The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FOR the second consecutive year, the Silver Lightning Track Club will honour the country's oldest national track record holder when the

William 'Knucklehead' Johnson Cross Country Championships takes place Saturday at the Bahamas Golf Federation's Driving Range in the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.

At the age of 23 years while he was attending Texas Christian University, Johnson lowered his national record in the men's 1,500 metres that he first broke at age 18. He posted a time of three minutes and 45.72 seconds on May 17, 1983 in Texas and every year, he looks forward to see who will erase it. Only strongman Bradley Cooper's shot put record of 18.35 metres or 60-feet, 2 1/2-inches is older in the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations' record book, having done it on June 15, 1979 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Cooper, by the way, also holds the discus record of 67.10m (220-1) that he posted on June 14, 1986 here at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium.

But while it has been 35 years that his historic feat has been logged into the Bahamian history books, Johnson said he's thrilled that the Silver Lightning Track Club, headed by one of his local rivals and long-time friend Rupert Gardiner, see fit to recognise his accomplishment in staging the cross country championship.

"It's always good when people remember some of the things that you have done," Johnson said. "You don't start out your career doing things so that you could be remembered. These things happen. But to still have the Bahamian national record after setting it so long ago, it's a humble feeling to be remembered."

Johnson, now in administration at St Augustine's College, where he serves as the head coach for the Big Red Machine track team, said he's grateful to Gardiner and the Silver Lightning Track Club for the honour. "I am just hoping that we have a great turnout as we did last year," Johnson said.

Saturday's event, which is scheduled to start at 10am, will have something for athletes from all ages from primary to high school.

According to Gardiner, there will be the under-8 and under-10 boys and girls, who will run an 800m, under-12 and under-14 girls and boys will run a mile, under-16 and under-18 girls and boys will run a mile and-a-half and under-20 and open boys will cover two miles.

"We decided to do this in honour of William 'Knucklehead' Johnson because of his accomplishment as a distance runner," said Gardiner, who competed against Johnson when they attended CC Sweeting and AF Adderley high schools respectively. "We expect that because we are honouring him, we will have a lot of competitors participate again this year."

Just for the record, Johnson dominated their matchups on the track when he competed against Gardiner from around 1976 to 1983.

But Gardiner's claim to fame is that he would have captured a few victories, including the Model Bakery Mile, in which he held the victory over Johnson in road races.

Flash back to last year, there were about 500 competitors that participated and with more schools expressing an interest, Gardiner said they anticipate that the entries could double on Saturday as coaches start to prepare their athletes to compete in their offseason training in anticipation of the track and field season next year.

"We are looking forward to athletes coming out and competing from both the public and private schools," Gardiner said.

Reflecting on the distance programme in the country, Johnson said it's obvious that the talent is there.

"Our distance runners, who you thought could take that next step, usually step down and run the shorter distances," he pointed out. "So it's not for a lack of talent. One of the things I have seen is once they see someone like Chris (Brown) or Stevie (Gardiner) do something in the 400m, you see a lot more quarter-milers because people want to emulate them.

"The same thing with the sprints with the 'Golden Girls'. We just have not had any distance runners do anything spectacular that wants to cause more athletes to want to go out there and be a standard bearer in the longer races. We have not had that in a long time. So we need someone to step up. It's not for a lack of talent. It's there. We just want to harness it."

As for his national record, Johnson said there's no way that it should be in the history books right now.

"I stopped at a young age running distance, so I figure it should have been gone," he said. "It's telling us that we are not progressing in that area. We have seen it in the sprints, the jumps and the throws at the international level, but our distance runners are lagging behind.

"Records are meant to be broken, but while I still have it, I'm going to enjoy it. But it's time for someone to step up and take it. It's been around a long time. We have the talent. I see guys far more talented than me. They just have to take the next step. Maybe one of the two brothers, Mitchel and Gabriel Curtis, who competed for CARIFTA, will step it up. They have been progressing very well."

The William 'Knucklehead' Johnson Cross Country Championships will be the first official meet for the season.