Millennium Mile
"May all your miles be downhill with the wind at your back!"

When planning a 1999 New Years Eve party John Mortimer and the Downin brothers, Matt and Andy, joked about how their guest list might make many race promoters very happy. Including the hosts’, the party attendees’ running credentials included 72 All-American certificates. RSVP’s also included five U.S. Olympic Trials finalists.

“We came up with the idea of a one-mile race,” said Mortimer, a former Londonderry High and University of Michigan All-American who now coaches runners at Boston College. “The Union Leader offered sponsorship assistance and reported that no one had ever run a sub 4-minute mile in New Hampshire. So we made the course downhill and fast.”

More than 120 ran the inaugural race. Six ran the mile in less than four minutes, thus starting a popular year-end tradition. Participation increases each year. More than 300 ran last year, and more are expected to run the Millennium Mile in Londonderry on Dec. 28 at 2 p.m.

The registration fee is just $10 for adults and $2 for kids — an inexpensive price to pay for something to brag about at an upcoming New Years Eve party, as the course is tailor-made to produce personal-best finish times.

“It’s a manageable distance to run,” said Mortimer.

The elevation drops about 100 feet on the point-to-point course, which runs south down Mammoth Road, from the starting line near Londonderry High School to the finish line just past Mack’s Apples. Championship computer timing ensures accurate times.

All entrants share the same field, elite and recreational runners answering the starting gun together, and chances are good that the field will include a 2004 Olympian or two.

Mortimer and the Downins — former Hampstead residents, Matt won a national high school cross country championship as a senior at Pinkerton Academy of Derry before going on to gain All-America status at Wisconsin, while Andy earned multiple All-America citations at Georgetown before winning the national 1,500 meters championship in 2001 — all plan to compete in the Olympic Trials. Their connections and the race’s status as the kick-off to the 2004 USA Track and Field-New England Grand Prix series ensure that other elite runners will be on hand, as well.

The rest of the field will be diverse.

A 3-year-old finished the race in 2001, and runners as young as 75 have gone the Millennium Mile distance. Finish times in 2002 ranged from 3:58 to 20:40, with many runners registered under team affiliation.

Andy Downin set the men’s course record of 3:51 in 2001. Katie McGregor of Minneapolis set the women’s standard of 4:27 last year.

Prizes and awards are presented to top age-group finishers.

Mortimer said that while registration is ongoing, three past winners already have committed to return.

The organizers established a Millennium Mile Scholarship Fund in 2002 for a New Hampshire high school senior looking to run cross country or compete in track and field at college.

“We three race organizers were fortunate enough to receive scholarships for college. We all had great experiences running for our schools and think the least we can do is to try and help provide that to another person,” said Mortimer. The list of sponsors for the scholarship fund grows each year.

“People run the race, have a great time and want to help out. Andy’s dentist ran the race and then got the whole office to come out the next year,” said Mortimer. Ahern, Nichols, Hersey and Ahern Dentists of Derry were 2002 scholarship sponsors.