It’s the eve of the Melbourne marathon, which reminds me of the time Bill Rodgers came to town.The Melbourne marathon has been going since 1978. Rodgers set the race record of 2:11:08 in 1982, on the original Frankston-Melbourne course when the race had its original name sponsor, ‘Big M’ flavoured milk. Each year, the media guide reminds us of the time ‘Boston Billy’ came to town.
I remember Rodgers’ visit for different reasons, many of which still produce a smile all these years later.
I met Bill when I ran the 1978 Fukuoka marathon. Rodgers had won the prestigious Japanese marathon the previous year, but fell victim this time to emerging young Japanese star, Toshihiko Seko, who raced to the first of three consecutive victories.
We met again in Montreal in 1979, at the World Cup marathon. Bill’s return to Montreal was scarcely more auspicious than his first visit, which yielded a 40th place finish in the 1976 Olympic race on a still-healing broken foot. This time, on a warm and sunny day, he struggled home in 15th place with me one place behind in vain pursuit of a big-name scalp.
And we had corresponded as the US Olympic team of 1980 fell victim to the ill-advised Jimmy Carter-led boycott of the Moscow Olympics.
At ‘Big M’ time in 1982, Robert de Castella had just won the Brisbane Commonwealth Games marathon, a buoyant time for Melbourne distance running. Linda Lenton, married to Canberra running author Brian, stayed at my parents’ place for the race and had run a personal best 2:57. I had run through in 2:27.
I ran with Bill on Melbourne’s Tan track the day after the race and then interviewed him over a coffee for Australian Runner magazine. Geoff Slattery, then an ace sports journalist with The Age, had also booked in for a chat. Tactfully, I did not mention that the sponsor’s product, the ‘Big M’ of the Melbourne marathon, had rebounded almost instantly from the pit of my stomach when I had taken the only drink on offer in the post-race recovery area.
Presumably, as an honoured guest, Bill got a more suitable post-race beverage. I hope so. Anyway, I had come bearing gifts, an Australian Runner T-shirt. It was the time when amateurism, or rather ‘shamateurism’, in athletics was giving way to professionalism and the US road circuit with its open prize money was leading the way. I presented Bill with his interview ‘payment’ in traditional manner _ under the table _ and we all laughed.
Chatting with Bill was great. As many runners have discovered over the years, he is generous with both his time and in his assessments of competitors. And, though he claims to have a private ‘mean streak’, he is unfailingly affable.
I’ve often quoted a Rodgers’ line on failure _ “There is no depression, other than the death of a close relative or something, that hits you as hard as having a terrible, terrible race in the Olympics” _ without ever being able to remember precisely when he said it. Digging out the magazine in which the interview appeared has answered the riddle. He said it that day!
We were scheduled to meet up again, for a buffet dinner with Chris Wardlaw’s training group at Chris’s home in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
Or we thought we were. Shortly after I got back to ‘the office’, a room in publisher Terry O’Halloran’s flat, a very apologetic Rodgers called to say he had been asked to appear on The Don Lane Show, Melbourne’s top-rating nightly variety television show. They wanted him at precisely the time we had organised dinner.
No problem (meaning big problem), I said, we’ll reorganise. So dinner was moved forward to more like afternoon tea-time, and attendance reduced to Bill, his girl-friend Gail, Chris, his then-wife Marjorie and the few members of the training group flexible enough to be able to accommodate the late change.
Those lucky enough to meet Bill did so as he raced out the door en route to the studio. One, and I’m not going to name Greg McMahon, because he’s a school principal now, congratulated Bill on his run before flooring us all with the comment: “You’d want to run that fast with the wind up your arse!” True, there had been a rare tailwind that year, but that was a bit rough.
We switched on the telly to watch Lane conduct an over-long and fawning interview with Captain Mark Phillips, a leading British equestrian then married to Princess Anne, impatient to hear our honoured guest, even if from a television studio rather than in person.
To our dismay and horror, the ‘interview’ was a one-line _ “And in our studio audience tonight, Bill Rodgers, winner of yesterday’s ‘Big M’, Melbourne marathon.” For most of us, Don Lane went to his grave with this shame still a black mark against his name.
The next day, Bill headed back to Boston. The race record and those brief encounters are tangible reminders that ‘Boston Billy’ was here.
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