With the 41st January Thaw on January 19th postponed due to an impending storm, the rescheduled date of January 26th dawned with clear roads and balmy, almost spring-like temperatures. Buoyed by a strong team of volunteers including Gene Roy, Geoff Hill, John Manzer, Harold Shaw, Rob Krickus, Deb Violette, and Lynda McGuire, the race kicked off without a hitch.

The field of 33 included some “old road race veterans” and quite a few new, welcome faces.  Conspicuous among the new faces was a young man, Patrick Caron, from Needham, Massachusetts who just decided to drop in.  The group took off with some donning just shorts and t-shirts for this real January Thaw.  The “outta stata” shot out in a near sprint leaving me to wonder about that pace for 4 1/2 miles but he proved to be the real deal finishing with a time of 23:41.  As far as I can find, this is second only to Todd Coffin’s 1993 course record of 22:01.

CMS runners, Sapan Bhatt and Jordan Castillo, finished second and fourth with times of 27:21 and 30:26 respectively.  They were separated by third place finisher, Blaine Moore of Brunswick in 29:24 running for Team Dirigo.  The first ladies across the finish line were Anya Davidson of Readfield in 6th place overall in 32:07 and Jess Beers of Waterville in 8th place with a time of 33:40.

This was a successful transition year with a strong foundation in place to carry on this longtime tradition led by “new blood” next year.

Thanks to David Colby-Young for his coverage.  As Gene Roy said, “We know we’re putting on a real race when David Colby-Young shows up to take photos.”

Tom McGuire
Race Director

First of all, I'm truly honored to be able to lead this club.  I'm proud of our long history as Maine's oldest, active running club.  When I moved to Maine a couple years ago, I never imagined that I would become so involved in the local running scene, much less become the president of a running club.  It's almost unbelievable how quickly it seems I went from moving to Maine, to running my first Quarry Road race, to attending a Striders meeting, to being elected club Vice President, to starting weekly summer pub runs, and now to being elected President. 

I have to acknowledge that I would never have made it to this position without the inspiration of previous club members and officers.  I'd especially like to thank former President Brendan Gilpatrick, former Treasurer Ron Peck, and former Communications Director Alicia MacLeay for making me feel welcome to the Central Maine running community and for encouraging me to get involved.  Thank you for your years of dedication to the club, and I hope we continue to see you around at club events this year and beyond.

As President of the Striders, I want to bring more value to your membership in the club.  I plan to get more discounts for club members in local races.  I will try to have more opportunities to get free or discounted Striders-themed running gear.  I intend to improve communications with our members through more email newsletters and regularly updating the webpage, and through our Facebook group.  I want to continue to host our summer pub runs and track workouts, but also want to add some additional social runs that are not focused on pubs or tracks.  I am also hoping to add an additional Striders sponsored road race or two, possibly in the 1-mile and/or 10k distances.  Most importantly, I want the Striders to continue to be a club that welcomes runners of all abilities, backgrounds, ages, and interest levels.

I'm looking forward to keeping the traditions of the Striders alive, but I also hope we can begin some new events and activities.  We have a lot of exciting things planned for the Central Maine Striders in 2020.  I hope to see all of you out there running and attending club events!

-Ryan Goebel, Central Maine Striders President