Athletics: Stewart the also-ran laps up his night in dodge city
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Your support makes all the difference.Like his father 32 years before him, Glen Stewart emerged victorious from a Commonwealth Games 10,000m final on Friday night. Not that the son and protégé of Lachie Stewart, the Scot who outsprinted Ron Clarke in Edinburgh in 1970, saw it quite that way. "I did get lapped by the Kenyans," he pointed out.
He had in fact been lapped by three Kenyans and one Tanzanian, and crossed the finish line in 11th place. Stewart the younger, though, won the race within the race: the battle among the Britons that was fought some distance behind the chase for gold, silver and bronze.
From the moment the Africans pulled clear of the rest, around the halfway mark, Stewart and England's Rob Denmark slugged out an equally gripping duel for a slice of home pride. The contest was decided when Stewart sprinted ahead at the start of the final lap – after both men had jumped over the distraught Kenyan John Cheruiyot (who was still sprawled across the inside lane following his vain attempt to claim the bronze medal ahead of John Yuda of Tanzania) and after Stewart had sidestepped a television cameraman who had strayed on to the track and who then crashed into the unfortunate Denmark.
The race for first place was won by Wilberforce Talel in 27min 45.39sec, a time that removed the Commonwealth Games record held since 1974 by Dick Taylor of New Zealand. He finished 0.07sec ahead of his Kenyan team-mate Paul Malakwen.
Stewart finished 4.56sec ahead of his British rival in 29min 4.03sec. He then shrewdly intervened when Denmark hared across the infield in search of the offending cameraman. "It's a good job Glen came with me," Denmark said. "Otherwise, I would have smacked the guy. Not that the collision would have made any difference. I was on my last legs. Glen would have had me on the last lap anyway."
It was an emotional occasion for the 32-year-old Stewart, following in the footsteps of his 58-year-old father and coach, with whom he still lives in Bonhill, Dumbartonshire. "Yes, he's here," Glen said. "He just said to me, 'Stick in. Do your best. Just do as well as you can'."
Stewart Junior certainly did that. "I can't be disappointed," he said. "I just don't know how you can compete with the Africans. You know they're either going to blast it from the start or get away from you at halfway. You just can't do anything about it."
The same sentiment was echoed by Denmark, who won the Commonwealth 5,000m title in Victoria eight years ago. "These guys are just something else, compared to the Africans I raced back then," he said. "I won't be running any more international championships. I don't see the point when you get lapped. I pity the young guys who are coming through to face them."
He should pity Glen Stewart too. He will be running against Yuda and three fresh Kenyans in the 5,000m final on Wednesday night.
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