Lindgren and Ryun at the Compton Invitational on June 5, 1964

[OrvilleAtkins]

Gerry Lindgren

ran the 5,000 meters in 13:44.0
18 years old (3/9/46). HS Senior
5'6", 118 pounds
4th finisher in an international field
6.0 seconds from the winner
9.0 seconds off the world record
13th best in world history
3rd best in US History
987 on the Portugese tables
Bettered the high school record by 80.5 seconds
Just missed bettering the international age 18 record of 13:43.8 by Bruce Kidd
Did not better the Junior record
Ran last lap in 60.5
Ran last 188 yards in 25.8
First high schooler to break 15 or 14 minutes for 5000
4th open race of his career
Led most of the race

The mile was run 30 minutes later

Jim Ryun

ran that mile in 3.59.0
17 years old (4/29/47) HS Junior
6'2', 145 pounds
8th finisher in a US field
1.6 seconds from the winner
4.6 seconds from the world record
tied as 31st best in world history
tied as 12th best in US history
967 points on the Portugese tables
Bettered the existing high school record by 4.5 seconds
Bettered the international age 17 record by 8.5 seconds
Bettered existing junior record by 2.4 seconds
ran the last lap in 56.2
Ran last 120 yards in 15.5
First high schooler to break 4:00 minutes in the mile
4th open race of career
Stayed back of pace. Lost a second when he was knocked off the track in the second lap.

This information was taken from the June 1964 issue of "Track & Field News"

[wayne b]

That was an extraordinary meet. Perhaps it can be argued one of the best of all time.

[OrvilleAtkins]

Agreed Wayne, but there were many great meets in the US in those days when Track and Field was considered a sport.
In addition, the Compton Invitational 5000 was superior during the first half of the 1960s. Here are the results I have for 5 of them.

1960
1 Jim Beatty (SCVYV) 13:51.7 American Record
2 Tabori (SCVYV) 13:53.2
3 Edelen (SFOC) 14:25.5

1961
1 Bruce Kidd (EYTC), age 17, 13:56.4 set an American all comers record of 13:26.6 for 3 miles and broke Herb Elliott's world Jr record enroute
2 Max Truex (USAF) 14:03.4

1962
1 Bruce Kidd, 18, 13:43.8 American all-comers record, World Junior Record
2 Max Truex 13:49.6 American record
3 Murray Halberg, (I don't know the time) reigning Olympic Champion, Halberg also held the world record for 2 and 3 miles

1963
1 Halberg 13:52.0
2 Clohessy 13:53.2
3 Kidd 14:00.0

The 1964 race headline in Track & Field News read "A Classic 5000--in America"
3 athletes bettered Bruce Kidd's American record of 13:43.8
3 US Citizens bettered Jim Beatty's US national record of 13:45 set in 1962
10 athletes bettered their previous best 5000-meter times
Only Bruce Kidd failed to improve
The race produced the fastest 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th place finishes
The race moved the first 5 finishers high up in the all-time world rankings
1 Bob Schul (US) 13:38.0 (13:15.8 for 3 miles) 4th all-time Performer
2 Bill Baillie (NZ) 13:40.0 7th Performer
3 Ron Larrieu (US) 13:43.0 11th Performer
4 Gerry Lindgren (US) `13:44 13th Performer
5 Danny Murphy US 13:49.2 23rd Performer (tie)
6 Bruce Kidd (Canada) 13:58.8

[wayne b]

Edelen in '60 - that was before he headed to England? He was the guy who broke Johnny the Younger's streak in '64. It was Ryun who really brought that meet big press (at least historically).

[OrvilleAtkins]

On June 15, 1963, Buddy Edelen, of the US, ran a world best time of 2:14.28 in winning the Windsor-Chiswick Marathon.

[wayne b]

On June 15, 1963, Buddy Edelen, of the US, ran a world best time of 2:14.28 in winning the Windsor-Chiswick Marathon.

I have Frank Murphy's A Cold, Clear Day, which is his bio. It's been several years since I looked at it. In college, we had a professor whose last name was Edelin (pronounced Eed-e-lin), but I understand Buddy said his name as Ed-e-lin. Murphy's book is a great read.

[OrvilleAtkins]

May 24, 1964, the Yonkers Marathon and Olympic Trials to select one member of the Olympic Team. It was a new Yonkers course, flat out-and-back laid out to resemble the Tokyo Olympic Marathon course but it was run in the mid day sun with the temperature over 90 and high humidity. Buddy Edelen ran a great field into the ground with an amazing race winning by three and a half miles. Only 41 of the 128 starters finished. Drop-outs included Norm Higgins who I believe was hospitalized, Gordon McKenzie, Jim Green, Hal Higdon, and Alex Breckenridge.

1. Edelen (unat) 2:24:25.6
2. Gruber (NYAC) 2:44:11.4 Gruber won 5 marathons in 1963
3. John J. Kelley (BAA) 2:44:46.4 Kelley had won this race 8 years in a row and was better than other runners in the heat.
4. Harris (UCTC) 2:48:28
5. Sapienza (BAA) 2:59:03
Only 35 runners bettered 4 hours.

October 21, 1964, the Tokyo Olympic Marathon
6. Buddy Edelen (US) 2:18:13

[wayne b]

I managed to look up a NY Times article posting the results of the '62 meet's 5000, it shows Halberg at 13:57.6. I feel kind of close to Halberg, as I had the opportunity to meet his coach, Arthur Lydiard, about a month before he passed away. Did you get to meet him on one of his US trips? In digging for info, I came upon this little gem of a thread on Let's Run about an alarm clock to which you'd contributed:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1001500
My search also turned up this piece from SI which sounds a bit oversimplified, but makes for a nice tale:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1073907/2/index.htm

[Spider]

FYI: In 1980, when I was in HS, Gerry Lindgren was my neighbor (he owned a running store called "Gerry Lindgren's Stinky Foot" -- only Gerry would name a store that). I ran with him a couple times from the store. He ran like a VW Bug with a Hemi 'Cuda engine. He just seemed to be able to run at what looked to be near his top speed for a long time. He was in his early 30s then -- which in retrospect means he was a very young man.

[wineturtle]

Thankful we have a multi generational board and can pass down the oral history of "What being a runner" was like over the last 50 years