Maureen Roben

January 31, 2013February 1, 2013 / runningincolorado

photo: Rick Heitman for Denverwoman.com

Maureen Roben is one of a few American women to qualify for four Olympic trials for the marathon. She has held the women’s Colorado half-marathon record with a time of 1:14:08 since 1986. In 1987 she was the top female marathoner in the country and graced the cover of Runner’s World Magazine. She attended the 1988 Olympics and placed seventh in the marathon. Through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program, she’s prepared over 5000 athletes to complete marathons and half marathons. Maureen is the Co-Race Director of the Platte River Half Marathon, the Buckhorn Exchange Relay, and the Aetna Park to Park 5 and 10-Mile races. As the owner of Run Strong, a Denver based running club, Maureen prepares personalized programs, weekly workouts, and running related clinics including nutrition, injury prevention and form evaluation.

photo: coloradorunnermag.com

Creigh Kelley

January 31, 2013February 1, 2013 / runningincolorado

photo: blacktie-colorado.com

Creigh Kelley (pronounced “Cree”) has been a competitor, agent, race director, national consultant, and elected leader in the national and international running community for 30 years. Since moving to Denver in 1978, he has represented elite athletes as an agent and put on more than 1,000 races across the country. He is President of BKB Limited, which has managed, produced and directly assisted with over 1,000 recreation special events throughout the nation. He has been an integral part of the Kaiser Permanente Colfax Marathon since its inaugural race in 2006, and has been the Race Director since 2008. Creigh has been running since his sophomore year in high school and ran college track at Virginia Military Institute.

Creigh Kelley being passed by Marathon Great Greta Waitz

Creigh being passed by marathon great Greta Waitz

Kim Jones

January 31, 2013January 31, 2013 / runningincolorado

(photo: ptleader.com)

Considered one of the best female marathoners in U.S. history, Kim Jones could also be included in a list of the country’s top 5 marathoners, male or female. She has more high level placings in world class marathons than any other U.S. female marathoner in history with 17 performances under 2:33.

Kim’s experience as a marathoner is unrivaled and her ability to coach that event extends from the beginning level to world class. She is also uniquely qualified to work with people struggling with asthma and allergy issues as she has herself successfully overcome asthma problems to become a world class runner.

During her career as a marathoner Kim has trained with and learned from some of the best runners in the world (Steve Jones, Rob DeCastella, Benji Durden, and Mark Plattjes, Colleen DeReuck, to name just a few).

(photo: anaerobic.net)

Benji Durden

January 31, 2013February 1, 2013 / runningincolorado

: photo: http://lifeskillsconsultingllc.com

photo: lifeskillsconsultingllc.com

Benji Durden is a Boulder, Colorado based coach of elite runners who came to prominence as a distance runner in the early 1980s. Benji was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic marathon team, placing second. Benji recorded 25 sub-2:20 marathons in less than a decade and ranked among the top ten U.S. marathoners for six straight years, reaching seventh in the world in 1982. His lifetime best of 2:09:57 came with his 3rd place finish in the 1983 Boston Marathon. Benji continues to run as a Grand Masters (50 and older) in marathons around the country.

1983 Boston Marathon (Durden is on right). Photo: Bob Howard for the Chicago Sun Times

Alan Culpepper

January 31, 2013February 3, 2013 / runningincolorado

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

Elva Dryer

January 31, 2013February 3, 2013 / runningincolorado

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

Bette Poppers

January 31, 2013February 3, 2013 / runningincolorado

photo: blacktiecolorado.com

Bette Poppers was one of the first formidable female long distance athletes. She got a late start in the game, starting her running career at 34 years old (and seven months pregnant), but she quickly made a name for herself. Representing Colorado, she became one of the nation’s top Masters runners in the 1980s as well as went on to qualify for the Olympic marathon trials twice (1984 & 1988) after turning 40. Bette is now retired in Littleton.

photo: stgeorgemarathon.com

John Meyer

January 31, 2013February 25, 2013 / runningincolorado

photo: Twitter.com

John Meyer is a committed long-distance athlete and award-winning sports journalist. In 2007, he won the Jesse Abramson Award for excellence in track and field journalism, the most prestigious award presented by the Track and Field Writers of America. Through his thoughtful and ethical reporting, he has positioned himself as a top running and endurance sport journalist in Colorado. He has run multiple marathons and writes a regular column for The Denver Post on running and other endurance sports.

Steve Flanagan

January 31, 2013February 17, 2013 / runningincolorado

Steve Flanagan is a U.S. World Cross Country Champion participant and standout marathon runner with a personal best of 2:18. He was at the heart of the 1970s Boulder running culture, running for the Frank Shorter Racing Team and the Colorado Track Club. He is also the father of America’s top female distance runner, Shalane Flanagan, who was a bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Pablo Vigil

January 31, 2013March 13, 2013 / runningincolorado / 1 Comment

photo: examiner.com

Pablo Vigil may be called the greatest mountain runner in the world. He is the only man to have won four straight 32-kilometer Sierre-Zinal Mountain race titles (1979-82), setting a race record that lasted for a decade. He also won the Cleveland Marathon three times and competed in three U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials (1980, 1984 & 1988) and was a member of the United States World Cross Country Championship Team in 1978 and the World Mountain Running Championship Team in 1980. He boasts a 1989 win in the Super Marathon de Hoggar, a 100-mile stage race in Tamanrasset, Algeria and was a National 25k Masters Champion in the Old Kent River Run in 1995. Pablo continues to run cross country and mountain races around the world. He lives in Loveland and teaches literacy in both English and Spanish at Harris Bilingual Elementary School. 13329936444f73de6c8b832

Colorado Running Hall of Fame

Celebrating the sport of distance running

marathon

Maureen Roben

Creigh Kelley

Kim Jones

Benji Durden

Alan Culpepper

Elva Dryer

Bette Poppers

John Meyer

Steve Flanagan

Pablo Vigil