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Show Brinkman Second In Marathon By John Eigenauer ii . , - -vc. , J . ' ' . v .. ..f - V f i " N v - -- I ; an r ' J f . - i In what might have been the toughest race of his career, Curt Brinkman battled until the very end, overcoming every obstacle from moving cars to fatigue to finish second in the wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon this month. Brinkman finished second to last year's runner-up and long time friend, Jim Martinsen. Martinsen's time was 2:00.41 while Brinkman finished with a 2:07.50, twelve minutes behind his record setting pace of last year. Martinsen and Brinkman first met when they traveled across Holland together, about 80 miles, in one day. They stopped occasionally along the way to see some sights, but saw most of the country from their wheelchairs. During the day, they had a change to get to know each other and have enjoyed a fine friendship ever since. Brinkman began the race in eighth place and stayed there for much of the race. It was only near the end that he began to make a serious move toward the lead. At the 22 mile mark, Curt was in fourth place, but pushed hard through the hills and took over third. It was then that he saw Bob Hall in front of him about one-fourth mile and began to think about taking over second place. With one mile remaining, Brinkman was gaining ground fast when the crowd opened up and allowed a car to pass through, thinking that there would be plenty of time for it to pass by before the racers came through. As Brinkman approached, ap-proached, however, the car stopped "and Brinkman swerved to avoid, hitting the vehicle. As he did so, his wheelchair caught the rear of the car, knocking Curt out of the chair and folding the chair up. By the time Brinkman was able to regain his seating, Hall had gained 100 yards. With only one mile remaining in the race, Kurt admitted that he thought his chances were not very bright, but like all true competitors, Brinkman decided to push all the harder and try and make up the lost ground. The last mile must have been a good one for Curt, because he overtook over-took Hall and ended in second place, seven seconds ahead of his close rival. VRATHON Curt Brinkman practices for Boston Marathon race April 20. This picture was fen as he raced along the boat harbor road in American Fork recentlv. |
