Stu's 30K: The Tradition Continues

March 16, 1997

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Sometime in 1979, Stu Thurston (Boylston) came up with the idea of organizing a road race around Wachusett Reservoir. From this idea, Stu's 30K was born. Run on March 30th in 1980, the first-ever Stu's 30K was actually called the NEAAU New England 30K Championship (the NEAAU, the New England Amateur Athletic Association, was the precursor to the USATF-NE). That initial 30K attracted a starting field of approximately 250 and had 226 runners cross the finish line at Tahanto Regional High School in Boylston. Jim Stronach, a Lowell-area runner, won the race with a time of 1:39:28. Joan Ullyot of San Francisco, a then well-known author of several books on women's running and a regular contributor to Runner's World, topped the women's field with a time of 2:05:04 while placing 78th overall. CMS placed second to the BAA in the men's open team competition and second to the North Medford Club in the men's masters' competition. There were no competing women's teams.

The following present-day CMS members are known to have finished the 1980 race:

Year two...the rebellion continues...

With 1980's inaugural race having been successfully completed, the decision was made to continue the race. Run on the 29th of March 1981, the second Stu's, then called the NIKE/NEAC Open & Men's Masters 30K Championship, was victimized by a sudden and unexpected change in weather conditions. For two weeks prior to the race, temperatures remained in the high 30's and low 40's. During the 16 hours directly preceding the race, the temperature rose 35 degrees and runners were faced with totally unexpected and unprepared-for warm and humid conditions. As a result, over 20% of the starting field dropped out and times of most of the finishers were considerably slower than anticipated. A comparison of the times of those runners who competed in both 1980 and 1981 showed the times to be off by an average of ten to twenty minutes. A total of 307, up 81 from the first year, did finish. CMS placed second again to the BAA in the men's open team competition and fourth behind the Cambridrige Sports Union, the North Medford Club and the BAA in the men's masters' team competition.

1982, Luke almost freezes to death on the Ice planet Hoth...

The following account of the 1982 race has been lifted directly from the June/July 1982 CMS Newsletter:

A year ago, unexpected temperatures in the low 70's with high humidity reduced a starting field of nearly 400 by 20% before the last runner crossed the finish line. Markedly different conditions prevailed this year. Freezing temperatures and near gale force winds reduced the starting field to an intrepid 234, of whom 224 managed to finish. For a third consecutive year, in what was again called the NIKE/NEAC Open & Men's Masters' 30K Championship, CMS placed second in the men's open team division. This time, however, it was the Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club which topped CMS. CMS, as it had in 1980, finished second to the NMC in the men's masters' team division.

Trust the force...

Still being run on the last Sunday in March, the 1983 NEAC 30K Championship had a record 381 finishers and, for the first time, women's team competition was added to the race. Once again, CMS was second to the BAA in the men's open team competition and second among masters' teams, this time to the Cambridge Sports Union. CSU won the women's open team title and the BAA the women's masters. CMS was unable to field a team in either women's division.

The rebel forces gain strength...

Again scheduled for the final Sunday in March, the 1984 NEAC 30K Championship had 371 finishers and was run under clear skies with the temperature in the high 40's. For the first time, CMS managed to field teams in all four divisions. The results? Three seconds and a fourth. The men's open team was topped by the Greater Springfield Harriers, the women's open and women's masters' team by the Liberty Athletic Club, and the men's masters by the NMC. GLRR and CSU.

The search for a safe home planet....

Over the years, Stu's has been subjected to numerous course changes from the original which started and finished at a Digital Equipment Corporation facility on Route 70. Among the more pronounced changes have been the following: start in the center of Boylston with a finish at Tahanto Regional High School; start and finish at Tahanto; and start and finish at Clinton Middle School. Despite all of the changes, one constant has remained - to complete Stu's 30K in any of its eighteen years, runners have had to completely circle Wachusett Reservoir.

The Evil Empire meets its match...

The year 1985 was a pivotal one for CMS in terms of team competition. For the first time, the club began to exhibit the depth which has enabled it to dominate New England team competition for over a decade. With ten CMS runners placing in the top fifteen, a CMS "A" team placed first and a CMS "B" team third in the men's open division. Not only did this mark the first time that CMS won a team title at Stu's, it marked the beginning of the CMS men's open team's absolute stranglehold on the USATF-NE Grand Prix. CMS went on to win the men's open division of the Grand Prix in 1985 and, as has been well chronicled in the newsletter, has won the men's open division of the Grand Prix every year since. A CMS women's masters' team was an uncontested winner, while CMS placed second to the NMC in the men's masters division and second to CSU in the women's open division. Both the 486 entrants and the 397 finishers were race records.

Time marches on...

A subtle change was the moving of the race to the third Sunday of March (the 24th). A total of 373 finishers crossed the Tahanto Regional High School finish line in 1986. In the team competition, CMS finished second in the women's open, men's masters' and women's masters' competition to the then upstart Greater Lowell Road Runners. The men's open team, the defending Grand Prix Champion, finished a dismal fourth, behind the BAA, GSH and the Whirlaway Racing Team. Having dug itself into a deep hole, CMS spent the rest of the year gradually working its way up toward first-place in the Grand Prix standings.

Troubles haunt the rebellion...

The 1987 30K, the NEAC Championship for an eighth consecutive year, was one of the most memorable. From the April/May 1987 newsletter:

CMS has hosted the New England Athletics Congress 30Km Championships every year since 1980. This year's edition was, perhaps, not only the most exciting and the most successful, but it also came perilously close to becoming a disaster. However, "if all's well that ends well" is the ultimate criterion, then the near disaster becomes just another footnote among many in the history of strange CMS happenings. On a day which broke with temperatures in the low 30's and periods of rain and alternating nuisance-value snow, and with pre-entries (267) at the lowest level in five years, prospects for setting a new record for finishers did not seem any brighter than the overcast skies. However, as the morning progressed, the temperature moderated into the low 40's - rather typical for the 30K - and the precipitation abated. Surprisingly, post entries (156) topped all previous levels with the result that the 1985 record of 397 finishers was topped by two.

The near disaster (a simplified account): Several days prior to the race, it was decided by the powers-that-be to make a change in the course to reduce the impact of a hill which came rather late in the race. As a result of the change and the incredible fact that there are two different streets in Boylston called "East Temple Street," the first 40 runners were sent in one direction and the remaining 350+ in another. These two groups then meandered through the hills of Boylston in separate directions for nearly two miles with none of the runners aware that this was happening. By all rights in a haphazard universe, this should have resulted in a disaster. Unbelievably, however, the distance traversed by the two groups until they rejoined near the center of Boylston was almost exactly the same. So close was the distanced traveled by each group that the net result was no different than if all had stayed on the same course! Therefore, since there were no protests (no harm, no foul! ), there were no disqualification's (all's well). After the poor fourth place finish a year earlier, the CMS men's open team easily won the team title as the did women's open and the women's masters' teams. The CMS men's masters' team finished second to GLRR. Finally, in the 8th year of the race, a CMS runner (Steve O'Connell) was the overall winner of the race.

Han and Chewbacca join the rebellion...

For the first time, in 1988, the Clinton Savings Bank/NEAC 30K Championship attracted over 500 entrants and had over 500 (510) finishers. The race was also won for the first-time by a runner who has gone on to win the race three additional times - Dave Dunham (Bradford). Ironically, Dave, who was then running for GLRR, and Bob Hodge (Clinton), who was also then competing for GLRR and finished second to Dave, combined to lead the Lowellians to a win over CMS in the men's open division. Both Dave and Bob were destined to ultimately join CMS. Both the CMS women's open and men's masters' teams finished first. CMS was unable to field a women's masters' team.

More time marching...

The CMS men's open team rebounded in 1989 to top the GLRR. Also recording a win was the CMS men's masters' team. The CMS women's open team placed second to GLRR, while for the second consecutive year CMS was unable to field a women's masters' team. For the first time in Grand Prix competition, a men's seniors' division was established. CMS placed third behind the NMC and GLRR.

A Split in the rebellion?

For a variety of reasons, CMS did not bid to make Stu's, as the race was finally and permanently named in honor of Stu Thurston, the 30K Championship in 1990. While it was anticipated that the lack of championship status would cause a noticeable drop in the size of the field, this proved not to be the case. The total of 499 finishers was just eleven less than the 1989 record. Rich Marion (Westminster) and Jim Garcia (Westford) finished 1-2.

Still more time marching...

Again in 1991, CMS elected not to bid Stu's for the NEAC Championship at 30K. And again, this seemed to have little effect on the size of the field as a record 522 finished. Bob Hodge, still running with GLRR, and Rich Marion, the previous year's winner, placed 1-2.

Things get tight...

In order to avoid competing directly with the New Bedford Half Marathon, which switched its date to the weekend which Stu's had used for several years, and to give those planning to run the Boston Marathon a greater "recovery" period, CMS switched the 1992 Stu's to the second Sunday in March. CMS also re-bid the race for the first time since 1989 for the NEAC Grand Prix and was awarded the championship. Led by Dave Dunham, who was running his first Grand Prix race as a CMS member , the CMS men's open team easily placed first. The individual race for first was the closest in Stu's history. Both Dave and Dan Dillon of the BAA finished in 1:38:03, with Dave winning by a step after 18.6 miles. Ed Sheehan, then of the Boston Running Club, crossed the line four seconds later. Also finishing first was the CMS women's open team. CMS placed second in the men's masters (behind GLRR), third in the women's masters (behind CSU and the Greater Boston Track Club) and 7th (behind every imaginable team) in the men's seniors. A record 603 finished.

A visitor from the Death Star...

A protracted snowstorm started late on the Thursday and lasted well into the Friday prior to Stu's 1993, leaving some doubt as to whether it would be possible to run the race as scheduled. CMS even made contingency plans for alternate courses, including a multiple-loop course within the confines of Boylston. To quote from the April/May 1993 CMS Newsletter, "Virtually every possible option shy of 74 loops around the perimeter of Tahanto Regional High was considered." A postponement to the following weekend would have been disastrous, as CMS was committed to the timing and scoring of two races the following Sunday, Tweed's 5K and the now defunct Christopher's Pub 10K. As it turned out, both of those races had to be postponed because of the Blizzard of '93.

In addition, the New Bedford Half Marathon, another NEAC Championship, followed Stu's by two weeks. Fortunately, the weather conditions, in contradiction to forecasts, on both the day before and the day of Stu's proved to be sunny with the temperature in the 40's. While the race was run, the snow lead to a unique happenstance. Quoting from the April/May 1993 CMS newsletter: "With snow piled in mounds in the Tahanto parking lot and along the sides of Route 70 in front of the high school, parking was at a premium.. During the morning of the race, Stu arranged to have a snow plow push back the snow along the sides of the road to allow cars to park inside the breakdown lanes. Two policemen hired by CMS to direct traffic in front of the school told runners that they could park there. For reasons only known to the perpetrator, a third police officer, who was on duty in Boylston at the time, came by during the race and ticketed 61 cars! About the only imaginable explanation for his actions is that he was planning to put that ticketing spree on a resume and submit his credentials to Mayor Ray Flynn of Boston. If so, he'd definitely get the job. After a storms of protests by CMS officials and many of the aggrieved runners, Boylston town officials agreed to rescind the tickets. With Dave Dunham finishing first for a second consecutive year, Dan Verrington (Bradford), 4th, and Mike Casner (presently living somewhere either in Europe or South America), 11th, the men's open team won by over 18 minutes. The rest of the CMS teams did not fare so well, picking up two third-place finishes, a fourth and a fifth. A total of 516 finished.

The rebels score a major victory...

A combination of superb early March weather - clear, mid-40's - and the cancellation a week earlier of the Hyannis Marathon and Half-Marathon contributed to a record 1994 field of 722 starters and 663 finishers. With Dan Verrington, Craig Fram (Plaistow, NH) and Eric Morse (Montpelier, VT) finishing 1-2-3, CMS scored an easy men's open win. CMS men's masters' and women's masters' teams each placed second, the men's seniors' team was third and the women's open team was fourth.

Oh, the train! At approximately 11.5 miles into the course which then started at Tahanto Regional High, there are train tracks. Never before in the then fifteen year history of the race had a train tried to occupy the same space at the same time as did runners. In 1994, one did. A number of runners who ultimately finished the race between approximately 2:18 and 2:25 were forced to stop for anywhere between a few seconds and three minutes.

Yes, but is my head on right?

Stu's 1995 once again had record numbers - 800+ entrants and 682 finishers. Led by race winner Byrne Decker (Yarmouth, ME), the CMS men's open team won its fourth consecutive title at Stu's. It was joined by the CMS women's open and men's masters' teams in finishing first. The CMS women's masters' team placed second and the men's seniors' team was third. Once again, CMS could not field a women's seniors' team.

The only "negative" was one which, in retrospect, is much more amusing than negative. From the April/May 1995 CMS Newsletter: Special thanks are in order to Janice and Ray Boutotte (Pepperell), who were responsible for the computerized timing and scoring of the race and who bore the brunt of a tirade from what can best be described as a rather unique individual. At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, Janice and Ray were approached by this individual who began to complain that her name and time had been omitted from the results. She also demanded that her entry fee be returned and had several less than charitable words to say about the race. Janice and Ray explained to her that in a race the size of Stu's, it is quite possible for some numbers to be misread and that they were in the process of rectifying any errors. She continued her attack until Ray noticed that she was wearing her number upside-down. It happened that she had a transposable number, "669." When he attempted to point out that because she had worn the number upside-down, it was read as "699," she reached down, picked up the number (which was pinned only at the top) by the bottom, flipped it up, looked at it and said, "It isn't upside-down." After several additional minutes of explanation, she seemed to get the point and left. End of story, or so CMS believed. Three days later, CMS received a note from the same individual demanding "compensation" because her name had been left out of the results. As "compensation" CMS sent her a copy of the corrected results and tactfully (of course) once again pointed out that the error was hers, not that of CMS. As of this writing, the club has not been contacted by a law firm on her behalf.

The rebellion outgrows its home planet...

The record number of finishers in 1995 spelled doom for the use of Tahanto Regional High School as the host site. It simply could not accommodate, especially with respect to parking, fields much in excess of 600. Consequently, a decision was made to switch the registration, start and finish location to the Clinton Middle School (CMS). Because the Clinton Middle School is located at the 6-mile mark of the old course, the new Stu's course remained exactly the same, except for the start and finish. That the switch was made proved to be an absolute necessity, as despite the heavy snow of the previous day and the blizzard-like squalls which struck before and during the race, all previous records were smashed with over 1200 entrants and 987 finishers.

The story continues...

The account of the race, which appeared in the April/May 1996 CMS Newsletter, is too long to add to this narrative. For the newer CMS members who may be interested in the saga of the 1996 race, please send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to the CMS mailing address with a request for "Stu's 30K: Absolutely Unbelievable!" Team-wise, CMS was able only to capture the men's open title. The women's open, men's masters' and women's masters' teams each placed third, while the men's seniors' team was seventh.

And so we come to the present day...

1997. This year's 18th Stu's had a record number of finishers (993) and a near record number of entrants (1150+). It also had some luck. Two to three inches of snow fell the day before and several more inches of snow fell the day after. However, race day was clear, if cold - mid-30's - and the roads were clear. For the CMS women, it was a sweep. All three teams - open, masters and seniors - finished first. The women's open team was led by former Nashoba High runner Dana Goldfarb (New Haven, CT), who was the first female and 68th overall with a time of 1:57:28. Dana was the only women to break two hours. Also scoring for the open team were two downscoring masters, Terri Martland (Newport, RI) and Marge Belisle (Warren, RI). CMS topped the second-place BAA by nearly 15 minutes in the women's open division. Terri and Marge were 1-2 in the masters' division and Terri's 2:03:02 broke Marge's 1996 women's masters' course record. They were joined by Sandy Lovejoy (Winchester), who finished third among masters, to give CMS a near 48-minute margin of victory of the second-place GLRR. Sidney Letendre (Florence) was the 4th female master to cross the finish line. Mary Ryczek (Longmeadow) easily outdistanced all other competing female seniors and, along with Laura Beckwith (Holden) and Diane Van Voorhis (Ashby), gave CMS a uncontested win in the women's seniors' division. With seven of the first fifteen finishers belonging to CMS, including first-place finisher and four-time Stu's winner Dave Dunham, CMS outdistanced the second-place GLRR by over seven minutes. Also scoring were Craig Fram (3rd) and Byrne Decker (5th). All three broke 1:40. One place and 22 seconds behind Byrne was Eric Morse. The "big-three" of men's masters' team running in New England - CMS, GLRR and TVFR - continued their close competion of the past few years. Despite an outstanding performance by long-time CMS member Wayne Jacob (Mystic, CT), who was the first master and 13th overall, CMS placed 2:38 behind Lowell and 1:09 in arrears of Tri-Valley. In addition to Wayne, scoring for CMS were two other long-time CMS members, Rich Ovian (Worcester) and Jerry Learned (Hopkinton). A CMS men's seniors' team comprised of Peter Orni (Fitchburg), Bill Ferrara (Milford) and Vincent Rivard (Leominster) placed 5th in the men's seniors' division. For the first-time, the USATF-NE Grand Prix, as it is now called, included men's veterans' team competition, albeit on a non-scoring, trial basis. CMS placed second to the BAA. Scoring were Paul McDermott (Fitchburg), Ray Lussier (Grafton) and John Maki (Worcester). After directing the race every year from 1980 to 1996, Stu turned over the controls this year to Ralph Mooers (Leominster). Stu continued on in the capacity as course director.

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March 26, 1997, barry, a personal friend of Yoda...Woof!