EMMANUEL COACH WINS BAYSTATE MARATHON

LOWELL, Mass. - Emmanuel College's Assistant Cross Country and Track & Field Coach Bryan Mahoney raced to a win in the 24th Annual BayState Marathon on Sunday morning.  The second year Assistant Coach for the Saints bested the field of nearly 1,200 runners with an amazing time of 2:35.29, finishing with his closest competitor more than two minutes behind him.

Mahoney ran at a pace of 5:57 per mile over the 26.2 mile trek.  With the weather on his side on a perfect autumn morning, the 29-year old hit his goal time for the race on the money. "I wanted to run 2:35, which is just under six-minute miles. My goal was never to win, but just to hit my goal." It just so happened that 2:35 was more than two minutes good enough for a win and Mahoney is now in a remarkably elite field of "people who have won a marathon."

Even with the recent rise in the popularity of marathon running, the percent of the U.S. population to run 26.2 miles is only 0.5%.  With approximately 570 U.S. marathons held annually, the percentage of the population who have actually WON one of these grueling races is minuscule.  Amazingly, Mahoney is now one of the very few.

One would think that in order to achieve such an incredible result, an individual could spend their lifetime training with multiple marathons recorded before even coming close to a win.  Not true in this case.  Incredibly, Mahoney had run just two prior marathons, before winning the BayState this weekend.

"I ran Boston back in 2004, but that was really just to do it, because its such a great experience.  I didn't really 'race' it.  My first competitive marathon was last year in New York."  Mahoney ran the New York City Marathon in 2011, finishing in 2:43.  With just two marathons under his belt and only one raced competitively, some might even consider Mahoney a marathon rookie…that is before he won on Sunday.

But, how does something like this happen?  "It is pretty crazy," he laughed.  "Two and a half, maybe three years ago, I wasn't even running that much."

Although his marathon experience is limited, Mahoney's running background is impressive.  A native of Milton, Mass., Mahoney ran cross country and track & field for Milton High School as a senior, choosing to focus on soccer for his first three high school years.  Mahoney attended Fairfield University and ran cross country for the Division I Stags all four years.  After just one year of high school experience, Mahoney was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Rookie of the Year and a three-time team MVP.  Amazingly, he ran 33 total races during his collegiate career at Fairfield and won 28 of them.  Of the five that he didn't win, Mahoney finished in 2nd place all five times.

Mahoney, who now resides in Quincy, Mass., began seriously training for the marathon back in April of this year.  "I used an 18-week training plan, but with a solid six months of work leading up to it." The training program he used included a long run of between 17-22 miles every two weeks.  Mahoney capped his mileage during the training at 65 miles per week.

"I learned a lot about myself after running New York," a race in which he ran at a 6:08 pace, before falling off pace toward the end.  This time around, Mahoney benefitted from the advice of Saints Head Coach Tony DaRocha.  "I've never been around a coach that is as smart as he is when it comes to preparing for a race," said Mahoney.  "Tony had me focus on a lot more strengthening, flexibility and speed workouts this time around and it really helped. He has really helped me develop as a runner." Coach DaRocha has always used his individualized training philosophy with the Saints too. "It doesn't matter if you're the first runner or towards the back of the pack, this is his approach with everyone, and its been a great experience learning from him."

Although the BayState Marathon is historically one of New England's flatter and faster marathons, Mahoney's time was extremely impressive. To put it in perspective, Mahoney finished just 14 minutes off the course record of 2:21.36.

Unlike the Surftown Half Marathon, which Mahoney won on September 16th, he was not out in front in the BayState from the starting gun.  "I ran in a pack of about 6-7 for the first eight miles, but one guy was way out in front of us from the start."  In preparation for the race, Mahoney had asked his father, who was watching from the halfway point, to let him know how far out in front the leader was, when he passed.  "When I passed my dad at thirteen, he called out to me that the leader was about a minute ahead.  At that point, the pack was down to three guys and we caught the leader at mile 14."

By mile 17, the pack had dwindled to just two leaders, one of which was Mahoney.  When his co-leader "made a move between 17 and 18, I let him go, but I only let him get about 7-10 seconds ahead of me.  Then I overtook him at mile 19."

Mahoney may have even had some indirect advice from DaRocha while he was running the race.  Ruben Sanca, who DaRocha previously coached in high school, jumped in to run in the lead pack to help pace a friend of his from miles 4-17.  Sanca, who ran the 5,000 meters for Cape Verde in the London Olympics this summer, paced the lead pack for approximately 13 miles.  Mahoney admitted that he ran a little faster at Sanca's pace, but it was certainly beneficial in the end.

The support for Mahoney along the course was also inspiring.  His parents and sisters saw him at miles 2, 13 and the finish.  Mahoney also got a boost at mile 24, when one of his college teammates jumped in to run with him for a bit.

Mahoney was in good spirits the day following the race.  "I'm really not that sore this time around." He was also happy about his winnings.  For his first place finish in the BayState, Mahoney collected a check for $400.00.  Over the Columbus Day weekend, he raced and won a local 10k event, taking home $500.00.  With his combined winnings, Mahoney and his twin sister, Megan, are heading to London to celebrate their 30th birthdays.  "I won the cost of the flight," Mahoney joked.

With wins in his last three races, what's up next for Mahoney?  "I'm tentatively looking at Boston in 2014. I would like to try to get under 2:30, which will be challenging given Boston being a tougher course."

Mahoney may continue to challenge himself with future marathons and half marathons, but he has certainly already made a lasting memory for himself.  "I'm really happy that I hit my time and its great that I won. Its certainly nice that everything fell into place. It feels pretty good. I know I will remember this for the rest of my life."

Congratulations Bryan on an incredible accomplishment!

Check out "No Catching Mahoney," an article covered in the Lowell Sun on October 22nd and "Mass Man Takes Surftown," from the Westerly Sun on September 17th.