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Former BU athletes hold unique record
by Tim Schum

NOTE: Tim Schum, associate director for health, physical education, recreation and athletics is finishing research for a book on the history of Binghamton athletics, with a 2003 projected publication date.

In what is believed to be an exclusive running accomplishment, two former BU track athletes were recently identified as having been the only two competitors from the same university to have won the New York City Backwards Mile.

This unique New York Roadrunners Club event has been held annually on April 1 since 1987. As indicated, requires runners to traverse the distance while running backwards.

While Alice Willis '85, a five-time Binghamton All-America runner during her 1982-1985 cross-country/track career, won the event in 1987, it is Nadine Steinberger '91 who has made national news in the event. The former four-year BU soccer letter-winner won her eighth consecutive race in 2002.

"I can't say that my 8:03-minute time is the best for the event since its location has been moved around a bit from year to year," she related from her office at Cap, Gemini, Ernest and Young in Manhattan. "But I do know my nine titles is a record and this year Sports Illustrated called and wanted to do a story on my winning it again."

A manager at the firm, Steinberger has always run since the time at Washingtonville High School when her then boyfriend encouraged the habit as a means of staying in shape for her true love - soccer.

While she tried one year of competitive track in high school, it wasn't until her senior year at Binghamton that she again tried competitive running. "I remember this car pulling up alongside me as I ran one day following the end of our soccer season. It was yrack coach Gary Truce and he asked if I would like to be on the track team." Turns out Truce while driving to the university one morning saw Nadine heading in the opposite direction on the Johnson City Rt. 201 bridge. "I could see that she had great running form. So I turned around and caught up with her on Riverside Drive," recalled Truce.

Steinberger ran both indoor and outdoor track in the spring of 1991 culminating her short, but productive Bearcat career with a first place finish in the 10,000 meter run at New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic Association outdoor championships in Rochester.

A Rhetoric and Literature major at Binghamton, the energetic Steinberger earned her Master's in Health Administration at Cornell in 1993 and moved to New York City that year? There she has continued to train five days a week, generally afternoons and has run in 25 marathon races in not only New York City, but in Boston, Long Island, Hartford, Philadelphia, Washington (DC), and San Diego.

She first entered the New York City Marathon in conjunction with a runner from the Achilles Track Club. That organization is dedicated to helping blind runners compete with the aid of another tethered competitor. "I wanted to run in the New York Marathon," Steinberger, "but there weren't any entries available - unless you accompanied someone from the Achilles club."

For several years she trained twice weekly with a blind runner (Gladstone) and competed in the Gotham event with him. Tragically, while training one day in Central Park, he died of a massive heart attack and while she has continued her affiliation with the Archilles organization, it has tapered off a bit.

On a lark of sorts, Nadine entered her first Backwards Mile event in 1994 and has subsequently finished in first place every year since. "I really like the event. It's fun but the winner also gets a year's membership at the New York Health and Racquet Club!"

In terms of any special aptitude that is required, the 32-year old feels that perhaps her defender's role while playing soccer might have had something to do with her ability to excel in the event. "In soccer, when I was tracking someone, you get used to moving backwards and sidewards as well as forwards. So the backwards movement is something I was familiar with."

The Backwards Mile attracts 150 or so runners every year and in 2002 was conducted at Washington Square Park and involved not a "straight line" run, but rather a run that required moving around a circular course four times.

"It's funny but it is now attracting some serious runners. In 2001, this women showed up in 40 degree weather in her running shorts and singlet. Somebody said she was a five-minute miler and I could tell by her expression that she was out to 'kick my butt.' But I managed to beat her by a minute," related the spunky meet champion. Nadine's major competitor this year turned out to be a 16-year old high school basketball player. "I kept thinking, 'she'll fade,' but she never did and I beat her only by 10 seconds."

For those wondering of the effects of running backwards, Steinberger informs that it is a much healthier form of movement than the favored forwards motion. A very popular form of exercise (and competition) in Europe, backwards running dissipates the shock of running to the musculature (calves and hamstrings primarily) areas of the legs as opposed to the heel and toe impact of forwards running which spreads the impact to the bony parts of the body, primarily through the legs and spine.

While Steinberger graduated a few years later than Willis, she was interested in the fact that a fellow graduate of Binghamton's track program had also raced and won the Backwards Mile. "I was told that I ought to alert The Guinness Book of Records of my accomplishment in the event. Perhaps I will also let them know that together Alice and I have shared 11 titles," she said.