Martha "Marty" Cooksey (born July 18, 1954) is an American former

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

who competed in events ranging from

5000 meters The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stand ...

to the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

. She achieved her marathon best time of 2:35:42 hours at the American Olympic Trials in 1984. She had her career peak in 1978, winning marathons in San Diego and Atlanta, as well as the American title with her runner-up finish at the 1978

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor) is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 finishe ...

. Her times for 15 km, 20 km and

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcu ...

were retrospectively recognised as women's

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

for the road distances. Internationally, she competed for the United States at the

IAAF World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...

in 1982 and won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

over

10,000 meters The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

at the

1987 Pan American Games The 1987 Pan American Games, officially known as the X Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event held in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, on August 7–23, 1987. Over 4,300 athletes from 38 countries in the Americas c ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

Career

Raised in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

, Cooksey attended

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

, but her sporting focus was on

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

while she studied there.Holbreich, Curt (1987-04-28)
Cooksey aching to do well in Marathon
''

The Pittsburgh Press ''The Pittsburgh Press'' (formerly ''The Pittsburg Press'' and originally ''The Evening Penny Press'') was a major afternoon daily newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1884 to 1992. At one time, the ''Press'' was the second larg ...

''. Retrieved on 2011-11-12. She began taking part in women's road races in the late 1970s during the time of the

running boom The running boom of the 1970s occurred in high- and middle-income countries. It was particularly pronounced in the United States and occurred in other countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and in Europe. The boom was primar ...

in the United States. She won the women's race at the 1978

San Diego Marathon The Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon is an annual marathon foot-race held in San Diego, California. Established in 1998, it is the original race in the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series. The event includes a half marathon.Cruz, Dan (2010-06-07)Lim ...

in January with a run of 2:54:06 hours.World Marathon Rankings for 1978

Association of Road Racing Statisticians The Association of Road Racing Statisticians is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics regarding road running races. The primary purpose of the ARRS is to maintain a valid list of world road record ...

. Retrieved on 2011-11-12. Following this, she entered the 1978 Avon International Marathon held in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, and was the surprise winner of the event, defeating more established runners such as

Kim Merritt Kim Merritt (born May 22, 1955 in Racine, Wisconsin) is a former American long-distance runner who competed in the marathon. Her career coincided with the development of women's running in the United States and she was at the forefront of distanc ...

and

Miki Gorman Michiko "Miki" Suwa Gorman (August 9, 1935 – September 19, 2015) was an American marathon runner of Japanese ancestry. Gorman did not begin running competitively until she was in her mid-30s, but rapidly emerged as one of the elite marathoning ...

. That year, Cooksey competed frequently and managed a total of 24 road races.Avon Running - Martha Cooksey
Avon Running. Retrieved on 2011-11-12. She won the

Lilac Bloomsday Run The Lilac Bloomsday Run, also known as Bloomsday, is an annual timed road race in the northwest United States, held on the first Sunday of May since 1977 in The course length is 12 km (7.456 mi). The run has had over 38,000 participants every ...

in May. A month later at the Cascade Runoff in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, she ran a women's

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

time of 51:37 minutes for the 15 km. August saw her set another women's best of 1:15:04 hours in the

at the inaugural edition of

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

America's Finest City Half Marathon America's Finest City Half Marathon is an annual road running event over the half marathon distance which is held in mid-August on the streets of San Diego, California. ("America's Finest City" is the official nickname of the city of San Diego.) ...

.2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships Guide
. IAAF (2010). Retrieved on 2011-11-12. She won her first national title at the

, coming second only to

Grete Waitz Grete Waitz (, 1 October 195319 April 2011) was a Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder. In 1979, at the New York City Marathon, she became the first woman in history to run the marathon in under two and a half hours. Waitz wo ...

. Although she had led for much of the race at a world record pace, she faded badly after 16 miles and crawled to the finish line, recording a time of 2:41:49 hours. Her fastest marathon run of the year came in December at the

Honolulu Marathon The Honolulu Marathon (branded JAL Honolulu Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is a marathon (26.2 miles or 42.2km) in Honolulu, Hawaii, first held in 1973. It is one of the world's largest marathons, taking place annually on the second Sunday i ...

, where she was the runner-up in 2:45:42 hours behind

Patti Catalano Patti Catalano Dillon (née Lyons, April 6, 1953) is a former long-distance runner from the United States who is recognized by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having set world bests in the half marathon, 30 kilometers, and ...

. In 1979 she won the

Los Angeles Marathon The Los Angeles Marathon (formerly known as the City of Los Angeles Marathon) is an annual running event typically held each spring in Los Angeles, California, since 1986. The marathon was inspired by the success of the 1984 Summer Olympic Ga ...

in a personal record time of 2:43:33 hours and set a world best time of 1:11:24 hours for the 20 km in Far Hills. She won her second ever US Championship race that year, taking the 30 km title in

Springdale, Ohio Springdale is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Cincinnati. The population was 11,007 at the 2020 census. Geography Springdale is located at (39.293037, -84.483003). According to the United States Census Bureau, ...

.USA 30km Champions

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...

. Retrieved on 2011-11-12. Cooksey was chosen as the Female Road Runner of the Year for 1979 by the

Road Runners Club of America Founded in 1958, the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) is the oldest and largest distance running organization in the United States with over 1,500 running club and event members representing 200,000 individual runners active in their running c ...

. The year after, she retained her 30 km national title, improved her marathon best to 2:41:01 hours (coming sixth at the

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...

), and was also fourth at the Honolulu Marathon. Her racing began to be affected by injury from the 1980 season onwards and she only managed a competitive return two years later. Cooksey made her international debut at the

1982 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1982 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Rome, Italy, at the Ippodromo delle Capannelle on March 21, 1982. A report on the event was given in the Glasgow Herald. Complete results for men, junior men, women, medallists ...

, where she placed 17th and helped the American women's team to fourth in the rankings. She missed the rest of the season due to a repeated

stress fracture A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced bone fracture caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated injury from repeated submaximal loading, such as running or ...

injury. After she recovered, she came second behind

Gabriela Andersen-Schiess Gabriela "Gaby" Andersen-Schiess (born 20 May 1945 in Zürich) is a former Swiss long-distance runner who participated in the first women's Olympic marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics. Though living in Sun Valley, Idaho, and working as a ski in ...

at the

California International Marathon The California International Marathon (CIM) is an annual road marathon () held in Northern California since 1983. The net downhill course starts at Folsom Dam and ends at the State Capitol in Sacramento. The race is organized by the Sacrament ...

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

and her time gained her qualification into the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics Trial. The trial race was highly competitive as it came at a time of a burgeoning women's running scene in the United States and, as well as being on home soil, it was the first time the marathon was to be held for women at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

. Cooksey achieved a significant personal record time of 2:35:42 hours at the trial race in

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region. European ...

, but this was only enough for thirteenth place overall. Injuries yet again spoilt her 1985 and 1986 seasons, although she won the American 5K road title in the latter year. It was not until the 1987

Pittsburgh Marathon The Pittsburgh Marathon (also known as Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual road marathon usually held on the first Sunday in May in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States, first held in 1 ...

that Cooksey competed over the full 42.195 km distance. Despite the long absence from the event, she came fifth and ran a time of 2:36:41 hours – her second fastest ever performance. Although it was her final year of competing at the top level, it was the first in which she won an international medal. At the

, she was selected to represent the host nation in the

.Pan American Games
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-11-12. She retired from her running career in 1988, but continued to participate sporadically and won the Colorado Springs Pike's Peak race at the age of forty-three.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooksey, Marty Living people 1954 births Sportspeople from Orange County, California Track and field athletes from California American female long-distance runners American female marathon runners Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games World record setters in athletics (track and field) California State University, Fullerton alumni Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games 20th-century American women