Europe Competition 1974

INTRODUCTION

[July 2004]  Over the years I've been asked to share my 1974 “amateur” racing experience in Europe.  That was now 30 years ago.

(l-r) Steve Prefontaine, Knut Kvalheim, Steve Bence, Mark Feig, Lars Kaupang

I kept a detailed training journal of the trip and I'm sharing included text from my training diary almost verbatim (I edited it only slightly);  pictures & articles from my scrapbook; plus some other content that I thought would be interesting.

There is a lot of material here.  When I wrote my diary in 1974 it was not meant to be entertaining.  As many runners, I kept track of my running, food, sleep, and other details so I could look back to learn what worked and what didn’t.

If you read beyond some of the boring details, you'll get a glimpse of what it was like to compete in Europe as a true "amateur" in the 70’s.  For me, it was a great adventure.

Even though I was not an elite world-class runner, I think my experience was typical of all American athletes competing in Europe at the time.  Recently I talked to Mac Wilkins who, after 1974, went on to be an Olympic discus champion and a world record holder.  He described the same situations in the early 70’s that I experienced of looking for places to stay and repeated phone calls to meet directors to negotiate entry into competition.