Benji Durden

Benji Durden (born August 28, 1951) is a Boulder, Colorado based coach of elite runners who came to prominence as a distance runner in the early 1980s, at the height of the American running boom. Durden was a member of the titular 1980 Summer Olympics United States marathon team, placing second against what to that point was perhaps the deepest field of American marathoners ever assembled. With a personal record of 2:09:57, Durden recorded 25 sub-2:20 marathons in less than a decade. He ranked among the top ten US marathoners six straight years, reaching seventh in the world in 1982.

Early life and education

Durden ran track in Sacramento, California as a youth, aspiring to become a miler. After moving to Georgia, he attended the University of Georgia, in Athens (UGA), where he ran the mile in 4:15 as a freshman. He graduated from UGA in 1973.

After college, Durden moved to Stone Mountain, becoming a fixture on the Atlanta-area running scene while working at Jeff Galloway’s Phidippides running shop.

The Cooper River Bridge Run I

Durden also won the controversial inaugural Cooper River Bridge Run in 1978 in Charleston, SC, in 30:24 for the 9,850 meter race; the race was marred by complaints from churches (the race was run at 10AM on Sunday, technically in violation of South Carolina Blue Laws, but being in Charleston, the laws could be waived at the request of the Jewish community), numerous runners being hospitalised for heat exhaustion and dehydration (no water stops were on the course at the time), and officials moving the finish line up 150 meters after the race started.

It was the disaster of that race that led to the race's current changes that included water stops and it being held on Saturday at 8 AM.

A Symbolic Quest for Nothing

In 1980, on a course running from Buffalo, New York, to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Durden finished second in the symbolic US Olympic Trials (the boycott had already been announced by the time the Trials were held May 19) against one of the deepest field of American marathoners ever assembled. Durden surged into the lead at the 19 mile mark and built up a ten second advantage over the lead runners until Tony Sandoval caught him in the 23rd mile. Sandoval pulled away in the 24th mile and went on to win the race. Durden finished second in a time of 2:10:40.3, a personal best by over three minutes.

The race was intended to determine the US Olympic team for the marathon at that summer's Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR; however, President Carter had ordered the team to sit out the Olympics, and therefore the race amounted to a quest for nothing, as there was no prize for the runners, as would be the case in the quadrennial special race.

Marathon career

Durden's marathon career debuted at the 1974 Peach Bowl Marathon. After he dropped out, he told friends, "Anyone who runs a marathon is sick."

In 1975, Durden returned to the Peach Bowl Marathon [The marathon was held in late December, and was part of the Peach Bowl festivities. The Atlanta Marathon name was restored in 1981 when it was moved to its present Thanksgiving date.] , seeking to break 2:23, the Olympic trials qualifying mark for the 1976 Summer Olympics. He finished in 2:36, well off the qualifying standard. But at the 1976 AAU National Marathon Championship Rice Festival Marathon in Lafayette, Louisiana, he finished second in 2:20:23.

Durden's first marathon win came in 1977, in Columbia, South Carolina (which had a marathon at the time; that race was last run in 2000 as the U. S. Olympic Women's Marathon Trials) in 2:19.04.

Durden lowered his personal bests with impressive races at the 1979 Nike/OTC marathon (2:13:47) and the New York City Marathon (2:13:49), before having his big breakthrough in the 1980 "Olympic Trials" (which was not for the Olympic team) race. His lifetime best of 2:09:57 (4:57/pace per mile) came with his 3rd place finish in the 1983 Boston Marathon.

Durden continues to run, returning to Huntsville, Alabama (where he had finished his last marathon fourteen years earlier), where he competed in his first marathon as a Grand Masters (50 and older) runner in 2005, finishing in 3:08:34. In December, 2006, he returned to Sacramento where he recorded a time of 3:01:03 at the California International Marathon.

External links

* [http://www.boston.com/marathon/history/1983.shtml Boston.com] - 'Meyer, Benoit Score for Massachusetts' (April 18, 1983)
* [http://www.copacabanarunners.net/ipath2.html CopacabanaRunners.net] - 'Run Long', Benji Durden (1996)
* [http://www.io.com/~beckerdo/triathlons/trainmarathon.html IO.com] - 'The Path to Marathon Success', Benji Durden
* [http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=6998&c=128 RunningTimes.com] - 'Still Running, Still Dreaming... ...Still Benji', John A. Kissane, "Running Times" (January, 2006)