Running: Marin trio set to celebrate Olympic Trials anniversary
A trio of Marin runners — Kentfield’s Jeanne Lavin and Sister Marion Irvine and Leslie McMullin of San Rafael — are heading to Olympia, Washington for the 40th anniversary celebration of the very first Women’s Olympic Trials Marathon.
It was an epic struggle to add a women’s marathon to the Olympic Games. In 1980, the longest Olympic race for women was just 1,500 meters. But a determined group of activists succeeded in placing the 26.2-miler into the 1984 Games, to be held in Los Angeles.
Olympia, partly because of its name, won the right over much larger bidding cities to hold the Trials, which determined the three-member U.S. team. A qualifying time for entry was set, equal to the 100th fastest women’s marathon during the previous year. (That two hours, 51 minutes, 16 seconds was run by Marin’s April Powers in the Golden Gate Marathon, which finished at Larkspur Landing, now Marin Country Mart.) The Trials date was May 12, 1984.
Six Marin runners — Pat English, Irvine, Shirley Matson, McMullin, Powers and Vicki Randall — were among some 250 Americans who achieved the qualifying cutoff. (Lavin, then living in San Francisco, moved to Marin 20 years ago.)
Irvine, dubbed the “Flying Nun,” was the most celebrated of all qualifiers. She was then a resident nun living on the San Domenico School campus. At age 54, she was by far the oldest qualifier. Event organizers roomed her with the youngest qualifier, 16-year-old Cathy Schiro.
Joan Benoit (now Samuelson) won the Trials and went on to win the ’84 Olympic Games marathon. (This writer was in Olympia, and then the LA Coliseum where the Olympic Marathon finished. I’ve never experienced such sustained applause, before or since.)
The Trials reunion, May 15-17, includes a visit to the Governor’s Mansion and a lavish dinner. Benoit Samuelson and Frank Shorter, the Olympic marathon champion in 1972, are among many celebrated runners expected to attend.