June 17, 1989 was my 24th birthday. Not sure what I did that day.
But I sure know what Dave Dunham and Bob Hodge were up to.
Dunham, a Billerica native, and Hodge, a Lowell native, staged one of the greatest races in Mount Washington Road Race history that Saturday morning in New Hampshire.
They ran nearly the entire 7.6 miles together, stride for stride, step for step. At the bottom, when they begin their run up the auto road, it was 50 degrees. By the time they finished it was very cold and very foggy.
Spectators didn't begin cheering until the lead runner emerged out of the fog near the finish line, more than 6,200 feet above sea level.
Who won? To learn the answer, check out Sunday's Lowell Sun. (That's called a teaser in the business). Despite running up Mount Washington in tough conditions, the men were separated at the finish line by only two seconds. More than 800 runners finished; only two ever had a chance to win it.
I spoke to both men and then met both with a photographer at Shedd Park in Lowell. Dunham and Hodge are both running legends in New England. It was a fun story to work on. I stumbled upon the legendary 1989 duel while researching a blog item.
I'm very proud of how it turned out - so plunk down the $3 to purchase the paper if you can. Support local journalism.
Anyway, off my soapbox. The coolest part of the story, I feel, is at the end, when I report that, nearly 32 years after the epic race, both men still run every day.
Dunham is now 57. Hodge is 65. Yet they both still put on their running sneakers, no matter the weather, every day. There's something remarkable about that considering both men have run over 100,000 miles in their careers.
Long may they run.
Dave Dunham, left, and Bob Hodge run up the Mount Washington auto road on June 17, 1989 during their epic duel
Comments