69: The 100-miler: Part 16 (1976-1977) Max Telford and Alan Jones

Ultrarunning History

By Davy Crockett In the 1970s, the sport of ultrarunning received very little attention in the mainstream media. In April 1974, Park Barner from Pennsylvania, the top ultrarunner in America at the time, did appear on a local television show. The episode was entitled, “The Loneliness of the Ultra-Distance Runner.” He also later was on CBS's PM Magazine. But the ultrarunners who really succeeded in getting the attention of the public were those who rarely participated in formal races and instead put on endurance stunts that were attention-grabbers. The most prominent runners had the help of skilled marketing resources to keep their name in the spotlight. Their goal was not to go after sanctioned records or even formal course records. Instead, they focused mostly on getting their name into the Guinness Book of World Records to claim invented "world records," which are what we call today "fastest known times." Because the most elite ultrarunners in the world were not self-promoters, they remained in general obscurity except among their ultrarunning competitors and clubs. It was the self-promoter record-seekers who truly became famous. Two of these individuals who caught the attention of the American public in the mid-1970s were Max Telford of New Zealand and Alan Jones, a marine from Iowa, who was stationed in Oregon. Telford was touted as being the greatest long-distance runner in the world and Jones became known as "Captain America." Both ran 100 miles and both their stories are fascinating and inspirational. It is believed that neither went down the fraudulent road as many other self-promoters did. Please help support this podcast. I’ve joined a partnership with Ultrarunning Magazine. I can offer a 25% discount on Ultrarunning Magazine subscriptions and renewals. Visit https://ultrarunning.com/ultrarunning-history/ Subscribe or renew today. Max Telford Max Telford (1936-) was from Scotland, New Zealand, Hawaii, and the Philippines. He was a legitimate elite ultrarunner who sought out amazing running adventures to be the first or the fastest. He did race in some legitimate competitive races, but never really competed against the best in the world. Instead, he did many successful solo stunts and self-promotions, working with sponsors who at times made "over the top" claims about his abilities. He greatly inspired others to run. He had ambitions “to become the greatest long distance runner of all time” and many people of his time believed he was. Telford grew up in Scotland. He went to work in the clothing industry and played rugby and soccer when serving in the military. After moving to New Zealand in 1958, when he was 22 years old, he joined the Mount Albert Athletic Club to get into shape for rugby season. He enjoyed running and did pretty well, so he decided to stick with it. Arthur Lydiard Telford first ran middle distances and cross-country. He trained with legendary Arthur Lydiard’s group of middle and long-distance athletes. Lydiard was recognized as one of the greatest coaches of all time and credited for popularizing the sport of running. On May 2, 1964, Telford gave a try at running 100 miles, and set a New Zealand 100-mile record of 14:58:36. At the age of 32, when Telford didn’t qualify for the Mexico Olympics in 1968, he discussed with Lydiard what he should do next and decided to move up to ultra-distances. To get in his miles, he would put in an eight-hour shift at work and then go run 30 miles. At the peak for his ultra training, he would run three times per day and run 200-mile weeks. Telford said, "I quickly found I could run incredibly long distances with no strain really. I stood up to it very well, and soon was covering 50 miles, then 100." In April 1970, he ran for 24 hours on Lovelock Trick in Auckland and reached 114 miles. Around 1971 he quit his job in the clothing business to run full-time and do physical fitness instruction.