Berry race rakes in record runner crop> Lisee, Foster are victorious in 25th event

MACHIAS – Jeremy Lisee and Sue Foster stood in front of the courthouse in Machias, two veteran road racers trading war stories and training tips. Both had just crossed the line Saturday at the front of the largest pack of competitors – 226 – ever to finish the 5-mile Blueberry Run, which is in its 25th year.

Both had held off determined challenges from young upstarts to claim their victories. And both enjoyed another successful outing in what has been a summer of ever faster times on the eastern Maine road racing circuit.

Lisee timed 27 minutes, 3 seconds over the hilly circuit, holding off 19-year-old Andy Goupee of Orrington (27:16). Judson Cake was next in 28:00, followed by Eastport native and Brunswick resident Robert Ashby (28:15). Jim Newett rounded out the top five in 28:24.

Foster clocked 32:30 to outpace 22-year-old Alicia Hughes of Bangor, who timed 32:59. Katrina Bisheimer of Bangor was third (33:25) followed by Erin Semba of Bangor (33:57) and Megan Lane of Portland (34:06).

Lisee credits his improvement to changing his daily run from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. to accomodate his work schedule. Foster credits her resurgence to the overall fitness she has gained from training for a triathlon.

But, Lisee admitted slyly, he has a training secret that Foster might want to try.

You see, the 30-year-old Milbridge man is the father of 2-year-old twins, Robert and Kirsten. And his wife, Carol, just bought him a bike with a trailer attached to the back of it so dad can take them for a spin.

“Have you ever tried hauling kids up a hill on a bike?” he asked Foster, smiling. “I’ll let you try it and I’ll go to the movies with my wife!”

Lisee led the race from gun to tape, cruising through the downhill first mile in 5:06. Two long hills dominate the second mile, and Goupee was the only runner who attempted to stick with Lisee over the hills. On a slight downhill at the beginning of the third mile, Goupee – who had been trailing by about five seconds – approached Lisee’s shoulder.

“He kinda looked around,” Goupee said. “He had this look of disgust on his face, then he kinda took off.”

It was Lisee’s second win in three years at the race. He placed second to Andy Beardsley of Ellsworth last year.

Lisee is the current leader of the Saucony/Sub 5 race series, which he won in 1998. Beardsley, who has been injured and is not competing this summer, won last year.

“Right now the series is pretty important. I’d like to get an overall winner jersey for the other twin,” Lisee said.

Lisee said he has run a faster time than last year on every course he has competed on except the Blueberry Run and the Hancock Lobster 10-miler on July 29. At Hancock, he became severely dehydrated and admitted “I shouldn’t have finished the race, but I did.”

Lisee’s resilience is likely the product of his discipled regimen, even if he claims it’s easier now to train when he returns from work at the Volkswagen Body Shop in Ellsworth. That’s at 7 p.m. year-round, even on the coldest, darkest winter nights. And the winter nights in Milbridge are certainly cold and dark – there are no sidewalks or streetlamps every few yards on the Fickett’s Point Road.

Goupee has his own tough regimen to return to this fall, when he begins his sophomore year as a mechanial engineering major at the University of Maine. Goupee doesn’t run for the Black Bears, but admits that he has been asked frequently why he doesn’t, especially given his rapid improvement this summer.

Goupee said his secret has been increasing his miles to about 50 per week and working out with the Sub-5 Track Club in Brewer.

The 42-year-old Foster hadn’t beaten Hughes yet this year, and she trailed her by three seconds after the first mile. She moved ahead at the top of the first large hill in the second mile and maintained her lead to the finish.

“I tried to catch her at the end, but it wasn’t happening,” Hughes said.

A former Bar Harbor resident, Foster is now the manager of the cross country ski center at Sugarloaf/USA in Carrabassett Valley. She and training partners Semba, Stephanie Peavey and Tracy Hughes are preparing for the Firm Man Half (Ironman) Triathlon in Narragansett, R.I., in September.

“I didn’t have any road race goals [this summer],” Foster said, seemingly surprised by her improved times. “I ride [the bike] more, and my running time has been minimal….I think I have rested running muscles and improved cardiovascular.”

Hughes is fresh off a successful career at Springfield (Mass.) College. She said she is planning to accept a position as the assistant sportsaid she is planning to accept a position as the assistant sports director at the YMCA in Bangor, and to continue training for a fall marathon.