×

Christopherson to make history with Hall of Fame induction

Courtesy Photo Local runner Wayne Christopherson will make history with his induction into the Alpena Sports Hall of Fame next month. He’ll become the first marathoner enshrined after a running career that’s spanned more than 40 years. In that time, Christopherson has completed 259 marathons and ultra-marathons, competing in races all over the United States while becoming the first Alpena runner accomplish several milestones.

In more than 40 years of running, Wayne Christopherson’s resume has produced a lot of firsts.

On May 4, he’ll add another one to the list.

With his induction into the Alpena Sports Hall of Fame, Christopherson will become the first marathoner to be enshrined. He’ll be inducted as part of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018, along with Rachel (Gebauer) Garant, Melissa (Brousseau) O’Dell, Don Deadman and Bill Romstadt.

“I’m thankful that the sport of running is being recognized in and of itself. I’m not a multi-sport kind of a person; I run and I’m glad that’s being recognized,” Christopherson said. “I’m proud and honored to be recognized by peers and the community for the accomplishments I’ve had.”

Though he prefers to keep a low profile, Christopherson has gained a reputation as one of Alpena’s best distance runners during his long career. Many local runners have cited Christopherson as an influence.

He was the first Alpena runner to compete in the Boston Marathon and was the first Michigander to complete a renowned series of grueling 100-mile races.

Over the course of his career, Christopherson has completed 259 marathons and ultra-marathons and his travels have taken him everywhere from Traverse City to Detroit to Pittsburgh to Boston to Colorado to South Carolina.

Still, he said his upcoming induction comes as a surprise, because his athletic endeavors haven’t followed the traditional path of so many inductees.

“Running, to me, has always been personal, and it was only to test myself and what limits I might have,” Christopherson said.

While many athletes develop a passion for different sports at an early age, Christopherson’s love of running was born of inspiration. He watched Frank Shorter win the gold medal in the marathon at the 1972 Summer Olympics, a moment that’s credited with igniting the running boom in the U.S.

Christopherson and other Alpena runners also followed the career of marathoner Bill Rogers, who became a Superman-like figure in the running world in the 1970s. Between 1976 and 1980, Rogers won three consecutive Boston Marathons and four straight New York City Marathons.

What stuck out to Christopherson about Rogers and Shorter, aside from their accomplishments, was that they seemed like everyday people who just happened to be good at running.

“They’re not a whole lot different than us. They’re little, skinny guys and they can run,” Christopherson said. “I latched on to, ‘Wow, that’s quite a distance. I wonder if I could.’ The next thing I knew, I was running longer distances and finding out what it was all about.”

Christopherson competed in sports at Alpena High, but never lettered and only ran a little bit of track as a freshman and sophomore. Once he caught the running bug after college, the challenge of training for, competing in, and completing a marathon became a point of personal pride.

It’s something that still drives Christopherson today as he continues to compete at age 70.

He completed his first marathon–the Saginaw Bay Marathon–in 1978, crossing the line in three hours and 14 minutes. Christopherson’s earliest races took him all over Michigan as he ran marathons in Gaylord, Saginaw, Breckenridge, Cheboygan and Detroit.

Eventually, though, he wanted a bigger challenge to test himself. After finishing the Detroit Free Press Marathon in two hours and 49 minutes in the fall of 1981, such a challenge presented itself as Christopherson’s finish qualified him for the Boston Marathon.

“When I first started running, I thought about getting out there (to Boston) and, gradually, it became more important to me,” Christopherson told News sports editor Dick Higgs in 1982. “I look at it as a one-time chance to compete with world-class runners.”

In 1982, Alberto Salazar overtook Dick Beardsley to win the Boston Marathon by two seconds while setting a new race record.

While the two of them produced one of the race’s most famous finishes, Christopherson was making history, as well, as Alpena’s first runner to compete in Boston. He finished the race in 2:54.09 and has since run the race numerous times. He even ran in the 2019 race last week, finishing in 4:26.53.

Christopherson wasn’t done challenging himself or making local history, yet. After several years of running marathons, Christopherson turned his attention to ultra-marathons, specifically to a series of races known to ultra-marathoners as the Big 4. Those 100-mile races, known as ultra-marathons because they are longer than the traditional 26.2-mile marathon, test runners’ limits in a variety of different conditions.

Christopherson’s original plan was to run each of those races in a single year, but he eventually settled on tackling them individually.

In 1986, Christopherson became Alpena’s first runner to compete in the Western States 100 in California, finishing in 23 hours, 17 minutes in his first attempt.

He completed the other three legs of the Big 4 in subsequent years–the Wasatch 100 (in Utah), the Old Dominion 100 (in Virginia) and the Leadville 100 (in Colorado). Christopherson was the first Michigander to complete all four.

Christopherson has never been afraid to challenge himself and his resume includes several other ultra-marathons, 33 Detroit Free Press Marathons, and more than 30 Bayshore Marathons in Traverse City. The Bayshore Marathon is a personal favorite of Christopherson’s, in part because it’s the site of his personal best time in a marathon: 2:45:13.

In 2000, Christopherson set a goal of completing 12 marathons in a year, one per month. He accomplished the goal and then some, doing an extra one as a precaution.

“I actually ran 13 marathons, because I was afraid if I got into December and something happened, I would not be able to complete my 12th,” Christopherson said. “So I ran an extra one so there was that cushion, so I could get 12 in a year.”

In 2010, Christopherson completed his 200th career marathon, winning his age group at the Charlevoix Marathon. He also won his age group (70-74) in the 2018 Free Press Marathon, finishing in the top 30% of all finishers, with a time of 3:58.21.

In Christopherson’s early days of competing, running and marathoning was something of a niche sport in Alpena, but the love of running shared by Christopherson, Joe Gentry, and others led to the formation of the Dork Brothers racing team. The group was so named after a competitor remarked that the group–wearing short shorts, headbands, and black socks–looked like a bunch of dorks at a road race.

A lot has changed since then, and running is no longer niche in Alpena. Now, it’s not uncommon to see people of all ages running at all times of the day. The Dork Brothers sponsor several races in Alpena each year and runners of all ages compete. In the last 10 years, Alpena High School has sent several distance runners on to the collegiate level.

Many Alpenans who run reguarly and who’ve run their own marathons and ultra-marathons have cited runners like Christopherson as an influence and a mentor, a fact Christopherson said he’s honored by.

“I guess it gives me pride to know that there would be others who aspire to do what I do. It would make me feel very good,” Christopherson said. “I do hope that I’m an inspiration or a mentor to the kids coming up through running and to older folks.”

When Christopherson took up running, completing a marathon was simply a question of, “Could he do it?”

Now, at age 70, and with more than 250 races completed, the question now Christopherson is, “How much longer will he do it?”

“I’m still curious as to how long I can do this. I’m thinking age is not a limiting factor. I think it’s just to see how long I can continue to do this,” Christopherson said. “In Boston, I met 85-year-olds, 75–year-olds, so I know age is not a limiting factor if you stay healthy and stay injury-free.”

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today