A year-by-year look at the Quad-City Times Bix 7:
1980
Number of runners: 1,500
Men’s winner: Bill Rodgers (Boston), 33:58
Women’s winner: Peggy Schott (Evanston), 43:59
Weather: 70 degrees, 90% humidity, .88 inches precipitation
Bill Rodgers, the most prolific marathon runner in history, set the course record after deciding to come to the race when the United States opted to boycott the Moscow Olympics. He has run every Bix 7 since then.
1981
Number of runners: 2,500
Men’s winner: Bill Rodgers (Boston), 33:26
Women’s winner: Beverly Roland-Miller (Macomb), 41:26
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Weather: 69 degrees, 90% humidity, .94 inches precipitation
Bill Rodgers broke his own course record in repeating as champion, this time defeating 1972 Olympic gold medalist Frank Shorter by 24 seconds despite persistent rains. The race was sponsored by the Quad-City Times for the first time.
1982
Number of runners: 4,100
Men’s winner: Rob de Castella (Australia), 32:21
Women’s winner: Ellen Hart (Boulder, Colorado), 38:42
Weather: 68 degrees, 87% humidity
The pace car leading the pack made a U-turn before reaching the McClellan Boulevard turnaround and frontrunner Rob de Castella (and almost everyone behind him) followed, shortening the course by 50 yards. The Australian star still would have easily broken the course record as he shaved more than a minute off Bill Rodgers’ top time. Ellen Hart, a 24-year-old Harvard graduate who was destined to become a world champion triathlete, became the first woman to run the Bix 7 in fewer than 40 minutes, knocking more than two minutes off Kim Merritt’s course record.
1983
Number of runners: 5,620
Men’s winner: Joseph Nzau (Kenya), 33:10
Women’s winner: Joan Benoit (Freeport, Maine), 37:26
Weather: 75 degrees, 91% humidity
Up-and-coming American runner Joan Benoit shattered the women’s course record in her first Bix appearance, claiming the first of four Bix titles. Joseph Nzau became the first runner from Kenya to compete in the race. He sprinted past everyone halfway through the race and won easily with Bill Rodgers finishing second.
1984
Number of runners: 6,750
Men’s winner: Ashley Johnson (South Africa), 33:02
Women’s winner: Kellie Cathey (Fort Collins, Colorado), 38:04
Weather: 62 degrees, 84% humidity
Ashley Johnson, a South Africa native who competed at Western Kentucky, was relatively unknown entering the race, but he displayed his track and field background down the stretch. He made the final turn onto 4th Street almost side by side with Joseph Nzau and Mark Curp, but won a final sprint to win one of the closest Bix finishes ever. Kellie Cathey, destined to be a five-time entry in the U.S. Olympic trials, was the women’s champion.
1985
Number of runners: 7,174
Men’s winner: Mark Curp (Lee’s Summit, Missouri), 32:54
Women’s winner: Joan Benoit Samuelson (Freeport, Maine), 37:38
Weather: 66 degrees, 87% humidity
After finishing in the top five the previous two years, Mark Curp claimed his first Bix title by out-sprinting Bill Rodgers in the final stretch. Newly married Joan Benoit, now known as Joan Samuelson, returned to win her second Bix crown a year after winning the first women’s Olympic marathon.
1986
Number of runners: 9,325
Men’s winner: Geoff Smith (Great Britain), 33:16
Women’s winner: Joan Benoit Samuelson (Freeport, Maine), 37:56
Weather: 73 degrees, 87% humidity
Geoff Smith, a member of Great Britain’s Olympic team and a two-time Boston Marathon winner, and defending Bix champion Mark Curp ran alone far out in front of the rest of the field almost the entire way before Smith gained a little separation and won by three seconds. Joan Samuelson won the women’s race, becoming the first three-time Bix champion.
1987
Number of runners: 12,375
Men’s winner: Joseph Nzau (Kenya), 33:24
Women’s winner: Francie Larrieu-Smith (Dallas, Texas), 38:10
Weather: 75 degrees, 94% humidity
The race topped 10,000 runners for the first time and was one of the 10 largest races in the United States for the first time. Joseph Nzau won his second Bix title in a field that included every male winner of the race in the 1980s. Joan Samuelson ran the race despite being seven months pregnant and still finished 19th. Francie Larrieu-Smith, who ran in the Olympics as a 19-year-old in 1972 and was destined to make five U.S. Olympic teams, was the women’s champion.
1988
Number of runners: 12,425
Men’s winner: Mark Curp (Lee’s Summit, Missouri), 33:22
Women’s winner: Joan Benoit Samuelson (Freeport, Maine), 37:59
Weather: 77 degrees, 85% humidity
Joan Samuelson became the first four-time Bix champion by dominating a star-studded women’s field and winning by 46 seconds. Mark Curp won for the second time and placed in the top four for the sixth consecutive year.
1989
Number of runners: 15,639
Men’s winner: Mark Nenow (Sacramento, California), 32:17
Women’s winner: Erin Baker (New Zealand), 36:35
Weather: 66 degrees, 87% humidity
The Bix 7 offered prize money for the first time and perhaps aided by a new downhill finish to the riverfront, both the men’s and women’s champions broke the course record. Mark Nenow knocked four seconds off Rob de Castella’s previous record and Erin Baker led the way as the top four women’s runners all broke the record. It was the first road racing victory ever for Baker, a veteran triathlete.
Next up:
SATURDAY: Spectators
SUNDAY: Joan Samuelson
MONDAY: Perfect partner
TUESDAY: Where are they now?
WEDNESDAY: Ed Froehlich
THURSDAY: Bizarre moments
FRIDAY: The 1990s
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