How Donie Walsh’s charge produced thriller in Virginia
Considering the impact Irishmen on scholarship have made over the years, it may come as a surprise to learn that just three have won the coveted individual title — Neil Cusack (1972), Sean Dolman (1991), and Keith Kelly (2000).
But one of the greatest performances by an Irish runner occurred on November 23, 1970, when Corkman Donie Walsh finished runner-up at the NCAA finals in Williamsburg, Virginia.
The then 21-year-old Leevale athlete finished just eight seconds behind the legendary, Steve Prefontaine, but what was just as remarkable was the number of famous names he left in his wake. Prefontaine was a teenage sensation, winning every meet he contested in his junior and senior years in high school. He had also established a national high school record of 8:41.6 for two miles.
Recruited by the University of Oregon under coach Bill Bowerman, Prefontaine had already taken bronze at the NCAA cross-country in 1969.
In his first year on scholarship at the famed Villanova University, Walsh had finished a highly promising 11th that day, after an overambitious start. “The mistake I made that year was that I went out too fast. I went through the first mile in 4:15 which was a second faster than my personal best for the distance at the time,” he recalled.
His form leading into the 1970 decider was good, and he had also learned a valuable lesson.
“I said this time I would go out slow, and went through the first mile in 4:30. They were all gone from me; I was way at the back. But as the race went on I was coming through and coming through and with about a mile to go, I was able to see the leaders.
“I then just picked then off one by one. Prefontaine was dying ahead of me but he got there before me. If there was another couple of hundred metres left, I might have caught him, but he judged it better than me.”
Villanova had won the team title in 1966, 1967, and 1968 and finished second behind UTEP in 1969 and so were amongst the favourites once again. Initially, they were given second behind Oregon but a few days later, after reviewing the video, Villanova’s fifth scorer was awarded 62nd place instead of 67th, and so they were crowned champions by a point. Prefontaine’s time for the six-mile course was 28:00, while Walsh was credited with 28:08. In third, two seconds behind the Corkman, was Don Kardong of Stanford while Greg Fredericks of Penn State finished fourth in 28:12 and two years later he set an American record for 10,000m and also qualified for the 1980 Olympic team.
But, of course, Prefontaine’s star would shine the brightest. With his brash running style, his film star looks — some people referred to him as the ‘James Dean of Track’ — he was destined for greatness.
In 1972, he missed out on a medal by eight-10ths of a second in the 5,000m at the Munich Olympics, and he would go on to hold seven American records from 2,000m to 10,000m before his untimely and tragic death in a car crash on May 30, 1975. He was 24.
Today, back living in his native city, Walsh contributes in a major way to the sport he so enriched by coaching a large group of runners from both Leevale and UCC, along with the Midleton club, four days a week.
He still dispenses the same common-sense knowledge and enthusiasm that over four-and-a-half decades ago saw him mix it with the best.
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