Falmouth Road Race

History

The race was the idea of Tommy Leonard, an avid runner and popular bartender in Boston and Falmouth. During the 1972 Summer Olympics, Leonard closed his bar in order to watch Frank Shorter win the first Olympic marathon for the United States since 1908. After Shorter won the marathon Leonard was quoted as saying "Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could get Frank Shorter to run in a race on Cape Cod?" One year later, in the summer of 1973, with the help of the town's recreation director Rich Sherman, and a local high school track coach John Carroll, the first Falmouth Road Race was run by approximately 100 people. The next year there were 445 runners, and the year after that Frank Shorter joined 850 other runners in the race, bringing Leonard's wish true. Today the ASICS Falmouth Road Race is considered one of the premier non-marathon races in the country, if not the world, attracting over 10,000 runners each year. The field of runners typically includes many of the best American and international runners, including both past and future Olympic athletes.

Entry

More people apply for places than can be accommodated in the race, so a random selection process is held to select the field of runners. The application period is a short window of time during the first half of May. Applications must be submitted online on the race website. A number of places are especially reserved for Falmouth residents. Five runners, celebrated through the years as "The Falmouth Five" Mike Bennett, Tom Brannelly, Don Delinks, Ron Pokraka and Brian Salzberg, have officially completed 46 consecutive Falmouth Road Races.

Course

The beginning of the course is extremely hilly, with a starting line by the Captain Kidd Restaurant & Bar in Woods Hole, and a finish by the Falmouth Heights beach. From the start corral, one races up a gradually steepening incline and into a narrow wooded road, emerging onto a long curved coastal stretch that runs by Nobska Light, continuing along a wooded road with gentle rolling hills, emerging onto Surf Drive along a hot beach on Martha's Vineyard Sound, past beach cottages on stilts, before turning inland toward the center of Falmouth town, along Falmouth Harbor, and finally looping back to the shore route for one last 1/4 mi hill that crests just before the finish.

Before 2006, promotional materials usually described the Falmouth Road Race as a 7.1 mi event. In 2006, it was measured and certified to be 7 mi.

Winners

Key:

Wheelchair division

The race also has a wheelchair division with course records held by Daniel Romanchuck, USA, at 21:58 and Tatyana McFadden, USA, at 26:15, both set in 2019.

References

;List of winners

• Monti, Dave (2009-08-10). Falmouth Road Race 7 miles. Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 2010-04-06.

References

1. Gambaccini, Peter. (2013-08-12). "Micah Kogo Edges Ben True at Falmouth Road Race". Rodale Inc..
2. "Home".
3. "Archived copy".
4. Connolly, John. (2018-08-20). "Ben Flanagan finishes Falmouth Road Race with a flourish". [[Boston Herald]].
5. Lotsbom, Chris. (2016-08-22). "Kenyans Sweep at Sunday's Falmouth Road Race". [[Runner's World]].
6. Springer, Shira. (2015-08-17). "Kenyan Stephen Sambu beats the heat to win Falmouth Road Race". [[The Boston Globe]].
7. Cassidy, Patrick. (2014-08-17). "Saina, Sambu, Senbeta and McFadden win Falmouth Road Race". Local Media Group, Inc..