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NEW CONTEST! WOW!!!
Many thanks to Nancy Coleman and the Daily Review for allowing publication of this fine article. Written & Photographed by NANCY COLEMAN of THE DAILY REVIEW, TOWANDA, PA. Slap. Slap. Slap. Your feet hit the pavement. Yard after yard, then mile after mile. You breathe hard. Your shirt's wet with sweat. You're doing one of the toughest, scariest -- and greatest -- things of your life. You're running in a marathon. Next month, four area men will do this. The four are running in the Steamtown Marathon.
(front row; left, Vance McGee & right, Joe McGee. Back row, Gary Ferguson, left and Brad Delmater. Brad Delamater, brothers Joe and Vance McGee, and Gary Ferguson will compete in the fifth annual race Sunday, Oct. 8. All are experienced runners, and most have run in Steamtown before. "I think there's personal goals," Joe says of marathon running. "Running's just something that there's no end of the line. ... There's no dead end." On a windy Saturday, the friends chat at one end of the Towanda High School track. White lines swish invitingly around the black oval. The men talk marathons and running. At 26 miles, 385 yards, next month's race is a full-fledged marathon, beginning in Forest City and ending in downtown Scranton. Information from race organizers warns: "Marathons are extremely strenuous events. ... A conscientious training program would consist of no fewer than 15, 20- to 40-mile weeks leading up to the race. Numerous long runs of 13 to 20 miles would have been included." One good reason to compete comes next April: the Boston Marathon. The runners' mecca. If they record good enough Steamtown times, Gary and Vance can qualify. Brad and Joe are already in, but can improve their starting positions by getting good times. To help train, the four belong to the newly formed Kenya West Running Club, a group of about 20 runners from the Wyalusing and Towanda areas. They chose their name because this area lies just a wee bit west of Kenya, home of great marathon runners. The KW'ers started meeting at the end of July. They run five to six miles or longer weekly. (Gary notes fellow runners Jim Schools and Matt
The copyright of the article Marathon Men of Kenya West. in Running is owned by . Permission to republish Marathon Men of Kenya West. in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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