The Colorado Running Hall of Fame Selection Committee announces the 2015 inductees into the Colorado Running Hall of Fame: Uta Pipping, Nadia Prasad, Brian Metzler, Matt Carpenter, John Gregorio and Damon Martin. The 9th annual induction ceremony and reception will be held on Wednesday, April 15th at the Denver Athletic Club at 6:30pm. The Colorado Running Hall of Fame recognizes Coloradans for their remarkable achievement and influence on the sport of distance running. A little about each athlete:
UTA PIPPIG
Born in Leipzig, East Germany in 1965, behind the Iron Curtain, Uta was introduced to competitive athletics at the age of 13. On January 5, 1990, almost penniless, Uta and her coach, Dieter Hogen, left East Germany, yearning for the freedoms of the west.
Only then was it possible for Uta to pursue her lifelong goal to run and win the marathon that stood for freedom in her mind: the Boston Marathon. She won the Boston Marathon three years in a row, ’94-96’. Further wins included the New York City Marathon, and three Berlin Marathon victories, including the 1990 “Reunification Marathon,” unifying East and West Germany.
A two time Olympian and former world record holder, Uta was ranked the #1 woman marathon runner in the world in 1994 and 1995, and she was featured on numerous leading magazine covers as the people’s champion.
Today, Uta divides her energies between her public speaking series, Running To Freedom™ and her international charitable organization, Take The Magic Step® in addition to coaching the runners of the Hoyt Foundation in preparation for their 2015 Boston Marathon in support of the mission of legendary Dick and Rick Hoyt, to raise awareness of, and help, the physically challenged.
NADIA PRASAD
In 1983, at age 15, Nadia won two Gold medals in the South Pacific Games in Western Samoa (1500m and 3000m) with a games record in the 1500m, representing New Caledonia –a territory of France next to Australia. Nadia represented New Caledonia in three South Pacific Games with 7Gold, 1Silver medals and holds the games records, in the 1500m, 3000m and 10000m. In addition has competed in two mini South Pacific Games with 6Gold medals and records in the 800m, 1500m, 3000m and 10000m, hence New Caledonia national records plus the national record in the marathon. The first half marathon she competed in she won in Tachikawa, Japan at age 18 and her first marathon she won in 1990 in Lake Powel. Nadia won the 1994 USA road series racing from 5km – Marathon.
JOHN GREGORIO
John was a 3 time all American and the first University of Colorado athlete to achieve the honor in one school year. He was an integral part of the CU Track and Field team from 1971-1973. He holds the world record in Distance Medley for Type D track with team mates, Mike Peterson, Brown Windell and Ted Castenada.
John was a member of the 1973 US Pan Pacific Team. Two time (74’ & 75’) Colorado Track Club USA Cross Country Champion and placed second in the 1975 National Cross Country Championships. In 1975 he was a member of the Pan American Team for the USA and in 1976 he was an Olympic Trials Qualifier in the10K and 5K. His most proud accomplishment is setting up a Nike bonus structures for athletes competing nationally.
Locally, from 1986-2013 John was the head coach for the cross country and track and field teams at George Washington and South High Schools. John won two State Championships in track and placed third in state cross country. Currently, John is working at The Colorado Rockies and Frontier Airlines in the Sports Charter Division.
MATT CARPENTER
Matt’s passion for competitive running began in high school when he signed up for the cross country team. Over the next 30 years Matt became one of the premier mountain runners in the United States and was considered by many the best high altitude mountain runner in the world. He has run up and down mountains in Europe, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal and Tibet.
Matt is the record holder of the fastest times for a flat marathon held at altitude – 2:52:57 at 14,350′ and 3:22:25 at 17,060′. In 1993 he set the still standing course records for the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon with times of 2:01:06 and 3:16:39. In 2001 he became the first person to win the Ascent and Marathon on back-to-back days — a feat he repeated in 2007. At the 2005 Leadville Trail 100 mile race he shattered the course record by over 90 minutes to 15:42:59. In 2008 he broke the 31-year-old course record for the Mt Evans Ascent. In his last race, in 2011 at the age of 47, he won the Pikes Peak Marathon for the 6th time in a row bringing his total wins on the mountain to 18 — 6 Ascents and 12 Marathons.
Throughout his career Matt strived to give back to the sport that had taken him so far. He served as the president of the Pikes Peak Road Runners, co-founded the Incline Running Club and managed several races including the Barr Trail Mountain Races on Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods 10 Mile Run in Manitou Springs. These races raised nearly $100,000 for area high school cross country teams through hugely popular aid station challenges. Matt is now the owner and manager of the Colorado Custard Company in Manitou Springs, Colorado, where he lives with his wife, Yvonne, and daughter, Kyla. He has not run less than an hour a day in almost 3 years.
DAMON MARTIN
Head Coach Damon Martin has built the Adams State University cross country and track programs to the absolute premiere level, not only at Division II, but in all of collegiate athletics. Winner of 33 National Coach of the Year awards, Martin is recognized as one of the best coaches in the country, especially with distance runners. After 26 years in charge of the women’s program and 19 at the helm of the men’s, Martin has coached a total of 30 National Championship teams (17 women’s cross country, 9 men’s cross country, 2 women’s indoor track & field, 1 men’s indoor track & field, 1 men’s outdoor track & field), including a stretch of nine straight women’s cross country titles from 1991-99, another stretch of seven straight women’s titles from 2003-09 and two separate runs of three straight men’s cross country national titles (2008-10 & 2012-14). He has also guided athletes to 986 combined all-America honors and 100 individual national championships while coaching seven national championship relay teams.
BRIAN METZLER
Brian Metzler is the Editor in Chief of Competitor Running magazine and Competitor.com. He has run more than 60,000 miles in his life, tested more than 1,200 pairs of running shoes, raced every distance from 50 yards to 100 miles and completed two Ironman triathlons. After a career as a competitive high school track runner (1:54.1 for 800 meters) and a walk-on college athlete in the Midwest, he realized his 5K PR (15:36) wasn’t going to get any faster and, after moving to Colorado, opted instead to become a trail runner and, eventually, a pack burro racer. His most proud accomplishments as a runner are his 26-year streak of running sub-60 seconds for the 400 meters (a few of which occurred during the Boulder Road Runners Summer Track Series at Potts Field) and running the 2007 Golden Leaf Half Marathon with his wife, Pam.
He has also played a role in putting many Colorado runners on the cover of national magazines as well as writing about and photographing numerous Colorado races for the past 20 years.
Brian was the founding editor and associate publisher of Trail Runner (1999) and Adventure Sports (2002) magazines and formerly a senior editor at Running Times (2007-2012). He has also been a contributor to Runner’s World and served as the senior editor of Runner’s World Trail in 2011-2012. He has written about endurance sports for Outside, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, The Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Boulder Daily Camera. He is the author of Running Colorado’s Front Range (2003, Mountain Sports Press), the co-author of “Natural Running” (2010, VeloPress) and co-editor for Alan Culpepper’s new book “Run Like a Champion.” (2015, VeloPress). Brian and his wife, Pam, and their daughter, Lucy, live in Boulder.
“Amazing in the 9th year of the CRHOF inductions, the talent pool has not diminished. With such a rich and deep list of talented and worthy candidates it remains a tough task choosing a select few for induction. The selection committee is delighted to recognize a widely diverse group for induction in 2015 that covers all facets of our sport of running,”Commented John Tope, Chair of the Selection Committee for the Colorado Running Hall of Fame.
This event is open to the public, with a limited number of tickets available for purchase at $25 per person at corunninghalloffame.com.
About the Colorado Running Hall of Fame
Colorado has one of the highest concentrations of world and American record holders and Olympic and world championship medal winners. The Colfax Marathon Partnership, Inc. Board of Directors established the Colorado Running Hall of Fame in 2007 to recognize Coloradans who have achieved national and international recognition on the long-distance running stage. To learn more about the Colorado Running Hall of Fame or to purchase tickets to the induction ceremony, visit www.corunninghalloffame.com.
About the Colfax Marathon: The 10th annual Kaiser Permanente Colfax Marathon takes place May 16–17, 2015. Events include the full marathon, half-marathon, marathon relay, Urban 10 miler and Colfax 5K. Established by the cities of Aurora, Denver and Lakewood to encourage Coloradans to be healthier, the marathon has established itself as an iconic race for the mile-high city. We support local charities and nonprofits by providing one of the country’s biggest fund-raising platforms through our Charity Partners Program. We are proud to partner with corporate sponsors who make our race a success, including: Kaiser Permanente, DaVita, 9News, The Denver Post, Comcast, KOSI 101, Alice, The Mountain, The Denver Athletic Club, Primrose, and more. Visit us atwww.runcolfax.org, facebook.com/runcolfaxdenver, and on twitter @runcolfax.
About Kaiser Permanente Colorado
Kaiser Permanente Colorado is the state’s largest nonprofit health plan, proudly working to improve the lives and health of Colorado residents for more than 45 years. Kaiser Permanente Colorado provides comprehensive health care services to 630,000 members through 29 medical offices and a network of affiliated hospitals and physicians. Kaiser Permanente was recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as the top- ranked commercial health plan in Colorado and the sixth ranked Medicare plan in the nation for 2014-15. Kaiser Permanente was also recently recognized as a 2012 Hypertension Champion by Million Hearts™. In 2014, Kaiser Permanente proudly directed $100 million to community benefit programs to improve the health of all Coloradans. For more Kaiser Permanente news, visit kp.org/share or follow us on Twitter @kpcolorado or facebook.com/kpcolorado.
Release provided by: Laura D. Kindregan.