Sam Ferris

Sam Ferris , actually Samuel Ferris , (born August 29, 1900 in Dromore , Banbridge (District) , † March 21, 1980 in Torquay , Devon ) was a British marathon runner who was successful in the 1920s and early 1930s.

The 1.74 m tall athlete started for the Shettleston Harriers and the Herne Hill Harriers.

Ferris ran his first marathon in 1924. He then won the British championship three times in a row:

• 1925 (2:35:59 h)
• 1926 (2:42:25 h)
• 1927 (2:48:47 h)

From 1928 Northern Ireland held its own championships; Ferris won the title five more times (1928, 1929, 1931, 1932 and 1933).

Ferris set three British national records:

• 2: 35: 58.2 h (1925)
• 2:35:27 h (1927)
• 2:33:00 h (1928)

His personal best is 2: 31: 55.0 hours, run in 1932.

Ferris participated in three Olympic Games. In 1924 in Paris he came out of 58 participants (of which only 30 reached the finish) in 2: 52: 26.0 h to a respectable fifth place, where he was about four minutes behind the third-placed (the Finn Albin Stenroos won in 2: 41: 22.6 h). In 1928 in Amsterdam he would have made it into the medal ranks with his personal best of 2:33 that was set in the same year. After all, he was considerably faster in 2:37:41 h than in Paris, but this time was only enough for eighth place (the winner was Boughera El Ouafi , who started for France in 2:32:57 h). In 1932 in Los Angeles , however, he was in top shape to the minute: with 2:31:55 h, he again ran his personal best and was rewarded with the silver medal. Only the Argentine Juan Carlos Zabala was a few seconds faster that day in 2:31:36 hours.

Another major appearance was at the 1930 British Empire Games in Hamilton. Since Northern Ireland did not take part, he started there for England and won silver behind the Scot Duncan McLeod Wright . His time was estimated at 2:47:13 h (he was about 800 yards behind the winner).

Sam Ferris attended school in Glasgow . He then served for 32 years (1918–1950) in the Royal Air Force . He also worked as a reporter for the Athletics Weekly newspaper .

Web links

• Sam Ferris in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )