Labor Day 5-miler achieves 40th running Monday

Labor Day has always been recognized as the unofficial cap to the summer season. And for the past 40 years, runners have celebrated the event not with cookouts and trips to the beach, but with a tour of the city streets of Bangor.

On Monday, the 40th edition of the Bangor Labor Day 5-miler will be staged, and race organizers say the field of pre-registered runners indicates that this year’s field will top those in the recent past.

The race begins and ends at the Bangor Recreation and Parks building on Main Street. The race begins at 9 a.m., while registration tables will open at 8.

Race director Mike Lucas said there’s a simple reason for the race’s longevity.

“It’s the history,” Lucas said. “That’s what [organizers from the Sub 5 Track Club] like Fred Merriam, Nichi Farnham, and Ed Rice have helped us with: They don’t let us forget where we came from.”

Lucas said there will be a couple of minor additions to the race this year. Bangor chiropractor Tom Vanidestine will offer free massages after the race, while the Bangor Police Department will monitor the status of runners by putting medics on bicycles on the course with the runners.

Last year’s men’s winner was Phil Lebreton of Bangor, while Lara Rand of Orrington topped the women’s field. Ninety runners finished the course a year ago, while 116 finished in 2000.

Lucas said the race, which once was a shade longer than five miles – and finished with a grueling final climb up to the harness racing track at Bass Park – is much more user-friendly now.

“I think now it’s a fun race,” Lucas said. “Once you get up Holland Street Hill and over to Stephen King’s house, it’s all downhill.”

Race organizers will also induct another area runner into the “Five-Mile Club,” which honors people who have been instrumental in the race’s 40-year history.

This year’s honoree is Sheila Hodges of Hampden, a five-time champ of the race. With induction she receives a special T-shirt, lifetime free entry into the race, and her number will be “retired.”

She joins Dave Farley (1998), Bob Hillgrove (1999), Robin Emery (2000), Mike Gaige (2001), Fred Merriam (2001), and Ed Rice (2001) as members of the Five-Mile Club.