# @paulmerca70601 on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/C7N1a6rN7EP
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/17735330-paulmerca70601-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/aad19f4162.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-05-21T03:54:39.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Paul Merca (@paulmerca70601) — https://gondola.cc/paulmerca70601

## Caption

I made a last minute decision to attend the 40th anniversary celebration/reunion of the first Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials, which was held May 12th, 1984.

A good number of the 230+ women who finished the race, including Trials winner and the first woman to win the marathon at the olympics, joanbenoitsamuelson made the trip to Olympia.

From a personal perspective, this event was significant in my professional career, as most everything that I’ve done in sports media would never have happened if it weren’t for the five months I worked as the statistician, bio writer, researcher for the Olympia LOC, based in the Seattle office.

This job opened the door into sports television, journalism, photography, and much, much more. 

I’ll always be grateful to Trials communications director Jeanne McKnight for taking me in as a young dude who graduated from the University of Washington & was let go from an advertising agency for allowing me to flourish and find my passion for telling the story of these women running in this historic race.

The first slide is of joanbenoitsamuelson and Julie Brown talking about the race. Slide two is of Sister Marion Irvine, who was the oldest runner in the field at 54, and 1972 Olympic champion Frank Shorter, who was a big supporter of the Olympia local organizing committee.

Retired Washington Supreme Court Justice Gerry Alexander, who was on the bid committee to get Olympia the Trials, and State Senator Karen Fraser, who co-chaired the host committee, also spoke (slide 3).

Slide 4 is a group shot of the runners who attended the reunion, and the woman whose vision made it possible for Olympia to host the Trials, Laurel James with Barbara Palma, who was very influential nationally; and slide 5 is of the two living American Olympic marathon champions.

Slide 6 is of me with Olympian des_linden & long time usatf team doctor Bob Adams, while the last picture is of me with Trials newsletter editor Charlie Kirry. We reminisced about those late nights in the office on Washington Street putting together the newsletter and the media guide pre-internet

#marathontrials #womencando #1984 #nikonphotography #paulmerca marathontrialstribute

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## Credits

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Paul Merca | @paulmerca70601 | https://gondola.cc/paulmerca70601 | Photographer |

## Tags

1984, nikonphotography, paulmerca, womencando, marathontrials

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