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News24 May 2004


Famous names from the past Benoit Samuelson and Beardsley run out together

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  On September 11th, in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota,  the USA's Joan Benoit Samuelson - will join Dick Beardsley at the 9th annual Dick Beardsley ½ Marathon and 5K Race/Walk. 

Benoit Samuelson won the first ever Olympic marathon for women in dramatic style during the 1984 Games of Los Angeles. Her time of 2:24:52 was faster than 13 of 20 of the previous Olympic men's marathon winning times – and she did it after having arthroscopic surgery just two weeks before the Olympic Trials.

She won the Boston marathon in 1979 and then again in 1983 with a new world best of 2:22:43.  In the same year, Joan set U.S. records in four distances, the 25 km, 10 km, half marathon and 10-mile run. 

In 1986 she received the Amateur Athletic Union's Sullivan Award for best amateur athlete in the United States. Joan placed 13th in the Olympic trials in 1996 and on the hot day in 2000 at age 42 she placed 9th with a time of 2:39:59. 

Not surprisingly, in July of 1998 she was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame and, in 1999 into Scholar Athlete Hall of Fame. 

She qualified for the 2004 Olympic Trials by running 2:42:28 at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon.  Benoit's 2:21:21 set the record for the Chicago Marathon in 1985 and was not broken until last year.

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