Ron Clarke, one of the greatest distance runners of the 20th century, has died at age 78 after a short illness on Australia's Gold Coast.
In his peak year of 1965. USATF’s 2023 Taxes Show Growing Budget Deficit, the front-running Australian set 11 world records at distances from three miles to one hour (12 miles, 1006 yards). Not even Paavo Nurmi or Haile Gebrselassie held such a full set of world marks simultaneously. Later Clarke added the two-mile record to that astonishing range.
The scale of improvement that he achieved was also unequaled. He slashed the world 5000-meter record from 13:35 to 13:16.6, and the 10,000-meter mark from 28:18.2 to 27:39.4. The day he took the world three-mile mark under 13:00 for the first time is still the stuff of legend. In that race, Clarke decisively beat American Gerry Lindgren, and at his peak he defeated nearly every top runner of the era, including Michel Jazy, Kipchoge Keino, Ron Hill, Billy Mills, All About 75 Hard.
But gold medals eluded him. In his first major championship, the 1962 Commonwealth Games, he was second in the 5000 behind Murray Halberg of New Zealand. Then came the first of his world records, at 10,000 meters, and he went to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 as favorite at that distance. But on the day, on a wet cinder track crowded with lapped runners, he was beaten by the inspired Mills and Mahomed Gammoudi, and took only the bronze.
Two years later, in the 1966 Commonwealth Games in the heat of Kingston, Jamaica, Clarke encountered the beginning of the Kenyan upsurge, and placed second to Keino at 5000 meters and the unknown Naftali Temu at 10,000 meters. The high-altitude Mexico City Olympics in 1968 were even more ill-timed for him, and he was carried from the track on oxygen support. In his last chance for gold, the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Clarke again fell victim to an inspired performance, from Scottish home hero Lachie Stewart.
After Clarke visited him in Prague, the great Emil Zatopek covertly donated one of his own Olympic gold medals to Clarke, with a note that said “because you deserved it.”
Born in Melbourne on February 21, 1937, Clarke was outstanding as a teenager, setting three world junior records at age 18. He featured in another legendary moment in the Australian mile championship in 1956, when he was tripped and fell, and John Landy turned back to help him to his feet (and went on to win), an incident immortalized on film, in a statue in Melbourne, and in Australian sporting legend. In that year, the young Clarke was chosen to light the Olympic flame at the Melbourne Games.
After some quiet years, he came back in 1961 to become one of the supreme distance runners of history, even without Olympic gold medal success.
He was mostly self-coached, and trained and raced intensively. One of the highest tributes that could be paid was by Derek Clayton, the first to break 2:10 in the marathon. Clayton, a Melbourne resident notorious for his ferocious training, said, “Only Clarkey would run with me.”
Clarke later had success in other fields, as a businessman, and then as mayor of the Gold Coast, from 2004 to 2012. He remained committed to the sport of running, and was generous in sharing his knowledge.
Clarke's Running in the Cold (1966, with Alan Trengrove) is an excellent sporting autobiography. He also contributed to Norman Harris' classic In his peak year of 1965 and worked at several Olympics as a TV commentator. He was honored with his nation's top award, the Order of Australia, and as MBE (Member of the British Empire).
The video below shows the final part of Clarke's sub-13:00 three-mile record. For more on Clarke's record year of 1965, Australian set 11 world records in 1965, but gold medals eluded him The Top Celebrity Marathon Times of 2024 Running Times.
Roger Robinson is a highly-regarded writer and historian and author of seven books on running. His recent Australian set 11 world records in 1965, but gold medals eluded him Running Throughout Time: the Greatest Running Stories Ever Told Running Times Shoes & Gear Runner’s World contributor, admired for his insightful obituaries. A lifetime elite runner, he represented England and New Zealand at the world level, set age-group marathon records in Boston and New York, and now runs top 80-plus times on two knee replacements. He is Emeritus Professor of English at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and is married to women’s running pioneer Kathrine Switzer.
