May 3, 2000

An item a couple of months back praised a German, Horst Preisler, as the world's leading marathoner. I called him the most prolific one, anyway, with about 940 finishes at that time -- and a plan to reach his 1000th by year's end.

Mike Wojcio, who reported Preisler's count, said I should write a Runner's World column about him. I declined for two reasons -- this story not fitting the column's theme, and not wanting to encourage this extreme type of marathon-collecting.

I thought a short item in the newsletter would dispose of the topic. But now a Swede says that Preisler's total isn't what it seems.

K-G Nystrom tells of listing more than 400 runners who claim 100-plus marathons. Then he notes that it is hard to compare them on an equal basis because everyone writes his or her own rules for what counts.

"As I see it," writes Nystrom, "only a marathon run on a certified course, with official status (sanctioned) and following normal regulations should be counted. You also have to follow instructions according to the application (like if five hours is maximum time, you can't start earlier and finish later), and you can't run a marathon within an ultra. According to my way of seeing it, Horst Preisler has 550 marathons or so."

By his own strict standards, Nystrom rejects more than 100 of his own marathons. Still, his true count recently passed 400.

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