THE CENTRAL MAINE Striders’ monthly, Intervals, arrived via e-mail this week, courtesy of Linda Benn, and contained the usual good stuff, of which here is a customized sampling:

• Birthdays (many happy returns, Don Penta, May 29!)

• Financial report (modest sums, but when revenue outstrips expenses $216 to $47.76, you are doing fine).

• A first-person account, by Mike Brooks of Danville, on doing the 2009 Big 5 Marathon in South Africa. (“The dinner was excellent with lamb, beef, impala and plenty of fruits and veggies.”)

• Race results, including the Papa’s 5K in Oakland, won by Harlow Ladd in 17:30 and Meaghan Collier in 21:12.

• A race flyer, for the Joseph’s 5K, in its 22nd running off a one-year hiatus, and set for 9 a.m. June 12 at Lawrence High in Fairfield. Truly a fast course, I can confirm, that starts and finishes on the track. Entry fees are $12 by June 4, then $15, with T-shirts to the first 50. Queries to Julie Millard at 437-2896 or jtmillar@colby.edu.

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• A race calendar. The theme of spring rebirth is sustained, as the venerable Hampden 8.5-miler, after an off year, is back for a 34th edition on Sunday, June 20, at 8:30 a.m., starting at the Weatherbee School. Call the Rec Department at 862-6451. Old-school fees of $8 for preregistration or $10 on race day. Er, how’s that price work out per mile, compared to other races?

• And speaking of old school, here’s perhaps the most staggering part of the newsletter – Unity Spring 5K results, not this year’s from the 38th edition, but from 1991, as reprinted from John LeRoy’s tragically extinct Mainely Running magazine.

OK, the race was designed to be fast, with a downhill start and a downhill finish, but:

Of the 92 finishers, 24 were under 19 minutes, 36 were under 20 minutes, and 79 were under 25 minutes. The median time was 20:45.

Finishing 1-2 were Peter Lessard in 14:29 (still the course record) and Todd McGraw in 14:37. Sheila Hodges of Hampden was the top woman in 19:10. Edie Dubord, an Olympic trials marathoner in 1994, holds the women’s course record of 16:25. In those days, Maine road racing was different.

 

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JUNE HAS sometimes been a kinda slow month for local road races, so it’s good to see the Freeport Rotary’s Close to the Coast events in Freeport returning for the 15th year, on Saturday, June 12, at 9 a.m.

The 5K and 10K courses travel through coastal Winslow Park on Winslow Park Family Fun Day, when all events are free except the races, which cost $15 and include a T-shirt for preregistration, and are still $15 but with a “possible” T-shirt on race day (sign-up is from 7:15 to 8:45 a.m.) There’s also a kids 1K, with goodies from Wilbur’s.

The prizes are cool: fruit pies from Orchard Hill Farm in Hebron to the top two finishers in each category. Among those gorging on pie last year were 10K winners Mark Goettel of Cumberland (34:48) and Martha Leggat of Yarmouth (42:36), and 5K winners Griffin Day of Freeport (17:57) and Keely Levins of Rutland, Vt. (22:18).

Race director Dr. Jimmy Hendricks may be contacted at drjah@suscom-maine.net or 865-1183. For more information, see www.freeport-rotary.org; to register online, go to www.active.com.

 

AND HERE IS a new June race, on a new course in Falmouth (though it does look a lot like the Forecaster 10K course from the mid-1990s, which was a reincarnation of an ’80s 10K over the same roads).

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This is a 5-miler (a distance becoming rarer in these parts, and it’s also nice to see a new race that is not a 5K) and includes a “Honduran-style post-race breakfast.” I have no idea what that involves, but would venture that it will mark a road racing first in Maine.

The race is the Run for Honduras 5-miler on Saturday, June 12, at 9 a.m. The event is to benefit El Triunfo and neighboring villages in Honduras, through the purchase of medical supplies and construction tools. Next February, medical professionals and volunteers from southern Maine will go on a mission to the area, as they did in 2008, when they helped to build a bridge and attended to more than 600 patients. This work is accomplished thanks to members of the Foreside Community and Falmouth Congregational churches, and their supporters.

The course is a loop from near Falmouth High School, traveling out Woodville Road, turning left onto Winn Road just before Mile 3, then heading back on Field Road to finish near the start. There will be hills – a couple.

Walkers are welcome, as are volunteers. There’s also a free kids’ 1K at 8:30 a.m. The fee is $15 for preregistration or $18 on race day. The first 100 get T-shirts. Sign up at www.hondurasmission.us, where there’s also a really cool course map – click on the larger version.

For more information, race director Marilyn Sinnett may be contacted at marilynmay@gmail.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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