Athlete of the Month: Courtney Allen Marshall

Athlete of the Month: September 2012
We at Millennium Running are proud to recognize the great achievements of our local runners each month with the our Athlete of the Month. Nominated by you, their peers. We are excited to bring the spotlight to them, giving them the recognition they deserve. Please fill out the form HERE to nominate someone who you think deserves the honor.

So it is with great honor, that we name the very first Millennium Running Athlete of the Month to Courtney Allen Marshall, a fellow runner who tragically passed away from Cardiac Arrest on September 17th.  We had the honor of not only having Courtney win numerous age group awards at Millennium Running events, but Courtney graced us with his unyielding energy and enthusiasm at the Halfway to St Patrick’s Day 5k for his last race.  Courtney left us later that same night, but his memory touched many of us in the running community.

This article comes from the Union Leader, Manchester NH. We invite you to read it and share your thoughts below:

NH runner leaves legacy of inspiration

By PAT DeCOLA New Hampshire Union Leader Read the full story here.

Courtney Allen Marshall, 61, of Grantham, passed away Monday from cardiac arrest. An avid runner, he is pictured above running in Sunday’s Millennium Running Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day 5K in Manchester. (COURTESY PHOTO)
Courtney Marshall spent much of last weekend doing one of the things he loved best: running among friends. On Saturday, the Grantham resident completed the Common to Common 30K, an 18.2-mile race in Essex, Vt. On Sunday, he was one of many runners who donned a kilt for the Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day 5K in Manchester.

The Manchester race was his last. On Monday, the eve of his 62nd birthday, Marshall died of an apparent heart attack.

By Tuesday, scores of tributes and expressions of grief had popped up on the Facebook page of Millennium Running, the company that managed the Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day race.

“This breaks my heart. He was an amazing man, and so inspirational with his running,” wrote poster Christi Benney. “Though I only knew him a short while, I am grateful for his words of encouragement and positivity!”

A health-care administrator who ran more than 50 races this year alone, Marshall spread a great deal of encouragement wherever he ran, befriending elite runners and back-of-the-packers alike.

“We’ve known him for a while and seen him run a whole bunch of our races,” said John Mortimer of New London, Millennium Running’s founder and owner. “To have our event be the last he ever runs, especially in a fun way, is special, I hope he had fun doing it. Actually, I know he did; he told me so, and his wife told me he got a kick out of having fun and putting on the kilt for his last event.”

And while Marshall enjoyed himself at races, he also was a competitor, frequently finishing among the top runners in his age division. In this year’s New Hampshire 10-Miler, a race around Lake Massabesic in Auburn, he was first among runners 60 and older, covering the hilly course in 1 hour 35 minutes 24 seconds, a pace of 9:32 per mile.

“He’s a very special person to a lot of people. I’d have to say we put on a lot of events and we see thousands of runners, and he’s one of those individuals that sticks out because not only was he a great runner and clearly the best 60-year-old around, but he stood out because he was a likable, nice guy that everybody seemed to know. I find him to be an inspirational person and a first-class man with every step he took.”

And he was a man who took a lot of steps.

Marshall began running road races in 1978 and later became a member of the Upper Valley Trail Runners in White River Junction, Vt. According to Athlinks.com, an online database of road race results, he had run at least 52 races this year alone, including a marathon, eight half marathons and last weekend’s 30K.

Story continues at the New Hampshire Union Leader Read the full story here.