By GERRY CHESTERFor the Norwich Bulletin
While another successful year of the Norwich recreation summer races draws to a close, allow me to reminisce about the original course used during the first 14 years of the longest running race series of its kind in the state.
This year’s 3.1-mile course, which runs through Mohegan Park, contains no traffic hazards and is predominantly run on trails. The original course was the complete antithesis.
The 2-4 mile course, which was originated in 1965 by local runner Don Pirie, began behind the backstop of the recreation baseball field, and immediately ascended a hill aptly called “Little Killer.”
Following much of the same roads used by NFA cross country teams in their races starting in the 1950s through the ’70s, it contained two bone-jarring downhills.
One, the infamous dog-pound hill, which due to road construction, mercifully no longer exists. The other was the precarious Rose Garden hill, which immediately emptied runners out onto Rockwell Street.
The course then culminated by finishing up the long uphill on Reynolds Road behind NFA to the finish line in front of the recreation building.
All good things end
But with the 100th race on July 13, 1978, the original course hosted its final event. While the race and even parts of the course itself are now gone, for many, it has surely not been forgotten.
Why the attraction? Some say it was the course itself, which was one of the most demanding courses around.
“Every time I raced there, it was like going into battle,” said Rory Suomi, a 1974 Killingly graduate. “In order to do well, you knew you were going to hurt — both physically and mentally.”
Others claim it was the top-flight competition that showed up each week in those 100 races.
The names associated with the top 10 times on the course include a Boston marathon winner, a New York City marathon winner, two four-minute milers and numerous athletes that represented the United States in international competition.
Notable names
Of those participants was Bill Krohn, the 1976 NFA graduate who went on to enjoy an outstanding college and post-collegiate career which included a 4:00.6 mile, an 8:29 two-mile and numerous victories on the European track circuit.
On June 19, he ran the fastest time in the world in the mile run for a male over the age of 50 with a time of 4:35.73 in Stockholm, Sweden, where he now resides.
Amby Burfoot, the 1968 Boston Marathon winner and current editor of Runner’s World magazine, lost only once while racing on the old course. He was also a five-time winner of the now-defunct Rose Arts Road Race.
Steve Flanagan, a 1966 Killingly graduate, began his successful running career at UConn and later participated in several international cross country competitions for the U.S.
While living in Boulder, Col., he was a frequent training partner of Olympic gold medalist Frank Shorter and is the father of current U.S. women’s distance sensation, Shalane Flanagan.
Tim Smith, a 1966 NFA graduate, was a three-time state champion in high school and a four-time winner of the East Lyme marathon.
He competed in 18 Boston Marathons and is the only runner to complete in every one of the 31 Rose Arts races held between 1967 and 1998.
Rob Huntington, the 1969 NFA graduate, along with his brother Ross, enjoyed successful careers at UConn. Currently living and working in Vietnam, Rob is credited with having won more Norwich recreation races over those 14 years than anyone else.
Women’s races
For the women, races began in 1974 and were run on a shorter 1.9-mile course through the park. Pam McMerriman and Sue Hoagland battled for the top times during that first year, and in 1975, Flo Huntington (mother of Rob) set the course record for the 19-and-over division.
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