Sport: Dream Race

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Before dozing off for a final nap a few hours before the big race one day last week, British Miler Derek Ibbotson had a happy premonition. "It's going to be interesting tonight," he predicted. "I think the time will be 3 :50-something."

Like Ibbotson, the crowd of 30,000 that jammed London's White City Stadium expected great things in the International Invitation Mile, an added attraction of a London v. New York Track and Field Meet. The entries included three of the world's best middle-distance runners: Czechoslovakia's Stanislav Jungwirth, who had just set a world record for the 1,500 meters (3:38.1); Ireland's Ron Delany, the 1,500-meter Olympic champ; and, of course. Ibbotson. the 25-year-old electrical engineer from Yorkshire, who twice had broken four minutes.

At the gun, Britain's pace-setting Mike Blagrove led the field into the first lap on the dead sprint. In third place was Ibbotson, his chest stuck out like a bantam cock's, his legs and arms weaving perfect circles, running like a mechanical toy. The time for the first quarter-mile: 0:55.3, just 9.5 sec. slower than the world record. "When I heard that time," said Ibbotson later, "I felt sick." At the half-mile mark. the time was a phenomenal 1:55.8. Then Blagrove faded. When the bell clanged at the start of the final quarter-mile lap, the watches clicked at 3:00.0.

Ibbotson opened up. For one wavering second, he hung by Front Runner Jungwirth's shoulder before blasting by the slim, blond Czech. Back in the pack, Delany frantically started a last-lap kick that started the crowd bellowing with delight. Delany sailed toward the front, but Ibbotson streaked across the line 10 yds. in the lead. His time: 3:57.2, smashing the old 3:58 world record set by Australia's John Landy in 1954. In the first four-man finish under four minutes, Delany was clocked at 3:58.8, Jungwirth at 3:59.1 and England's Ken Wood in

3:59.3.

Victor Ibbotson jogged through a slowdown lap, gulped a pint of milk, said the race had gone according to plan. "I wanted a fast time because that's the only way to beat Delany, since he's a fast finisher." Gasped Delany: "A fabulous race. I shall dream about it for years."