The annual pilgrimage to the US this week may point to how well some athletes will perform later this month at the European Indoor Championships. With confirmation yesterday that five Irish runners will take part in the Millrose Games, New York, on Friday night, interest is once again significant in the historical event.
Madison Square Garden and the Wanamaker Mile, where the names of Eamonn Coghlan, Marcus O'Sullivan and Ronnie Delany still are synonymous with the biggest indoor event outside a major championship, promises faster times than ever.
The raucous Garden crowd used to berate Delany in the 1950s for refusing to run against the clock. The 1956 Olympic champion insisted on racing against the field. He silenced them by winning four events between 1956 and 1959 and was never beaten. Coghlan's love affair with America and the boards was lasting and mutual. He won a record seven races, American Glen Cunningham separating him from five-times winner O'Sullivan. The Cork runner is still the third highest winner in its history.
Niall Bruton has kept the torch burning in recent times with wins in 1994 and 1996 while Ray Flynn's great misfortune was that he was part of the same era as Coghlan. Flynn, fourth on the all-time list with six sub-four-minute runs, never actually won the title. In terms of consistency, however, nobody has beaten O'Sullivan's performances. The Cork runner posted 10 sub-four-minute miles in his time, an event record.
Irish athletes light up the history of the 93-year-old meeting like no other nationality. The games have been staged in the Garden since 1914 and are the longest running sporting event in its history with 87 world records set there or equalled.
Both Mark Carroll and James Nolan run in the Wanamaker Mile with Ken Mason going in the 3,000 metres, Peter Coghlan in the 60 metres hurdles and Sinead Delahunty entered in the women's mile.
"Indoors Coghlan and Delany were unbeatable and Flynn must have got about four second places and a number of thirds," says director Howard Schmertz who has been running the meeting for 26 years. Schmertz's father Fred held the same post for 41 years before him.
"Delany was a great runner," says Schmertz. "A very strange style and a short stride but a marvellous runner. The Irish always dominated indoors here more than track and field (outdoors). A lot of it had to do with the whole Villanova scene, the small board tracks," he adds.
"I've always said to Flynn that if Coghlan wasn't there, he would have had three or four Wanamaker wins. But this year I think Mark Carroll has a good chance of winning. He ran a 3:54 and a fraction a few weeks ago in the Armoury (US meeting) which is very, very strong for January," Schmertz points out.
Carroll's form in the Garden is well proven. He won the 3,000 metres in 1998 in seven minutes 49.38 seconds.
James Nolan, second last year in the 800 metres in one minute 48.71 seconds, recently knocked over two seconds off his previous best in Dortmund, Germany, over 1,500 metres. Nolan finished fourth in the quality field and hopes going up a distance this year will pay off.
