Trophy queen
I picked up the November issue of Runner’s World for the pre-U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials coverage. And inside I found a funny two-page spread on Madisonian Laura Clark-Taylor’s ongoing quest to collect as many trophies at running races as she can.
The short “True Obsession” feature shows Clark-Taylor, 50, in her kitchen surrounded by her loot – including dozens of trophies, plaques, silver-plated platters and medals on display on the countertops, in open cupboards and even in the washing machine.
I know “Liver Legs Laura” from her posts on Ryan Hill’s Hillrunner.com messageboard where she roped me into the Surviving the Twister Fun Run she organized in November 2005 to benefit the victims of the tornado that struck Stoughton, Wisconsin, the previous August.
Now I know why she insisted on giving nice trophies to the top finishers of that 4-mile race. (I earned one and display it in my office.) She shared her experience as the chief instigator of the event with Silent Sports. Read the story here.
Clark-Taylor has lost count of the tropies she’s won, but her husband, Gene Taylor, has record of her taking home hardware from 110 of the 114 races she entered in 2001 through 2003. She has at least 304 mementos from finishing races high overall, in her age group or – as she explains in the RW article – in a category for heavier women.
Clark-Taylor’s winnings, at races large and small, are due to her speed and longevity in the sport. As she recounted a couple years ago on Hillrunner, her best three-mile cross-country collegiate time was 16:44; she set a half marathon PR of 1:26 in 2002; and finished an Ironman triathlon in 2004 in a very impressive 12 hours 37 minutes.
I’d give her a trophy, too.
– Joel Patenaude