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Paul Bunyan Marathon
July 16, 2006
Race Report by Bob Dolphin
The inaugural Paul Bunyan Marathon was held at Bangor, Maine, on Sunday, July 16, 2006. Lenore and I agreed that this was a good opportunity to add Maine to my states list, and we planned accordingly. In retrospect it was a sound decision since we had a really good time, saw a lot of friends and had a great marathoning adventure.
We had met David Goodrich and David Bates of Houlton, Maine, at the Goofy Challenge of the Disney World Marathon in January and coordinated our Paul Bunyan Marathon plans with them.
Early in the morning on a warm and humid day, the runners for the marathon and 15K race and the wheelchair participants gathered at the Paul Bunyan Statue in a downtown park at Bangor. The temperature was in the mid-60's and the sky was overcast at the 6:00 a.m. start on an adjacent street.
Chuck Engle, a 35 year old Marathon Maniac from Columbus, Ohio, ran a fast 5:45 pace at the outset to take an early lead in downtown Bangor. He beat the heat and the competition by finishing first with a time of 2:41:39. At 8:41 a.m. when he crossed the finish line, the skies were still overcast and the temperature was well below the day's maximum of 86 degrees.
Chuck's goal is to race 50 marathons in 2006 in support of his favorite charity, the St. Jude Children's Hospital at Memphis, Tennessee, the site of the St. Jude Memphis Marathon in early December. Chuck has run 29 weekly marathons this year and has won 16 of them. He has seven second place finishes and three third places.
He asks those who are fans of his athletic prowess to support cancer research and treatment by making contributions to the worthy cause of St. Jude's Children's Hospital.
Mike Carroll, 40, of Millville, Massachusetts, was the second place finisher with a 2:50:12, and Davin Hathaway, 35, of Brunswick Hills, Ohio, was third with a 2:59:42.
In the women's race, Tami Martin, 44, of Kansas City, Missouri, was first with a 3:46:12. In second place was Linda Bushong-Reid, 54, of Ponte Vedra, Florida, with a 3:52:13 while Janet Whitten, 31, of Manchester, Maine, took third with a 3:52:44.
Using a handcrank , John McArdle of Montpelier, Vermont, won the wheelchair division unchallenged by finishing ahead of three other wheelchair athletes.
My race went fairly well in the first half as I ran an eleven minute pace. I enjoyed seeing downtown Bangor and the forested rural countryside that had moderate hills and grades. I passed a few runners and was surprised that some with whom I had been running were part of the 15K field that split off at a road junction about six miles into the run.
As the temperature and humidity rose in the second half and the high fog dissipated to be replaced by clear skies, I warmed up, shed my singlet and often doused my head with water for relief.
The scenery was pleasant as we ran through the town of Orono, crossed the Penobscot River twice and ran by the University of Maine campus at Orono. The highway from there to Bangor in the last 10K was rolling and pastoral with a wide shoulder to run or walk on. I walked most of the last seven miles to finish on the track at Cameron Stadium in Bangor with a time of 5:23:27, my 3rd fastest time of 13 marathons in 2006, 218th of 262 finishers and 4th of six in the 70+ male division.
In the past, we've had e-mail correspondence with Gary Allen of Cranberry Island, Maine, race director of the Mount Desert Island Marathon. It was a pleasure to meet him at the pre-race pasta dinner.
At this dinner Lenore and I joined our Houlton friends, David Goodrich and David Bates, and their wives, Cindy and Lisa. We re-lived our experiences of the Goofy Challenge at the Disney World Marathon in January and look forward to their participation at the 7th annual Yakima River Canyon Marathon on March 31, 2007, for the Marathon Maniac Reunion.
We enjoyed visiting with Dane Rauschenberg of Arlington, Virginia. He works a full-time job and manages to run a marathon every weekend this year to publicize his charity. The monetary benefits from his efforts help support the Mobile, Alabama, chapter of L'Arche International, an organization that benefits people with a mental handicap (www.fiddy2.org and danerunssolo@yahoo.com).
When I run a loop course, I usually only see a few friends. In this marathon it was a pleasure to see and greet Al Becken, David Bates, Henry Rueden, Ray Scharenbrock, Sharon Kerson, Phil Little, David Goodrich, Wayne & Fiona Wright, Eugene DeFronzo and other 50 Staters, 100 Marathon Club North American members and Marathon Maniacs.
It was a pleasant surprise to see Rich and Linda DeCample, fellow Rentonites, at Bangor. Linda ran the 15K and volunteered at the finish area with Lenore. She was there to give Rich his finishers medal for his 200th marathon. Congratulations, Rich!
Congratulations, also, to Donna Neill, 48, of Titusville, Florida, for running her first marathon. In the third mile she said that she was going to run with me because it was her first marathon and I looked like I knew what I was doing. (Who, me??) I lost track of her, but she was only a few minutes behind me as she finished in 5:27:21.
There was a runner who showed a lot of spunk in completing this marathon with a broken foot! Our friend, 50 Stater and 100 Marathon Club member, Layne Reibel of Oveido, Florida, took a three hour early start and walked every step of the way with this broken foot in 7:58:18. When she joins the Marathon Maniacs, a new category with extra stars could be added for this type of accomplishment!
Three of our friends completed an ultramarathon (by accident)!! Henry Rueden, Ray Scharenbrock and Sharon Kerson drove their car to the finish area and ran the two miles to the starting line for the 5:00 a.m. early start. By going off course for over three miles (it took them two hours to get to Mile 2) and adding in the pre-race two miles they had a total of over 31 miles, an unexpected 50K, on a hot and humid day.
The Bangor Daily News had good articles about the races and printed complete results of the marathon with overall placement and race times in the post race coverage. (Ages, pace, home towns and states were added to the website results for both races as provided by the 5K Sports Race Management.)
This inaugural Paul Bunyan Marathon was a revival of one that had been held at Bangor many years ago, and a few runners wore their vintage Paul Bunyan Marathon race shirts. The consensus was that it was a good idea to bring back this race. Thanks go to race director Phil LeBreton and his wife Tenile, the staff and volunteers for putting on the marathon and 15K races. It took a lot of work to make it happen, and their efforts are appreciated.
PAUL BUNYAN MARATHON - Partial Results, July 16, 2006
2:41:39 Chuck Engle, 35, Columbus, OH, Marathon Maniac (MM), First Overall
2:50:12 Michael Carroll, 40, Millville, MA, Second Overall
2:59:42 Davin Hathaway, 35, Brunswick Hills, OH, Third Overall
3:46:12 Tami Martin, 44, Kansas City, MO, First Woman Overall
3:52:13 Linda Bushong-Reid, 54, Ponte Vedra, Beach, FL, Second Woman Overall
3:52:44 Janet Whitten, 31, Manchester, ME, Third Woman Overall
3:15:17 Gary Allen, 49, Cranberry Island, ME
3:26:14 Dane Rauschenberg, 30, Arlington, VA, MM
3:43:20 Lou Karl, 50, Stronsville, OH, MM
3:44:28 Francesco Criniti, 62, Philadelphia, PA, 100 Marathon Club NA (100 MC)
3:48:20 Jack Thornton, 42, Gardner, MA, MM
3:51:04 Robert Lopez, 40, Seattle, WA, MM
3:52:16 Ron Westbury, 52, Conyers, GA, MM
3:55:59 Robert Britain, 48, Wayzata, MN, MM
4:05:18 Dan Shuff, 71, San Antonio, TX
4:07:15 Wayne Wright, 58, Melbourne, FL, MM
4:11:23 Minh Dang, 48, Harvest, AL, MM
4:11:19 Dennis Spurlock, 44, Spokane, WA, MM
4:14:15 Rich DeCample, 61, Renton, WA, 100 MC
4:16:49 Ronald Bucy, 61, Bridgeport, WV, 100 MC, MM
4:17:17 Edson Sanches, 56, New York, NY, 100 MC
4:22:12 Bill Macy, 66, Lincoln, NE, MM
4:22:14 Susan Daley, 47, 100 MC, Chicago, IL
4:24:00 Andrew Kotulski, 66, Montclair, NJ, 100 MC
4:29:03 Ed Walsh, 57, Magalia, CA, MM
4:33:54 Todd King, 44, West Hills, CA, MM
4:43:14 Ruth Ripley, 59, Pennellville, NY
4:43:38 Fiona Wright, 43, Melbourne, FL, MM
4:45:12 David Hamel, 47, Spring Lake, NC
4:56:25 Brian Jackson, 45, Sugar Land, TX, MM
4:59:36 Kevin Brosi, 51, Flowermound, TX, MM
5:12:42 Al Becken, 77, San Antonio, TX
5:18:14 Phil Little, 63, Apopka, FL, 100 MC
5:23:27 Bob Dolphin, 76, Renton/Yakima, WA, 100 MC, MM
5:27:21 Donna Neill, 48, Titusville, FL
5:32:41 David Bates, 47, Houlton, ME
5:51:45 David Goodrich, 49, Houlton, ME, MM
5:55:29 Ruth Morrow, 51, Wichita Falls, TX, MM
6:00:21 Eugene DeFronzo, 70, Waterbury, CN, 100 MC
6:14:45 Dave Bell, 43, Highlands Ranch, CO, 100 MC, MM
6:30:41 Lauri Fauerbach Ada, 35, Philadelphia, PA, MM
6:53:44 Henry Rueden, 56, DePere, WI, 100 MC
6:58:18 Layne Reibel, 50, Oveido, FL, 100 MC
7:13:37 Ray Scharenbrock, 73, South Milwaukee, WI, 100 MC, MM
7:14:41 Sharon Kerson, 64, Culver City, CA, 100 MC
7:54:00 Thomas Knoll, 73, Honolulu, HI
7:54:00 Bobbie Lopresti, 41, Chicago, IL
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