Lyon Triumphs Over Adversity in Wheelchair Division

The date of the 17th annual marathon was set for Sunday, October 30th. The race got a boost from increased sponsorship. In addition to Sandwich Co-operative, Borden Foods, through its subsidiary Prince Pasta became a co-sponsor of the marathon. For Harvard Community Health Plan, the marathon relay was attractive and they became its title sponsor. Again, Cape Cod bid for and got the USATF-NE marathon championship. The race organizers decided to put their increased sponsorship dollars into marketing and a $7,000.00 prize purse. At the same time, one of the two marathons in Rhode Island succumbed restoring some balance to the full fall marathon calendar in New England.

The number of entrants in the marathon increased to 611 and the relay teams doubled to 53 for a record 876 participants. The marathon field had more depth as well, lured by a prize purse and the competition of the Grand Prix series. In the men's field Rob Pierce with a recent 2:15 under his belt, Jim Garcia, Craig Fram, Dan Verrington, Larry Olsen, and 1993's runner-up, Jim Morisseau were all possible contenders. In the Women's race, Shirley Frye was back to try to win for a 6th time. Her competition came from North Carolina's Mary Ellen Kelly, Maura Connolly, Cathy Lifschultz and Anna Brook.

Race day was beautiful. Sunny, upper fifties to low sixties, and foliage at its peak. From the start, Rob Pierce set the pace and built a substantial lead by the mid point. But the heat and hills began to take their toll. At 18 miles, Fram, then Verrington, then Garcia passed the faltering Pierce. Garcia started his move. At 19 miles he went by Verrington and caught Fram at Nobska Light. When Fram would not answer his surge, Garcia ran the last 4 miles alone. His winning time: 2:27:57. Craig Fram finished second (2:31:12) and Verrington followed in 2:33:59. Larry Olsen (2:38:29) was the first master in a time only five minutes slower than his winning time in the inaugural Cape Cod in 1978, 17 years before.

Shirley Frye was not in top shape, but she wanted to give Cape Cod one more shot. Mary Ellen Kelly was very familiar with Frye's strategy. She had reviewed the details of Frye's past victories and knew how she would run the race. When the gun went off, Kelly tried running conservatively, but could not hold back. All she knew was that Frye was behind her somewhere. At the half, she had a four minute lead over Frye, but the hills were coming up. By 18« miles, Kelly was tiring and Frye had closed the gap to less than a minute. But it wasn't Frye's day and she ran out of gas by 19 miles. Third place Maura Connolly now moved into second place, four minutes behind Kelly. But Connolly faded on the hills and could not challenge Kelly for the lead. Mary Ellen Kelly captured the women's division title in a PR 2:53:31. Connolly was a distant second (3:02:35) and third place went to Anna Brook (3:03:42).

The wheelchair division provided a very emotional return to Cape Cod for John Lyon of Sandwich. In 1991, Lyon ran the race, not in a wheelchair, but on his feet, in a very respectable time of 2:59:56. His goal - to qualify for Boston. Two days later he was in Boston during the "No Name" storm working on the roof of the Brigham and Women's Hospital. A piece of roofing debris broke loose in the wind, hit Lyon, who fell 5 stories. The fall severed his aorta and broke his back. His life was saved because he landed outside the emergency room door, but he emerged from a lengthy stay in intensive care paralyzed from the waist down. During his long rehabilitation, he decided to take up wheelchair racing and returned to Cape Cod for his first stab at competition. The result was an impressive 2:26:02. At an emotional awards ceremony during which he received a five minute standing ovation, he vowed to be back one day to break the course record - a promise he would try to keep two years later

The doubled-in-size relay was now augmented with a corporate challenge. Cape the Cape Cod A.C. Men's Open team would again capture the first place honors in relay, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution took second overall as well as The Enterprise Cup in the corporate challenge. The growth of the relay was very encouraging to the race organizers. It did not detract from the drama of the marathon, but it enhanced the race by broadening the base of participation and was a very important reason for Cape Cod's resurgence.

1995 - Marathon Field Swells Record Size, Relay grows by 50%

Cornell and Ishibe Win Marathon, CCAC Men Capture Relay Title for Third Time

The date for the 18th Cape marathon was set for Sunday, October 29. Again, Cape Cod bid for and won the USATF-NE marathon championship. However, the organizers got two sponsorship setbacks when Borden pulled out as a major sponsor and Harvard Community Health Plan, in the midst of a merger with Pilgrim Health Care, did not renew its commitment. However the sponsorship void was filled by Ocean Spray Cranberries who took the title sponsorship of the relay. Because Sandwich Co-operative Bank continued as the main sponsor and several other associate sponsors were signed on, the marathon was able to continue to offer prize money. With the 100th Boston six months away, thousands of runners were looking for marathons in which they could qualify for Boston. A Runners' World article cited Cape Cod as the 11th fastest marathon in the US to qualify. While the course records are impressive by any measure, RW had not sent anyone out to run it for themselves. But the race organizers didn't mind the publicity and the resulting surge of entrants. Unfortunately, many unsuspecting non-New England runners found out the hard way that this was not the easy course that they had read about.

By race day, which again was clear, but a breezy low fifties, the marathon field had swelled to 877 and the 83 relay teams had signed up. With more than 1260 participants, the event had grown by 50% over the previous year. The field at the top was not quite as strong on paper as in 1994, but it again brought out the good club runners. Jim Garcia was back to try to be the first man to repeat victory. In the 17 previous years of the race, no man had won Cape Cod more than once. In contrast in the women's division, Silsby-Frye (4), Smith-Rohrberg (3), Hatch (3), and Nelson (2) had repeated. Garcia was challenged by Gregg Cornell, George Luke, master runner Vladimir Krivoy, Paul Hammond, and Joe Sullivan. The women's field was dominated by CSU's Anna Brook with a low 2:40 to her credit, the BAA's Naoko Ishibe and Diane Tedford. Ishibe had been training hard looking not only to win, but to qualify for the Olympic trials.

When the cannon fired, a lead pack developed that included Garcia, Cornell, Krivoy, and George Luke. The group stayed together until the mid point. Flat from racing a hard marathon a month earlier, Garcia began to fade in the hills. Cornell ran steadily, using his experience on the course to his advantage. One by one the rest of the field dropped away. Meanwhile, Luke also ran a strategic race. He hung back from the lead pack in the hills and let the leaders come back to him. By the time he emerged onto Surf Drive at 24 miles, he was in unchallenged possession of second place but out of striking range of Cornell. Cornell crossed the finish line in 2:29:40 followed by Luke in a PR time of 2:30:46. Third place went to Krivoy (2:34:50).

From the start, Naoko Ishibe took command of the race from the more experienced Anna Brook and never relinquished the lead. She ran smoothly and steadily in the hills and thus presenting no opportunity for Brook to close the gap. From the mid point of the race, Ishibe maintained a four minute lead over Brook and Brook could never close the gap. When Ishibe crossed the finish line, she had won the race, set a PR, qualified for the Olympic trials, and won $1,300.00. Not a bad day! Brook finished second in a very respectable 2:53:41, and Diane Tedford captured third (3:04:40).

The Ocean Spray Marathon Relay also provided excitement. The Cape Cod A.C. Men's Open, trying for its third win in a row, barely edged out the Falmouth Track Club Mixed Open by 18 seconds to win in 2:27:39. For the second year in a row, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution won The Enterprise Cup corporate challenge in 2:38:44, good for third place overall.

One new twist was the Leukemia Society Team in Training. The Mid-America chapter from Kansas City sent 25 walkers and a relay team to the race. To accommodate the walkers, the race committee started them early so that they would finish with the rest of the field. The relay team included veteran marathoner, Bill Rodgers. The Team-in-Training participants had a positive experience at Cape Cod and a month after the race, Courtney Bird got a call from the Mid-America Chapter of the Leukemia Society telling him that next year (1996) they and several other chapters planned to send some 200-300 walkers and runners to Cape Cod.

In every respect the race was a success. Despite the 50% increase in the field, the race organization was up to the job. Few problems were reported. Traffic control was good, the finish area well managed, the traditional post-race meal bountiful. In short it was a great day. The date for 1996 was set for Sunday, October 27.

1996 - Fram and Dunham Duel for Marathon and Grand Prix Victory

Currier Cruises to Women's Title

Lyon Breaks Wheelchair Record, Rhode Masters Victorious in Relay, A Record Field Again

The 19th running of the Cape Cod Marathon and Ocean Spray Marathon Relay on Sunday, October 27 was the epitome of road racing in the fall in New England. A cloudless azure blue sky, the rich gold, red, and brown hues of the fall foliage at its peak, the panoramic vistas of Vineyard Sound, cranberry bogs, Nobska Light, the village of Woods Hole, the start and finish at the 300 year old Falmouth village green, and temperatures in the upper 50's set the stage. Some 400 to 500 hundred volunteers from the Falmouth Track Club and the community turned out to shepherd the the runners on their tour of Falmouth. A record 924 Marathoners and 115 relay teams signed up. While the 1996 field was dominated by New Englanders, runners and walkers came from 35 states, Canada, Morocco, and Japan. For some 300 members of the Leukemia Society Team in Training from Kansas City, Atlanta, Birmingham, AL, and Jackson, MS, the Cape was the culmination of their training and fund raising efforts.

As it had been for the previous nine years, Cape Cod was the site of the USATF-NE Marathon Championship and the final event of the seven-race Grand Prix Series. The drama of marathon was enhanced because one point separated CMS teammates Craig Fram and Dave Dunham for the overall men's championship in the Grand Prix Series as they toed the starting line. Tempted by a modest $7,000 prize purse, the field also included 1995 winner, Gregg Cornell and several runners who claimed upper teens and low twenties as previous best times. On the women's side, Plymouth's Mary Lynn Currier and 1995 champion Naoko Ishibe-Sheehan were among the starters.

In the Ocean Spray Marathon Relay, the team to beat was the Irish powerhouse Rhode Masters - Mick O'Shea, Ray Treacy, Joe Sullivan, Chris Pels, and Bobby Doyle. But a Kansas City Leukemia Society Team in Training had a ringer in another master, Bill Rodgers, to challenge the Rhodies.

At the firing of the cannon by marathon greats, Johnny Kelley and Bill Rodgers, the record crowd burst from the start. After a few miles of separating the wheat from the chaff in the lead pack, Fram and Dunham took over the undisputed lead. They ran together through the easy miles along the East Falmouth shoreline, through Davisville, and past the cranberry bogs and the Hatchville farms. After 15 miles, when the hills of Sippewissett and Woods Hole begin, they were still running easily together. In fact, as the miles went by and the hills rolled on, they accelerated, running neck and neck through 24 miles and onto the flat of Surf Drive. Only there did Craig Fram pull away from his CMS teammate. When the lead vehicle turned onto Main Street for the 2/10 mile dash to the village green finish, Fram led by a hundred yards and crossed the line in 2:23:52 - Cape Cod's 6th fastest time ever. Dunham followed 14 seconds later in 2:24:06. Each man had run negative spits on the course and proved conclusively that the hills could be tamed! In that moment, Fram and Dunham were what New England road racing was all about. New Englanders, competing for a New England championship, on New England roads battling it out to the last mile. Their race was a classic!

In the womens' race, Mary Lynn Currier whose recent PR of 2:37:01 certainly made her the the favorite. Naoko Ishibe-Sheehan, the 1995 champion, had been battling stomach problems for the previous month and entered only at the last minute. From the gun, Currier took the lead, and when she saw that Sheehan was not challenging her, cruised to a 2:46:10 finish. Sheehan was a distant second in 2:59:42.

In the Ocean Spray Marathon Relay, the Rhode Masters bested the field with a 2:25:39. They were followed by the Back Road Burners in 2:29:46 and Two Tortoises and a Hare in 2:42:14, a mixed team captained by five-time Cape Cod Marathon Winner, Shirley Silsby Frye. The Corporate Division was won by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 2:53:52.

Despite slightly warm temperatures, three course records fell that day. The ten-year old women's master record of 3:02:29, set by Connecticut's Jan McKeown in 1987, was surpassed by CMS's Sandy Lovejoy's 3:00:17 (good for third woman overall as well). The second course record to drop was James Daley' Men's Senior time of 2:52:25 which had held up since 1988. Terry Van Natta of Grennsboro, NC dropped the standard significantly to 2:46:12. The longest held record of all was Jack Coakley's 2:16:52 wheechair record set in 1984, the first year the Cape Cod Marathon was held on its present course in Falmouth. In 1987, Coakley returned to Falmouth to attempt break his record and meet the Boston qualifying standard of 2:10:00. Neither was to happen that day despite ideal weather. After that, though several tried, none succeeded. Then came John Lyon of East Sandwich, MA - a true profile in courage and determination.

He had run Cape Cod in 1991 in 2:59. Shortly after he was paralyzed in a fall and began wheelchair racing as part of his physical therapy. The 1994 Cape Cod Marathon was his first wheelchair race. He completed the distance in a respectable 2:26:02 and vowed to return to break the course record. And this year he did! In his second of three marathons this fall, each two weeks apart, he turned in an impressive 2:15:36 thus braking Coakley's hoary record by more than a minute. Two weeks later, he would turn in a 2:04 at Ocean State, thus qualifying him for Boston. As a member of the Leukemia Society's Team in Training, he raised more than $3,500.00 in pledges and earned a trip to the Honolulu Marathon in December '96.

The 1996 marathon proved to be the most successful in its 19-year history. The recent growth of the event attracted greater sponsorship. The Sandwich Co-operative Bank was a major sponsor for the tenth year in a row. Ocean Spray continued as the title sponsor of the Relay and was joined by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Pepsi Cola, who had previously been a contributing sponsor for several years, increased its participation. The Falmouth Enterprise and WMVY continued their active role as media sponsors.

As race day approached, the anticipated size of the field presented organizers with major logistical challenges. Would the size of the field create traffic nightmares threatening the safety of the participants and tying the town in knots? Would there be enough food, medical help, volunteer support? Could the finish line crew handle the crush of runners? What about the walkers? Some 130 walkers from various Leukemia Society Chapters had signed up. They were started at 8:00 a.m. in order to have them finish with the runners and in daylight. Would they create their own set of problems? Was the relay set-up adequate to handle a 30% increase in participation? In short, had the event grown too big? The answer that came back that day was a resounding "No!" The Falmouth Track Club, the Marathon Committee and the hundreds of volunteers were more than equal to the challenge. The day went off nearly flawlessly. But how much more can the race grow?

From the standpoint of the town of Falmouth, the race was also a success. There wasn't a hotel room to be found in Falmouth or nearby that weekend, the restaurants did booming business, and the stores were filled with runners turned tourist.

1997 - Fram and Currier Repeat Marathon Victories

Rhode Masters Repeat in Ocean Spray Relay

Nasty weather with torrential rains and high winds framed race day, Sunday, October 26th. Both Saturday, the 25th, and Monday, the 27th were horrible. But Sunday, it was a beautiful fall day with clear skies, no wind, and temperatures in the low 50's -- ideal for runners and spectators. 535 marathoners and 110 relay teams toed the start. Craig Fram of Plaistow, NH, and Mary-Lynn Currier of Plymouth, MA, won for the second consecutive year.

Both Fram, 39, and Currier, 33, led the men's and women's races respectively the entire way. They each received $1,500 for their victories. Fram's winning time was 2:33:09. Currier won the women's championship in 2:48:49. Fram, a member of Central Mass Striders, decided only the Saturday morning before the CCM to defend his title after running a tough race the previous Sunday at the Bay State Half-Marathon in Lowell where he finished second.

"I was undecided all week about what I wanted to do," he said after his Cape victory. "Yesterday, I just got out of bed, and I looked at the road-racing schedule. I really had a good time (here) last year." For the first 11 miles, Mike O'Brien of Durham, N.H, husband of CCM women's course record holder and Olympian, Cathy O'Brien, and Fram matched each other stride for stride. Then O'Brien fell behind and dropped out at 14 1/2 miles. Fram said that running the final 15 miles alone was tough mentally. "I really struggled the last 10K," Fram said.

Mary Lynn Currier decided to defend her Cape title after dropping out of the Hartford Marathon a week earlier due to leg cramps. "It was kind of neat coming back and win again," she said. "That doesn't happen too often, you win a marathon two years in a row."

Second place in both the men's and women's races went to members of the Falmouth Track Club. Ken Gartner, 37, of Woods Hole took second place with a time of 2:34:56 after passing two runners in the last mile and half. Cheryl Schultze, 31, of Eastham ran 2:59:11 and cracked the 3 hour barrier for the first time after seven tries at the Cape Cod Marathon and several at the Vermont City Marathon.

In the simultaneous Ocean Spray Marathon Relay, the "Rhode Masters" of Warwick, R.I., finished first overall, repeating their victory for the second consecutive year. The first women's team was Cape Cod Road Runners II of Pocasset, Mass.

The CCM went off without a hitch as usual thanks to the very hard work of the race committee and the hundreds of volunteers who worked on every aspect of the race from number pick-up, expo sales, to course control, water stops, finish line, and post race meal.

At the annual Grand Prix Selection Meeting of the USATF-NE, held a week later, the member clubs voted to make the CCM the 1998 Marathon Championship. This was the 11th time in the past 12 years, that the CCM was been so designated.