Awaiting The Baton In The Relay Exchange Zone – Profiles Of Athletes, Coaches & Legends During The War Against Corona, Profile 38, Road-Racing Legend Mark Curp

Mark Curp leads Jon Sinclair and Pat Porter, photo by 1973 WHS reunion blogspot

For five years, from 1985 to 1990, Mark Curp was the world record holder at the half marathon, with a time of 1:00.55. Dionicio Ceron took nine seconds off his record (1:00.46) at the 1990 Phiilly Half Marathon. Mark Curp held ther AR until Ryan Hall broke it in 2007.

The truth is, Mark Curp was one of the finest road racers in the world. He won races from 5k to 20k, and all distances in between. One fun story I have dates back to 1986, when, at the Bobby Crim 10 miler, Ed Eyestone, Mark Curp and, I believe, Josh Kimeto. We went to watch the movie, The Fly. Ed and I sat behind Curp and Josh Kimeto. Ed put his hand on Josh’s shoulder at a scary time, and Josh went airborne. Josh laughed, but he had not seen a horror movie before. Mark Curp, seeing that Josh was okay, laughed.

I always admired Mark Curp. I think he was also under rated on the track at 10,000m as well.

Thanks to Mark Curp for answering Jeff’s questions….

Awaiting The Baton In The Relay Exchange Zone – Profiles Of Athletes, Coaches & Legends During The War Against Corona

Profile 38 –

Road-Racing Legend Mark Curp

Mark Curp pushes the pace, photo by Cape Cod Times

By Jeff Benjamin

1)How is your daily training routine doing and how challenging has it been for you in this environment?

“I’ve been able to continue training and splitting up my training between running (outside and treadmill) as well as biking (outside and exercise bike).”

2) What advice can you give to runners, -especially youth, high school, collegiate- who are challenged during this time as well?

“I would say keep variety in your workouts to help keep them fresh. Use your training to help relieve stress and make a list of positives coming from this time and focus on them. Also, make sure you keep your goals posted visually as daily reminders. If you are struggling reach out to someone and talk through it. Watch motivational videos, movies and podcasts!”

This poster features some of NB’s men’s team, from Pete Pfitzinger, John Treacy, Mark Curp, Don Janicki and Marrk Curp (1992)