Heart of America Marathon
Labor Day heart2.gif (4940 bytes) Columbia, Missouri

1996 Report

The Heart of America Marathon was remarkable in many ways in 1996.

We had the most finishers (89, from 20 states) since 1984, when we had 108 in the 25th anniversary event.

Ronald Chisolm of St. Louis had the third fastest time ever at 2:30:43, behind Dennis Hinkamp's 2:29:15 in 1977 and Jon Herbert's 2:30:26 in the memorable duel he had with Bob O'Connell in 1981.

At three miles, Chisolm was more than a minute behind Hinkamp's record pace, but at six miles Chisolm was eight seconds ahead, at halfway he was 1:20 ahead and at 15 he was up by 1:32. He then began slipping; dropping to 21 seconds at 21 miles.

Chisolm was unaware of the record (as a late signup, he didn't get all the statistics the other runners had) and that might have made a difference.

Michele McFadden and Andrea Fischer also had magnificent performances. The two ran together the entire distance and obviously helped each other - Fischer in her first marathon running with a veteran marathoner (this was McFadden's third). At 2:54:10, they obliterated Liz Bulman's course record of 3:00:07 set in 1981 as they finished tied for third overall.

Chisolm got the age-35 record (bettering Dick Hessler's 2:39:45), and Gary Julin of Omaha got the age-49 mark bettering Don Newton's 2:57:21) with his fifth-place finish.

Brian King of Springfield, MO won the Dave Schulte Award with his 15:09 per cent improvement over the 4:03:51 he had last year.

A contingent from the 50 States & DC Club was on hand. These people have run a marathon (or are working on it) in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. As you might expect, they have run a lot of marathons. For example, Ray Scharenbrock has run 225 marathons and a few ultras; Dick Hogan 150-plus in addition to more than 100 ultra-marathons, including six 100-milers; Randolph Smith 144; Donald Osman 106; Joyce Hockensmith 98; and Jerome Ellison 67.

This was the third marathon in 55 hours for Mike Huff of Winston-Salem, NC. He ran one in Pennsylvania on Saturday and one in Michigan on Sunday.

The temperature was in the mid-60s at the start, moderately humid, with no sun until four hours into the race.