Leonard Graves "Buddy" Edelen (September 22, 1937 – February 19, 1997) was an American marathoner. Based in England for most of his prime competitive years, in 1963 Edelen became the first man to run a

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 ...

faster than 2 hours and 15 minutes when he set a world record of 2:14:28. Edelen also won the 1964 U.S. Olympic marathon trials at

Yonkers Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

and represented the U.S. in the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Biography

While born in Kentucky, Edelen attended high school in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, before graduating from Washington High School in

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls ( ) is the List of cities in South Dakota, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the List of United States cities by population, 117th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha Coun ...

, in 1955. He then attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. As a Golden Gopher, Edelen ran cross country and track. He finished top-10 in the NCAA Men's Division I Cross Country Championship twice: In 1956 he placed 9th in 20:33 and in 1957 he placed 4th in 19:44. He set the national record for the four-mile race. Edelen won the British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

title in the 10 miles event at the 1962 AAA Championships. In 1997, Edelen died of cancer at age 59. In 2001 was inducted into the Gopher Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was elected into the

National Track and Field Hall of Fame National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

Marathons

Edelen's promise in the marathon was evident early in his career. In 1962, he finished 4th at the

Fukuoka Marathon The is an IAAF Gold Label international men's marathon race held in Fukuoka, Japan. It was previously known as the Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship between 1947 and 2021, when it was announced the race would be discontinued on i ...

in an American Record time of 2:18:57, making him the first American to run under 2:20 for the marathon. He was also the first American under 30:00 for the 10,000 m run. On June 15, 1963, Edelen ran 2:14:28 at the Polytechnic Marathon (run from Windsor to Chiswick, England) to establish a new World Record. That record stood just two days short of a year, as England's

Basil Heatley Benjamin Basil Heatley (25 December 1933 – 3 August 2019) was a British competitive long-distance runner, who was an Olympic marathon silver medallist and former world marathon record-holder. Although he favoured cross country running, he wa ...

ran 2:13:55 at the 1964 Polytechnic Marathon (which was held on June 13). Edelen was the first American to hold the world record since 1925, and (excepting

Alberto Salazar Alberto Salazar (born August 7, 1958) 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 ...

's 2:08:13 at the 1981

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 fini ...

, which later proved to be short) the last until naturalized American

Khalid Khannouchi Khalid Khannouchi () (born September 12, 1971) is a Moroccan-born American retired long-distance runner. He is the former world record holder for the marathon and held the former road world best for the 20 km distance. He is one of only five ...

(originally from Morocco) broke his own World Record at the

London Marathon The London Marathon (also known as the TCS London Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon held in London, England. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held in April, although it moved to Oct ...

in 2002. After his record run 1963, Edelen also won the

Košice Peace Marathon The Košice Peace Marathon (Slovak: Medzinárodný maratón mieru) is an annual road marathon held in Košice, Slovakia, since 1924. It is the oldest continuously running in the world, having been run every year since 1941. It is the oldest mar ...

in Czechoslovakia (today Slovakia) in a course-record time of 2:15:09; that record would stand for fifteen years. The following year, Edelen won the U.S. Olympic Trials marathon by nearly twenty minutes, and went on to finish 6th in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympic games. In 2016, he was elected into the

Achievements

References

Sporting Heroes
*

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Edelen, Buddy 1937 births 1997 deaths American male marathon runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for the United States People from Harrodsburg, Kentucky Sportspeople from St. Louis Park, Minnesota World record setters in athletics (track and field) Track and field athletes from Minnesota University of Minnesota alumni Minnesota Golden Gophers men's track and field athletes 20th-century American sportsmen

Biography

Marathons

Achievements

References

Further reading

External links