women in running

Constantina Diţă

/ tramsdell

Constantina Diţă is one of the most successful Romanian athletes of all-time, currently holding the Romanian national road records for the 5K, 10K, 15K, Half Marathon and the Marathon.  

Winning her gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Winning gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  Photo courtesy constantinadita.com

Diţă finished 20th in the marathon at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and went on to win the Chicago Marathon later that year, running a personal best of 2:21:30.  After winning the marathon bronze at the 2005 World Championships, she became the World Half Marathon Champion. She won a silver medal at the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships and took third place at the 2007 London Marathon.  In her career highlight, Diţă won the women’s marathon at the 2008 Summer Olympics in 2:26:44, becoming the oldest Olympic marathon champion in history (male or female) at age 38.  She lives and trains at altitude in Boulder and continues her running career, competing the marathon at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

2014 Colorado Running Hall of Fame:

Constantina Diţă

Simon Gutierrez

Anita Ortiz

Rick Trujillo

Priscilla Welch

Anita Ortiz

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Anita Ortiz started racing at age 36, building her career in Mountain Running, Ultra Running and

Photo via ultrachixunite.com

Photo via ultrachixunite.com

snowshoe racing, competing in over 200 races and breaking 55 records in just nine years.  She has competed on the U.S. Mountain Running team five times, placing highest U.S. finisher four times. She was the Mountain Running National Champion in 2002 and 2003 as well as the Masters Mountain Running World Champion in 2004.  She’s won the Pikes Peak Ascent three times, setting and holding the record time for five years in 2002 in 2:44:33.  Ortiz was also the National Snowshoe Champion in 2002 and runner-up in 2004.  She was named the USATF Female Mountain Runner of the Year in both 2002 and 2003 and the USATF Female Masters Mountain Runner of the Year in 2004.  A kindergarten teacher and mother of four, Anita is still active in the racing community, serving as Board member for the All American Trail Running Association, the United States Snowshoe Association, and coaching elementary students on the Eagle Valley Elementary Running Team.

 

2014 Colorado Running Hall of Fame:

Constantina Diţă

Simon Gutierrez

Anita Ortiz

Rick Trujillo

Priscilla Welch

Priscilla Welch

/ tramsdell
photo via: runningfreeonline.com

photo via: runningfreeonline.com

Priscilla Welch began her remarkable running career at the age of 35, when she quit smoking and took up running under the guidance of her husband and coach, Dave Welch, and ran the 1980 London Marathon.  Four years later, she qualified for the British Olympic team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, placing sixth in the inaugural women’s Olympic marathon.  On her 40th birthday, Welsh qualified for the Masters division and began setting age group world records.  In 1987, she won the New York Marathon in 2:30:17.  This was coupled with her second place finish in London where she set an age group world record running a 2:26:51, earning the sixth fastest time in the world in 1987, and holding the women’s masters marathon world record for 21 years.  Welch again set an age group world record in the 1988 Boston Marathon in 2:30:48, holding the record for 14 years.  Welch continued to run until a 1992 bout with breast cancer curtailed her career and she moved from her longtime home of Boulder to Tabernash, in the high country of Colorado, later relocating to Bend, Oregon.

 

2014 Colorado Running Hall of Fame:

Constantina Diţă

Simon Gutierrez

Anita Ortiz

Rick Trujillo

Priscilla Welch

The Colorado Running Hall of Fame Announces 2013 Class

/ runningincolorado
Ultramarathoner Marshall Ulrich

Ultramarathoner Marshall Ulrich

UltraMarathoner Marshall Ulrich, Olympian Lidia Simon among recognized.

DENVER, CO – March 11, 2013 -The Colorado Running Hall of Fame Selection Committee announces the 2013 inductee class: Doug Bell, Nancy Hobbs, Jay Johnson, Lidia Simon, Marshall Ulrich, and Jane Welzel. The Colorado Running Hall of Fame recognizes Colorado residents for their achievement and contribution to the sport of distance running. The class will be inducted into the Colorado Running Hall of Fame on Wednesday, April 10th at the Denver Athletic Club at 6:00 p.m.

Read their profiles:

Doug Bell
Nancy Hobbs
Jay Johnson
Lidia Simon
Marshall Ulrich
Jane Welzel

Read the full press release –>