Colleen S. De Reuck (born 13 April 1964 in

Vryheid Vryheid ( zu, IVryheid) is a coal mining and cattle ranching town in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Vryheid is the Afrikaans word for "freedom". History After Boer farmers, who lived in the Vryheid area, had helped King Dinuzulu defeat his ...

, Kwazulu-Natal) is a long-distance runner from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, who became an American citizen on 11 December 2000. She has had a long-lasting career, running in her forties, and made a total of four appearances at the Summer Olympics. She was a late bloomer and her first major success came in 1995 and 1996, when she won 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 in ...

and the

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (german: Berlin-Marathon, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , inc ...

. Despite numerous appearances in the Summer Olympics and the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, medals never came on the track. By virtue of winning the Olympic Trials, she was also the 2004 United States National Champion in the Marathon. Just ten days short of moving into the Masters division, she broke the 16-year-old Trials record, and defeated eventually Olympic bronze medalist,

Deena Kastor Deena Michelle Kastor (née Drossin; born February 14, 1973) is an American long-distance runner. She was a holder of American records in the marathon (2006-2022) and numerous road distances. She won the bronze medal in the women's marathon at t ...

in the process. After her transfer to compete for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 2000 she won her first major world medals, taking the individual bronze and team silver at the

2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2002 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 23/24, 2002. The races were held at the Leopardstown Racecourse, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, near Dublin, Ireland. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', ...

. Another team bronze came at the following year's championships and she won at the 2004 and 2005

USA Cross Country Championships The USA Cross Country Championships is the annual national championships for cross country running in the United States. The championships is generally held in mid-February and it serves as a way of designating the country's national champion, a ...

. She continues to run and finished third at the

Houston Half Marathon The Houston Marathon is an annual marathon usually held every January in Houston, Texas, United States, since 1972. With thousands of runners and spectators, it is the largest single day sporting event in the city. It is run concurrently wit ...

in 2009, finishing in 1:12:14.

Career

South Africa

De Reuck began competing for South Africa and made her first Olympic appearance at the 1992 Barcelona Games, where she finished ninth in the marathon race. She tried her hand at the

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 shortcut ...

, resulting in a win at the

City-Pier-City Loop The CPC Loop Den Haag (abbreviated for ''City-Pier-City Loop'') is an annual half marathon competition held in the Hague, Netherlands, every mid-March. The inaugural edition was held in 1975 and featured a 14.5 km course. This was extended to ...

in 1993 and a fourth-place finish at the 1995 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. She also won the

that year with a time of 2:37:29. In 1996 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 ...

, the

, and the

Eurocross Eurocross is an annual international cross country running competition which takes place in Diekirch, Luxembourg in February. It is one of the IAAF permit meetings which serve as qualifying events for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. ...

cross country meeting in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. She made her second Olympic appearance in the 10,000 m, taking 13th place at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Her first appearance on the world championships stage came at the

1997 World Championships in Athletics The 6th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, were held at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, Greece between August 1 and August 10, 1997. In this event participated 1882 athletes from 19 ...

and she finished in eighth in the final of the

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

1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 21/22, 1998. The races were held at the Menara district in Marrakech, Morocco. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', in the Herald, and for the IAA ...

she finished in 15th overall in the women's long race. Following a missed opportunity at the

1999 World Championships in Athletics The 7th World Championships in Athletics, a World Athletic Championships event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and Augu ...

, she represented

South Africa at the Olympics South Africa first participated at the Olympic Games in 1904, and sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games until 1960. After the passage of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1761 in 1962 in response to South Africa's polic ...

for the third and final time, but managed on 31st place in the women's marathon with a time of 2:36:58.

Switch to United States

After making a nationality transfer, De Reuck made her first appearance for "Team USA" at the 2002 World Cross Country Championships in Dublin, Ireland, where she finished third overall (27:17) and helped the United States team to a silver medal. The following year she finished in seventh place at the 2003 World Cross Country Championships, helping the U.S. team to the bronze medal. She made her fourth and final Olympics the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. She finished in 39th place in the marathon, while U.S. teammate

won the bronze medal. She won the

twice consecutively in 2004 and 2005. De Reuck represented the United States twice more at the World Cross Country Championships, finishing in 13th place in 2005, and 33rd place at her final competition in 2006 at age 41. A resident of Boulder, Colorado De Reuck is a former

world record holder In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

at 10 miles (51:16, set at the

Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run The Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run is an annual 10-mile (16 km) road race in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973 originally as a precursor training run for elite runners planning to compete in the Boston Marathon, the race has evolved over the y ...

) and 20 km (1:05:11 New Haven). She was fourth at the 2005

Chicago Marathon The Chicago Marathon is a marathon (long-distance foot race) held every October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also a World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago Marathon is the fourth-largest r ...

in 2:28:40, a masters record for United States. At the 2009 Boston Marathon at age 45, she finished 8th overall, beating the W40 winner by over a minute and the next competitor in her own division by 14 minutes. Just nine days earlier she had run 2:32:37 at the

Twin Cities Marathon The Twin Cities Marathon (TCM) is an annual marathon in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area which normally takes place the first weekend in October. The race is often called "The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America" due to a course that win ...

in St. Paul, Minnesota beating the listed American W45 record by over 6 minutes. She ran at the

Falmouth Road Race The Falmouth Road Race is an annual road running, road race on Cape Cod from Woods Hole, a village in the town of Falmouth, Massachusetts, to Falmouth Heights. The race organizer is Falmouth Road Race, Inc., a 501(c) organization#501(c)(3), 501( ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

in August 2010 and took fifth place as the first American past the line. Shortly after she ran in the Copenhagen Marathon in Denmark and placed 1st in 2:30:51, 8 minutes ahead of her nearest opponent. On 14 January 2012, de Reuck ran in the 2012 US Olympic Team Marathon Trials, finishing in 2:38:52. Her pace was 13:14 behind women's winner Shalane Flanagan. Her time was good for a 35th-place finish out of 152. Following her elite career de Reuck took up coaching with Boulder Striders as well as personal training. She was inducted into the Boulder (Colorado) Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.

Achievements

References

External links

* * * *
Colleen De Reuck
at marathoninfo.free.fr * from ''

SPIKES Magazine ''SPIKES'' is an athletics website and magazine published by Haymarket Network in conjunction with the IAAF. History and profile The magazine and website were launched in July 2008 at an event attended by then IAAF vice president Lord Coe, S ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:De Reuck, Colleen 1964 births Living people People from Vryheid Sportspeople from KwaZulu-Natal South African female long-distance runners South African female marathon runners South African female cross country runners American female long-distance runners American female marathon runners American female cross country runners American masters athletes World Athletics Championships athletes for South Africa Olympic athletes of South Africa Olympic track and field athletes of the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics White South African people South African people of Dutch descent South African emigrants to the United States 21st-century American women