Outrunning the Rabbits

TRACK & FIELD

It had been a long, hard, frustrating year for Jim Ryun. The lanky, 19-year-old University of Kansas sophomore had faithfully logged his usual 120 miles a week in practice and competed in 30 meets from New York to California. He set U.S. records for 800 meters and two miles, ran the fastest half mile (1 min. 44.9 sec.) in history. But he failed by one-tenth of a second to tie Michel Jazy's world record for the mile. That mile mark was Jim's real goal--no American had held it in 29 years--but now it would have to wait. Ryun was tired, and his left knee hurt. There were no more mile races on his schedule, and he was looking ahead to six weeks of "nothing but watching TV."

That was two weeks ago. Last week, thanks to Lyndon Johnson, the U.S. Navy and Air Force, the Russians, the Poles and three "rabbits," Ryun ran an unscheduled mile--and got his record.

Picking Up the Pace. President Johnson ordered U.S. planes to bomb oil-storage depots near Hanoi and Haiphong. The Russians tried to make political capital out of the bombings by canceling a track meet with the "aggressor" U.S., and the Poles followed suit. So last week's Poland-U.S. meet at Berkeley, Calif., became an All-American meet instead, and the mile race was substituted for a 1,500-meter event. The "rabbits" were Jim's competitors--Richard Romo of Texas, Tom Von Ruden of Oklahoma State, and Wade Bell of Oregon--who got together before the race, agreed to help Ryun by pressing the pace. "It will be interesting," explained Von Ruden, "to see what Ryun can do with a fast pace."

Rumors that a record attempt was in the offing brought 15,000 spectators to Berkeley's Edwards Track Stadium, and most of them were on their feet when Von Ruden and Romo, setting the early pace, zipped past the quarter-mile mark in 57.7 sec., with Ryun patiently running a close-up third. Romo passed the lead to Bell during the second quarter; the half-mile time was 1 min. 55.4 sec. In the third lap, Ryun outran his rabbits. He flashed past Romo--"running like a bull," said Romo later--took off after Bell, and with 660 yds. to go, burst into the lead. Spectators and officials screamed encouragement. "Come on, Jim!" they yelled. "Speed it up!" Jim left the rest of the field 20 yards behind, passed the three-quarter-mile mark at 2 min. 55 sec., and really poured it on--pounding through the last quarter mile in 56.3 sec.

Momentarily, the crowd quieted. Then the public-address system boomed: "A new world's record . . ." The roar that followed almost drowned out the announcement of Ryun's time. The judges had clocked him at 3 min. 51.3 sec.--a fantastic 2.3 sec. faster than Jazy's year-old record.

A Notion of Motion. Jim was hardly even breathing hard. "He's a physiological phenomenon," said Texas Southern Coach Stan Wright. He certainly is. Already the No. 1 distance runner in history, Ryun still has most of his racing career ahead of him, and he has no notion of what his limits may be. "Faster," he shrugged. "I always feel I can run faster." So saying, he headed for the Top of the Mark in San Francisco to celebrate his record-smashing victory--only to get turned away because he was under age.

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