Continuing to salute this year’s Maine Running Hall of Fame inductees: Welcome Brian Pettingill, one of the most celebrated names in Maine running, going back to his days at Cheverus High and then Stanford and beyond.

Highlights include Pettingill’s still-standing 1981 Maine high school record in the mile (4 minutes, 10 seconds, on the Bowdoin track); winning the Millrose Games high school mile at Madison Square Garden, and the Class A state cross country title; and times of 3:42 in the 1,500 and 8:48 in the steeplechase at Stanford, where he was an All-American. Pettingill went on to run for Reebok and Asics, and did the Ironman Triathlon at Lake Placid in 1999 after taking up the sport, thanks to his triathlete wife, Tina.

The Pettingills moved back to Maine in 2001 and live in Scarborough with their three soccer-loving kids. Pettingill is an environmental engineer with Ransom Consulting. Injuries have limited him to casual racing over the years, including a 2:49 marathon at Chicago. Then in February 2010 he was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which led to amyloidosis.

The great news: Both diseases are in remission. For now, Pettingill’s activity is seriously compromised — “I can’t run a mile without stopping” — but he’s riding a road bike and walk-running, and building back.

Ask him about race times and the status records from way back, and Pettingill admits he’s “not one to really keep track of that stuff.” But soon his memory will be refreshed, at the hall induction ceremony and banquet on Sunday, Nov. 11, at the Captain’s Galley in Old Orchard Beach.

“I’m certainly very honored,” Pettingill said. “You look at the people who are in (the hall), including Olympians … It feels great, to be honest, and I’m very appreciative.”

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For more information or to make reservations for the 2 p.m. banquet, contact Anne-Marie Davee at rdavee17@comquest.net. …

The Maine Sports Legends will induct Dave Maxcy into its Hall of Honors at a banquet today at the Alfond Youth Center in Waterville. The venue is especially appropriate considering Maxcy’s decades of teaching (1958-2006), and multiple titles coaching cross country and track and field at Presque Isle High.

Maxcy lettered at Scarborough High and UMaine and was “a humble competitor his whole career, while running 52 seconds in the 440 on a cinder, to later when in his ’50s he broke the 5-minute mile in a road race at Caribou,” Falmouth Coach Danny Paul said.

USM Coach George Towle observed that Maxcy’s conversations “always revolved around the athlete, ‘what a talented, hard-working young person, so easy to work with, from a wonderful family and a great student in school.’

“While these athletes may have arrived with the right ingredients, it was Dave who had the recipe for their success. And like all of us, these athletes came away a better person for having known him,” Towle added. …

The Maine Marathon, Half Marathon and Marathon Relay was a huge success last Sunday, and among its strong points was the “goodie bag” that was a Christmas stocking compared to many lame bags I’ve seen: pretzels, Sea Dogs ticket, potato chips, fun-size brownie, toothbrush, hand towel to mop away postrace tears of disappointment, New England Runner mag, pain relief patch, 14.5-ounce can of B&M baked beans, band-aids, energy strips, anti-fungal powder, body cream sample, little box of granola cereal, a bunch of coupons and a shaving-goo droplet, in a Hannaford tote …

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Maine’s half-marathon calendar keeps getting more robust, and here are a couple more new events:

The Moose Pond Half Marathon (and 5K) at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, at Shawnee Peak in Bridgton. See moosepondhalf.com for details, and sign up by Oct. 19 to get a T-shirt. The fee is now $50, or $25 for the 5K, to tour the rolling paved-roads course. …

The MDI YMCA will host the Acadia National Park Loop Road Half Marathon at 8 a.m. on Sunday, June 2. The race is a loop out of the Y — comparable to the September half in difficulty, but coastal, Ocean-Drive, Thunder-Hole gorgeous rather than carriage-road, Eagle-Lake pastoral.

The fee is $70 until Nov. 1 and $80 thereafter. When I complained that this was pretty pricey for a half-marathon, race director Lisa Tweedie (the contact, at fitness@mdiymca.org or 288-3511) replied that the Acadia runs are subject to per-runner fees, plus costs for permits, and to pay for park rangers.

Note that the new race is capped at 250 runners. About 50 people have registered, Tweedie said …

The Grahamtastic Connection 5K Run/Walk is on for 9:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 21, at the Anderson Learning Center on Bradeen Street in Springvale, and includes a free kids’ fun run.

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Grahamtastic — as worthy a race charity as any — supplies laptops to seriously ill, hospitalized kids, to help keep them connected educationally.

Sunday is the deadline to receive a T-shirt with your entry ($20). Prizes for the winners are iPod touches, donated by Best Buy. The race is dog-friendly, and you can fundraise, too: contact Leslie Morissette at 324-0888, ext. 209, or leslie@grahamtasic.org, for a pledge sheet. …

Here’s a new event: the Falmouth Foreside 5K Classic, at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13. The race begins and ends on Fundy Road, off Route 1, and benefits the Falmouth Food Pantry and the Honduras Mission Fund. Preregistration is $18, with T-shirts for the first 100. Visit falmouthforeside5kclassic.com

John Rolfe of Portland is a staff writer and a road runner. He can be reached at 791-6429 or at:

jrolfe@pressherald.com

 


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