Benji Durden 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 Americanrunning 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 2:09:58, 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, 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. Durden won the inaugural Cooper River Bridge Run, which was shortened to 9,850 meters by authorities after the gun started for the race, in 1978.
1980 Olympic Trials
In 1980, on a course running from Buffalo, New York, to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Durden finished second in the symbolic US Olympic Trials 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 Anthony 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. Durden did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.
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, 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 AAUNational 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 in 2:19.04. Durden lowered his personal bests with impressive races at the 1979 Nike/OTC marathon and the New York City Marathon, before having his big breakthrough in the 1980 "Olympic Trials" race. His lifetime best of 2:09:58 came with his 3rd-place finish in the 1983 Boston Marathon. Durden continues to run, returning to Huntsville, Alabama, where he competed in his first marathon as a Grand Mastersrunner 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.
Achievements
Source:Association of Road Racing Statisticians Runner:Benji Durden
