Boalsburg Memorial Day Run History
by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Boalsburg Memorial Day Run has been going on since 1981. It's one of the longest established races in the area. Somehow Mike Casper got hold of a spreadsheet that had data on the race going back to the beginning. The spreadsheet ends in 1997. I made a table below with some of the interesting statistics. I filled in the information for the races after 1997 from our results on the web site, but there are a few missing years. If you have any information on these races, let me know at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The village of Boalsburg is a small town just outside of State College, PA. It's one of the towns that claim have originated the idea for Memorial Day around the time of the Civil War. The town still has an old-fashioned home town feel. They have a great Memorial Day celebration, including an arts and crafts fair, a carnival, a parade, and the race itself.
The Boalsburg race has always been a funky affair. It used to be billed as a 4 Miler, but the race directors were never very picky about the distance measurement. The current course is really about 3.8 miles and it has always been about that long. But the start and finish changed from the Diamond at the center of town to Blue Spring Park, not far away, and there have been a few other tweaks over the years, so course records are hard to compare. It seems like the whole town either runs the race or cheers the runners. And despite the fact that the course is pretty tough, with two challenging hills, lots of people of all ages run it. It's a nice way to spend Memorial Day morning.

Here's the history:

Year # of Runners Start/Finish Men's Winner Time Women's Winner Time
1981 146 Diamond Richard Harter 20:44 Sue Crowe 24:06
1982 253 Diamond Gary Black 20:13 Barbara Black 25:30
1983 316 Diamond Bill Knapp 21:18 Sue Crowe 25:39
1984 332 Diamond Bob Hudson 20:11 Liz Kisenwether 25:20
1985 415 Diamond Pete Bortolotti 20:22 Lynne Strauss 25:17
1986 426 Diamond Bob Hudson 20:43 Karen Borza 25:29
1987 430 Diamond Matt Colton 20:39 Sue Crowe 23:30
1988 336 Blue Spring Park Matt Colton 19:47 Sue Crowe 22:21
1989 372 Blue Spring Park James Hegarty 20:18 Laurie Morrow 23:16
1990 412 Blue Spring Park Mike Crescenzi 19:15 Sue Crowe 22:26
1991 436 Blue Spring Park Austin Morrow 19:45 Sue Crowe 23:26
1992 300 Blue Spring Park Mike Crescenzi 18:59 Heidi Gerken 22:15
1993 281 Blue Spring Park Leif Steiner 21:15 Sue Crowe 23:12
1994 263 Blue Spring Park Colin Heitzman 20:33 Evelynn Ellis 23:56
1995 310 Blue Spring Park Jeff Miller 20:32 Evelynn Ellis 23:49
1996 302 Blue Spring Park Chris Pass 20:23 Evelynn Ellis 24:04
1997 356 Blue Spring Park Chris Pass 20:30 Evelynn Ellis 24:04
1998 ? Blue Spring Park ? ? ? ?
1999 425 Blue Spring Park Louis Aquila 19:50 Bethann Scott 25:06
2000 496 Blue Spring Park Matt Kretchmar 20:44 Chris Crowe 25:27
2001 440 Blue Spring Park Stephen Gross 20:33 Chris Crowe 24:43
2002 408 Blue Spring Park Stephen Walsh 19:37 Jessi Loner 24:13
2003 348 Blue Spring Park Brian Wheeler 21:48 Julie Grubb 24:31
2004 412 Blue Spring Park Erik Scott 20:22 Patricia Keating 25:09
2005 418 Blue Spring Park David Moore 20:19 Jessi Loner 24:32
2006 491 Blue Spring Park Erik Scott 20:49 Martha Nelson 23:02
2007 420 Blue Spring Park Richard Koubek 20:48 Meghan Mason 23:30
2008 437 Blue Spring Park Andy Cunningham 21:44 Meghan Mason 23:21
2009 479 Blue Spring Park David Moore 20:29 Katie Davis 23:02

2010

492

Blue Spring Park

Andy Cunningham

21:56

Tatum Del Bosco

24:08

2011

494

Blue Spring Park*

Pat Singletary

21:31

Hayley Weyhe

25:12

2012

470

Blue Spring Park

Jacob Loverich

20:23

Samantha Snead

23:21

2013

405

Blue Spring Park

Daniel Craighead

20:10

Heather Hoechst

24:42

2014

406

Blue Spring Park

Daniel Craighead

20:53

Jaimie Wright

26:05

2015

338

Blue Spring Park

Daniel Craighead

20:19

Kirsten Frazier

24:43

2016 299 Blue Spring Park Daniel Craighead 20:30 Mary Higgins 24:59
2018 286 Blue Spring Park Matthew Balogh 20:22 Jaimie Wright 25:17
2019 281 Blue Spring Park Loc O 20:35 Torrie Raish 22:54

 

* Course shortened by about 150 yards due to muddy fields at Blue Spring Park.