Watch a short video compilation of Browning Ross's amazing career:
Browning Ross: Father of American Distance Running Book now available on Amazon:
Note: Browning Ross inducted into the Belmont Plateau Cross-Country Hall of Fame in Philadelphia on August 25, 2018, with other running greats:
https://www.belmontplateaucchof.com/
In reply to a couple of questions about races before 1956: Before Browning Ross started the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA), most American races were handicapped races with staggered starts-- the slowest runners started first. In the race featured in the Atlantic City newsreel in the video, Browning started six minutes and 30 seconds behind the first runner.
ReplyDeleteThe first runner across the finish line was listed as the "winner" by the announcer but actually ran minutes slower than Ross.
The actual fastest runner in the race (Browning Ross in this case) in those days won the "time prize."
After the start of the RRCA, scratch races with everyone starting at the same time became the standard. Ironically, Race Director Browning Ross brought back handicapped races as a novelty from time to time after they had disappeared.