Those who recall history can better appreciate the significance of current events.
A quarter century ago an unknown twenty year old runner from the Mohawk Valley in Central New York wearing a non-descript BIB # 1147 on his Brooks singlet ran away from a talented field that included 10 competitors who ran under 49 minutes for the 15K distance. He won the 1986 Stockade-athon by a nearly a minute in a swift 46:06, the start of a remarkable career that would peak with an American marathon record 2:09:35 at Chicago, a Stockade-athon course record of 44:39, and a 1:01 half marathon in Houston Texas. The athlete, Jerry Lawson, became an iconic figure in New York distance running lore, and after taking up residence in Florida, he returned to post top 10 finishes every year at the Utica Boilermaker for nearly a decade.
Fast forward 25 years and a 23 year old SUNY Brockport graduate student perhaps trying to fly under the radar, registered at the “last chance” expo and was assigned an emergency BIB #2150, as an official late entrant. Tim Chichester’s late entry may not have been quite the surprise to his competitors as Lawson’s was, for he did debut in the Stockade-athon the prior year and nearly won. Though when this year’s edition of the Stockade-athon concluded the following day, one could not help but be reminded of Lawson’s impressive run 25 years ago when describing the special performance witnessed from this gifted runner from Mt Morris NY.
The Stockade course loops past the finish prior to the 1 mile split, where Chichester had already opened a clear gap on the field of 1600 with only Kiernan O’Connor from New York City in close pursuit. The Scotia NY native realized early he was running for second place as Chichester ripped through the initial 5K in 15:14. Chichester use the downhill 4th mile to recover before making a big move up the decisive State Street hill running solo with a torrid 5:12 split. He passed the 10K mat in Vale cemetery in 31 flat and felt so good he continued running scared, with only the sounds of a female bagpiper to keep him company.
Behind Chichester, a competitive race developed for the runner up spot, as O’Connor battled with two of the top masters’ runners in the country in Mark Andrews (48:41) and Kevin Collins (49:06). O’Connor (48:36) would eventually edge clear in the final mile but not before gaining a lot of respect for the elder duo. Post race O’Connor said “both of them were kicking my butt early and I was just trying to hang on. As masters guys I figured I was not going to have any problems but they are tough tough competition.”
The winner would finish in 46:59 more than a minute and a half clear of O’Connor and Andrews in an impressive start to finish effort that even had Chichester reflecting back in history. “This is a great race! To be put in the history books with all the great runners who have won this, it feels good.”
The women’s race was highlighted by a duel of two Olympic Marathon Trials qualifiers in Jodi Robertson (nee Schoppmann) and Albany native Ashley Gorr. Gorr was coming off her marathon qualifier at the ING Hartford Marathon 4 weeks prior, where she placed second in a personal best 2:45:30 in only her 4th marathon at age 24. Robertson posted her 2:42 marathon qualifier in the spring in her native Long Island marathon but was a slight underdog in this event as she spent most of the summer recovering from a stress fracture in her back. Robertson would edge clear of Gorr with less than 2 miles remaining and held her at bay by 16 seconds. (54:47 to 55:03).
Mary Wilsey, the official lead cyclist for the women’s race described the duel this way. “From my perspective the race was run very seamlessly – runners were safe on the course [and fast!].” “Just as an aside – I had the lead women and at every mile I couldn’t believe the splits (5:50) my Garmin was showing! They ran an amazing race!”
The race had its usual contingent of strong masters and age-graded runners, led by the Canadian marathon legend Ed Whitlock who set a new 5-year world age record (80+) running 1:07:05 to best the existing record of 1:13:28 by over 6 minutes. Almost as impressive was the turn-out of legendary New England runners who forgot to act their age. Bill Dixon of Brattleboro Vermont ran 58:15 at age 64; Norm Larson of Burlington Vermont posted a 55:03 at age 55, Gordon Macfarland of Arlington MA ran 1:00:06 at age 63 and Sidney Letendre of Florance MA finished in 1:06:07 at age 57. New York’s top local performance went to Derrick Staley who at age 53 posted an impressive 54:42. Said Staley post race “I feel young, pretty good for an old man.”
In 1986, the 11th edition of the Stockade-athon had 886 finishers and only 16% were women.
The 36th edition will also be remembered for a record turnout (1794 registered) and 1603 finished plus a record 150 + children in the 1-mile Duck Pond Run. It will also be remembered for a surge of women participants that for the first time equaled the number of men. Each pre-registered woman received a pink performance racing shirt by Brooks which proved to be very popular.
Said Central MA masters mainstay Sidney Letendre (57) “Thanks for really one of the greatest races ever. I loved the pavilion with the fire and the whole set up of food was really great. I don’t think there was one detail that was left undone. So thank you for a fine day. PS: I LOVE the pink t-shirts!!"
So from 3-time Stockade Champion Jerry Lawson to women’s age-graded champion Sidney Letendre 25 years later, the Brooks tradition continues.