Boulder ‘superstars’ stride to one more Olympic Trials
De Reuck, Zeiger among all-time greats
By Mike Sandrock for the Boulder Daily Camera
As Colleen De Reuck and Joanna Zeiger joke and chat on the infield of the Fairview High School track on a recent Saturday morning, a couple of visitors could only stand with mouth agape, listening to the accomplishments of the pair of all-time great female athletes.
Such is the import and impact of these two modest, self-effacing women, who along with Colorado Racing Club teammate Shawna McClain, are competing in Saturday’s U.S. Olympic trials marathon in Los Angeles.
They are among the roughly 30 local qualifiers in the men’s and women’s marathons, vying for a top three finish that will earn them a spot on Team USA that will compete in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. (A complete qualifiers’ list is at boulderunning.com).
De Reuck, 51, Zeiger, 45, and McClain, 33, were born in three different decades and represent three aspects of women’s racing; McClain is a newcomer to national class racing, a Boulder native and prep soccer player who surprised herself and coach Darren De Reuck in making it to the trials.
As for Zeiger and Colleen De Reuck, if you have a couple of hours, we can sit down and talk about their accomplishments.
Zeiger is a triathlon legend who placed fourth in the 2000 Sydney Olympic triathlon, was the 2008 70.3 World Champion, and is competing in her seventh Olympic trials, over three sports— swimming, triathlon and marathoning. She is the only athlete to do so.
De Reuck, a native of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, and U.S citizen since 2000, has competed in four Olympic Games (with a top finish of ninth in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic marathon); earned individual bronze and two team silver medals in the IAAF World Cross Country championships; won scores of road races, including major marathons such as Berlin and Honolulu, and held world road bests over 10 miles and 20K. She also won the 2004 U.S. Olympic trials marathon and has continued competing into her 50s.
In October, De Reuck won the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, in the 50-54 year age group.
“Absolutely incredible and amazing that these two Boulder superstars are running the Olympic marathon trials together,” USA Triathlon president Barry Siff wrote in an email. “How awesome is that?”
Really awesome, says McClain, a Boulder native and single mom who works full-time at Ball Aerospace. “I
try and learn from them.”
McClain has learned well after starting running as an outlet for her competitive instincts. Her soccer-playing days ended after three knee surgeries, and when she moved back to Boulder after college in Seattle, she joined the Boulder Striders. Her first marathon was 3 hours, 45 minutes back in the fall of 2007; her latest, 2:44:39, came in December.
“For Colleen, making the trials is nice, but for Joanna and Shawna it is a huge accomplishment,” said Darren De Reuck. “Shawna has made huge gains in the last six months. We had been thinking of the 2020 (Olympic trials), and this was unexpected.”
Zeiger’s qualifying was unexpected for a different reason.
She has been wracked by pain ever since a 2009 bike accident that left her with multiple surgeries and pain that doctors were for a long time unable to diagnose. She has put her experiences into a just-completed book, to be published in January by St. Martin’s Press.
According to Siff, Zeiger, known as “JZ,” is “truly one of America’s greatest triathletes to date. More than that, she has always been inspirational to others, always open to helping others be their best.”
Siff went on to describe Zeiger as “honest, caring and fun,” qualities all three marathoners showed as they chatted, the kidding going back and forth.
As I stood listening to the banter, my question on what they were trying to prove was answered. The three obviously enjoy each other’s company, taking pleasure in the process of training.
“What motivates me is the lifestyle,” said De Reuck, head coach of the Boulder Striders training group and a kind of “mother hen” to the other runners.
Perhaps because they are older and know they will not be getting any personal records, the focus for Zeiger and De Reuck has shifted from trying to get faster to enjoying the moment and the experiences they are having. The act of training itself is enjoyable and pleasurable and gives meaning to their lives, as it does for many of us.
Yet there must be some “secret” to their training, I asked Darren De Reuck.
“The biggest part of our training is recovery,” he explained. “Without recovery you can’t do the hard stuff. That is why Colleen’s career has extended over four decades; because she takes her recovery seriously. We train hard and recover just as hard. Some athletes try to crush everything and maybe at first you can get away with it, but over time, it will most definitely catch up with you, especially at altitude.”
It was Siff who summed up best what these two “superstars” accomplished by qualifying for the Olympic trials once again: “It’s an amazing testimony to both Colleen and JZ as driven, passionate individuals and athletes, as well as how smart they are in their training and staying healthy enough to continue toeing the line.
“I think they both inspire each other as well as all of us.”
Original Posting in the Boulder Daily Camera here
Mike Sandrock: sandrockm@gmail.com
De Reuck, Zeiger among all-time greats
By Mike Sandrock for the Boulder Daily Camera
As Colleen De Reuck and Joanna Zeiger joke and chat on the infield of the Fairview High School track on a recent Saturday morning, a couple of visitors could only stand with mouth agape, listening to the accomplishments of the pair of all-time great female athletes.
Such is the import and impact of these two modest, self-effacing women, who along with Colorado Racing Club teammate Shawna McClain, are competing in Saturday’s U.S. Olympic trials marathon in Los Angeles.
They are among the roughly 30 local qualifiers in the men’s and women’s marathons, vying for a top three finish that will earn them a spot on Team USA that will compete in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. (A complete qualifiers’ list is at boulderunning.com).
Joanna Zeiger, Colleen De Reuck, Shawna McClain
De Reuck, 51, Zeiger, 45, and McClain, 33, were born in three different decades and represent three aspects of women’s racing; McClain is a newcomer to national class racing, a Boulder native and prep soccer player who surprised herself and coach Darren De Reuck in making it to the trials.
As for Zeiger and Colleen De Reuck, if you have a couple of hours, we can sit down and talk about their accomplishments.
Zeiger is a triathlon legend who placed fourth in the 2000 Sydney Olympic triathlon, was the 2008 70.3 World Champion, and is competing in her seventh Olympic trials, over three sports— swimming, triathlon and marathoning. She is the only athlete to do so.
De Reuck, a native of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, and U.S citizen since 2000, has competed in four Olympic Games (with a top finish of ninth in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic marathon); earned individual bronze and two team silver medals in the IAAF World Cross Country championships; won scores of road races, including major marathons such as Berlin and Honolulu, and held world road bests over 10 miles and 20K. She also won the 2004 U.S. Olympic trials marathon and has continued competing into her 50s.
In October, De Reuck won the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, in the 50-54 year age group.
“Absolutely incredible and amazing that these two Boulder superstars are running the Olympic marathon trials together,” USA Triathlon president Barry Siff wrote in an email. “How awesome is that?”
Really awesome, says McClain, a Boulder native and single mom who works full-time at Ball Aerospace. “I
try and learn from them.”
McClain has learned well after starting running as an outlet for her competitive instincts. Her soccer-playing days ended after three knee surgeries, and when she moved back to Boulder after college in Seattle, she joined the Boulder Striders. Her first marathon was 3 hours, 45 minutes back in the fall of 2007; her latest, 2:44:39, came in December.
“For Colleen, making the trials is nice, but for Joanna and Shawna it is a huge accomplishment,” said Darren De Reuck. “Shawna has made huge gains in the last six months. We had been thinking of the 2020 (Olympic trials), and this was unexpected.”
Zeiger’s qualifying was unexpected for a different reason.
She has been wracked by pain ever since a 2009 bike accident that left her with multiple surgeries and pain that doctors were for a long time unable to diagnose. She has put her experiences into a just-completed book, to be published in January by St. Martin’s Press.
According to Siff, Zeiger, known as “JZ,” is “truly one of America’s greatest triathletes to date. More than that, she has always been inspirational to others, always open to helping others be their best.”
Siff went on to describe Zeiger as “honest, caring and fun,” qualities all three marathoners showed as they chatted, the kidding going back and forth.
As I stood listening to the banter, my question on what they were trying to prove was answered. The three obviously enjoy each other’s company, taking pleasure in the process of training.
“What motivates me is the lifestyle,” said De Reuck, head coach of the Boulder Striders training group and a kind of “mother hen” to the other runners.
Perhaps because they are older and know they will not be getting any personal records, the focus for Zeiger and De Reuck has shifted from trying to get faster to enjoying the moment and the experiences they are having. The act of training itself is enjoyable and pleasurable and gives meaning to their lives, as it does for many of us.
Yet there must be some “secret” to their training, I asked Darren De Reuck.
“The biggest part of our training is recovery,” he explained. “Without recovery you can’t do the hard stuff. That is why Colleen’s career has extended over four decades; because she takes her recovery seriously. We train hard and recover just as hard. Some athletes try to crush everything and maybe at first you can get away with it, but over time, it will most definitely catch up with you, especially at altitude.”
It was Siff who summed up best what these two “superstars” accomplished by qualifying for the Olympic trials once again: “It’s an amazing testimony to both Colleen and JZ as driven, passionate individuals and athletes, as well as how smart they are in their training and staying healthy enough to continue toeing the line.
“I think they both inspire each other as well as all of us.”
Original Posting in the Boulder Daily Camera here
Mike Sandrock: sandrockm@gmail.com
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