Four Old Guys

At the BU meet, I was watching the seeded heat of the 4x1600 relay with Noah and Dan, and while they watched the top teams battle for the lead, my attention was focused instead on the team plugging away in fifth. It was four old guys from the Whirlaway Racing Team, and they were just about to be lapped, early in the third leg. I wanted Noah to watch their third runner, Craig Fram, because I knew he would run a good, hard leg, regardless of how far behind his team was. I also wanted Noah to pay attention to Fram and these other old guys, because they had something no one else in the race had: a world record.

Yes, it was five years ago, February 9 2002, when Mike Cooney (4:27.3), Paul Hammond (4:27.3), Doug Martyn (4:22.8), and Fram (4:26.8) set a world age group (40+) record 17:44.35 for the 4 x 1600m relay on this same track. I wanted Noah to realize how good they were -- their times a bit slower, but still impressive. On Saturday, five years older, their splits were 4:41 (Cooney), 4:45 (Hammond), 4:38 (Fram), and 4:32 (Martyn). So who are these guys?

Mike Cooney is originally from Brockton, and although he is very good-natured, he is also Brockton-tough. He regulary beats me at almost every distance, including the mile, where he excels. Last year, Mike started dabbling in his old favorite event, the 400m, and ran 57 seconds.

Paul Hammond runs every distance well, and in his forties has run under 2:30 for the marathon and under 4:30 for the mile. Several years ago he was inducted into the Maine Hall of Fame. Here is a link if you want to read Paul's biography.


Doug Martyn is Paul's brother in law. Unlike Paul, Doug realized his talent a little later in life, but has been making up for lost time, especially in the mile event, where there are few better. Doug has won the Boston Indoor Games Masters Mile twice, and on Dec 23rd of this year, ran 4:30 for the mile at age 46.

Craig Fram is simply one of the best runners in the world in his age group. Two years ago, he set the world M45 indoor best for 3000m, running 8:35.70 at Harvard's Gordon track. That's the equivalent of a 9:14 two-mile, better than all but the very best young runners can manage. He is even tougher on the roads, especially at distances of 10k and up. This fall, a couple of weeks after turning 48, Craig ran 53:27 (5:21/mile pace) for a hilly 10-miles at the NE championships. He has won more New England road racing titles than I can count. On Saturday, he ran a "warmup" 3000m in 9:08 prior to his 4:38 relay split. Unbelievable.

So on this, the first day of the new year, when we are used to ushering the old guys out the door and welcoming the fresh-faced kid in, take a moment to admire four old guys who aren't ready to be ushered anywhere yet.



(L toR) Craig Fram, Mike Cooney, Doug Martyn and Paul Hammond.