African race gets couple closer to goal

Frank and Vel Verhage of Boardman want to compete in a marathon on every continent.

By JOHN KOVACH

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

BOARDMAN — An adventurous Boardman couple who have been running since 1984 are closer to their goal of completing a marathon in all seven continents.

World travelers Vel and Frank Verhage, ages 61 and 62, respectively, recently completed the Safari.com Marathon in Kenya, Africa, to give them the third of seven continents that they need to become a member of the 7 Continent Club.

They previously had completed marathons in North America and Europe, and now have four more to go in Asia, Australia, Antarctica and South America.

They ran two marathons on the European continent, in Rome, and Ensehede, Netherlands.

“We both are very pleased with our outcome. The course was one of the 10 toughest marathon courses in the world. It was extremely tough,” said Frank Verhage of the Safari.com Marathon course located within the 300-square-mile Lewa Conservancy Park, located about five hours out of Nairobi.

“Basically it is all a dirt trail in the African bush. There are some hills involved. Temperature-wise is wasn’t too bad. It was 86 degrees but at a high altitude you don’t notice the temperature that much,” said Verhage, a 1965 graduate of Champion High who is employed at General Motors in Lordstown.

“You are not running on a smooth surface. There are rocks that you have to pay attention to,” said Frank. “It is easy to trip. One gentleman who was part of our group did take a fall and he was all skinned and bruised. They pulled him off and he didn’t finish, There were numerous others who fell and didn’t finish.”

Verhage said he and his wife, a 1967 graduate of Newton Falls High and now a homemaker, ran the course side-by-side for the most part and finished in about 5 hours, 37 minutes. “But my wife did finish 8-10 feet ahead of me,” he pointed out.

Vel completed her 196th running race, including her 16th marathon. She has won awards in 145 races, including five marathons.

Frank has competed in approximately the same number of runs and has taken awards in about 12 of them.

He said their best marathon time was 3:30 in the Cleveland Revco Marathon in 1993.

But they were more than two hours slower in the Safari.com marathon, which even proved daunting to the swiftest Kenyan runners.

In fact, Frank said the winner, Kenyan Benson Kaptikou, whom they befriended, managed just a slow winning time of 2:24.16, indicative of the grueling nature of the course.

“Normally a time of 2:08 will win a marathon. So the winner was off about 16-17 minutes,” said Verhage, who felt safe running the marathon because of all the security.

“We never felt in danger running the course. They had four helicopters with armed park rangers and also military personnel and rangers on the ground. They were there for our safety. It was mainly protection from animals,” said Verhage. “We saw zebras and elephants when we were running.”

But he said they saw many other animals during their stay. “We were there for eight total days and took many safari drives, “ he said.

Verhage said that 140 runners entered the marathon, “and some were trying to add a continent” like he and his wife were trying to do.

The Verhages also compete in bicycle races, biathlons (running and bicycling events) and relays for life.

“We both have competed in numerous bicycle races. My wife has won numerous awards in the bicycle races,” said Frank. “We also have done several biathlons [and] two relays for life events. In the first one in 1996, the team we were on finished first for the most amount of miles run in 24 hours. The second relay we both ran 50 miles each.”

So, what continent will provide the next marathon challenge for the Verhages in their quest to do all seven?

“Our next marathon will be in Australia or China. We haven’t made a determination yet,” said Frank.

kovach@vindy.com