Ernie Harper

Ernie Harper

Ernie Harper (actually Ernest Harper; born August 2, 1902 in Chesterfield , Derbyshire , † October 9, 1979 in Tullamarine , Melbourne ) was a British long-distance , cross-country and marathon runner .

Harper won four British national championships over 10 miles:

• 1923 (53: 34.6 min)
• 1926 (52: 04.0 min)
• 1927 (52: 21.2 min)
• 1929 (52: 15.8 min)

There are also two British cross-country championships (1927 and 1929). He started for the Hallamshire Harriers.

He also won the Northern Counties Championships six times (1923, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929 and 1930).

Harper participated in three Olympic Games.

In 1924 in Paris, he started over 10,000 m as well as in the cross-country run , which also ran over a distance of about ten kilometers and went down in history as the heat battle of Colombes due to the high temperatures above 40 degrees. In both competitions, numerous athletes had to give up because of the external conditions. Harper himself reached the finish line in fifth place over 10,000 meters in 31: 58.0 min. The first four places went to runners from Scandinavia. The Finn Ville Ritola had secured victory in 30: 23.2 minutes. In the cross-country race, Harper came fourth when the Finn Paavo Nurmi won . Harper was 24 seconds behind the American Earl Johnson . A team ranking did not come about because no other Brit except Harper could finish the competition.

In 1928 in Amsterdam , Harper made his Olympic debut as a marathon runner. His time of 2:45:44 h was only enough for a respectable success: He was 22nd out of a total of 69 participants. It wasn't until eight years later, in 1936 in Berlin , that the now 34-year-old finally succeeded in reaching the medal ranks. The race had a superior winner with the Korean-born Japanese Son Kitei , who won the gold medal in 2: 29: 19.2 h, but Harper was able to prevail against the second Korean-born Japanese Nan Shōryū and won in 2:31:23, 2 hours the silver medal.

Before Harper crowned his career in this way, he had already taken part in other international events three times with medal success. At the International Cross Country Championships , where he represented Great Britain no less than nine times in a row (1923-1931), he won the silver medal in Newcastle in 1924 and the gold medal in Brussels in 1926 . He made another big appearance at the British Empire Games in 1930 . There he started over the six miles and won silver behind New Zealander John Savidan (gold in 30: 49.6 min); his time was estimated at 31:01 minutes (he was 60 yards behind).

In 1939, Ernest Harper turned professional. He last lived with his married daughter in Australia . Harper was 1.68 m tall and weighed 58 kg when he was active.

Personal best

• 5000 m: 15: 35.0 min (1926)
• 10,000 m: 31: 58.0 min (1924)
• 10 miles: 52: 04.2 min (1926)
• 20 km: 1: 06: 30.3 h (1929)
• 25 km: 1: 23: 45.8 h (1929)
• Marathon: 2: 31: 23.2 h (1936)
• 2-hour run: 33.653 m (1933)

Established world records

• 25 km (1929) in 1: 23: 45.8 hours. The Finn Martti Marttelin , who had previously held the record (1: 24: 24.0 h), took it back a year later (1: 22: 28.8 h). (Best performance today: 1: 13: 55.8 h, set up in Christchurch in 1981 by the Japanese Toshihiko Seko ).
• 2-hour run (1933)

Web links

• Ernie Harper in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )