Marines Can’t Boot Camp
For Track & Field News. “On The Road.” December 1979.
Washington, D.C., November 4 – The Marine Corps Marathon was the scene of one of the United States most effective displays of military might since 1945. Navy Lt. Phil Camp was the race champion in 2:19:35, while Marine Lt. Joana Yundt Martin was the first woman finisher in 2:58:06. The Marines must build strong women, too.
Scott Eden, last year’s victor, led the race early. Camp held back.
“It was faster than I wanted to go; 4:50 for the first mile. I told everybody around me, ‘you’re nuts.'”
Mike Hurd, a 2:15 marathoner in England’s Royal Air Force, pushed past Eden at 9M, and opened up a fifty-yard lead at halfway. Hurd clocked 67:54. Shortly thereafter, his body remembered the two marathons it had run in the previous weeks.
Will Albers took the leader’s role at 15M, while Eden stayed close and Camp maintained his vigil. Never more than 150y behind, Camp moved hard just before the 24M mark. With Eden (2:21:38 for 6th) fading, and Albers (second in 2:20:45) unable to answer, the race was over.
John Wayne would’ve been proud.
Phil: My wife and I did a road trip up to DC for the race in ‘79. I was surprised when I got my number, I was #2, who was #1? Scott Eden? Kevin McDonald? I asked about Kevin and one of the staff told me that he would not return without MCM funding his travel! Turned out that #1 was JW Middendorf, former Secretary of the Navy! He came to me on the starting line and wished me luck, he was a very gracious and friendly man!
The first mile was fast, around 4:50, led by the defending champ, Scot Eden, and included Mike Hurd and Will Albers. I let them go and Hurd ended up hitting the half marathon just under 1:08 with at least a fifty to a 100 yd lead on my group. Around fifteen miles Hurd was done and Will Albers had surged ahead of him and Eden. I ran cautiously and never lost contact as I moved into second rounding Hains Point. I was in no hurry to take the lead until I was convinced I could outrun Will to the finish. On the 14th Street Bridge I caught Albers and ran with him for 30 or 40 yards before moving into the lead. I was all alone in the last two miles and surprised when they fired the Howitzer at the bottom of the hill! The finish was fun, I would never experience anything quite like that, not with any of the four other marathons I won.
The Navy was very pleased with the win and sent a Public Affairs Officer and a photographer to Whiting Field where I instructed. I did a flight in one of our T-28 trainers with the photographer, Steve Harris in the front seat. Steve was turning around in the front cockpit to shoot a video of me while I did a barrel roll and a few aileron rolls. Finally he said, “l think I’ve got enough, Lieutenant.” He was ready to puke! The video was distributed as a Navy newsreel throughout the Fleet and my picture appeared on the inside cover of the Navy’s “All Hands” magazine.
DC is the center of the Universe for every branch of the Military, so the early races had a very high percentage of military personnel compared to other Marathons not sponsored by the military. I’m fairly certain the Marines had the best participation followed by the Navy in those days. It may have taken awhile before some people realized this was actually a “people’s” race and not just a Marine Corps or Military competition.
One thing the MCM had over civilian run races was almost unlimited manpower to support the race, especially as participation, perhaps more than doubled or tripled every year as “marathon mania” hit the US. For many people it was a great time to tour the Nation’s Capital on a pair of stiff sore legs and somewhat blistered feet the day after the race!