Mike Caldwell, Director/Coach, GTC-ELITE
A former prep cross country standout from North Carolina, he was co-captain of Furman’s cross country team and later competed for the world renown Florida Track Club, which presented the opportunity to train with many of the nation’s best runners including Olympians Frank Shorter, Marty Liquori and Dick Buerkle. Mike placed third at Atlanta's Peachtree Road Race and also finished among the top 12 two other times. He later competed for the Atlanta Track Club and then founded Racing South Magazine and the Racing South Competitive Team, which became one of the nation’s best post-collegiate teams (see photos below).
credit: Peachtree Road Race
Trained as an Exercise Physiologist at Furman University, the University of Florida and Florida State University, he later coached many top athletes including Olympian and World Championship competitor Benji Durden. Under Mike's tutelage Durden ran 2:09:57 at the 1983 Boston Marathon to earn on spot on the USA Team at the World Track & Field Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Caldwell has also coached multiple Olympic Trials qualifiers and also six Racing South (now Running Journal) Grand Prix road racing champions and his Racing South Competitive Team won multiple national road race championships and included the 1988 USA Women's Olympic Trials Marathon champion (2:29.50).
photo credit: Peter Thompson
While working at Nike in Portland, Oregon, Caldwell had the unique opportunity to observe two of the nation’s top distance coaches in Alberto Salazar (Nike Oregon Project) and Jerry Schumacher (Bowerman Track Club). He worked closely with renown middle-distance coach Bob Williams, a former University of Oregon All America in the steeplechase and the coach/mentor of Elijah Greer--1:47 800 meters as a high school junior and later NCAA 800-meter champion both Indoor and Outdoor. He was also privileged to observe and learn from Britain's (and almost USA citizen) Peter Thompson, who developed "New Interval Training".
The original ASICS Gel-Lyte
Mike's business career included positions as National Sales Manager and Director of Product Marketing at ASICS followed by multiple executive management positions at Nike, Inc., including Director of Global Sales Operations, Director of Consumer Product Marketing, Director of Brand Knowledge Creation & Sharing, Director of Product Creation Information Technology, Senior Director of USA IT, etc. While at ASICS, he was the lead designer and product-line manager for the original ASICS Gel-Lyte, which Runner's World called "the first of the lightweight training shoes."
photo credit: Phillip Garcia
Caldwell was a founding board member of RunPortland and advisor for Lake Oswego (Oregon) High School’s cross country and track & field teams. Retiring from the corporate world after a 25-year career in the athletic footwear and apparel business, Mike returned to his alma mater, Furman University, in 2009 to coach the university’s mid-distance and distance runners through 2012.
After retiring from Nike and arriving at Furman in 2009 with only six returning runners on the 2009 Furman Cross Country team, under his leadership the Paladins improved from a sixth place finish in the Southern Conference to a surprising third place in 2011. He coached 18 All-SoCon runners, three SoCon individual champions and 19 All Freshmen SoCon performers in only three seasons. The Furman men's Distance Medley relay broke the SoCon Indoor Championship record in 2012 while finishing third. His men XC runners produced 13 of the top all-time 25 times over 8K in Furman's long XC history (through the 2011 season).
In 2012, Mike along with his college coach Bill Keesling and Laura Caldwell established Greenville Track Club-ELITE. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon, three qualifiers for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon, three 2024 USA Olympic Trials Marathon qualifiers, one qualifier/participant in the 2019 Pan American Games Marathon in Lima, Peru, one qualifier/participant in the 2021 USATF Olympic Team Trials 3000m Steeplechase and one Paris 2024 Olympian in the marathon.
Mike has also coached a few elite high school athletes, including former Clemson and Arkansas standout Logan (Morris) Jolly--two-time FootLocker XC finalist (2014 & 15) and 9th in US in 2015. As a prep, Logan also placed 6th in the 2016 New Balance Nationals' 5,000 with a time of 16:53.8 for All American honors. He has also coached a few Masters athletes, who competed and placed in World Masters Athletics Championships, including his late wife Laura (Silver Medals at 1500m, 5,000m and 8K Cross Country) and most recently, Philippe Giguere.
Mike was inducted into the Greenville Track Club Hall of Fame in October of 2024.
After retiring from Nike and arriving at Furman in 2009 with only six returning runners on the 2009 Furman Cross Country team, under his leadership the Paladins improved from a sixth place finish in the Southern Conference to a surprising third place in 2011. He coached 18 All-SoCon runners, three SoCon individual champions and 19 All Freshmen SoCon performers in only three seasons. The Furman men's Distance Medley relay broke the SoCon Indoor Championship record in 2012 while finishing third. His men XC runners produced 13 of the top all-time 25 times over 8K in Furman's long XC history (through the 2011 season).
In 2012, Mike along with his college coach Bill Keesling and Laura Caldwell established Greenville Track Club-ELITE. The post-collegiate, Olympic development program produced four qualifiers for the 2016 USA Olympic Trials Marathon, three qualifiers for the 2020 USA Olympic Trials Marathon, three 2024 USA Olympic Trials Marathon qualifiers, one qualifier/participant in the 2019 Pan American Games Marathon in Lima, Peru, one qualifier/participant in the 2021 USATF Olympic Team Trials 3000m Steeplechase and one Paris 2024 Olympian in the marathon.
Mike has also coached a few elite high school athletes, including former Clemson and Arkansas standout Logan (Morris) Jolly--two-time FootLocker XC finalist (2014 & 15) and 9th in US in 2015. As a prep, Logan also placed 6th in the 2016 New Balance Nationals' 5,000 with a time of 16:53.8 for All American honors. He has also coached a few Masters athletes, who competed and placed in World Masters Athletics Championships, including his late wife Laura (Silver Medals at 1500m, 5,000m and 8K Cross Country) and most recently, Philippe Giguere.
Mike was inducted into the Greenville Track Club Hall of Fame in October of 2024.
Just a few of the many talented athletes who competed for Caldwell's Racing South Competitive Team in the 1970-80s.
Orange Bowl Marathon winner Ken Misner, also ran 1:02:51 in wining the Citrus Bowl Half-Marathon.
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Racing South Grand Prix champion Kent McDonald
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Laura Caldwell, Seattle Marathon winner, 2 x Olympic Trials qualifier and 4 x RS Grand Prix Champion.
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Benji Durden, 2:09.57 Marathon. 1980 Olympian and competed in '83 World Championships.
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Herb Wills, 3 x Olympic Trails Qualifier and top American at '89 Boston Marathon. PR 2:13.18 @ '83 Houston Marathon.
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Margaret Groos, 1988 USA Olympic Trials winner (2:29:50) and Olympian in marathon.
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Lee Fidler, 3 x Olympic Trials Qualifer, 2:15:03 marathon best.
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Shirley Silsby, RS Grand Prix Champion, Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier.
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Larry Greene, set US record for half-marathon (1:01:27).
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Jenni Peters, 2:39.43 marathon.
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