Ian Thompson

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For the Bahamian high jumper, see Ian Thompson (high jumper).

Medal record
Competitor for {{{1}}}
Men's athletics
European Championships
Gold	1974 Rome	Marathon
Commonwealth Games
Competitor for England
Gold	1974 Christchurch	Marathon

Ian Reginald Thompson (born 16 October 1949) in Birkenhead, Merseyside was an English athlete, who gained success in marathon running.

1 Running career
2 Personal life
3 Personal Bests
4 Competitions
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Running career

[edit] Making up the numbers

Regarded as just an ordinary club athlete and ranked 90th in Britain's 5,000 metres list at the time,^[1] Thompson suddenly broke through to world class as a marathon runner when asked to make up the numbers for his club, Luton United, in the AAA marathon championship on 27 October 1973. It was his first race beyond 10 miles, but he won in 2:12:40, at the time the fastest ever debut at the distance and qualified him for the Commonwealth Games three months later

[edit] Commonwealth Gold

Thompson travelled to Christchurch for the 1974 British Commonwealth Games with little expectation that he would be able to reproduce the performance that got him there. This was not the case however and he won with a margin of over 2 minutes in a time of 2:09:12, the fastest ever run in a championship race, a British record and only 39 seconds off the then world record of 2:08:33. This is currently (27 December 2006) the ninth fastest time by a British Athlete (sixth fastest individual) and still a Commonwealth Games record.

[edit] European Gold

In the early autumn of 1974, Thompson competed at the European Championships, again he proved to be the class act of the field. He stayed with the leading group until the 20 kilometre mark and then steadily opening up a gap on the rest of the field^[2] that stood at 98 seconds when he won in a time of 2:13:18.8.

Thompson's achievements were recognised in the 1974 SJA Annual Sports awards, where he was runner up to John Conteh in the Sportsmen of the Year category.^[3]

[edit] Olympic Agony

In 1976 he suffered cramp and finished only 7th in the trials for the Olympics, for which he was not selected to the consternation of some. Although for many years among Britain's best, he never regained his 1974 eminence and contested only one more major championship. He won the AAA title in 1980 to gain selection for the Moscow Olympics but dropped out at the Games. His best times each year between 1977 and 1982 were in the 2:12 to 2:15 range.

[edit] Personal life

His wife Margaret was an early pioneer of marathon running for women in Britain and ran a British best time of 3:07:47 in Korso, Finland 26 October 1975 and for a few months they held both the men and women's British marathon records until Margaret's time was beaten by Christine Readdy (Kilkenny) in Feltham April 4 1976.

Thompson was famously quoted at his 1974 peak as saying "I prefer to remain in blissful ignorance of the opposition. That way I'm not frightened by anyone's reputation".^[4]

[edit] Personal Bests

Event	Best Time	Date	Location
Marathon	2:09:12	31 January 1974	Christchurch
25,000 m	1:17:36.4	15 May 1975	Oulu
15,000 m	44:56.0	15 May 1975	Oulu
10,000 m	29:33.0	1979
5,000 m	14:05.4	1971
1,500 m	3:51.0	1969
One hour	19.831 km	15 May 1975	Oulu

[edit] Competitions

Event	Time	Date	Location	Result
AAA Marathon	2:12:40	27 October 1973	Harlow	1st
Orion Harriers Fifteen	1:24:14	1973	Epping Forest	2nd
Commonwealth Games Marathon	2:09:12	31 January 1974	Christchurch	1st
Athens Marathon	2:13:51	6 April 1974	Athens	1st
European Championships Marathon	2:13:18.8	8 September 1974	Rome	1st
Fukuoka Marathon	2:12:54	5 December 1976	Fukuoka	2nd
Amsterdam Marathon	2:17:47.4	21 May 1977	Amsterdam	4th
Polytechnic Harriers Marathon	2:14:32	11 June 1977	Windsor	1st
New York City Marathon^[5]	2:17:46.0	23 October 1977	New York	13th
Auckland Marathon^[6]	2:03:31	13 November 1977	Auckland	3rd
Auckland Marathon	2:13:49	12 November 1978	Auckland	1st
New York City Marathon^[5]	2:14:12	22 October 1978	New York	2nd
Montreal Marathon	2:15:24	26 August 1979	Montreal	6th
New York City Marathon^[5]	2:13:43	21 October 1979	New York	4th
AAA Marathon	2:14:00	3 May 1980	Milton Keynes	1st
London to Brighton Race	5:15:15	1980	London	1st
Stockholm Marathon	2:19:25	1980	Stockholm	3rd
Tokyo Marathon	2:14:39	29 March 1981	Tokyo	7th
Duchy Marathon	2:27:53	29 March 1981	Cornwall	1st
Amatrice-Configno 8.4 km	24:45.8	18 August 1981	Amatrice	1st
Birmingham Marathon	2:13:50	20 September 1981	Birmingham	1st
Cambridge Half Marathon		1982	Cambridge	1st
Geneva Marathon	2:15:28	21 March 1982	Geneva	2nd
Paris Marathon	2:14:07	16 May 1982	Paris	1st
Istanbul Eurasia Marathon	2:32:35	1983	Istanbul	1st
Paris Marathon		14 May 1983	Paris	3rd
Stoke-on-Trent City Marathon	2:20:54	17 June 1984	Stoke-on-Trent	1st
Manchester Marathon	2:16:08	1 July 1984	Manchester	1st
Great Eastern Half Marathon	1:07:45	1986	Bourne	3rd
Malta Marathon	2:29:06	15 February 1987	Malta	1st
Sheffield Half Marathon	1:39:57	25 April 1999	Sheffield	375th
Shakespeare Half Marathon	01:45:06	2001	Stratford-upon-Avon	356th
Newcastle Half Marathon	01:48:24	13 January 2002	Ackworth	396th
Ackworth Half Marathon	2:09:09	23 March 2003	Ackworth	627th
Redcar Half Marathon	1:52:41	14 March 2004	Redcar	526th

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Independent, The (London) - 20 July, 2002, Whatever happened to Ian Thompson
^ Independent, The (London) - 4 August, 2002, Replay 8 September 1974
^ sportsjournalists.co.uk - SJA Annual Sports awards
^ marathonrookie.com - Quotes about Running
^ ^a ^b ^c measurements on subsequent course were 150 m short, this course probably short as well
^ ca 39.73 km

[edit] External links

BritishAthletics.info - Biography Page
Photograph - 1974 European Championships
Fastest marathon times
1974 Commonwealth Games Full Marathon Result

Persondata
NAME	Thompson, Ian Reginald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Marathon runner
DATE OF BIRTH	16 October 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH	Birkenhead, Merseyside
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH

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