This story about running a leg of the 1956 Olympic Torch Relay is from the notes of John “Jack” Hassall, who carried the torch from just outside Ballarat around 5am on the morning of 22-Nov-1956.
by John Hassall – known as Jack in the running club – James line – AEJAB.
Selection
Early in 1955 we were pleased to hear that a local committee would be responsible for selecting the majority of torch bearers in the Ballarat zone of the Olympic Flame Relay. Two conditions were mandatory: one, torch bearers were to be amateur within the “lilly-white” definition held by the Australian Athletic authorities at the time; and second, each bearer should be able to carry the torch over one mile (that’s 1.6 kilometres) in six minutes. A further condition, which I think was not spelled out, was that the torch bearers should be male. For Ballarat, the committee asked various central sporting and service bodies to come up with the nominations for torch bearers. In my case the body concerned was the Ballarat Local Athletics Centre which called on the four Ballarat Athletic clubs to submit names giving precedence to length of involvement in Ballarat athletics.
My club, Ballarat YCW Harriers submitted the names of Wal Brown, Frank Hutchinson, Kevin McMahon, and myself. The first three were accepted outright but my nomination was strongly discussed because I was a relative newcomer to Ballarat. I had commenced athletics with CYMS in Melbourne and after moving to Ballarat YCW had become president, vice captain, club record holder for a couple of races, and held the best for a Marathon by a Ballarat runner. To answer the centre’s resistance our secretary won the day by pointing to my ten years track cross country and road running plus the fact that I had competed in the Ballarat Charles Suffren Memorial 4 Mile race every year since its inception. By a margin of one vote I was named to run the trial for placement on the emergency runner list. Naturally I was pleased to hear this result but knew that many nominees from other sports and services would need to fail the trial before I gained full selection.
The year 1956 had been a big year in my running career. After starting well I missed six weeks when I was treated for a tibia stress fracture then over six months following recovery I had run three marathons (one a personal best (PB)), a PB in a 15 mile race, and a disastrous 20 mile race. After the latter I took a complete break for five weeks except for two light runs in preparation for the torch trial. I had no thought of failure because the 6 minutes per mile or better was my pace up to 20 miles – also, they offered second and third attempts.
On Sunday morning 11-Nov-1956 on an out and back course beside Lake Wendouree I completed the official trial with a replica torch in 5min 16sec. I continued my lay-off from training to await an emergency call up. I cannot recall on what date I received verbal notification of full selection, but the official papers were dated 16-Nov-1956. It must have been very disappointing for those whose failure in the 6 minute trial made way for runners like myself – in retrospect, that speed was a stiff requirement.
Torch bearers had to provide their own outfit of white tee shirt, white shorts, white shoes, white sox (if worn) and no insignia whatever. I had a problem with the shorts as our club had a heavy red stripe sewn into the hem. My wife, Catherine, went shopping but at that late stage no shop in Ballarat could help. Finally one of the Schreenan brothers lent me an old pair of tennis shorts which came close to my knees than was the athletic fashion, but I was pleased to have them. With only a couple of days to go I was ready for the relay. [Editors note – by this stage the flame had landed at Cairns and spent just over a week travelling down the east coast and would have been somewhere near Sydney – it would arrive outside Ballarat on 21-Nov-1956.]
The Eve of the Run
The seven pages of information from the Olympic Torch Relay (Ballarat section) Committee, dated 16-Nov, 1956, gave all the information needed as well as lists of runners starting times and sections. I was to run “ … in the early hours of Thursday 22nd …” and was to report to the Town Hall at 1am.
On Wed 21st I went to bed at 9pm and rose after two hours rest to have a light meal. Because we had no car and the local tram did not run after 11pm I walked the 2.25 miles to the Town Hall, checking in about 20 minutes after midnight. Some runners had already reported in, others arrived at intervals until the twenty plus “Daylesford Side” runners were present well before the 1am deadline. About a quarter of these were from athletics clubs, nine other sports were represented while the Fire Brigade and Scouts movement made up the balance. The atmosphere both here and later in the bus was one of subdued excitement and quiet expectancy – none of us had done this before and we knew it was an honour. When we entered the bus the first of our group was to wait 1 3/4 hours before receiving the flame, and, being near the last, my wait was to be 3 3/4 hours. It was to be a long and memorable night.
The Relay
After a bus trip starting at 1am from Ballarat Town Hall, a wait at Creswick Shire Hall, and a return bus trip, I was at last dropped only 2 1/2 miles from where we started.
As I checked the 48-mile peg marker I was totally alone in the chilly pre-dawn Ballarat air. Going through my pre-race stretches and restricted warm-up, I remained in my dark coloured tracksuit. A couple of vehicles went past, but I didn’t realise one should have stopped to give me a torch – they were probably looking for someone in an all-white outfit.
At last I could see the strong figure of Jack Brown coming with his torch held high. Quickly I stripped to my running outfit and was ready, but still had no torch. Jack approached with a powerful finish, handed me his torch, and my memorial run commenced. The excitement helped me more with lift and rhythm. After a hundred yards or so a car pulled alongside, Ron Stuart, leaning out of the passenger window twice called loudly “You’ll have to go”. Perhaps I felt the urgency because this torch (with its now limited fuel) was going to have to last an extra mile. This spurred me into a racing tempo. Running at a pace in this flat section in the early morning light did not allow for sight-seeing, hence, I remember little except for the pressure of that run.
Soon I came in view of the railway crossing sign where at 10 to 5 in the morning a great group of high school personalities, together with many locals including my wife Catherine with 9 month old Johnny and my mother waiting. George Briggs, a mature year eleven student stood at the focus of the crowd with a fresh torch ready. My flame had dwindled to about 8 inches high and as we held our torches together there was a small delay until the new torch burst into flame and George, to welcome applause, was away.
His leg took him close to his home while I was ushered to return my still flickering torch to the army truck. As I handed it in and received the commemorative bronze medal I was pleased to see a few flickering torches on tracks in the vehicle.
Ballarat Town Hall
Somehow I was directed into a car and taken to the Briggs/Wallace change point. There, at the corner of Webster and Creswick Road I joined the 22 runners from this first Ballarat section as we followed Bruce Wallace to greet the Mayor and Olympic Officials on the Town Hall steps. In a ceremony, Bruce’s torch was used to light the cauldron which burned for the duration of the rowing and canoeing Olympic competition on Lake Wendouree.
Runners were invited inside to enjoy refreshments. Here, Jack Brown approached me to ask about the commemorative medal; we realised that he had not received one because he had not returned his torch. Feeling partly responsible for not having removed my tracksuit until the last minute I went with him to approach an official. Luckily one of the first we found was well aware of our two miles on one torch and soon had Jack admiring his “Olympic trophy”. Later we were told that our two mile leg had brought the torch from being 2 minutes behind schedule to about 15 seconds ahead – perhaps we both broke 5 minutes for our mile.
The break at the Town Hall lasted only 30 minutes after which Wally Brown was invited to light his torch from the cauldron flame. The 23 runners from the previous section led him down Sturt Street to his changeover point at the Ballarat East Post Office. At about 20 to 6 in the morning we watched R Vurlow carry the flame on its way to Geelong from where it then headed to Melbourne for the Games opening that afternoon.
That afternoon about the time the flame reached the Olympic Stadium (carried by Ron Clarke), I, as a teacher and torch bearer, was on stage at Ballarat High School telling this same story to a full school assembly. On stage with me were students George Briggs and John M. George, an all round athlete had earned his place in the torch relay by winning the Ballarat Secondary Schools one mile championship. John, also a good athlete, had run a section covering the border of the Daylesford and Ballarat shires where his family had owned land for many years.
It had been a memorable event.
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