Who is That Guy on the Bike and What is He Doing?
It was October 20, 1973 and going into the fifth mile his time was 30:35 (7th place). At the ten-mile mark his time was 1:00:30 (4th place). The time at 20 miles was 2:00:04 and the position was the same. At mile 25 the lead was taken with 2:31:01 on the clock and the full marathon time was 2:38:07. The race was not over; there were still a few miles to go. The finish line was near, the clock rolled over to 3:32:22, and victory was his. The runner was 29 years old and wearing bib number 322; it was Robert Thurston of Washington, DC. The race was the Dannon Twin Bridges/DC Road Runners 36 Miler. At age 36 (1980), he returned to collect a second win with a 3:43:45. The race drew 133 men and ten women. The course was exciting and included 72 steps at the Mount Vernon Boat Landing. The race entry fee was 50 cents!

The winner of the 36-miler was invited to run in the original Twin Bridges race in Scotland, and Thurston placed sixth, running the race in 1974.

Today, to those in the running community, he is known for measuring courses, which was a by-product of running. On October 6, 1968 he ran his first race, the DC Road Runners AAU 6 Miler, in 49:53. Thurston dropped high school track to play the bass fiddle. A year after college, while teaching in a one-room classroom in West Virginia, his love for running was renewed. He had a five-mile road loop that he would run in the afternoons with a dog named Silver who only ran half a loop before running off to chase squirrels.

Between October 1968 and November 1977, Thurston ran 101 known races at a variety of distances. A difficult course in the area is near American University; on May 5, 1971 he placed first in the DCRRC 25K (1:25:15) and on August 12, 1971 he placed first in the DCRRC-AU 15K (49:55). At the Boston Marathon in 1970, Thurston ran 2:38, and his best marathon time was 2:23 (16th) at Boston in 1972. In the month of July 1971 he collected four wins in distances from 8K to 10 miles. The ten-miler was at Rockville High School track (7/24) and it was 85 degrees; he ran 53:33. Activist Dick Gregory ran 1:10:28.

"I heard about the DC Road Runners race in 1968 and thought I'd try it. I had thought I wouldn't like to run in a competition but I really enjoyed it and soon I was hooked and a DCRRC member. I gradually increased the distance, and I ran my first marathon, GW Birthday Marathon in Beltsville in 1970 (2:51:17- 9th)," Thurston said.

"A running high point was a father and son marathon in Syracuse, NY in 1973 and prize money was offered. I ran 2:27 and my father, Paul, ran 2:53 and was the first masters division finisher. This was a national record for a combined father and son time. The time was not beat until the late 1980's," Thurston added.

"I backed into course measuring after being tapped by DCRRC president Phil Stewart to revive the 36-mile "Twin Bridges" race. I waited a long time for the person to measure the course. I was curious and met A.J. Vanderwaal, the primary course measurer in this area. After my first conversation with him I concluded A.J. was off his rocker--he was going on about the joys of measuring in the middle of the night, because the temperature was constant, there isn't much traffic, and so on," stated Thurston.

Thurston tells how it got started. In 1981, the Urban League Hometown Run 15K in D.C. was the first course which he measured, with some assistance from A.J., and he went on about the help, "A.J. taught me not only the "how to" of measuring but also the "why"--he had this contagious motivation to get things just as close as you can, while at the same time recognizing the limitations on the accuracy that is possible. Well, before long I was as off my rocker as A.J."

Thurston made four trips to Indonesia to measure a course for a race (the Bali 10K) which offered $1 million to anyone who could break the world record. A marathon course was measured in Jakarta. He also measured courses in Bermuda and Seoul, Korea, and has measured the Marine Corps Marathon course every year since 1983.

It can take four to six hours of field work to measure a 10K course and this includes the preliminary measurement and then adjustments, paperwork, and map construction. Each course measurement is unique and presents its own challenge.

The most difficult course measurement was the Seoul Marathon in 1999. Thurston encountered a problem in disassembling his bike to put it on the plane and he had to go without it. Upon his arrival he was given a bike, which was designed for a shorter Korean.

He recounts, "It was like riding my little brother's bike, my legs all bent--and very tiring. In Seoul, there is only one day you could even hope to measure a course, and that is Sunday. Even then there are traffic jams so dense that only bicycles and police escort motorcycles could get through."

What skills and personality does a job like this take? "You have to be able to ride a bike, and it's best if you have the skill to ride really straight lines. There's a bit of math but it isn't rocket science and you can do the math with a calculator in a 'cookbook' fashion, at least until you get more familiar with it. The most important qualification is interest and willingness to do it," stated Thurston. "There's a whole art/science to effectively marking and staffing a race course. I don't think this art/science is in a really advanced stage--I see many courses that leave too much to chance or to error," he added.

To measure a course for certification you have to do as least two rides or measurements over the "Shortest Possible Route (SPR)" that a runner could follow on the course. Driving the course in a car does not accurately measure the course and it can be off by five percent. You can't take a car over a course like a runner would. Thurston measures about 45 to 60 courses each year.

Thurston expressed concern about the lackadaisical attitude toward the details on a course map. He explains, "The map should be posted, given to all runners and volunteers, and studied carefully by the race director and anyone who is involved in setting up the course. A race director is less likely to set up a course incorrectly if he or she has posted and distributed the map to the people who have the most stake in an accurate course-- the runners. Frankly, runners, especially knowledgeable ones, should be much more vocal in demanding accurately measured courses."

Thurston's motivation is summed up in his words, "Measuring combines so many things that I enjoy doing, riding a bike, mapmaking, doing math, developing running courses. I couldn't have invented an activity that suits me better. I enjoy the solitude and the adventure of being outdoors really early in the morning, or in the middle of the night. I have enjoyed getting to know and work with some terrific people, many of whom I wouldn't have gotten to know any other way."

While all of you are home, snug in bed at 3 a.m., dreaming about your race, Thurston is out on his bike, getting it right and living his own dream, "I would like to see a time when ALL races are either certified or measured to certification standards."

Roll on Bob!