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Sunday, October 2, 2005
The first big step is simply showing up
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||
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Blame it on the harvest season, but any attempt to select a favorite in today's 14th running of the Sportshoe Center Maine Marathon brings to mind root vegetables. Specifically, beets and turnips. Only when you see who turns up can you identify the runner to beat. "We never know who's coming until the weekend," said Howard Spear, the co-race director who admits he often is surprised by who shows up. Of the men's and women's marathon winners over the past four years, not one had signed up to return. At least, not before Saturday. The only certainty was that the course record-holder, Emily LeVan of Wiscasset, the 2002 and 2004 champion, would not be running. LeVan, who recently won the Maine women's division of the Beach to Beacon 10K, scrapped plans to run today's Twin Cities Marathon in Minnesota after replacing an injured U.S. marathoner and finishing 35th in a personal-best time of 2:38:32 in the world championships at Helsinki, Finland, in August. Although tempted to run today's half-marathon in Maine, LeVan decided instead on rest. "I certainly thought about it," she said. "I just thought it might be wiser to take a little time, relax and rejuvenate and look toward Boston in the spring." Of last year's top five men and top five women, the only preregistrants are Vladimir Suchan, 43, of Fort Kent, a masters runner who was fifth in 2:51:58; and Debbie Moreau, 34, of Turner, who was fourth in 3:11:34. So what we have, as usual, is a wide-open field for the trip north from Baxter Boulevard in Portland, up Route 1 to Falmouth and onto Route 88. The half-marathon runners will turn around before reaching the town landing. The marathoners will continue to Princess Point Road in Yarmouth before heading back to Portland. Except for Matt Kelahan of Leesburg, Va., and his brother Brian Kelahan of Fairfield, Conn. They plan to continue straight on Route 1 to avoid the hills of Route 88. The race committee measured the appropriate distance so the Kelahan brothers could cover exactly 13.1 miles. "We've never done anything like this," Spear said of creating the alternate course. "But it was easy for us and it seemed like a good thing to do." Good because the Kelahans, who have other family members running the full marathon, are raising money for cancer research. Phil Kelahan of Hooksett, N.H., Dan Kelahan of Syracuse and his brother-in-law, Tim Kilroy of Arlington, Mass., will be among 102 purple-clad participants affiliated with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. "More often than not these are inactive people who take advantage of the training and combine it with something good," said Diane Smith, campaign director for TNT in the Northeast. "This is our seventh year bringing a team (to Maine). . . . We should raise close to $250,000." Team in Training provides personalized coaching, logistical help and travel expenses to endurance events for runners and walkers who agree to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The Maine Marathon threshold is $2,000. "None of us has done any sort of marathon or half-marathon," said Phil Kelahan from his New Hampshire insurance office. "So we're all wondering how it's going to go." The inspiration for the Kelahans came in May when their brother, Andrew, the third-oldest of 11 children, died suddenly at 50, two days after being diagnosed with leukemia. Ever since cancer claimed his mother while he was in college, Andrew Kelahan had made cancer research his life's work. He directed a clinical research organization and was a professor of biotechnology at DeVry University near Philadelphia. "Apparently he just dealt with a whole lot of pain that most people wouldn't deal with," Phil Kelahan said. "What he tried to fight to find cures for kind of got him." Matt and Brian Kelahan will walk the slightly altered half-marathon course today because a 2002 stroke left Matt with a diminished capacity to negotiate inclines. "This is a bigger challenge for him than for any of us," Phil said. "I don't know how we'll fare other than we will finish." Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:
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