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WRC Top Member Marathon Times

Some fast times indeed...
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This list is of the best times run by WRC men and women marathoners since 1972. The time criteria for making the list: under 2 hours 30 minutes for men, under 3 hours for women while a current member of the WRC. We feel this is a fair comparison as it means that men have almost 25 minutes above the men's world record time and women have almost 45 minutes. Plus, these times are lofty goals to shoot for.

We respectfully submit that many other WRC members have run excellent times for marathons and have PR's to be highly proud of as well, just not within the criteria. Unfortunately, we have to limit this list in some way, or readers would find themselves scrolling down for hours, their eyes growing heavy, their minds full of numbers, and their training suffering beyond comprehension for they wouldn't be able to stop their perusal. Now we wouldn't want that, would we? No, we didn't think so.

A historical context to note. You will see that the WRC had members of very top marathoning caliber in the past. Of course, things have changed a bit over time. The best athletes these days run for the likes of shoe companies and top-notch training groups and do not often belong to local clubs. Nonetheless, the WRC was a club with members that had taken running to high levels, beyond much of what we see today in U.S. marathoning. From the Boss: "Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture a little of the glory of, but time slips away and leaves you with nothing mister but boring stories of glory days...Glory days well they'll pass you by, Glory days in the wink of a young girl's eye, Glory days, glory days." These glory days are worth noting and nothing to sneeze at so read on.

That historical context should not be construed to take anything away from some of the very noteworthy recent marathon performances in this list. We will update this page when a WRC member strikes under the marathon time criteria. Now you have something to shoot for! Most recent additions are in blue (done in 2006 or 2007). As of February 10, 2007, the best times listing includes 43 men and 17 women.

Note: Members who meet the criteria are only listed once, with their best time (given the data we have) provided.
WRC Men Marathoners:
Rank Name When
Where
 Time Comments
1 Jack Fultz 1978 Boston Marathon 2:11:17 4th place, one minute behind Bill Rogers
2  George Malley 1985 Sacramento Marathon  2:12:23  George also ran the 4th best American 1/2 marathon time in 1982 (1:01:43 in Philadelphia) 
3  Henry O'Connell  1984 Chicago Marathon  2:12:32   
4  Matt Wilson  1983 Grandma's Marathon 2:12:57   
5  Jeff Scuffins  1987 Marine Corps Marathon 2:14:01  New Course Record 
6  Bruce Coldsmith  1980 Mardi Gras Marathon  2:14:07   
7  Jim Hage 1992 Columbus Marathon  2:15:51  8th in 1992 Olympic trials
8  Steve Spence 1988 Boston Marathon 2:16:10 Steve went on to win the Olympic Trials in 1992
9  Terry Baker  1982 Boston Marathon 2:16:32  7th Place 
10  Bernie Allen  1974 Boston Marathon  2:17:02  9th place 
11  Bruce Robinson 1980 Olympic Marathon Trials 2:17:30 28th Place 
12  Will Albers  1980 Olympic Marathon Trials 2:17:50 32nd Place
13  Walter Sargent 1990 Columbus Marathon 2:18:55  U.S. Nat'l Championship
14  Jeff Peterson  1983 Phoenix Marathon  2:19:00   
15  Gordon Minty  1984 Boston Marathon  2:19:03  18th Place 
16  Mike Greehan  1980 Marine Corps Marathon  2:19:22   
17  Jim Berka  1980 Mardi Gras Marathon  2:19:26   
18  Al Naylor  1983 Boston Marathon  2:19:39   
19  Tom Stevens  1992 Olympic Marathon Trials 2:19:41  17th place 
20  Phil Stewart  1975 Boston Marathon  2:19:58   
21  Dan Rincon  1975 Maryland Marathon  2:20:07   
22  Tim Tays 1984 Philadephia Marathon 2:20:39   
23  Max White  1975 Boston Marathon  2:20:40   
24 Michael Wardian* 2003 Detroit Marathon 2:21:48 Qualified for 2004 Olympic Trials! (In 2004 he also set the treadmill world record of 2:23:58)
25  Jeryl Turner  1980 Marine Corps Marathon  2:22:09   
26  Bob Scharf  1966 Boston Marathon  2:22:15  8th Place 
27 Lou Castagnola  1967 GW Birthday Marathon 2:22:45  Best time on Old DC Course 
28 Chuck Burrows 1980 Olympic Marathon Trials  2:22:52  78th Place 
29 Tem Washington  1983 Mardi Gras Marathon  2:23:12   
30 Robert Thurston  1972 Boston Marathon  2:23:23  Three minutes behind Jeff Galloway 
31 Peter Nye  1980 Carolina Marathon  2:23:41   
32 John Dalb  1983 Chicago Marathon 2:24:12   
33 Jack Coffey*  1982 Boston Marathon  2:24:54   
34 Bob Stack  1980 Connecticut Marathon  2:25:18  A really tough hilly marathon in Central CT, now defunct
35 Ray Morrison  1975 Yonkers Marathon  2:25:30   
36 Roberto Rodriguez 1979 Penn Relays Marathon  2:25:34   
37 Kirk Baird  1995 Dallas White Rock Marathon  2:26:09  13th place 
38 Philippe Rolly* 2005 Twin Cities Marathon 2:26:47
39 Kurt Kroemer  1986 Boston Marathon  2:27:00   
40 John Walsh 1983 Boston Marathon 2:27:07
41 Jay Jacob Wind* 1980 Boston Marathon 2:27:25
42 Sheldon Karlin  1972  NYC Marathon  2:27:52  Winner of this third NYC Marathon 
43 Russ Crandall 2001 Chicago Marathon 2:29:18 46th place

WRC Women Marathoners:
Rank Name When Where Time Comments
1  Laura DeWald  1982  Osaka Marathon  2:34:59  First place, 
2  Patty McGovern  1988 Stamford Marathon  2:39:54  First Place; Patty ran Olympic trials both in 1984 and 1988 
3 Casey Smith* 2004 Philadelphia Marathon 2:45:23 Third place
4 Genevieve Kiley 2005 Twin Cities Marathon 2:48:13 Gen was a vice-president of the club (part of 2005)
5 Karen Ouderkerk 1999  Chicago Marathon  2:48:25   
6 Patty Duester 1983 Boston Marathon 2:49:00  
7 Donna Moore  1994  Seattle Marathon  2:49:12  Winner of 1997, 1999 Marine Corps Marathon 
8 Patty Fulton 2000 Steamtown Marathon 2:50:34 1st place
9 Amy Durham  1995  Marine Corps Marathon  2:52:10   
10 Mary Ellen Williams 1984 Olympic Marathon Trials 2:53:47  
11 Nikki Underwood 2003 Chicago Marathon 2:53:08 22nd overall; 3d in age division (20-25)
12 Colleen Troy 1984 Savannah Marathon 2:54:00
13 Lisa Thomas 2003 Chicago Marathon 2:54:36 55th overall
14 Lindsay Goulet* 2006 Chicago Marathon 2:55:44 86th overall
15 Maria Kozloski* 2003 Chicago Marathon 2:56:45 73d overall
16 Sharon Donovan 2003 Chicago Marathon 2:57:58 78th overall
17 Teren Block  1998 Rio de Janeiro Marathon  2:58:00  
*Names in bold indicate that the person is a current member of the WRC.
 
Many thanks to Jack Coffey, Phil Stewart, Gerry Ives, George Cushmac, Alan Roth, Dan Rincon and Tem Washington for their assistance in compiling the historical information in the list. 

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