A conversation over a beer between two track geeks often leads the question of “what’s the best race you’ve ever witnessed?”
A few days ago, on the 42nd anniversary of Craig Virgin’s first of two World Cross Country titles, this extraordinary video got circulated:
No, I wasn’t there in Paris, but watching it triggered a memory for me of a race I witnessed that certainly makes my top three list*.
I was a sophomore runner at Bucknell University when I learned that the 1975 NCAA Cross Country Championship would be taking place an hour away on the Penn State course. Road trip!
Holy moly, I was riveted by the duel between Craig Virgin and Nick Rose; a battle they reprised five years later in that World Cross Country race noted above. Craig and Nick alternated relentless lung-searing surges throughout the last 3 miles as they tried to break each other. It was enthralling to see how deep they were each willing to go to repeatedly claw back and pass each other. Nick finally broke with less than 400 yards and barely crawled home to the finish. I’ll never forget it. The only comparison I come up with was the epic “Thrilla In Manila” battle between Ali and Frazier which took place just a month before this NCAA Cross Country race.
Look at the stellar field of runners that they left far far back:
I took some weakly-focused photos while I was there.
*The rest of my top three? I was lucky to be in the London stadium when Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs shocked the world with their one-two finish at the 2017 World Championship steeple and my ears are still ringing from the crowd response at Hayward Field at the 2012 Olympic Trials when hometown favs Nick Symmonds, Andrew Wheating and Christian Smith finished 1-2-3 in the 800m. Wow.
What’s the best race you’ve ever witnessed?
