10000m

Jon Sinclair

/ runningincolorado
photo: anaerobic.net

photo: anaerobic.net

Jon Sinclair’s career has been marked by consistency and longevity as a road racer with more wins and placings than any other male runner in modern road racing history. While at Colorado State University, Jon Sinclair set several long distance records, competed on two NCAA Cross Country teams along with the NCAA indoor nationals, and in 1979 he won two All-American awards. From 1981 to 1993, Jon Sinclair won 25 long distance road races. In 1984 he was the USA National 10,000 meter track champion and a finalist for the 5,000 meters in the 1984 Olympics along with being a finalist in the marathon in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics. He is the current U.S. record holder for the 12km on the roads and former U.S. record holder for the 5km on the roads. Among numerous international team-racing achievements, Jon Sinclair is the all time cumulative men’s point leader in the Runner’s World Road Race Rankings. In 1995, he co-founded Anaerobic Management, an internet based coaching business.

photo: anaerobic.net

photo: anaerobic.net

Frank Shorter

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photo: wikipedia

photo: wikipedia

Frank Shorter is an American former long-distance runner and is credited with igniting the running boom in the United States of the 1970s. Frank Shorter is the only American athlete to win two medals in the Olympic marathon event. He won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1972 Summer Olympics, after finishing fifth in the Olympic 10,000m final. He also won the silver medal in the marathon at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Shorter first achieved distinction by winning the 1969 NCAA 10,000m title during his senior year at Yale. He won his first U.S. national titles in 1970 in the 5000m and 10,000m events. He also was the U.S. national 10,000m champion in 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1977. Shorter won the U.S. National Cross Country Championships four times (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973). He was the U.S. Olympic Trials Champion in both the 10,000m run and the marathon in both 1972 and 1976. He also won both the 10,000m and the marathon at the 1971 Pan American Games. Shorter was a four-time winner of the Fukuoka Marathon (1971, 1972, 1973, 1974). A long-time resident of Boulder, Colorado, Frank co-founded the Bolder Boulder in 1979.

photo: dailycamera.com

photo: dailycamera.com

Pat Porter

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photo: rmacsports.org

photo: rmacsports.org

Pat Porter was one of the most dominant U.S. distance runners of the 1980s. Pat was a two time U.S. Olympian, running the 10,000m at the 1984 and 1988 Olympic games. In 1983 he set the World Record for a road 10K at 27:31.8. He won the silver medal at the 1985 IAAF World Cup, barely missing gold by six hundredths of a second. Pat was best known for his cross-country running accomplishments, winning a record eight consecutive USA Cross Country Championships from 1982 to 1989. Pat also represented the United States at the World Cross Country Championships each of these years. His best finish at the World Championships was 4th in 1984, followed by 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th place finishes throughout his career. On July 26, 2012, Pat was killed in an airplane crash along with his 15-year old son Connor and his son’s friend. Only days before his death, Pat had been inducted into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs and was also inducted into the Adams State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000 in Alamosa, Colorado. He was 53 years old.

1988 U.S. Olympic trials. Photo Credit - Courtesy Of Porter Family

1988 U.S. Olympic trials. Photo Credit – Courtesy Of Porter Family

Ted Castaneda

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Photo: pikespeaksports.us

Photo: pikespeaksports.us

Ted Castaneda’s career as a distance runner started during his prep years at Colorado Springs’ Palmer High School. From there he went on to the University of Colorado in Boulder, where he earned All-America honors four times in track and once in cross-country. His best times include a 3:58.5 mile, an 8:29 two-mile, a 28:30 in the 10k, and a 2-hour, 15-minute marathon. He also competed in two U.S. Olympic Trials (5,000m and 10,000m in 1976, marathon in 1980). Castaneda has served as head coach of the men’s cross country team at Colorado College since 1980, when he also started as a volunteer assistant with the track and field program. He took over as head coach for women’s cross-country in 1993 and for track and field in 1994. During his coaching tenure, 22 cross-country and track athletes have earned All-America honors.

10,000m race at the 1976 Olympic trials (#39). Photo: juanjosemartinez.com

10,000m race at the 1976 Olympic trials (#39). Photo: juanjosemartinez.com

Arturo Barrios

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photo: jkrunning.de

photo: jkrunning.de

Arturo Barrios rose to fame in the early ’80s setting his first world record in 1986 in the 10,000m road race. 1987 saw Barrios set the world record for the four-mile road race. Between 1987 and 1990, Arturo won the San Francisco Bay to Breakers race, considered the largest footrace in the world, four consecutive times. Arturo competed in the 1988 Olympic games, placing fifth in the 10,000m. In 1989 he broke the world record for the 10,000m track race by over five seconds with a time of 27:08:32. Arturo continued his remarkable running in 1991 when he set a new world record in the 20,000m on a track at 56:55:06. During that race, Barrios also became the first man to run a half marathon in less than an hour. The following year, Barrios returned to the Olympics in Barcelona to compete in the 10,000m and placed fifth. The Mexican National record holder in the 5,000m and 10,000m, Barrios is still active in the running community.

photo: Getty

photo: Getty

Ellen Hart

/ runningincolorado
photo: Kit Williams

photo: Kit Williams

Ellen Hart is a former world-class runner and lawyer. She competed in the 1980 U.S. Olympic Trials 10,000m, finishing third, the 1984 U.S. Olympic Trials marathon, and held the U.S. record for the 30K and the world’s best time for the 20K. She has since obtained a law degree and practiced law, co-founded the Eating Disorders Foundation, served on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, served as a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and was married to former Denver Mayor Federico Peña. She was the subject of a made-for-television movie about her life, Dying to Be Perfect: the Ellen Hart Pena Story, which chronicled her battle with anorexia and bulimia. She has made an unprecedented comeback in the highly competitive world of marathons and triathlons. At 50, she finished first in her age division in the Clearwater Half Ironman Tournament. Since moving from runner to triathlete, Hart has easily won or ranked in nearly all the events she has entered, setting new course records in some of the more prestigious events.

photo: Kit Williams

photo: Kit Williams

Steve Jones

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photo: pjstar.com

photo: pjstar.com

Steve Jones is a Welsh athlete and former world marathon record holder. He has won both the New York City and London Marathons, as well as the Chicago Marathon twice. He finished 8th in the 1984 Olympic 10,000m. In his first full marathon, he won the Chicago Marathon, coming in at 2:08:05 and thus breaking the world marathon record. In 1985 he achieved his career best marathon time of 2:07:13 in winning the Chicago Marathon, just missing the world record again by one second. This time remains the fastest of any British runner. In the 1988 New York City Marathon, Steve won by over three minutes with a time of 2:08:20. He was the first Welsh athlete to appear on the cover of the prestigious running magazine Running Times. Steve currently coaches runners through the training group Boulder Express.

photo: welshathletics.com

photo: welshathletics.com

Alan Culpepper

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photo: Lisa Coniglio, www.usatf.org

photo: Lisa Coniglio, http://www.usatf.org

Alan Culpepper is a track and field and cross-country athlete, qualifying twice in the Olympics: in 2000 in the 10,000m and in 2004 in the marathon. Culpepper finished 17th in the 10,000-meter run in Sydney and 12th in the marathon in Athens. He was also a seven-time All-American, earning three of the honors in cross-country and four in track. When he began running the marathon in 2002, his time of 2:09.41 in Chicago tied him for the fastest American debut in U.S. history. In 2005, his fourth place finish in the Boston Marathon was the highest finish for an American in 20 years. The next year, he finished fifth in the Boston Marathon and won the Denver Half-Marathon. Now retired, Alan and his wife Shayne Culpepper (neè Willie), fellow Olympian and CU alum, spend their time enjoying life with their four children and leading an after-school running program at Boulder’s Douglass Elementary School.

photo: marathonguide.com

photo: marathonguide.com

Adam Goucher

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photo: usatf.org

photo: usatf.org

Adam Goucher is an American Olympic track and field athlete. While attending the University of Colorado, Adam won two NCAA indoor track titles in the 3,000m and an outdoor NCAA track title in the 5,000m. After three top ten finishes, he finally won the NCAA Division I cross-country title. In 2000, he made his first Olympic team, placing first in the Olympic trials in the 5000m. He was 13th in the 5000m at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, despite serious battles with back troubles. In 2008, he attended the US Olympic Trials in hopes of qualifying in the 5k and 10k. His time of 13:56.25 in the semifinal of the 5k was enough to advance to the finals, but after holding the lead for several laps, he dropped out of the race with two laps remaining. He finished seventh in the 10k final, failing to qualify for the Olympics, but besting his previous 10k personal record. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon, with his wife, Kara Goucher, also a professional runner, and their son, Colton Mirko.

photo: trackfocus.com

photo: trackfocus.com

Elva Dryer

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photo: usatf.org

photo: usatf.org

Elva Dryer (neè Martinez) is a three-time qualifying track and field Olympian: placing 3rd in the 5,000m at the 2000 Olympic trials; second in the 10,000m at the 2004 Olympic trials, finishing 19th in the event; and 15th in the 10,000m at the 2008 Olympic trials. During her college career at Western State, Elva won two NCAA D-II cross country titles, and was national champ in the 3,000m four times, the only person to achieve that feat. Dryer was the top American finisher at the 2007 ING New York City Marathon, placing 6th (2:35:15). She married Russ Dryer, a former All-American cross-country runner and fellow Western State alum, and he has coached her ever since. Elva’s hobbies include crocheting and reading.

Photo: Victah Sailer@Photo Run

Photo: Victah Sailer@Photo Run