Kim Merritt (born May 22, 1955 in

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...

) is a former American

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 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 ...

. Her career coincided with the development of women's running in the United States and she was at the forefront of distance running in the mid-1970s. She won the 1975

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 ...

and in 1976 she took the women's titles at both the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

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 ...

s. Her personal best time of 2:37:57, set at the 1977

Nike OTC Marathon The Nike OTC Marathon (sometimes styled "Nike/Oregon Track Club Marathon") was a marathon held annually from 1973–1984 in Eugene, Oregon. It was organized by the Oregon Track Club (OTC) and sponsored by Nike, Inc., Nike. The women's world record ...

, was an American record for the distance and made her the fourth best runner worldwide that year. Merritt also won numerous shorter races on the national circuit, including the

Falmouth Road Race The Falmouth Road Race is an annual 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)(3) organization that puts on the race e ...

, Crim 10 mile run and Gate River Run. She ceased competing around 1980, although she made an unsuccessful attempt at the 1984 Olympic Marathon Trials.

Career

She attended the

University of Wisconsin–Parkside The University of Wisconsin–Parkside (UWP) is a public university in Somers, Wisconsin. It is part of the University of Wisconsin System and has 4,644 students, 161 full-time faculty, and 89 lecturers and part-time faculty. The university of ...

and won the state cross country championship in 1973, going on to place fifth at the nationals. During her time there she received

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Interc ...

honours in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

and cross country, as well as earning

Academic All-America The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...

honours for her studies as a student-athlete. Merritt took the inaugural honours at the Quad-City Times Bix 7 Mile in July 1975 and then won the

Charleston Distance Run The Charleston Distance Run is a road running event held annually in Charleston, West Virginia. The race starts in front of the West Virginia State Capitol on the Kanawha Boulevard. The course starts on the flats of the Boulevard before going acr ...

the following month – she returned to both competitions in 1976 and retained her titles. The twenty-year-old Merritt made her major

debut in September 1975 at the

and defeated Michiko Gorman to win the race in a time of 2:46:15 hours. This also made her that year's national champion over the distance and ranked her as the fourth fastest woman in the world in 1975. She ran in three marathons the following year, starting with a win at the

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...

in April. Running in her first race abroad, she took second place at the Waldniel Women's Marathon in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

behind Christa Vahlensieck. Her third and final run over the distance in 1976 came at the 1976

in December, which she won in a personal record time of 2:44:44. This was the fastest run by an American woman that year. Merritt broke the American record for the distance at the 1977

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

, winning the women's race with a time of 2:37:57. She returned to the New York Marathon but finished as the runner-up, beaten to the finish by Michiko Gorman. Merritt entered and won a number of road races in 1977: she won the seven-mile

, the Crim 10 mile run, the Virginia Ten Miler, She also took consecutive wins at the

Bellin Run The Bellin Run is a 10K (6.2-mile) race held annually on the east side of Green Bay, Wisconsin, just outside Bellin Memorial Hospital, the race's founding organization. The first Bellin 10K was held on June 12, 1977 and was known as the Bellin ...

10K from 1977–79. She was the inaugural winner of the Gate River Run 15K in 1978 and won the second edition of the Ogden Newspapers 20K Classic held that same year. The 1978 season was her busiest in terms of marathons: she opened her year at the Boston Marathon, just missing the podium with a fourth-place finish, and ran at the inaugural

Cleveland Marathon The Cleveland Marathon is an annual marathon in Cleveland, Ohio. The course begins at the corner of St. Clair and 9th and participants have eight hours to finish the race. The first edition was held in 1978. A half marathon, and 10K, including ...

the following month, where she finished second after Jacqueline Hansen. Her next race over the 26 miles and 385 yards distance came at the Oregon Track Club race and she finished sixth while the winner

Julie Brown Julie Ann Brown (born August 31, 1958) is an American actress, comedian, screen/television writer, singer-songwriter, and television director. Brown is known for her work in the 1980s, where she often played a quintessential valley girl charac ...

set the fastest time of the year. Merritt's final run of the year came at a race on home turf in

New Glarus, Wisconsin New Glarus is a village in Green County, Wisconsin, United States at the intersection of Wisconsin Highways 69 and 39. It has a population of 2,266 according to the 2020 census. The village, and the town that surrounds it, were named after the ...

, which she won in 2:53:53. Her final year of competition at the top level was in 1979. She ran at the Boston Marathon and came in sixth place, although she was ten minutes behind the women's winner

Joan Samuelson Joan Benoit Samuelson (born May 16, 1957) is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American wo ...

. The Avon Waldniel Marathon in September was a more successful outing, as she was the runner-up to England's

Joyce Smith Joyce Esther Smith (née Byatt, born 26 October 1937) is a British former long-distance runner. She broke the world record in the 3000 metres in 1971 and is a three-time medallist at the International/World Cross Country Championships, includ ...

and completed the distance in 2:39:43 – the second fastest of her career. Merritt later married and had children, leading to the end of her running career. She made a brief return at the USA Olympic Marathon Trials for the

1984 Los Angeles Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

, but her run of 2:43:31 was only enough for 53rd place.1984 Olympic Team Trials Results
Boston Trials. Retrieved on 2011-01-23.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merritt, Kim Living people 1955 births American female long-distance runners American female marathon runners Sportspeople from Racine, Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Parkside alumni Boston Marathon female winners New York City Marathon female winners 21st-century American women 20th-century American women