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Emil Zatopek, Empire Games 1954, Jack Holden, Jim Peters, Joe McGhee, Johnny Johnston, Stan Cox, Vancouver Marathon Collapse 1954
Born in Homerton, London in October 1918, Jim Peters was to become one of Britain’s greatest ever marathon runners.
During the late 1930′s Jim was a promising middle distance and cross-country runner, but by the time he was 20 years old World War 2 broke out, which interrupted any further development. After the war he rejoined his local club Essex Beagles and quickly improved over 3 and 6 mile track events, which lead to him making it to the 1948 Olympics in the 10,000m. Having been used to beating most opponents in the UK it was a terrible shock to come up against the formidable Emil Zatopek who lapped everyone but the 2nd place runner. After finishing in a despondent 32 minutes, Jim decided to retire, feeling that at 30 years old he wasn’t going to be able to reach a higher level on the track.
His coach Johnny Johnston had first suggested marathon running to Peters after the ’48 Games and a year on after a bit-part track season Peters decided he wanted to get back into the international scene as a marathon runner. It was a low-key affair, the main aim being to run everyday at a decent pace starting off only with 4 – 5 mile runs.
By 1951 his training had been stepped up and his coach decided he was ready to face Jack Holden in the Finchley 20; it would give Jim an idea of how well he was progressing being up against Britain’s best marathoner. Despite being beaten, Peters gave Holden a tough race forcing him to improve his course record to win in 1hr 50, Peters was 2 minutes behind with 1hr 52. In June they would meet again in th Polytechnic Marathon; Holden was still the clear favourite, but at 44 years old he was coming to the end of his career. Peters’ coach suggested the risky tactic of going off faster than target pace to try an unsettle Holden. The tactic seemed to work, covering 5 miles in 27:57 Peters got an early lead, but Holden drew level and they covered 10 miles in 54:45. Holden sprung the next surprise opening up a big gap with a 5-minute mile at the halfway point. At around 18 miles the gap wasn’t increasing and Holden looked around behind him which Peters took as an incentive that he was starting to struggle. A mile later, Peters caught him and went straight into the lead reaching 20 miles in 1hr 52:35, Holden ended up dropping out doubled up with stomach cramps having probably over-reached himself. Even though he was slowing down covering the last 6.2 miles in 37:19, Peters went on to win in 2hr 29:24, a new British record.
In 1952 Peters was ready to avenge his Olympic disappointment and in June set a world record of 2hr 20:42, smashing the old record by 5 minutes. It was an aggressive run, covering 10 miles in 51:35, 15 miles in 1hr 17:23, and slightly slowing at 20 miles in 1hr 45. He was now hot favourite for Gold in Helsinki a month later, but his old nemesis Zatopek would deny him again. Having won the 5,000m and 10,000m it was difficult for Peters to gauge what Zatopek’s intentions were, did he choose to enter, or was he forced to enter by his governing body? Peters decided (against his coach’s wishes) to shoot straight to the front and take the race to Zatopek with the aim of winning in a similar fashion to the way he beat Jack Holden. Splits from the race show that by 5k, he had a lead of 19 secs and roughly 17 seconds at 10k, which was covered in 31:55 (faster than he ran in the 10,000m in ’48!). By 15k, still going at around 2hr 12 pace, Zatopek drew up alongside and then asked Peters if the pace was ok, clearly Peters knew they were running very fast, but decided to call his bluff and said it was too slow, Zatopek looked surprised at this and asked again, to which Peters reaffirmed that it was too slow. Zatopek then gradually opened a gap, but this time there would be no way back for Peters. By halfway, he was only a dozen seconds behind, but by 30k he was close to a minute in arrears. After 35k it was all over and he went down with severe cramps in his left side. Zatopek went on to win in an Olympic record of 2hr 23.
It was a bitter blow for Peters and many wanted to know where it all went wrong:
Prior to departing Harold Abrahams was concerned about how Peters and Cox (also coached by Johnny Johnston) could repeat their performances only a month after they destroyed the previous record with 2hr 20 and 2hr 21. He certainly had a valid point, Peters managed to handle marathons close together in 1953, but in ’52 he probably wasn’t ready.
The plane journey was a nightmare; a six-hour journey sat near to a faulty door causing a nasty draught, then to top it off the plane was struck by lightning. This was only 3 days before the race.
Lastly, and very much a mistake on Jim Peters part, was the fact that he ran the first 10 miles at least 15 secs per mile too fast, which played right into the hands of speed merchant, but vastly inexperienced marathon runner, Zatopek.
This time there was no thought of retirement and 1953 was a relentless assault by a runner clearly burning with anger and disappointment from his Olympic failure and he kicked off with a course record in the Morpeth to Newcastle race on New Years Day. He then was selected as captain for Britain in the international cross-country championships, then it was time to have a go at the 1 hour track record, where he just about bettered Walter George’s long standing native record, but fell short of Alf Shrubb’s British record by 100 yards. In June it was the Polytechnic marathon again. Even though it wasn’t the AAA’s Championship, Jim decided he wanted to run this race knowing that he was well capable of putting up a world best, which he did in 2hr 18:40, officially the first sub 2hr 20 marathon! * It was a much more even paced run, he was 2 minutes slower than last year at 15 miles and reached 20 miles in 1hr 45:05. He then defended his AAA’s title in Cardiff with a solid 2hr 22. A course record followed at Enschede covering 10k in 32:57, 20k in 65:01 and halfway in 68 mins before finishing in 2hr 19. Only three weeks later another world best was set in the Turku marathon of 2hr 18:34 (5k: 15:55, 10k: 32:02, 25k: 1hr 19:41, 30k: 1hr 37:01, 35k: 1hr 53:05), smashing the course record and beating his fierce rival, local boy Veikko Karvonen by 7 minutes. This was perhaps Jim Peters’ greatest career win after the disappointment in Finland the year before. Looking back on 1953 there’s few distance runners that could match such an emphatic year. Peters gained international honours for cross-country, track and road all in a calendar year. He also set 2 world records and 3 course records in the space of 3 months. The statistics are remarkable, but unfortunately what happens in the following year over-shadows Peters great achievements…
1954 started off well enough with a win in the Morpeth to Newcastle race and another course record of 66:08, passing 12 miles in under 59 minutes. Then came the Boston marathon in April, in the days before world championships and big money marathons, Boston was “the” marathon to compete in back then. Despite a busy schedule Peters accepted the offer to run, but due to strict amateur codes of the day, the logistics and funding made things difficult. Getting time off work was another issue, therefore he only arrived less than 48 hours before the race. He was up against a very different Karvonen this time, he had stayed out there after travelling over with the Finnish team and had two months of perfect preparation. He exacted his revenge on Jim by breaking away after 20 miles to win by 2 mins in 2hr 20. It was the first setback Peters had suffered since Helsinki two years ago and ended a superb marathon winning streak. Undeterred, he went on to have a successful summer, even bagging a personal best on the track with the 6 miles in 28:57. The Polytechnic marathon followed and was perfectly executed covering 5 miles in 26:40, 10 miles in 52:53 and 20 miles in 1hr 44:25, setting up a new world’s best in 2hr 17:39. Over the next two months Peters was putting the finishing touches to his preparations for the Empire Games and European Championships.
Peters was in the form of his life and bagged himself a surprise Bronze medal in the 6 miles on the opening day. A week later he would be lining up for the marathon, the conditions were hot and it was held in the middle of the day. Peters and his team-mate Cox had concerns about the course and protested about the distance, found to be at least half a mile too long, but it was only shortened by 50 feet. To make things even more harsh for the marathon runners, the event was being held when Bannister and Landy would go head to head in what was billed as the “Mile of the Century”, an event most of them would have liked to witness themselves, but that also meant most of the officials did too, leaving a lot of the runners with little support on the course. The race started well, Peters and Cox took an early lead with Joe McGhee, by 9 miles Peters pulled away on the hill and went on to cover 10 miles in around 55 minutes. By halfway Peters had a lead of 300 yards from Cox, but strangely, thought that was too close for comfort. Probably due to the desperation of wanting Gold in a major championship, Peters made an ill-advised bid to pull further away and by 20 miles (1hr 48) had a massive lead, but there was no British officials out on the course to advise him. Convinced Cox was still only a minute or so behind, Peters hammered the pace even more. Unknown to him, Cox had dropped out after collapsing at 24 miles. Peters now had a lead in excess of 15 minutes, but was starting to suffer. On arriving at the stadium in around 2hr 20, Peters was almost senseless and barely able to run in a straight line, but the finish was in sight. After a wobble he stumbled and fell on the cinder track, bewildered and dazed he got back up stumbling and falling (up to twelve times) towards the finish line. No-one wanted to step in as it would disqualify Peters, but what they didn’t realise was that the finish was actually not where the Bannister and Landy race finished. Peters staggered over the line before being caught and taken away unconscious, but unfortunately the actual finish line was 200m away. A few minutes later Joe McGhee entered the stadium to win in a well-judged 2hr 39. There have been many stories exaggerating how McGhee went on to win, he was struggling, but wasn’t “collapsed by the kerb”, as was reported. It was a tragedy that could so easily have been avoided, but for some significant errors:
- The race should have been held early morning or late evening, as a result, only six runners finished.
- If he had information along the way, Peters could have taken the last few miles easy and still win comfortably.
- Tragically, it’s thought that Peters had actually covered the marathon distance, as the course was reported to be long.
Despite seeming to make a full recovery, there were still concerns about the health risks for Peters’ to embark on another marathon and in October, Jim Peters announced his retirement, which came as no surprise to the media who were in agreement that it would be ill-advised to continue. Still, it must have been frustrating for him to watch Alain Mimoun win the Olympic marathon in 1956 with a modest time of 2hr 26.
Jim Peters died in January 1999 after a six-year battle with cancer. In his latter years he was told by Tim Noakes (Lore Of Running author) that he regarded him as the greatest ever marathon runner and it’s a valid claim: Peters lowered the world record four times, no other marathon runner has ever lowered it on as many occasions.
*The 1953 Boston marathon was won in 2hr 18, but was discovered to be about a kilometre short.
Training:
In his track days up to London ’48, Peters training was quite modest and consisted of running five times per week which would include a session or time trial, with a race on the Saturday. This was good enough to be competitive at national level, but was lacking in comparison to what Viljo Heino and Emile Zatopek were doing at international level. From 1950 onwards Peters focused on the marathon and with his coach, Johnny Johnston they revolutionised training methods for the distance. In the past, the focus was on doing 5 to 6 runs per week, consisting of 20 mile outings and a long walk at the weekend. Peters and Johnston decided against this practice and instead the focus was on more quality and frequency. Initially the volume would only be around 60 miles per week with all mileage done at under 6 minute-per mile pace, and, after a successful debut, the decision was made to step it up. In the lead up to Helsinki ’52 the volume was up to 100 miles per week with 10 outings and the majority of them at sub 5:30 pace. This increased further and by the end of his career in 1954 he would clock up to 130 miles per week (highest of 131.5) from 12 outings, again, nearly all run at or under marathon pace. From 1952 – 1953, he covered over 4,000 miles and in the 9 months leading up to Vancouver in 1954 he covered over 4,700 miles. It was very aggressive training and was unprecedented at the time, and in the present day most of his running would be classed as tempo workouts. Despite his success, he was often criticised for the volume and intensity of his regime. Harold Abrahams (article pictured) was quite vocal in his opposition to the type of training Peters was doing, as well as his approach in setting off too fast in his races. Now in all fairness to Abrahams, he had the utmost respect and genuinely wanted the best for Peters. Whilst clearly out of touch with the way training was progressing, he did have a valid point in the way Jim Peters raced, which was sometimes too fast early on, as Helsinki in 1952 and Vancouver in 1954 proved.
In 1954 a typical week would be:
Mon – Fri: Noon: 5 – 6 miles on the track at 5:00 to 5:10 per mile pace. Pm: 10 – 12 miles around 5:20 per mile pace.
Sat: Race or Fartlek run.
Sun: 16 miles at 5:20 – 5:30 per mile pace.
Peters had plans to run three times per day after Vancouver, which he was starting to experiment with in 1954. He believed that he may have got to around 2hr 15 off that training.
Performances:
3 miles: 14:09 (1954)
6 miles: 28:57 (1954)
Marathon: 2hr 17:39 (1954)
Further Reading:
Jim Peters published an autobiography in 1955 titled “In The Long Run” and a book on training with his coach Johnny Johnston, “Modern Middle and Long Distance Running” in 1957. Both books have been out of print for many years, but do appear on the internet every now and then, normally in the region of £15 – £20 each.
A new book on Jim Peters was long overdue and thankfully last year Rob Hadgraft published “Plimsolls On Eyeballs Out”, which is a brilliant and detailed biography on this great runner. For more information check: http://www.robhadgraft.com/jimpeters.htm