Dave Bedford 1970-1971 - International title and European records
It was not all plain-sailing in 1970 as Dave Bedford missed the Commonwealth Games but his late season form showed he could have been a factor in Edinburgh which may have ultimately aided his big races in 1971 and 1972. However he set European records at both 5000m and 10,000m in 1971 and also won the International cross-country title.
Inter-Counties Cross-Country Championships, Derby, January 17
4th 37:19
Taylor (36:45) won easily from Trevor Wright (36:59) and Ricky Wilde (37:10) with Bedford, who had led much of the race just ahead of Tagg (37:23) and Baxter (37:25) who had got the better of him on the track the previous summer.
North of the Thames Cross-Country Championships, Chigwell, January 24
1st 37:13
He won easily from Bob Ellis (38:10) with former National winner Mel Batty third (38:10).
Southern Senior and Junior Cross-Country Championships, Parliament Hill, February 7
Senior 9M: 1st 45:50, Junior 6M, 32:12
On an astonishing unparalleled afternoon, he first destroyed the senior field winning by almost a minute from steeplechase international Bill Mullett (46:45) and Bob Holt (47:01). Twenty minutes later he set off in the junior race and though struggling up the first hill, he was soon well clear of the field and he won by a minute from Jack Lane (33:13), who went on finish a very close second in the National Junior and would be in Britain’s 10,000m team alongside Bedford in Helsinki 1971.
Hillingdon 5, Ruislip, February 14
1st 23:52
Showed his form could translate to the road as he won from Bob Richardson (24:02).
English National Cross-Country Championships, Blackpool, February 28
3rd 43:18
He could have run in the junior race but wanted to make the international team where he would be too old for the under-20 race and he qualified easily but could not quite match Wright (42:48) who run down early leader Taylor (43:06) in the seventh mile. Bedford was not helped by a poor start which meant he was never in contention with the top two.
Junior Inter Counties Cross-Country Championships, Leicester, March 7
1st 28:08
Running to help his county Middlesex (who won the team race) he won easily from team-mate Lane (28:30).
International Cross-Country Championships, Vichy, France, March 22
95th 40:20
Britons dominated with Tagg (only 20th in the National with a heavy cold) winning surprisingly from Roelants in 36:39.8 with Wright third (36:44.6) and England had five of the first seven and won at a canter. Bedford, suffering from a back injury from lifting weights, though was unable to contribute and finished nearly four minutes back amongst the last 10 finishers.
Hornsey Road Relay, April 11
20:09 (fastest leg)
Bedford took off ahead but still run the fastest time.
Surrey v RAF v ULAC 3000m, Motspur Park, Apil 29
2nd 8:13.2
Competing as a guest, livened the race up with two successive 63.2 laps but Geoff Biscoe (8:11.8) kicked by 200m out.
Hampstead 10, May 16
1st 48:29
He won easily from 1968 Olympic marathoner Tim Johnston (49:08) who had topped the UK 6 mile rankings in 1968.
Inter-Counties 5000m, Leicester, May 25
13th 14:30.0
Suffering from a leg injury he finished well down the field in a race won by Baxter (13:56.0) but did finish just ahead of Allan Rushmer (14:35.0) who would run well over a minute faster in the Commonwealth 5000m.
Southern Championships 5000m, Motspur Park, June 27
5th 14:13.0
Roger Matthews, who won the England Commonwealth Games 10,000m Trial, won here in 13:53.6 with Bedford showing improved form.
Bracknell 5, August 1
1st 23:21
On an undulating course in very hot conditions, he won by 27 seconds from Johnston (23:48).
AAA 10,000m, White City, August 7
1st 28:26.4
After a quiet summer with injury causing modest results, he suddenly burst back to form on the track with a run that considering the cinders was a better run than his 1969 British record.
He led at a good, fast pace with 14:14.0 at halfway but still had Wright, Johnston, International champion Tagg and Bob Holt following. Gradually his surging and some 67 laps jettisoned all bar National champion Wright and then a 66.2 six laps out gave him a solo run to the end and he set a championship record. Lap times: 65.6, 66.4, 67.2, 67.6, 68.8, 69.0, 69.0, 69.0, 69.4, 69.0, 69.4, 70.2, 69.0, 70.4, 69.0, 68.6, 69.6, 67.4, 67.6, 66.2, 67.8, 68.0, 68.4, 68.4, 65.4.
Shaftesbury 10, Hendon, August 9
1st 47:55 (course record)
Back in action quickly after his 10,000m, he pulled away up a long hill at 4 miles and through halfway in 23:55, he held that pace well to the end to win by a minute from future Olympic marathoner Barry Watson (49:08). He won a trophy for first under-21 runner but asked that to be passed on to the next in that category.
Southern League Division 5 1500m and 5000m, Hayes, August 22
1st 3:59.3/1st 14:42.2
Showing his club spirit he carried out a winning double.
London Fire Brigade 3000m, White City, August 29
1st 7:58.2 (PB)
In one of the last ever meetings at the famous track, he front ran to an easy win over Dick Newble (8:03.8) which moved him to joint eighth all-time in the UK.
Coca-Cola Meeting 2 Miles, Crystal Palace, September 5
9th 8:47.2
After a series of great races, this was a slight blip as he was well over 100 metres behind Kip Keino (8:25.4) and a British record by Peter Stewart (8:26.8).
Southern Counties v South West Counties, 5000m Weymouth, September 6
1st 13:54.8
A more encouraging outing saw him tune up perfectly for his big 10,000m as he won by nearly a minute from future Olympian and National winner Bernie Ford (14:50.0).
UK v Poland 10,000m, Warsaw, September 12
1st 28:06.2
Running pretty much the same pace for 25 laps as he managed for eight at Crystal Palace, he edged Taylor’s UK record with a magnificent solo run against just three opponents in a match that otherwise Britain were thrashed by the Poles.
Through halfway in 13:59.8 - the third man in history to go sub-14 on the first half - he held his form well and just missed Jurgen Haase’s European mark (28:04.4) but did go third all-time with his time supplanting Lachie Stewart’s Commonwealth win (28:11.8) as the world’s leading mark of the year.
Roger Matthews (fourth in Edinburgh) finished half a lap behind in 28:35.4. He injured himself in the race and had to be helped off the track.
Erembodegem Cross-Country, Belgium, December 20
1st
The clash between the world's two fastest 10,000m runners of 1970 saw Bedford with no significant races since September, prove too fast for Lachie Stewart the Commonwealth champion and the man just chosen as the overall Scottish Sportsman of the Year.
Interestingly in the end of year 10,000m merit rankings, the British rankings put Stewart top and Bedford second but the world rankings compiled by Track and Field News, put Bedford top and Stewart (who had a poor run in the European Cup) third.
Nos Galan 4, Mountain Ash, December 31
1st 17:45
Because of the leg injury, for much of the autumn he had to jog a few miles a day instead of his usual 150-200 miles a week and this performance came from just two weeks of good training. He broke Holden’s course record by 16 seconds as he beat Holden by 45 seconds (18:30).
National Industries Cross-Country Championships, Stoke, February 7
1st 22:42
Having focused on his training (he said he was not going to do any big events at the start of the year), he made a rare racing appearance and found it hard on a heavy course and he won by just seven seconds from Simmons (22:49).
Hillingdon 5, February 20
1st 23:08
Had another brilliant road run as he smashed the course record and again beat Simmons (23:40), his past junior conqueror. GB Olympic 1500m representative Maurice Benn was third in 24:04.
National Cross-Country Championships, Norwich, March 6
1st 47:04
Taking the lead after half a mile, he destroyed a top quality field winning from 1972 champion Malcolm Thomas (who had beaten him as a junior) by 40 seconds with defending champion Trevor Wright, who was the joint favourite after his Inter Counties and Northern wins, a well beaten third (47:58).
International Cross-Country Championships, San Sebastian, Spain, March 20
1st 38:42.8
After being just an injured 95th the previous year, he proved himself the greatest cross-country in the world with some ease breaking clear after a kilometre and he ran away from the field winning by 22 seconds from Wright (39:05.2) with Kiwi Eddie Gray in third. The quality of the field is illustrated by the eighth to 12 places of major track or country medallists Mariano Haro, Ian Stewart, Rod Dixon, Pekka Paivarinta and Gaston Roelants. England (56 points) won the team race easily from Belgium (174).
Southern 12-Stage Road Relay 5M, Wimbledon, March 27 1971
22:20
He took 54 seconds off Bob Holt’s course record with a stunning run - surely one of the greatest road relay runs in history though his Shaftesbury team could only finish 10th. He set off 69 seconds behind former National winner Gerry North and 5 miles later finished 49 seconds ahead. Dick Newble (23:12) did actually briefly Holt’s record a few minutes before Bedford finished. Newble ran 13:48 for 5000 early in the summer but probably ran better here but was almost a minute slower than Bedford.
It was reported as a totally implausible 5.25M at the time in AW (4:15 miling on a far from flat course!) and then this leg was referred to as a more plausible 5M 125 yards when the lap was remeasured when it was extended in 1973. Even Clarke in his then unapproachable world 10,000m track record went through five miles in a similar overall time to what Bedford ran (Clarke went through 8km, which was 40m short of 5M in 22:13.0) but the Briton probably went further and therefore faster and it was a staggering run which was not truly appreciated at the time.
Motspur Park, May 12
3000m: 1st 7:51.6 (PB)
Running solo in strong winds on Motspur Park’s cinders he just missed the British record as he won by 150 metres from Roger Clark (8:19.4).
Rome 5000m, May 20
1st 13:28.0 (PB)
Seven seconds up on Ian Stewart’s European record time at his 4000m split, the lack of opposition cost him and he had to settle for becoming the eighth fastest runner ever. Dane Korica was second in a Yugoslavian record sharing the same time as a certain Lasse Viren who set a Finnish record 13:35.2. Among many national records future European 1500m champion Francesco Arese set an Italian mark (13:40.0). Olympic 10,000m champion Naftali Temu was 15th around a lap behind.
British International Games 5000m, Edinburgh, June 12
13:22.2 (European record)
In very windy conditions (the 100m wind reading was -6.3mps) he produced an astonishing solo run which but for the conditions might well have been a world record. Cheered on by a 9000 crowd at 3000m in 7:58.8 he was within a few seconds of Clarke’s world record pace and though he slowed a little, he still did enough to break Stewart’s European (and track) record and go second all-time. Mike Baxter followed him him home over 100 metres behind in 13:40.2 with Korica third in 13:43.6. His lap times were 62.1, 64.0, 63.3, 63.9, 64.3, 63.4, 64.2, 65.4, 65.2, 66.0, 64.3, 64.3 and 31.8 (into wind!)
Stockholm 5000m, Sweden, June 15
1st 13:24.6 (12:58.2 - European record)
Just three days after his record, he ran a similar time but this time picked up the European three mile record as that time was not taken in Edinburgh. It was a glorious solo run as no one else broke 14 minutes and he passed 1000m in 2:38.1 and 2000m in 5:18.0 but was not able to maintain the 13:15 pace past halfway on his own.
Halsingborg 3000m, Sweden, June 17
1st 8:06.4
This was a very small local meeting where the feature event was the discus but staying in Sweden for a week he got some good training in in preparation for his big upcoming 10,000m. He ran the first two kilos in 2:39 each but eased off in the final kilometre.
Norrkoping 3000m, Sweden, June 22
1st 7:56.0
A slightly faster effort maintained throughout as he left Bengt Nåjde (8:12.6), who had finished top eight in the previous two European 5000m Championships, over 100 metres back.
Vasteras, Sweden, July 2
1st 13:40.4
He won easily from Kenyan double Olympian Paul Mose (14:01.8) who would literally get a lot more closer to him in the first 5000m of the Commonwealth Games 10,000m. The Kenyan ran 13:23 in 1973.
Stockholm Mile, Sweden, July 6
8th 4:06.7
It was not a great end to his Swedish tour as he finished a long way behind Olympic champion Kip Keino (3:54.4) but he did gain the scalp of world record-holder Jim Ryun (4:17.3) who was suffering from hay fever. He did get some more endurance work in though as he paced Roelants in his 10,000m to 3000m in 8:19.
GB v France (inc AAA Championships) 10,000m, Portsmouth, July 10
27:47.0 (European record) (6M; 26:51.6 (European record)
He took an astonishing 17 seconds off Jurgen Haase’s European record despite the temperature being in the 80s and it being on a dusty cinder track and he was suffering badly from blisters because of the track and the heat.
The first lap was a too slow 70.0 and the second a too fast 59.0 and he was well ahead of schedule for Clarke’s 27:39.4 world record after a 2:40.0 opening kilometre. He was still ahead at 3000m (8:09.0) and 5000 (13:45.2) and even at 8000m (22:09.2) was still four seconds up on Clarke’s split. Thereafter, he was not quite able to maintain the tempo dropping from 67 to around 69 seconds but finished with a 64 and he won by a staggering 52 seconds from Lane (28:39.6) who also secured his European team spot.
His lap times were 70.0, 59.0, 63.6, 65.0, 65.8, 66.6, 66.4, 67.2, 67.2, 67.4, 67.2, 66.6, 67.0, 66.4, 67.4, 66.8, 67.2, 67.2, 66.8, 68.4, 69.2, 68.2, 68.8, 67.2 and 64.4
AAA 5000m, Crystal Palace, July 24
DNF
Because of his stated intention to break the world record a capacity crowd of 14,000 was in attendance. He set off staggeringly fast (2:35.0 at 1000m and 5:15.2 at 2000m) and was ahead of schedule but began to get a leg pain and was slightly down at 3000m (7:58.8) but he dropped out around 200 metres later with a hamstring cramp. Baxter won the race in a championships record 13:39.6 to gain Helsinki selection with Bedford asking not be selected for the shorter event in fairness to those actually finishing.
European Championships 10,000m Helsinki, Finland, August 10
6th 28:04.4
Bedford felt he was significantly less fitter than in Portsmouth but after a steady first lap he kicked in laps of 63.6 and then three 65s and he was on 27:30 world record pace at 3000m (8:15.0) but seven athletes were able to hold on and the pace slowed at 5000m (13:54.4) - nine seconds down on Portsmouth but significantly faster than anyone else in the race had ever run.
Much to the crowd’s delight Juha Vaatainen threw in a 63.4 lap at 6km which initially dropped Bedford but he caught up and regained the lead and still tried to grind out a sub-28 pace and despite a 65.2 penultimate lap, five runners held on and then 350m out sprinted past. The Finn who covered his last lap in a then unprecedented 53.9 won in 27:52.8 to go third all-time while the next four moved to fifth to eighth all-time in what thanks to Bedford was the greatest mass 10,000m race in history. Bedford ran a disillusioned 65.5 last lap but his time would have been a European record a month earlier.
Turku 3000m steeplechase, August 17
3rd 8:36.8 (PB)
In his first ever 3000m steeplechase (he had run a junior 2000m race three years earlier) and stepping on every barrier, he passed halfway on GB record schedule with 4:12 but slowed on the the second half as European champion Jean-Paul Villain won in 8:33.8 from future Olympic medallist Tapio Kantanen (8:34.2).
GB v West Germany 5000m, Crystal Palace, August 30
1st 13:40.0
In front of a record bank holiday crowd, Bedford won easily from team-mate Baxter (13:55.4).
Coca-Cola Invitation Meeting 3000m steeplechase , Crystal Palace, September 10
1st 8:28.6 (UK record)
Again he attracted a capacity crowd as he aimed to break Gerry Stevens' British record (8:30.8). He actually set off well inside world record pace with a 61.2 first lap and 66.4 second though gradually he paid for his start and dropped to 68s and 70s and Andy Holden caught him just before the bell.
Bedford followed him until the last hurdle and then with the whole stadium roaring, ‘sprinted’ past though Bedford insisted that he was just jogging faster than his rival (8:28.8) who also broke the old UK mark.
Southern League 5000m and 3000m steeplechase, Erith, September 11
DQ 14:17.2and 1st 9:19.6
This incident dominated the AW letters pages as Bedford started the 5000m with a plain white vest and only changed into his Shaftesbury vest mid-race and was disqualified for not wearing it throughout though apparently also broke the rules running for 20 metres without any vest or number as he changed!
Edinburgh Mile, September 18
2nd 4:07.1
Showed he still needed to work on his speed as he was well beaten by Adrian Weatherhead (4:03.3).
Sienna 5000m, Italy, September 19
1st 13:54.6
Making a mid-race break, he easily beat Soviet Aleksandr Morozov (14:05.4) and European 1500m winner Arese (14:12.2).
Bushy Park Cross-Country, October 10
1st 27:42
He went slightly off-course following leader John Bicourt and then ran in with the steeplechaser but Bedford was decreed the official winner.
Rennes 8km, October 24
1st 21:54
He won this race watched by a 30,000 crowd by just a second from Gaston Roelants (21:55) who would go on to win the 1972 International cross-country title won by Bedford in 1971.
IAC 8km Cross-Country Race, Parliament Hill, November 27
1st 22:09
A mostly domestic field lined up for this unusually televised event and suffering from gastric flu, he had to work hard to beat European 10,000m team-mate Jack Lane (22:14), Holden (22:15) and Commonwealth 10,000m winner Lachie Stewart (22:22).
Nos Galan 4M, Mountain Ash, December 31
2nd 18:01
The midnight race meant it was not a good start to Olympic year as he was well beaten by Simmons (17:41), who also took his course record. At the end of the year Bedford won the British Athletics Writers' Association athlete of the year award, the AAA gave him the CN Jackson Cup for outstanding athlete of the year, the Harvey Memorial Cup for the best champion of the year and the Carborundum Golden Jubilee Trophy for the best track performance at the Championships.
Bedford also later won the AW British Athlete of the Year with 370 votes to European 400m champion David Jenkins’ 291 while he was second in the world male with 90 votes to Vaatainen’s 262. In the Track and Field News merit rankings he was adjudged to be third at 5000m and fifth at 10,000m.
» For further articles on Bedford's career, follow these links
Bedford’s early days – 1964-65 – CLICK HERE
Bedford’s junior promise to British record from 1965-69 – CLICK HERE
Bedford’s 1972-74 period plus later highlights – CLICK HERE
» Photographs by Mark Shearman
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