Mary Harada: A 21st Century Woman

By Dr. Cathy Utzschneider

At 74, Mary Harada is hardly sitting back and reflecting on life. She’s moving forward – and fast. On Friday it was official. She was elected to the U.S. Track and Field Masters Hall of Fame.

“I was pleased,” said Harada. “I don’t know that I had any profound thoughts. I thought it was very nice.”

Her running friends are not surprised. “It was expected. Well deserved,” said Carrie Parsi, who last year won her age division (70 – 74) in the Boston Marathon. “I feel proud of her and in awe of the whole thing,” she said.

Photo courtesy of Tom Phillips

Four years ago, under the coaching of former Liberty Athletic Club coach Lesley Lehane, Mary set a world record in the mile. She ran the mile in 7:12:59 – yes, at 70.

This past summer I was with Mary at the World Masters Championships in Finland where she showed she is still on top of her game. She ran the 5k in a world-class time for her age group in 26:39. She placed first in the 4 X 100 meter relay and second in the 4 X 400 meter relay.

Not long after that she flew to Sydney, Australia for the World Masters Games where she won the gold in the 5K in a time of 26:49.

She’s been the USATF New England Athlete of the Month (March 2006), inducted into the New England 65+ Hall of Fame (2007) and has won the Fred Brown Cup North Medford Club 2007 for service to the running community.

As president of the Liberty Athletic Club, the oldest all-women’s running club in the country, Harada is one of the senior members and an inspiration to everyone.

“If only we can all be a strong as Mary,” said longtime Liberty member Sue Gustafson, who has won her age group in the Boston Marathon. Liberty members from their twenties to their seventies, from beginners to world-class runners draw energy and drive from Mary. “Mary is an inspiration to keep striving,” said Lisa Zagura, a Liberty member in her 30s.

Mary Harada’s Running History: In A Nutshell

Harada started running in her early 30s to keep fit. “It was 1968 and I was just out of graduate school. I just ran. I didn’t do any races for the first eight years,” she said. “My first little local road race was in 1976.”

Harada joined first North Medford Running Club (“I was one of only two female members”) and then the Cambridge Sports Union. In 1985 she joined the Liberty Athletic Club to which she’s been a member since. She’s been president since 2001.

Mainly a middle distance runner now (she has competed in distances from the 400 meters to the 10K), she started out running the roads, including marathons. “I actually qualified for Boston once when it was 3:30 – that was when there was one qualifying time that was not adjusted for age.” She ran the Ocean State Marathon in 3:32.

Throughout her forties, fifties, and sixties, she raced when she had time. She balanced motherhood – she now has two grown sons and a granddaughter – with a full-time career. She was a professor of History and Government at Northern Essex Community College for 28 plus years. She’s been on numerous town boards, including the West Newbury and Pentucket School Committees, The Board of Health and the Finance Committee.

After retiring in 1997, Harada began focusing more carefully on her training. “I had more time and energy to think about training rather than think about fitting it into my work life,” she said.

“I started traveling internationally to compete in 1997 when I went to South Africa for the World Masters Athletics Track and Field Meet. I had always wanted to go to South Africa….before that there was apartheid and it was not a place to go,” she said.

“That’s when I decided that if I was ever going to do that again, I would train seriously for it.”

Since then, she’s traveled all over for world track and field championships, competing and meeting with friends. In recent years she’s traveled Australia, Puerto Rico, Great Britain, France, Austria, Canada, and Finland.

Notes to our club members about her travels show that she enjoys exploring foreign countries and meeting other competitors as much as the competitions themselves.

“Sydney is a beautiful and walkable city,” she wrote recently to Liberty members. “The opera house is magnificent - and my friend and I took in an opera as well. We spent as much time as we could seeing the city - beautiful gardens, well maintained historic buildings, a great waterfront, etc.

As for Australian food – well, we were staying near Chinatown and there were excellent Japanese restaurants near the hotel as well as a great bakery with fantastic pastry and coffee. The Aussies are fantastic hosts and did a great job of putting on all of the events.”

Mary’s earned the right to enjoy…..and there’s always a “next” for her. So – what’s next?

“I’m thinking about the World Masters Indoor Track and Field Champions in Kamloops in British Columbia,” she said. They’re in March of 2010.”

Stay tuned.

She turns 75 in June of next year. That’ll be another age group, and dare I say it? Well, maybe not. We don’t want to jinx anything.

Cathy Utzschneider is coach of the Liberty Athletic Club.

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