Orlando Pizzolato is one of the iconic Italian marathoners. He came onto the global scene with his win in the 1984 New York City Marathon. It was a terribly hot day and the field felt it. Orlando Pizzolato was affected by the heat, with Orlando stopping six times. It heightened the TV drama as Liverpoolian David Murphy gamely chased Pizzolato. But, as everyone in the race, David Murphy felt it as well.
Orlando Pizzolato would hold on that day. In 1985, he would come back and take down Ahmed Salah, the Djibouti runner who had won the World Cup Marathon. And in 1986, Orlando would medal in an Italian sweep of the European Athletics Maratho Championships.
George Hirsch, founding publisher of the Runner, long time publisher of Runners World and now, chairman of the New York Road Runners club introduced Orlando and spoke of his races and his place in NYC Marathon history.
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.
