Rim runs, marathon an oxymoron
Herald and News
Klamath Falls, Oregon
August 15, 2005
CRATER LAKER NATIONAL PARK - There's an oxymoron up in them
there hills.
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As it has for 29 years previous, the Crater Lake Rim Runs and
Marathon challenged, literally and figuratively, runners from
around the United States, and the world.
"Beautiful and brutal," Tony Hawkes said after he became just
the third Klamath Falls resident to win the marathon, joining Al
Glidden (a three-time winner) and Randy Bailey.
Those words have been echoed by runners, especially of the
marathon and 13-mile race, for years, and were often repeated at
the end of those events Saturday.
"We came up to run and to see the lake," Lachelle Crotteau of
Bend said after she was the first woman to finish the
half-marathon race, one her fiance, Brand Layne, won.
"We heard what a beautiful place it was, so that was a good
excuse to come here and run. The beauty just keeps you going."
Hawkes said he had wanted to run the marathon at Crater Lake,
and has completed all three events now, but said he was
"apprehensive" about the 26-mile, 385-yard marathon.
"The course is the challenge, not the time (one finishes the
race in)," Hawkes said.
The first woman to complete the marathon was Annie Thiessen of
Tacoma, Wash., one of many runners in Saturday's longest race
who belong to the MarathonManiacs.
"It's really hard," Thiessen said of the Crater Lake marathon.
"It's one of the top five toughest courses in the country with
all the climbing and then the terrain in the finish area.
"The beauty motivates me to stop and take pictures."
Thiessen was one of more than a dozen runners who had throw-away
cameras or video units who would stop along the course and film
the background scenes of the lake along the course.
A number of runners mentioned how difficult the altitude of the
race is.
"If you ran a flat marathon in altitude, you might be able to
tell how much it affects you during the race," Thiessen said.
"But, it's really hard to say because most marathons run in
altitude are usually hilly, so you can't say."
Thiessen was one of the few MarathonManiacs who did not wear one
of the club's shirts during Saturday's race.
To qualify for membership, a runner must complete three
marathons in three months and, then, there are what Thiessen
called "degrees of difficulty" within the club.
There were members of group, which numbers more than 170 from
around the country, who are working on running a marathon a week
during 2005.
Most members also are part of the groups that have completed a
marathon in all 50 states, or have completed 100 career
marathons.
"Once a Maniac, always a Maniac," Thiessen said.
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Hawkes, who did not start running until he was 29, qualified for
the Boston Marathon earlier this year when he set his career
best during a run in Newport, and he plans to run the April 3
Boston race in 2006.
"Both my parents run," Hawkes said, and noted that they were in
the 6.7-mile race Saturday. "When my Mom qualified for Boston
when she was in her 40s, I figured I had the genetics and had
better try to do it, too."
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Bob Dinsmore of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Digna deBoer of Tucson,
Ariz., finished the marathon in almost five hours, but it was
their T-shirts that drew attention.
Both had blue T-shirts with yellow letters: "Recycled Teenager."
Dinsmore is 66 and deBoer 56.
"Whoever designed this course is verifiably insane," Dinsmore
said. "But, it's a beautiful setting and the best marathon we
have been to. It is really well organized and everyone is really
friendly."
It is those kind of comments that have helped draw a lot of
attention in the only road races contested inside the boundaries
of a national park in this country.
Not many people knew all of the final-week battles race director
Bob Freirich and others had to go through thanks to an internet
provider and problems related to the final 40, or so, entries.
Those problems, though, were easily handled.
When the race started, it had the full complement of 500
runners, the maximum allowed under the agreement between the
sponsoring Linkville Lopers and the U.S. Park Service.
RACE RAMBLINGS - Tony Phillips of Tacoma completed his 99th
career marathon Sunday, and was scheduled to run Sunday in Bend
... most of those events have been run in sandals ... Laurel
Ramsey of Portland completed Saturday's marathon on his 51st
birthday, and wore race No. 51 ... Martin Balding, of
Susanville, ran a comfortable race Saturday, the 27th Crater
Lake marathon he has completed, and he wore No. 27 ... in
addition to Oregon, Washington, California, New York and
Arizona, other runners in Saturday races were from Minnesota,
Georgia, Maryland, Wisconsin, Idaho, Virginia, Nevada, Illinois,
New Jersey, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Wyoming, Utah, Florida,
Indiana, Tennessee, Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania,
Texas, Connecticut, South Carolina, Nebraska, Montana, Maine and
Hawaii ... other countries that had runners in Saturday's 30th
annual event were from Germany, Iceland, Scotland and Canada.