a of eating too much and then there is the difficulty of in Good places to train. But still he manages to fit it i Don t do much slow running he says. Most of my Jance runs Are at a six minute mile Pace or below. And or three times a week i la do 10 Miles or so on the Road i Pace much faster around five minutes. I do a couple of track workouts a week but i Don t like k work. I la do anything to keep from getting bored Ying the workout. But it s something i have to do to Buerkle is not sure what lies beyond the olympics for i. The Marathon perhaps i suppose it s possible he says. It s becoming so in the United states. I be never really trained for the ration but i ran a 2 22 Marathon last year in Lada and i know i can run faster than whatever turn his running takes he sees it lasting for by years. I can t imagine that i la Ever Stop running he says Ike to eat a lot and i can t eat and not run. And i know the kind of satisfaction i get from run g. It s different from the satisfaction you get from Ying Tennis or other sports. It s a poor Man s to transcendental meditation. Our world is changing at the University of Maryland he had one More prob Lem. The gatekeeper would t let him in at first because he did t have a pass. But after that everything jelled. Is Telf Insl Pun 3?�vcn a Arter m 1cs and never mind that Filbert Bay of Tanzania Premier Miler and 1,500-meter record Holder would be running against him. But he did t quit. He picked up the Pace consider. Buerkle. At age 31, sees no end to his racing career auction. In soon ably for the final two laps running the last one in just under 57 seconds for a time of 3 54.9 which broke Tony Waldrop s four year old record of 3 55. Months of injuries but a Blessing because they gave him time to handle his new found Fame. When sometimes might not get Back until 1 o clock. The injuries included a stress fracture that put him in a leg cast for about three weeks while his left Fibula mended. The fracture began just before or just after the record run. Then in March when he started training again he suf Nad the experience to run the 1,500 meters there., " Ujj � boats at Montreal r n St time of and Fanh my on overdo Here. S rang Oes we americans but my heat was won in olympic record Winter and he starts thinking he can break the Cord watch out. Up so my training tapered to 30,40 or 50 Miles a i because of that people feel it is Good for them Anat Frankfurt he ran a 3 59.9 mile which was Only goodness with its big dollars is getting behind enough for ninth place. It is a time that would have Wori ,. Easily just a few years ago and Buerkle who is still compete baldness gives him the Demeanour of a coming Back from injuries says of it a Marine dri11 sergeant. Ask him if he gets much i was pleased with what i did after Only two oui i by w the a a training. But i m still not where i thought i would Bace there s no kidding then he Ime soon you set the feeling that he s just getting go info in the summer when my head gets sunburned the or grows he says. And a dermatologist who filled his next 8�al is the outdoor mile record currently Zelije with All kinds of drugs told me the Sun would be bad to John Walker of new zealand with a time of 3 49.4. Or it. And i gave that Guy us How much Money plans to go for it next year. Besides his wife his dad has had a Strong influence on the reason he has t concentrated on the mile before running career he says. I his mind. And it has been said that California Miler Scott is the most Likely american on a Good Day to record. But Don t Overlook Buerkle. If his Trainin goes Well Page 14 the stars and stripes feed severe tendinitis and that kept him out of serious Buerkle does t think his age will hamper his Speed Foi but wait until he Calls his dad to come to the track training until nearly the end of june. Some time yet. And he finds nothing unusual about Goiri Ien get on out there. He just might do it. Monday Stenber 18, 1978 Henry Rono dries off after placing third in the 3,000-meter race in Frankfurt. A runner and a talker ahead in the distance a Man is walking on the left Side of the Road facing traffic but he too far off to be seen Well. Nothing unusual about that. The Light along the tree lined Roadis t Good even though it s after 9 in the morn ing because the Trees limbs Over the Road make it Tunnel like. But when the car gets nearer it is Clear that the Man is an athlete. He is wearing running shoes a red Nylon training suit and moves with an easy Grace. As soon As he sees the car his left Arm goes out and his hand moves up and Down like someone patting the Back of a Large dog. The motion continues As the car passes stops then backs up. The athlete a Black Man about 5-feet-7 with deep set eyes and High Cheek Bones is recognized immediately. He is 26-year-old Henry Rono the kenyan Middle distance runner who has set four world re cords this year. As the car window comes Down he says in soft slightly halting British accented English i have been running for More than an hour and i cannot find the hotel. Do you know where it is his hotel is near the Frankfurt soccer stadium. Sure. It s a mile away. Get in Rono climbs in but seems uncomfortable. He appears to be a shy Man who does not talk easily. And somehow there is the feeling that he does t like Riding in cars in the same Way perhaps that a cat already initiated to it does t like it May be the situation. He has missed an 8 o clock interview with the Driver. Now it s obvious Why. When asked he says that he can talk shortly after id after a Shower and breakfast. But there is an uncertainty in the Way he says it just As there was the night before when the original interview time was set up. Rono seems unable to make himself say if he in fact wishes to that he would rather not be interviewed. He has no such reticence while racing. It is known that Rono who attends Washington state University where he is working on a degree in Industrial psychology has no great affection for the american press. It May be that the demands it makes on him Are some thing he never considered when he was blazing around the track setting records. His coach John Chaplin has said that Many Amer ican journalists Don t know enough about track and Field to ask intelligent questions and thus resort to controversies and social issues. And this annoys Rono. But it does t interfere with his running. After a Low period More than a year ago in which he received a re ported death threat and suffered an ulcer his performances improved steadily. This year he has set world records in the 3,000 meters the 5,000 meters the 10,000 meters and the steeplechase. It is something no one has Ever done in a whole career of running much less in one season. And in breaking the records he has t just shaved them with the gentle touch of a Good Barber he has hacked and butchered them with quiet determination. He has taken whole handfuls of seconds which sometimes take years to Chip away and ripped them away. Look How he did it in april at Berkeley calif., he ran 5,000 meters in 13 08.4, knocking 4.5 seconds off new Zea Lander Dick Quad s world Mark. Several weeks later at the Northwest relays in Seattle he ran the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 8 05.4, cutting 2.6 seconds from the world Mark set by Sweden s Anders Garde Rud in the 76 olympics. Then in june he ran 10,000 meters at Vienna in 27 22.5, knocking eight seconds off the record of schoolmate and fellow kenyan Samson Kim Ambwa. But he was t through. In late june in Oslo he ran 3,000 meters in 7 32.1, knocking 3.1 seconds from the record of England s Brendan Foster. Rono comes from Kenya s rift Valley which apparently is Rife with runners and like his countryman Kip Keino the 1968 olympic 1,500-meter Gold medallist he is a Nandi. He was a Little known steeplechase on the kenyan 1976 olympic team that got caught in the african Boycott. Even today he has Only six years of running experience. As the hotel looms ahead he asks As if to make sure what did you want to ask me about your he is silent for a minute before saying,"ok." then gets out of the car and disappears into the hotel. It is Only 12 hours since he competed in the Frank Furt International track and Field meet where he came in third in the 3,000-meter race behind Markus Ryffel of Switzerland and Bornislaw Malinowski of Poland. That loss however is insignificant in the face of what he has done this year. Nobody not olympians Lasse Viren of Finland nor Al Berto Juantorena of Cuba has equated his performances some feel. But unlike Viren and Juantorena few spectators have seen his record runs. At Vienna 500 saw him in Oslo 13,000 saw him 2,000 saw him at Berkeley and about 200 saw him in Seattle a far cry from the millions who witnessed the performances in Viren and Juantorena in the olympics. In the hotel at 10 o clock a Knock on Rono s door produces no reply. Then Back in the lobby he is glimpsed As he disappears through the front doors towards a waiting bus. Before he gets aboard he is asked what is probably a ridiculous question but still it has to be asked do you have time for a few questions his Quick look at the bus answers that but still he re plies what is it you want to ask me it is almost As if he does not remember the earlier conversation. And there Are Many questions to be asked. Questions about your running i must catch this bus to Koblenz you see he says haltingly and uneasily. We Are going to a meet he pauses a moment then adds before boarding the bus i can talk by Telephone. Call me at the hotel in Kob Lenz and i will answer your then he is gone. Actually maybe All the questions could be boiled Down to one which is what everyone wants to know is he Superman or is there something in the kenyan drinking water where he grew up somehow it s not the kind of question you ask a Man who is Rushing to catch a bus. And anyway the world will know the answer in another year or two. The stars and stripes Page 15
