With the unqualified success of the Montgomery County Marathon in the Parks on November 5, suburban Washington has a long- distance run of which it can be proud. Without the vast numbers of the Marine Corps Marathon, or the cache of running past some of the most famous landmarks in the world, the Montgomery County Road Runners have fashioned an intimate 26.2 mile point-to-point race through the parks and along area bike paths that couldn't be in starker contrast to its urban older brother.

That it all came together so flawlessly shouldn't be a surprise, either. The MCRRC is one of the largest and most organized clubs in the country. They have already enjoyed boffo successes with the Pike's Peek 10K, the Rockville Rotary Twilight 8K, Halloween Young Run, and numerous smaller events.

Race director Brian Tresp assembled a crack staff of volunteers that worked long--planning took more than two years--and tirelessly to pull off the inaugural event. Kudos, too, to Carl M. Freeman Company, a locally-based development company that will donate some $60,000 over the life of its three-year contract with the marathon. Imagine, a sponsor that puts up significant money to stage a community running event.

Even the weather cooperated, with a sunny and cool day, "a good compromise between weather for the runners and for the spectators," said Tresp. It was fitting, too, that two local runners, Mark Hoon, from Bethesda, and Hilary Cairns, from Washington, took home the winners' awards of $400 each. Hoon ran two hours, 34 minutes 47 seconds, and Cairns won by nearly seven minutes, running 3:00:21.

"We're especially pleased that Mark won," said MCRRC board member Irv Newman, "because he's a club member." Boosterism at its best.

Hoon, the prerace favorite and wearing bib No. 1, mostly had an easy time of it along the course. He moved into the lead around the four-mile mark, just as the race left the roads behind and moved onto the bike trails that it would trace for the next 22 miles.

"I was hoping to break 2:30," Hoon said. "But by 20 miles, I knew that wasn't happening, and I realized then that I just wanted to finish ahead of everyone else."

Hoon, a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, trains most evenings over some part of the course, which started in Rockville and ended in Bethesda.

Steve Hedgespeth (22), an engineering student at the University of Maryland running his first marathon, competed gamely and stayed within striking distance of Hoon for much of the race.

"Anything can happen in a marathon, and I was hoping he was feeling what I was feeling," Hedgespeth said. "But all of a sudden I felt even worse. I hit the wall at 23 and went into survival mode."

Hedgespeth finished second in 2:39:01. Reuben Beauchamp (53), from Princess Anne, MD, was the first masters division finisher and third overall in 2:44:53.

For Cairns, the race marked redemption from the ignominy of her finish at the Marine Corps Marathon two weeks earlier. There, after running among the top women for nearly 20 miles, she faded badly and ended up running 3:20. At the 20-mile point in Bethesda, where the course passed within sight of the finish banners, Cairns picked up the pace.

Malcolm Lester, Cairns's husband, said the difference between the two races was that his wife "didn't obsess" about the Parks Marathon. "She didn't even figure out a race plan until this morning," he said.

Cairns agreed, reluctantly. Early in the race, she waged a close battle with eventual runner-up Deborah Leyh from Oakton. Cairns pulled ahead after fifteen miles.

"I honestly wasn't thinking about her," Cairns said. "If she had done better, that's great. I came in with a plan, and for the first time in my life, I stuck with it."

Leyh, a multisport athlete running her first marathon, evinced similar equanimity: "I never expected to win. I only hoped to break three hours. In a marathon, you need to run your own race."

Leyh did, in 3:07:14. The race represented a point of departure for Leyh, who left her job at the World Bank the previous week to move west and work in a ski resort. "This is my goodbye to Washington," she said.

Doris Windsand-Dausman (44) of Frederick won the masters division and took third overall in 3:15:41.

Tresp said 1,240 registered for the race, which closed on July 1. More than 1,060 picked up their race packets, but fewer than 800 started, and 710 finished. Tresp expressed some disappointment with the 41 percent rate of attrition, which was even higher than the Marine Corps' falloff and in part attributable to the early registration.

But overall, there was little to complain about. The course held up well: traffic control was never a problem and the congestion some feared along narrow bike paths never materialized. Tresp promised the size of the field would increase next year. In time, he suggested the race could accommodate 4,000 runners without losing the "personal feel" of the event.

"We're going to proceed carefully, because we're in this for the long haul," he promised. And off to a fast start.