25 years ago

25 years ago – April 1995: Four races over this month, a trail race, mountain race, road 10k and a marathon. I started off the month at the Merrimack River Trail race. Craig Fram called me up the night before and asked me if I knew of any good races. I convinced him to show up the next day (04/01/95) and he proceeded to sit behind me for most of the race. I just could not shake Craig who flew by me with about ½ mile to go. Despite throwing down a 4:54 final mile (and a 28:40 2^nd 5m) I couldn’t get back around him. Craig went on to a 57:36 course record with me one second back in the closest finish in the race’s history. Craig broke Bob Hoppler’s course record from 1994 (1:01:58) and his time still ranks as the 9^th fastest ever run. Since that day only four people have run faster than Craig’s time. Paul Low (three times), Chris Mahoney (57:29), Judson Cake (57:35), and me (three times).

1 57:36 Craig Fram

2 57:37 Dave Dunham

3 60:23 Marty Lechleider

4 60:35 Kevin Retelle

5 60:57 Tod Dillon

6 60:58 Sean Dillon

7 62:24 Bob Hodge

8 62:55 Dan Verrington

1f 74:20 Mary Donahue

2f 75:39 Jackie Shakar.

Heading up Power-line hill

A few days later I flew to Greece for the World Cup marathon. I was selected for the US team because someone on the selection committee knew about my mountain running and heard that the marathon was “hilly”. Mostly I was selected because there was no prize money and no appearance money so USATF went to the second tier (and beyond) to find runners willing to go with the trip itself being the prize. It was an incredible trip with visits to ancient ruins and the eternal flame on the plains of Marathon. Talk about going back to the roots of the marathon race, our course was from Marathon to Athens. It was a fairly ugly city course but the history behind it could not be beaten. The finish of the race was on the track in Pantathinaiko Stadium which was used for the first modern Olympics in 1896.  The race itself went okay; I finished in 56^th place running 2:27:51.

1 2:12:01 Douglas Waikihuri – Kenya

2 2:13:16 Takahira Sunada – Japan

3 2:14:09 Davide Miliesi – Italy

4 2:14:48 Juan Torres – Spain

Finish at the 1896 Olympic track

Two weeks later (04/22/95) I ran the Mt Kearsarge hill climb.  This would end up being not only one of my favorite races but also one of my favorite mountains to climb.  Unfortunately, the race is no longer held but I still go up the road a few times a year.  On this day I ran alone from the start and set a new Course Record of 53:09. 

1 53:09 Dave Dunham Londonderry NH

2 54:49 Bob Ratcliffe Cambridge MA

3 57:09 Bob Hodge Clinton MA

4 57:21 David Herr Canaan VT

5 58:06 Dave Audet Concord NH

A week later (04/29/95) it was flat (well mostly flat) road running at the James Joyce Ramble. The race was the New England championships so the field was solid. CMS put 6 in the top eight to take the team title. Training partner Byrne Decker ran a solid 31:07 which was good enough for 8^th place overall but didn’t even score for the team!  Tim Gannon (29:55) took the win, he broke away at 5 miles and I couldn’t go with him. I took second place in 30:01.

Pl Name                        Time     Age       City       Club

1 Tim Gannon                29:55    29         Brighton            BRC

2 Dave Dunham             30:01    31         Londonderry      CMS

3 George Yianellias        30:07    25         Somerville         BRC

4 Craig Fram                 30:21    36         Hampstead        CMS

5 Eric Morse                  30:34    30         Moretown          CMS

6 Gary Gardner              30:37    23         Keene               CMS

7 Keith Matiskella          30:56    23         Amherst            CMS

8 Byrne Decker              31:07    28         Londonderry      CMS

9 Rachid Tbahi              31:19    25         Brighton            BRC

10 Brent Coon               31:25    29         Hampden          GSH