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20 minutes with Hawaii coaching legend Duncan MacDonald

Published by
DyeStat.com   Oct 14th 2016, 9:42pm
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20 minutes with Hawaii coaching legend Duncan MacDonald

Interview & Story by Ian Tsang

Most people recognize the name of Steve Prefontaine- the iconic figure that set the standards for American distance running today. He swept the American circuit in the early to mid 70s; and later began preparing for the ‘76 Olympics in Montreal. While his achievements throughout his life were more than exemplary, another less known athlete was also preparing for the same Olympics; and would eventually go on to break the legend’s record.

 

This man: known as Duncan MacDonald was a standout runner in his younger years; winning back to back cross country titles in 1965-6. Later on he attended Stanford and played a key role on their teams, consistently earning All-American honors in the middle distance events. But it wasn’t until his post collegiate career that his running really took off. In 1976 following the death of Steve Prefontaine the country saw the rise of a new track star: MacDonald.

 

Over the course of a few months MacDonald improved his credentials, secured a spot on the US Olympic team in the 5k event. However at the actual Olympics MacDonald’s performance was quote: “unsatisfactory” as he failed to make it past the qualifying round; placing 7th in his heat with a time of 13:47.14. Two weeks later he made up for his loss when he earned the crowning achievement of his running career- the American record. MacDonald ran the race of his life; lowering the record from 13:21.87 to 13:19.40. To hold an American record is an accomplishment in itself; but to be the one to take it from an iconic figure such as Pre makes MacDonald’s feat more notable.

After retiring from the track events MacDonald turned his focus to the longer distance and found much success in the marathon. With two Honolulu marathon wins already under his belt (‘75- 2:27:31 and ‘76- 2:20:37) he returned to the island he grew up on for a third try in the event and won in 2:16:55. Three years later he had his final performance at the distance and set a major personal best in the 1983 installment of the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:12:49.


Now that Duncan MacDonald is officially retired from his racing career he splits his time between his full time job as an anesthesiologist and as the head coach at Punahou. Joining him as assistant coaches are his wife and his daughter Eri MacDonald; who in her time was a very accomplished runner at the high school level (Earning 13 state titles- 4 in cross country) and later competing in the NCAA for the University of Oregon. Duncan’s accolades show major success in the leap from running to coaching; with 12 girls cross state titles, and three of his most accomplished runners being both his daughters (Eri and Pippa) and Connor Lehl-who is currently contending for this year’s boys cross country state title.



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