BANGOR – Often in the long, 26.2-mile journey that is the marathon, pacing and patient, tactical racing are the tickets to victories and personal-best times.

However, with hot, humid weather looming for the late miles of Sunday morning’s Paul Bunyan Marathon, Chuck Engle’s mission was to drop the conservative route and be aggressive at the 6 a.m. start when the cooler temperatures of the early morning ruled the day.

Mission accomplished.

The 35-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, won his 18th marathon in 28 such races this season, capturing the first Bunyan marathon since 1984 with a time of 2 hours, 41 minutes, 38 seconds over the point-to-point race from downtown Bangor, through Veazie and Orono and back to Bangor’s Cameron Stadium.

Mike Carroll of Millville, Mass., was second in 2:50:12. David Hathaway of Brunswick Hills, Ohio, was third in 2:59:42, Austin Townsend Jr. of Perry fourth in 3:00:18, and Nathan Echols of Sparta, N.J., rounded out the top five in 3:04:56.

The women’s title went to Tami Martin of Kansas City, who toured the scenic Greater Bangor course in 3:43:18.

Cheryl Scher of East Brunswick, N.J., was second in 3:48:20. Layne Reibel of Oviedo, Fla., took third in 3:58:18 while Linda Bushing-Reid of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., earned fourth in 3:51:04. Rounding out the top five was Janet Whitten of Manchester in 3:52:13.

Unlike some races Engle has entered, this course provided a challenge, with a steep uphill on Summit Street in the marathon’s last mile.

“It’s a challenging course, but you’ve just got to roll with it,” Engle said. “I love the course, I thought the course was absolutely beautiful. We got very lucky to have the day we had.”

Engle did his homework on the weather, which played a huge factor in his victory.

“I watched the Weather Channel, I knew the temperature was gonna get really warm toward 9 o’clock,” he said.

Engle’s splits weren’t negative, but he beat the heat.

“I ran a positive split, which I don’t like to do, but I wanted to get as much of the race in before 9:00,” said Engle, who was clocking 5:45 miles before settling into the 6:20 range once his lead got into the seven-minute range with roughly 10 miles to go.

Engle is on a quest to do 50 marathons this year, an odyssey he calls “2006 – Dare to Dream.” He asks those following his quest to donate funds to the St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Townsend fell just shy – 18 seconds – of his goal of breaking three hours but was very happy with his efforts.

“I had a goal of breaking three hours. That would’ve been good,” said the 52-year-old, who said his time was a personal best.

“Watching the heat and humidity, I figured just finishing would be good,” added Townsend, who now has 23 career marathons under his belt.

Townsend gave the race some high reviews.

“They [the water stations] were well-maintained. [Race director] Phil [LeBreton] did an outstanding job. It’s only going to get better,” he said.

Women’s winner Martin, who has now done marathons in 44 different states, enjoyed the small-town feel of the race.

“It wasn’t bad at all. For a small-town race, I thought it was pretty well done,” Martin said.

The 6 a.m. start was a key in Martin’s efforts as well, however, and she also benefited from the cooler start.

“We got lucky on the weather,” she said. “The course was beautiful, it was pretty challenging.”

Martin was satisfied with her time and said the course was one of the more challenging she’s ever run.

“It was probably in the top half of the challenging ones,” Martin said. “I was very satisfied [with my time]. That was a tough course.”

Mount Desert Island marathon race director Gary Allen of Cranberry Island, who ran in the third Bunyan race in 1977 and competed Sunday, commended LeBreton’s efforts in bringing a classic back to the Queen City.

“I couldn’t say more about Phil and his efforts and his race staff’s efforts to bring this back,” Allen said. “It always takes one person with a vision.”

And of course, the only way to go is up.

“I can only see this event growing,” Allen said. “I hope that the Bangor business community embraces this event. It fills their hotels and restaurants, and people fly in from all over the country.”

Bobbie Lopresti of Chicago was the last participant to finish the race. Her time was 7 hours, 54 minutes.

“I’m doing [marathons in] all 50 states and all seven continents,” she said after finishing the race. “This is state number 36. I just want to see the world. It’s all about finishing.”

Lopresti, a former competitive runner, said she ran/walked a good portion of the race and walked the rest. Her next marathon is in Mississippi, she said.

BDN reporter Nok-Noi Hauger contributed to this report.