Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: WaltMurphy44@gmail.com) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission
Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com)
This Day in Track & Field—October 4
1900—Rabbits have been commonplace in races 800m and up for a long time, but in a ¼-Mile? Maxey Long, the winner of the 400-meters at the Paris Olympics earlier in the season, ran a pre-IAAF World Record of 47.0 for 440-Yards (around one turn) in an Exhibition Handicap race in Guttenberg,NJ and got help from D. Edwards, who “rabbited” for Long for 220y after being given a 10y start, dropping out at the halfway point, but his place was taken by P.J. Walsh, who paced Long to the finish!
1931—France’s Jules Ladoumègue lived up to the title of the meet in Paris—“Record Attempt”—by running 4:09.2 to break Paavo Nurmi’s 8-year old World Record for the Mile (4:10.4).
Ladoumègue, the silver medalist in the 1500-meters at the 1928 Olympics, had set a World Record of 3:49.2 for 1500-meters the previous year on the same track in Paris.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Ladoumègue
1953—Great Britain’s Jim Peters ran 2:18:34.8 in Turku, Finland, to better his own World Record in the Marathon,
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_world_record_progression
1997—Villanova celebrated the 100th year of its T&F program by bringing…
