The new entrants to the Hall of Fame are:
ROAD RACING
Active Athletes
Doreen McCoubrie West Chester PA, Athena Track Club, USATF Mid-Atlantic Association. McCoubrie, a Penn State alum, has won 5 National Road Racing Championships at distances from the Mile to the 8 Km. In the process she has broken two American Records, both in the Mile. Her record-setting time for 50-54 year old’s, 5:18, was set in 2013; her 5:34 run 5 years later, set the standard for 55-59 year old’s. She was the 45-49 Runner of the Year in 2007.
Doreen McCoubrie running at full tilt through the Finish Line at the 2019 USATF Masters Road Mile Championships Photo courtesy of HAP Crim Festival of Races
Marisa Sutera Strange Pleasant Valley NY, Athena Track Club, USATF Mid-Atlantic Association. Sutera Strange has won 20 National Road Racing Championships and has been an Age Division National Road Runner of the Year 4 times. She broke McCoubrie’s record in the Mile for 55-59 year old’s in 2019 with a 5:27 effort. An outstanding cross country athlete as well, Sutera Strange was voted the 2020 Masters Harrier of the Year earlier this year.
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| Marisa Sutera Strange driving for the Finish Line at the 2019 USATF Masters National Road Racing Championship in Flint MI Photo courtesy of HAP Crim Festival of Races |
Legends
Debra Wagner Ohio. Wagner’s Masters career spanned the years from 1998 to 2008. Her first major win, at the age of 47, came at the 1999 Fifth Third River Bank Run, a sizzling 1:33:19 25K. That is 15.5 miles at 6:01 per mile! She set the American 45-49 record with that performance. Three weeks later Wagner was the Overall Women's winner at the Dexter Ann Arbor Half Marathon in a1:20:01. Anyone who ran that course in the 2018 Masters National Championship knows the set of hills along the Huron River may well have kept her from running a sub 1:20! In 2008, her final year of competing, at age 56, she clocked 1:25:38 at the Churchill Half Marathon in Ohio, a 6:32 per mile pace.
Debra (Debbie) Wagner approaches the Dexter Ann Arbor Half Marathon finish line as the Overall Women's winner in 1999 Photo Credit: Ann Arbor News May 30, 1999
Contributors (also the winner of the 2020 Otto Essig Award for Outstanding Service to Masters LDR)
Bill Roe (deceased 2020) Bellingham WA, USATF Pacific Northwest Association. Roe was a founding member of The Athletic Congress (TAC) in 1979 and served from 1986 to 2009 on the Board of Directors of USATF, its successor as the National Governing Body of Track and Field and Long Distance Running. Serving in many executive roles for the organization, he was President from 2000-2008. His long-term service in Cross Country brought him into leadership roles within LDR generally and Masters LDR. Roe coached the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country and Distance programs at Western Washington University for many years. Within USATF, he served as International Team Leader or Coach nine times, leading the USA Cross Country Team to the World Championships 4 times from 2001 to 2004 in Belgium (twice), Ireland and Switzerland. His many admirers observed that for Bill, no job was too big or too small. He could lead a Board Meeting with corporate CEO’s and other top executives present, but he could also be found setting up hurdles on a track, if needed. As a Director of many National Cross-Country Championships over the years, countless Masters LDR athletes benefited from his services. Most recently, he directed the 2019 USATF Club Cross Country Championships at Lehigh University in Bethlehem PA. Over 1,000 Masters athletes entered, the largest turnout ever. His clear voice boomed out over the loudspeaker, announcing the main contenders in the early stages, and the leaders as the races unfolded. Later he celebrated the outstanding performances at the Awards Ceremonies. Bill was ‘all in’ all the time. It is an honor to commemorate his service to the sport.
Cross Country An explicit award to recognize outstanding performances in Cross Country was initiated this year. As with the LDR awards, there is a category for Legends, inactive for at least three years, as well as Active Athletes.
Active Athletes
Madeline Bost Randolph NJ, Morris County Striders, USATF-New Jersey. The inaugural award goes to a Pioneer in Women’s Cross-Country running. Bost won her first National Cross Country Championship at the age of 55 in Canandaigua NY in 1994, and never looked back. In February of 2020, Bost, at the age of 80, won her most recent Cross Country Championship, her 15th, in San Diego CA. Bost will be the favorite when racing resumes; she shows up to compete!
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| Madeline Bost striding confidently in her 2019 USATF Masters National Championship Race in Tallahassee, Florida, one of her last Podium efforts in the 75-79 Division |
Legends
Tom Dalton Schenectady NY, Adirondack Athletic Club Tom Dalton’s career in Masters Cross Country spanned the years 2000 to 2004. In each of those five years he was selected Masters Harrier of the Year, an incredible accomplishment. He won 9 Age Division National Championships. In his first year of competition he won the Masters 5K Overall Championship in New Jersey, with a 15:38 time. Later that year he took both the Overall and Age-Grading crowns in the 2000 Club Cross Country Championships in Boston, clocking a superb 30:48 over 10K. Four years later, at age 46, he captured his final National Championship, at the Masters 5K in Saratoga Springs NY. Dalton sprinted to his fastest 5K victory, clocking 15:12 to take the 45-49 title and the 40+ age-grading title. His promising career was cut short by two bouts of Lyme Disease and nagging injuries. Dalton eased back on competing for national titles, but still competes at a high level regionally, in USATF Road Races and Cross Country.
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| Tom and Debbie Dalton at Tom's 2019 Induction into the Greater Capital Regional Track, Field and Cross Country Hall of Fame Photo Credit: www.timesunion.com |
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