Cole Lambourne Wins the 400, Finds Community in being Unattached

By Brooklynn Loiselle

Cole Lambourne raced the open 400-meter dash at the Portland Track Festival on Saturday night much like he trains—alone.

He took the lead within the first seconds of the race, making up the stagger on one competitor within the first few seconds, and never gave it up. He won by more than a second, finishing in 47.78 seconds, ahead of runner-up Vaughn Taylor of Vic City Elite, who finished in 48.81.

None of the other competitors at Lewis and Clark College came a half-second of the top two.

Lambourne runs unattached; he does not receive payments or coaching from an outside sponsor. Instead, he writes his own workouts, brings a change of clothes to his full-time job as a product marketer for a paper crafting supply company and runs alone every day after his eight-hour shift.

“I write down all the times that I need to hit before I go to the track and then I do my best to hit them,” Lambourne said. “Because on the computer or on paper before, you can kind of just set those metrics for yourself. And for me, just like the guy that I am, if I see it on the paper I really, really, really want to do it—even if I’m by myself.”

The Salt Lake City native graduated from Utah State University in 2016, and since then has continued to train toward his ultimate goal of the Olympic trials. His training has not come without difficulties. Lambourne set his personal best of 46.10 in 2015 and has yet to beat that PR because of a series of injuries and a lack of access to competitions.

“My biggest challenge this year has been finding meets with competition,” Lambourne said. “It’s better when you have a level of competition with guys that are beating you to get the time that you need.”

Yet, Lambourne continues to find motivation to continue running from himself and from an unexpected community of runners—team unattached.

“This is my third year unattached, and this has been a really cool year,” Lambourne said. “I found that community of unattached people, and I hadn’t found that until this year.”

Cedric Quartey, who finished fourth in 50.97, met Lambourne at a meet at Brigham Young University last spring. The two became friends and introduced each other to other unattached runners. The group has been able to find support and a team-like atmosphere through sharing workouts and keeping each other motivated.

“It’s nice when you find people in your same kind of position, so you’re not alone,” Quartey said. “You don’t feel like I am the only person training by myself or older than everyone trying to compete against college kids or trying to get somewhere.”

Lambourne even inspired his younger brother and collegiate teammate Clay Lambourne to pursue a running career post-college. The brothers often text each other workouts to see if they fit their individual goals.

“He’s pretty much inspired me my whole running career,” Clay Lambourne said. “But then to see him do it (unattached) for two years while I was still in college doing it, it’s like, well, ya know, I can continue to do this too.”

Cole Lambourne is hoping to build off his successful indoor season, in which he set a personal best and finished fifth in the USATF indoor championships 300-meter dash, the first time in his running career that he received financial compensation.

He aims to reach his outdoor 400-meter personal best time within the course of the month in order to get to the USATF Championships. He is hopeful that he will be able to race at the Jim Bush Invitational in Long Beach on June 29 and meet his goal.

Before that, on Sunday at the Portland Track Festival, Clay Lambourne will race the 800-meter dash while Cole Lambourne will run as a pacesetter for the first time in his career in one of the 800-meter heats.

“It’s good training and running experience. You get to get in a field with some fast guys,” Cole Lambourne said. “I don’t run the eight, but you get to say I ran a lap with some guy who might be in the Olympics, so it will be fun.”