PATRIOT LEDGER: August 6, 1978, Paul Oricchio
All for one, and one….
Duxbury
It looked like they were signing a peace treaty. Alberto Salazar and Bob Hodge, both of the Greater Boston Track Club, strode home together in conciliatory fashion at the Gurnet Beach Classic
The two very good runners were all smiles and congratulated each other with a resounding handshake capturing the fourth annual six mile run which has grown in popularity over its short life.
Salazar, 19 of Wayland was the official first place finisher. Hodge didn’t register with the tournament officials. He wasn’t one of the official 800 entrants in the beach race but he competed in the 6 mile race anyway.
Bill Rodgers was the winner the past three years when the field grew from 120 runners it’s first year, to 260 and 468 its second and third years. Rodgers couldn’t make it this year, but the blue ribbon stayed with the GBTC.
The Gurnet race seemed more like a party than a race. Most of the runners knew each other and the roughly 2,500 bystanders were just as much a part of the festivities.
Salazar, a junior at the University of Oregon, taking graceful strides caught Hodge with under a mile to go on the fog-shrouded beach and the pair coasted in together with a time of 30 minutes 39 seconds.
The race was nothing more than a workout for Salazar and Hodge. Salazar ran 11 miles in the morning and Hodge ran another five miles after finishing the race.
This isn’t too unusual for long distance runners who usually work out twice a day with treks of 10 miles or better. Both runners are shooting for the Falmouth Road Race, the late summer Cape Cod event which has also become quite popular in a short time.
“I had a pretty good workout. I ran pretty hard,” said Salazar. “This is a fun race. We come down here to have a good time. I met up with Hodgie and we came in together.”
“The Gurnet race is really a social event,” said Hodge who is one of the top runners in the GBTC. “Alberto and I made a pact to take it together.”
The GBTC had 100 members entered stealing the show, except for local Craig Youngblood of Duxbury. The winner of the Duxbury Road Race finished third behind Salazar and Hodge.
“I think I finished in second place but there were two runners ahead of me,” said Youngblood. “I have a card here that says I finished second, so I guess I did.
“I was very close to them but they sprinted ahead at the end of the race. I love to run in this weather it’s just right. It’s the best kind of weather,” said Bloodgood.
Bloodgood is well known on the south shore but the Salazar’s and Hodge’s are still one cut above. Salazar has a great future. At 19 he is thought to be capable of beating Rodgers.
Bloodgood hopes to peak for the New York Marathon in October. He is going to take a year off from school at the University of Massachusetts to run the Vermont hills. Dick Mahoney of Weymouth finished fourth and Jane Welzel was the first woman finisher.