Bunker honors Fred Merriam with Hunt Memorial triumph

BANGOR – Mike Bunker and many other runners who toed the line for Sunday’s Walter Hunt Memorial 3-kilometer road race had one mentality: All for Fred.

Fred is Fred Merriam, the popular Bucksport native and Sub 5 track club supporter who died of cancer earlier this week.

It was fitting the race winner was from Bucksport.

Bunker, who will be a junior at the University of Southern Maine this fall, sat back in the pack early then stormed down Main Street, out-sprinting Clayton Conrad of North Yarmouth to win in 8 minutes, 43 seconds on a hot day in the twin cities.

Conrad wound up second in 8:51, Bryan Sharkey of Miami, Fla. was third in 8:58, Phil LeBreton of Bangor was fourth in 9:00, and Adam Goode of Orono rounded out the top five in 9:06.

Old Town High School standout Cassie Hintz continued to run strong coming off her spring track season as she won the women’s division in 9:43. Shannon Markley of Woodlyn, Pa., finished second in 10:47, Lara Rand of Orrington placed third in 10:51, Kate Laverdiere of Milford captured fourth in 11:36 and Mary Parsons of Hampden rounded out the top five in 11:47.

In the men’s race, Bunker, Conrad and LeBreton were the top three finishers on the winning team: Team Fred Merriam.

Bunker did run a nearly flawless race as he didn’t’ get caught up in the pack on the quick, downhill start, and was patient.

“You’ve got to be careful about going out too fast in the heat,” he said. “It was such a tight race, and I was very content to let the pack do the work. The last .86 of a mile it was just me and Clayton doing the work.”

Bunker and the other Team Fred Merrriam runners were thinking of their friend.

“He was in my mind the whole way, and that’s why we made the team,” Bunker said. “I always wanted to be just like him.”

Bunker was pleased that the running community came together and ran hard for Merriam.

“He did so much [for the running community], and he always wanted to do more,” said Bunker. “Everyone ran their hearts out last Saturday [at the Tour du Lac 10-miler in Bucksport], and it’s good to see everyone pull together for one of our own.”

Many runners in the race were wearing blue on their jerseys, arms or wrists in honor of Merriam and a total of 24 listed Team Fred Merriam on their race entries.

Another race team was also assembled just for this race as family members of the late Merton Farley of Orrington and Brewer ran in his honor.

Approximately 30 family members participated in the race, according to Brewer resident Mark Farley, one of the five sons of Merton Farley.

Mark Farley said he thinks his nephew, Ryan Whitman, came up with the idea.

“We kind of thought about it for a while and said ‘gee why not, we always run every run, why not run as a group,” said Farley, adding that family members from Maine, New Hampshire, Washington, Rhode Island and Florida participated.

Included among the Farleys was Mark’s brother, Dave Farley, who set a Maine high school record of 4:25 in the mile in 1959, a record that still stands at Brewer High. He was also a standout at Brown University.In Sunday’s women’s race, Hintz, who be a junior at Old Town High School this fall, just keeps on getting faster. She won the Tour du Lac race in Bucksport last week, and ran an aggressive first mile in just over 5 minutes.

“With the downhill you pretty much go out hard no matter what,” she said. “I just wanted to break 10 [minutes] and win the race. I knew I had to [go out fast] for a good time.”

Hintz was one of many runners who were undaunted by the weather conditions.

“It was actually a lot cooler than most years, so that was good,” she said.

Hintz’s time of 9:43 was one of the fastest women’s times since Wendy Delan set a course record of 9:28 back in 1988, according to race director Dave Torrey. Heather Jovanelli won in 9:59 last year.

Approximately 397 runners finished the race.