5 decades with the Tely 10: A former winner remembers when it wasn't a road race at all

On Sunday, I will run my 47th Tely 10 and my 44th consecutive one.

Early in the morning, I will join thousands of other runners and walkers as we journey east from Octagon Pond in Paradise to Bannerman Park in the heart of St. John's.

That route is very familiar, but it hasn't always been that way.

Over the years, I have witnessed many changes in this classic footrace, the most obvious being the tremendous increase in the number of participants in recent years.

On a recent Sunday morning as I led a training run for a group of Tely participants over the Topsail Road course a passing comment from one runner got me thinking back to my own first Tely 10 so many years ago.

A lot of different factors

The year was 1969. The date was Oct. 12 much later than our now-standard fourth Sunday in July.

And, instead of lining up in starting corrals on McNamara Road as we will do for this year's race, all seven or eight of us toed the starting line on King George V track near Memorial Stadium.

Yes, that's right. The Tely 10 was held then on an oval track, for the second consecutive year.

Forty laps, start to finish. Forty! Ah, but you see, there were no hills, no intersections and no traffic.

Few people were in attendance that beautiful autumn afternoon apart from several officials who would time the race and record the number of times we circled the track. Among those who had come to trackside were former nine-time Tely champion Pat Kelly, as well as Graham Kelly (no relation), one of the original participants in the first Telegram Road Race in 1922.

Dan Clarke was the favourite that year. The talented young American runner had been winning all the local races by extremely wide margins. He had recently won a marathon and had captured top honours at the Memorial University cross-country championships.

Like Johnny Lafferty, the 1949 and 1958 Telegram champion, Clarke was stationed at the American naval base in Argentia. At that time, he was running close to 100 miles a week in training.

History made with 1st female runner

Little attention, meanwhile, was paid to a young female runner quietly warming up on the far side of the track.

However, sixteen-year-old Jackie Kean was about to do something a little different that day.

She was about to enter an all-male running event for the first time. Although a record holder in the juvenile 800- and 1,500-metre track events, this was to be her first try at a distance greater than five miles.

She had first become interested in running three years earlier during a summer program at the Kelly's Brook Playground. She was entering the 10-mile race that day only to see how she could do. She also indicated that she would not be bothered at all at the prospect of competing against an all-male field.

The rest of us were cross-country runners from Memorial University, used to running around Kent's Pond long before it became a popular walking trail.

Mike Green was there as well as Mike Campbell, Fraser Pritchett and Gary Furlong, one of the top track and field stars in the province.

We had come to the track with Keith Taylor, our cross-country coach, to see what times we could record for the 10-mile distance. If my memory serves me well, veteran distance runner Jimmy Jackson may also have been in the race.

Little did we realize that on that hazy afternoon, local running history would be made.

A great autumn afternoon

The starting gun was fired shortly after 3 p.m. on a beautiful autumn afternoon and immediately Dan Clarke raced to the front, running with a long loose stride.

The rest of us followed closely, leaving young Jackie Kean far behind. By the end of the first mile, Clarke had established a 24-second lead over the rest of us and seemed to be well on his way to another victory.

Outside on the Boulevardfew were aware that the 42nd running of the Tely 10 was well underway.

By the midway point of the race, as we spread out round the track, Jackie Kean and some of the slower runners were passed several times. Kean, however, continued to run at a relaxed pace.

Each time she passed the starting area, she received enthusiastic encouragement from Graham Kelly and the other few assembled spectators.

Clarke, out front, continued to gain a little every lap. After five miles, the half-way point of the race, his time was 28:25, compared to my 29:05, as I raced along in second place. Gary Furlong was 25 seconds back in third, with Mike Green fourth in 31:20.

Outside on the Boulevard, traffic flowed and shouts from a softball game on the nearby field filled the afternoon air. Few were aware that the 42nd running of the Tely 10 was well underway.

And so as each mile of this historic race unfolded, Clarke was about 200 yards in the lead with the rest of us following some distance behind.

Then with just over six laps remaining of the 40-lap course, I began to sense that Clarke was noticeably slowing, allowing me to narrow the distance between us.

"Can this be real," I thought to myself as I tried to pick up the pace and edge closer to the lead runner. Then gaining a little with each lap, I managed to narrow his lead to about 100 yards with just four laps remaining.

Deciding to go for it

Each time I raced past the officials' stand I glanced quickly at Coach Taylor who was quietly urging me on.

With just over a lap and a half to go, I was running right on Clarke's heels.

At this point I now had a quick decision to make as to whether to continue to follow Clarke or take the lead myself, and then try to hold on over the remaining 400 yards to the finish. But feeling strong and perhaps thinking that I could win that race, I decided to go to the front and try to hang on to the lead right to the finish line.

And then the back-stretch of that final lap, by which I had somehow managed to establish a five-second lead over the American runner. Two hundred metres to go! The last 100!

A quick final sprint down the home stretch to cross the finish line in first place in 58 minutes and 25 seconds, with Clarke just a few seconds behind me. Pat Kelly, Tely champion from the 1930s and '40s, immediately rushed over to offer congratulations.

Within the next few minutes, the remaining runners crossed the finish line, but Jackie Kean continued to circle the track. As she moved closer now to the finish, we all shouted encouragement.

A final time around the track and local running history was made.

Jackie Kean, with a wide smile on her face, became the first female to ever enter and finish the Tely 10.

Another race, and how things have changed

This coming Sunday, as I make the trek from Octagon Pond in over Topsail Road, thousands of participants will accompany me.

Many will be female.

Many will also be running this race for the first time.

Hundreds of spectators will gather along Topsail Road and LeMarchant Road to see us pass. Hundreds more will assemble in Bannerman Park to applaud the weary but happy finishers.

Flags will fly and cheers will resound in the morning air. Excitement will be everywhere.

All will be so very different from that quiet Sunday afternoon 50 years ago when I crossed the finish line in first place in my very first Tely 10.

Pat Kelly would indeed be pleased.

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