Jane Welzel, 59

Jane Welzel, a five-time Olympic Marathon Trials participant, race director of the Mountain Avenue Mile and Bacon Strip Races and one of the pioneers of the women's running movement, died Sunday after a brief battle with cancer. She was 59.

A Hopkinton, Massachusetts, native, Welzel moved to Fort Collins in 1989, drawn to Colorado because of its well-regarded running culture. She'd quickly become a lynchpin in the tight knit running community, organizing "Tuesday Night Track" interval workouts at Colorado State University's Jack Christiansen Track and starting the popular Mountain Avenue Mile race.

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