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Frank Maier Marathon
| Sandy Beach, Savikko Park, Douglas | Distance: 26.2 miles, 13.1 miles and 8 kilometers
Location: Sandy Beach, Savikko Park, Douglas
Start Time: 8:00 AM for the marathon, 9:00 AM for the half-marathon and 8K
Race Director: Bob Deal
Registration Fee: 5 dollars, or 6 for the half and 8K on the day
Out and back on the Douglas Highway, the marathon turning at the top of a hill beyond the False Outer Point parking lot and the half-marathon between the Bonnie Brae subdivision and Fish Creek, with eight or nine aid stations.
The first Frank Maier Memorial Marathon, and by the Empire's account the first certified marathon ever run in Juneau - meaning certified by The Athletics Congress. The Parks and Recreation marathon had been surveyed and certified to the official distance back in 1973. It remembers Frank Maier, a long-time Juneau runner with a penchant for distance events, who was killed in a crabbing accident in the winter of 1990-91. Maier ran the old Parks and Recreation marathon nine times between 1980 and 1988, his fastest 3:20:18 in 1981. "It was always Frank Maier's vision to have a marathon in Juneau," said race director Bob Deal. "For years he was disappointed."
Certification by The Athletics Congress means the course can qualify runners for marathons with a time standard, Boston among them. It was measured twice by calibrated bicycle odometer and carries the standard 0.1 percent safety factor, so it is a little long.
John Day won his first marathon in 3:13:04. "For me to win... You know none of the real runners in town were here," he said. "If they were, they would have slaughtered me." Walter Majoros was second in 3:34:41 - eleven years after finishing 18th in the 1981 Juneau marathon in 3:43:47, he gained sixteen places and about nine minutes on a tougher course. Joan Herbage was the first woman across in 3:39:13, also her first marathon.
Just eight took on the marathon and all eight finished. The half-marathon and 8K, run concurrently, drew a much larger field, and many of those runners stayed to cheer the marathon finishers in. Out-of-town runners dominated the men's half: Dan Kelliher of Sitka won in 1:14:34 from Rick Thibodeau, with Chip Lende of Haines third.
All three races counted toward the Empire Cup Runners Series, and a potluck followed at the Sandy Beach picnic shelter. | DefaultRaceDirector Unassigned | 1992-08-08 08:00:00 | no | yes | yes | Registration Form |