Derek Redmond’s Olympic Spirit (1992)

Derek Redmond was prepared for the 400m semifinal race at the Olympics in Barcelona in 1992. He felt he was in the best shape of his life. Despite 8 operations on his Achilles tendons over the past 4 years, he felt very confident. His father Jim, sitting in the stands, also had high hopes. Jim and his son were very close and he made it to all of the championship races.

Derek gets off to a good start. Coming around the first bend in the track, tragedy struck as Derek’s hamstring went. Initially he thought he had been shot because the pain was so great. His leg would not function. London’s The Guardian newspaper quoted him, “Everything I had worked for was finished. I hated everybody. I hated the world. I hated hamstrings. I hated it all. I felt so bitter that I was injured again. I told myself I had to finish. I kept hopping round. Then, with 100 metres to go, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was my old man.”

Derek hopped on one leg for half a lap before his father came to his aid. Together they finished the race arm-in-arm to a standing ovation. Now, some 17 years after the race, not many people remember who won that semi-final race or who even won the final. But, many still remember Derek Redmond.

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30 second Visa Commercial capturing the event (Is there a better voice in the business than Morgan Freeman’s?):

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Square (Derek & Dad walking) photo credit: Gray Mortimore /Allsport

High-Altitude Runner Matt Carpenter Continues to Dominate

Matt Carpenter runs long distance races at high altitudes, sometimes running up and down a mountainside — 13 miles up and 13 miles down. Carpenter, 44 years old, won 6 of these races last year and set course records in two of them.

At 5’7″ tall and 122 pounds, Carpenter isn’t pulling a lot of weight up the mountainside with him. In a test of his body’s ability to process oxygen, Carpenter scored a 90.2. As a reference point, Lance Armstrong recorded a 81 on the same test. Matt Carpenter’s resting heart rate has been recorded at 33 beats per minute.

According to the NY Times, Carpenter runs for one hour and a half on his “rest” days — 3 hours a day on training days.

Read article: NY Times

ENJOY THIS SHORT CLIP (from the film “14,115 Feet” by Pozole Films)

Sportsmanship on display in high school track

Here’s a track story to restore your faith in sportsmanship and all that’s good in sports.

“Precious Medal

An altruistic act by eight high school runners in Washington reaffirmed the value of sportsmanship

Phil Taylor

A YEAR free of scandals and scoundrels is probably too much to expect. But for every failed drug test or recruiting violation that made us wonder if sportsmanship still existed in 2008, there was a tale of those who did the right thing—the noble thing, even.

The trick, as always, is in knowing where to look, because the most uplifting examples often occur in the most out-of-the-way places—like the state 4A track and field championships on May 23 in Pasco, Wash. That was where Nicole Cochran, a senior at Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma, thought she had won the girls’ 3,200-meter title by 3.05 seconds until a judge disqualified her, ruling that she had stepped outside her lane on one of the turns. Almost everyone, including Cochran’s competitors, agreed that the judge was in error, and a video of the race later showed that one of Cochran’s teammates had actually committed the violation. Still, the title was awarded to the runner-up, sophomore Andrea Nelson of Spokane’s Shadle Park High.

Nelson was almost as upset by the injustice as Cochran. “That’s not how I wanted to win state,” she says. “It wasn’t fair. She deserved it. She totally crushed everybody.” After the eight top finishers each took the podium, Nelson decided to do what she could to make things right. She stepped off the platform, walked over to Cochran and placed the first-place medal around the neck of the rightful winner. “It’s your medal,” she told Cochran.”

To Finish the Story: www.vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com

MORE TO THE STORY

Nicole Cochran was reinstated as the 3200 meters Washington State Champion. Nicole notes, “Even though I am now the state champion in the 3200m, the thing I will remember most from that weekend is the sportsmanship displayed by those girls who didn’t need anyone to tell them the right thing to do. That truly gives me hope for high school athletics and its future in the hands of the athletes.”

Read more: Tacoma Weekly

Team Hoyt: An inspirational, father-son story

Dick Hoyt’s son Rick can’t walk or talk. After Rick convinced his dad to push him in his wheelchair in a 5 mile race, he told his dad that he didn’t feel handicapped when they were competing. Inspired by that, Dick has entered and completed with his son hundreds of competitive races including marathons and triathlons. Their times are impressive. Could you run sub 6-minute miles pushing a wheelchair for 10 miles?

THE STORY

From Rick Reilly’s column in Sports Illustrated:

“Strongest Dad in the World

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots.But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.

Eighty-five times he’s pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he’s not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars–all in the same day.

Dick’s also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?

And what has Rick done for his father? Not much–except save his life.

This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.

“He’ll be a vegetable the rest of his life,” Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. “Put him in an institution.”

But the Hoyts weren’t buying it. They noticed the way Rick’s eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. “No way,” Dick says he was told. “There’s nothing going on in his brain.”

“Tell him a joke,” Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.”

TO FINISH THE STORY: Sports Illustrated

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NBC Today Show Youtube video — “Today’s Real Heroes” segment (10 minutes in length, but well worth the watch)

MORE ON THE STORY

Dick and Rick’s achievements are staggering. As of August, 2008, Team Hoyt had completed 229 triathlons, 84 half marathons and 66 marathons. Wow!

Their achievements include these personal bests:

• A 2:40:47 marathon
• A 59:01 10 miler (Are you kidding me? That’s running sub 6-minute miles!)
• A 17:40 5K

Check out all of Team Hoyt’s accomplishments included events and personal bests at www.teamhoyt.com.

61-year-old farmer inspires Australia by winning 543 mile ultra-marathon (1983)

Australia’s 543 mile race from Sydney to Melbourne is considered to be one of the toughest ultra-marathons. World-class athletes typically took about 7 days to complete a race of that length by running for 18 hours per day and sleeping for 6 hours. These athletes, usually in their twenties or thirties, were backed by sporting goods manufacturers and equipped with the latest and greatest gear.

In 1983, a non-traditional entrant decided to race. A 61-year-old farmer, Cliff Young, came dressed in overalls and work boots. At first, most suspected he had come to watch the race. When he picked up his racing number, it created a bit of a stir.

A reporter asked him, “Who are you and what are you doing?”

He replied, “I’m Cliff Young. I’ from a large ranch where we run sheep outside of Melbourne.”

He went on to say, “…I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or four wheel drives, and the whole time I was growing up — until about 4 years ago when we finally made some money and got a four wheeler — whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I’d have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d catch them. I believe I can run this race. It’s only two more days. Five days. I’ve run sheep for three.”

When the race began, the professionals quickly jumped out to an early lead. Young’s gait was more of a shuffle than a pure running style, as he appeared to move leisurely without expending much energy. When other runners stopped for the night to sleep and rest, Cliff continued to move. Although he was still far behind, he continued to make his path for the finish line.

Every night he pulled a little closer to the lead pack. By the last night, he had moved into first place. In a fable-like fashion, the tortoise had passed all of the hares. The 61 year-old, with no teeth, won first place breaking the race record time by 9 hours! After the race, Cliff said that he imagined he was chasing after sheep and trying to outrun a storm. His finishing time was 5 days, 15 hours and 4 minutes.

When awarded the $10,000 first place award, Cliff indicated that he was unaware of any prize before signing up for the race. “They’re five other runners still out there doing it tougher than me,” said Cliff, who ended up giving each of those runners $2,000 and not keeping a penny of the award. Cliff Young became a national hero.

Cliff Young died of cancer at the age of 81. The “Young-Shuffle” style of movement that Cliff pioneered was used by at least three winners of the Sydney to Melbourne race and is used by some ultra-marathoners today. Considered energy-efficient, the style works well for extreme distances.

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