Sharing in Success

A mainstay of the New York City running community, Devon Martin ’90 is an adept shapeshifter. Whoever her athletes need her to be, she just is: an encouraging coach, a shoulder to cry on after a bad race — even a babysitter.

She remembers a practice years ago at The Armory track in Washington Heights, holding a stopwatch in one hand and a 6-month-old in the other. Aileen Conlon Barry, a postpartum mother of three, was chasing a qualifying time for the Olympic Marathon Trials when her childcare for that day fell through. But that was no problem for Martin.

The baby was a good sport — cool, calm and collected — while Martin’s voice bounced off the cinderblock walls of the indoor track as she called out splits. The workout under her belt, Barry continued grinding until, a few months later, she crossed the line with nine seconds to spare at Grandma’s Marathon in Minnesota. Martin was the first person she called.

“She and I were crying together,” Martin recalls. “It was the most beautiful thing; we had just spent the last year together with her baby — it was so much joy.”

Moments like this are what fuel Martin’s passion for coaching and running. Dedicated to elevating track and field, particularly on the women’s side, she’s made a name for herself as a coach known for eliciting great performances from her athletes.

“It’s really about making people’s dreams come true,” Martin says.

She is also committed to helping close the gender gap at the top levels of the sport. Less than a third of NCAA track coaches are women, but Martin insists that representation also includes having women in senior roles as athletics directors, at shoe and apparel companies, and as part of track and field governing bodies — and that they all be fairly compensated.

“I’ve always been a strong advocate for other women and I love the model of having female leaders,” Martin says. “I’m very passionate about women’s sports and making change, and there is still room to grow.”

Martin’s track journey began with her own standout performances as a Lion. Raised in Southern California, she dabbled in a little bit of everything growing up — volleyball, tennis, theater — and running. She says she showed “flashes of greatness” toward the end of high school but didn’t consider herself a shoo-in at the collegiate level. Still, Martin earned a spot on the Columbia team and steadily improved as a middle-distance runner during her first three years. As a senior she blossomed under then-newly appointed coach Jackie Blackett. Martin set a school record of 4:18 in the 1,500 meters (which stood until 2018) and became the first woman to represent Columbia at the D1 NCAA nationals in both track and cross country. She was inducted into the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.

“Jackie instilled this belief in me,” Martin says. “It was very special that I got to share that with her. I would not have made it to Nationals without her guidance and influence.”

Martin first got bitten by the coaching bug while back in her home state after graduation. A classics major, she remained fascinated by the ancient world; she studied archaeology at UC Berkeley while training for the 1992 Olympic Trials. There, she met the school’s longtime track coach, Tony Sandoval, who hired her part time while she was a student.

Martin’s career interests shifted, but she continued to run at a high level while a Fulbright scholar pursuing a law degree at Oxford. She earned her Oxford Blue running cross country and track, and competed at the British Indoor National Championships in 1996.

“It was all so magical,” she says.

After returning to the States, Martin worked as a lawyer and in 2000 started coaching part time at Central Park Track Club (CPTC). Though it began as a volunteer position, as the years went on, she realized the team was taking on greater importance in her life. She had kept in touch with Sandoval after her Berkeley days, and he encouraged her to listen to her instincts. In 2006, she went all in and became a full-time coach.

Under her leadership, CPTC has grown into one of the city’s most prominent and competitive clubs, with more than 600 members of all ages, and has produced multiple Olympians and national championship-level runners. Martin has strengthened her coaching staff, as well. In 2022, she recruited marathoner Roberta Groner as an athlete and coach; Groner has since followed Martin’s trajectory and left her full-time nursing career to focus both on coaching and on becoming one of the country’s top masters runners.

Groner says Martin has made all the difference in her continued success. “Her guidance has really helped me thrive as a coach and an athlete,” she says. “We are so lucky as a running community to have someone like her to gain expertise from, and just to know her as a wonderful person.”

CPTC is connected to another nonprofit, Atalanta NYC, which hired Martin as executive director in 2023. The organization employs female pros to mentor and coach underserved high school athletes, primarily from Harlem and the Bronx. Martin says Atalanta NYC’s mission fits perfectly within her desire to change the track and field paradigm for women and girls. She is also happy to be able to pay it forward, a value instilled by Blackett.

“That was the one thing that I felt like I hadn’t accomplished yet — Jackie had said it was important to encourage the next generation,” she says. “Her voice has stayed in my head all this time, so it’s been nice to finally fulfill what she inspired in me.”

Atalanta NYC also helps students access resources like shoes and sports bras, which often pose a barrier to entry into the sport. Martin says the nonprofit’s goal is to provide positive role models, keep girls running throughout their lives and maybe even go pro someday. She also aims to demonstrate for everyone that women can be leaders in their sport, a message that’s consistently reinforced by her team of accomplished pros.

“We really want them to know that being a coach and mentor is integral to their job,” Martin says. “It’s not just once in a while — if you want to have the greatest impact, you have to be a regular presence.”

As if coaching and managing two nonprofits weren’t enough, Martin is finding new roles within the sport. She took on event director duties in July when CPTC co-hosted the USATF Outdoor & Para National Championships at Icahn Stadium — the sport’s equivalent to the NBA Finals, Martin says. It marked the first time in three decades that the competition was in NYC; Martin considers that an inflection point for the Big Apple’s reputation as a running haven. Between the strong run club scene, the excitement of the New York City Marathon and Martin’s own work developing elite athletes, she wants this to be the beginning of a new era.

“We can inspire the next group of Olympians coming out of New York City,” she says. “I really do think it can change the trajectory of track and field.”

Rounding out her busy schedule, Martin still finds time to coach the pros who make it onto Team USA for international competitions. This fall, she’ll accompany her fifth U.S. team and make her debut as the women’s head roads coach at the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen. Completing the coaching hat trick after leading track and cross country teams had been on her bucket list, she says. And it’s even more meaningful considering that Team USA will have double the usual number of athletes in the women’s half marathon.

“I think this is going to be one of the most special competitions because of the camaraderie,” Martin says. “There’s just a natural bond among these athletes. We’re definitely there to do some damage on the world stage.”

She’ll work alongside the personal coaches for each of her Team USA runners and assist in making sure each is prepared to perform on race day. Martin helps handle the logistics of getting to the starting line — uniforms, food, passports and other details. And, of course, she’s there for pep talks, strategy sessions and whatever else the team needs. But her favorite responsibility is helping facilitate post-race celebrations.

“The fun part of my job is handing out American flags at the end,” Martin says. “You’ve got to go do your victory lap!”