Churches critical of marathon Time, route interfere with worship attendance

FALMOUTH – Church pastors are asking organizers of Maine’s largest marathon to consider changing the time, day or route of the marathon.

The pastors, representing five churches in Falmouth, Yarmouth and Portland, are upset that the Sportshoe Center Maine Marathon’s 26.2-mile route inconveniences parishioners on their way to worship. They say the race makes it difficult, if not impossible, for some people to practice their faith.

“This is disrupting our ability, as a community, to worship,” said David Heald, pastor of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Yarmouth. “Due to the difficulty getting to church, many in my congregation choose not to come to church that day.”

The marathon, now in its 11th year, is held the first Sunday in October. More than 2,000 runners ran in this year’s marathon, and the concurrent half-marathon.

For the past two years, the race route has followed Route 1 out of Portland, onto Route 88 through Falmouth, to Gilman Road in Yarmouth and then back the same way.

In Falmouth, the route passes St. Mary’s the Virgin Church, Holy Martyrs Church and Foreside Community Church. In Yarmouth, it passes St. Bartholomew’s on Gilman Road, and in Portland it brings runners near St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on Washington Avenue.

Church leaders say the runners, who set off at 8 a.m., and the crowds that gather to watch them, slow traffic and make noise.

Church leaders and race organizers were scheduled to meet with the Falmouth Town Council Monday night to discuss their differences.

Race organizers say they understand the concerns, but are reluctant to change the day or time of the largest of the state’s three marathons.

“Sunday is the lightest traffic day and Sunday morning tends to be the calmest part of the day in terms of traffic,” said Joe O’Donnell, a volunteer and member of the marathon’s race committee. “Most people love having it come through town.”

The Rev. Paul Shupe, pastor of Foreside Community Church, said there may be a compromise that’s acceptable to both sides, but he hasn’t heard it.

“I have no quarrel with the right of people to run marathons,” Shupe said. “But there are only 52 Sundays a year.”

Because many marathons and road races traditionally are held on Sunday, such conflicts with churches are nothing new.

In Rhode Island, organizers of the Ocean City Marathon were forced to move the race after several churches pressured officials in the town of Warwick to deny the marathon a permit. For the past two years, the Ocean City Marathon has been held in Providence, 10 miles away.

“They just weren’t going to let us run. We didn’t have any choice,” said Gerry Beagan, director of the Ocean City Marathon. “We tried to show them the benefits, in terms of the hotel rooms we fill and the $250,000 we raised for a local hospital, but they didn’t want to hear it.”