Former NCAA Champ Bobby Curtis Announces He’s Retiring at the End of the Year

by LetsRun.com
August 6, 2017

LONDON — After finishing in 42nd place in 2:21:22 in the 2017 World Championships marathon, Hanson-Brooks runner Bobby Curtis announced that he will retire by the end of the year and the World Champs would be the last marathon of his career.

The 32-year-old Curtis intends to keep racing this fall and will likely end his career at the USATF Club XC Championships in his home state of Kentucky.

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Curtis ends his career as the 2008 NCAA 5000m champion for Villanova, with a very quick 27:24.67 10,000m PR (9th fastest ever for an American), and a 2:11:20 marathon PR (he ran 2:11:20 twice, once in Chicago in 2014 and then in Frankfurt in 2016).

When asked why he was retiring now, Curtis said, I think it’s just time. You can get to the point where maybe you can squeeze out a few more years or you can do a hard stop and I think for me it suits my personality more to do a hard stop.”

“I’ve had some good races and really good seasons and some really bad seasons. My two marathon pbs, Chicago 2:11, Frankfurt 2:11, those were always great experiences. I always liked running the Stanford 10k, it seems like a time trial 10k was my best event. I wish I would have done a little more shorter stuff early on like the 5k. I’ve been at it a really long time and I’ve been lucky to have had two great contracts, one with Reebok one with Brooks. I’ve been one of the lucky few to be in the sport a long time so no complaints.”

Curtis made 3 US XC Teams Curtis made 3 US XC Teams

The Hanson-Brooks team is based out of Michigan, but Curtis finished up his MBA from the University of Michigan this past spring and has been training on his own in Philadelphia where he has started a 30-hour-a-week job with an investment management company.  When in Philadelphia, Curtis would occasionally workout with Libyan-American marathoner Mo Hrezi. 

Curtis picked up an injury this summer and wanted to do better today in the final major event of his career, but enjoyed the experience in London.

“It was tough. I had a seven-week build-up which really isn’t enough for a marathon. I had some injury problems in the summer so I knew it was a risk I could blow up but I figured I’d go out in 67:00ish and see if I could do that twice and about 20 miles it started getting really tough and I just was in survival mode. It was a great experience. I wish I would have run faster, I wish I had more time to prepare, but all things considered it was a great race and I’m glad I did it even though I didn’t have time to prepare.”

Talk about Curtis’ career on our fan forum: Bobby Curtis is Retiring with NCAA 5000m Title, 27:22 10k PR, 2:11:20 Marathon PR.

Curtis video interview:

*Share your thoughts on Curtis’ career here.

PHOTO: Bobby Curtis in advance of the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly) PHOTO: Bobby Curtis in advance of the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
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