72: The 100-miler: Part 19 (1977) Don Ritchie World Record

Ultrarunning History

By Davy Crockett During the early 1970s, the majority of the American ultramarathons were held in the eastern states, including 100-milers. But by the late ‘70s, a western migration was taking place and soon the state of California was holding the most ultras. Ultrarunners learned about races mostly by word-of-mouth from other runners who they would see before and after a race. That is how American, Frank Bozanich, a future ultrarunning hall of famer, received an invitation to run in a historic race, the 1977 24-hour Crystal Palace Track Race in England, where the Scot, Don Ritchie would make 100-mile history. Details of that race is told for the first time in this episode. Please help support this podcast. I’ve joined a partnership with Ultrarunning Magazine. I can offer a 25% discount on Ultrarunning Magazine subscriptions and renewals. Visit https://ultrarunning.com/ultrarunning-history/ Subscribe or renew today. Nick Marshall Starts Compiling 100-mile Finishes. In 1976, future American ultrarunning hall of famer, Nick Marshall (1948-) of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, published the world’s first newsletter dedicated purely to ultrarunning. This annual publication became known as the Ultradistance Summary. Marshall wrote, “There had always been a coverage-void for the fledgling sport, and I sort of filled it by default, simply because no one else was doing anything along these lines.” He explained, “No summary is perfect, but I think this one provides a fairly complete and quick summary touching of the major bases.” Marshall tried to compile the top American 100-mile times in history. His attempt to compile the top 100-mile times was a Herculean effort given the lack of access to resources and newspapers. He found 20 Americans who had reached 100 miles in less than 20 hours by 1977. Some performances were of course missed. Also, if 100-milers were included for runners throughout the entire world before 1977, the sub-20-hour list exceeds 200 world-wide runs. Marshall’s 1977 Ultradistance Summary stated that no formal 100-mile races took place in 1977, but actually a few were held worldwide along with a half-dozen 24-hour races. One significant 100-miler that was overlooked because it was not yet tied into the ultrarunning sport -- the first Western States 100 from Squaw Valley to Auburn, California. While the Western States course was actually only 89 miles at the time, the 1977 race has an important place in 100-mile history. (see episode 71). Don Ritchie – the Stubborn Scotsman Donald A. Ritchie (1944-2018) was from Scotland and some people argue that he was the greatest ultrarunner in history on tracks and roads for ultra-distances of 100 miles or less. In his early teens he took part in school sports as a sprinter and usually finished in the top three. When he was sixteen years old, he participated in his first “walking race” which was popular at that time. The race was for seven miles and had 45 walkers. Ritchie finished “a tired fifth” and walked in his working clothes and shoes. He walked the race again the following year and was bothered that two girls beat him. He concluded that he probably needed to train. Ritchie ran cross-country in school, and during the track season raced the 440 and 880 yard races. His coach advised him to concentrate on the 880. In 1963 at the age of 19, he started to run fifteen miles regularly with Alastair Wood (1933-2003), one of the great ultrarunners of the early 1970’s, who later won London to Brighton race in a record time. Ritchie eventually started to keep up with him on training runs. Don Ritchie and Alastair Wood Scottish Athletics required that runners be at least 21 years old in order to run in marathons. In 1965 Ritchie was old enough and entered a marathon with Alastair Wood. The furthest Ritchie had trained was 17 miles. He did great and was pleased with his finish time of 2:43. His mentor Wood, won the race in 2:24.