Track and Field 1960s Reunion - June 17, 2010

Here are some pictures from the reunion of Saskatchewan track and field athletes from the 1960s, which was held on June 17, 2010 in Saskatoon.  Below are Saskatoon runners Dick DuWors and Don Gogel.  Don is wearing his track suit from the 60s which still fits just fine!  The other picture includes major competitor Al MacDonald from Yorkton (second from right).

Ray Rohatinsky hits 100,000 miles marker in 2012

In the fall of 2012, Ray Rohatinsky, a record-breaking runner in his youth, reached his ambitious goal to run 100,000 miles. Here's a link to a newspaper article on this achievement: Provo man runs 100,000 miles - Daily Herald article

How I Spent My Summer Vacation - Age 15

(This posting was shared with the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame newsletter who used it in their September-November 2013 newsletter.  Click on this link to see the newsletter, and the article on page 2 titled "Sanderson's Coaching Goes Far":
http://smba.ca/download.php?id=254994)

I spent most of the summer of 1961 at Lyle Sanderson’s parents’ ranch in southern Saskatchewan. Lyle was coached at the university by my father, who also coached me. Most of the rather charming words which follow, come almost entirely from my letters home to my father and mother.

June 3, 1961. I was glad to hear that Ralph and Colin are doing so well. Would you please send me the Edmonton results? What about Gogel? What is Gregg doing, other than working?

Lyle and I did a pretty good 1.5 miles Wednesday. On Saturday we timed each other for one mile on our track. The objective was 4:55. I did 4:54 and I think 4:50 is quite possible on it without competition. I had an erratic pace—first quarter and last quarter fast, second quarter way too slow: 69-78-74-73. Lyle beat me in 1.5 miles by 2 or 3 yards.

R.E. DuWors Trophy - Canada West Championships

The Canada West Track and Field Championships were held February 22-23, 2013 at the University of Regina Fieldhouse. The R.E. DuWors Trophy ("Doc" DuWors) was awarded to the Saskatchewan Huskies in the men's team event.  Click on this link to results and awards: Canada West Track and Field Championships 2013

"Doc" DuWors Workouts

Ralph suggested at the reunion that Dad was ahead of his time. I think he was, although the basic principles he followed can be found in a book he gave me in 1964 (Ken Doherty’s Modern Track and Field) which you can still probably order (updated, re-edited with a new title) from “Track and Field News”. The fact that “Doc” was possibly more competent or experienced, or just more motivated than some coaches may possibly have resulted in resentment and even lesser historical coverage of our group than our “glory days” deserved, as has been suggested (not by Ralph) , although I am not too comfortable with this claim myself.

All would agree Doc did not suffer fools gladly, but I think in a sense he earned a lot of respect on our behalf. Finally, both Doherty and Dad admired Bill Bowerman, who proved to be the greatest college track coach of our time, basically because he was creative and intelligent, as well as tough-minded (just ask Don and me!), and, most important, because he rejected the very popular pain-oriented pseudo-science of over-training of the day (endless hard interval training, Eastern European coaches, grimacing faces, or totally unrealistic aristocratic standards for “amateurs”, and, of course, racist ideas like Negroes just naturally exceeded in only very short races due to some peculiar “natural” structure of their bodies). Dad was also an old-fashioned Sociologist, trained to observe more than measure, and many of his track ideas probably came from observing in areas like Community and Social Mobility. I remember as a kid his complaining that he could not turn it (the sociological viewpoint) off.

He believed in rest and recovery between hard workouts, for both physiological and psychological reasons. He probably thought the latter as important as the former. Generally he advocated three hard workouts a week (M, W, F), and two easy ones (T, Th), and a long gentle one on Sunday. If there was a meet, then Friday was very easy as well. If there was no meet, Friday was often a time trial in your distance.