From Walt Murphy. Shared with permission. Walt produces an info-rich daily ”This Day in T&F” newsletter. Contact him at waltmurphy44@gmail.com if you’d like to join his distribution list.
Running before a couple hundred fans in cool conditions at the Northwest Relays in Seattle, Washington State’s Henry Rono ran 8:05.4 to set a World Record in the Steeplechase. The previous mark of 8:08.0 had been set by Sweden’s Anders Gärderud at the 1976 Olympics. For the native of Kenya, it was the 2nd of what would be an incredible string of 4 World Records set within a period of 81 days.
- April 8, 1978: Berkeley, CA | 5000m | 13:08.4
- May 13, 1978: Seattle, WA | Steeplechase | 8:05.4
- June 11, 1978: Vienna, Austria | 10000m | 27:22.4
- June 27, 1978: Oslo, Norway | 3000m | 7:32.1
Jack Pfeifer, the former director of college events at New York’s Armory, was in the stands that day. “I was there. Temp in the low 50s as I recall, but calm, good distance conditions. Wasn’t raining, although I think it did later in the day. May have been one of the few World Records set before noon. [Rono] ran with Jim Johnson of Club Northwest the first two laps, then Johnson gave way and it was solo the rest of the way. As I recall, he practically jogged it in, knowing he had the record well in hand”.
Thirty years later in 2008, Henry was honored with an Inspiration Award that recognized his openness and success in his battle with alcoholism.
