123: Dan Brannen – Ultrarunning’s Pioneer Administrator

Ultrarunning History

By Davy Crockett You can read, listen, or watch Dan Brannen (1953-) of Morristown, New Jersey, has made a lifetime contribution to ultrarunning and the running sport in general. His dedicated work, mostly from behind the scenes, helped to establish world and national ultrarunning championships. His efforts have affected thousands of ultrarunners in America and around the globe for decades. Dan was inducted into the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame in 2022. Get Davy Crockett's new book, Frank Hart: The First Black Ultrarunning Star. In 1879, Hart broke the ultrarunning color barrier and then broke the world six-day record with 565 miles, fighting racism with his feet and his fists. Early Running Brannen's senior picture The Brannen family were Irish Catholics from Upper Darby, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He went to Catholic schools growing up, including St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia. In high school, he was required to participate in an athletic extracurricular activity. Dan explained, “I was a shrimpy little kid. I played little league baseball, but I wasn’t particularly athletic or coordinated. One of the sophomores who came in to give the orientation, said, ‘If you can’t do anything else, go out for cross-country.’ So, I did, my freshman year even though I was terrible at it.” St. Joe's Prep Cross Country Team During Dan’s senior year, a new coach, Larry Simmons (1942-2004), a successful distance runner and racewalker took over the team. He lit a fire into the team and into Dan whose course times dramatically improved, resulting in his promotion to the varsity team. His rapid success, instilled by the inspiration of Simmons, turned him into a runner for life. The cross country team at Bucknell Dan went to Bucknell University in Central Pennsylvania and got in on the ground floor of a new cross-country team. His coach, Art Gulden (1942-2001) developed the team into a highly successful running program at Bucknell. Dan continued to improve under his tutelage and recalled, “Each year Gulden was able to recruit faster and faster high school runners. They included state champions, and it was very competitive. I was able to stay with the second tier of those guys. One of the best feelings I had about myself as an improving runner was when I was running and keeping up with state high school champions.” Brannen as a coach Dan ran a few marathons during college, graduated in 1975, and joined the well-established road-racing scene in the Philadelphia and New Jersey area. He was a self-described “running bum,” living a subsistence lifestyle as he concentrated on his running passion. His weekly mileage would average about 100-120 miles per week. Boston in 1979 His personal best marathon occurred at the 1979 Boston Marathon which he ran in 2:31:13. He was intoxicated with distance running and it would later evolve into a true career for life. Part-time he worked editing research manuscripts which enhanced his writing skills. He also coached cross country at his former high school for a few of these years in the late 1970s. Dan was a member of the Haverford Athletic Club. Road running was very competitive in the Philadelphia area during the late 1970s. He became acquainted with the future ultrarunning legends in the area. “One of the prime organizers in the area was Browning Ross who was a great Villanova runner and Olympian. Browning founded the Road Runners Club of America and started the Long Distance Log which was the very first running magazine. I would go over to South Jersey and met Ed Dodd, Tom Osler, and Neil Weygandt in those races.” Dan ventured into the shorter ultrarunning races in 1978, running the Knickerbocker 60 km in Central Park, and ran in a few others the next year, including the classic ultra, Two Bridges 36-mile Road Race in Scotland. Win at 1980 JFK 50 In 1980, Dan ran a 50-mile race for the first time at JFK 50 in Maryland.