The Finn of my memory is Lasse Viren who won the 5k and 10k at both the Munich and Montreal Olympics. (He won little between the two and even in those more innocent days questions were asked). The statue in the town we stayed, Turku, however was of a runner from an earlier generation, Paavo Nurmi. Turku has another claim to fame. As George ought to be able to tell you, 46 days after Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute mile, the Austalian John Landy, running in Turku, took 1.4 secs off Bannister’s time.
The manager of the newspaper in Turku was a runner and had some tips to which the committee might like to give consideration. Firstly that after a run you should have a sauna. I said that running dehydrates you and I would have thought that a sauna would make it worse. He said it helped to have a beer in the sauna. I said that we had a couple of pints after running, but he seemed to think this excessive. He added that the sauna should be warm, not hot, and that 15 minutes after running had the same beneficial effect on the leg muscles as a massage. Secondly he thought we should do a mix of training combining running with cross-country ski-ing.
Ian Ashcroft