City to surf legends
(Extract from the September/October 2000 issue of Runner's World)
[Note: Norths Joggers have four members who have completed every City to Surf]
... Every year an elite group of runners of a different kind lines up, now numbering not quite 50. They are the 'Legends', runners who have completed every single City to Surf. Their numbers have stabilised over the last few years, as each one of them drags his aging feet to the starting line, too scared to be the next one to break with tradition.
Laurie Coleman, one of the Legends, now keeps stats on all his runs, and has done this since 1976, but said it wasn't always so. "My first two runs took over 80 minutes. In those days, I enjoyed the thought of running but didn't do much. I only had one training run before the first City to Surf, and that was a 4 mile (6.4km) run three weeks before the event. I was happy just to finish, and couldn't walk for days, but I was hooked." He was 26 then and figures that by his 50th City to Surf he'll be 75, so he expects to complete at least the next 20. He was looking forward to his Next Big Run, carrying the Olympic torch 500m through the NSW town of Nambucca, a reward for his work as a volunteer for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Fellow Bears running club member John Tisdale [editorial note: published incorrectly as Peter Tisdale] and fellow Legend was drawn to athletics in his early high school years. John's proudest running moment came when he won the combined GPS sports under 17 mile race in 4:39.4, the time Ron Clarke ran at the same age. Although John never rose to the same level, he was no slouch. He said that for the first 10 years of the City to Surf, he ran under the hour, his best time being 51:18 in 1980. His best result has been 51st placing, achieved in the first run, but leaving him disappointed. "I was trying to get into the first 20, because in the first few runs only they got a prize - a medal. All the other finishers only got certificates." ...