Fun Facts
Columbus Marathon Timeline
1980
CNN goes on the air.
Inaugural Columbus Marathon: Tommy Perrson of Sweden set a course record of 2:11:02 that remains unbroken to this day.
1981
The U.S. Senate confirms the appointment of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court.
All five top female finishers broke Karen Cosgrove's winning time of 2:45:58 in the first marathon.
1982
Sony began production of compact discs; Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger," the theme song to the film Rocky, hits the top of the Billboard chart and stays there for six weeks.
The 1982 Columbus Marathon had a field of 4100 and more than 250,000 spectators.
1983
Peter Jennings becomes ABC's evening news anchor after Frank Reynolds dies.
Seven women qualified for the Women’s U.S. Olympic Trials in Columbus – six of them from Ohio. The top ten males also qualified for their Olympic Trials event. Seven of these men ran in the 1984 Olympics for their respective countries. 1984
Great Britain guarantees the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, when its 99-year lease on the territory expires.
Eight Olympians competed in the Columbus Marathon, making the field the second best of the season – behind Chicago and ahead of New York.
1985
The U.S. first-class postal rate increases to 22 cents.
48 wheelchair athletes competed at the Columbus Marathon, including the five fastest chair racers in the U.S. – continuing the trend of providing a quality wheelchair marathon in Columbus.
1986
Marlee Matlin won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in the film “Children of a Lesser God.”
Prior to the race it was believed a strong men’s field would challenge and break the 2:11:02 course record established by Tommy Perrson at the inaugural Columbus Marathon. However, strong head winds in the final miles prevented this.
1987
Indiana beats Syracuse in the final seconds to claim the NCAA Division I men's basketball championship.
Reynoldsburg’s Corey Schindler captured everyone’s heart by being the youngest, at age 14, to ever compete in a wheelchair marathon.
1988
Ohio State names John Cooper as its head football coach.
Julie Isphording, the home state favorite, broke the women’s course record by exactly one minute.
1989
The Berlin Wall begins to come down.
Julie Isphording became the second woman with back-to-back wins; for the fifth year in a row, the women’s open division course record was broken.
1990
The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series.
28 men qualified for the U.S. Men’s Olympic Trials Marathon slated for 1992 in Columbus; the U.S. men’s field was led by Steve Spence.
1991
Rollerblades are introduced and become the latest craze for children and adults.
The wheelchair race drew a field of 30 racers from 10 states and Canada. Ken Carns and Ann Walters both set a new chair course record.
1992
Ohio State wins the second of its two straight Big Ten titles, led by junior guard Jim Jackson. Men’s Olympic Trials: The eyes of the nation were on Columbus and 109 of the country’s top runners. Only three would qualify for the team and their quest for a medal at the Summer Olympics: Steve Spence (2:12:43), Ed Eyestone (2:12:51), and Bob Kempainen (2:12:54).
1992 Columbus Marathon: Former Olympic Gold Medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson had a comeback run at age 35 – she hadn’t won a marathon since 1985.
1993
Michigan sophomore Chris Webber calls his infamous “timeout” during the NCAA Division I men's basketball national championship game.
Jean Driscoll of Illinois set a women’s wheelchair open course record of 1:51:08 and Whaywong Semer of Fremont, Ohio, set a new national record for the 65 to 69 female age group of 3:36:57.
1994
Forrest ran wild during this year's Academy Award winner for Best Picture, “Forrest Gump.”
First year of the corporate relay, with 48 teams participating.
1995
With the release of commercial web browsers, thousands of Americans are “surfing” the Internet.
The Columbus Marathon had a field of 7,300 -- 30 percent of that field qualified for Boston’s 100th anniversary event.
1996
Michigan beats Ohio State, 13-9, ruining the Buckeyes perfect season.
The wheelchair division, with one of the largest prize purses in the U.S. – and a stipend for every entrant – continues to attract chair racers from the U.S. and the world.
1997
Bobbie and Kenny McCaughey become parents of the world’s first surviving septuplets.
Russian women dominated the female pack the entire distance, with Kotchko carrying the race much of the second half.
1998
Senator John Glenn, 77, returns to space on board the space shuttle Discovery.
Three women and two men qualified for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.
1999
The U.S. Women's Soccer Team wins the World Cup. The final game has the highest attendance and largest viewing public of any women's sporting event.
20th anniversary Columbus Marathon saw Ronnie Holassie of Trinidad and Tobago defeating a strong field of runners form Kenya, Russia, and the USA. Additionally, Tatiana Titova of Russia claimed her second Columbus women’s title with more than a six-minute lead over the rest of the field.
2000
Several European countries begin testing and banning many kinds of beef for fear of mad cow disease.
A beautiful day and the all-new course provided an unprecedented 96 percent finishing rate and 18 percent Boston qualifying rate.
2001
George Harrison, former lead guitarist with the Beatles, dies of cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 58.
Kenyan Kefah Keraro beat out the “Shirtless Scotsman” Malcolm Campbell by 29 seconds to win the Columbus Marathon. Tatiana Titova of Russia won the female field for the second time in three years –handily beating runner-up Olena Plastynina of the Ukraine by 2 ½ minutes.
2002
DVD sales outdo VHS sales for the first time, as DVD player purchases skyrocket.
Lyudmyla Pushkina broke Julie Isphording’s long-standing female course record in 2:28:23 (previous record was 2:30:54 set in 1989) and had a $30,000 pay day.
2003
Ohio State beats Miami, Fla. for the college football national championship in double overtime in the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz.; Arnold Schwarzenegger is elected governor of California.
Pushkina crossed the finish line with a time of 2:28:15 to break her own course record (2:28:23 set in 2002) by only eight seconds and took home a course record bonus of $25,000. In the most skilled Columbus Marathon men’s wheelchair field ever, Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa broke the course record with a time of 1:26:47.
2004
Shrek was the top-grossing movie; Million Dollar Baby won the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture
More than 6,700 marathoners, relay teams, and chair racers braved cold and windy conditions during the 25th running of the Columbus Marathon.
2005
Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana on the morning of Aug. 29, causing more than $75 billion in damage, making it the most costly – and one of the most deadly – hurricanes in U.S. history.
Teren Jemeson of Taylorsville, Utah, pulled away from 1997 Columbus Marathon champion Jonathan Ndambuki in the 16th mile and became the first American first American male to win the Columbus Marathon since Brad Hudson of Oregon won back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993.
2006
Global online music sales nearly doubled in 2006 to about $2 billion, or 10 percent of all sales, but failed to compensate for an overall decline in sales of CDs.
Mike Greiwe of Cincinnati is the male winner of the inaugural Columbus ½ Marathon in a time of 1:10:41; P.J. Ball, Norwood, Ohio is the female winner in a time of 1:22:28.
2007
The Boston Red Sox win the 2007 World Series in a four-game sweep against the Colorado Rockies.
For the first time ever, the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon sold out at 10,000 participants.
