Maine Marathon, Half Marathon
& Marathon Relay

Another record field, and three course records fall

It was a day for records at the 18th annual Peak Performance Maine Marathon, Half Marathon and Marathon Relay, with the largest turnout of runners and walkers in the history of the event, and three course-record performances.

All three races drew record fields, with nearly 1,000 finishers in the marathon, 1,872 in the half marathon and 67 relay teams, not to mention another large contingent for the Military Tribute March. Louie Luchini of Ellsworth and Kristin Barry of Scarborough kicked the day off with a bang, taking advantage of ideal running conditions on a cool, overcast morning to shatter the men's and women's records in the half marathon. A third record was set in the marathon relay by Nor'easter Run.

Luchini, 28, sliced nearly two minutes off the course record as he cruised around the out-and-back course in 1 hour, 6 minutes, 56 seconds, breaking the mark of 1:08:49 set in 2002 by Adam Crandall. It was also a PR of more than two minutes for Luchini, who won his half marathon debut just two weeks earlier at Bar Harbor. Scott Rowe, 35, of Dover, N.H., was a distant second in 1:12:10, and 2007 champion PJ Gorneault, 30, of Caribou was third in 1:13:32.

Barry, 35, won the women's race by more than seven minutes, and her time of 1:17:53 beat the mark of 1:18:44 set by Joan Samuelson in 2003. Amanda Labelle, 25, of Rockland placed second in 1:25:15, followed by Abby Mahoney, 31, of Holyoke, Mass., in 1:27:38.

For only the third time in the event's history, the first-place relay team beat the men's winner, and there was no doubt about the outcome this time. Nor'easter Run, a Portland-based team composed of Josh Zolla, Steve Monsulick, Robert Gomez and Brendan O'Keefe, finished in 2:20:57 -- almost eight minutes faster than the record of 2:28:40 set by the Spudland Racers in 2006.

While Nor'easter Run was blowing away the relay field, Jeremy Adler, 28, of New York was building a big lead in the men's marathon. Despite fading over the second half, he held on for the victory in 2:38:57, followed by two masters runners -- David McLennan, 46, of Scotsburn, Nova Scotia (2:40:23), and Robert Ashby, 41, of Brunswick (2:40:54).

Heather Goodfellow, 36, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, had a much more comfortable margin of victory in the women's division. Goodfellow finished in 2:59:16, well ahead of Tracy Thelen, 30, of Colorado Springs, Colo. (3:06:18), and Karleen Fallon, 29, of Brighton, Mass. (3:07:00).

Portland Press Herald race coverage

Official race photos

Race photos are now available for viewing and purchase through our official race photographer -- Photo Chambers.

Join us again in 2010

Mark Sunday, Oct. 3, on your 2010 calendar as the date for next year's race.