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As expected, Finland's Olavi Suomalainen, the defending champion and this year's favorite, held a comfortable lead after 17 miles. Then he suffered a heat cramp and, gripping his side, he began to falter. Jon Anderson overtook Suomalainen on Heartbreak Hill and went on to win the laurel wreath with the winning time of 2 hr. 16 min. 3 sec. Tom Fleming, a senior at William Patterson College in Wayne, N.J., finished second, ahead of the ailing Finn. Afterward, Anderson, 23, a Cornell graduate and conscientious objector who is working as a hospital dishwasher in lieu of military service, clasped Fleming and exclaimed: "Hey, Tom! One-two for America! That's not bad!"
Meanwhile, back on the asphalt, Sauer was rhythmically striding along, passing runners on the final torturous upgrade and deciding that Heartbreak Hill was not so tough after all. Alas, a few miles from the finish, the heat and an ailing foot suddenly got to him and he remembers "an overwhelming urge to give up." But he kept going, thinking, he said later, "about the kids back home and how I couldn't let them down." Finally, he staggered across the finish line with a clocking of 3 hr. 27 min. that was good for 675th place.
Despite that showing, Sauer felt almost as elated as Anderson and Fleming. "When I wake up tomorrow," he said, "food will taste better and the air will smell fresher. That is what comes from running." Then, picking his way through runners lying prostrate on the locker-room floor and podiatrists busily lancing blisters, Dave Sauer wearily headed for home. "In this day of sports commercialism," he said, "it's refreshing to have a sport like running. There is a place in this country for people who enjoy hard work and a little pain."