Eckhard Lesse

Eckhard Lesse (* 1. December 1948 in Ballenstedt ) is a former German long-distance runner who was one of the most successful in the 1970 marathon runners of the GDR was.

His international career began by participating in the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 1971 , where he started in the 10,000 meter run , but only reached 24th place. The following year, on his debut over the 42.195-kilometer distance on April 29, he won the Karl-Marx-Stadt marathon with the GDR record of 2: 13: 19.4 hours. At the 1972 Olympic Games marathon in Munich, he was the only starter from the GDR and came in 25th.

In 1973 he defended his title in Karl-Marx-Stadt and won the European Marathon Cup in Manchester with the all-German record of 2: 12: 24.0 hours. In the GDR marathon championship he was second behind Hans-Joachim Truppel , and at the end of the season he took third place in the Fukuoka marathon .

At the European Championships in Rome in 1974 , he won the silver medal in the marathon competition. After 2: 14: 57.4 h only the Briton Ian Thompson crossed the finish line one and a half minutes ahead of him, one and a half minutes behind Lesse the Belgian Gaston Roelants won bronze. In December 1974 he finished second behind Olympic champion Frank Shorter at the Fukuoka Marathon . He improved his overall German record over the marathon distance to 2: 12: 02.0 h. In 1975 he finished fifth in Fukuoka.

In 1979 he ended his active sports career.

Eckhard Lesse is 1.79 m tall and weighed 62 kg at competition times. He started for SC Magdeburg .

Today, as head of department, he looks after the volleyball players at the sports club at the University of Dresden and has been leading a 20-person women's sports group in Magdeburg 's Sudenburg district for around three decades . Eckhard Lesse lives in Magdeburg, is married, has a daughter and two grandchildren.

Since June 18, 2009 he was President of SC Magdeburg . In the 2009/10 season he was also interim managing director of Handball Magdeburg GmbH . On January 31, 2010, he resigned from both offices.

Personal bests

• 5000 m : 13: 44.2 min, June 16, 1971, Leipzig
• 10,000 m: 28: 14.0 min, June 2, 1971, Erfurt
• Marathon: 2:12:03 h, December 8, 1974, Fukuoka

literature

• Klaus Amrhein: Biographical manual on the history of German athletics 1898-2005. 2 volumes. Darmstadt 2005 (published by Deutsche Leichtathletik Promotion- und Projektgesellschaft )
• Karl Lennartz : marathon run. Volume 3. Verlag Werbung UM Sport, Lohmar 2007, ISBN 978-3-9811512-1-3 , p. 1128 f.
• The athlete. Association organ of the DVfL of the GDR. Born in 1973 and 1974