The Johnny Miles Marathon tie: A fight to the finish

“We finished a needle-thread apart. It wasn’t even intelligible to the naked eye” is how the Johnny Miles Marathon co-champion Raymond Moorehead describes crossing the finish line with running rival Scott Clark. The two runners crossed the finish line with a separation of a mere three-hundredths of a second. This is the only tie in the race’s 40-year history.

We caught up with Ray Moorehead and Scott Clark in the week after their race, to find out exactly how this came about.

Canadian Running: What was the race like this past weekend?

Ray Moorehead: I went into it feeling really fit. I expected to run about a 2:47. Right from the start, Scott Clark and I were close together. We run very similarly, the same style, the same pace. At the half, my legs weren’t feeling great. I’d run a 5K the weekend before and I was starting to worry that might not have been such a good idea.

Scott Clark: I thought I might have a chance at top five. For the first 30K or so, Ray and I seemed to really have a sense of each other. Every time one of us got a little ahead, we’d tighten it up.

RM: Around the 30K mark, I started creating some space. I wasn’t breaking stride at the aid stations and Scott was. At that point, I couldn’t see the front runner, so I was hoping to just hold on and finish second. With about 6 or 7K to go, I finally came across the leader. He was cramping when I passed him. Shortly thereafter I experienced some blurry vision and dizziness myself, but it passed.

SC: At one point a spectator told me that Ray was a minute and ten ahead of me, so I thought, well, I just need to keep doing what I’m doing. I kept at it and then all of a sudden I had Ray back in sight.

RM: There’s a turn around at a pylon with just 2K to go and when I went around it, I saw that Scott Clark was right there. And all I could think was “Uh-oh, how bad does he want it?” He was coming up after me.

SC: When I saw that I was closing in on Ray, I was just thinking, “what do I say when I’m coming up on him in the very last stages of the race?” He’s always been really positive with me whenever we’ve raced together before. We’re competitive, but it’s really good natured.

RM: When he caught up he said, “Let’s bring it in together, let’s go.” And then the pace just kept getting faster and faster. We threw ourselves across that line and I collapsed on top of a table there. I was completely depleted. The race director came over and told me that I won by three hundredths of a second. I just said no. We’re equal competitors, it was an equal effort, we both won. It was a tie. The race director agreed.

SC: Ray’s a tough racer. He was hurting when I caught up to him, but he just kept digging deep. As we sped up and I kept looking at him through the corner of my eye, I was just thinking, “I’m not going to be able to get ahead of this guy!” It’s a good thing there weren’t any half-marathoners finishing at that time in the shoot. They might have been run over by two stampeding fifty-somethings.

RM: I did have a few expletives for Scott at the finish though, along the lines of “don’t ever make me suffer like that again!”

CR: How did you celebrate afterwards?

SC: I got a massage and I very rarely do that. We had lots of chats with the other finishers, it’s always great to relive the experience with other runners. We talked to a few newspapers. Then it was back to PEI for me.

RM: Well, I had a nice big fat greasy hamburger and a beer! My friends all laugh at me because after a marathon I take a week off and have a “fat week.” Chocolate, goodies and kicking back and relaxing. I’m a chocoholic and this is my week to indulge.

CR: What are your plans for upcoming races?

RM: A few of us from Nova Scotia are venturing to Spain to run the Valencia Marathon in November. I’m also competing in the run Nova Scotia performance series, so another 10K and a half in the next couple of months and just continuing with training.

SC: I’m racing a half marathon in PEI this weekend and then a half Ironman next weekend. After that I’m competing in a full Ironman in Mt Tremblant. I’m trying to qualify to get to Hawaii. My wife and I have booked a trip to Kona to volunteer regardless, if I get a spot, that’s great, but if not, we’ll enjoy our trip anyways.