1983 Falmouth Road Race

Joseph Nzau of Kenya #3 pulls a head of Simon Kigen #21 and third place winner Mark Curp -#5 during the running of the Falmouth Road Race. 

 

Here is eventual race winner, Joseph Nzau, 2nd place finisher, Simeon Kigen, and 3rd place finisher, Mark Curp, at a little before the 6 mile mark. Joseph Nzau was the first African winner at Falmouth. It wasn't until 1991 that the next Kenyan, Steve Kogo, won Falmouth.

I can't find my time or place, but I ran it. I was getting into triathlons that summer and less than one month after Falmouth I would compete in the first Cape Cod Endurance (Ironman distance) Triathlon.

Joan Benoit won for the 5th time and set a new course record.

Previous year winner, Alberto Salazar, handing out winner trophies.

From the Falmouth Road Race website:

1983 — If she wasn't already, then this was the year Joan Benoit became the First Lady of Falmouth. Running as the favorite, she went wire to wire to win for the third year in a row and fifth time overall. Her effort was the all more remarkable because she was competing with a painfully infected toe and still she set a course record (36:21). The men's race figured to be wide open and it was left to a diminutive 31-year-old from Kenya, Joseph Nzau, to emerge the victor in one of the most competitive races in Falmouth history. He won by just seven seconds over countryman Simeon Kigen. Two-time defending champion Alberto Salazar, saddled with general fatigue from a bout with bronchitis, watched the finish from the press truck. Olympic pole vaulting gold medalist Bob Seagren was one of the official finishers.

Here is a blog post recounting the 1983 Falmouth Road Race from 2nd place female, Nancy Rooks Tinari. She was also the third female finisher in 1988. Her last name is fun, turn it around and you get "I ran it", almost as interesting as former world class runner Anuta Catuna, whose name is a palindrome.