Robert de Castella marathon debut: 23 June 1979

By LEN JOHNSON

The 1979 Victorian marathon championship was a minor race, but it had major outcomes. Thirty years ago this month (23 June, 1979), the championship was the debut marathon for Robert de Castella, who would go on to win a world championships marathon, two Commonwealth Games marathons, finish in the top 10 at three consecutive Olympics and win major victories in Rotterdam (twice) and Boston.

The championship was held from Point Cook, a Royal Australian Air Force training base on the western shore of Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay. The U-shaped, out-and-back course meandered along beachfront, and passed between market gardens before rising over its one-and-only 'hill' _ an overpass on the Melbourne-Geelong highway _ before returning. It had been used for the 1976 Olympic and 1978 Commonwealth Games selection trials.

Nor was 'Deek' the only de Castella on the starting line. The 136 competitors included his father, Rolet, the race marking his return to distance running after a near-fatal heart attack. As 'Deek' recalled at the recent 2009 Melbourne marathon launch, he was not the focus of attention this day.

"Mum and the family were waiting at the finish line wondering whether Dad was going to make it in one piece or not."

For most of the race, nn-one else took much notice of 'Deek' either. Few were in the know that he had long-term ambitions in the marathon, and his running did nothing to belie that impression. He ran along with the leaders at a very comfortable pace.

"I'd heard a lot about 'the wall' and how tough the event was, so I just ran it conservatively," Deek says. If none of the expected marathon dramas eventuated, an unexpected one almost did when a farmyard dog tried to run with the lead pack.

"This dog ran out about three-quarters of the way through the race and I almost tripped over it."

Despite the outwardly casual approach, de Castella was running with serious intent. He and his coach, Pat Clohessy, had decided the marathon would be his event for the 1980 Olympic Games.

"Pat and I had decided that, at 22, I wasn't going to make (the team) at the 10k and to really give the marathon a crack. Point Cook was a chance to run one and see how things went."

De Castella picked up the pace strongly soon after the incident with the wayward mutt. In a rehearsal of what would become his trademark finish, he accelerated savagely after 20 miles. The last 10.2k whipped by in 30:55, under the pace of Derek Clayton's then world best 2:08:34.

'Deek' crossed the line in 2:14:44, 16 seconds under the Olympic qualifying time set by Australian selectors. "The first marathon is always an adventure, you don't know what to expect. To finish on so strongly and run a qualifying for the Olympics was special."

De Castella had done a short run that morning and he ran a further six kilometers that night "to ease out the stiffness and soreness." He was back in training the following day in a remarkable recovery.

There still remained the matter of clinching a place in the team. More than four runners had qualified, so de Castella still had to earn his spot in the selection trial the following April.

"We had such a depth of marathon runners with 'Scotty' (Bill Scott, Moscow 10,000 finalist)and Dave Chettle, Garry Henry and 'Rab' (Chris Wardlaw) _ there was a big group of us vying for selection. Gerard Barrett won the trial but, I think, in the process destroyed his own chances at both the 10,000 and the marathon."

'Deek', by contrast, went from strength to strength. Tenth in Moscow, he went on to run a 'pb' at Fukuoka that year (behind Toshihiko Seko and, in fourth place, Garry Henry) then came back to the famous Japanese race a year later to run 2:08:18. He won the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games, the 1983 Rotterdam race, and the 1983 world championships before finishing fifth behind Carlos Lopes in the 1984 Olympic marathon.

De Castella's time was just five seconds slower than the 'world best' Alberto Salazar had run in New York a month or so earlier. That course was ultimately found to be short by some 150 metres, but the intervening period meant de Castella was never truly acknowledged as a world record holder. He says his disappointment at his own performance in finishing fifth in Los Angeles was greater than any he felt at being deprived of world record status.

"It's just one of those things. I was really thrilled to do what I did as an athlete. I had a great career; there are always regrets and mistakes, but probably I regret the mistakes that I made more than any other people may have made.

"It would have been nice to have been recognized (as fastest in the world), but I was still up there, if not at number one, then at number two, and that was a great privilege."

Robert de Castella's 2:07:51 at Boston in 1986 remains the Australian record. His fifth at Los Angeles remains, along with Steve Moneghetti's fifth in Seoul, the best by a male Australian at the Olympics. And it all started on that low-key winter's day in 1979.

Further note: In the1978 Victorian championship,held on the same Pt Cook course, Bill Scott ran a totally different debut to Deek's measured effort. Scott, who finished eighth in the 1980 Olympic 10,000 metres final, blazed through 10 miles in 48:40 and was still under 2:10-pace at 20.

Scotty 'blew up' to run 2:16:37, but put together his start and de Castella's finish and you could have had a world-record! ends


 

Len Johnson was The Melbourne Age athletics writer for over 20 years, covering five Olympics, 10 world championships and five Commonwealth Games. He is the author of The Landy Era, From Nowhere to the Top of the World, and a former national class distance runner (2.19.32 marathon) who trained with Chris Wardlaw and Robert de Castella.

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