by RBR Admin
Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: [email protected] ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected]), used with permission
Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service
This Day in Track & Field/X-Country-December 4
1977—Bill Rodgers (2:10:56) was a winner at the prestigious Fukuoka Marathon. Finishing 2nd was the Soviet Union’s(and Russia’s) Leonid Moseyev (2:11:57), 4th was Tom Fleming (2:14:27), and 5th was Japan’s Toshihiko Seko (2:15:01), who would win the following year.
It was the 2nd win of the year in Japan for Rodgers, who started his season in February with a 1st-place finish in Kyoto. He not only won 5 marathons during the year, he also had wins at 9 other races at various distances. (He was a DNF at the Boston Marathon in April).
Past Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukuoka_Marathon
Rodgers and Frank Shorter on Fukuoka:
https://www.runblogrun.com/2022/01/frank-shorter-bill-rodgers-remember-the-fukuoka-marathon.html
Fukuoka Documentary(2 hours):
https://runningmagazine.ca/the-scene/canadian-releases-fukuoka-marathon-documentary/
Career Stats: https://more.arrs.run/runner/3748
1994—Mexican-born Olga Appell (18:15), who had become a U.S. citizen earlier in the year, was a convincing winner of the Women’s title at the U.S. X-Country Championships in Portland, Oregon, as Lynn Jennings (18:41), who finished 3rd behind Gwyn Coogan (18:37/6k), saw her 7-year winning streak come to an end.
Reuben Reina’s late sprint gave him a narrow win (30:00/10k) in the Men’s race over 8-time champion Pat Porter (30:01). Right behind in one of the closest mass finishes ever at the U.S. Championships were defending champion Todd Williams (30:02), Brad Barquist (30:03), and Keith Brantly (30:04).
Other notable finishers
Men:7.Bob Kempainen, 8.Matt Giusto,9. Bob Kennedy (1992 Champion), 11.John Trautmann, 22.Brad Schlapak (would win in 1995).
Women:4.Sinead Delahunty, 5.Cathy O’Brien, 6.Ceci St.Geme, 12.Fran ten Bensel, 15.Elva Dryer, 15.Cheri Goddard-Kenah, 17.Joan Nesbit (would win in 1995), 18.Nnenna Lynch, 19.Kathy Franey, 25.Gina Procaccio
Past U.S. Champions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Cross_Country_Championships
2021—Two American Junior Indoor Records were set at the Sharon Colyear-Danville Opener at Boston University.
Finishing 5th in the Men’s 5000m (won by Australia’s Olli Hoare-13:09.96), Northern Arizona freshman Nico Young ran 13:22.59 to break his own “absolute” record of 13:24.26 that was set outdoors in April (since broken). The previous indoor record of 13:48.26 was set by Stanford’s Chris Derrick in 2009.
North Carolina State frosh Katelyn Tuohy was 4th in the Women’s 3000 with a time of 8:54.18, breaking the “absolute” record of 8:57.27 that was set by Stanford’s Ceci St.Geme outdoors back in 1982. The previous indoor record of 8:58.88 was set by Elise Cranny (also of Stanford) in 2015. The winner of today’s race was West Virginia’s (and Canada’s) Ceili McCabe in 8:52.52.
2022—Israel’s Maru Teferi, a native of Ethiopia, won the Fukuoka Marathon in 2:06:43, a National Record. Finishing 4th was Brett Robinson, who ran 2:07:31, breaking the 35-year old Australian Record of 2:07:51 that was set by Rob De Castella in 1986.
