Roy T. Benson (MPE '81), former UF track and cross country coach from 1969-1979, recently retired as founder and President of Running Ltd. The company offered Nike sponsored camps for distance runners for over 40 years and built a reputation that attracted over 1700 high school runners each summer.  In 1986 he pioneered private coaching services for adult road runners. Using his philosophy of Effort Based Training, he designed individualized training programs for serious age-group competitors.

From 1993 to 2008, Benson served as a Community Coach at Marist School in Atlanta where his boy’s and girl’s cross country teams won a total of 16 state championships.

He has written four books about training runners. The most recent, “Heart Rate Training” co-authored with Declan Connolly, Ph.D. and published by Human Kinetics, has been translated into Czech and Italian. Since 2002, Benson had been annually visiting his former UF physiology professor, mentor and friend, the late Dr. Christain Zauner in Portland, Ore.

Benson lives on Amelia Island, Florida. He enjoys volunteering with the Fernandina Beach HS cross country team and his Rotary Club and traveling with his wife Betty.

[Profile added in 2016]

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