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By Davy Crockett
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. (see episode 67). Enthusiasm for attempting to race for more than 100 miles in 24 hours started to spread.
Two very influential ultrarunning pioneers, Ed Dodd, of Collingswood, New Jersey, and Don Choi of San Francisco, California, brought their race directing and running skills to the 24-hour arena in the 1978. These two legendary runners developed a friendship during that year which would later result in the reestablishment of the modern-era multi-day races, including the renowned six-day race. Dodd and Choi can be considered the “fathers” of the modern multi-day ultras. This all came about as Dodd uncovered the history of 19th century Pedestrians, and they both gained experience running 100 miles in 1978, and put on ultramarathons.
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.
Since the dawn of the sport of ultrarunning more than a century ago, a unique breed of ultrarunner has existed which I will call the “self-promoter.” They were skilled in using their running talents to gain fame and fortune, mostly by doing “stunts” rather than participating in competitions. There is nothing inherently wrong with seeking to make a living this way. Before World War II, most ultrarunners were “professionals” who lived off winnings, wagers, and gate receipts from doing stunts.