Leonard Edelen

NUMBER ONE IN THE WORLD
Profession: firstly teacher, later promoter (Pepsi Cola) He first took part in the KPM in 1962, and after a dogged struggle with Pavel Kantorek he finally came in second with a time of 2h28m31s. In 1962 in Fukuoke he finished second again in 2h18m56s, which was a new American record. In 1963 he won in Athens with a time of 2h23m06s. In the same year he produced the then world’s best time of 2h14m28s on the Windsor – Chiswick course, and his time of 2h15m09s in Košice beat Sergej Popov’s course record from 1959. Between 1962 and 1966 he took part in 13 marathons, winning seven of them. He died on 19 Feb. 1997.