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Republished with permission granted by The Washington Newspaper Publishing Co. LLC d/b/a MediaDC. Back to Montgomery Journal articles
He races without pressing
Photo by Linda White / Journal. Bullis running star Mark Forster checks the rest of the field as he wins the 800 in the IAC-Metro All Star track meet last weekend.
Special to The Journal
In England, track and field is apparently not approached with a very serious attitude at the high school level; in spite of the polished image portrayed by Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett on the international track circuit.
"In England, track is never pushed," said transplanted Englishman Mark Forster. "It's like run a 100 or a 400 and then go to the pub for a pint of beer and relax."
But here, and in Forster's case, at Bullis under first-year Coach Paul Lucas, things are a little different. And, especially in Forster's case, it's made a big difference.
"Here it's (high school track) a lot more dedicated," he said the other day after running the fastest 400 meters in Montgomery County at the State Private School Championships. "He (Lucas) pushes you and pushes you until he gets your max out of you. In England there's really no training. Here we train every single day. And I'm getting fit."
Forster went on to say that because he didn't run cross country in the fall - he played defensive end on the football team instead - he's not as conditioned as he could be. He figures that he ran at about 80 percent potential this season.
That's not particularly good news for his future opponents. At 80 percent, he led county half-milers (tied with Walter Johnson's Anand Dighe at 1:57.9), and was second among quarter milers, three-tenths of a second behind senior Sean Jackson of Seneca Valley. He not only led County quartermilers, but he also has been unchallenged in his position at the top of the 800 meter list since the second week of the season with a time of 1:57.9.
And it all came about in a rather inconspicuous manner. Forster, who's been in boarding schools in England since he was nine years old, came over to the U.S. with his parents (his father is the president of Mars snack food division in McLean) in time to begin his junior year in the fall semester. He looked at various boarding schools in the Maryland-Virginia area but concluded he needed a change of pace. Bullis was the only day school he had approached, so it got the nod, practically by default.
Forster, 5-foot-11 1/2, 169, had never played football before, but his twice-broken ankle, complete with steel place, attested to his aggressiveness on the rugby field; and since football is merely an extension of rugby with a few more rules, why not?
"I'm very good at rugby and I like contact sports as well," he said. "But I have no idea what I'm doing in football, I still don't know the rules. I played defensive end and my job was to get the quarterback, which is what I did. It's good fun, I like hitting people. You can get your emotion and violence out of you."
Forster is proud of the fact he received hes letter for his defensive talents.
He had been the top intermediate hurdler at his school in England and one day around Christmas, Lucas watched Forster go through his hurdling paces. Lucas immediately noticed Forster's combination of speed and strength that is essential in the longer sprints, the 400 and 800 meters. From there he was designated as a half-miler.
"It took off at Episcopal," Forster said. It was at the Cronley Invitational at Episcopal, competing in his third half-mile race of his career, that Forster ran his 1:57.9 800 meters.
"We haven't run him in the half since then," said Lucas. "And it's probably his best event. But when there's no competition you don't want to run him hard all the time."
Forster has found the increased discipline and motivation beneficial to his running, but it hasn't been a completely smooth transition from one system to the other. He certainly doesn't fit the standard American conception of a stuffy Englishman. He's what would probably be classified as rather irreverant in his approach to training and life in general by American standards. Quite simple, he likes to have fun.
"Everybody thinks my nickname ('Flip') is because I'm really crazy and because I go to Georgetown every weekend," he said, laughing. "It's not, it's really from the crash. English drivers are much faster and dangerous and the first time I was over here I borrowed a friend of mine's Suburban and I wasn't used to the weight and I went around a curve too fast and I flipped it 2 1/2 times.
"It's fun over here, people over here are good fun. But, it's (track) been a bit taxing on my mind. I'm a stubborn guy, I do what I like. It's hard when he's pushing me. When I run as hard as I can I don't like to come back and do it again, I'd rather lie down somewhere and barf. It troubles me still, I have to work on that. That's why football wasn't my favorite sport, you're a puppet of the coach. He tells you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, I don't like that. I'm very much my own boss."
But, Forster is also quick to say, "I think (coming to Bullis) has worked out quite well."
He didn't break 1:56 this year, but Lucas figures he can't lose as a senior.
"Next year we'll be in a lot better position," Lucas said. "He'll be running cross country and we'll be starting an indoor program and he'll be running 1000's then."
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