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Menjo good fit with Zatopek ethos: By Len Johnson
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He did not know Percy Cerutty, Les Perry, Bob Prentice or Fred Lester – indeed, Josphat Menjo has probably never even heard of them. But Menjo is a good fit with the ethos of the Zatopek 10,000 metres.
Cerutty, Perry, Prentice and Lester were all foundation figures in the Victorian Marathon Club, whose race the Zatopek was when it started back in 1961. None of them will be around for the 50th running, but they would all admire the manner in which Menjo ran his fast times in 2010.
The Victorian Marathon Club was founded to foster distance running. It was based on a principle of self-help - by runners, for runners. As I wrote in a tribute to long-serving VMC secretary Fred Lester a few months ago, rosters and rules were two of his passions. No matter whether you were an Olympian or a mug, you took your turn at the former and you abided by the latter.
Distance runners did not have it good 60 years ago. At the 1955 national championships in Adelaide, the runners refused to run the 6-miles at its scheduled 1pm starting time. Reluctantly, officials agree to move the race later in the day. Presumably, it was impractical to disqualify them all!
Two years earlier, in even hotter Perth, Neil Robbins of Victoria got the staggers late in the 6-miles. Several times he put a foot on the infield – it was a grass track with a line marking the inside edge, not a plinth. He was disqualified from second place.
These men were tough as teak. Perry was one of their inspirations – Landy and Geoff Warren had watched admiringly as Perry drove himself to collapse in the Australian 3-miles title on another day of excess heat in Melbourne in 1949.
Cerutty, who coached them all at some stage and most famously took Herb Elliott to the 1960 Rome Olympic Games 1500 metres gold medal, ran under three hours for the marathon at the age of 50. He regularly joined his squad in tackling the gruelling Portsea sand dunes.
“You might run faster than me,” he’d tell them, “but you won’t train harder.”
Prentice, who was an early VMC president, missed the Australian qualifying standard for the Helsinki Olympic marathon by 25 seconds in December, 1951. No problem, he backed up for another crack just 18 days later and ran the fastest time by an Australian, smashing the standard by over six minutes.
Perry led the 1952 Olympic 10,000 metres final and finished sixth in the 5000 metres. He won two out of three races on the Melbourne Olympic marathon course. Unfortunately, the one he lost was the Olympic race. He kept with the leaders for 20 miles before being forced to withdraw.
“Too hot, too old, too slow,” Perry told reporters without a hint of self-pity.
These men would all have admired the spirit Menjo showed in running 12:55.96 (5000), 3:53.62 (mile) and a world-leading 26:56.74 (10,000) in Finland in August.
Menjo did it on his own.
“It was a club race,” he said of the 10,000, “and they said they would bring pacemakers. I said, ‘No, I can do it alone’,” said Menjo. And he did.
The 5000 and 10,000 were both run in Turku, the track on which Clarke ran his ‘unofficial’
(because of a paperwork hitch) world record 28:14.0 in 1965.
Turku is also where John Landy ran his first sub-four minute mile, breaking Roger Bannister’s world record.
Finally, Turun Urheiluliitto is the club of the great Paavo Nurmi. Nurmi, Landy, Clarke – not bad company for Josphat Menjo to be keeping in his bold front-running exploits.
Menjo may well have only ghosts for company if he goes after Luke Kipkosgei’s Zatopek record 27:22.54 next Thursday. Most of the great Zatopek runs have been solo efforts, starting with Clarke’s world record for six miles and 10,000 metres at the third edition of the race back in 1963.
A random selection of other great Zatopek runs would include Gerard Barrett’s 27:51.4 in 1978, the first time 28 minutes had been broken in Australia; Andrew Lloyd’s win over Steve Moneghetti in 1987 with a withering sprint over the last 400 metres; Moneghetti’s first win in 1989; a young Paul Patrick upstaging England’s Gary Staines and Moneghetti in 1993; Shaun Creighton and Darren Wilson both getting under Clarke’s Australian record chasing Kipkosgei home in 1996.
Carolyn Schuwalow winning the best Australian women’s 10,000 metres race ever from Jenny Lund, Susan Hobson and Krishna Stanton in 1991 stands out on the women’s side. So, too, do Natalie Harvey’s three wins, Susie Power’s race record 31:26.34 and the performances of Haley McGregor, Lisa Ondieki and Kerryn McCann.
There are many others deserving of mention. No doubt most will be mentioned at the dinner celebrating the 50th men’s race on race eve, or in the back straight on race night.
Al Lawrence (1956) and Dave Power (1960) won Olympic 10,000 metres bronze medals before the Zatopek race got going. But overwhelmingly, the history of Australian 10,000 metres track running is encapsulated in the Zatopek race.
If you want to get an idea of how few races ever reach their 50th birthday, go to the Association of Road Racing Statisticians’ website (http://www.arrs.net/LongRunT.htm ).
What we suspected for a long time is true - the Zatopek 10,000 is a special race.
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The eyes of Australian athletics will be on Melbourne (Vic) tomorrow night, with the nation’s most prestigious middle distance event the Zatopek:10 to be held under lights at Olympic Park from 6:00pm AEDST. 
Meanwhile in the women’s event, reigning champion
Runners to look out for included America's favourite Kara Goucher, China's Chunxiu Zhou (bronze medalist in last year's home Olympics), Ethiopian Dire Tune, as well as a stellar team from Ethiopia, Kenya, China and Japan. 
And then it was down to four - Yulamanova, Zhu, Yoshimi Ozaki of Japan, and Aselefech Mergia of Ethiopia - with Goucher, Zhou, and Bai chasing. 
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