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Some Legends: Three Boston Marathon Legends | Boston Billy Rodgers
Three Boston Marathon Legends
By MarathonGuide.com Staff
Each year the BAA honors select past winners of the Boston Marathon,
bringing these champions back to participate in the race weekend. For 2009,
the BAA honored one man and two women - here we briefly tell their stories:
Ingrid Kristiansen - 1986 and 1989 Boston Marathon Champion
Ingrid Kristiansen stood atop the running world in the second half of the
1980s and remains, to this day, one of the most legendary female runners of
all time. At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Kristiansen finished
fourth behind Joan Benoit, Grete Waitz, and Rosa Mota in the first ever
women's Olympic marathon. A four-time winner of the London Marathon (1984,
1985, 1987, 1988), Kristiansen set the world record of 2:21:06 there in 1985
- a record that would stand for thirteen years and still stands among the
top twenty-five female marathon times ever run and places her as the
fourteenth fastest woman marathoner of all time. In addition to the world
record in the marathon, Kristiansen set four additional world records from
1984 to 1986: the 5000m record in 1984 and again in 1986, the 10000m record
in 1985 and again in 1986 and the 3000m record in 1985. Kristiansen came to
the 1986 Boston Marathon hoping to better her world marathon record, but
warm weather prevented that goal, although she still won convincingly in
what was then the second fastest time ever run by a woman on the Boston
course. Kristiansen continued on to win the 1986 Chicago Marathon, the 1987
and 1988 London Marathons, and capture the Gold Medal in the 10000m at the
1988 Olympics in Seoul. At the 1989 Boston Marathon, Ingrid cruised to the
win in 2:24:33, becoming the fourth woman to win the race more than once.
What makes part of Kristiansen's story so amazing - to us - is that, living
in the cold of Norway, most of her Winter training was done on the
treadmill.
Lorraine Moller - 1984 Boston Marathon Champion
Lorraine Moller's durable and storied running career famously started when,
as a youngster in New Zealand, she trained and competed barefoot. An
accomplished runner in many events, her prowess at long distance was evident
as she won her debut marathon at Grandma's Marathon in 1979. Her time of
2:37:37 was a New Zealand national record and the sixth fastest time ever
run by a woman at that time. Lorraine continued racing marathons, also
winning her next seven races, the longest debut streak ever. Lorraine is the
only woman to compete in four Olympic marathons, finishing fifth in the
first women's Olympic Marathon in 1984 and winning the Bronze Medal at
Barcelona in 1992. Her PR of 2:28:17 earned her a silver medal at the 1986
Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. She was a three-time winner of both the
Osaka Marathon and the Avon International Women's Marathon in London, and
this year celebrates the 25 anniversary of her 1984 Boston win, which she
ran in 2:29:28. Lorraine is a co-founder of the Lydiard Foundation,
dedicated to the memory and teaching of her legendary coach and mentor
Arthur Lydiard.
Neil Cusack - 1974 Boston Marathon Champion
Originally a 10000m specialist and Olympian for Ireland at that distance in
the 1972 Olympics, Neil Cusack ran his debut marathon on a lark when at age
19, he went with some friends to Atlanta to run the 1971 Atlanta Marathon,
[known then as the "Peach Bowl" Marathon], which he won in a time of 2:16:18
which still stands as the second all-time finsh for that race. Cusack
represented Ireland at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in the 10000m event.
While a student at East Tennessee State University in 1974, Cusack showed up
at the 1974 Boston Marathon and set off at a blistering pace, distancing
himself from the other runners including Bill Rodgers who would DNF before
coming back the next year for the first of his famous wins. Cusack's time of
2:13:39, was almost four full minutes ahead of the runner-up and was the
second fastest time ever run at Boston to that time. Cusack told us that he
had no idea how important the Boston Marathon was until after he won the
race when the entire Irish community in Boston congratulated him and sent
him beer money. Cusack participated in the 1976 Montreal Olympic marathon. At home in Ireland, Cusack again stood as a national hero when he won the 1981 Dublin Marathon in 2:13:58.
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