Sister Marion Irvine, who was one of Marin’s more notable distance runners when she competed in the first women’s Olympic Marathon Trials in the 1980s, diedAug. 30 in San Rafael. She was 95.
Ms. Irvine, a Dominican nun for 76 years, died at the convent where she resided on the campus of Dominican University of California. She was surrounded by family and colleagues.
“Sister Marion Irvine may well have been Marin’s most prominent runner, ever,” said Barry Spitz, a longtime Marin runner and historian of the sport.
“When Irvine qualified to run the inaugural U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in 1984 at age 54, she became a national sensation, and charmed all with her wit and warmth,” Spitz wrote in an email. “Irvine then continued to expand the boundary of what female athletes could achieve in their 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.”
Dubbed the “Flying Nun” after her Olympic trials achievement, Ms. Irvine went on to win five gold medals at the World MastersAthletics Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in 1989. She continued to run marathons and ended her competitive running career in 1993, when she was 63 years old.
Ms. Irvine still ran for recreation for a time, but eventually stopped running altogether because of back pain. Still, she continued to walk and hike Marin trails around her home at San Domenico School in SanAnselmo in her 70s and 80s and later at the Dominican University campus in her 90s.
“Her records have now been broken, but she set the first solid over-50 records,” Kees Tuinzing, co-founder of the Tamalpa Runners Club in Marin, wrote in a tribute. Tuinzing, who became Ms. Irvine’s coach and trainer and a close family friend, said she “made an impact on so many lives and was the matriarch of the family.”
Jeff Galloway, a U.S. Olympian at 1,000 meters in 1972 who later became a nationally known running coach, said Ms. Irvine also trained with him in Lake Tahoe after the Olympic trials. “She did not qualify to run for the USA in the ‘84 LosAngeles Olympic Marathon, but continued to break records in road races and in age group track competition,” Galloway said.
“When I offered her the chance to train at my Lake Tahoe running retreat, she told me she was looking for a chance to train at altitude and joined us,” he said. “I knew she would inspire our runners, but I didn’t expect her to entertain us with great stories — for two decades.”
Born in San Francisco on Oct. 19, 1929, to WalterA. and Mabel (Keane) Irvine, Ms. Irvine was raised in the city with her brothers Walter Jr. and John. She attended Catholic schools, entered the novitiate at 17 and received the habit in 1948, becoming Sister M. Bonaventure. Ms. Irvine went on to a 47-year ministry in Catholic education.A high school teacher for about 20 years, she also was the supervisor in charge of more than a dozen elementary and secondary Dominican schools in California for about six years.
During that time, she received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Dominican University in 1953, followed by a teaching credential in 1961 and master’s degree in education in 1971. In 1978, when she was 48 years old, she started running at the suggestion from a niece, according to a 2010 article in Runner’s World magazine.
“I recognized that I had a lot of pent-up energy that wasn’t being expended,” Ms. Irvine told the magazine.
According to the article, Ms. Irvine peaked at age 54 with her 2:51:01 time at the 1983 Cal International Marathon in Sacramento, qualifying her for the Olympic Trials in 1984, where she recorded a 2:52:02 marathon time.
Before moving to Dominican University about five years ago, Ms. Irvine lived for many years on the San Domenico School campus.
“Sister Marion became a role model to me the moment I saw her featured on the cover of Runner’s World Magazine in 1984, celebrating her qualification for the Olympic Trials marathon at the age of 54,” said Mary Churchill, a science teacher at San Domenico who also coaches cross-country running and track for the school.
Ms. Irvine helped coach when she was between 88 and 90 years old, Churchill said. “Out on the fields and hills of San Domenico, she encouraged the young runners to push harder, lift their knees and pump their arms faster,” she said. “She even joined the team at our annual races at Stinson Beach, China Camp and San Geronimo.”
At Dominican, Ms. Irvine was known for being a “whippersnapper,” saidAmy Henkelman, the university’s athletic director.
Ms. Irvine also was the chaplain for the women’s basketball team, Henkelman said. Ms. Irvine was inducted into the Road Runners Club ofAmerica Hall of Fame in 1994. In addition, she is in the USA Track & Field Masters Hall of Fame. Ms. Irvine was also featured in the 1987 Oscar-nominated documentary film, “Silver into Gold.”
Memorial services are planned for 2:30 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Conlan Center athletic complex at Dominican University at 1475 GrandAve. in San Rafael.
Memorial gifts in Ms. Irvine’s honor may be made to the Retirement Fund, Dominican Sisters of San Rafael,Advancement Office, 1520 GrandAve., San Rafael, CA 94901, or online at shorturl.at/aRtMj.
Article from Marin Independent Journal