2010
Colleen De Reuck
Colleen was
born on April 13, 1964 in Vryheid, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. She now lives
in Boulder, Colorado and became a U.S citizen on December 11, 2000. De Reuck graduated Stanger high school in Kwazulu-Natal,
South Africa in 1981 and finished college at the University of Port Elizabeth
in Eastern Cape, South Africa in 1985. Before becoming a U.S.
citizen in 2000, she represented South Africa in three Olympics, competing in
the marathon in 1992 (9th in 2:39:03); the 10,000 in 1996 (13th in
32:14.69); and the marathon in 2000 (31st in 2:36:58). Her most outstanding
year was probably 1998 when she
set two world records in winning the Nortel Cherry Blossom 10 Mile in 51:16 and the New Haven 20km in
1:05:11. De Reuck's first year as a U.S. citizen, 2001, saw her winning the USA 8km
Championship in 26:16, the Arturo Barrios 10K in 32:35 and the Tufts Health
Plan 10km for Women in 32:10. She was also 14th (3rd American) at the New York
City Marathon in 2:35:31. She made her first U.S team in 2002 after a
second place finish to Deena Kastor at the USA 8K cross country trials. Kastor
and De Reuck then finished 2nd and 3rd at the IAAF
World Cross Country 8 km as they along with Jen Rhines won the team silver
medal. De Reuck made her fourth Olympic team in 2004, this time as an American,
after winning the women's Olympic Trials Marathon race in 2:28:25.
She finished 39th at the Olympic Games (2:46:30). In 2005, at the age of 40, she again won the USA XC 8 km race, this time in 27:24 and then finished
13th at the World XC championships in 27:51 and was the top U.S. finisher. She
also set a marathon record for women masters at Chicago when she finished in
2:28:40. In 2006 De Reuck became a
member of the USA's 8K cross
country team for a fifth time and finished 33rd in the World
championship. Since turning 40 De
Reuck has established U.S. master records at eight distances: 5K - 15:48; 10K -
32:50; 12K - 40:48; 15K - 49:51; 20K - 1:07:21; Half Marathon - 1:11:30; 25K -
1:25:15 and Marathon - 2:28:40. 2009 was also a year in which De Reuck led the Boston Marathon for much
of the race and finished 8th overall in 2:37:57.
Libbie Hickman
Libbie Hickman was born on February 17, 1965, in Billings, Montana. She graduated
from high school in 1983 in Cairo, Egypt where her father was working for an
oil company. Hickman began running as a child when she would chase fly
balls at her older brothers' baseball practice and have her dad time her
in sprints around the block. She ran track and field in high school and in
college at Colorado State University. After graduating from CSU
in 1987 with a BS in science/physiology
and a minor in chemistry, she began a professional running career
that lasted 16 years, highlighted by representing the USA in the 10,000 at the
2000 Olympics in Sydney. Hickman won major races
on the road and track at every distance from 1500m to the half marathon. She had a breakthrough year at road racing in 1991 when she
won the ARRA circuit and was ranked as the top woman road racer by Runner's
World magazine. She also won Runner's World top spot in 1998 and 2000, and
placed second in 1997 and 1999. Other career highlights include winning the 1999 U.S. 10,000m championship;
the 1997 U.S. 5,000m champion; finishing fourth at the 1996 Olympic Trials
5,000; the 1998 half-marathon and 10km road championships and representing the
US at three World Championships (1995, '97 and '99). Her personal bests include: 3000m - 8:35.02 (2000); 5000m - 15:11.15
(1997); 10,000m - 31:41.33 (1999) and 2:28:34 for the marathon. Hickman was selected as
the RRCA Road Runner of the Year for the years 1997-2000.
2011
Bob Kennedy
Robert ('Bob')
Owen Kennedy Jr., born in 1970 in Westerville, Ohio, held the
American record in the 3,000 meters (7:30.84), 2 miles (8:11.59) and the 5000 meters
(12:58.21) and is a two time Olympian (1992, 1996). He started running while
attending Westerville North High School, where he chose track after having
dabbled in baseball, basketball, and soccer. He finished fifth in the 1987 National Junior Championships
as a 16-year-old.
Kennedy attended Indiana University where he was the 1991
NCAA 1,500 meter National Champion in Track and 1991 Indoor NCAA Mile Champion.
He also won the NCAA Cross Country championships during his freshman and senior
years (1988 & 1992). His
senior year he won the USA Track & Field National Cross Country
Championships, becoming only the second person in history to win both the NCAA
Cross Country Nationals and U.S. National Cross Country Championships in the
same year. Kennedy's second USATF
National Cross Country title came in 2004, the twelve year gap between titles
(1992 & 2004) being the longest in history of the USATF.
The highlight of Kennedy's career came at the 1996
Atlanta Olympics. In the 5000
meter finals, Kennedy surged to the front at the beginning of the penultimate
lap where he held the lead for almost a lap but was ultimately passed just
before the closing lap to eventually place 6th overall. He had also made it to the finals of
the 1992 Olympic 5000 meter race where he placed 12th. Kennedy
suffered a back injury in an auto accident before the 2000 Olympic Trials and
missed seven weeks of training so that he was not able to make the Olympic team
that year.
Kennedy was a four time USA Track & Field
National Champion in the 5,000 - 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2001. After running a personal best of 27:37
in the spring of 2004, Kennedy competed in the 2004 US Olympic Trials in the
10,000 meter race, but had to drop out of the race due to an injury he had
suffered in the weeks leading up to the Trials. After recovering from the
injury he briefly tried his hand at the marathon, dropping out of the New York
City marathon that autumn and since then has retired from competitive distance
running.
Kennedy became
a father of twins in 2005 when his wife, Melina, gave birth to son, Marcus, and
daughter, Sophia.
Alan
Culpepper
Culpepper was born in 1972, is a two time US Olympian qualifying for
both the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. He got started
running through a summer track program through a local club. Culpepper graduated from Coronado HS in
El Paso, Texas where he won five Texas state titles in Cross Country and Track.
He attended the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, where he won the
NCAA outdoor 5,000 meter title and placed 10th at the Olympic Trials
in that event; the following year he placed 2nd at the USATF
Nationals and represented the USA at the 1997 World Championships.
Culpepper graduated with a degree in geography and
sociology from Colorado in 1996.
Following graduation, Culpepper remained in Boulder to continue
training. In 1999 he won his
first national title, the USA
Cross Country Championships. That spring he also won the 10,000m at the USATF
Outdoor Championships and ran that event at the 1999 World Championships. In
2000, he took second in the 10,000m at the U.S. Olympic Trials and represented
the US at the 2000 Olympic Games.
He also ran the 10,000m at the 2001 World Championships as well. He won another U.S. track championship
in 2002 when he took the 5,000m title. That fall, in his debut marathon in
Chicago, he ran 2:09:41.
Culpepper ran his second
marathon at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2004 in Birmingham, Alabama where he won
the event edging out long-time rival in 2:11:42. Culpepper placed 12th at the Athens Olympic
Marathon. In 2005, Culpepper ran a
13:25.75, a personal best, in the 5,000 meter run at the 2005 Norwich Union
British Grand Prix. He ran 2:11:02
to take fifth in the 2006 Boston Marathon. He married 1500m runner Shayne Wille in
November 1997 and they have two sons, Cruz Samuel, born in 2002, and Levi James
born in 2006.
Julia
Emmons
Emmons is the former Executive
Director of the 10,000-member Atlanta Track Club in Atlanta, GA, and former
director of the Peachtree Road Race, the world's largest and best-known 10K
with 55,000 runners. In her 22 years as head of the Atlanta Track Club, she was
very active on the national running scene, serving as Chair of Women's Long
Distance Running for USA Track & Field from 1990-1996. She directed the
Olympic Men's and Women's Marathons and Race Walks for the 1996 Games in
Atlanta, and was on the U.S. Women's Track and Field team for the 2004 Athens
Olympics as Assistant Coach for Endurance Events (marathon, racewalk). In 2005,
Emmons served as an Assistant Manager for the U.S. Track and Field Team at the
World Championships in Helsinki.
She served on the RRCA Board of Directors as Vice President between the
years '88 and '89.
Emmons has
is also committed to Atlanta's civic health, serving on the Atlanta City
Council and on a number of nonprofit culturally oriented boards of directors
including MOCA-GA, the Atlanta History Center and The Theatrical Outfit. She
also served for three years as president of the Alliance Theatre Guild and was
a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Partners in Performance outreach
efforts. She is also on the Board of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors
Bureau. A member of Leadership
Atlanta's class of 2001, she remains active with that organization. In 2006,
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin presented Julia with the Phoenix Award, the
City's highest honor, for her dedication and service. In 2007, Mayor Franklin
appointed Julia to Atlanta's License Review Board, which she was delighted to
discover reviews the awarding of business licenses not only to bars and
restaurants, but also tattoo parlors.
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| Collee De Reuck |
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| Libby Hickman |
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| Bob Kenney Courtesy of FotoRun |
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| Alan Culpepper Courtesy of USATF |
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| Julia Emmons |
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