Yesterday was a sad day for the running community and we morn the loss of a running legend.
Grete Waitz, a Norwegian athlete who shocked the running community by setting a world record in her first marathon in New York City in 1978, died in Oslo on Tuesday at the age of 57. Waitz, who won a total of nine New York City marathons, will be remembered as the event's most dominant competitor. She acknowledged in 2005 that she had an undisclosed type of cancer.
The one-time school teacher's rise to prominence was fast and unconventional. Fred Lebow, the race's founder and director back in 1978, recruited Waitz to run that year's NYC marathon, despite her little experience in long-distance running. As the world-record holder in the 3,000-meter run at the time, he figured Waitz would make a good pace-setter for other runners in the contest. But Mr. Lebow and others were stunned when Waitz not only won that year's marathon, but managed to set a world record time by finishing the race in two hours, 32 minutes, 30 seconds—two minutes better than the previous best. While she was equally successful in scores of other events around the world, she fell short in her bid to win gold in the 1984 Summer Olympic games in Los Angeles, taking the silver medal.
We were so sad to hear of the passing of such an amazing competitor. Our thoughts go out to her friends and family.
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