We know you have seen our Houston Marathon Veterans sporting their official shirts around town and during the Chevron Houston Marathon each year.  These amazing guys and gals are runners who have successfully finished 10 or more Houston marathons!  They organize and put together the Pace Teams each year and successfully guide 1000s of runners to their goal times!

In the words of Jack Lippincott, a dedicated Houston Marathoner and Veteran Captain, “I think that the Veterans represent probably the largest gang of longtime supporters of our race; and, it is due to the dedication and hard work on the part of the full-time staff, and the thousands of volunteers who make the event possible. The fact that many of our Vets come from out of state, and continue doing the race into their 60’s and 70’s, is testament to the fact that you are getting it right – over and over again…”

Here are 13 Reasons Why the  Chevron Houston Marathon Official Veterans Rock!

1.  There are 1054 Official Houston Marathon Veterans.

2.  There are 583 “active” Veterans who have participated in the last two years.

3.  There are 124 active Female Vets and 459 active Male Vets.

4.  The average age of the Houston Marathon Veteran is 53.

5.  The average number of Houston Marathon’s run by our Veterans is 15!

6.  9 active Veterans that have run 30 or more Houston Marathons!

    • Jack Lippincott – 38
    • Rick McMahan – 35
    • Clent Mericle – 35
    • Arlen Isham – 34
    • Ray Boytim – 34
    • Wayne Rutledge – 33
    • Charlie Viers – 32
    • Lonnie Brauner – 31
    • Boris Balic – 31
    • Stephen McNeil – 30
    • Rudy Alvarez – 30

7.  19 Veterans are 70 years of age and over finished the 2012 Chevron Houston Marathon!

    • Ray Boytim – 79
    • Bill Duer – 78
    • Boris Baliz – 76
    • Lee Miksch – 76
    • Jim Braden – 76
    • Dan Shuff – 76
    • William Hall – 74
    • John Fredrickson – 73
    • Don Winkley – 73
    • Carl Lindsey – 72
    • Gunnar Sanden – 72
    • James Stubbs – 71
    • Larry Lindeen – 71
    • Dipankar Mukherjee – 71
    • Charlie Viers – 70
    • Fred Steves – 70
    • Robert Hoekman – 70
    • Lee Topham – 70
    • Tom Bednarz – 70

8.  139 Vets are “streaking” –  having run 10 or more Houston Marathons consecutively.

9.  The fastest time ever run by a Vet is 2:11:43 by 11 year Vet Sam Ngatia in 1985.

10.  The fastest time run by a Male Vet in 2012 was by 14 year Vet Peter Lawrence in 2:41:58.

11.  The fastest time run by a Female Vet in 2012 was by 15 year Vet Barbara Stoll in 3:03:26.

12.  The youngest active Veterans are 28 year olds – Brett Davis (13 finishes) and Elaine Ewing (10 finishes).

13.  420 Veterans are ALREADY signed up for the 2013 Chevron Houston Marathon!

For more information about the Veteran program, please visit https://www.chevronhoustonmarathon.com/Marathon/Veterans.cfm. On this page, you can track all official Houston Marathon finishes since 1972!