The 100-miler: Part 11 (1970-1971) - Women run 100-milers

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By Davy Crockett

As the 1970s began, for the first time in decades, daring pioneer long-distance women athletes again joined in the 100-mile quest, with some opposition because of the lack of public acceptance for women to compete in long distances.

By 1970, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) was governing American amateur running and working to prepare athletes for the Olympics. The AAU received growing criticism regarding its governance, arbitrary rules, locking out some runners, and banning women from competitions. But some races started to ignore the AAU rules and allow women to run. Most ultramarathons let them run, at least unofficially. It took a special breed of runner to push through the strong cultural gender bias to break into the male-dominated sport of distance running during the early 1970s.

As the 1970s began, 100-mile races continued in South Africa and England. They began to expand in other areas of the world including the United States, Australia, and Italy. World records continued to be lowered.

Women 100-milers

It had been decades since women had participated in 100-milers. During the 1870s, many women became 100-mile Pedestrians putting on performances that astonished the American public (see episode 55).

In 1869 Anne Fitzgibbons “Madame Moore” became the first known woman to walk 100 miles in less than 24 hours in upstate New York. In 1877, Carrie Parker from Illinois was perhaps the next. People believed it ruined her life and drove her to insanity. She was “a raving maniac” when she was brought before a court. “Her father testified that ever since the walking match his daughter had been suffering with great nervous prostration and recently she suddenly conceived of the idea that her whole body was charged with electricity and she would not touch her feet to the floor.” She was sent to an asylum.

The next year, M’lle Dupree, a French-American seamstress from Sparta, Wisconsin, claimed to break the 24 hour 100-mile barrier. In September 1878, she achieved a time of 23:05, indoors at Mankato Opera House in Minnesota. She indeed was the fastest woman 100-miler of her time and was referred to as “The Wonder of the World.”

Geraldine Watson – Pre-war 100-miler

The last of the pre-war women 100-mile runners was Geraldine Watson (1883-). She was a schoolteacher from South Africa. She was a very tough individual who would set off on long walks up to 200 miles carrying a small automatic pistol for protection. When she ran the Comrades Marathon (54 miles) in 1931, she received intense public attention. The first woman to run in that race was Frances Hayward (1891-) who in 1923 finished with a time of 11:35. By 1931 the route was significantly faster, the road fully paved. Watson ran unofficially and finished in a little over 11 hours, admitting afterward that she had nearly given up. She repeated in 1932 with a time of 11:56 and in 1933 ran an amazing 9:31:35, still unofficial because women were not allowed to compete. No other woman would run the race until 1965.

Watson entered a 100-mile road race organized in Durban, South Africa in 1934. The race was held on a circular road course. Watson ran a sub-24-hour 100 on June 30, 1934. Her time was 22:22:00 and was performed in strong gusty winds and rain. Two men also finished the race, Fred Wallace with a time of 16:52:20 and Bill Cochrane (1900-), with 17:25:00.

Miki Gorman – 100 Mile World Record Holder

Michiko “Miki” Suwa (1935-2015) was born in China to Japanese parents. In 1963 she moved to the United States, attended college, and married businessman Michael Gorman. They moved to Los Angeles where she became a secretary for a Japanese trading company. In 1968, she bought a membership in the Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) where she enrolled in a calisthenics class. She was offered the choice of a stationary bike or jogging to warm up. She chose running, and for the next five years the LAAC track on the seventh floor of a downtown building was her running home. She explained, “The club was like home to us, and the other runners were like family.”

Gorman trained hard. She said, “I like to do hard things. My mother would deliberately put foods I didn’t like in my lunch bag to teach discipline.” One of her mentors encouraged her to enter the 1969 “Last Day Run,” (see episode 6) which would be her first race at any distance.

During October 1969 the runners would post their laps on the wall of the club each day. Gorman explained, “That’s how I started as I am a very competitive person. I was the last person after the first week. Then I got more interested and by the end of the month, I was in second place among the women.”

Gorman’s plan at the 1969 Last Day Run 24-hour run was to run 50 minutes and rest 10 minutes every hour, with a two-hour lunch break at 12 hours. She ended up running fantastically and finished with 86 miles. The next morning she said, “I feel fine. I’m just a little tired. I’ll nap later.” She explained, “That’s how I started running races as I was very, very competitive.” She ran 590 miles during that month.

Gorman started serious training. She was trained by Mihaly Igloi (1908-1998), a Hungarian distance running coach and former Olympian. “He didn’t let us stop. We were always jogging. We had a hard time understanding each other. He would have us do an easy jog, then shake out strides, then some at eighty percent. Then we would do repeats for two miles, then 150 yard runs, then some jogging that got faster.”

Gorman became a fixture on the track at the club, running circles for hours. “When I was working, people would ask me why I was running, as everyone was very interested as to why a woman would run in 1970.” She worked days and had a hard time sleeping during the night because of swollen feet.

Gormanmade ultrarunning history at the October 31, 1970 Last Day Run. She covered 100 miles in an astonishing 21:04:04, a world 100-miler record. A minute after she finished, after running the 1,075 laps, she collapsed and said, “I don’t think I can run anymore.” It was reported, “Miki, in her big run, took a five-minute rest break every hour. The track itself, artificially carpeted and banked at the turns measures 165 yards.” She hoped that next time she could reach 125 miles.

In 1973 Gorman would also set the woman’s world’s record in the marathon with 2:46 and a world’s best for the half marathon in 1978 of 1:15. Her personal best in the marathon came in 1976 with 2:39. Unfortunately the women’s marathon was not included in the 1976 Olympic Games when she was at her peak. She was the only woman to win both the Boston and New York City Marathons twice. In 2001 she was elected to the Road Runners Club of America Hall of Fame. Miki Gorman passed away in 2015 at the age of 80.

Natalie Cullimore – 100 mile World Record Holder

Natalie Cullimore (1937-) was a cyclist from Mill Valley, California. In 1970 at the age of 34, she ran her first race of any kind and soon finished her first marathon in Belmont, California in 4:18:50.

Two months later she ran her first ultra, the National AAU Road 50 Miles Championship, in Rocklin, California on a road course. The race included ultrarunning legend, Ted Corbitt. She finished first in 7:35:57, setting an American women’s record. A reporter wrote, “The race became even more amazing when a gal, Natalie Cullimore, finished the whole route to wind up 18th and beat a lot of males in the process. These people who run 50-mile marathons are a funny breed. And they don’t get paid anything for it either. Well, to each his own.”

Cullimore’s winning ways continued running marathons in 1971. At Petaluma Marathon in California, because of a previous injury, she ran in a neck brace the whole way and won in 3:32 and two months later ran her marathon PR of 3:18.

Cullimore, a petit runner, put her name into the history books when at the age of 35, she ran in a 100-mile race in Rocklin California, the 1971 Camellia 100. This historic race held on March 13, 1971, was run on an uncertified 2.5-mile loop concrete sidewalk road course at Sunset Whitney Ranch.

Streetlights provided enough light to run at night. A lone-official recorded laps in the Sunset Oaks Country Club parking lot, that marked the start and end of each lap. (The course was never certified and was believed to be short). There were 17 runners in the race. Cullimore was the only woman. She reached 50 miles in an American record 7:24:50 and went on to set a woman’s 100-mile world record with a time of 16:11:00.

Cullimore would continue to run marathons, winning several more that year. In 1973 she ran the Pacific AAU 100 Mile Championship (100-mile Camellia Capital Century Endurance Race) in Sacramento, California with nine runners. She won in 18:09:16 and was the overall winner. Only one man finished, John Arberry of San Francisco with a time of 22:21:39, more than four hours after her.

Seven other men dropped out. For several years her wins were pointed out in articles written about women out-performing men. That was her last known race. In 1980 she married David Ross. In 2020 Natalie Cullimore-Ross was 82 years old and living in Orlando, Florida.

Mavis Hutchison – 24-hour World Record Holder

Mavis Hutchison (1924-) is considered by some as the greatest woman ultrarunner from South Africa. She had a twin sister and was the daughter of one of the top middle distance runners in the country. From her teens she had an aspiration to become a champion athlete. Her young adult years were hard after she married a man who turned out to be a heavy drinker and at the age of 24 she was worn out mentally and physically, feeling like an old woman. She divorced in 1951 and started a new life with her two little boys. She remarried in 1955 and raised a “yours, mine and ours” family of six children.

Hutchinson started training at the age of 37, at the encouragement of her sons and began her running career as a race walker. Her health greatly improved. She attempted her first 50-miler in 1962 which she said was a disaster. She quit after 16 miles.

In 1963 she set a 50-mile course walking record of 9:36. Soon a member of her Johannesburg Harriers Athletic club encouraged her to start running. She recalled, “It was my turn to try my hand at cross-country. Everybody can run. When the bus comes and you see you’re going to miss it, you run.”

So Hutchinson began running. She ran in the Johannesburg Marathon, the only woman among 75 men and the first known woman to run in a marathon race in 37 years. “The officials were not especially enthused but allowed her to run ‘unofficially’ perhaps because a woman who could racewalk 80 km in record time was unlikely to embarrass them by collapsing.” She finished with a marathon time of 3:50, the second fastest time on record. That was four years before Katherine Switzer’s famed finish at Boston and it was a half hour faster.

In 1965 Hutchinson began her famed career at Comrades Marathon. She wrote for permission to run with the support of her own running club. The official reply was “women are not allowed to participate officially in the Comrades Marathon,” but she was permitted to run unofficially. She became the third woman to finish in the history of that race and went on to finish seven more times.

But Comrades was actually too short to bring out the best in Hutchison. By 1971, at the age of 46, she was ready for a greater challenge – a 24-hour race on a track at Hector Norris Park in Johannesburg. She put in three months of intensive training including hours after work and eight hours a day on weekends and mostly on a track. She explained, “I sometimes did a bit of road work, but people passed remarks and some men even tried to pick me up, until they saw my gray hair.”

The race was held on August 27, 1971. Hutchison was the only woman to enter. Fifty-one men started at 12:30 p.m. in the stadium. She said, “I was unsure of my ability to finish 100 miles nonstop on the track.” She was crewed by her husband and children. Some of the men in the race were jealous with the attention that she received and wished that she wasn’t in the race. But she was there, an official entrant. However, the toilets near the track were reserved for the men and she had to leave the track continually and climb up a long flight of steps to use the ladies restroom.

Twenty-four-hour record holder, Wally Hayward was the starter for the race. Hutchison ran well. “As she ran endlessly around the track under the hot afternoon sun, the naysayers saw Mavis start to set new records for women, first for 25 miles, then for fifty. She was running strongly as night fell, keeping a steady pace in her tracksuit.” But as with most rookie 100-milers, she had not yet learned how to eat well along the way.

After 18 hours, officials could see that she was in trouble. They were afraid that she was going to collapse and bring them unfavorable publicity. She said, “I went up to the toilet and collapsed. When I recovered, I was lying on a bench in the changing rooms. I waited for about five minutes or so to make sure I was feeling steady, then returned to the track to continue.” Officials tried to convince her husband to pull her out of the race, but she refused. Her family finally figured out that she needed to eat more.

By 21.5 hours, her crew realized that she could break the time set by Geraldine Watson in 1934 of 22:22:00. More recently, in 1963, Cathy Burgess had reached 100 miles 22:46:00 at Cape Town, South Africa. Hutchison beat both those time with a “world record” of 22:15:42. (However, her time was far off Cullimore’s 100-mile road time of 16:11:00 and Gorman’s indoor track time of 21:04:04, accomplishments in America that they certainly did not know about.)

But Hutchison wasn’t finished, she intended to claim the world record for 24 hours. When the clock reached that point, she had covered 106 miles, 736 yards, indeed a new world best. She commented, “Surprisingly, afterwards I did not feel exhausted, though the tops of my legs were sore.”

Reporters were so excited about her feat that it overshadowed the achievements of the 20 men who had also finished 100 miles, including Koos Sutherland who finished in 13:48:12. The local Johannesburg newspaper described her as a “superlative flesh and blood machine. A machine of tireless energy, vitality and strength that can run for mile after grueling mile, hour after hour, in almost perpetual motion with few signs of exhaustion.”

Some men in her club were unhappy and even some women had some cruel things to say. Hutchinson said, “It was hard to cope with the gossip that followed. I became very distressed about it. But I guess that was to be expected since I had already faced similar nastiness from those who thought I was press hungry. No doubt they don’t realize the time and hard work involved. It’s just as well I don’t mutter when I’m running.” The negative reaction from her club caused her to resign and join another club.

Hutchison went on in 1973 to win the first 100-mile walk ever held in South Africa, at Germiston, beating the world record by 12 minutes with a badly swollen foot. But she received world-wide fame when as a 53-year-old grandmother, she became recognized as the first woman to run across America from Los Angeles to New York City in 69 days, 2 hours, and 40 minutes. The press gave her the name of the “Galloping Granny.” (Barbara Moore ran from San Francisco to New York City in 1960, in 85 days).

Her last competition was the World Masters Championship in Brazil in 2013. In 2020, Hutchinson was 96, living in Cape Town, South Africa.

First woman to hike across Death Valley

Hikes across Death Valley in the blazing summer heat continued during the early 1970s. Viki Baker Pochciol of Dallas Texas, described as “a slender 19-year-old blonde” accomplished a 127-mile end-to-end hike through the valley in five days with her 28-year-old husband. In a way it was a strange honeymoon, because they had been married for only about four weeks.

She said, “Seven men have crossed it the way we went. I am the first woman to cross and that is more or less an official record.” Their route went from Shoshone to Scotty’s Castle. They were accompanied by a photographer who drove a jeep and trailer with supplies. “He would drive on about two or three miles ahead of us and we would stop at the jeep to get water and rest. We traveled at night and the majority of it in the evening. At night all you can see was the flashlight and the stars. It was like you were down in a big hole and all around you all you could see is big peaks.”

“At first we would go for 16 miles and sleep for four hours during the night. Toward the end we kept going all day. I wanted to get to the end. I just couldn’t take the heat. I got tremendously tired because the wind was blowing in our faces. You begin to hate Death Valley by the end.” The temperature reached a high of 125 degrees and a low of 98.

Jose Cortez – 100 Mile American Record Holder

Could teenagers run 100 miles? That is exactly what also happened in 1971. Jose Cortez (1951-), born in Tokyo, Japan, was from Redwood City, California. He ran marathons at an early age, setting a world marathon age record twice, at age 11 and 13. He attended Sequoia High School in Redwood City and raced many marathons during his teens. In 1969, at age 17, he ran his first ultra, a 50-miler at the Pacific AAU Championship held at Rocklin, California where he finished in 5:55. In 1970, at the National AAU 50-mile Championship, he set an American 50-mile road record for 18-year old’s of 5:30 that stood for decades. That year he also set a course record in the Double Dipsea of 1:45:43. At some races he and his young fast distance running buddies were deemed by race directors as being too young to be official entrants and refused to put them in the results. That motivated Cortez to just run faster and prove the critics wrong.

Cortez attended the College of San Mateo where he ran track and cross-country as their top runner. When he arrived at college as a freshman, he was regarded as the top freshman marathoner in the country and led his team to two conference titles. In 1971 he ran in the Oregon Track Club Invitational Marathon packed with national runners and “obliterated” the field, setting a new National Junior College marathon record with a time of 2:21.

Cortez trained 90-110 miles per week (or more, depending on upcoming race), 6-7 days per week, 11 months per year. His longest ever training run up to that point was 31 miles.

Cortez said, “I owe a great deal of my running success to Mike Ipsen, who has really built up my mental attitude for the longer races and a greater confidence within myself. The method of training which has proven to be the most successful to myself is of the quantitative type. My daily workout basically consists of a long and easy paced run, except while preparing for an important race. At this time I would increase my weekly mileage and would switch to a double workout. The morning (or else evening) run would be from 6 to 8 miles at fairly good pace. The mid-day workout would range from 12 miles on up at a pace set according to the way I feel. I am definitely a back-runner. During races I prefer to run behind my competition, letting them set the pace until I feel that I can overtake them and maintain a lead. Racing like this allows me to run under less pressure and to keep my body more relaxed. This is essential to me in a long race.”

Historic 1971 100-Mile Race at Rocklin, California

Cortez gained his long-lasting fame on March 13, 1971 when at age 19, along with Nancy Cullimore, he ran in the historic 1971 Camellia 100 held in Rocklin, California on a ten-mile road loop.

The race was held in the Sunset-Whitney Ranch development with 17 runners including women and started a little before noon. A 2.5-mile asphalt loop course was set up with the start/finish in a golf course parking lot. Street lights provided enough light to run at night.

Cortez and Darryl Beardall ran the first 25 miles together before Cortez began pulling away. Beardall eventually dropped out after 50 miles in 6:09:51 because of recurring breathing problems that have plagued him over the past year. Cortez, who hit 50 miles in 5:52:13, was also paced for the first 50 miles by his younger high school running buddy, Randy Lawson. Cortez thought Beardall would win the race and he had hoped to just keep Beardall in his sights, but after Beardall dropped out, that spooked Cortez to go on alone. But he did very well, hallucinating over the last 10-15 miles, and completed a historic run. He set an American road 100-mile record of 12:54:30, besting Ted Corbitt’s track record of 13:33:06 set in 1969 (see episode 63). (As with other road races of that time, the course was never certified).

Cortez’ 100-mile record stood for the next 13 years. Natalie Cullimore came in second with 16:11:00. Pete Mattei of San Francisco came in third with 20:56:30. He ran well for many miles but then was besieged by stomach problems which required him to take periodic rests. Mike Ipsen was the final finisher with 23:26:31. Thirteen other starters failed to finish. Ipsen said the race could have been called, “One-Hundred Miles of Sheer Stupidity.”

Cortez was listed as one of the nation’s top US male track athletes in the 1972 Runners’ Almanac. He had his eyes on the Olympics but cramped up during the Olympic trials won by Frank Shorter. Cortez finished in a disappointing 38^th. He only ran a few more marathons and ultras in his 20s . In 1998 at the age of 46, he surprisingly returned to ultras and ran in the Jed Smith 50-miler in Sacramento California, placing 5^th with a time of 7:48:08. Rae Clark won and Ann Trason came in 3^rdplace, but no one probably knew he was a former American 100-mile record holder. In 2020, Cortez was 68 years old and living in Freemont, California.

George Perdon of Australia

George Perdon (1924-1993) was a furniture salesman from Melbourne, Australia, and became known as “the father of modern ultrarunning in Australia.” As a boy in Rutherglen, he raced the school bell. When it sounded, he set off from home about two kilometers away and was never late. He was given the nickname of “Chicken George” because he was small and scrawny, and scratched around the place.

During World War II, he served in the army and looked forward to the 90-mile marches that he participated in during the war in the Pacific Island. After the war he started to run and competed on the track, ran in cross-country meets and marathons.

Perdon was a professional runner. As a young man he played some professional football (soccer), which ruled him out of amateur running competition. But he ran for the love of it, not for the little money that he made because of it.

One day after a marathon, Perdon turned around and ran back, convincing himself that he could run ultra-distances well. In 1965, at the age of 41, Perdon set his sights to break long-distance running records. He said, “I had to do it before I got too old” and went after the 30-mile professional world record thought to be held by George Mason of England set in 1881 of 3:05:39. (The amateur record at the point was 2:47:34 held by Jeff Julian of New Zealand).

On August 16, 1965 Perdon competed at Princess Park in Melbourne against John Pryor. He said, “I have been averaging 140 miles a week in training over the past eight weeks but expect to run my best times when I ease off a bit.” He ran hard but needed to stop at the 20-mile mark to take out the insoles of his shoes and put on a pair of socks, but he still won with a new 30-mile record of 2:53:48. Two weeks later he broke the world 20-mile professional mark with 1:44:38. At the age of 42 in 1967, he set a world professional marathon record of 2:19:56 at the Professional Championships in Melbourne. In 1968, he also bested the professional 50-mile mark with 5:22:55.

Perdon set his sights to break the 24-hour world record of 159 miles set by Wally Hayward (see episode 61) set in 1953. In July 1968, on Bridge Road. Perdon used his run to raise fund for the Richmond Day Hospital. The local TV station covered the progress of his run. He felt confident that he could reach 168 miles. He reached 100 miles in about 14 hours but three hours later slowed to a trot as the asphalt and concrete surface took its toll. “From then on he was forced to stop at intervals to fight off cramps and he hardly seemed to notice the long lines of people cheering him on.” He told the crowd, “I don’t think I can make it, my legs are gone. I’ll last it out even if I have to crawl in.” He did last the 24 hours but was far off the record.

To train, Perdon, with a resting heart rate of 40, would at times run ten miles before breakfast, ten miles at lunch-time and ten miles after work. He said it nearly killed him. Some people wondered if he was mentally deficient for running such extreme miles, but he was very intelligent. Neighbors wondered because when the weather became foul, he would run in a tiny garage 4.2×3 meters for hours. He joked, “When I got giddy, I ran back the other way.” His wife said, “Neighbors in Burwood all knew he was crazy anyway, so they did not wonder too much about all this time spent in the garage. The whole suburb was used to seeing Perdon out and about.”

George Perdon’s 100-mile World Record

In May 1970, the Professional Cross-country Club of Victoria (PCCC) organized the Australian Professional 100-mile championship, a track race to attempt to break John Tarrant’s 100-mile record of 12:31:10 set six month earlier at Walton-on-Thames (see episode 63). The professional record was thought to be 13:26 set in 1882. The event was held on a 440-yard track.

The PCCC secretary, Bruce Duncan (1928-2005) said, “It is the first professional 100-miles championship of Australia.” Perdon was the favorite. Four other runners entered, including decorated ultrarunning brothers, Ian Colston and Neil Colston, Bob Hunter, and Robert Petrie.

The race started on May 23, 1970 at 6 a.m. Perdon went out fast into the lead. His first stop was after six hours for a change of clothes and a rub-down. Hunter dropped out at 50 miles and Perdon lapped the Colston brothers over and over again. He broke the world 100k record, with 7:26:14, beating Dave Box’s 1969 split time at Walton-on-Thames. Peitrie soon dropped out at 100 kilometers. Perdon also improved Tarrant’s 150K world mark by 4 minutes with a time of 11:32:35 and then clipped Tarrant’s 12-hour record with a new distance of 96 miles, 1426 yards.

Perdon, age 45, achieved his goal and broke Tarrant’s 100-mile record by six minutes, setting a new record time of 12:25:09. He looked back and said, “My only worry was that I was running a bit hard for the first 50. That 50 miles was run in 5:42:48. I was very niggly from 50 to 60 miles and I was counting the laps to the finish after 70.” When asked if he enjoyed it, he said, “I wouldn’t say I get enjoyment from hurting myself, but I do think that you must hurt yourself to improve yourself. When you’re suffering a bit of pain, I believe you will eventually pass through it. That’s happened every time to me. I regard it as natural.” He also said, “To me running isn’t hard work. If it was a drudge, I wouldn’t do it. If I’m not running, I feel I’m missing something.”

Perdon next tried again to break the 24-hour record at Olympic Park on September 18, 1970. He weighed in at 139 pounds and stood 5’9”. His previous best was 143 miles set in October 1969. Three others competed. They started at noon and after 12 hours reach 87 miles, ahead of his schedule. But after reaching 100 miles in about 19 hours he became ill and withdrew. Bob Hunter won with 116 miles.

Perdon never achieved his goal to break the 24-hour world record but in 1973 he gained huge fame by being the first to run 3,000 miles across Australia. It took him 47 days beating his rival Tony Rafferty. On June 29, 1993, Perdon, who had run about 200,000 life-time miles, died at the age of 68 after a long battle against cancer.

1970 100-mile Race in South Africa

On July 31, 1970, the Durban 100 Miles Track Race was again held in South Africa. It had been held every two years since 1968. Both John Tarrant (1932-1975) “the Ghost Runner” and Dave Box (1929-2015) were determined to reclaim the world record. Tarrant and Box trained together. “Every evening, they kept up the ‘hell run’ back through the thunderous stink of the docks, and at weekends the two men ran up to fifty non-stop miles before plunging into the ocean at Brighton Beach for cooling late-afternoon swims.”

Tarrant, still banned from races in South Africa, turned out illegally as a ghost at many races. He would be chased, vilified, abused and ignored, but no one had yet pulled him from a race. As the 100-mile race came closer, his enemies turned up the heat and it was announced that he would be banned from the race and pulled off the track. Any athlete competing alongside him risked being banned for life.

Tarrant believed that all the threats were a bluff. He arrived at Kings Park on July 31^st, intending to run. Stan Foley, the chairman of the race confronted him with a heated exchange. Tarrant offered to run in a separate lane, but Foley was firm. He recalled, “I personally had huge sympathy for Tarrant. Some of us had tried to help him find work at various times, but he was a very, very pig-headed man at that time.” John Jewell of the Road Runners Club in Britain had confirmed that Tarrant could not be allowed to compete. So, for the first time, “the ghost” has been stopped, all because he had taken a few pounds at a boxing match when he was a teenager. Tarrant went to Box and wished him luck.

Box said, “I wanted John to run. I wanted to prove I was better than him, and he wanted to do the same. I wanted to run against the best but I couldn’t. It was bloody tragic. If he’d been in that race, I’d have run even faster.”

The race started at noon with at least ten starters. Box indeed broke the 100-mile world record with a time of 12:15:09. He beat Tarrant’s former record by 16 minutes. Tarrant had stayed to watch and help crew another runner. He put on a positive face and said, “In the passing of time, we all become ex-world champions,” but it actually hit him hard.

24 Hours in Italy

During 1971 two 100+ mile performances were accomplished in Italy. On May 9, 1971, Andreino Invernizzi reached 127 miles in 24 hours at “24 hours of Lecco on the track” at Lecco, Italy. Previously in 1970 he reached 112 miles in the save event. On October 17, 1971, Enzo Boiardi reached 132 miles at “24 hours of Piacenza on the track” at Galleana Stadium, in Piacenza, Italy setting an Italian record.

100-Miles Walking Indoors

On October 30, 1970 an indoor 100-mile walking ran was held on the tiny track (11 laps to a mile) at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. It was the same venue as the Last Day Run (see episode 6). The event was the National AAU sanctioned championship. Walking sensation, 63-year-old Larry O’Neil (1907-1981) (see episode 63) from Kalispell, Montana won in an astounding 21:49:32. The race began at midnight and O’Neil stopped only three times, once to change shoes, and twice to visit the men’s room. The LAAC nicknamed him,, “Machine Man.”

No other walker finished. Jim Hanley, who completed only 56 miles in 24 hours commented about O’Neil, “He’s incredible. It’s frustrating. I know I can beat him over a short distance, but nobody can keep up with him in a marathon.”

But even more impressive was the accomplishment of John Moullin (1941-1988) of England. In July 1971, he won the Surrey Walking Club 100-mile race at Ewhurst, England, in a speedy 16:55:04 the second fastest 100-miles walked at that time. He wished he had known how close he was to the world record because he would have pushed even harder.

100-Mile Relay

How fast could a relay team cover 100 miles? In August 1971, ten boys from the Viking Track Club in Hillside, Illinois decided to run 100 miles. Previously in 1970 the club had reached that mark in 9:15:05. The 1971 team reached 100 miles in an astonishing “world record” of 8:54:33 in the fourth annual event held on the Proviso West High School track. There were ten teams in the competition. They ran five-mile legs and the fastest was turned in by Dyke Stirrett, a graduate of Eastern Illinois University with a time of 24:39.

They did not know that their time wasn’t even close to the existing 100-mile relay record. in 1968, the Lockport Track Club of New York put together a team of eight high school runners ages 14-18 that reached 100 miles in 7:27:55. They ran on a 440-yard cinder track, each running 12.5 miles. But this team did it running sprints of continuous intervals of 220 yards and 110 yards passing the baton. A grand total of 1,200 sprints were completed along the way.

One runner remarked, “In the beginning it felt fairly easy to me, like I would be able do it all day. In the last few miles, I particularly remember struggling to start running again after each rest cycle. Blisters, sun burned skin, raw emotions, and quite a bit of pain accompanied us all on that 100 mile journey, but we reached our goal.”

100-mile journey runs

100-mile runs for “fun” started to pop up again. In November, 1969, two young cross-country teammates at the University of South Florida wanted to run 100 miles in less than 20 hours breaking what they thought was a record. Fred Bentley, 18, and Rick Mass, 21, naively started on from the college campus to run flat roads to Orlando.

Rain and cold air bothered them and they cramped up along the way. At mile 20 their legs began to feel like “lead pipes.” They were forced to stop many times to get their legs massaged by their coach driving along with them.

Many passing motorists offered to give them rides. “Fred was unable to digest any of the food he swallowed while running and became nauseated.” At night after getting a drink at a closed gas station, a policeman stopped the suspicious-looking young men briefly to question them.

They admitted their spirits lagged as they realized they could not break 20 hours and they finished in a little less than 26 hours. Fred at first said he would never attempt another 100-mile run, but later commented, “Well, maybe another time.”

In March, 1970, a 17-year-old high school student, Irvin Goldenberg, from University City, Missouri ran 100 miles on a track in 22:55. Friends said they urged him on through periods of happiness and depression. A companion had to quit after 55 miles.

A 36-year-old sergeant, Joe Del Toro (1935-1994), stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, with the Marine Corp, ran 100 miles in 28:45, beating his running club’s record. He ran on asphalt roads, mostly within the Pearl Harbor complex, lost 12 pounds along the way and afterwards said he was so sore he could move only very slowly for several days. He said, “At the end, my hips, knees and ankles felt like someone was prying them apart. He ran in a sweat suit and tennis shoes. He took many breaks along the way and sucked on oranges.

The parts of this 100-mile series:

Sources:

The Age (Melbourne, Australia) Aug 16,30 1965, May 27, Jul 23-24, 1968, May 19, 25, June 18, Sep 19, 21, 1970, Jun 20, 1979, May 22, Jun 30, 1993, Sep 16, 1994
Bill Jones, “The Ghost Runner: The Epic Journey of the Man They Couldn’t Stop.”
Andy Milroy, “24hr Run History”
Red Bluff Daily News, “She Ran 85 Miles As They Ran Around the World in One Month.” Jan 8, 1970
The Sedalia Democrat (Missouri), Mar 29, 1970.
The Fresno Bee (California), Nov 2, 1970
The Daily Inter Lake (Kalispell, Montana), Dec 23, 1970
Associated Press, “Runners Claim Records For 100-mile Marathon,” Dec 3, 1970
Albernie Valley Times (Canada), Dec 3, 1970
Petaluma Argus-Courier (California), Apr 24, 1971
Kensington Post (England), Jul 2, 1971
Elk Grove Herald (Illinois), Aug 11, 1971
The Los Angeles Times (California), Aug 27, 1971
The Times (San Mateo, California), Oct 6, 1971
The Sacramento Bee (California), Mar 15, 1971. Mar 8,12, 1973, Jan 20, 1977
The Honolulu Advertiser (Hawaii), Sep 16, 1971
The New York Times (New York), Oct 30, 2005
Miki Gorman interview by Gary Cohen, 2014
David and Gillene Laney, Unstoppable Woman: The Forgotten Story of Mavis Hutchison
usacrossers.com
100 Mile Relay World Record (8 runners) 7:27:55.6 – June 16, 1968 – Lockport Track Club
Jose Cortez thoughts, Dec 2020 video “50th Anniversary Rocklin Race” conducted by Gary Corbitt
NorCal Running Review, April 1971
Long Distance Log, April 1971

64: The 100-miler: Part 11 (1970-1971) Women run 100-milers

By Davy Crockett

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