The Aroostook Mûsterds Running Club’s County Challenge Series has started its 33rd season with the Katahdin Trust Sow Run held in Houlton Feb. 7, 2015.
For 2015, the series again consists of seven races. Races this year include the Snow Run, the UMPI Spring Runoff 5K (in Presque Isle April 11), the S.W. Collins 5K (in Caribou June 21), the Mûsterd Mile (in Caribou July 10), the Potato Blossom 5-Miler (in Fort Fairfield July 18), the newly-added Maine Running Festival Half-Marathon (in Presque Isle Aug. 30), and the Caribou Labor Day Road Race (in Caribou Sept. 7).
Each of the seven series races is directed by an independent director or organization, all coming together to have points compiled from each race based on overall and individual finish positions as well as for series-wide participation.
The original series, then called the Northern Challenger Series, was held in 1983 and was conceived by Joggernaut running club members Conrad Walton, Bob Duprey and Sam Hamilton. The series was sponsored by the then Northern National Bank, and consisted of five five-mile races held in Fort Kent (a five-miler at UMFK), Caribou (“The Inn Race”), Houlton (“5 on the 4th”), Fort Fairfield (“The Potato Blossom 5-Miler”), and Presque Isle (“The Northern Challenge”).
The rules have been altered a bit along the way, with those changes being how age groups were structured, the number of races in the series, and the fact that in 1983 one must have run the final race to be eligible for series awards, which is now not the case. This final change was instituted in later years as runners who had gone off to college were often unable to return for the Labor Day Event.
The current seven-race series sees the Potato Blossom event as the only race left from the original 1983 series. Most are fund-raising activities with money raised for the “Aid For Children Organization,” the University of Maine at Presque Isle cross country and track programs, the Caribou High School athletic programs, the Mûsterd scholarship fund and the Fort Fairfield middle school ski team.
One of the original purposes of the 1983 series, as is the case now, was to strongly encourage and to draw the less accomplished, recreational runner to come out as well as the more seasoned racers. According to Walton, as stated in the March 20, 1983 edition of the Aroostook Republican, “It’s a little different concept in road racing. Instead of all the prizes going in one race, you’re encouraging people to participate in all races.”
Walton further indicated that “the runners to watch” were “Jeff Keaton and Marlin Conrad of Loring Air Force Base, Paul Plissey of Presque Isle and Glen Heinz of Houlton for the men and Nancy Jackson and Kate Martin of Caribou and Emily Higgins of Presque Isle for the women.”
The series winners that first year were Walton and Higgins. Walton actually had tied Rusty Taylor, each with 33 points, but Walton won the tie-breaker as he finished ahead of Taylor in the fifth and final race. The winners received an all-expense paid trip to race in the very prestigious Kingfield 10K, a race which drew major competition from throughout New England and beyond.
Additionally, Walton, Taylor and Martin were selected to captain the men’s and women’s contingents, respectively, representing the “Northern Team” in the Benjamin’s 10K held in Bangor. Since that inaugural series, the 32 overall winners on the women’s side have been Martin (twice), Higgins, Brook Merrow, Cynthia Reinhardt, Joanna Flemming, Connie McLellan, Donna Sund (twice), Angela (Edgecomb) Ewings (13 times), Tina Michaud, Merrily Prest-Clayton, Francis Prest, Susan Plissey (three times), Marie Beckum (twice) and Kimberly Wright (twice).
Men’s winners have been Walton, Bob Everett (five times), Taylor (twice), Richard Hartford, Jr., Cliff Rogers, Jamie Good (twice), P.J. Gorneault (five times), Danny Paul, Frank McElwain (twice), Shawn Berry (three times), Chris Blackistone (four times), Jeff Ashby (twice), Alfred Hanscom (twice) and Thomas Beckum.
Defending champions from 2014 are Wright and Gorneault.
Current standings after the February Snow Run has Nicole Hanscom leading the overall women’s division. The men’s group is headed by Chris Rines. Age group leaders are Teagan Ewings and Isaac Potter (14 and under), Emily Dickison and Isaiah Brown (15-19), Mikayla Wiley and Rines (20-29), Hanscom and Peter Bates (30-39), Angela Ewings and Bob McHatten (40-49), Evan Lewis (50-59) and Roy Alden (60-69).
The next County Challenge Series race is the UM-Presque Isle Spring Runoff on April 11. For more information, contact Chris Smith at 768-9472 or at christopher.smith@umpi.edu.
