My greatest race: Brendan Foster

On home turf, the European champion vowed to christen the revamped Gateshead Stadium with a world record bid

Gateshead Meeting, Gateshead,  August 3, 1974 – 3000m, first place, 7:35.2 (world record)

In 1972, I ran the 1500m in the Olympics and was fifth. I thought: “That’s as good as I’m going to get,” so I stepped up to the 5000m. I ran two miles at Crystal Palace in 1973 and broke the world record but then, in the autumn of that year, Gateshead Council decided that, with money in the budget following local government reorganisation, they would build a proper track at the stadium instead of the ash track which we’d had for years.

They held a reception for my two miles record and I’d had a couple of drinks. I did a reply saying thanks very much indeed and I then said: “I promise you, if you put the track in, I’ll come back and organise an event and break a world record.” Of course, it was reported in the press and everything locally. Eventually, summer came around and I thought: “I’m going to have to do it.” People started referring to it and it became a big deal.

The Commonwealth Games was in January 1974 and I finished second in the 5000m, breaking the British record for that distance and also in the 1500m. I was obviously running really well and the world record was a logical step.

I thought: “Let’s go for the 3000m,” which was Emiel Puttemans’ record. It was a bloody good record of 7:37.6. It’d been 7:39 before that. When I started studying it, I realised I needed to run 61 seconds for seven-and-a-half laps, which is quite a tall order. Luckily, I was in good shape.

The track was laid about 10 days beforehand. Before they put the lines on it, I ran on it and thought: “This is really good.” It probably felt like these new running shoes. It was nice and bouncy, it looked good and it felt good.

For the meeting that we organised, we’d sold all the tickets. It was absolutely packed with 10,000-12,000 people so it was all turning into a big event. ITV decided they wanted to televise it.

Maybe nowadays, making a promise that you were going to get a world record would feel a bit risky and a bit stupid, unnecessarily aggressive or loud. This was different. It was just matter of fact. It didn’t feel as though, if it didn’t happen, it would be a big deal. Now, if I’d said I was going to do it, and I didn’t manage it, I would be battered on social media.

I’d trained in Leeds with Mike Baxter, an international who’d run at the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships for Great Britain in the 5000m. When I told him I was going to go for this record, he said he’d run the first mile for me.

He took me around in about 3:47 for 1500m and then I had to do the rest myself, because we didn’t have pacemakers in those days. They weren’t really allowed, so he had to keep going with it and run the whole race.

The crowd was mental. The minute I stepped on the track, they were cheering and, as the race went on, you could feel it. Coming into the finishing straight, there were so many people on the trackside and they were almost invading the track at the finish. It was the first major event at Gateshead but it wasn’t a new stadium. It was an old wooden stadium, everyone was stomping on the floor and you could hear it.

It was a raucous occasion and a great one. The leader of Gateshead Council often tells me he was there when that happened. He was only 15 years of age but still remembers it to this day. Lots of people came. In fact, I’ve probably met 100,000 people who said they were there to see it! And that was a springboard for the halcyon days of athletics in Gateshead.

A few weeks later I won the European title as well. When I lined up in Rome, I was running against the greatest distance runner of all time in Lasse Viren. But, after Gateshead, I knew I was in great shape. I knew I could beat him. I just had to perform in Rome but I had the confidence that came from running faster than he’d ever run before. It was his two miles world record I’d broken the year before so I knew
he couldn’t run any faster than me.

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In the final in Rome, I broke away and he came with me. There was a short period when he was literally on my shoulder and I was thinking: “Right, just go faster, just go faster, just go faster,” which I did and eventually broke him, and he dropped back.

The confidence came from breaking that 3000m record because at the time it was considered one of the top marks. In fact, it was only in recent years that the stadium record was broken at Gateshead, so it was a good record. It was a good performance.

As told to Mark Woods

» This article first appeared in the March issue of AW magazine, which you can buy here

My greatest race: Brendan Foster appeared first on AW.