The Bay of Fundy International Marathon

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 100^th. 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.