When last we left you, https://www.jackdogwelch.com/?p=26965 Patti Catalano had just set an American Record for 15 kilometers, shaken the hand of the race director who handed her a trophy as she climbed into a chauffeured limo which whisked her away to an executive airfield where she hopped aboard a waiting private jet.
Patti: A private jet. This was like, awesome! This was like, I made it! It was like great but you don’t think ahead of the time, you’re just like … because you know, I’m kind of, I’m thirsty, I’m tired, you know … so I get the private jet and it’s great because I can put out my feet and it’s a pilot and a copilot. They’re young. They’re like, so what did you just do? Benji Durden is with us, so he tells them, well, you know, she just set an American record about a half hour ago. And the pilots are ‘A-oh, really? That’s who we have in here? Ooh!’
So we go through New York and we pass the Twin Towers! We went right in between them, like awesome! And I’m glad Benji was there because he can vouch for it. Then I came home, I went to Boston Logan, they got another limousine, and they put me right back at the Boston Garden at the bar. I was there by 3:30. Isn’t that great?
Dan: And the next day she wins in another American record.
Page 32, Track & Field News. April 1981. “The Bible Of The Sport.”
On The Road
Catalano Hot At 5M Too
Boston, March 15 – No one even suggested Joe Catalano might be exaggerating about his wife’s weekend. “An unbelievable, incredibly awesome experience” might even seem somewhat restrained.
After setting a 15K AR in Jacksonville on Saturday morning, Patti hopped a plane home to appear at a 4 p.m. clinic. The next morning, she toed the starting line of the Shamrock Classic 5M, and 25:48 (5:09.6 per mile) later she had her second national best in two days.
Catalano felt flat and heavy-legged in her pre-race warmup, but she started the race strong – the way she always seems to do these days. She hit 1M in 5:17, slowed by a headwind, but just ignored it.
Finishing 47th in a field of some 4700, Catalano paid little attention to much of anything. Day in, day out – and literally so on this weekend – has little reason.
Greg Meyer duelled with Bruce Bickford in the men’s race before making a strong move over the final 1000m to win by 5 seconds with 23:03.
Bickford led as the “45 dingbats” had finished their best media-mongering sprints. He surged at 1 1/4 miles and only Meyer and Benji Durden went with him. When Bick went again at 2M, only Meyer held on.
As for Durden, who had also raced in Jacksonville. “Bruce made a nice surge: it impressed me. I couldn’t respond. I thought, ‘If I keep this up, I might be able to make it to the end of this street.'”
Bickford surged again at 3M (13:54) and once more at 4M but it wasn’t enough. “I ran tough, but Greg just hung in there. There wasn’t much I could do. Today he was just a better runner.”
And the agate has 3. Durden (AW) 23:34; 4. Donovan 24:17; 5. V. Fleming (NBTC) 24:33.
Can You Remember the 1981 Shamrock Five Mile, Patti Catalano?
Patti: The next day, yes, I did! It was great! Benji and I had a pizza and I woke up tired and sore and I looked at Benji and said, I don’t know if I can do it, I am so …. I was just so tired and so sore and it took me a long time to warm up and it was really cold. It’s so windy my hair was straight out. You can see it on video, there’s a film somewhere. I have my head down and I’m fighting it like this, leaning sorta, so the wind will bounce off my shoulder and I run a 25:48 for a new American Record for five miles.
I had a lot of fun. The challenges were the time I did – and nobody’s done it since! – nobody’s done it! I did a world record and then a American record, or even say just two American records, the same weekend. 15K and then five-miles. Nothing I really planned.
Buck Fannin called, the race director of Jacksonville River Run, called. This is when you just called and you answer the phone, yeah, hello, no agents or anything. He said, Patti, we’d love to have you come down here to Florida to run in our Jacksonville race. Oh, that’d be really great, I said. When is it? He tells me the date, it’s only like a month before.
This is when you called, there’s no months-ahead, it’s just weeks ahead, or it could even be the next weekend. I said, oh, gee, I’d really like to, but I’m doing the Shamrock Classic, a five-mile for the Celtics and I have to do a clinic Saturday night, was it Saturday? Yeah, Saturday night.
Dan: Shamrock was Sunday. His race was Saturday.
Patti: And his race was Saturday. I said, no, I really can’t because I have to be at this event. I’m going to talk with Larry Bird, you know, isn’t this great. He says, oh, okay, you know, alright. He calls back like a day later and he says, Patti, if I could work it out for you to be here, will you be here? I said, sure! So he says, I’ll make sure you’re back. What time is your clinic?
This is when we called them clinics then. It’s like four o’clock or something, at the North station with the Celtics at the Boston Garden. The doors to go into the Garden, next door to that was a bar, and that’s where we were all going to meet and you know, all the women was having a beer with the public, that’s all it was, really.
So I said, sure! I flew in, I guess, Friday morning or something and Saturday’s the race. I had no idea what Fannin was going to do. So, the gun goes off, I run as quickly as I can, I set a new American record. Joanie’s there, Lorraine Moller’s there, Jackie’s there, everybody’s there! But you know, I had things to do.
Dan: I was there!
Patti: Oh yeah! Danny was there! Danny won! I didn’t even know it until our first date. I have both trophies up in there in the other room.
Dan: I won the men’s race.
Patti: So it was great. It was a great weekend, and no man or woman has done anything like it since.
Benji Durden: I remember this as well. I flew to Boston with Patti after running River Run. It was fun meeting the Celtic stars and sitting in the side during the game. Patti was the crowd darling when the awards were presented.