At USATF Indoor recently, your editor (c’est moi) was sitting in the stands with Jeff Benjamin, Staten Island senior writer and Eliot Denman, New Jersey’s senior writer for the Olympics, the real track and field story.
Elliott Denman is 91 years old this year and competed in the 1956 Olympic 50km race. A lifelong writer, Eliot is soft-spoken, but his pen is powerful, as is Cummings’ poem.
Elliot gently pushed me up the mountain, and when Elliot pushes, well, I listen (most of the time). Watching the semifinal round in the 60 meters, he noted how the men’s final would be for the final, and he was right. Then he reminded me of a piece he did with Chris Christopher on New Jersey’s fastest marathoner, JP Flavin.
Here is the story.
MEET JP flavin,
LIGHT USA
MARATHON TALENT
By ELLIOT DENMAN & CHRIS CHRISTOPHER
JP Flavin’s running fans, family and friends knew he was going fast, as world-class marathoner, veteran New Jersey-based track and field, and track and field devotee Elliott Denman (himself a 1956 U.S. Olympian) tells you.
After all, he’d been checking Flavin’s progress through the sport’s ranks for more than a dozen years.
But 2:09:18 for a fast marathon (his most recent finish in Arizona on Dec. 21).
Not really. It was one giant-sized leap up the 26-mile, 385-yard/ 42.2-kilometer course in all of the race distance archives. Even with the gigantic recent advances in shoe technology, nutrition and training methodology.
How fast is 2:09:18? Faster than US icons Alberto Salazar, Bill Rogers and Frank Shorter ever ran it, in the first place.
Salazar’s career best is 2:09:23 in Fukuoka, Japan, 1983. Rogers’ best: 2:09:27 in Boston in 1979, Shorter’s best: 2:10:30 in Fukuoka in 1972.
The 27-year-old Flavin’s time of 2:09:18 ranks him 21stSt The US all-time list is now topped by Conner Mantz’s 2:04:43 on Oct. 12 in Chicago. Salazar is 22 years oldthRogers 23:00th and Short 58th.
Flavin is in Michigan these days. But he was forever proud of his New Jersey Shore roots. Thus, the 2:09:18 mark also tops the all-time New Jersey marathon list.
A list of the Garden State’s top men once read like this:
Matt McDonald, Princeton, out of North Hunterdon High School (2:09:49), Eamonn O’Reilly, St. Benedict’s Prep and Georgetown graduate (2:11:12), Dean Matthews, Lakewood High and Clemson graduate (2:11:48) and Tom Fleming (2:11:48). They were joined by another Jersey Shore superstar, Bill Scholl of Brick Township High, Malone College and Shore AC (2:14:59).
New Jersey and the marathon have had a long run together. Winner of the historic first 26-mile, 385-yard course at the 1908 London Olympics. It was Johnny Hayes, who of course lived in New Jersey most of his life. Also on the list of New Jersey Olympic marathoners are Frank Zuna of Newark, Vic Deargall of Fort Lee and Ringo Adamson of Glassboro Marathon.
Over the years, New Jersey has hosted the US Olympic Marathon Trials (1988 at Liberty State Park), as well as 26 miles, 385 yards in Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Jersey City, Long Branch, and more.
For all these reasons and more, Flavin’s 2:09:18 is a big deal here.
But very few residents of the Garden State and beyond have paid it due attention.
so Elliot Denman will now pass the baton to a longtime media partner Chris Christopher, carries on the tradition of one of New Jersey’s longest-standing newspaper families.
Christopher saw it and wrote:
JP Flavin, The former Toms River High School North runner won the Project Marathon stage race in 2:09:18 at Wild Horse Pass Resort in Chandler, Arizona, earning a $10,000 payday.
“Freaking 2:09:18.” he exclaimed on December 21 when it was over. “You have to learn how to look better at the finish line, but what time? What day? It still feels like a dream. There are many times in this sport when the work isn’t worth it, but yesterday was the day that made me remember why we keep going through hell.
“Learning how to deal with the highs and lows of the marathon has been difficult. There are some miles when you feel great and some miles when you think to yourself: ‘My legs don’t want to do it anymore,’ but luckily I’ve learned how to tame those thoughts.”
Cross Champs, photo by Kevin Morris
Call your ex TR North Mariner New Jersey’s coolest marathoner. All he did was post the fastest time in Garden State history. He found the fast, flat, benchmark-style six-loop course to his liking.
“I knew the course was fast and that the Marathon Project had a great reputation,” Flavin said. “The weather was great. The course was very smooth. It was perfect for the marathon. I knew I could finish in the top five and fight for the win. My time goal was 2:10:30. I was aiming for a top five finish. I didn’t expect to win.”
In the elite arena, there were 50 male and 24 female finishers. The average finish time was 2:24.52.
It was a fight to the end. Flavin battled with runner-up Turner Wiley (2:09:27) of Issaquah, Va.
“When I crossed the finish line, I was basically in shock,” Flavin said. “I turned around and saw my friend Anna Vess and was able to say hello to her, which was great. Then I saw a good friend of mine finish second and had a bit of a celebration watching the race with him.”
Flavin clocked 5K in 15:30, 10K in 30:46, 15K in 45:59, 20K in 1:01:19, 13.1 miles in 1:04:40, 30K in 1:31:55, 25K in 1:14K:29 and 1:140:29.
“I stuck to my game plan to run in the mid-4:50s,” he said. “I was trying not to be too aggressive. I chose to go with the 2:08 pace group. They were the main reasons for the victory. I knew it was possible to win, but that wasn’t my focus. I was thinking about running as fast as possible and being happy with my place.
“A marathon is such a long race. In the early stages of this race I really tried to zone out as much as possible to prevent additional mental strain. Around mile 17 I started to close and knew I was going to have a good day and could fight for the win. At about mile 24 I got ahead and had to limit the last two legs because they were so excited. cramping and a bit of a stretch around mile 24, I fought through the cramps.”
Flavin has run and completed five marathons. (While still in New Jersey, Flavin had won such major Shore-area events as the Freehold and the Spring Lake Five Mile.)
“It was my first marathon win,” he said. “It feels like years of training is culminating in a result that was a great achievement.”
Another member of Team Flavin in Arizona was his mother, Melanie Flavin.
“Anna’s and mom’s faith in me has been a big help,” Flavin said. “They believed in me from day one.”
The 27-year-old Flavin, 6-foot-1, 145 pounds, put himself through a grueling training program.
“I did a 12-week build where my mileage peaked at 134 miles,” he said. “I had four weeks of running over 130 miles. Most of my runs were in the 6:15 per mile pace. My workouts were around 4:55 pace per mile. Sometimes, getting all the mileage you need can be exhausting. That’s the hardest part of being a marathoner. A fast run can be a fast run. That’s the most satisfying part of being a marathon runner.”
Flavin works professionally for the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project. an Olympic development program for post-college distance runners. He is coached by his brothers Kevin and Keith Hanson, Rochester Hills, Michigan, founders of the program, born in 1999.
In 2:09:18, the bearded, sunglasses-wearing Flavin thus raced to his sport’s greatest time. Stay tuned for better things to come.
Cross Champs,
photo by Kevin Morris
