Charles Robbins (1921-10 August 2006) was an American long distance runner and

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

. He won

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

national titles, including five 20-kilometer titles, two 25-kilometer, two 30-kilometer and two national

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

championships between the years of 1944–54. In 1945, he ran the year's fastest marathon in the world. Robbins completed his 50th consecutive Manchester Road Race in 2001 and participated in 20

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by eight cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was ins ...

s. In April 1944 he finished third in 2:38:31 at Boston to four-time winner Canada's Gérard Côté and two-time champion (and seven-time runner up) John A. Kelley. Nine years later, he ran Boston in 2:43:56. On November 12, 1944, while in the U.S. Navy, he also won the U.S. national marathon championship at the Yonkers marathon, running 2:40.48.6. He was the alternate, in the event one of the three qualifiers was unable to run, to the 1948 London Olympic's marathon team. Remarkably, he often ran his races barefoot.

References

1921 births 2006 deaths American male long-distance runners 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-longdistance-athletics-bio-stub