The National Distance Running Hall of Fame has named Jeff Darman of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, the winner of its 2002 Fred Lebow Award for lifetime achievement.

Darman is president of Darman Associates, a sports marketing and media relations agency whose clients include Road Race Management, Running Times, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, and Moving Comfort, among others. He is a former president of the Road Runners Club of America and has actively supported a number of important causes in distance running over the past 30 years.

"While I have changed careers several times, my love of running has remained constant," Darman said. "It's certainly an honor to receive an award named after a great visionary like Fred Lebow."

Established to honor the spirit and commitment of the man who co- founded the New York City Marathon and who worked tirelessly to build the race into a world-renowned distance running event, the Lebow Award was presented to Darman at a breakfast held in his honor on Friday, November 1 in New York.

"Having known and worked with Fred Lebow for many years, and as a friend of my predecessors, Don Kardong and Julia Emmons, this is particularly meaningful," Darman continued. "To walk or run in their footsteps is something that will always elicit great pride in me."

Darman's other achievements include:
Life-long commitment to athletes' rights and grass roots running, including helping to shape the 1978 Amateur Sports Act;
Acting as a behind-the-scenes facilitator for numerous causes in distance running, including challenging the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) over athlete bans in the 1970s, and leading the effort to rescind AAU/TAC control over all competition;
A leader in the development of open prize money in the 1980s; the emergence of the RRCA as the national grass roots running organization in the U.S., and the development of the RRCA's "Roads Scholars" program in the 1990s;
Serving on the RRCA, USATF, ARRA, USOC and PRRO boards.

"Jeff Darman, like Fred Lebow, has demonstrated vision, dedication, and commitment to the sport of distance running," said John Petrone, director of the National Distance Running Hall of Fame. "Jeff's achievements reflect the spirit not only of this sport, but also of Fred Lebow--a man who demonstrated that the ability to succeed comes from inner strength and personal determination."

This year's Lebow Award breakfast was sponsored by the National Distance Running Hall of Fame, the New York Road Runners Club, JPMorgan Chase, Runner's World, Larry Rawson, and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

The National Distance Running Hall of Fame, located in Utica, New York, was established in 1998 to honor the sport of distance running and the athletes who have made contributions to the sport, from top runners and the most decorated athletes, to those who pushed the sport's barriers and eventually broke them. The Hall of Fame honors these athletes' talents, initiative, and drive through the pictures, memorabilia, and awards that decorate the exhibit rooms and pull the visitor into the runner's world, a place often inhabited by the runner alone as s/he challenges the limits of the human spirit. The Hall of Fame celebrates the sport's greatest moments and bestows the highest honor a distance runner may aspire to - induction into the Hall of Fame. Their induction is celebrated at an annual ceremony held in conjunction with the Boilermaker Road Race during Hall of Fame Weekend, the second weekend each July, in Utica, New York. More information can be found at www.distancerunning.com.

For additional information, contact: Gina Palumbo, Trainor Associates, (315) 797-7970, gpalumbo@trainor.com.