The Bay of Fundy
International Marathon
Last September I discovered
that this first-time marathon would be occurring this year. I
figured that Maine would be the ideal relatively cool spot for a late
June event. So I signed up then. Doing so required also getting a
passport as the marathon would go across the border onto to
Campobello Island in Canada. The island is famous for having the
former summer residence of Franklin Roosevelt.
I made the mistake of not
finding a place to stay until April. By then the few places
available in the host town of Lubec were already filled. The places
on Campobello seemed too expensive. But I did find a motel in
Machias, Maine, which is 23 miles east of Lubec. This meant that on
Saturday we would have to go to Lubec to get our numbers and drive
back to the motel and then go back to Lubec Sunday morning.
We left home on Friday and
drove only to Portsmouth, N.H., not wanting to do too much driving in
one day. This gave us time to check out the historic area of
Portsmouth and have a nice meal at one of the restaurants. By two,
Saturday afternoon we got to Machias, checked into our motel and then
made our way to Lubec. Upon parking, we then had to walk down to and
over the bridge to Canada, where our passports were checked. Then we
walked up a fairly steep hill (on which I would be running in both
directions the next day) to an area which was set up for the
marathoners to claim their numbers.
When I gave my name, the
woman looking for the number said I was going to be pleasantly
surprised with my number (100). I told her that actually I had
requested the number since this marathon was going to be my 100th.
The people around us gave me some mild applause upon hearing that.
Going back to the border, the U.S. people checked us out. I was then
good to go the next day when I ran across without being checked.
We walked back through Lubec
to the community center (formerly the town school) for the free pasta
dinner. We were early. We tried to make some calls, but couldn't
get any phone service. We asked and someone said we had to go up the
hill where the water tower was to get some reception. We did and
found a small antenna on top of the tower. Carolyn made some calls.
Later, when examining our phone bill, I discovered that she had
actually linked to the Canadian phone company and incurred roaming
charges.
The expo was not much.
Apparently the event was put on as a way to attract attention to the
area. All of the things at the expo were related to the town. There
were no vendors from any running store, product or race. On the
other hand, the free pasta dinner was one of the best I've ever had –
a great salad, breads, homemade desserts and cookies. There was a
lobster dinner option (for $10 extra), but I passed on that. The
line into the meal moved slowly, but there was a local group of
people playing popular songs on small musical instruments (like a
toy ukulele) that was quite entertaining.
After eating, we made the
trek back to Machias. I got my running gear ready for the next
morning and we settled in early. Waking up was easy as daybreak
began well before 5 a.m. We needed to be back in Lubec by about 6
A.M. because buses had to run people out to the start a little bit at
a time. I caught the first bus. I knew I would be early and had
brought a crossword puzzle to work on. Stepping off the bus, I saw
the lighthouse down the hill with a picnic table. I made my way
there and found that I was sheltered from the breeze. The
temperature was only in the 50s.
I had also noticed that
there were only five portajohns at the start. With 500 registered
marathoners and 300 10K runners to start an hour later from the same
location, that small number was not nearly enough. Fortunately, I
had spotted a trail which led off into a wooded area. Many of the
male runners used it including me.
Before 8 A.M. a young woman
sang the national anthem and we were off. Despite the fact that our
bibs had a timing device, that was no mat to cross at the start. But
with such a small event, the lost seconds were not much. The first
six miles consisted of a somewhat rolling course back to Lubec.
These were my fastest miles.
In the first couple of
miles, I ran a little while with a guy who had something on his shirt
about helping veterans. I had spoken to him. Later back in Machias,
we found out that we were staying in the same motel. In addition, he
was one of the directors of the Veterans Day Marathon that Carolyn
and I had gone to the previous November in Black Lick, PA. In fact,
he remembered that I was the only person who had written afterward
with complaints! We had a laugh about that and discussed the
difficulties of trying to design the course differently (which was
the nature of my complaint). I really enjoyed meeting him. He said
the marathon had raised thousands of dollars for local groups which
help veterans.
Entering the town, we made a
downhill run toward the bridge which crossed over to Campobello
Island. I am not sure if we were being checked as we went through.
After leaving the bridge, we hit the first major hill a hundred yards
later. It was steep enough that I went into race walking mode. I
continued to do that throughout the course which had quite a number
of similar hills.
At about nine miles, I came
up on a pretty big guy talking and running along with a young woman.
He happened to mention he was from Newark, DE. I had seen in the
paper we had received, which listed the participants, that there was
one other person in the marathon from Delaware. His name is Dean
Leighton, in his 40s. He had grown up around the Lubec area. He had
been running for maybe a year and had lost 25 pounds, but he still
was about 210 pounds. He had only been training for the marathon
(his first one) for eight weeks. I told him that he was doing 30%
more work that I was because he was so much bigger. Dean finished
his race in 4:35.
Campobello Island, from the
point we entered out to the point of of the lighthouse, is almost
exactly ten miles, which made it easy to design a marathon course.
Up and down hills we went, through small communities. In the last
few miles on the trip out to the lighthouse, we ended up on a very
narrow peninsula. We could see the ocean on both sides of the road
at various times. The breeze picked up and the temperature off the
water was probably close to 50 degrees. My hands were cold for the
last couple of miles out and a couple more after turning around.
Then it was more up and down over the same hills from the other
direction.
At onepoint I caught up to a
couple which I had seen early in the race. Now they were taking
walking breaks on the hills. Each time they did, I got a bit closer
and finally I passed them while doing my race walking bit. The guy
commented that I was really moving up the hill and I said race
walking up a steep hill is much easier than trying to run up it.
Finally I reached that last
big downhill and the bridge. Then we turned on to the main street of
Lubec and had a couple tenths of a mile of flat running to finish
line. Done in 4:15:59, which, two years ago, would have been a
Boston qualifying time. Nevertheless I was quite happy to have done
that time on such a hilly rolling course.
Carolyn met me at the end
and I changed in a portajohn. We eventually went to a restaurant for
some food and a beer. Before leaving, I checked the results. I
realized in disappointment that the awards were based on ten year age
groups. I was eighth out of 27 60-69 year-olds. The timing
organization didn't even list the individuals' ages, so I can't even
imagine over how I might have done in a five-year 65-69 group.
Carolyn had covered the 10K
in 1:15:17 and was fifth out of 12 finishers. Again we will never
know how she might have done in a five year group. She felt the 10K
course got way too rolling when it got in Lubec, which is built on a
hill overlooking Johnson Bay and Lubec Narrows.
Recommendation: I chose
this course because it promised cool weather for a late June
marathon. It certainly delivered on that score. The race site
severely underrated the hills. It's not a PR course, but then none
are in Maine. Use going to this event as one part of a longer trip
to see some beautiful scenery. We used it to go to Bar Harbor and
Acadia National Park, about which I'll write separately in another
article.
