This is Chapter 6 in our 50th NYC Marathon Rewind. Jeff Benjamin, our senior editor for Staten Island and all things East Coast, wrote this on the 1979 NYC Marathon, where Bill Rodgers caught Kirk Pfeffer, who had built a big lead. Rodgers ran Pfeffer down and took his 4th win at the Five Boroughs Marathon! In 1979, Bill Rodgers won four Boston Marathon and four New York Marathons between 1975 and 1980. He was the marathon man.
Jeff Benjamin caught this in his story on the 1979 NYC Marathon!
Enjoy Jeff Benjamin’s story about how Bill Rodgers captured the streets of New York City
This is Chapter 6, The 40th Anniversary of the 1979 NYC Marathon, Bill Rodgers vs Kirk Pfeffer, Giving their all!
Kirk Pfeffer, photo by Unknown
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Senior Writer Jeff Benjamin has written for almost 40 years for RunBlogRun! The Former President of the Staten Island AC & was the 5th man scorer for his 1982 Susan Wagner High School NYC XC City Championship team. Also a member of the College of Staten Island Sports Hall of Fame for XC, Jeff is also a retired NYC DOE history teacher. Some of Jeff's subjects have included Sebastian Coe, Eamonn Coghlan, Matt Centrowitz, Billy Mills, Joe Newton, Tom Fleming, Bill Rodgers, Abel Kiviat, Frank Shorter, Rod Dixon and Carl Lewis as well as Book Reviews and articles covering track meets and races primarily in the Northeast U.S. and beyond.
Jeff has also covered Track & Field events at the 1996, 2016 & 2024 Olympic Games as well as the 2022 World T&F Championships in Eugene, Oregon. A noted T&F historian and chronicler of the athletic achievements of Jim Thorpe, Jeff helped with the restoration of Thorpe to the official IOC 1912 Record Books.
In 2023 Jeff was honored with the awarded the prestigious James Dunaway memorial award for excellence in Track and Field journalism by the Track and Field Writers Association.
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