RK Notes - This was a traditional race held 2 weeks after the Boston Marathon. Here is an article about the 1979 Race and about the winner - Andy Palmer.

From the Bangor Daily News - April, 1979.
Andy Palmer, Robin Emery Post records in Old Town

Andy Palmer took the lead for good 6.5 miles from the Old Town High School finish line and won the second annual 14 Mile Old Town Runners Classic in a record 1:12.16.

The 25 year old Mars Hill school teachers' effort over the rain drenched route, which began beside the high school easily surpassed Fred Judkins winning time of 1:15.06 last year.

Palmer, who explained he has been running seriously for only two years finished second last year but won Sunday's race with comparative ease after dueling with early leader Bill Pike, Bruce Freme and Peter Brigham over the first half of the course.

"I felt fine after the first five miles. The first part is always tough for me." said Palmer who took the lead away from Freme on Bennoch Road and beat the Caribou man to the finish by 61 seconds.

Brigham, the UMO heralded distance runner who passed up this spring's outdoor season, had led for part of the race, was running a strong third but was forced to stop because of cramps with about 6 miles to go.

By then, however, Palmer was steadily pulled away from Freme who was making his first serious effort since getting sidelined by mononcleosis earlier this year.

Pike, another UMO distance runner who won the 3 mile race in the state college track meet at Bowdoin College on Saturday, finished third in 1:15.02. UMO's Phil Garland finished fourth and Greg Wardwell of Caribou finished fifth.

Judkinds who had acknowledged that he has not trained hard this year as he did before in the 1978 road running season came home in eleventh with a time of 1:19.02.

Lamoine's Robin Emery broke her own record. She finished 89th overall in 1:36.29. Last year she finished 1:39.18.

202 were men of the 213 who ran.

Palmer's victory followed a precendent for the race which, for the second straight year, was held about two weeks after the Boston Marathon.

He [Palmer] was the first Maine runner to finish. Judkins won last year's race after leading the Maine delegation to the finish line in 1978.

But Palmer said he was not sure he had the race won until he made the turn on the High School track for the final quarter mile of the race.

"Bruce (Freme) is so much faster than I am on a track. I looked around when I came around the corner onto the track. I didn't see him so I figured I had it."