Ted Corbitt was known as the father of long distance racing in the USA. A former Olympic marathoner, he helped to reawaken interest in marathon and ultra distance races through his own training and racing, and also through his advocacy of race standards. He was the first president of the New York Road Runners Club and helped to plan the original NYC Marathon course.
The Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team also benefited from a tremendous amount of assistance and encouragement from Ted as we started organising our own ultra running events. When we put on our first ultra - a 47-mile invitational race in 1978 - it was Ted we turned to for valuable advice. Over the years, Ted would be a frequent paricipant and guest at our races. In particular, Ted astounded all of us by competing in our 2000 and 2001 Six-Day races – his 2000 effort was the first time anyone over 80 years of age had completed that distance, and in 2001 he set a new over 80 mark of 303 miles.
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