Jacqueline Gareau is a Canadian runner who won the Boston Marathon

Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...

 on April 21, 1980. Gareau led the women's field for most of the race, only to find another runner, Rosie Ruiz

Rosie Ruiz

Rosie Ruiz Vivas is a Cuban American who in 1980 was initially declared the first place winner in the female category for the 84th Boston Marathon only to have her title later stripped after it was discovered that she had not run the entire course.-Background:Ruiz was born in Cuba and moved to...

, wearing the traditional victor's laurels when she crossed the finish line. Ruiz was later disqualified, it being determined that she cheated, and Gareau was awarded the victory in a special ceremony one week later. Her official time for the 1980 marathon, 2:34:28, was recognized as a course record.

Gareau met Ruiz two years after the marathon as she prepared to run a 10K race in Miami, Florida

Miami, Florida

Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

. The encounter was brief and Ruiz refused (as she continues to do) to concede that she did not win the 1980 marathon.

Gareau served as the Grand Marshal of the 2005 Boston Marathon and was allowed to "break the tape" in a special ceremony. She married her former coach, Montreal banker Gilles Lapierre. She has a son, Yannick Lapierre, who participates in Nordic Skiing.

Achievements

Representing
1979	National Capital Marathon National Capital Marathon National Capital Marathon, or Ottawa Race Weekend, is one of Canada's largest marathons. It is held in the city of Ottawa, Ontario. The 42.195 kilometres event features many races, including: the MDS Nordion 5K Run/Walk, the MDS Nordion 10K Run/Walk, the ING Ottawa Marathon Walk, the ING Marathon...	Ottawa, Canada	1st	Marathon	2:47:58
1980	Boston Marathon Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...	Boston, United States	1st	Marathon	2:34:28
	Tokyo Marathon Tokyo International Women's Marathon The Tokyo International Women's Marathon was a marathon for female elite runners held in Tokyo from 1979 until 2008 in November.It was first held in November 1979, and this race was the first women's marathon officially sanctioned by the International Amateur Athletic Federation...	Tokyo, Japan	2nd	Marathon	2:30:58
1981	Boston Marathon Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...	Boston, United States	5th	Marathon	2:31:27
1982	Boston Marathon Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...	Boston, United States	2nd	Marathon	2:36:10
1983	World Championships 1983 World Championships in Athletics The inaugural World Championships in Athletics were run under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations and were held at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland between August 7 and August 14, 1983....	Helsinki, Finland	5th	Marathon	2:32:35
1984	Olympic Games Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, 41 events in athletics were contested, 24 events by men and 17 by women. There were a total number of 1273 participating athletes from 124 countries.-Men's events:-Women's events:...	Los Angeles, United States Los Angeles, California Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...	—	Marathon	DNF
1988	Grandma's Marathon Grandma's Marathon Grandma's Marathon is an annual road race held each June in Duluth, Minnesota, in the United States. The course runs point-to-point from the town of Two Harbors on Scenic Route 61 and continues along Lake Superior into the city of Duluth...	Duluth, United States Duluth, Minnesota Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...	1st	Marathon	2:43:27

External links

• Faker Still Famous 20 Years Later (web archive version) by Bill Burt
• Lapierre Ultimate Cycles web site
• Jacqueline Gareau's official web site