1976 Olympic Marathon Trials video with Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, and Don Kardong

Here is a video of the 1976 Olympic Trials Marathon. It is not the best quality, but seeing videos of these great runners of the 1970s is fun to watch.

This reunion flashback video is of a special movie made by Martin Darrah on the US men's Olympic Marathon trials in Eugene, Oregon. There is great footage and wonderful commentary by the leading runners in this race. The WVTC had 5 members who competed in this race. They were Don Kardong, Tony Sandoval, Chris Berka, Ron Zarate and Chuck Smead. Kardong would place third and make the team heading to Montreal. There is some fantastic slow motion video of Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers(1st and 2nd in this race) as well as Kardong and Tony Sandoval(who finished behind Kardong in 4th). Additional commentary can be heard from running author Joe Henderson.

From marathonguide.com 

Sat May 22, 1976 Eugene, OR 

Qualifiers: 87
Starters: 77
Finishers: 49

Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers ran virtually step for step at in what seemed to be a sub-2:10 pace until two or three miles from the finish Rodgers was affected by a leg injury and had to drop back. Shorter would become the first, and as of this writing only, man to win back to back Olympic Trials Marathons. Don Kardong would finish third in 2:13:54.

At the 1976 Olympics, Shorter would go on to win silver behind East German Wlademar Cierpinski who - in recent years - has been suspected of using performance enhancing drugs. Bill Rodgers led the Olympic Marathon in the early miles but fell back with the same leg injury that affected his Trials performance - he would however, rebound to handily win the 1976 New York City Marathon. Don Kardong in fourth place at the Olympics, missing the bronze medal by just three seconds.

1.	Shorter, Frank ( FL)	2:11:51
2.	Rodgers, Bill ( MA)	2:11:58
3.	Kardong, Don ( WA)	2:13:54
4.	Sandoval, Tony ( CA)	2:14:58
5.	Fleming, Tom ( NJ)	2:15:48
6.	Varsha, Bob ( GA)	2:15:50
7.	Bramley, John ( CT)	2:17:16
8.	Pfeffer, Kirk ( CA)	2:17:58
9.	Galloway, Jeff ( GA)	2:18:29
10.	Burfoot, Amby ( CT)	2:18:56
11.	Busby, Bob ( MO)	2:19:05
12.	Hatfield, Carl ( WV)	2:19:18
13.	Sudzina, Marty ( PA)	2:19:55
14.	Forrester, Perry ( CA)	2:20:01
15.	Kurrle, Ron ( CA)	2:20:18

1976 Olympic Marathon Documentary: A Video Gem

Here is a fantastic video showing the 1976 Olympic Marathon. The last time I saw footage of this race was 36 years ago during the Montreal Olympics, so it is just a wonderful treat to see this video: 26 Times in a Row recently posted on youtube (the video cannot be embedded so you will have to go to the youtube link). This is the race where Frank Shorter won the silver medal while trying to repeat as the champion. Waldermar Cierpinski was the surprise gold medalist as he would be again four years later. American Don Kardong just missed the bronze to Karel Lismont and you can see how frustratingly close was the finish. It is great to see such high quality video of some the of the great running stars of the day: an injured Bill Rodgers making a fight of it, fifth place finisher Lasse Viren trying his first marathon days after winning repeat gold medals in the 5000 and 10000 meter races. There is Canadian favorite Jerome Drayton and 44 year old Jack Foster of New Zealand. Here are the results of the 1976 Marathon. Years later, there is much suspicion that Cierpinski was part of the East German drug program, but his Olympic victories were never taken away.

Things changed in 1998, when a German scientist, Dr. Werner Franke, managed to get into the archives of Stasi, East Germany's secret police force. By the time the GDR collapsed, Stasi's spooks had managed to destroy most of its incriminating paperwork, but not a file on State Plan 14:25, which Dr. Franke uncovered at the Stasi headquarters in Leipzig. State Plan 14:25 contained details of East Germany's drug program for its Olympic athletes. The file implicated many gold medalists, five of them winners in track and field in Montreal. Cierpinski's name was at the top of Page 105. He was No. 62.

This is an amazing video to watch: whether you last saw the race years ago or if you have never seen footage of this Olympic Marathon. This is 24 minutes of your time well spent! It is also fun to see things like bicycles on the course and wide range of course vehicles intermingling with the lead runners. I had completely forgotten that one runner even ran an extra lap! If you haven't seen the 1972 Olympic Marathon make sure you watch that race here.