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Monday, October 4, 2004
Precious moments
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Looking fresh and relaxed in his laurel wreath, Eric Lavigne was standing in the finish chute on Baxter Boulevard Sunday morning and talking about the upset stomach that caused him to momentarily leave the course early in the race. Suddenly, here came Emily LeVan across the finish line, completing the 13th Sportshoe Center Maine Marathon in 2 hours, 39 minutes and 54 seconds. "Wow," Lavigne said. "That's a knockout time." Indeed. On a sun-kissed autumn morning with her husband and eight-month-old daughter providing inspiration, LeVan produced the fastest time in history for a woman running a marathon in Maine. "That's nice," she said. "That's really satisfying to do so." A cheerful, freckle-faced, 31-year-old former field hockey player, LeVan smashed her two-year-old course record by more than seven minutes and placed fourth overall. Nearly half an hour passed before another woman finished the marathon. Lavigne, 28, who grew up in Manchester, Conn., and recently moved to Burlington, Vt., won the race in 2:31:01 - 8 seconds off Byrne Decker's course record. "It's my first win in the marathon," said Lavigne, who had been training for 10-kilometer races and decided only last week to enter the 26.2-mile event, "so it's a big deal for me." The race started amid cloudless blue skies and a temperature of 48 degrees. A record field of 2,459 entrants in the marathon and concurrent half marathon needed more than four minutes to pass through the starting line arch of red, white and blue balloons after the cannon sounded at 7:45 a.m. Michael Payson, 41, of Falmouth won the half marathon (1:09:34) for the second year in a row. In the women's race, 20-year-old Amanda LaBelle, a Simmons College student from Windham, finished first in 1:27:08. In the marathon, an out-and-back course stretching from Portland's Back Cove to Yarmouth, nobody challenged either LeVan or Lavigne, who led by more than a mile when he finished. Defending champion Casey Carroll, a Yarmouth native who lives in Dover, N.H., was second in 2:38:59 - faster than his winning time a year ago. "I got to within 15 seconds of Eric at the halfway point," Carroll said, "but gradually he pulled away after that." Each winner received $500 in prize money, with LeVan doubling her take for breaking 2:45. Race co-director Howard Spear said the record field helped raise more than $30,000 for this year's beneficiary, Camp Sunshine in Casco. In his first marathon, Paul Johnson of Kennebunk was third in 2:39:27. After the half marathoners turned around in Falmouth, Johnson was the closest runner to LeVan. Both runners had their hair pulled back in a ponytail. "She's strong," said Johnson, who ran at the University of Southern Maine. "She was very even (with her pace). I'd go back and forth, run a fast mile then a slow mile, but I think she was just click-click-click, nice and even." LeVan had two goals for the race. Realistically, she wanted to break 2:45. Ideally, she hoped for sub-2:40. That five-minute gap called for a decision on pacing. Considering the mild conditions and her fitness level, she decided to push her luck. "I think I paid for it in the last 10 miles or so," LeVan said, "because my legs felt a little tight and heavy. But I was hoping to run under 2:40, and I just made it." For perspective, consider the spring's U.S. Olympic trials in St. Louis, for which LeVan qualified but did not attend because she had given birth to Maddie only three months earlier. Sunday's time would have placed LeVan 15th in St. Louis. Only 10 women in this year's Boston Marathon beat it. "I think this sets me up well for Boston (next April)," she said. Not long after finishing, LeVan stood barefoot in the sun with a silver blanket shawled over her shoulders and Maddie tucked in her right arm, slurping spoonfuls of something mushy. Mom had a more substantial meal in mind. "From here," LeVan said in response to a question about her future, "I go get a cheeseburger and french fries and an ice cream malt." Food was the last thing on Lavigne's mind during the early part of the race. His queasy stomach demanded action along Route 88 in Falmouth, where he scurried into the woods for some carbo-unloading. "I'm lucky that nobody was breathing down my neck," he said. Lavigne ran track and cross country at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., and had attempted without success to qualify for the U.S. marathon trials. Sunday's success has him considering another marathon next month, probably in Philadelphia. "I feel good now," he said, "but that doesn't mean I'll feel good in a week. This race can really beat you up." Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:
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