The Run: 'It was beautiful'

The Run: ‘It was beautiful’

By Dave Rigan

One-by-one-by-one-by-one...

All of the finishers in the Dexter-Ann Arbor Run walked through a tent where their numbers were recorded in order of finish in Saturday's 15 and seven-mile runs sponsored by the Ann Arbor Track Club. There were about 2,500 individual runners that went the 15 or seven mile routes.

Virtually all of the faces were dripping with sweat from the vigorous exercise on a humid morning, including that of the overall 15-mile winner Peter Hallop, 33-year old Ann Arborite who is the first person to win the event twice. He first won the race in 1978, was third last year, and his winning time this year was 1:18:10.8.

Two athletes from the Michigan women's track team, Lisa Larsen and Lynn Fudala crossed the finish line together to win the overall women's run in 1:37:20.

Seven-mile winners were Don Hubbard in 36:49 and Sue Parks in 43:40. She was a close second place finisher in last years's 15-mile run.

MANY OF THE runners carried bottles of water, Gatorade, E.R.G., or beer as they waited in line to have their numbers recorded and matched with the computerized timer that provided the official results in 22 different categories.

63-year old Odie Brown of Pontiac wore a white wool cap as he came through the roped off shoot on the infield of the Huron High Track. "It was beautiful," he said with an enthusiastic smile as he took off his sweat drenched shirt. "The people were beautiful with the water and the hoses along the way. I ran in the Pepsi race a few weeks ago and you couldn't get water anywhere."

Hallop didn't think much about water on the day of the race.

"I didn't take one drink," he said about two hours after he finished, looking as fresh as if he had hardly run at all. "I just ran. Drinking slows me down. I drank all day long yesterday - anything I could  get my hands on. It was kind of warm. I ran all week in a sweat suit and gloves and people thought I was nuts, but it paid off.

"When I got to the 12-mile mark at the Broadway Bridge I knew I had it won. It was just a matter of finishing. I started to let up at 13 and after that it was harder because I wasn't mentally into it."

AMONG THE TOP 100 or so finishers (official listings are still being tabulated) in the 15-mile run was 12-year old Robbie Cotton, a sixth grader at Pattengill school. His time was 1:40:00, which was two minutes better than his time in last year's run.

"The last few miles were the toughest," he said, "but I paced myself well. I will be running the half mile in a track meet for the Ann Arbor Track Club in Detroit Sunday."

He said he liked running the half better than 15 and that he was probably going to have some ice cream when he got home.

Fudala and Larsen ran the entire race together in their Michigan uniforms of maize tops and blue shorts. They were dripping with sweat, and very tired, but also enthusiastic. 

"We were really having a good time after 10 miles," said Fudala, a 21-year old. "We had it in the back of our minds to win."

"THERE WERE A lot of men trying to chase us down," said Larsen, an 18-year old, as one man walked up to the two and thanked them for helping him keep his pace down. 

Most of the runners were affected adversely by the humidity, but had good things to say about the overall organization of the run and the ready availability of water and bystanders with hoses. There was only one major snag in the run, when the finishers of the seven-mile run got piled up in a bottleneck just past the one hour mark.

There were so many people finishing at once, and at times runners would put on a last ditch sprint over the line to the chagrin of the race official who tried to keep the runners in the order of finish and at times had to grab people and switch the order.

Dan Sveller of Ypsilanti ran the 15-mile for the first time after doing the seven-mile run four times. "The only difference is that it's a lot longer," he said. "The humidity just hangs there along the river. It was great every time somebody brought out a hose." His running shoes were still wet from the water as he talked.

TWO SISTERS-IN-LAW, Jeannie and Mary Jane Tramontin, also remarked about the importance of water and the hoses. "There were people who were just neighbors, not involved in the track club that really helped us along the way," said Jeannie. "A doctor friend also helped when I had an injury while I was training and told me to decrease my mileage and rest the four days before the race."

Once the finishers passed through the tent they were guided to a water table and eventually to a table to get an official t-shirt. There will be plenty of new yellow and light brown shirts with a picture of the start of the Dexter to Ann arbor Run on the front appearing around town in the coming weeks and that's where they came from.

WINNERS AND WAITERS - There are those who run, and those who stand and wait. The winner of the 1980 edition of the Dexter - Ann Arbor Run was city resident Peter Hallop, the event's first double winner. Above right, he is all smiles as he heads for the finish line. If he had run much faster, he might never have found the finish. Spectators and friends of the runners had the Huron High track pretty well jammed up just before the first runners appeared (below right). Among the top finishers was 12-year old Peter Cotton, left, who improved his time and finished in the top 100 in the 15-mile race.

News Photos by Jack Stubbs