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By Davy Crockett
During the 1960s and 1970s, most of the 100-mile races were held on oval tracks. Additionally, 100 miles were achieved during 24-hours races, usually also held on tracks. Running for 100 miles on an oval track seemed like an extreme oddity back then, even as it does today.
During that period, there were 19 known track 100-mile running races held worldwide, that were not also 24-hours races. In addition, there were many other 100-mile racewalking competitions in both England and America where walkers sought to become a “Centurion” by walking 100 miles in 24 hours of less (see episode 63).
The first modern-era track 100-miler (running) was held in Durban, South Africa in 1964 won by Manie Kuhn in 17:48:51. In America, the first track 100 was held in 1975 in New York, the Queensborough 100, won by Park Barner in 13:40:59 (see episode 66).
Beginning in 1978, an important track 100-miler started to be held, that became the premier track 100-miler. The race was held on an military base at Fort Meade, Maryland in America. It would be held there for twelve years. This 100-miler was dominated by Ray Krolewicz of South Carolina, who won it six times. Sadly, this race has been mostly forgotten in the annuls of ultrarunning history.
1978 was the year when more 100-mile and 24-hour races started to be established in the United States. In 1976, Tom Osler of New Jersey brought renewed American ultrarunning attention to the 24-hour run when he ran a solo 24-hour run on that track at Glassboro State College where he was teaching. (
Early conditioning can be very important. Wally Hayward came from a very tough background. His father, Wallace George Hayward, the son of a coal agent, had been born in Peckham in London, England in 1880, and emigrated to South Africa sometime between 1901 and 1906, in his early twenties. It looks probable he actually arrived soon after 1904 when the sand bar which had restricted Durban Harbour to bigger ships was dredged and deepened. This allowed the weekly Union Castle passenger ships from Southampton to enter the port. Bearing in mind Wallace’s later employment, and absence from Union Castle passenger lists, it is possible that he served as a barman on one of these passenger ships, departing the ship at Durban.
1978 was a year when new road 100-milers started to spring up across America, put on by independent race directors. Most of these races were available for the non-elite long-distance runners to give the epic distance a try. These 100-milers were held in Hawaii, California, New Jersey, Maryland, Missouri. One race in particular was established that would eventually become a national championship event: the 100-miler at Flushing Meadows in Queens, New York. Going forward 100-mile or 24-hour races would be held at this venue into the 1990s. World and American records would be set on the grounds normally used by thousands of park visitors.
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.
Walks and runs across Death Valley, in California during the hot summer started as early as 1966 when Jean Pierre Marquant (1938-) from Nice, France accomplished a 102-mile loop around the valley that included climbing two of the high mountains. 
In the 1970s, the sport of ultrarunning received very little attention in the mainstream media. In April 1974, 
The most prominent runners had the help of skilled marketing resources to keep their name in the spotlight. Their goal was not to go after sanctioned records or even formal course records. Instead, they focused mostly on getting their name into the Guinness Book of World Records to claim invented “world records,” which are what we call today “fastest known times.” Because the most elite ultrarunners in the world were not self-promoters, they remained in general obscurity except among their ultrarunning competitors and clubs. It was the self-promoter record-seekers who truly became famous.