Don Janicki

Don Janicki (born April 23, 1960) is an American long-distance runner.^[1]

As a student at Mesa High School (Mesa, Arizona) in 1978, Janicki set the state high school record for the mile with a time of 4:09.95.^[2] The record would remain 35 years until Andy Trouard of Salpointe ran a 4:09.71.^[3] He later competed for the University of Arizona and earn All-American honors in 1980 and 1981 in cross country. During his 1982 track season, Janicki ran the 5,000 meters in 13:44.20 and the 10,000 meters in 28:27.87, putting him in the top 10 fastest University of Arizona runners in each event.^[4]

In 1987, won the Holiday Bowl Marathon in San Diego, California. He drove away from the race with $4,000 in prize money and a new convertible.^[5] The 1989 year took him to Minneapolis and St. Paul for the Twin Cities Marathon, which he won in a time of 2:12:18, earning him $25,000.^[6]

Janicki ran his fastest marathon time in 1985 in the Chicago Marathon, which fielded strong competition with world-class finishing times.^[7] Janicki's PR of 2:11:16 put him in seventh, four minutes behind British runner Steve Jones, who was hoping to set a second consecutive world record that morning. While Jones did take the win in 2:07:13, a minute faster than his previous world record the year before, it wasn't fast enough to beat Carlos Lopes's 2:07:12 set in April 1985.^[8] Janicki's time was the fourth-fastest marathon time by an American in 1985.^[9]

He won the Cleveland Marathon in 1993 and 1994 with times of 2:11:39 and 2:15:04 respectively.^[10]

He was back in the top finishers at the 1994 Chicago Marathon with a fifth-place finish in 2:13:21.^[8]

In 2016, Janicki was inducted into the Colorado Running Hall of Fame.^[11]

References

1. "Don Janicki". Association of Road Racing Staticians. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
2. "Casa Grande wins title". The Arizona Republic. 1978-05-22. p. D-3. Retrieved 2021-01-16. Mesa's Dan [sic] Janicki set a state record in winning the mile run in 4:09.95
3. "Track and Field Boys and Girls All Time Top 5 Records" (PDF). aiaonline.org. Phoenix, Arizona: Arizona Interscholastic Association. 12 June 2019. p. 2. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
4. "Arizona Track and Field and Cross Country Media Guide" (PDF). arizonawildcats.com. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Athletics. 1 August 2009. p. 54. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
5. Beatty, Steve (13 December 1987). "Pushed by memory of father, Janicki runs to record win". LA Times. Los Angeles, California. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
6. Sandrock, Mike (15 May 2016). "Bolder Boulder's Don Janicki Lives 'Tall and Proud'". Boulder, Colorado: The Daily Camera. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
7. Suozzo, Andrew (2006). The Chicago Marathon. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. pp. 22–24. ISBN 978-0-252-07421-9. Archived from the original on 15 December 2012. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
8. "Chicago Year by Year" (PDF). chicagomarathon.com. Chicago Marathon. 2011. p. 178. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 July 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
9. Weiner, Jay (10 October 1986). "Here's a look at top men runners in Sunday's field". Sports. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Star Tribune. p. 8D.
10. "Cleveland Marathon Course Records". clevelandmarathon.com. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Marathon. 1 June 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
11. Sandrock, Mike (15 May 2016). "Bolder Boulder's Don Janicki Lives 'Tall and Proud'". Boulder, Colorado: The Daily Camera. Retrieved 7 October 2019.