Posted: October 9, 2004

Athletics: Record At Chicago Changed Jones's Life

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

CHICAGO (08-Oct) -- Twenty years ago, Welshman Steve Jones ran what was then the fastest marathon of all-time in this midwestern city, and that one single performance guaranteed his place in athletics history.

"Twenty years?," Jones joked with reporters today. "I haven't changed a bit." He then added of the race, "It was incredible, and it changed my life."

His time of 2:08:05 was set on a rainy day and without the benefit of long-lasting pacemakers, which are the norm at all of the big city marathons today. "My pacemaker dropped out at four miles," Jones recalled with a laugh.

Unlike the set-up races sometimes organized today simply for the pursuit of records, Jones' performance sprang from the depth of the field assembled by then race director, Bob Bright: Carlos Lopes of Portugal (the reigning Olympic champion), Rob DeCastella of Australia, Gabriel Kamau of Kenya, Geoff Smith of Great Britain and Martin Pitayo of Mexico. Jones was in the zone that day, in total control.

"It was really an easy race," he said. "It was a cool and rainy/cold day. It was like being back home in Wales."

Jones's race plan was simple: hold a hard pace through 20 miles and then make his move. He didn't consider Lopes to be his toughest competitor, mostly a track runner with little marathon experience. It was DeCastella whom he had his eye on. "I thought, 20 miles and I can run away from everybody," he said.

As he passed through ten miles in "48 minutes or so," he shot a puzzled looked at DeCastella. "Why, is it too slow?" said DeCastalla, as if to say to Jones that if the pace was too slow Jones should pick it up. At 16 miles, DeCastella put in a surge. "I covered it," said Jones. Later, at a fluid station, Gabriel Kamau fell and Geoff Smith tripped over him. "He was windmilling," said Jones, "and I caught his arm."

At 20 miles, Jones took off and won by nearly a minute. "The rest is history," he summarized.

A hard worker, Jones would leave little to chance when preparing for a marathon. But, a fortune cookie he broke open the night before the race may have played a role. He had taken out his dinner from a Chinese restaurant with a plan to save some of the rice to eat cold for breakfast, a suggestion from Irish star, John Treacy. He opened the cookie and the message read, 'All your hard work will pay off.'

Jones's record would only last until the following April when Lopes won Rotterdam in 2:07:12. But Jones never tried to set the record in the first place.

"I didn't know what the record was," said Jones recalling how reporters shouted to him from the lead vehicle that if he maintained a five minute/mile pace he would break the record. "I thought they meant the course record."