|
Marja Bakker, Former B.A.A. Running Club President, Former President of USA Track & Field - New England and Member of the B.A.A. Board of Governors passed away Saturday in Medford, Mass. She was 59.
Bakker was employed by the Boston Athletic Association as Director of Administration. She also served as Secretary of USA Track & Field - New England from 1996 to 1998; Vice President from 1998 to 2000; and two terms as President during the years 1990-1994 and 2000-2002; and, most recently, served on the Board as Past President. Born in Vlaardingen, The Netherlands, on April 20, 1947, she was a Dutch citizen.
Bakker was a road race official at New England running events for more than two decades, and she made presentations at several major road race conferences and the USATF Annual Convention. She was the recipient of many awards for her dedication to athletics, including USA Track & Field's "2005 Contributor of the Year" award for Women's Long Distance Running. On October 9, 2006, Ms. Bakker was informed by representatives of USATF and USATF-NE that the award will now be named in her honor.
Bakker was a member of the Boston Athletic Association since 1983 and was a past member of the organization's Board of Governors. Bakker acquired permanent residence in the Boston area in 1978 after moving to Canada in 1972 from The Netherlands. Ms. Bakker started running in 1973, participated in more than 600 road races, and ran 3 hours, 00 minutes, 28 seconds for 30th place at the 1978 Boston Marathon. She recorded her personal best time of 2 hours, 57 minutes, 15 seconds at the 1979 Boston Marathon (29th place). Her performances fueled further interest in the sport.
After gaining an appreciation for the sport as a participant, she began to make her mark within the sport as an organizer and event manager, placing an emphasis on the participation of every runner. She performed exemplary work within the sport of running, but it was her volunteer efforts that she loved. When it came to athletics, it was the overall presentation - and the details - that mattered most to Ms. Bakker.
"Marja Bakker always gave the gift of making everything and everyone around her a little better than they thought they could be," said Thomas S. Grilk, B.A.A. President. "Tens of thousands of runners in the Boston Marathon and B.A.A. Half Marathon have been the beneficiaries of that quality, perhaps without knowing it. For those of us privileged to work with her, we have always known that Marja's relentless dedication to excellence would allow us to display no less. She elevated everything we did. But more than all of this she was our friend, in good moments and bad, and we are all the better for it."
Ms. Bakker joined the B.A.A. Running Club in 1978 and became President of the Running Club in 1982. She was the only female President of the Running Club in the organization's 119-year history. In 1984, she was elected a member of the B.A.A. Board of Governors - again, becoming the first female to serve - and held the post through 1987 when she became Staff Administrator of the Boston Marathon. She held her responsibilities through this fall.
Ms. Bakker also served on the Board of Governors for USA Track & Field - New England Association, which is the regional governing body for the sport of road running and track and field, since 1987. She was named a member of the Executive Committee of Women's Long Distance Running of USA Track & Field and she served on that same organization's championship site selection sub-committee.
Her birthday was on April 20, a date on which the Boston Marathon has fallen on 16 occasions. She was born the day after the 1947 Boston Marathon, a race which saw the Boston Marathon's first world record. Earlier this year, the B.A.A. bid successfully - a bid that was largely assembled and presented by Ms. Bakker - to play host to the U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Women's Marathon. The event will occur, appropriately, on April 20, 2008, one day prior to that year's Boston Marathon.
Daughter of Hillegonda and the late Egbertus Bakker of the Netherlands. Sister of Bertina (Tineke) and Tom van Tienen; Hilda and Hans vander Kuil; and Dr. Bert and Mieke Bakker, also of The Netherlands. She also leaves three nephews and three nieces.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to USA Track Field - New England's Youth Program (P.O. Box 1905; Brookline, MA 02446; Telephone: 617-566-5600; Email: office@usatfne.org).
Services will be private.
| 
Know someone else who's interested in running and triathlon?
