After 31 years, Tribute race is a Clinton tradition.

Byline: John Conceison

COLUMN: RUNNING

Sure, there's a great deal of in-house support for the Tribute Road Race, a Clinton tradition that's celebrating its 31st running.

Coulter Press, our sister in publishing under the New England Media Group umbrella, has operated the event successfully since 1987. And members of our sports staff have thrived as competitors - Mario Fraioli, the former columnist in this space, won the event three years ago. Rich Garven placed fifth last year, and Bill Ballou, our resident marathoner, has come away from the Tribute with rave reviews.

Having stated all that, the fact remains the Tribute is one of the premier spring events on the local road racing schedule, and the 5-miler will go off at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 9, starting and finishing at Clinton Elementary School on Church Street.

"When you run in the Tribute, you know you're running in a race," said Bill Marsh, a sportswriter at the Item who has been involved with the race since '87. "The race starts on a hill and ends on a hill. You've got to train for it."

And of course there are hills in between, yet runners keep coming back to accept the challenge. The event consistently has more than 200 finishers, with 320 crossing the line in 2004.

Marsh shares race director duties with former Coulter publisher Frank Hewitt and office business manager Terry Tierney. "We form the triumvirate - we couldn't do it without Frank and Terry," said Marsh, who also credits current publisher Gary Hutner and Item editor Jan Gottesman for their support.

About 20 volunteers and a dozen sponsors help make this a smooth-running operation year after year. Volunteers are manning water stops at miles 2 and 4, and shouting time splits at each mile. The Central Mass. Striders handle the timing and scoring.

"It's hard to sustain a race for this many years, but this is a labor of love on all our parts," Marsh added. "But this is not just a one-group commitment. The whole town really gets behind this."

Merchants indeed have been generous with items for the post-race raffle, which draws more than $1,000 in prizes. The raffle and race awards take place at the nearby Old Timer restaurant, where Marsh holds court for what many report as entertaining ceremonies.

The Tribute has mounted tradition and impressive performances. After former road running great Bob Hodge moved to Clinton, he won five Tributes and held the course record at 25:25 until former Clinton resident Ryan Carrara breezed to a 24:59 in 2004, the first to average better than 5 minutes a mile. Former Boston Marathon winner Jack Fultz won the 1996 Tribute.

But more importantly, the Tribute raises money for scholarships and honors outstanding members of the community. H. Mitchell Gould founded the race in 1979, and the event benefits the scholarship fund in his name. The Tribute has raised more than $50,000 over the years, and about $3,000 will be granted to deserving Clinton High School seniors this spring.

Gould started the race as a 5.2-mile event as a tribute to his father, who was suffering from ALS. The tradition of tribute has continued, and this year, the Tribute honors John T. Mahan and Mark Allard.

Mahan has been a champion of veterans affairs in Clinton and has given countless hours helping and promoting American Legion baseball in town. Allard, the cross-country coach at Clinton High, has been a key to keeping running alive in Clinton, having competed in several Tributes and urging many of his runners to do the same.

A 1-mile health walk precedes the main event. Entry fee remains $15 until May 1, $18 after that, with T-shirts given to the first 200 registrants.

For more information, contact Marsh at [phone] or [e-mail].

Charlie's 10-Miler returns

Pssst - Charlie's 10-Miler is making a comeback - pass it on.

Until now, it's been merely word of mouth circulating that Stu Thurston and a group of runners are gathering at Doherty High a week from today, May 3, taking on the course that attracted so many of the area's top runners on Mother's Day in the 1970s and '80s.

Call it a reenactment, call it a Sunday morning training run, or you could call it bringing back - ever so informally - a former Worcester tradition.

"We had Bill Rodgers, Joanie Benoit, Randy Thomas, some of the greatest names out here," recalled Thurston, he of Stu's 30K fame who says he has spread the word to about 30 people. "There were times we had close to a thousand runners."

In an interview two years ago before the Boston Marathon, Rodgers immediately raved about the Charlie's Surplus 10-Miler upon the writer mentioning he was from the T&G, and lamented the event's passing and city's lack of a 10-mile event, all before addressing the first question.

Anyone interested in taking part, meet Thurston & Co. at Doherty, ready for a 9 a.m. start.

John Conceison can be reached by email at [e-mail].