Running Backwards to 1984: A Jog Into the Striders Archives

In this edition of Running Backwards, we're taking a jog down memory lane to 1984.

All the issues of The Interval newsletter in 1984 featured the same masthead which showed the club's association with Road Runners Club of America and The Athletics Congress, our familiar PO Box 1177 address, and a list of the officers.  [Anybody out there want to run for "Data Processor" in 2021?]

In the January-February issue, President Dean Rasmussen was happy to ring in the new year and perhaps even happier to hand over the position of President to another (un)lucky soul. 

Central Maine Striders t-shirts were available for $12 each.  [Speaking of t-shirts, we're working at getting some new Striders shirts made here in 2020.  Stayed tuned for more details.] 

The president elect had a few comments in which he names the other new officers (including current Strider Jim Moore), but fails to name himself.  Who is this mystery president elect?

Amongst the race results, were some results leftover from the end of 1983.  In the Veterans Day Half Marathon, Donnajean Pohlman seems to have dashed across the finish line one second faster than Ron Paquette.

Also in November 1983, several Striders ran in a cross-country race at UMaine-Augusta.  Striders teams nabbed the first and second place team prizes.  Current Strider Gene Roy placed 4th overall with a time of 17:27 in the 3-mile race.  Other current Striders that raced in Augusta that day included Dean Rasmussen and Sarah Roy. 

And yet another November 1983 race that featured a ton of Striders was the Gasping Gobbler 10k.  Gerry Clapper set the course record with a time of 31:09.  Also there were current Striders Geoff Hill, Jerry Allanach, Dean Rasmussen, Jim Moore, Ron Paquette, and Sarah Roy.

Outgoing president Dean Rasmussen had one last word and shared the newly ratified Central Maine Striders Constitution (only partially reprinted here).

---

Thanks to the April 1984 Interval masthead, we find out that the mystery president elect is none other than Fred Judkins II.  Also, it seems that the "Data Processor" position that he held previously was eliminated and/or absorbed into the position of President.  Club Presidents are very accustomed to absorbing all the miscellaneous duties that no one else wants to do.

Some of President Fred Judkins' first words in newsletter were to congratulate Super Strider Gene Roy with the Presidents Award.  

Speaking of Gene, there was also a nice profile written up about the entire Roy family in that newsletter.  We're proud to say that most of the Roys are still members in our club. 

Race results that were "In The News" in April 1984 included the January Thaw, where Ron Paquette, Jim Moore, Donnajean Pohlman and Sarah Roy were amongst the finishers.  

The St Pat 10k in Waterville was also "In The News".  Current Striders that ran that day included Jerry Allanach, Ron Paquette, Jim Moore, and Donnajean Pohlman.  

[By the way, a 10k in Waterville sounds like a pretty good idea, don't you think?  Have you heard about the Central Maine Striders Fall Classic 10k?  Click here for more info.]

The May 1984 newsletter was a bit late getting out thanks to a blown wordprocessing diskette.  Hashtags weren't invented yet, but this surely would be classified under "#1984problems".

Kids, don't worry if you don't know what a "wordprocessing diskette" is.  If you blew your wordprocessing diskette back in 1984, I imagine it was kind of like dropping your iPhone into a river and then coming home to find that Apple replaced their 2-day express shipping with three-week shipping.

Oh... injuries.  Unfortunately, too many of us Striders have been through the dreaded running injury and subsequent recovery period.  It's all part of being a runner.

[As a comparison, as of 9/7/2020, we have 72 family memberships which translates into 126 members.]

Included in the race results that issue was the Boston Primer Readfield 15-miler.  Jerry Allanach flew through the 15 miles in 1:35:55.  Gene Roy was only two-and-a-half minutes behind that.  And Donnajean Pohlman once again eked out a victory over Ron Paquette by a margin of one second.

In what is possibly one of the greatest race names ever, the Strides of March 10k was held in Waterville.  Some familiar names (Jerry Allanach, Ron Paquette, Sarah Roy, and Donnajean Pohlman) were amongst the current Striders that raced that day.

[Hmmmm.... another 10k in Waterville?  You know you want to run in one too.  Click here for your only chance to run a 10k in Waterville in 2020.]

Although not in Waterville, yet another area 10k was held that spring in China.  Thirty-four Striders showed up to race there!  THIRTY-FOUR Striders in the SAME RACE!  How awesome is that?

The Roy kids showed up to take 136th, 163rd, and 177th places in the fun run.  Wait... how big was this fun run?  Was every kid in central Maine there to run?  

[10k's were cool in 1984.  Help the Striders make 10k's cool again by signing up for the 2020 Central Maine Striders Fall Classic 10k.]

In the August 1984 newsletter, President Fred Judkins sent out his "deepest empathy" to all the injured runners out there.  Unfortunately, being injured is part of being a runner, as our current president knows all too well.  Luckily, the sun will shine again and you will most likely run again after your injury heals.

There hasn't been many book or recipe recommendations in The Interval over the years, so that makes this one all the more interesting.  For those that are curious, Amazon still sells a newer edition of this book, so I'm sure that some local bookstore out there also does.

Have any of you tried the "Hass Crabmeat Au Gratin"?  We'd love for you to let us know if eating it helped you win anything.

Wait a minute...  He ended up 10 miles away from the finish on a 4-mile course?  Now that's what I call getting lost!

We no longer provide this service, but found it interesting that you used to be able to request a membership roster.  I guess privacy concerns have changed a little over the years.

Jerry Allanach ran a 2:54 and Ron Paquette clocked a 3:42 in 1984's edition of the Maine Coast Marathon.  Not bad, guys!

And then there was everyone's favorite "only one hill" race -- Mount Washington.

Hey look!  Another 10k.  This one was in Fairfield.  Jerry Allanach notched a sub-40-min 10k just a few weeks after this sub-3-hour marathon.  Geoff Hill also ran sub-40-minutes that day.

Although not quite as well named as the "Strides of March", the "Save Your Sole" 10k is still a pretty good race name.  Oh yes, it's another 10k.  [Did we mention anything about the 10k happening October 11, 2020 yet?]  

There was a Waterville 10k in August too.  Because you just can never have enough 10k's.  

At the Renovation 10k, current Striders Jim Moore, Donnajean Pohlman, Dean Rasmussen, and Ron Paquette were finishers.

It seems that the Striders had a surge in interest in biathlons and triathlons in 1984.

The October 1984 issue of The Interval served up some more 10k news.  However, this note from the president wasn't about the 10k race itself, but rather the "controversy" of former Striders wearing Striders singlets.  There was even a main-in poll about it contained in this newsletter.  Although we're not sure what the final results of that poll were, we just want to make it clear that in the 2020 edition of the Striders, if you paid for your singlet, you're free to wear it whenever and wherever you want.

The final issue of the year came out in November and had some bad news.  The Striders were running low on cash and the final newsletter of the year had to be squeezed onto one page using a really small font.

I'm not sure if a Triple Crown or Grand Slam of Maine marathons still exists, but Gene Roy nominated Jerry Allanach for the Grand Slam award in 1984.  Jerry cruised through four marathons in the state of Maine that year, clocking sub-3-hour times in all of them, including a very impressive 2:50:40 at the Casco Bay marathon.

At the bottom of the one-page November 1984 newsletter, several race results were squashed at the bottom (we've done your eyes a favor and magnified the font for you here).  Lots of familiar names here.  And look at all of those 10k's!!!  [One last time: have you registered for the Central Maine Striders Fall Classic 10k yet?]

Well, that's all we have for this edition's jog into the past.  Thanks for coming along.  We hope you found it to be more of a fun run than a marathon going through 1984.  No one knows what year we'll be running back to in the next issue, but we promise that it will have less links to our October 2020 10k.