Ron Clarke dies: the greatest record breaker in running history, June 2015
Ron Clarke dies: the greatest record breaker in running history
The great Ron Clarke has died on the Gold Coast, Australia, where in later life he served as Mayor. Roger Robinson's formal obituary is on the Running Times website and Runner's World Newswire. Running Times also gives a link to Roger's latest feature article, in the July issue of the print magazine, describing the day 50 years ago (July 10, 1965) when he watched Clarke break the world record for 3 miles at London's White City stadium.
"It's a race that has stayed in my memory as one of the greatest I ever witnessed. Ron was really kind and helpful when I was writing the article, generously and honestly sharing his own memories. He even revealed for the first time that he was mainly anxious to get the race over with so that he could rejoin his wife Helen, who had returned to Melbourne to be with her dying mother.
It's a true sadness for me that Ron didn't see the published article. Because he won no gold medals he has been somewhat underrated by history, and my eye-witness narrative tries to capture the huge impact he made on all runners at that time," Roger writes.
