Recently, at the USATF Indoor, your editor (c’est moi) was sitting in the stands with Jeff Benjamin, senior writer for Staten Island and Elliott Denman, senior senior writer for all things New Jersey, Olympics, true athletics history.
Elliott Denman is 91 this year, and competed in the 1956 Olympic race walk at 50 kilometers. A life long writer, Elliott is soft spoken, but his pen is mighty, like an e.e. cummings poem !
Elliott gently nudged me at the mt, and when Elliott nudges, well, I listen (most of the time). Watching the semi finals in the 60 meters, he noted how the men’s finish would be for the final, and he was correct. Then, he reminded me of a piece he did with Chris Christopher on New Jersey’s fastest marathoner, J.P. Flavin.
Here is that story:
MEET J.P. FLAVIN,
THE BRIGHT USA
MARATHON TALENT
By ELLIOTT DENMAN AND CHRIS CHRISTOPHER
J.P. Flavin’s track fans , family and friends knew he was coming on fast as a world-class marathoner, veteran New Jersey-based track, field and road racing devotee Elliott Denman (himself a 1956 USA Olympian) tells you..
After all, he’d been checking out Flavin’s progress through the ranks of the sport for over a dozen years.
But 2:09:18 fast for the marathon (his recent achievement in Arizona, December 21st.)
Not really. That was one giant-sized leap upward in all the archives of the 26-mile, 385-yard/ 42.2-kilometer racing distance. Even with the giant-sized recent advances in shoe technology, nutrition, and training methodology.
How fast is 2:09:18? Faster than USA icons Alberto Salazar, Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter ever ran it, for one thing.
Salazar’s career best is 2:09:23 in Fukuoka, Japan, in 1983; Rodgers’ best a 2:09:27 at Boston in 1979, Shorter’s best a 2:10:30 at Fukuoka in 1972.
The 27-year-old Flavin’s 2:09:18 ranks him 21st on the all-time USA list now topped by Conner Mantz’s 2:04:43 last Oct. 12 in Chicago. Salazar is 22nd, Rodgers 23rd and Shorter 58th.
These days, Flavin is Michigan-based. But he’s forever been proud of his New Jersey Shore roots. So the 2:09:18 also ranks him tops on the all-time New Jersey marathoners’ list.
The Garden State top-man roster had once read this way:
Matt McDonald, the Princetonian out of North Hunterdon High School (2:09:49),Eamonn O’Reilly, the St. Benedict’s Prep and Georgetown grad (2:11:12), Dean Matthews, the Lakewood High and Clemson alumnus (2:11:48) and Tom Fleming, the Bloomfield and William Paterson University grad (2:13:15.) In the mix with them was one more Jersey Shore superstar, Bill Scholl, out of Brick Township High, Malone College and Shore AC (2:14:59.)
New Jersey and marathoning have had a long run together. Winner of the historic first 26-mile, 385-yarder at the 1908 London Olympic Games? That was Johnny Hayes, based in New Jersey for much of his life, of course. The list of succeeding New Jersey Olympic marathoners includes Newark’s Frank Zuna, Fort Lee’s Vic Dyrgall and Glassboro’s ’s Ringo Adamson, too.
Over the years, New Jersey has hosted the USA Olympic marathon trials (1988 at Liberty State Park), as well as 26-mile, 385-yarders in Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Jersey City, Long Branch, and more.
For all these reasons and more, Flavin’s 2:09:18 ranks as a very big thing arund here.
But all too few denizens of the Garden State – and beyond – have given it proper attention.
That so, Elliott Denman will now hand the baton over to long-time media colleague Chris Christopher, himself carrying the tradition for one of New Jersey’s longest-running newspaper families.
Christpher saw it and wrote it this way:
J.P. Flavin, the former Toms River High School North runner won The Marathon Project-staged race in 2:09:18 at the Wild Horse Pass Resort in Chandler, Arizona, to earn a $10,000 paycheck.
“Freaking 2:09:18!” he exclaimed Dec. 21, when it was over. “Gotta learn how to look prettier at the finish line, but what a time! What a day! It still feels like a dream! There are plenty of times in this sport when the work doesn’t feel worth it, but yesterday was a day that made me remember why we constantly put ourselves through hell!
“Learning how to deal with the highs and lows of the marathon has been tricky. There are some miles when you feel amazing and some miles where you think to yourself, ‘My legs don’t wanna do this anymore,’ but thankfully I’ve learned how to tame those thoughts.”
Cross Champs, photo by Kevin Morris
Call the former TR North Mariner New Jersey’s Most Magnificent Marathoner. All he did was post the fastest time in Garden State history. He found the fast, flat, criterium 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 flat. Ideal for a marathon. I knew I would be able to finish in the top five and compete for a win. My time goal was 2:10:30. I was aiming for a top five finish. I did not expect to win. ”
There were 50 men’s and 24 women’s finishers in the elite field. Average race finishing time was 2:24.52.
It was a fight to the finish. Flavin fought off second-place Turner Wiley (2:09:27) of Issaquah, Wa.
“When I crossed the finish line, I was mostly in shock,” Flavin said. “I turned around and saw my girlfriend, Anna Vess, and got to greet her, which was great. I then saw that a good friend of mine finished second and celebrated with him a little bit following the race.”
Flavin reached 5 kilometers 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 1:16:46 and 40K in 2:02:29.
“I stuck to my game plan of running mid-4:50’s,” he said. “I tried not to be too aggressive. I opted to go with the 2:08 pace group. They were the key reasons for the win. I knew winning was possible, but it was not a focus of mine. I was thinking about running as fast as I could and being happy with where I placed.
“The marathon is such a long race. I really tried to zone out as much as I could in the early stages of this race to prevent any additional mental strain. At around mile 17, I started to lock in and realize I was going to have a good day and could contend for the win. At around mile 24, I took the lead and had to limit getting too excited as the last two miles were especially tough. My legs were starting to cramp and tighten up a little bit. At around 24 miles, I fought off cramps.”
Flavin has competed in – and finished – five marathons. (Back in New Jersey, Flavin had won such big Shore area events as the Freehold and Spring Lake five-milers.)
“It was my first win in a marathon,” he said. “It feels as if years of training culminate into a result that was a big accomplishment.”
Another member of Team Flavin in Arizona was his mom, Melanie Flavin.
“Anna’s and mom’s belief in me has been a huge help,” Flavin said. “They have believed in me since Day One.”
Flavin, 27, a 6-foot-145-pounder, 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 within that build above 130 miles. The majority of my runs were at around a 6:15 pace per mile. My workouts were around a 4:55 pace per mile. Sometimes, getting in all of the mileage necessary can be exhausting. That’s the most challenging aspect of being a marathoner. Getting into a groove and finding the rhythm of running fast can be amazing at times. That’s the most satisfying aspect of being a marathoner.”
Flavin runs professionally for the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, an Olympic development program for post collegiate distance runners. He is coached by brothers Kevin and Keith Hanson, the founders of the Rochester Hills, Michigan, program born in 1999.
In 2:09:18, the bearded, sunglassed Flavin thus ran his way into his sport’s biggest time. Stay tuned for better things just ahead.
Cross Champs,
photo by Kevin Morris
