Bruce Tulloh

When he ran in the Inter-Counties championship at the White City in 1959, Bruce Tulloh raised a few eyebrows because he ran barefooted, a sight normally reserved for African runners on British tracks. Tulloh reckoned he could run faster without spikes and, barefooted, he could attain a greater burst of speed. His decision was vindicated he then won his first AAA title, at 3-miles, that same year.

Tulloh started running at his prep school, and developed further after going to public school. He won his first race at the age of 12 at the Horwood village sports day in Devon. He then went to Southampton University, where he studied botany and was the 1958 and 1959 UAU 3-mile champion. He was the Southern Counties 3-mile champion in 1959 and, after going up to Selwyn College, Cambridge for one year, became a Blue, winning the one mile at the Varsity meeting. After University, Tulloh got his first job with the Shell company, which took him to Kenya, where he started teaching and coaching athletics and later set up the Safaricom Marathon. One of his pupils in Kenya was Olympic medalist Mike Boit.

Tulloh’s victories included the AAA 3-mile title in 1959, 1962-63. He was also runner-up in 1960 and third in 1964. He was narrowly beaten by the legendary Mohamad Gammoudi in the AAA 6-mile race in 1966, when he set the British record of 27:23.78, just 0.4 sec behind the Tunisian. Tulloh also won the Inter-Counties 3-mile title in 1962, and 1964-85 and the 6-mile title in 1962, and 1966-67. In 1962, he finished second to Peter Snell when Snell broke the World mile record at Wanganui, New Zealand. Tulloh led going until the back straight but, despite finishing second, still managed to go on and beat the four-minute barrier for the first time. Tulloh’s proudest track moment, however, was in winning the European Championship 5000 metres title at Budapest, also in 1962.

Equally at home cross-country running as he was on the track, Tulloh was twice runner-up in the English National Cross-country Championships, in 1961 and 1962. He lost to Basil Heatley in 1961 and the following year thought he had the race won at Blackpool, when he tried to get away from local hero Gerry North with half-a-mile to go, but the local man was not prepared to be beaten on home soil and won by two seconds. Ironically, the two men would become team-mates in the highly successful Portsmouth AC in the 1960s and 70s.

Tulloh competed in the 1960 Rome Olympics, but the heat and humidity beat him. He missed the 1964 Games due to a bout of measles and the prospect of racing at altitude at Mexico in 1968 did not appeal to him so, instead, he took on another challenge. He decided to attack the record of running the 2,876 miles across America form Los Angeles to New York City, and he did it in 64 days 23 hours to beat the old record by more than four days. It was an achievement that later earned him the nickname “The original Forrest Gump.” He wrote about his achievement in a book Four Million Footsteps, which was regarded as one of the best running books of all time. In total, Tulloh had 23 books published including Complete Distance Runner, Running over 40, 50, 60, 70, Running is Easy, and How to Avoid Dying - For as Long as Possible - published just after his 80th birthday.

He kept on running long after his competitive days were over, and at the age of 58 ran a 2:47 in the London Marathon, clocking 1:16 for a half-marathon aged 60. For his 75th birthday he ran the original marathon course in Athens, and for his 80th birthday ran, and walked, the 80 miles from his Wiltshire home to London.

Tulloh was a biology teacher at Marlborough College for more than 20 years, where he also coached the cross-country team. He had twin daughters, Katherine and Jojo, who were also barefooted runners and both had podium finishes in the 1500 metres at the English Schools Championships. At the time of his death, Tulloh was President of Portsmouth AC.

Personal Best: 5000 – 13:49.4 (1964).