Olympian Benoit Samuelson excited for 1st VCM

Joan Benoit Samuelson needs no introduction in the running community. The Maine native won the Boston Marathon twice, including a blistering course record in 1983, and she established an American mark in claiming the 1985 Chicago Marathon.

Oh, and Samuelson also was the gold-medal winner of the inaugural women's marathon at the 1984 Olympics.

Even with all those achievements and accolades, Samuelson will check off a bucket-list item she has been hoping to do for years. She'll be in Burlington this weekend for the 26th annual KeyBank Vermont City Marathon, where she will take part in a four-person relay and serve as one of RunVermont's invited speakers at the Expo event at the Sheraton Hotel in South Burlington.

"I've never been" to the Vermont City Marathon, she said, "but I've heard great things of the event as a New England runner. It's finally worked out for me to take part in the festivities."

Today, Samuelson will give a talk at 2 p.m., followed by a 30-minute question-and-answer session with VCM's invited runners.

Then Sunday, Samuelson is set to run the opening two legs (9.1 miles) of a relay quartet that includes South Burlington's Katherine Cook, Essex's Emma Farrington and Champlain Valley's Autumn Eastman.

Talk about a loaded relay squad: Samuelson, who turned 57 last week, ran this year's Boston Marathon in 2 hours, 52 minutes, 10 seconds, while Eastman, Cook and Farrington are established high-school standouts in track and cross-country.

Eastman, the Division I state-record holder in the 800 meters, is the state's top distance runner with multiple state titles. Farrington, as a freshman, won the 3,000 meters with a sterling kick at the Burlington Invitational earlier this month. Cook was third in the Division I cross-country state meet in the fall.

"I'm very excited to be a part of the relay with, from what I understand, some really amazing Vermont high-school runners," Samuelson said.

The plan was for Cook to run the 6.1-mile third leg, Farrington to take on the 5.5-mile fourth leg and Eastman to anchor the final, 5.5-mile stretch that concludes at Burlington's waterfront.

Farrington, unfamiliar with Samuelson's running fame, quickly did her research online.

"It's not every day you get to run with an Olympic gold medalist," Farrington said.

Eastman, on the other hand, is familiar. Eastman said CVU's cross-country team names its training groups after well-known runners including Steve Prefontaine and Samuelson.

"She one of the biggest inspirations in running history," Eastman said. "You would be crazy not to look up to her as an aspiring runner on the collegiate level and other levels."

Thirty years after her historic win in Los Angeles, Samuelson has been on a mission to pay it forward. That's one reason she's in town this weekend.

"When I approached the tunnel in LA, and when I came out on the other side, I said I wanted to give back to the sport," Samuelson said. "This is all part of the journey for me, and coming to Vermont is a part of that."

Contact Alex Abrami at 660-1848 or aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aabrami5.