Dick Beardsley

Dick Beardsley ( born March 21, 1956 in Minneapolis, Minnesota ) is a retired American marathoner.

In 1977 he ran his first marathon in 2:47:14 h and improved his time with each of his next twelve marathons, which has given him an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. At U.S. Marathon qualifying for the Olympic Games in 1980, he remained with 2:16:01 hours for the first time under 2:20, and after he had managed to get a sponsorship deal and could intensify his training, he was ninth at the New York City Marathon the same year in 2:13:55. In 1981 he was second in the first Houston Marathon in 2:12:48, then third in Beppu Oita - marathon in 2:12:41, and finally he won together with Inge Simonsen the Erstaustragung the London Marathon on March 29 in 2:11:48. The 13th best time in the 13th marathon was finally the course record of 2:09:37, which he aufstellte 1981 at Grandma's Marathon and the stock still has (as of 2009 ).

The series of personal bests crack in the Stockholm Marathon the same year, at the Beardsley in 2:16:17 behind Marathon legend Bill Rodgers was second. In 1982 he repeated his second place in Houston, and then followed the Boston Marathon is the most spectacular races of his career, received as Duel in the Sun in the story. In the closest battle in the history of this most traditional of all marathons Alberto Salazar won by two seconds before Beardsley. Both runners broke both the distance as well as the U.S. record, and Beardsley occupied by this time still (as of 2009 ) the fifth place of the Eternal U.S. leaderboard. After another victory at Grandma's Marathon, problems occurred on his Achilles tendon, which required multiple surgeries and competitions for a long time impossible. Beardley focused on building a farm and a company in the field of sport fishing. He made it though, to qualify for the U.S. elimination race for the Olympic Games in 1988, finished there, however, only the 45th place.

In 1989 he suffered a serious accident with an agricultural machine, and other disasters, the zustießen him in the years that followed, including a collision with a car at one of his training runs, required a series of operations. From taking the painkillers prescribed to him to a drug addiction, the worse when his father became ill with cancer and died developed. He was the prescription forgery on, in 1996, and there followed a protracted withdrawal.

One result of this experience was the creation of Dick Beardsley Foundation. The purpose of this foundation is to educate about the dangers of drug use and to lead young people to a healthy lifestyle.

In 2002 he published his autobiography, Staying the Course. In 2004, he ran 2:43:58 with his best marathon time since his farm accident. In 2007 he married and opened a shop in Fargo. 2009, a knee prosthesis him was used.

In his honor, a half marathon in Detroit Lakes (Minnesota) is named.