Gene Roy discovered a love for running when he joined the cross country team in 1961 at Winslow High under coach Bob Nixon. Roy remembers, “I won a few races but I didn’t consider myself a true distance runner. I would see Roland Dyer (1990 inductee) during his workouts around town and considered him a real runner.” During his college years at UMPI he ran for pleasure and to get in shape for the wrestling season. He continued running seasonally after graduation in 1969 but was not inspired to enter any of the few races offered in Maine at that time. Then came the running renaissance: Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers appear on TV screens and suddenly new races began to appear. Frank with his Olympic marathon victory in 1972 and “Boston Billy,” with his free-spirited attitude did much to promote an interest in running and racing, recalls Roy. Beginning in the mid-1970s Roy began entering races on weekends. “At first there were not many races to choose from. There were no T-shirts and most courses were not accurately measured.” Roy would load his family into the car early in the morning and head for a race. “At least one child would throw up in the car on the way to each race,” Roy recalled ruefully. In spite of that, most of his children became runners and still run to this day. Roy’s wife Sarah has been a runner for the past 20 years as well. Roy’s love for running and the camaraderie he developed with the other runners encouraged him to give something back to the sport and so he became a race director. In 1978 he began directing the Roland Dyer Memorial Race in Winslow and continued for two decades. The race had become dormant for lack of a race director. Thus began a long history of service to the Maine road racing community. Besides the Roland Dyer, he also directed the Maine Running Hall of Fame race in Waterville and the Oakland Lion’s Club 5-K. He began the January Thaw Road Race and directed it for the first 20 years. He volunteers his help at another dozen races through the race calender. He says his proudest moment was the year he saved the Sugarloaf Marathon after the race director moved out West and the race was cancelled. He remarked the course and announced that the race would be held if anyone wanted to run it, and that he would do the timing. Over 50 runners showed up and residents along the course set up their own impromptu water stops to support the runners. The race survived that year and now is a very successful race under new sponsorship. Roy has measured most of the certified courses in the Central Maine area. He maintains two calibration courses and has trained others to measure courses according to RRCA standards. He has received the RRCA 2000 Hours Volunteer Award and was selected for Maine Runners Profile in New England Runner magazine. In 1978 he was encouraged by Rick Krause to join the Central Maine Striders and then served as president; additionally, he held every other office in the club. He also received Strider of the Year Award and the Most Improved Runner Award. Gene Roy has been coaching cross country and track since 1975. He has coached at junior high, high school and college levels. He has worked with several state champions and small college All-Americans. He also volunteers as a track coach for the Winslow Track Club, a 14 and under, USATF track team in Winslow. For the past 30 years he has been a race official at high school and collegiate meets in cross country and track. In recent years Roy, who has always enjoyed back packing, became a member of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club. The combination with running resulted in his interest in trail running. “I do as much running on trails as I can now to save my knees,” he says. “Trail running is like long distance cross country, you can forget about your minutes per mile average and finish times, and instead worry about running out of water, getting injured or lost.” He also competes in triathlons (solo) and nordic races. Where is road racing going? Well, there are fewer races now than ten years ago. There may be many reasons for that but one of the biggest is the loss of people who are willing to get involved with their sport and organize a race or take over a race for someone else. “It takes a lot of work and leads to a lot of stress, but the satisfaction of seeing many happy faces at the end a race makes up for that,” states Roy. Gene Roy has been teaching science for 34 years, which is also the number of years he has been married to Sarah. They have five children, Rachel, Rebecca, Luc, Sam and Grace. He is currently at Winslow Junior High School and serves as head of the science department. Personal Records: 10 miles, 55:08, AAU One-Hour Run Championship, 1975; Half Marathon, 1:17:52, Caribou, 1981; Marathon, 2:40:08, Casco Bay Marathon, Portland, 1980; 50 miles, 6:04:58, Rowdy Ultra, Brunswick, 1980.
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