Buddy Edelen
Buddy Edelen (actually Leonard Graves Edelen, born September 22, 1937 in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, † February 19, 1997 in Tulsa ) was an American marathon runner.
Career
After studying at the University of Minnesota, he moved to Chelmsford in England, where he worked as a teacher and was trained by his compatriot Fred Wilt.
On May 6, 1960, he remained in Sunnyvale in the 10,000 meters with 29:58,9 min as the first American under the 30 -minute mark. In 1962 he was English champion in the web running over ten miles ( 16,093 m) and was on his debut over the 42,195 - km - distance Ninth at Polytechnic Marathon. Then he launched out of competition at the Welsh Marathon Championship. He had with 2:22:32 h almost a quarter of an hour ahead of the official winner. After a second place in the Kosice Marathon he placed fourth at the Fukuoka Marathon with 2:18:56,8 a U.S. record.
The following year, he won first at the Athens Marathon and then triumphed at the Polytechnic Marathon with the world record of 2:14:28 h He was 48 seconds under the record that had the Japanese Tōru Terasawa set four months earlier. In the fall he put in Košice with a 2:15:10 course record, which remained until 1978.
In 1964 he was a victory at the Yonkers Marathon U.S. champion and qualified for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. In extreme heat, he laid the hilly course back in 2:24:25 h and had almost 20 minutes ahead of the second, the Austrian Adolf Gruber. Although Edelen had suffered sciatica, which affected the rest of his athletic career, he came in the Olympic race to sixth place.
At the Polytechnic Marathon in 1965, he was with 2:14:34 third, beaten only by Terasawa and his compatriot Morio Shigematsu, who ran 2:12:00 world record.
In 1967 he retired from competitive sports. He then worked as a psychology teacher at Adams State College and as a state employee in Tulsa. At the age of 59 years he died of cancer.
Buddy Edelen launched for Hadleigh Olympians.