Eileen Claugus
Eileen coming in third
Eileen Claugus grew up in the Sacramento, California area, where she remains somewhat of a local running celebrity to this day. However, when she was a young child, there were very few athletic opportunities available to girls and women. She eventually found an independent running team that drew girls from the entire Sacramento area. Beyond that, however, she found that her middle school and high school didn’t have track or cross-country teams for girls.
Claugus remembers competing in her first race in a cross-country meet in 1967, and from there, she went on to set a national high school mile record of four minutes and 40 seconds, which stood for 10 years. From there, she decided to further tap into her potential by continuing to compete, going on to place second at the World Cross Country Championships in 1971.
“I was extremely proud of [this win] at the World Cross Country Championships in England,” she said. “I was still just sort of making a name for myself at that point.”
Claugus also served as an alternate to the U.S. Olympic team in the 1,500 meters in 1972, at age 16, after finishing fourth at the Olympic Trials with a 4:22, and winning a national title in the two-mile run in 1973.
“In 1972, when I tried out for the Olympic team in the 1,500 meters, that was the longest event for women in the Olympics, and in 1968, 800 meters was the longest event for women; I would have done much better if they had had 3000 meters at that point,” she said. “Honestly, at that time, women were discriminated against, and we still are. I didn't think about it back then; it was just the way things were. I do resent that there wasn't more available.”
Claugus went on to attend the University of California-Davis, making a brief transfer to UCLA and eventually transferring back to UC Davis after a tumultuous experience with the cross-country team. She stopped running for a bit until she graduated, later running a 10K race and slowly increasing her racing distances before running her first marathon at the Bidwell Classic in Chico, California. She went on to run several more marathons, also taking the win at the Honolulu, San Francisco, Mexico City, and the British Marathon in Manchester, England, all of which served up pretty challenging courses that evidently agreed with her. Claugus eventually ran her personal best of 2:37 at the 1982 Chicago Marathon.
During her time competing at the elite level, as well as after she retired, Claugus also worked as a high-school and community-college counselor for 20 years. After having her two sons, she also enjoyed running for enjoyment both with her kids in a running stroller and with her Golden Retrievers.
After retiring, Claugus moved to her current home of Telluride, Colorado, which is a ski town at 9,300 feet elevation, which makes it hard to run regularly at this stage of her life. She has however been a skier since childhood, which made it an easy activity to pick up again once she was no longer running competitively. She also enjoys cycling and hiking on the mountain trails near her home, volunteers for the Telluride Adaptive Sports Association, and serves as a Special Olympics coach, in addition to teaching skiing one day a week on the mountain.
Note about the author: Emilia Benton is a freelance journalist based in Houston. She contributes regularly to Runner’s World, Women’s Running, SELF, the Houston Chronicle, and more. Emilia is also an 11-time marathoner and USATF Level 1 running coach. She lives in her hometown of Houston with her husband, Omar, and Boston Terrier rescue, Astro. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @emiliambenton.
