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Running is a sport in which athletes can be part of a team even if they are not participating on a college cross country or track team; have already graduated or simply enjoy camaraderie and gathering for group runs and workouts.
In those cases, runners will join a local running club – such as the Sub 5 Track Club in the greater Bangor area or the Maine Track Club, based in Portland.
Up in Aroostook County, one club that has been running perennially is the Aroostook Musterds.
The club was formed in the early 1970s, according to president Linda Mountain.
“At that point, it was mostly a club of elite runners from the County, such as Bruce Freme, Conrad Walton and Bob Sprague,” she said.
Freme is actually bringing the “Musterd Mile” race back, which Mountain said “hasn’t been around in several years.”
The Musterd Mile will take place on July 21 at Caribou High School.
Membership has been down, Mountain said, but at the same time, the small group can be like a close-knit family.
“We probably have about 25 members,” she said. “We have members from Fort Kent to Houlton and south of there, and members that don’t live in the County anymore.”
Like some clubs around the state, the Musterds conduct a race series. They have a nine-race series known as the “County Challenge,” where runners accumulate points by participating in series races. The more races a runner runs, the more points he/she will pile up.
Perhaps the most challenging race on the schedule is the County Open Half-Marathon, held August 12th in New Limerick.
“Its probably more challenging than the Potato Blossom [5-miler in Fort Fairfield],” Mountain said. “For the most part, the first six miles are all uphill.”
Club treasurer Angie Ewings of Littleton, whose husband, Joe, directs the County Open, has traveled to all corners of Maine for races.
“She and I travel together to races,” said Mountain, who added that the two will be running a half-marathon in Vermont the first weekend of June.
Unlike most clubs, the Musterds don’t hold weekly track workouts but have running get-togethers once in a while.
“There are usually groups in each town that will get together and run,” Mountain said. “Once or twice a year, we try to get together as a club and do a run and have a barbeque.”
Another race on the schedule that runners look forward to every summer is the Potato Blossom 5-miler, slated for Saturday, July 15 in Fort Fairfield.
The race is one of two original County Challenge 5-milers, in addition to the Labor Day 8K run in Caribou, according to Potato Blossom race director Paul Lamoreau.
The course, like some in Aroostook County, is tough and hilly. The first 21/2 to 3 miles are mostly uphill with some flat breaks while the last couple of miles – including a nice downhill to the finish on Main Street in downtown Fort Fairfield -are mostly downhill.
“When Joan Benoit Samuelson ran it, she said it was definitely a 5-miler and definitely a tough course,” Lamoreau said. “Most people run every other year because it takes two years to get over it until they can run again,” he added with a laugh.
The next race on the schedule is set for Sunday, June 25. The S.W. Collins 5K run, walk and children’s 1K will take place at S.W. Collins in Caribou.
Festivities kick off with the kids’ 1K at 8:30 a.m., followed by the 5-kilometer walk at 9:30 and the run at 10.
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