Village Squire, 1979-07, Page 23PROFILE
Kevin Cox [left] takes part in the prestigious Athens Marathon, and there wasn't a 60 year
old Swede in sight.
Running takes
Kevin
around the world
BY ELAINE TOWNSHEND
When Kevin Cox was growing up in
Goderich Township, he says he was "the
fat kid who wasn't good in any kind of
sport, even in high school."
He seemed an unlikely candidate to one
day run in one of the most prestigious
marathons in the world in Athens, Greece,
and to finish 49th out of 1,600 competitors
from around the world. But that's what he
did last October.
Kevin, 25, attended high school in
Goderich and graduated from the
University of Western Ontario with a
degree in journalism in 1976. He is now an
agricultural writer with the Hamilton
Spectator and lives in Dundas.
His interest in running began when he
was 15. He and some friends entered a
miles -for -millions walk-a-thon. They found
walking tedious and began running. Kevin
discovered, even though he was the slow
one, he could pass most of the faster
runners when it came to a test of
endurance. After that, he ran in all kinds of
races at school including the half -mile and
mile.
"I learned a few things," recalls Kevin,
"like some people were meant to be fast
and others weren't. Slow runners could
pass the fast ones eventually in any race, if
they were properly conditioned. And I
found out there was nothing wrong with
being slow."
Racing was "not a big deal" with him for
the next few years. He ran four or five
miles a day because he enjoyed it, and he
discovered Goderich Township was an
excellent area in which to train, because he
could run for twenty miles without passing
through a town or village.
Between 1973 and 1977, he ran in only a
few races, such as the Springbank road
race in London in September, 1977.
He learned something in every race. For
example, in Hull times were announced
every five miles but only in French. A racer
tends to run in a trance, explains Kevin,
and has to break himself out of it to pick up
speed. Hearing the times in French didn't
break through Kevin's trance, and after
that, he always wore a wrist watch.
In 1975, he entered the National Capital
in Ottawa "on a whim" and to write a first
person story on the marathon for thio
newspaper he was working for Olt
summer - the Ottawa Citizen.
He had been running only four or Ise
miles a day, but increased his training
fifteen miles a day for three weeks prion,.
the race. He discovered the tough training
close to the race was a mistake. Ideally a
runner should be pre -conditioned and able
to level off before a race.
He finished in 3:12 - an excellent time
considering his last-minute preparation
and the old shoes he wore. The shoes were
similar to old high school basketball shoes
with no arch support and a thin sole. Next
morning his left foot was badly swollen,
and he concluded that shoes were the most
important part of a runner's equipment.
Good shoes, that give the feet plenty of
support, cost approximately S45 and last
about four months. Kevin contends a
runner can't afford to run in cheap shoes;
injuries to ankles and knees are too easy to
come by. For competition, he wears S70
shoes with a 1" thick "waffle" sole.
Another race in 1975, the National
Championships in Kitchener -Waterloo,
was "horrendous", because he wasn't
properly trained and because cold windy
weather required the athletes to be in twice
as good shape as under ordinary
conditions. He finished with a time of 3:28
but was sick for two months afterwards.
By late 1975, he was a "fitness freak"
working out at U.W.O. During the winter
of 75/76, he skiied to replace running, but
in the spring, work and a foot injury
prevented him from running for four
months. He caught the Olympic bug in July
and August, but a job with the Hamilton
Spectator as a reporter in Cayuga
interrupted his training again in 1977.
1978 was the first year he ran all the
time, training and racing. He was
scheduled for surgery and knew it would
pay off to be in good physical shape. He
ran in every race he could find in 1978,
including the Blossom Festival in St.
Catherines which he entered just one
month after getting out of hospital.
In July 1978, he heard about the Greece
marathon, run annually in memory of the
first marathoner, Pheiddipedes, an Athen-
ian messenger who died in 490 B.C. after
running from Marathon to Athens to tell of
a major victory over the Persians.
Kevin began training in August, running
15 to 20 miles a day, and in September, he
worked on speed. He admits, "I was
petrified of making a fool of myself in
Greece. Even though 1 wasn't a pro
athlete, there was a sense of representing
Canada."
1,600 runners from 22 countries
participated in the 26 mile, 365 yard trek.
They included husky Germans, stocky
Swedes, small, agile Japanese and
muscle-bound U.S. marines. The Canadian
July 1979, Village Squire 21