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Basil Heatley

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Basil Heatley
Personal information
Born(1933-12-25)25 December 1933
Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England
Died3 August 2019(2019-08-03) (aged 85)
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight66 kg (146 lb)
Sport
SportLong-distance running
ClubCoventry Godiva Harriers
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1964 Tokyo Marathon

Benjamin Basil Heatley (25 December 1933 – 3 August 2019)[1] was a British competitive long-distance runner, who was an Olympic marathon silver medallist and former world marathon record-holder. Although he favoured cross country running, he was also a skilled marathon runner and, despite running shoe technology being in its infancy, he was able to adapt easily to the change of conditions underfoot.

Heatley was a three-time winner of the English National Cross Country title (1960, 1961, 1963). He competed in the International Cross Country Championships seven times between 1957 and 1964, winning the title in 1961. In the early 1960s, he set a British record and a world record for the 10-mile run, then on 13 June 1964 he broke the record for the world's fastest marathon. Four months later, he won a silver medal for Great Britain at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics when he finished second in the Olympic marathon (defending champion Abebe Bikila broke Heatley's world record on winning his second gold medal). The 1964 Olympics marked the end of Heatley's international career.

Biography

Early life and start of running career

As a 14-year-old boy, Heatley read about the 1948 Summer Olympics that were taking place in London, and he was inspired by Czechoslovakian long-distance runner Emil Zátopek.[2]

He joined Coventry Godiva Harriers at the end of 1950 and was to become a life member of the club.[3] In 1951, he won the Midland Cross Country Youth title[4] and finished third in the English National Youth Cross Country Championship.[2] The following year, he won another bronze medal in the National Juniors cross country race.[3] During the 1953/54 season, he took part in cross country races at the Junior level in the Birmingham League, winning their first division race at least eight times. He then won the Midland Cross Country Junior title in both 1954 and 1955, and the Midland Cross Country Senior title five times (1957–1960 and 1964).[4]

Heatley first started marathon running in 1956 and won the Midlands Championships the same year, completing the distance in 2:36:55.[5] He successfully defended his title at the 1957 Midlands Championships, improving on his previous time with 2:23:01.[5] He then decided to take a break from the marathon for a period of six years and did not return to marathon running until 1963.[3]

In March 1957, he came second in the 9-mile cross-country run at the 1957 International Cross Country Championships (forerunner of the World Cross) in Belgium.[3] He came in 9th in 1958, and took 4th place in both 1959 and 1960. He finally triumphed at the 1961 International Cross in Nantes, France, winning with an impressive margin of 23 seconds.[2][6]

On 15 April 1961, in the AAA Championships at Hurlingham Park in London, he broke his hero Zátopek's world record for the 10 mile run, with a time of 47 minutes and 47 seconds.[2][3] A versatile runner over various distances, he was also a regular performer in the 6-mile run and the 10,000 metres.[4]

Marathon world record

Heatley returned to marathon running in 1963, and finished second in the AAA marathon in Coventry in a time of 2:19:56.[2][3]

On 13 June 1964, he set a new marathon world record in the Polytechnic Marathon between Windsor and Chiswick; his record time of 2:13:55 broke Buddy Edelen's previous record by 33 seconds.[2] This outstanding performance earned Heatley selection into the Great Britain team for the Tokyo Olympics.[4]

1964 Olympic silver

Heatley's most memorable appearance came on 21 October 1964 when he won a silver medal for Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics.[3] The gold medal went to defending champion, Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila, who in turn broke the world record with a time of 2:12:11.2, replacing Heatley in the record books.[5] Bikila successfully defended the title he had won barefoot at the Rome Olympics four years earlier.[6]

Heatley was in 12th position half way through the marathon but, despite suffering from stitch for a large part of the race, he managed to work his way up the field to move into third position behind Japan's Kōkichi Tsuburaya. He was 75 seconds behind Tsuburaya at the 40km mark and the two runners were separated by 30 metres as they approached the Olympic stadium.[2][4]

Four minutes after Bikila had won the race, Tsuburaya entered the stadium in second place in front of a cheering home crowd, but he was running out of strength. Heatley sprinted the last 200 metres of the stadium lap in 32.3 seconds, overtaking Tsuburaya just 110 metres before the finish line to take second place.[3][4] He had completed the marathon in 2 hours, 16 minutes and 19.2 seconds, winning the Olympic silver medal.[7][8] Tsuburaya finished third in 2:16:22.8, followed by Heatley's teammate Brian Kilby in fourth place.[3]

Heatley was the fourth Briton to win silver in the Olympic marathon (after Sam Ferris in 1932, Ernie Harper in 1936 and Tom Richards in 1948),[2] and although Charlie Spedding took the bronze medal in Los Angeles twenty years later, no Briton has won a silver medal in the Olympic marathon since Heatley's achievement in 1964.[3]

Retirement and later life

Heatley retired from international competition after the 1964 Games[2] and then became a British athletics team manager.[3] He was secretary of the Midland Cross Country Association for a number of years during the 1970s.[4] He continued to compete in the Third Division of the Birmingham League for several years after his international retirement and remained closely involved with the sport into later life.[2][4]

In 2014, Heatley and his wife Gill visited Tokyo on the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Games and met with relatives of both Tsuburaya and Bikila.[6]

In 2015, at the age of 82, Heatley was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame at the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham.[9] He was presented with his award by former long-distance world record holder David Moorcroft.[2]

References

  1. ^ Cushen, Bridget. "The Passing of Basil Heatley". British Masters Athletic Federation. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Basil Heatley: 1933–2019". England Athletics. 5 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Basil Heatley". UK Athletics. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "Basil Heatley". Birmingham & District Cross Country League. 22 October 2011.
  5. ^ a b c "Passing of Life member Basil Heatley on Saturday 3rd August". Coventry Godiva Harriers. 5 August 2019.
  6. ^ a b c Henderson, Jason (4 August 2019). "Distance legend Basil Heatley dies". Athletics Weekly.
  7. ^ "Basil Heatley, Results". IOC. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  8. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Basil Heatley". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Basil Heatley – Hall of Fame". English Cross Country Association. 27 October 2015.
Records
Preceded by Men's Marathon World Record Holder
13 June 1964 – 21 October 1964 		Succeeded by
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