are set up and live music is provided. (Cajun music is big in Montana— honest.)

The spectators and racers are festive and enthusiastic but manage to vanish into the woodwork well before evening rolls in. How 5,801 runners, their families, and friends can vanish so thoroughly stumps us. In almost every other city in the country, Helena’s kind of crowd would stretch the Governor’s Cup Races into a weekend-long picnic/festival. Unfortunately, because of the desertion of

the city over the weekend, most of the shops along Last Chance Gulch are closed, so evenif you want to do something, it’s difficult to finda place open to do it. But on Saturday evening, the most lively place in the area is the supposed “ghost town” of Marysville, where the town’s population easily quadruples, and where the customer mix at The Marysville House of marathoners, bikers, tourists, and locals all joyfully maintain the tradition started more than 100 years ago

by “Irish Tommy” Cruse. es

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Letters

WE’RE NUMBER 1

I want to thank you for acknowledging the impact of the neophyte marathoner and bestowing upon us the number | ranking in affecting positively the growth and maturing of the marathon over the last 25 years (see “25 Who Reinvented the Marathon,” Issue 1(5)). This ranking may be the only way we will ever be first in a marathon! It’s gratifying to know that we “count,” even though we will produce neither winning times nor course records, that you appreciate that we are doing our best even though we are not the best, and that there are professionals in the sport who recognize the amateur athlete as a contributing factor to its overall success. Cathy Troisi Seneca Falls, N.Y.

KIDS RUNNING MARATHONS

During the mid-70s I used to take a daily run of 1.1 miles with 8 of my 10 children. We used handicapped starts by age so the younger ones would not get left behind and become discouraged. We had some fun with considerable laughing and squealing. There was no pressure. After about a year and a half I left them on their own to keep up the running or not, their

choice. Most of them drifted away to other after-school activities. Two of my 10 seemed to have talent and potential—Michele and Mike.

Michele (number 1 of 10 in birth order) is as mentally and emotionally tough as any human being I have ever met.Asahigh school sophomore, she was named “outstanding female athlete of the year” in her school of about 3,000. My son Mike (number 4 of 10 in birth order) was a frail looking but healthy kid who weighed about 75 pounds at age 12.

In 1975 I began my roadracing career with a 3:20:53 at the third Honolulu Marathon. I was prepared except I had no long runs in excess of 10 miles. I had no coach or source of information to help my preparation. I was happy with my first marathon but was not planning to run another. And there were no other road races available to the public at that time in Hawaii. So, my roadracing career might well have ended then and there.

Much to my happy surprise, Mike and Michele told me that they were interested in running the next Honolulu Marathon. “Well, if you want to run it, you won’t be out there without me,” I told them. I explained what minimum amount of running would be necessary. We weren’t going to be able to do daily runs together because of our different daily routines and the