by Stan Eldon
I was to attend Nos Galan many times in the future, including my turn as Mystery Runner in 1964, running down from Llanwonno Churchyard and the grave of Guto Nythbran (Griffith Morgan), a celebrated Welshman who died in 1737, and who was reputed to have run twelve miles in “seven minutes within the hour”. The ritual of a secret well-known runner acting as the Mystery Runner, and running the three miles or so down the mountain prior to the start of what was then the midnight race, was part of the fun and magic of the special Nos Galan race. The first runner to have the privilege was Tom Richards, the 1948 Olympic silver medallist; and others in the early days included Ken Norris, Martin Hyman, John Merriman, Ron Jones and following me in 1965 and 1966, were two of our great women Olympic gold medallists, Ann Packer and Mary Rand. I escorted the mystery runners on more than one occasion, and in particular 1986, when the race was reintroduced after a break of thirteen years. I ran down with Kirsty Wade, double Commonwealth gold medal winner. There was always a short dedication at the graveside, and then it was into the pub for drinks all round, before lighting the torches and running down what could sometimes be snow-covered and treacherous roads. On one run, the land rover escort could not make it through the snow. Each year those that lived on the route would turn out to cheer, and out would come trays of drinks and we would be kissed by all the females, whatever their age, and even by a few of the fellows. The last time I ran I think I was kissed by grandmothers who had been young girls when I first ran in 1958. With the drink it was a wonder any of us arrived at the start still sober. There are bigger events, but there is still nothing to compare to the Nos Galan races, which were the brainchild of Bernard Baldwin who ran them for many years. His enthusiasm was infectious, and whenever I was attending the event, he would take me and others to the nightclubs in Mountain Ash and elsewhere, and introduce us to the packed clubs. He was always overpoweringly generous in the way he introduced any of us, and could turn a non-sports star, like my wife Marion, into a star by his introduction. We supplied the Nos Galan running vests for many years, and Marion used to cut out the letters and sew Nos Galan onto the vests, and Bernard always made a great thing about this.
The following year 1959, I had quite an exciting time over the country, on the road and on the track. I had tied myself to Puma Shoes, although no money changed hands, but they did send me regular consignments of their latest shoes for my use and comments. The letters were always signed by Armin Dassler, the boss at Puma himself, and we corresponded regularly. Both Adidas and Puma were started by the Dassler family.
The year did not start off well though. I ran in the Berkshire Championships at Newbury and although I won easily, as usual it was at a price. During the race one of my feet went into what looked like a puddle, but was in fact quite a deep hole in some concrete surfacing and I damaged my lower leg quite badly. I took three days off at this critical time and then managed to get back to reasonable training, but only around fifty miles a week for a couple of weeks, leading up to the Inter Counties Championship at Parliament Hill in London. On the usual tough, heavy going on this course, I finished fifth in 38:43 for the seven mile course, behind the winner Basil Heatley 38:01, John Merriman 38:21, John Anderson 38:28 and Alan Perkins 38:39. Not bad, but I had been looking forward to having my best ever run in that particular race.
It was then back to serious training, and the mileage again climbed back to 100 a week. The last week in January started off with a run in the San Sebastian Cross-Country race in Spain. I did not have the best of runs for the seven mile race and finished seventeenth in 40:24. It was never the easiest of journeys to this race, which I ran a couple of times. The team would leave Victoria Station in London on the 11 p.m. wagons-lits train to Paris, and although we had comfortable sleeping accommodation, we did not get much sleep. When the train arrived at Dover, it would be driven onto the ferry and the chains would make a lot of noise as the train was secured in the hold. Then it was the crossing which sometimes could be rough, and we would arrive at the Gare du Nord in Paris at about 6 a.m. It was then another train journey down to San Sebastian.
This was my first visit to Spain, and I well remember one incident which gave our team a big laugh at the time. In those days when teams went abroad, it was quite common, in fact almost recommended, that we took some familiar food with us. On this occasion I had taken Weetabix for my breakfast. I tried to explain to the Spanish waiter that I wanted some milk and sugar to go with them, but he insisted that he took them away for the chef to prepare! After a considerable time, a dish was put back in front of me; it contained a brownie-white milky liquid but no real evidence of my Weetabix. Inquiries were made and it turned out that they had never seen this breakfast cereal before, and did not understand what to do with it. They had boiled the Weetabix in milk and then strained off the solids, and presented me apparently with what was left. Nowadays when breakfast cereals are universal, it is easy to forget that forty years ago this was not the case.
After my return from Spain it was back to that 100 miles a week, only easing off in the week before the Southern Counties Championships at Aylesford in Kent. I had another easy win in 48:25 for the nine mile course against good opposition again. Frank Sando, on his home course, chased me home in forty-nine minutes and George Knight was third in 49:06. Ken Norris was ninth, Bruce Tulloh seventeenth and Derek Ibbotson twenty-sixth. My training continued at the 100 mile level, and I was running every day with quite a few double training days. Most weeks I was running between nine and twelve times, with the hardest days totalling over twenty miles.
I eased off in the first week of March, ready for the National at Peterborough, where I failed to make up for my disappointment of the previous year, and only finished fifth in 48:14 for the nine miles.
I was again selected for the English Cross-Country team because of this fifth position in the National Championships. The team were flying out to Lisbon, Portugal, on the Thursday, twelve days later, ready for the race on the Saturday, but I could not go with them as I had the National Police Cross-Country on the Thursday, and I felt it was my duty to run for the Berkshire Constabulary and win my third title, which I did with a time of 35:59 for the 6.5 mile course. I then made my own way out to Lisbon on Friday to meet up with my team mates.
There was a good race on the Saturday, but I could not repeat my win of the previous year; the race on the Thursday had taken the edge off my run, but I did not mind too much as Fred Norris, one of our team won, and Frank Sando was third, with Basil Heatley (the silver medallist in the 1964 Olympic Marathon) coming in fourth and me fifth.
I always felt a little cheated by the official result as Basil and I ran in together, but they decided to split us. As always, England won the team race quite comfortably.
There was quite a do after the race; a dinner with plenty of drink, cheap brandy and wine. Up to this stage in my life, I do not think I had hardly ever touched alcohol, so I indulged a little, drinking the brandy of some of my fellows. Afterwards we all went to a cellar nightclub but my evening there did not last long. I remember sitting at a table with a couple of girls (topless I think) leaning over me, but I quickly passed out and slid off my chair. Luckily Frank Orton, an athletic official who I knew from Reading, was there and he got me into a taxi and back to the hotel, where I slept it off. Next morning I was up earlier and a lot fresher than my team mates who had stayed much later at the club.
Another cracking run followed the next week in the Thames Valley Cranford Relay, where I set another record fastest lap of 22:01 for the 4 mile 1,500 yard circuit. Only two days later I did win the event I had failed to win the previous year; the Maidenhead ten mile race which I took with 51:18. It was sweet revenge as I beat Tony Redrup (Wycombe), who had beaten me in 1958, by just under two minutes. These were good days for Reading AC who had three teams in the top ten team places. Thirty-three runners ran faster than the hour, but allowing for the fact that the distance was about 10.4 miles, the f
irst fifty-four would have beaten that time. These included no less than ten from Reading AC.
It was then onto another favourite event of mine, the Uxbridge Road Relay, which was run around two laps, mainly on the A40. It would be a nightmare trying to run the same circuit today. The record for the fastest lap was held by Frank Sando with 26:43. I had a good run and took the record down to 26:30 for the 5 miles 1,000 yards distance.
It was then on to track training to sharpen myself up for the season ahead. My first track race was at the White City in the Southern six miles, where I only came fourth in 28:48. That did not worry me as I knew I had a long season ahead of me, and the Olympics were the following year. A typical week at this stage of the season was:-
Day 1 - 4.5 miles on road and grass with 2.5 miles running on the track doing sprints from 50 to 150 yards.
Day 2 - 4 miles on road, one lap around park and 7 miles on track, including 10 × 440 yards in 64 to 66 seconds with half a lap jog between, and finished with more sprinting and some light weight training.
Day 3 - 4.5 miles on road, lap of park and 6.5 miles on track, including 5 × 880 yards with 1 lap jog in between. The times for the 880 yards were 2:15, 2:18, 2:14, 2:15 and 2:12.
Day 4 - 12 miles made up of 4.5 on road, 1 lap around park, and 6.5 miles on track running 6 × 3/4 miles.
Day 5 - 10 miles - a mixture of road and track running with sprints.
Day 6 - 13 miles - including road and track running. 1.5 miles in 6:52 (lap times 66, 68, 68, 68, 74 and 68), followed by 4 × 440 yards in 61.8, 65, 63.5 and 62 seconds, with short fast sprints to finish.
Day 7 - 8 miles - mixture of road, grass and track running, steady running with some sprinting.
On the last day in April I was back at Iffley Road, Oxford, for the annual AAA v University match, where I again ran the two miles and came second in 8:52.2. Two days later I was completing the double for Windsor in a club match, winning the one mile in 4:23.1, and the two miles in 9:10.8.
The following week I won a 1,500 metre race in the middle of the week, and on the Saturday a two mile race at Southampton in 9:5.4.
On the 10th May my first daughter was born, Caroline Louise. She was born at our new police house and I was present at the birth. She weighed in at just five pounds twelve ounces, and was so small I held her up in one hand.
I was straight back in to racing and travelling, and again ran in the Hornchurch Harriers Invitation meeting on 14th May, where I ran 2,000 metres in 5:20 to finish third.
Two days later it was back at the White City, to run for Berkshire in the Inter Counties at three miles. On this occasion I was narrowly beaten by Steve James, and we were both given the same time of 13:36. It took the judges fifteen minutes to decide he had won and it was not a dead heat.
On the Bank Holiday Monday, two days later, I ran the six miles at the same meeting, but only finished fifth in 29:4.6.
After this it was back to the training with some good sessions, including my usual 4 × 880 yards and 4 × 3/4 mile. I also packed in the 220 and 440 yard distances to sharpen up on my speed. It paid off and I had two good runs in the Berkshire Championships at Palmer Park, Reading. I had very comfortable wins in the three miles, where I ran the season’s fastest time in the world of 13:35.6, and an event I was not very good at, the 3,000 metre steeplechase, where I won in 9:35. I think I ran this because the tight programme did not allow me to run my usual double of the three and one mile races.
During the next week I had two races; the first at Brighton, where I finished second in a two mile invitation race in 8:48.4, and a one mile invitation at Chatham, where I came only fifth in 4:16.6.
On the middle Saturday in June, I ran in the Coronation Trophy at Guildford, and had a busy afternoon finishing second in the 880 yards in 2:2.8, winning the two miles in 9:10.5, and even running third in the 440 yards in 57.2, not a very good time considering I won my first race at school in that time in 1949, ten years earlier.
My programme of racing now got very busy, and my next race was in a handicap at Middlesbrough in the middle of the week, where I finished third, running from scratch in 8:40.6. A time that was to be my best ever for the distance. On the Saturday after I returned, it was the Southern Counties three miles at Motspur Park. Not a good run, only fifth in 13:50.6.
A few days later I was in Paris for a 3,000 metre international, and won in 8:16.2. Three days later, I ran against the man who had held the British six mile record before me, Ken Norris of Thames Valley Harriers, in a one mile race at Camberley. He got his own back and won, leaving me in second place, 4:17.2.
On the Wednesday of the following week, I ran for England as opposed to GB, against East Germany and won the 5,000 metres in 14:6.4. It was described as a shock win by the press, and not least because I stayed back for the first mile and then took off. An East German, Hans Grodotski, was second in 14:12.2, and my team colleague Kevin Gilligan, was third in 14:13. The Times described my run as “front running at its best”. This may have been the first occasion that flowers were presented at an athletic meeting. There was an exchange of flowers between the two teams instead of playing the national anthems!
A few more club and invitation races followed before the AAA Championships in the middle of July. I entered and ran both the six miles on the Friday evening, and the three miles on the Saturday, which as usual meant two tough races in less than twenty-four hours. I repeated my win of 1958 in the six miles, although the time was seven seconds slower than my British record of 28:5. My old rival John Merriman was second in 28:15.8. I was still a little tired on the Saturday when I lined up for the shorter distance, but still managed third in 13:38.
There were some good races in 1959, and not all of them were serious internationals. My daughter Caroline had been born in May, and one of the invitations I had was to run in the Devon Police Sports at Torquay as I had done in the previous year. Myself, Marion and baby Caroline went off to Torquay in the holiday season. We had a very good few days; I won a one mile handicap race off twenty-five yards in 4:11, and took second place in a three mile race, where I ran off scratch in 13:57, which won me some prizes and about £20 in a brown envelope, as well as my travelling expenses. In those days £20 was more than twice my weekly pay as a beat policeman, so with the few days’ holiday and the prizes worth around another £20, it was a lucrative week.
Of course, between my training and many races, I was carrying out normal police duties for the whole period between 1956 and 1962. Some of these were the usual, dealing with accidents and minor crime (there was not much serious crime on my beat), but it did include some special duties, like attending Ascot Races for the Royal Meeting. I used to get an early shift, and was normally on the entrance to the racecourse from the Great Park at 7 a.m. as security for the royal family, who used to go onto the course at that time for a canter. I would be there in my white gloves and give a quick salute to the party, which was always quite large, with the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, the old Duke of Gloucester and others. After their canter around the course, they would be back at the gate to return to the castle.
On another occasion, I was on special duty in Bracknell when the Shah of Persia made a visit to the town. I remember moving from one part of the town to another as he moved around to take up different positions, so I suppose there was a shortage of manpower even in those days.
At the end of that week I was in Brighton, and won my usual double in the National Police Championships for the third time. My winning times were 4:17.8 for the mile and 14:9.8 for the three miles.
The invitation races and club races kept me busy, and some of my weekly training totals were quite low as a result, varying from only thirty-five miles to about sixty miles in a week. I ran in the invitation meeting at Paddington again, and finished fourth in a 1,500 metres in 3:54.1. I also ran in a special mile race at Motspur Park, finishing only seventh, but in 4:11.8.
These low-key races warmed me up nicely for another international race. This time for GB against West Germany at the White City, and the distance was six miles which I won in 28:18.6; so in the space of a month, I had won races against the best in the two German states.
I liked running at the White City; it was such an intimate place to run. There was always a huge crowd and warming up had to be done under the stands, running through the spectators arriving and buying refreshments during the meeting. I would do a little warm up an hour before my race and then go back to the changing rooms, lay on a bench and go to sleep for thirty minutes, before completing the warm up. Then it was under the tunnel and up onto the centre of the track by the water jump and you were in the arena. I imagine it was a bit like a gladiator would have felt, but if I failed I knew my life was safe. We did not worry very much about supplements in those days, but there was always Horlicks available at the White City, both in drink form and tablets. I don’t think any of us would have failed a drugs test with this our only stimulant.
