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Wee gets his own race
April 21, 2011
David Wee '61, who remains an active runner, leads a ceremonial lap after Augustana's David Wee 5000 Meter Race was named in his honor. |
Fifty years ago Professor Emeritus of English David Wee '61 walked off the track at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, having accomplished a feat that has yet to be repeated. For the third year in a row he had won both the mile and two-mile races at the Viking Olympics, a track meet of all the Lutheran/Scandinavian colleges in the Midwest.
In the lead-up to the 70th running of the Viking Olympics this year, Wee’s feat was rediscovered. Realizing that it was the 50th anniversary of his double-threepeat — and that this achievement has never been matched — event organizers decided to rename the 5K the David Wee 5000 Meter Race. At a ceremony during the meet, the organizers presented Wee with a trophy and a framed proclamation. "It was a wonderful event, and a fine way for one sister college to pay tribute to someone from another college," Wee says. "I'm still smiling about it all."