A History of the Falmouth Road Race: Running Cape Cod by Paul Clerici part 2

 (On July 6, 2015, the first-ever book entirely about the Falmouth Road Race will be published. Entitled “History of the Falmouth Road Race, Running Cape Cod ,” it is written by Massachusetts runner and writer Paul C. Clerici, author of “Boston Marathon History by the Mile” and “History of the Greater Boston Track Club.” In a series for Recover Your Stride, he has provided some anecdotes, tales, and tidbits that will run here on a regular basis leading up to the 43rd edition of the Falmouth Road Race on August 16.)

Paul C. Clerici: In the center of Falmouth, at the Main Street end of Academy Lane, is Colleen Coyne Square. The honor is bestowed upon the East Falmouth native who was on the U.S. Olympic women’s ice hockey team which won the gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games. She recalls several times running the Falmouth Road Race, and particularly enjoys all the homey touches the international-caliber race features. As each corral of runners advanced to the start in the years when she ran the race, she always got a kick out of the start-line announcer who was often heard saying something along the lines of, “The good news is that you’re next to go. The bad news is that you’re not going to win.”

I met Paul last year and was thrilled to find out that he was writing a book on the history of The Falmouth Road Race. This is the second of many tidbits from the race that he will be providing my blog in anticipation of its publication in July. If you are like me and enjoy reading background information and hearing the history of the great runners and races from the "running boom" years, you might want to do a few things in anticipation of reading Paul's upcoming book.

My blog has a lot of photos and information on the early days of the Falmouth Road Race. The first year that I ran was the historic 1975 race. You can read about it here. Kings of the Road: How Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, and Alberto Salazar Made Running Go Boom by Cameron Stracher tells about the runners and the races that made the "running boom" and the 1975 Falmouth Road Race plays a pivotal role. You can read my review here. Paul has written other books on running including Boston Marathon History by the Mile and History of the Greater Boston Track Club I am very much looking forward to reading Paul's new book on The Falmouth Road Race.