John Clark

John Clark Athletic Shoe Buyer, Team Orders jc@skinnyraven.com

Head Coach: John Clark | Email: jc@skinnyraven.com

Most notable were the comments made by former Dimond High coach John Clark, who told the School Board: "We're talking about 400 runners.

It's Wednesday, five days to the Boston Marathon, and 41-year-old John Clark is planning to just loosen up a little.All the real work is behind him.

He'd qualified for America's oldest, most prestigious road race almost 18 months ago, running the 2000 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours 34 minutes, almost 45 minutes faster than necessary in his age category to win an invitation to Boston.

He'd put in a long winter of grueling treadmill work in Anchorage, averaging about 80 miles a week -- including a memorable 117-mile "peak week" that he capped by racing two-thirds of the Los Angeles Marathon (as a training run) almost within eyesight of the Kenyans.

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But leg-stretching for Clark is different from leg-stretching for you or me.

As the fastest of 38 Alaskans invited to the 106th Boston Marathon, Clark is hoping to switch from coach to competitor, lowering his personal record for the marathon below the 2:30 mark.

"Absolutely," Clark says."I've trained too hard this past winter not to improve."

Think of him as an Alaska version of "The Rookie," the current hit movie about a high school baseball coach who agrees to take a shot at pitching in the big leagues if his kids can win their conference.

Clark won't be a contender in the open division in Monday's race.In the sprawling international field of 16,000 racers, there are about a thousand with qualifying times faster than his.The top 14 racers alone (including nine Kenyans but no Americans) have run marathons in 2:10:50 or faster.

For that matter, Clark wouldn't be the fastest Alaskan, either, if his former protege -- U.S. Olympic women's marathon star Chris Clark (no relation, though John coached Clark's march to the Olympics) -- was still running.
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For John Clark, this Boston will be his first, though he's hardly a newcomer to distance racing.

Three years ago, he finished first in the five-kilometer Anchorage Daily News Heart Run, the state's biggest road race.Last year he was the top Alaska finisher in the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon.

Since then he's improved, says Clark, who also works as manager of Skinny Raven Sports.He's added some muscle and lost some weight. (At 5-foot-11 and 142 pounds, his body-fat content was recently measured at 3 to 4 percent.Says Clark: "I qualify as a chubby Kenyan.")

He didn't look chubby Wednesday, stepping onto the treadmill at the Alaska Club South just to stretch his legs.

As a couple of dozen morning joggers and walkers looked on, Clark angled the treadmill up to a 9-percent grade and ran a steep uphill mile while carrying on a comfortable conversation.

Then he lowered it flat and punched up the speed -- striding off a second mile in five minutes flat.

Finally, he slowed down to the smooth, loping 5:40-per-mile pace he hopes to sustain for 26 miles on Monday.All the way to Boston.

"Whoever wins will have run well," said coach John Clark of Dimond, whose team's 1997 championship was the only one in the last eight years not won by a Region III school."Soldotna, last year, didn't run well, but they were so strong they were still able to win.If you don't run well this week though, forget it.

"It's kind of fun.It hasn't been that way in a long time."

Knight beat John Clark of Anchorage by less than a minute to win his first Homer News Spit Run with a time of 33:47.
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"It was nice of John to hold up a bit for me."
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Chapple won shoes and a hat donated by second-place finisher Clark who is the owner of Skinny Raven in Anchorage.
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1. CLARK, JOHN, 0:34:25; 2.KLAAR, JENS, 0:39:16; 3.FARRELL, BOB, 0:40:43; 4.WILLIAMSON, LANCE, 0:42:14; 5.ANDREWS, DAVID, 0:42:48; 6.MCCARRON, JAMES, 0:44:09; 7.KAUFMAN, DOUG, 0:44:10; 8.NEGRO, BILL, 0:44:32; 9.MAILLOUX, JEFF, 0:46:01; 10.DalBianco, ROB, 0:47:57; 11.ALLEN, TOM, 0:50:29; 12.SCHROOTEN, PAUL, 0:54:27; 13.YATES, JOHN, 0:56:08; 14.STEWART, LOU, 0:57:53; 15.HAAS, ANDY, 44, 1:04:07; 16.WALSWORTH, CHARLIE, 1:15:13; 17.ROBINSON, BRUCE, 1:26:17; 18.HEMSTREET, MARK, 1:29:56; 19.BIRCHFIELD, DAVID, 1:32:08.
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CHAPPLE III, JOHN, 0:53:43; 10.MOSS, LYLE, 0:54:54; 11.KNIGHT, PAUL, 0:56:24; 12.GROSSMAN, WAYNE, 1:03:07; 13.SLUPETSKY, GUSTAV, 1:14:12; 14.MURRAY, MICHAEL, 1:38:51; 15.SMITH, JEFF, 45:56.

Leading the pack will be John Clark, 41, the cross-country coach at Dimond High School, who put in a long winter of grueling treadmill work to get ready, averaging about 80 miles a week.

Clark qualified for America's oldest, most prestigious road race almost 18 months ago, running the 2000 Chicago Marathon in 2 hours 34 minutes, almost 45 minutes faster than necessary in his age category to win an invitation to Boston.

As the fastest of 38 Alaskans invited to the 106th Boston Marathon, Clark is hoping to lower his personal record for the marathon below the 2:30 mark.

"Absolutely," Clark says."I've trained too hard this past winter not to improve."

Clark won't be a contender in the open division in Monday's race.In the sprawling international field of 16,000 racers, there are about a thousand with qualifying times faster than his.The top 14 racers alone, including nine Kenyans but no Americans, have run marathons in 2:10:50 or faster.

The youngest Alaskan is expected to be 20-year-old Anchorage runner Talitha Birch, who qualified last year in the Seattle Marathon by finishing first in her age division but will enter Boston ranked 7,717th overall.

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For John Clark, this Boston will be his first, though he's hardly a newcomer to distance racing.

Three years ago, he finished first in the 5-kilometer Anchorage Daily News Heart Run, the state's biggest road race.Last year he was the top Alaska finisher in the Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage.

Since then he's improved, says Clark, who also works as manager of Skinny Raven Sports.He's added some muscle and lost some weight.At 5-foot-11 and 142 pounds, his body-fat content was recently measured at 3 to 4 percent.

"I qualify as a chubby Kenyan," he said.

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A fast pace was set by eventual winner Matthew Corinth and John Clark, both of Anchorage.
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Then, with 800 meters remaining, Clark, the Dimond High School cross-country running coach, experienced a disabling "blow up" of a calf muscle, reducing him to a jog.
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"I liked finishing on the road, rather than the bike trail," said Clark.

Dorris said the race modification would be something he pushes for in the future.

John Clark

email: jc@skinnyraven.com