Christa Vahlensieck

Christa Vahlensieck (née Kofferschläger - 1973) (born 27 May 1949 in Düsseldorf) living in Wuppertal, is a former German long distance runner and pioneer in the marathon for women. During her running career, from 1973-1989, she simultaneously achieved a world record in the 10,000 metres, in the 25k road race and the marathon; she holds 17 German champion titles.

On 28 October 1973, Vahlensieck became the first German woman to complete the marathon in under three hours (2:59:26), as a youth in a German Forestrun. She set another German record (2:53:00) at the Boston Marathon on 15 April 1974. Both times were also European bests.

In the same year, she won the Essen Marathon in 2:42:38. The time was not recognized as a world record because the course was 745 m too short.

On 3 May 1975, she succeeded at setting the world record at Dülmen with a time of 2:40:16. In the same year, she was the first German winner at the Schwarzwald Marathon in 2:45:43, a time that still stands as the course record.

On 10 September 1977, her victory at the Berlin Marathon in 2:34:48 gave her another world record.

At the 1983 World Championship in Helsinki she placed 19th (2:40:43).

From 1973 to 1989, she won 21 marathons, among them the 1977 Berlin Marathon, five times at the Košice Peace Marathon (1981, 1984, 1986 - 1988) and the 1989 Vienna Marathon. In 1988 Vahlensieck run in the special event 'Friendship Run Wuppertal-Košice" a course over 1765 km, trespassing the Iron curtain: "an awesome experience", as she remembers.

She won 11 West German national titles:

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