Lindgren 11th in Legends Mile; Eugene Fans Cheer His Return

Gerry Lindgren, who dropped out of sight and had been living under an assumed name, made his first competitive appearance under his real name in at least seven years Saturday night at the Oregon Twilight track and field meet.

The 41-year-old Lindgren finished 11th in the Legends’ Mile, an event for runners over 40. Former world record-holder Jim Ryun also competed in the race, his first as a masters runner, and wound up seventh.

Web Loudat, a 1967 graduate of the University of New Mexico, won in 4:20.89. Ryun was clocked in 4:30.98, while Lindgren, who won six NCAA distance titles in the mid-1960s for Washington State, finished in 4:39.6.

Lindgren was cheered loudly by the crowd of 6,392.

“I had a problem with a groin pull, but when I heard the crowd yelling, I decided to go for it,” he said.

“I’ll run the event again, if they’ll have me after the way I ran tonight.”

Lindgren said he decided to enter the race “to set the record straight” about his disappearance seven years ago, when he left his wife, three children and a bankrupt athletic footwear business in Tacoma, Wash. He was the subject of an 11-year-old paternity lawsuit at the time. He was discovered when he was recognized running under the name of Gale Young in a road race in Honolulu last October.

“I didn’t know I’d disappeared,” he said.

Lindgren said he plans to remain in Eugene until the middle of next week in order to attend the wedding of another competitor in the Legends’ Mile, former Olympian-turned-writer Kenny Moore, who finished 14th in the 15-man field.

Lindgren was greeted warmly by former competitors at a Friday night banquet and exchanged hugs with his high school coach, Tracy Walters of Spokane.

“I can’t comment on family things,” Lindgren said. “It’s sad I broke up with my wife and sad how it all happened, but I don’t want to air dirty laundry in public. There is a lot more to it than people need to know. I haven’t really been in hiding as everybody seems to think. I don’t really think I was in hiding as much as avoiding that paternity situation.

“I hid things, I suppose, because I was in an adverse situation and I was a little afraid of it. I shouldn’t have been, because the legal difficulties I had have long since been cleared up.”