November 18, 2025
Olympic Marathon Gold Medalists Frank Shorter and Joan Benoit Samuelson to Receive Presitgious Award
November 18, 2025 /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – Joan Benoit Samuelson and Frank Shorter will be honored with the MarathonFoto/Road Race Management Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2025 Road Race Management Race Directors’ Meeting in Hollywood, FL on December 9. The award is given to individuals who have made significant contributions to the sport of long-distance running over the course of a lifetime. Many nominations were received that read like a “Who’s Who” of running. The committee had the difficult task of reviewing the nominees. This year they selected two legends.
Phil Stewart, President of Road Race Management, said, “Frank Shorter and Joan Samuelson have been two pillars in the sport of long distance running over the last 50 years, so honoring the two Olympic Gold Medalists jointly seemed most appropriate. After their Olympic glory, both continued to serve as tireless ambassadors for the sport and were involved in launching major road races, Frank as a founder of the Bolder Boulder 10K and Joan as a founder of the Beach to Beacon 10K.”
Joan (“Joanie”) Benoit Samuelson won the first women’s Olympic Marathon held in Los Angeles in 1984. She is one of the most influential Olympic Champions this country has ever known and continues to give back to the sport.
She won the 1978 and 1983 Boston Marathons as well as numerous other marathons and road and track races, frequently setting records. In 1985, Joanie set a world record of 2:21:21 at the Chicago Marathon, a mark that lasted for 18 years. Known for her mental toughness, she won the 1984 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials marathon just 17 days after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery and claimed her Olympic gold medal less than three months later. Her commanding Olympic win ushered in a new era of popularity and competitiveness in women’s running.
In the decades that followed, Joanie continued to notch victories and set records. In 2019, 40 years after her first Boston Marathon victory, she returned to Boston and ran the marathon in 3 hours and 4 minutes, placing first in the Women’s 60-64 age group.
In 1989, she founded the Beach to Beacon 10k road race which benefits a different children’s charity each year. The race features a top field of elite runners along with a sell-out crowd of thousands.
Joanie Samuelson has given back to her beloved State of Maine in countless ways, working actively in support of environmental stewardship, health and fitness, childhood development, and education. Her Board and public service benefactors include Bowdoin College, the Friends of Casco Bay, and the Freeport Recreation Committee.
Frank Shorter’s Gold Medal in the 1972 Olympic Marathon electrified the sport and in large measure ignited the 1970s running boom. He was only denied a second gold medal four years later by an East German runner, who, documents were later found, was doping.
Frank won the U.S. national cross-country championship four times. He was the U.S. Olympic Trials Champion in both the 10,000-meters and the marathon in both 1972 and 1976. He was successful on the road race circuit winning such events as the Peachtree Road Race and the Falmouth Road Race.
Shorter not only was a dominant athlete but has been a lifetime supporter of integrity in sports by championing the movement for the eradication of athletes’ use of performance-enhancing drugs and the banning of athletes who do so. In his book, My Marathon: Reflections on a Gold Medal Life, Frank wrote candidly about the evils of child abuse and his experience as an abused child, giving encouragement and inspiration to those who have gone through this horrific experience.
In 1979, Frank co-founded the Bolder Boulder 10k with his longtime friend, Steve Bosley.
From 2000 to 2003 Frank was the chairman of the U.S, Anti-Doping Agency, an organization that helped establish drug testing protocols and continues to advocate against the use of performance-enhancing drugs in all sports.
In 2023, Frank received the George H. W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award from Yale University, his alma mater. This award is the most prestigious award that a former Yale athlete can receive from the institution.
The MarathonFoto/Road Race Management awards will be presented on December 9 at the Road Race Management Directors’ Meeting Romanelli Communications Keynote Dinner. Frank Shorter plans to attend and Joan Samuelson may also do so if her previous travel commitments and family obligations don’t preclude her making the trip.
Road Race Management (www.rrm.com) publishes the E-Newsletter designed for race and industry professionals, hosts the sport’s leading website for industry news and features, and conducts a prestigious annual national race directors’ meeting and trade show. MarathonFoto (www.marathonfoto.com) is the leader in race and endurance sports photography.
Contact:
Jeff Darman
610.925.1976 (o)
610.299.4436 (c)
jdarman@rrm.com