The 1975 version of the Falmouth Road Race was the third edition of my hometown race and the first time that I ever competed in a road race. I had run cross-country and track races and in fact started running in 9th grade at Falmouth High School a couple of weeks after the first ever Falmouth Road Race back in 1973. The 1975 race saw road racing take off in popularity with the promise of top-notch track and marathoner runners like Frank Shorter starting to race on the roads. The "unknown" winner of the 1974 Falmouth Road Race, Bill Rodgers (who defeated world-class miler Marty Liquori that year) was back and no longer "unknown" thanks to a 3rd place World's medal in cross-country and then the surprise win at the 1975 Boston Marathon. Frank Shorter, of course, was the winner of the 1972 Olympic Marathon. The two stars of American marathoning came to Falmouth in 1975 and Falmouth started becoming a world -class race. About 850 runners competed in the race.
the start
Look at the sign top right- post entries $2.00 and it was the day of the race!
This is me at the finish line in my imitation "Ron Hill" fishnet singlet.
My time was 50:50 (still my slowest Falmouth out of over 25 races and the only time over 50 minutes-so far). I don't remember much about the race itself, except that it was very exciting and I was tired at the end.
This is the finishing card I received. The race was divided into two divisions. If you joined the AAU for a few bucks you were in that division. If not, your results were in a seperate division. I have two sets of results: one for each division.
Gate City Striders should note that "Coach" Jim Stronach finished 12th overall.
The "white" results are the AAU results. The yellow pages are the non-AAU results (so AAU runners did not get "contaminated" by being in the same race).
Other Falmouth Road Race Posts
2 comments:
Lots of fun and nostalgia to read your comments and see these old clippings. Thanks!
Minor correction ...Bill Rodgers did not beat Marty Liquori in 1973, as you said. He did that in 1974. In '73, the winner was Dave Duba of Michigan. There were 92 official finishers. Race founder Tommy Leonard was about 20th. Yours truly was 30th.
Rich Sherman, co-director
Thanks Rich,
I'll fix that mistake...I'll take your word on that since you are the race director!
I wish I had run that first race for many reasons. If I did, I would have finished top 100 easily-even if I walked. It was always a goal of mine to finish top 100 at Falmouth. I was getting somewhat close, but never did.
Falmouth is always my favorite race!
Jim
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