1982 was the nadir of the Cape Cod Marathon. At the time, the Falmouth Track Club drew race directorships from among its members. Initially, no one stepped forward to take over the reins. The FTC's board became concerned, and there was talk of dropping the race. Finally, a club member volunteered. As a condition of taking the job, the race director-to-be insisted that the marathon's date be moved to October 3rd to avoid the nasty weather. Like the story of the emperor's new clothes, when asked, the director said everything was fine and plans were coming together. Then in mid-September, three weeks before the race, the director resigned, citing personal reasons.

Things did not look very auspicious for the 1982 edition. There were no sponsors, the race applications had yet to be printed and distributed, and most of the required permissions and sanctions had not yet been obtained. But the FTC forged ahead, not wanting to drop something that had, up to then, been a positive event for the club. Club President, Kit Wise, Courtney Bird, and Ron Lafreniere agreed to pick up the pieces. Applications were printed, permissions secured, sponsorship from the Plymouth Savings Bank, Ocean Spray Cranberries, and Coca Cola garnered, and volunteers rounded up. It was truly a low budget operation. FTC member, Jack Carroll of Pascoag, RI donated his basement full of trophies, much to his wife's delight. The old plaques were removed and the appropriate labels applied. A particularly garish trophy was chosen to be the the winner's. For once, the sun shone on race day, but 75 to 80 degree temperatures were too warm except for the volunteers who out numbered the 83 starters by a considerable margin.

The race itself provided some drama as Steve Kahain of Middleboro, Greg Stone of Abington, R ay Burcheli, and Jack Carroll traded the lead. But by 18 miles, the heat had taken its toll on all but Carroll who ran steadily from the beginning. As Carroll approached the finish line, race officials scurried to locate a tape for him to break. With no sponsor to put up the money for a flashy version and no cash to even buy one, an enterprising volunteer emerged from the men's room of the Lyle School wielding a roll of toilet paper! Carroll's winning time, 2:44:26, was the slowest in the history of the marathon, but it was 8« minutes ahead of Marshfield's Roger Welch (2:54:49), who in addition to being second was the first master. It was a glorious day for Carroll. He had won the marathon, and like the proverbial albatross around the neck, he won back the trophy he'd donated, much to his wife's chagrin! In the Women's race, it was a clean 1-2-3 sweep for the FTC. West Falmouth's Karen Smith-Rohrberg broke away from teammate, Anne Ford of North Falmouth at 16 miles, and cruised in to a comfortable 3:12:02 victory. Ford, who would later win the marathon in her own right, placed second with a PR of 3:16:54. Diana Roth of Woods Hole finished 3rd in a PR 3:24:15.

1983 - The Last Otis: Ellis Wins, Smith-Rohrberg Triples

The near disastrous 1982 race caused the FTC to start taking a hard look at the Marathon. There was developing sentiment for taking the race off Otis AFB and moving it to Falmouth. However, those advocating such a major change recognized that such a move was at least two years away. In the short term, the club decided to keep the race at Otis but to return to the third Sunday in November date it had been run on previously. Courtney Bird volunteered to direct the race for one year. But that one-year commitment has now stretched to twenty. While preparations for the 1983 race were underway, Kit Wise, Bird, and other members of the FTC board began looking at the possibilities of a future move to Falmouth. Kit Wise laid out a one-loop course with a village green start and finish that took in many of the more scenic areas of the town, but which also turned out to be much hillier than the Otis course. It even had its own heartbreak hill at 20 miles by the Woods Hole Country Club. In the fall the Falmouth Board of Selectmen and the police approved of the proposed move, but it was left to the club membership to decide the issue at the FTC's annual meeting in December, 1983.

Sunday, November 20 was ideal for marathoning. 55 degrees, partly sunny, with a light wind. Some 200 marathoners toed the line. Bruce Ellis of Exeter, NH and Andy Rogovin, the Dennis-Yarmouth cross country coach, pushed each other through 18 miles, before Ellis pulled away. He finished in 2:26:27, a PR by 5 minutes. Second place, Rogovin, was four minutes behind in 2:30:49. The drama in the women's race centered around two time winner, Karen Smith-Rohrberg. She had set her goal at 2:51:16, the qualifying standard for the 1984 olympic trials and 11 minutes faster than her best time. For six months she gradually increased her mileage from 60 miles a week to more than 100. On race day, she ran even splits and was on target until 21 miles. She slowed somewhat for two miles and then picked up from 23 miles on. But she could not regain the lost time. She finished in 2:52:21, missing the qualifying standard by 65 seconds. However, she won the race for a third time, set a course record, and knocked 10 minutes off her best clocking!

1984 - The First Falmouth: "Honey, You ain't Seen Nothing Yet!"

Meanwhile, the debate about moving the marathon to Falmouth got warmer. Track club meetings are usually sparsely attended, but a special meeting to discuss the marathon held in early November brought some 40 club members out of the woodwork. The Pro Move faction argued that the race was gradually dying at Otis due to its increasing invisibility, that the Otis course was not representative of Cape Cod's scenic beauty in sharp contrast to the proposed loop course in Falmouth, that a move to Falmouth would mean greater involvement by the community and greater ease in attracting sponsorship. The Anti-Move people argued that Otis was a "PR" course unlike the proposed Falmouth route, and that Otis was a snap to organize and inexpensive to stage (1983's expenses were $1,200.00) with little of the financial risk that a larger race in Falmouth would entail. Those opposed to the move pointed out accurately that the race budget would be at least $18,000.00 and that a minimum of $8,000.00 would need to be committed by sponsors. And there was further concern that if there was no sponsorship, the resulting financial disaster would ruin the club. The Antis also argued that finding 300 to 400 volunteers to man the course, etc. would be impossible to find. After all the club only had 100 or so members. The Pros countered that finding volunteers would be no problem if the club made it a community event. As the time wore on, it was clear that both sides were fervent about their positions.

In fact the debate became quite heated at times, and the outcome was uncertain. Finally, it was decided to vote on the issue at the club's annual meeting in December. At the meeting, which was better attended than most, the debate on the issue covered the same ground, but when the vote was taken the Pro-Move side won 21-14. A sensible condition was imposed that if the FTC board of directors or the marathon committee could not obtain significant financial sponsorship by June 1, 1984, then the marathon would stay at Otis. The race date was set for Sunday, November 18.

During the spring of 1984, a marathon committee was formed that consisted of most of the club directors and was chaired by Courtney Bird. The 10 to 12 person committee was a working group. Each member had a specific area of responsibility - course management, start-finish area, medical, water stops, publicity, registration and results, etc. The committee member was then responsible for lining up all volunteers necessary for his or her area. The emphasis was on delegation of responsibility. The water stop director was not responsible for lining up all people to man the 10 stations along the course, but rather to find 10 captains - one for each stop - and charge them with the job of lining up a crew for that particular stop. The idea was to keep the responsibilities manageable so that good people were not burned out, to broaden the volunteer participation as much as possible, and to make involvement with the race fun.

During the spring of 1984, formal permissions were secured from the town, the state, police, etc., and several presentations were made to potential sponsors. Initially, there were no bites, and the June 1 "drop dead" deadline was fast approaching. Finally in late May, Jack Weiss, who was in charge of soliciting sponsorship, landed Co-Sponsorship commitments from Shawmut Bank and Peters-Hartel Corporation, a real estate development company with personal ties to the FTC. The June 1 deadline was only three days away!

During the summer and fall, the race committee met every other week and then weekly as the race approached to plan the myriad of details and plan out co-operative strategies to handle the logistics of the loop course and a larger field. Despite virtually no advertising, the applications began pouring in. By the 10th of October, The Falmouth Enterprise reported that 310 had pre-registered. By race weekend, some 650 had signed up, and the final total was 754. The record field was attributable to three reasons: the curiosity factor, the demise of the Foxboro Marathon, which had been run on the same weekend in previous years, and the fact that Cape Cod was one of New England's last races to qualify for Boston. Most entrants assumed that the terrain was like Otis - flat and fast. After all, who had ever heard of hills on Cape Cod - except the locals.

Race day dawned overcast, with a raw wind blowing, and temperatures in the upper 40's. When the gun went off at 11:00 AM, the runners encountered easy going through the first miles. But around 10« miles the hills began. Betty Fuller of West Falmouth, who would run a 3:17 that day, recalls that a man who was running with her during the early miles, started to coach her and kept urging her to slow down. She politely informed him that she'd run 12 marathons, lived in Falmouth, knew the course and, above all, knew what she was doing. He wouldn't relent bestowing advice. At the crest of a rather long hill at 12 miles, he complained that the course was really hilly. Betty replied, "Honey, you ain't seen nothing yet!" At that point, he must have gotten the message and took off on the downhill. Five miles later, in the midst of the Sippewissett hills, Betty encountered her former "coach" walking. As she cruised by, she gleefully remarked, "I see you've taken your own advice and have slowed down!" Indeed, the challenge of this course, as those 720 or so starters would find out, is that the hills roll on relentlessly from 15« to 23« miles. While the course is not a killer, it must be run conservatively and intelligently.

Rick Bayko of Newburyport had been pointing for this race, hoping to better his PR time of 2:20 set at Boston in 1974. He had run high mileage weeks since Labor Day as well as speed work. For the first 6 miles he shared the lead with Peter Hopfe of Worcester. But by the time Bayko passed through 7 miles at the Davisville lights on Route 28, he was alone in the lead and ran strongly in the Sippewissett hills and Woods Hole. By the time Bayko emerged onto flat Surf Drive for the last 2 miles, he had built a commanding three minute lead over Hopfe, and would run into the village green finish in 2:27:21. "I take back everything I said about the course being easy. I was torpedoed by it!" On the women's side, Harwich's Beth Nelson, who had run two previous Cape Cod's and had started entering local triathlons, look the lead early and ran unchallenged. Her 2:47:33 placed her nine minutes ahead of second place finisher Gail Turner (2:56:31) of Hanover, NH. Like Bayko, Nelson had not expected the hills. "This is the hardest course I've ever been on. Its all up and down, and that wind was terrible!" Veteran chair racer Jack Coakley wanted to use the race as a Boston qualifier. With no other chairs in the marathon, Coakley knew that keeping focused would be very difficult, But Jack did. His finish time of 2:16:52 set a 13-year standard, but it failed to qualify him for Boston.

A total of 503 finished the race. and all moved to the warmth of the Lawrence School for showers, awards, and a post-race feast of clam chowder, pasta, salad, fruit juices, homemade bread, brownies. The marathon committee and the Falmouth Track Club pronounced the race a success. Hundred's of volunteers had come out to cover the bases, and it was clear that it was a community event. The head of the police detail commented that "This [was] the best set-up race I've seen. They've left nothing to conjecture." The town fathers were pleased because the marathon brought business into town, and other than a rather large traffic jam at the seven-mile mark where the race crossed Route 28, the problems associated with the event were minimal. Over the next few weeks, many letters from runners were received complimenting the race committee for its superb organization, attention to detail, and caring attitude -- although there were laments about the hills. Even the doubters in the track club, who had opposed the move off Otis AFB, were impressed as were the major sponsors who agreed to sign on for another year. The date of the eighth edition was set for November 17, 1985, the third Sunday in the month, and planning began within weeks of the 1984 race.

In the euphoric afterglow of success, the race committee expected the race to grow significantly in 1985. But it was not to be... Enter the Boston Peace Marathon.

1985 - Boston Peace Cops Field, Howard Wins, Nelson Sets Women's Mark

Various groups had considered putting on a fall marathon in Boston. In late October, 1983, John McGrath staged the Bostonfest Marathon. Despite a hefty entry fee, the race attracted around 2,000 runners. Traffic and logistical problems doomed the race and a second Bostonfest was never held. But McGrath demonstrated that there was a market for a fall marathon in Boston. In the summer of 1985, another group headed by Gerry Wright and Russell Deutsch announced plans for a fall marathon. Called the Boston Peace Marathon, it featured a point-to-point course that began in Concord and ended at Fanueil Hall and was to be run on November 24, one week after Cape Cod. When Courtney Bird, Cape Cod's race director, picked up a copy of the Boston Peace Marathon entry form being passed out at the finish of the Falmouth Road Race that August, his heart sank because he sensed what the impact of the race would be on the size of Cape Cod's field. Eastern Massachusetts is the geographic area from which Cape Cod traditionally drew 80% of its field. To have a new marathon on a potentially less challenging course, close to home, a week later, which drew on that same pool of runners, was not good news for Cape Cod.

Indeed, Bird's fears were borne out. By early November, only 235 had signed up. With less than a week to go, the number of pre-registered had grown to 260. These numbers contrasted sharply with the 650 entered at the same time the previous year and the 700 plus that had signed up for the Boston Peace Marathon. By race day, the field had grown to approximately 350, of which about 250 started. Rick Bayco did not return to defend his title, opting for Boston Peace instead. The women's field was strengthened on race day when Beth Nelson returned to defend her title and Shirley Silsby of Cotuit, who had a 2:41 to her credit, signed up.

At the start, temperatures were in the upper 50's and humid. Former winner, Larry Olsen, post-entered on race day. Soon after the start, Olsen led a lead pack of four or five runners that included teammate, John Howard of Framingham. At about seven miles, someone yelled to Olsen from the lead truck, "Are you going for a repeat victory?" "No," he shouted back, "I'm just doing an eighteen mile workout." By the halfway point, Olsen and Howard were running alone in the front. At 18 miles, true to his word, Olsen dropped out, and Howard pushed on alone through the hills to Woods Hole and out past Nobska Light. His pace slowed. At about 23 miles, when asked how he was feeling, he replied that he would have dropped out long ago if he weren't leading the race. Howard won. His time of 2:35:21 is the slowest winning time on the Falmouth course. In the women's race, Beth Nelson and Shirley Silsby pushed each other through the early miles. But Nelson proved to be stronger that day. After 15 miles, she pulled away from Silsby for good. When she crossed the finish line, Nelson shattered her own women's course record by more than three minutes with a 2:44:12 clocking. Silsby was second in 2:49:10. Both women placed in the overall top 10 finishers! The warm conditions took their toll on the field with generally slower times and high attrition rate -- only 173 finished.

While the race again was superbly organized and mechanically perfect, the track club and the marathon committee were disappointed with the small field. The following weekend, the inaugural Boston Peace Marathon would attract some 1,100 runners. The Falmouth Enterprise even had an editorial which while praising the efforts of the Cape Cod Marathon organizers, wondered out loud whether the race had a future. At the committee's post-mortem, the future of the race was debated. No one was ready to throw in the towel.