Orlando Pizzolato inducted into 2017 NYRR Hall of Fame

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.

George Hirsch, @nyrr chair, praises Orlando Pizzolato, who walked 6 times @nycmarathon in 1984 to win, @nyrr hall of Fame, #nyrr, #nycmarathon, #newbalance #runblogrun, #nycstrong, #theshoeaddicts

A post shared by RunBlogRun (@runblogrun) on Nov 2, 2017 at 1:32pm PDT