Brendan Foster was one of Britain's most popular
athletes, due largely to his quiet and unassuming manner, and his allegiance to
his local club, the Gateshead Harriers, regardless of his many successes in the
international arena. Young Brendan had
been a promising athlete at school, but at University his performances
stagnated and it wasn't until an iron deficiency had been identified in late
1968, that Brendan started on his path to international fame. After an impressive start to the 1970 season,
Foster qualified for the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh when he finished
second in the 1500m at the English selection trials in Leicester on 6
June.
In the 1500m final at Edinburgh on
22 July, Dick Quax (New Zealand) went to an immediate lead, but Foster and Kenyan Kip Keino, who were both near the back of the
pack early on, moved through the field to position themselves behind Quax as
they passed the finish line for the first time.
Keino and Quax broke away from the field soon afterwards, and the rest of
the runners in the field found themselves fighting for the bronze medal. Foster seemed to have it sewn up entering the
straight, but he had to hold off a late charge from Scotland's Peter Stewart
before securing the bronze medal in 3min 40.6sec.
At the following year's European
Championships in Helsinki, Foster doubted his chances if the 1500m was run at
slow pace with a sprint finish, and consequently made a pact with Francesco
Arese (Italy), who had similar concerns, to jointly ensure that the race was
run at an honest pace. The tactic seemed
to work to their mutual satisfaction, as Arese won the gold medal, while Foster
won the bronze in a personal best time of 3min 39.2sec. (Ron Casey)
Despite Brendan Foster's successes in the two years prior
to 1972, where he had won bronze medals in the 1500m at both the 1970
Commonwealth Games and the 1971 European Championships, these performances did
not guarantee him a place on Great Britain's team to the Munich Olympic Games
that year. Foster recorded some
significant results in the early part of the season, but then had an off day at
the AAA championships, which was Britain's primary selection source, where he
finished fourth. Brendan only qualified
for the Olympic team after beating John Kirkbride in a race in Helsinki, which
the selectors had prescribed would determine Britain's third place on the
team.
Despite the obstacles to his
selection, Foster was the best performer of the British 1,500m trio at Munich,
finishing fifth in the final. In July
the following year, Foster won his first 5,000m AAA title in a time of 13min
23.8sec at Crystal Palace. Brendan
returned to that venue on 27 August where he planned a deliberate attempt to
break the 2 miles record of 8min 14.0sec held by Lasse Viren (Finland). Unable to get any of Britain's top milers to
help with the pacemaking, Foster obtained the help of a steeplechaser and a
10,000m specialist.
Although these two
tried their best for Brendan, with four and a half laps to go, he found himself
on his own against the clock. Trying
desperately to maintain the pace, and urged on by the crowd, Foster eventually
crossed the line in a time that was first announced, on the
basis of the three hand-timers, as 8min 14.2sec, just outside the record. However, Foster's time had been
electronically timed at 8min 13.68sec, and after rounding it up to the nearest
fifth of a second, his time of 8min 13.8sec was accepted as a new world record.
(Ron Casey)
Following his fifth place finish in the 1,500m at the 1972
Olympic Games in Munich, Brendan Foster decided that it was time to move up to
the 5,000m as his preferred track event.
This change brought almost immediate results, as Brendan won the 5,000m
at both the AAA Championships and the European Cup Final in 1973. Foster's next opportunity to contest his new
event occurred at the 1974 Commonwealth Games on 29 January. The final at Christchurch was run at a solid
pace, with Foster setting the tempo in the later stages, before making a
sustained surge for home with 800m remaining.
Only Kenyan Ben Jipcho could go with him, and although Foster tried to
shake him off, Jipcho eased past in the home straight to win the gold medal. Foster's second place time of 13min 14.6sec
was a new UK record, and the third fastest 5000m ever run. Brendan also competed in the 1500m at
Christchurch, which was one of the greatest races in history. Tanzanian Filbert Bayi won in world record
time dragging four other runners under Kip Keino's existing Commonwealth
record. Although Foster was never in the
race, his seventh place time of 3min 37.6sec was a new UK record.
Later that year, on 3 August, Foster set a
new 3,000m world record of 7min 35.2sec in front of a delirious home crowd in
Gateshead. Foster's next major challenge
was the 5,000m final at the 1974 European Championships in Rome on 8 September,
where he faced reigning Olympic champion Lasse Viren (Finland). Foster made a break from the field with five
laps to go, and although Viren stayed with him for a while, he soon lost
contact, and Brendan found himself on his own over the
final three laps, eventually winning by almost seven seconds in 13min 17.2sec.
(Ron Casey)
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