Paavo Nurmi Marathon
Hurley, Wisconsin
Saturday, August 11, 2007

On Saturday, August 11, 2007 I race walked the Paavo Nurmi Marathon in Hurley, Wisconsin. This was a nice little marathon with less than 300 entries. This was the 39th running of the event which is named after Paavo Nurmi, the “flying Finn”, a famous Finnish Olympic athlete who won 7 gold and 3 silver medals in three Olympics, breaking every world record in distances from 1500 meters to 20000 meters during the 1920’s. The course was very challenging, always going up or down with almost no level places. The people were friendly and there were plenty on enthusiastic volunteers. The scenery was great as the Hurley area is far from any sizable population in the foothills noted for iron mining and logging. There are also dairy farms and natural lakes. I enjoyed myself.

Pictures from the trip can be seen in later postings.