Published by the DAILY
RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, April 12,
2015
Stirrat has come home to New Jersey
There’s an old saying in running, “He came out of the
woodwork” and for runners in New Jersey they may have thought that of Reno
Stirrat. Stirrat, who moved to Rockaway last fall from
MA, actually has done no such thing. He’s
been an elite runner all his life, just not here.
Stirrat began his running right here in Morris County
beginning his sophomore year at Morris Hills high school. The 60 year old was by his own admission too
small to be playing the sport he loved, football. In his freshman year on the team he was
always the fastest boy to finish the warm-up mile prior to practice. He caught the eye of the cross country coach
who teamed up with the football coach to see just how fast this kid was.
The football coach pulled Stirrat off to the side and said
to him, “We’re going to see if you can really run, really run.”
Stirrat was held back for 30 seconds after the other boys
took off. “Let’s see if you can catch
them.” And he did, he beat them all.
In his sophomore year while the other boys had grown bigger
Stirrat remained slight and after few sessions of practice, he realized he wasn’t
going to be a football player. He
quit. The cross country coach asked him
if he wanted to run.
“I said sure, why not?” said Stirrat.
Two days later Morris Hills had a cross country meet against
Blair Academy. Stirrat was in the JV
race. He was told to follow a particular
runner who was expected to win the race.
“I ended up coming in first place,” said Stirrat. “It came that easy. I won the next JV race and I was put on the
varsity team after that.”
His coach was Tom Skutka, who in 1955 was the first high
school runner to run under 4:14 in the mile.
Skutka would put his best athletes in the mile but he told Stirrat, “Reno,
you’re not a miler, but you are the best athlete in your graduating class. You’re going to be a great distance
runner. But the mile is not your
event. I’m just putting you in there so
you learn how to run fast.”
After high school Stirrat spent one semester of college and
dropped out to join the Marine Corps. His first marathon was the Marine Corps in the
first year that they held the race. He
didn’t know anything about training for a marathon. He ran three ten milers to train for it, and still
finished the marathon in 2:44 on only thirty miles a week.
“That kind of debunks the theory that you have to do the
long run,” he said.
After the Marine Corps Stirrat attended Iona College on a
full scholarship on both cross country and track. His time
of 29:52 for 10,000 meters may still be the school record.
Stirrat is in a unique position in the sport. He is the only American who has run a
marathon in five decades in under 2:45, and one of only two people in the world
who have done so.
Not surprisingly the first three were run in well under 2:45. Here are his stats: 1979–Rocket City, 2:19:17, 1987–Rocket City,
2:20:49, 1990–Rocket City, 2:25:17, 2007–Boston, 2:44:46, 2010-Boston, 2:42.27. In 2020 Stirrat will be 66 years old. While he may not hit sub 2:45, if he goes
under three hours he will be in an exclusive
club; running sub three hours in six decades.
No one has ever done it.
Stirrat doesn’t just run marathons though, as New Jersey
runners have noticed. At the Miles for
Music 20K on March 22nd he won his M60 division in 1:17:49.92 and
topped the age grading list at 86.79%.
Stirrat was coveted by several New Jersey clubs but chose
the Shore Athletic Club because that club competes nationally. He will be focusing his racing on the
national masters racing series. He competed
at the 8K in Brea CA in late February.
In two weeks he will be racing in Dedham MA at the masters 10K
championship. In order to maximize his
score he will need to compete in five of the races offered. His tentative list includes the Syracuse
Festival of Races 5K in which he won his M55 division in 16:52 in 2010. Others could be a mile race in Flint
Michigan, the 5km cross country in Saratoga, the 12K in Alexandria and possibly
a trip to San Francisco for the club cross country meet in December.
#
A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and
biathlon events.
Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.
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