London Marathon | One minute you are strangers on the streets of London and the next you are united in sports forever and friends for a lifetime.
That is what happened for American Dick Beardsley and Norwegian Inge Simonsen at the 1981 London Marathon.
1981 London Marathon
These two marathoners had never met when the gun went off to start the first ever London Marathon. They ran together near the head of the pack for miles, neither able to gain distance on the other.
In the final stages of the race, a moment in sports history began when Beardsley turned to Simonsen and asked, “should we go in together.”
Not knowing if Simonsen had agreed to that, they raced on, stride for stride, towards the finish line where the answer became apparent. Hand in hand, they crossed the finish line as co-winners of London’s first marathon.
Never before, and most likely never again, will a marathon finish this way.
Here are Dick and Inge with the story of that race, in their own words. Why would two such competitive athletes who had trained so hard to win the marathon agree to do this while running the race?
What effect did this race have on their lives? Would they do it differently in hindsight?
Listen and enjoy.
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If you loved this episode, check out our others:
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- 1985 American League Championship | Ep 2
- Red Sox-Yankees Rivalry | Ep 3
- 1984 Tigers vs Blue Jays | Ep 4
- 2002 World Series | Giants vs Angels | Ep 5
- UCLA vs Arizona | NCAA Mens’ Basketball | Ep 6
- ACC College Basketball | MD vs VT | Ep 7
- Army vs Navy | NCAA Football | Ep 8
- GM vs Agent | Major League Baseball | Ep 9
- 1988 NLCS | Dodgers vs Mets | Ep 10
- In The Press Box | Nightengale vs Miller | Ep 11
- Reporters | Adamson vs Coakley | Ep 12
- Coaches | Raftery vs Carlesimo | Ep 13
- Pitchers | Blyleven vs Langston | Ep 14
- Public Relations | Horwitz vs Swanson | Ep 15
- Swimming | USA vs East Germany | Ep 16
- 1983 Sugar Bowl | PSU vs GA | Ep 17
- OSU vs Oregon | NCAA Basketball | Ep 18
- Olympic Diving | Potter vs King | Ep 19
- HOF Pitchers | Palmer vs Eckersley | Ep 20
- Ironman World Championships | Iron War | Ep 21