He was one of the five original inductees into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame. The other four -- Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter, Joan Samuelson, and Katherine Switzer -- are all household names. But Corbitt, the one who is not a household name, might have had more of an impact than all the others put together. Most of what he accomplished, however, was behind the scenes.
Corbitt did not win any olympic medals (although he competed in the 5K, 10K, and marathon in the 1952 Olympics), but he set American records at 25 miles, the marathon, 40 miles, 50 miles and 100 miles. He set the 100 mile record (13:33:06, beating the old standard by two and a half hours) at the age of 50. He ran 134.7 miles in a 24-hour race when he was 54.
It wasn't just as a runner that he contributed to the sport. He was the first president of the Road Runners Club of America, and co-founded the New York Road Runners. Corbitt developed standards for course measurement, and published a treatise on the subject in 1964, laying the ground work for course certification and meaningful comparison among events.
Running Times called him "a shaping force" behind the masters division, and all of us who compete as masters owe him a debt of gratitude.
If you have never heard of Corbitt, he probably wanted it that way.
Ted Corbitt Obituary in NY Times
Article on Ted corbitt in Running Times
Wikipedia entry for Ted Corbitt
No comments:
Post a Comment