Hong Kong runner sad that his 1,500m record has stood for ‘ridiculous’ 50 years
Today marks 50 years since the Hong Kong 1,500m track record was set by Dave Gibson. The time of three minutes 55.6 seconds had stood for so long it was “ridiculous”, said the record holder.
Gibson set the record in Manila on March 7, 1972, according to the Hong Kong Association of Athletics Affiliates records. The closest anyone has come to it yet is in 2012, when Steven Ing set the junior 1,500m record at 3:56.64.
But the 79-year-old said he felt no sense of pride in still holding the record, rather his overwhelming emotion was one of sadness “for the others who haven’t smashed it to pieces yet”.
“It’s not good for Hong Kong that it’s stood for 50 years. There’s been lots of good runners,” Gibson said. “Hopefully, it inspires younger people to say ‘we have to sort this out, this is ridiculous’.”
Gibson was in the British Army, and served Hong Kong from 1969 to 1973. As Hong Kong was part of the Commonwealth at the time, Gibson was selected to represent the city.
He ran in a number of races representing Hong Kong, including the 1973 Asian Goodwill Track and Field Meet, and was flagbarer at other events. He was running for Hong Kong when he set the 1,500m record.
“I’d run 3:45 for 1,500m before so to get under four minutes wasn’t particularly hard for me,” Gibson said.
Gibson has an attitude of looking forward, not back. He is not hung up over the record and was not even aware it was the anniversary of the race.
Gibson started running when he joined the army. Initially, it was just to enjoy the countryside and solidarity.
“Then I got better, so I went down that way of competing. The harder I trained the more rewards I got,” Gibson said.
He did not have a coach – no one did back then – he said, but he read running books and trained with a friend.
“But really I just went running every day and the older I got the easier it got,” he said. “I never really pushed myself, at least it didn’t feel like I did. You see runners these days, they are putting everything into it. I can never remember doing that.
“Maybe unintentionally I trained hard, but I look back on my best races and it was easy.”
The army supported his training. In a way, he was therefore like a professional runner.
In his first year in the army, Gibson came 350th out of 900 in the Army Apprentice College steeple chase.
“My friend won it by a minute,” he said. “The next year I won it by two because I’d train with him, then afterwards, I’d go back to the room and do step-ups on a chair for half an hour thinking it would get me closer to him. It was that kind of motivation.”
Gibson just missed the qualifying time for the 1964 Olympics. He was going from strength to strength. But just as he reached his peak, he was sent away on active service.
“I realised that was it. The age that I was, I had a two- or threeyear period for running and I was on active service the entire time,” Gibson said.
“I couldn’t train in a lot of those places. I was in Kenya, I went for a run a couple of times and I got chased by Baboons. It was dangerous. So that was a period I couldn’t do anything at all. Northern Ireland was another.”
He still went out when he could and typically ran three miles a day depending on his posting.
On a rest and recovery period back in the UK, Gibson came third in a national race, illustrating the potential he had, if only active service had not coincided with his prime.
By the time he moved to Hong Kong, Gibson had given up running seriously.
“In Hong Kong, I more or less retired. I was running but I wasn’t training hard. There was no competition really, I just won everything,” Gibson said.
“But I was comfortable with it all. I realised my career as an athlete was over, so I was just doing it for the fun of it. I was a bit frustrated I didn’t get to the Olympics or anything like that.
“But that wasn’t my fault – up until that point, the army helped me with everything they could, and I was basically a professional athlete, which was unheard of then. But when it actually mattered, they sent me away.”
Gibson was posted in Hong Kong again in the 1980s. This time, he coached other runners. He noticed a particularly promising pair of runners from the Gurkha regiment.
The famous regiment is made up of people from Nepal, renowned for their endurance and grit. But culturally, they did not seem bothered about competing in track races. Gibson organised for the pair to race in the UK, but they did not nearly reach their potential.
“It was really difficult to get them to be competitive. Even when we were training, they wouldn’t overtake me, they’d just say they’d run with me,” he said.
“I think it was so difficult growing up in Nepal, that when they ran, they just did it but didn’t push. I think it’s changed now and there are some good racers from Nepal.”
To celebrate his recent 79th birthday, Gibson ran a 5km race on the Isle of Man.
“I won’t tell you the time,” Gibson said. “It was probably the hardest I’ve ever run. If I’d run like that when I was younger, goodness knows how I would have done. I still have that motivation to finish well.”
In Hong Kong ... There was no competition really, I just won everything
DAVE GIBSON, ATHLETE