50 Years Later! February 2nd, 1974 – The Christchurch Commonwealth Games 1500 With  Filbert Bayi, John Walker & Rod Dixon In “The Race For The Ages”!

Filbert Bayi, the “Mountain Man” from Tanzania, took the lead from begin to end, holding off John Walker, the Late Ben Jipcho, and Dixon to win the Commonwealth Goldando and break Jim Ryun’s 7-year-old World File!

The highest 5 instances had been as follows –

1) Bayi – 3:32.16

2) Walker – 3:32.52

3) Jipcho – 3:33.16

4) Dixon – 3:33.89

5) Graham Crouch – 3:34.22

Now, 50 years later, this extraordinary race, run on a observe with spikes from the period, is revisited by Bayi, Walker & Dixon.

1) How motivated had been you for the 74 Commonwealth Video games?

Bayi –

“Sure, I used to be motivated virtually 100% due toI was able to compete with the perfect 1500m athletes of that period. Point out the few Ben Jipcho, Mike Boit (KEN), John Walker, Rod Dixon (NZ)Graham Crouch (AUS) and the opposite 6 within the race.”

Walker –

“I used to be very motivated. The truth that the Video games was being held in NZ was an enormous incentive for me to do properly.”

Dixon –

“The Christchurch Commonwealth video games had been gathering Nationwide curiosity. John and I had our very profitable 1973 European Scandinavian observe travels. I used to be very decided to be the perfect I could possibly be in Christchurch, and I had some thrilling native races the place I had crushed John as soon as, and he had beat me as soon as, so we had been going into the video games realizing that we may probably do one thing particular.

I consider we had been prepared for a World-Degree Video games.”

2) Who did you have a look at as your primary opponents within the race? Who else had been you ?

Bayi –

“Probably not, as I didn’t even know Rod was the bronze medalist in the1500m on the 1972 Munich OlympicGames.

Being an underdog, I didn’t have any worries from anybody. I knew within the race, everybody was the perfect as they represented their nation. Per week earlier than the 800m and 1500m, New Zealand newspapers and radios confirmed all about my pals John Walker, Ben Jipcho, Rod Dixon, and Mike Boit. I used to be not a lot within the image.”

Walker – “I used to be involved about the entire subject, actually. I knew the race could be quick after the 800m last was gained rapidly. I wasn’t solely Bayi because the one to beat and Dixon and Jipcho. I used to be properly conscious of all of them, actually. It was a robust subject. You’d be silly to enter a race solely centered on one individual.

I used to be sore after enjoying a pleasant recreation of cricket with Arch and his household the night time earlier than, and I used to be slightly anxious about my drained muscle tissues greater than something, however as soon as within the race, I felt nice.”

Dixon-

“I consider John and I had been very conscious of Filbert Bayi working and racing. I additionally acknowledged Graham Crouch from Australia was working properly – Brendan Foster UK, Mike Boit & Ben Jipcho. In reality, some world-class commonwealth athletes had been equal to the perfect on the earth on the time.

I knew that the sector for the 1500 was able to race the race of the century!”

3) The gun goes off, and Filbert instantly jumps to the entrance – what had been you all considering then?

Bayi –

“Taking the lead proper after the gun went off was my plan, realizing no one within the race may have identified if I used to be doing it proper. I used to be positive they had been considering thatI would die after just a few laps. They didn’t know if I had educated for that suicidalpace.”

Walker –

“I wasn’t shocked or involved when Bayi went into the lead as a result of that was how he ran. With 400m to go, I used to be frightened as a result of the remainder of the sector was collectively, and nobody had tried to observe Bayi.”

Dixon –

“Bayi was out into the lead from the gun, I anticipated that to occur, and I seen that the opposite runners had been very conscious to not let that lead get too massive, and we form of stored it the place it was, believing that we might be capable to choose him up by a minimum of 800 m – in fact, that didn’t occur, and we weren’t in a position to get by!”

4) How would every of you describe your final lap?

Bayi –

“On the bell, I regarded over my shoulderand noticed John Walker, Ben Jipcho, and RodDixon killing one another to catch me. Coming as much as the ultimate 200m, issues had been sizzling. Between John, Ben, and Rod. On the last bend, John managed to depart Ben & Rod. The ultimate 50m was the place Iknew John was coming to me, and I mentioned to myself, “Catch Me If You Can” John!”

Walker – ”

“With 350m to go, I moved up more durable within the subject, and with 180m to go, I gave chase, and I did assume I may catch him, however with 50m to go, I began tying up.”

Dixon –

“With a lap to go along with 400 to go, I needed to try to bridge the hole in order that my dash was extra at 400 meters than leaving it for the final hundred meters.

Down the again straight, Jipcho and Walker made the problem. I then picked up Jipcho across the last flip, however I may inform that I couldn’t get him once more within the house straight.”

5) Had been you every shocked by working a spectacular time?

Bayi –

“Undoubtedly, I used to be shocked becausebesides profitable the GOLD, I additionally broke the1500m World file, which was one thing I didn’t consider!”

Walker –

“It was 5 seconds quicker than I had ever run earlier than!

I did my finest and so I used to be not disillusioned. It might have been good to win, however I used to be happy with my effort and felt happy with my race. My life modified perpetually after that race!”

Dixon –

“I keep in mind after we crossed the end line, Graham Crouch and I regarded on the video board and realized that that was the world’s quickest 1500 ever, with the primary two breaking the world file the third place equaling the outdated world file, and I completed fourth within the race and ran the fifth quickest time in historical past and Graham Crouch set an Australian file and a lot of the different runners within the subject additionally set Nationwide data, and to today 50 years later it’s nonetheless thought of to be one of many best 1500 meter races!”

6) Many think about this race essentially the most wonderful 1500 ever run – many followers in the present day evaluate performances like yours to the applied sciences surrounding the brand new tracks in addition to the “SuperShoes” of in the present day – would you prefer to take a guess as to how a lot quicker you & the others could be in the present day 50 years later?

Bayi – “Perhaps with a clear run, 50 years later from in the present day, athletes may gounder 3:20.00 within the 1500 meters!”

Walker – “If I had the know-how and observe in the present day, a 3:27 could be fairly correct, however it’s exhausting to say. It’s only a guess.”

Dixon-

“We are able to discuss all we wish about comparisons between runners in generations, but it surely’s what it was on the time, and what’s taking place now could be this time, and we simply respect the individuals on the time, not the best of all time however the best of their time. ”

They Positive Had been!

Bell Lap – This author thanks Filbert Rod and Hans for recalling this magnificent occasion!

Bayi’s new autobiography – “Catch Me If You Can” – is offered at –Soulstice Publishing

You should purchase Bayi’s guide right here: https://soulsticepublishing.com/product/bayi-book/amp/