Dick Beardsley | |
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| Born | March 21, 1956 |
| Occupation(s) | Runner, author, motivational speaker Fishing Guide (www.dickbeardsleyfishingguide.com ) |
| Website | Official Website |
Dick Beardsley (born March 21, 1956) is an American long-distance runner best known for tying for first place with Inge Simonsen in the inaugural 1981 London Marathon and his close finish with Alberto Salazar in the 1982 Boston Marathon.
Beardsley ran his first marathon in 2:47:14 at the 1977 Paavo Nurmi Marathon in Hurley, Wisconsin. In subsequent marathons, he steadily lowered his times: 2:33:22, 2:33:06, and 2:31:50. Beardsley is the only man to have ever run 13 consecutive personal bests in the marathon, and is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the feat. [1]
In 1981 he and Norwegian Inge Simonsen intentionally crossed the finish line together holding hands in a time of 2:11:48. [2] [3] According to Beardsley, "It was a big deal for both of us because neither one of us had won a marathon before." [4]
His finish time of 2:09:37 at the 1981 Grandma's Marathon stood as a course record for 33 years until it was broken in 2014. [5] Beardsley placed second (2:08:53) on the heels of Alberto Salazar in the 1982 Boston Marathon, breaking the Boston Marathon course record and the American record. [6]
In 2003 he started the Dick Beardsley Marathon Running Camp, which used to be held each September at Rainbow Resort in Waubun, Minnesota, [7] but which are now held at Lake Bemidji, Minnesota.
Beardsley is one of the subjects of the book Duel in the Sun , published in 2006 by John Brant. His memoir, Staying the Course: A Runner's Toughest Race, was co-authored by Maureen Anderson and published in 2002 by the University of Minnesota Press. [8]
In 2007, Beardsley was featured in the documentary movie Spirit of the Marathon. [9]
In 2010, Beardsley was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame. [10]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing the  United States | ||||
| 1981 | London Marathon | London, United Kingdom | 1st | 2:11:48 |
| Grandma's Marathon | Duluth, United States | 1st | 2:09:37 | |
| 1982 | Grandma's Marathon | Duluth, United States | 1st | 2:14:50 |
| Boston Marathon | Boston, United States [11] | 2nd | 2:08:53 | |
In November 1989, Beardsley nearly died in a farm mishap; he required five months to recuperate. Between July 1992 and February 1993, he was involved in three serious automobile accidents, each requiring hospitalization for back and neck injuries. While on a hike, he was hurt after falling down an embankment when the path collapsed. He underwent three back operations in 1994 and knee surgery in 1995. [12] [13]
After each of his injuries, Beardsley was prescribed medication for the pain. Over four years, he developed an addiction to the medication. He was arrested September 30, 1996, for forging prescriptions [12] and sentenced to five years' probation and 460 hours of community service. [14] Beardsley spent nine days in a psychiatric unit where he was prescribed methadone. He was released for outpatient treatment, returned to inpatient treatment where he quit methadone, and again began outpatient treatment. [12] His first day of chemical-free sobriety was February 12, 1997. [13]
Beardsley started the Dick Beardsley Foundation in October 2007 [15] to provide assistance to individuals suffering from chemical dependency who are unable to pay for a 12-step treatment program. The foundation's goals are to educate the general public about chemical dependency. It allows Beardsley to speak about his own experience in overcoming addiction. [16] [17]
Beardsley married Mary in 1979. They adopted one son, Andrew. [18] They later divorced and Beardsley moved to Austin, Texas in 2007 and remarried.[ citation needed ] In August 2010, it was reported that Beardsley and his wife had filed for bankruptcy. Beardsley's wife Jill said that they filed to consolidate IRS debt. [19] In another tragic turn, in October 2015 Dick lost his beloved 31-year-old son Andrew, a veteran of the war in Iraq, to suicide.
In 2016 Dick and Jill moved to Bemidji, MN where Dick continues his career in motivational/inspirational speaking and also has a fishing guide service. [20] They are also the owners of Lake Bemidji Bed & Breakfast.
In 2023 Dick started a podcast with long-time friend and fellow marathon runner Mike Dunlap called On The Run With Beards And Dun. [21]
Alberto Salazar is an American former track coach and long-distance runner. Born in Cuba, Salazar immigrated to the United States as a child with his family, living in Connecticut and then in Wayland, Massachusetts, where Salazar competed in track and field in high school. Salazar won the New York City Marathon three times in the early 1980s, and won the 1982 Boston Marathon in a race known as the "Duel in the Sun". He set American track records for 5,000 m and 10,000 m in 1982. Salazar was later the head coach of the Nike Oregon Project. He won the IAAF Coaching Achievement Award in 2013.
Grandma's Marathon (Grandma's) is an annual road race held each June in Duluth, Minnesota, in the United States. The course runs point-to-point from the city of Two Harbors on Scenic Route 61 and continues along Lake Superior into the city of Duluth. The finish is located in Canal Park, near Grandma's Restaurant, which is next to the highly visible Aerial Lift Bridge.
Sports in Minnesota include professional teams in all major sports, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, especially in the Winter Olympics, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations and active amateur teams and individual sports. The State of Minnesota has a team in all five major professional leagues. Along with professional sports, there are numerous collegiate teams including the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and St. Thomas Tommies in NCAA Division I, as well as many others across the Minnesota public and private colleges and universities.
Galen Rupp is an American long-distance runner. He competed in the Summer Olympics in 2008 in Beijing, 2012 in London, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and 2021 in Tokyo. He won the silver medal in the men's 10,000 meters in London and the bronze medal in the men's marathon in Rio de Janeiro. Rupp competed for the University of Oregon and trained under Alberto Salazar as a member of the Nike Oregon Project. He won the 2017 Chicago Marathon, becoming the first American to do so since Khalid Khannouchi in 2002. Rupp won the marathon at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta with a time of 2:09:20, and qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, where he finished eighth.
Duel in the Sun: Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America's Greatest Marathon is a 2006 book by freelance sportswriter John Brant. Expanded from an article featured in Runner's World magazine, the book tells the story of two American distance runners, Dick Beardsley and Alberto Salazar, and how their lives changed after both men ran the 1982 Boston Marathon. Brant, a regular contributor to Runner's World since 1985 and a contributing editor at Outside, uses a writing style in the book that relies heavily on flashbacks and foreshadowing. The result of this style is that the story of the marathon and the story of the two men's lives are told simultaneously throughout the book.
Kara Goucher is an American long-distance runner, author, television commentator, and podcaster. She was the 10,000 meters silver medalist at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and represented the USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics. She made her marathon debut in 2008 and finished third the following year at the Boston Marathon.
Paul Richard Cummings was a world-class middle and long distance runner who ran competitively from the 1,500 meters to the marathon, breaking several American records and one world record. His ability to have a middle distance runner's kick and also have the stamina to compete in distances up to the marathon place him as one of the most versatile American track and road racers of his era.
Greg Meyer is an American long-distance runner. Meyer's winning time for the 1983 Boston Marathon race was 2:09.00. He was the last American to win the Boston Marathon until 2014, and the last person born in America to win the Chicago Marathon until 2017. He set ten American road racing records and two world records, and won the River Bank Run, in his home town of Grand Rapids, seven times.
William Squires was an American track and field coach. He was well known for coaching the Greater Boston Track Club at the height of its marathon success, including marathoners Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and Greg Meyer.
Garry Brian Bjorklund is an American middle- and long-distance runner. He represented the United States in the 1976 Summer Olympics in the 10,000 meters. As a high schooler, he set a Minnesota state record for the mile run which lasted 39 years. At the University of Minnesota, he won the 1971 national championship in the six-mile run, and won numerous conference championships in various disciplines. Following his 1976 Summer Olympics appearance, Bjorklund became a marathon runner, and set a national age group record in 1980.
The Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon is a race in Bemidji, Minnesota, first run in 2013. The race runs around a lake, along a state trail and through a state park. It takes place in October, when many of the forest surroundings are bright with color.
Dominic Ondoro is a Kenyan long-distance runner best known for holding the course records at Minnesota's Grandma's Marathon and the Twin Cities Marathon. He has won many other major marathons, some multiple times, such as the 2017 and 2023 Houston Marathon in Texas, his two Melbourne Marathon wins in Australia and his unrivaled four Twin Cities Marathon wins in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Janice Ettle is an American middle-distance and long-distance runner, winner of major marathons and top finisher in dozens of road races, as well as a competitor at the 1987 World Marathon Cup and fourth-place finisher at the Havana, Cuba, 1991 Pan American Games women's marathon. Ettle was a five-time competitor at the US Olympic Marathon Trials.
Bob Wallace was a runner from Croydon, Victoria, Australia. He was best known for running the marathon, with a PR of 2:13:14 in 1981.
Fred Torneden is an American mid- and long-distance runner who won several road racing victories in the 1980s and set the American record for the 20-mile distance in 1984. He competed for the United States at the first IAAF World Marathon Cup in 1985. He later became a coach and a pastor. He served as a children's pastor at Rock Hills Church in Manhattan, Kansas while continuing to run competitively at the masters level.
Debbie Mueller is an American middle and long-distance runner who won many major road races in the 1980s and 1990s, including the Dublin Marathon.
Sammy Malakwen is a middle- and long-distance runner from Kenya who also trained in Two Harbors, Minnesota. He has won several major marathons, and has finished in the top 10 of several major road races.
Pavel Andreyev is a Russian middle-distance and long-distance runner who has won multiple US and European road races including the Dallas, Helsinki, St. Petersburg White Nights and Grandma’s marathons. He was also the silver medal winner in the 1997 Russian Athletics Championships 10,000 meters.
Derek Stevens is a retired runner from Hastings, East Sussex, United Kingdom, who was a top long distance runner at many global races in the 1980s. He was a top finisher at the 1985 Fukuoka Marathon in Japan and the 1982 London Marathon and the 1983 Geneva Marathon in Switzerland. In Australia, he took second in the 1983 Melbourne Marathon behind Juma Ikangaa. He was on the heels of Fred Torneden in 1983 at the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. While also in the United States, he followed in fellow countryman Gerry Helme's steps when he beat Don Norman, Barney Klecker, and Dick Beardsley on route to a 2:12:41 to win the Grandma's Marathon in 1984. His time stands as one of the fastest marathons ever run by a British athlete.
Dan Schlesinger is an American lawyer and artist who was a former long-distance running athlete. He was the third-place finisher at the 1982 New York City Marathon and was in the top 10 finishers at the 1983 and 1986 Boston Marathons.
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