Attleboro’s Oldest and Fastest 2011 Boston Marathon Runner Crosses the Finish Line

It was a sunny 45 degrees, at 7 a.m. when 50 Attleboro Area Wampanoag Road Runners and race volunteers stowed their gear and boarded their chartered bus heading to Hopkinton and the start of the Boston Marathon.

The ages and amount of experience of the runners were wide-ranging, but the camaraderie, excitement and the anticipation of putting their months of training to the test was common to all.

“It was a great day! It was 50 degrees at the start of the race and 55 degrees when I finished,” Kevin Downing said. “These were perfect conditions. A 10-15 mile an hour tail wind pushed me along to finish 32 in my age group.”

Downing placed 6,565 out a field of more than 20,000 runners running the course in three hours and 26 minutes.

“My strategy was to run an “even split,” running at the same pace for both halves of the race," Downing added. "I was able to do it. My second half was only two minutes slower than my first.”

Michelle Lahah of North Attleboro ran her first Boston Marathon on Monday, running it in four hours and eight minutes. “I had a good first stretch but the second half was tough,” Lahah said. 

Attleboro's Lindsey Courchesne's second Boston Marathon was an exciting one in spite of injury. "Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to get much training in with my studies at and having a knee injury. I felt really good, but I did have to stop and stretch out my knee four times during the race. Even with those stops, I only added one minute to my last year's time so I'm very excited with that."

Running among the more than 20,000 runners were 12 Attleboro marathoners, all testing their strength and endurance in the 26.2 mile run. They included:

Kevin Downing, 61, 3:26*

Gertrudis Alfani, 45, 3:47*

Meredith Plizza, 32 , 3:54

Harry Pino, 51, 3:58

Kristin Prescott, 36, 3:59

Joe Stephan, 35, 4:09

Donald Sutherland, 46, 4:14

Peter Graves, 29, 4:20

Christopher Reilly, 39, 4:44

Stephen Thibault, 34, 4:46

Lindsey Courchesne, 26, 4:55

Debbie May, 41, 5:48

* Indicates an automatic qualifying time for the 2012 Boston Marathon.

Twelve hours after first boarding the bus at DB Sports and a long and exciting day, Wampanoag Road Runners returned to area. Running the Boston Marathon, an accomplishment attempted by many, achieved by few.