Metadata
WORK ID: NEFA 12776 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| GATESHEAD GAMES | 1974 | 1974-01-01 |
|
Details
Original Format: Super 8 Colour: Colour Sound: Silent Duration: 8 mins 4 secs Genre: Amateur Subject: Sport |
| Summary An amateur record of athletics and sports events at the Gateshead Games held at the Gateshead Stadium in July 1974 that features Brendan Foster taking part in a long distance race. |
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Description
An amateur record of athletics and sports events at the Gateshead Games held at the Gateshead Stadium in July 1974 that features Brendan Foster taking part in a long distance race.
The film begins with views of the Mayor of Gateshead and other dignitaries in the stands. General views around the track of the crowds and competitors waiting for events to begin.
General views of a men’s sprint, which is won by a black athlete. The following event is a long distance race won by a man with long...
An amateur record of athletics and sports events at the Gateshead Games held at the Gateshead Stadium in July 1974 that features Brendan Foster taking part in a long distance race.
The film begins with views of the Mayor of Gateshead and other dignitaries in the stands. General views around the track of the crowds and competitors waiting for events to begin.
General views of a men’s sprint, which is won by a black athlete. The following event is a long distance race won by a man with long hair. At the far side of the stadium, competitors take part in the high jump.
General views from a number of other races including the 3000 metre race that features Alan Pascoe, David Bedford and Gateshead Harrier Brendan Foster who wins the race and is mobbed by photographers and the crowds as he leaves the track.
A women’s race takes place on the track. The film ends with more views of competitors taking part in the high jump contest.
Context
A runaway record breaker from Gateshead
Witness a world record-beating race on home ground by Gateshead’s local sporting hero, Brendan Foster.
“You know how it is when you’ve had a few drinks, you promise the world!” Sporting a magnificent pair of sideburns, Brendan Foster grimaces through the finish line to set a new world record in the men’s 3,000 metres at the 1974 Gateshead Games. The track star wagered he could do it and help win international publicity for the city and it's...
A runaway record breaker from Gateshead
Witness a world record-beating race on home ground by Gateshead’s local sporting hero, Brendan Foster. “You know how it is when you’ve had a few drinks, you promise the world!” Sporting a magnificent pair of sideburns, Brendan Foster grimaces through the finish line to set a new world record in the men’s 3,000 metres at the 1974 Gateshead Games. The track star wagered he could do it and help win international publicity for the city and it's improved stadium track. That day, the sell-out crowd of 13,500 were there to cheer on their local hero, ‘Big Bren’, future medallist at the Montreal Olympics. The Gateshead Youth Stadium rested in a reclaimed chemical dump down by the River Tyne. Its cinder track had seen better days. In winter 1973, Brendan Foster had to travel to Edinburgh, or to London, to train. Gateshead Council Leader William Collins “knew that we were breeding a champion” so decided to invest in a new synthetic track. On 3 August 1974, the Gateshead Games were staged to reopen the stadium, with Foster promising to make it a landmark athletics meeting. In September that year, Foster stylishly won the 5,000m gold at the European Athletics Championships in Rome and was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He would go on to found the world’s biggest annual half-marathon, The Great North Run. When once asked what made him run, Foster cryptically answered: "It's not a question of the loneliness but the enigma of the long-distance runner […] life's a contest, isn't it? Here in the northeast you don't succeed because of your circumstances but in spite of them." |
