The Falmouth Road Race celebrates its 40th anniversary on Sunday, August 12, 2012. The race dates back to 1973, when running as a sport was becoming increasingly popular with Americans.
While Falmouth bartender and enthusiastic runner Tommy Leonard was the catalyst for the race, the person responsible for the actual planning and implementation of it was a coach for Falmouth High School girls track, John Carroll.
The first ever Falmouth Road Race took place on Tommy Leonard's birthday, August 15, 1973—when rain happened to be streaking down from the sky in torrents. Despite the highly inclement weather, 98 participants took their place, and in the end it was Central Michigan University student Dave Duba who came in first with a time of 39 minutes and 16 seconds.
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The next year saw some changes to the race. It was moved from the middle to the end of the week, and more attention was drummed up for the event by inviting Olympian Marty Liquori. Tommy Leonard went to work rustling up competitors for Liquori by submitting invitations to a number of runners from the Boston area.
Also in contrast to the first year, the race day dawned bright and clear as the runners—500 in total!—took their places at the starting line. The presence of Marty Liquori apparently caused some of the runners to think outside the box in order to get an edge. Giles Threadgold, one of the other competitors, had the idea of leaving the track altogether and swimming across Falmouth Harbor, thereby taking off a mile from the route.
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This unorthodox strategy, however, ended up failing. In the end, the finish line was first crossed by Bill Rodgers, who had a final time of 34 minutes and 16 seconds.
As the years went on, the popularity of the race continued to grow, with people coming to Falmouth from all over the world to participate, or even just to watch the race.
For this year's challenge, 10,000 potential competitors are expected to run the race, a vast jump from the 98 that first participated back in 1973. The race has also taken on a vastly more international feel. For the past four years, the winners of the Falmouth Road Race have been from Kenya and Ethopia.
As the saying goes, “Sic Parvis Magna"..."greatness here has come from small beginnings."
