RACERS’ EDGE: Falmouth family of runners prefers living life in fast lane
FALMOUTH — Catch them if you can.
Members of the Gartner family of East Falmouth collectively have run the ASICS Falmouth Road Race 61 times. Father Ken Gartner has totaled 36 races, Caleb and Henry eight each, Silas and Nate three each, and mother Joanne three.
Henry (18), and 15-year-old twins Silas and Nate, placed in the top five among the 1,413 Falmouth residents who ran the race last month. Henry placed first in the division for the third year in a row, while Silas came in second and Nate finished fifth.
The oldest brother Caleb didn’t run the Falmouth race this year, instead serving as coordinator for the elite runners.
Caleb now runs cross country and track at Columbia University, where he is a junior. Caleb, who went to Middlesex School in Concord after one year at Falmouth High, said Ken encouraged the children to start running.
“But I think he would agree that he made sure the motivation to keep running came from ourselves and not from him,” Caleb said.
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Ken, a physical therapist at Falmouth Hospital, ran his first Falmouth race in 1987.
In the 51st running of the Falmouth race Aug. 20, Ken Gartner, 63, posted a time of 46:56 to finish first in the men’s division for Falmouth residents ages 60 to 64.
“As I get older, I get slower,” he said. “But this is my best one since four or five years ago, actually. I just do it more for fun. I’m not that serious about it anymore. I’m focused more on helping to coach (Silas and Nate) and their older brother Henry.”
Ken, whose best Falmouth race time was a 36:40 recorded in 1992 and who has run many races including about 50 marathons, has lived in Falmouth since age 26 and has been part of a strong running community there.
His children were part of a youth running group that he led through what is now known as the Falmouth Running Club. Kids of all ages worked out together and competed in cross-country races and track meets, and many went on to run in college.
“We tried to keep it fun,” Ken said. "The group of kids sometimes would run three to five miles to a coffee shop in Woods Hole, where they’d have cookies and where their parents would pick them up."
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Before high school, Silas and Nate trained under Ken and entered youth cross-country events hosted by USA Track & Field, and several times qualified for nationals, as their brothers had done before them. The Main Street Mile in Falmouth was the first race for Silas, at age two. Well, he walked it with his mom. All four kids have won the race at least once.
“I like the competition,” Silas said. “And having something that I’m really good at, something that I can keep doing after college.”
The four brothers have trained hard together over the years, supporting and learning from one another along the way. When they race together, it’s not brother vs. brother, necessarily.
When it comes to running Falmouth, Caleb said, “There are 9,000 other people in the race to compete against.”
Having a father who doubles as a live-in coach can be convenient.
“I can just wake up and ask him what I should do today,” Nate said.
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The family is quite familiar with the Falmouth course, where they often go for training runs.
“There are a lot of rolling hills in the first three miles,” Silas said. “Once you get over that, you basically can do whatever you want. And then at the end, there’s a big hill and a downhill finish.”
Nate and Silas have demonstrated more than an adequate degree of discipline when it comes to training and competitive running.
“They are good,” Ken said. “If they have to get up to run, they do it without any complaints, whether it’s a workout or a race.”
The Falmouth race weekend is a huge draw.
“One of the biggest things I like about the race is that there’s a ton of people,” Silas said, referring to the 7-miler’s field of thousands.
The crowd of competitors includes more than a few familiar faces. “It definitely motivates you to try to be at your best,” Nate said. “You know a lot of people.”
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Some runners have managed to make things interesting in unexpected ways during the race.
“One person asked me if he should kick his shoe off because his laces were untied,” Nate said. “I was like, that’s your decision.”
For the record, the runner kept the shoe on. In his first Falmouth race, Nate had to weather one runner’s constant complaints about a bagel he had eaten that morning. Nate still can’t recount the episode without laughing.
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Whether grinding it out in a steamy Falmouth race, busting through the biting cold of a winter training run or cruising on a calendar day, the Gartners are right at home on the road. Or the track. Or the rolling hills of a cross-country course.
“They live running,” said Conor Markham, cross-country coach at Falmouth High.
The 15-year-old twins Silas, a sophomore at Falmouth High School, and Nate, a sophomore at Falmouth Academy are still making their marks in high school.
Nate and Silas competed in a field of seven male entrants in the Tommy Cochary High School Mile two days before the Falmouth main event. Silas was fourth at 4:32, and Nate seventh at 4:46.
Silas saw marked improvement in his mile time between eighth grade and freshman year, from 5:02 to 4:32.
“I feel like I can definitely get under 4:30, maybe like 4:25. I’ll see what I can do,” Silas said.
Nate’s goal this fall is to improve and help his team have a successful season.
“He’s a great example for the rest of the team,” said Falmouth Academy cross-country coach Jason Cullinane. “His work ethic is one of the biggest ways he sets an example.”
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Falmouth Academy senior cross country captain Wylie Wakefield said that Nate was quiet and soft-spoken as a freshman but has been an inspiration to the team and the school through his performance.
Nate was 30th among 183 runners in the MIAA boys Division 3 cross-country state championship in Devens last year, covering the 5,000-meter course in 17:22.31.
“He’s very, very fast,” said Wakefield, who ran a 51:31 in last month’s Falmouth race, good for 56th place among 214 male runners of ages 15 to 19. “He’s also a good person and fun to be around.”
Falmouth Academy and Falmouth High do not race against each other. If they did, the twins could go toe-to-toe in the battle for Falmouth.
Henry, who graduated from Falmouth High last year and is now running cross country at Stony Brook University under coach Andy Ronan. Henry finished the 7-mile Falmouth race course with a time of 37 minutes, 44 seconds. He placed 50th among 9,198 runners overall and first of 440 of ages 15 to 19. He received his third straight Margaret Bradley Award, given to the first male and female Falmouth residents to cross the finish line.
Henry has plenty of confidence in Ronan.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Henry said. “He’s a great guy, and he’s coached a lot of fast runners.”
That list of runners now includes Henry.
“He’s a very strong cross country runner, stronger than I am,” said Caleb, who ran 25:01.40 last year at the Paul Short Run 8K, hosted by Lehigh University, and whose best Falmouth race was in 2019 when he was second among the town’s residents and 49th among 11,404 runners overall with a time of 38:28.
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Henry was second in the Division 2 field of 185 competitors with a time of 15:40.44. He won the 2022 Cape & Islands League Meet on Martha’s Vineyard in October, setting a course record of 15:50.7, with Silas sixth at 17:12.6, and Nate seventh at 17:28.3. Silas was unable to compete in the state meets last year due to a nasty cold.
In Stony Brook’s cross country season opener on its 6.2K home course Sept. 2, Henry ran 19:47.9 to place 28th in a field of 63 runners as the host Seawolves finished first among five teams.
Henry was 22nd among 57 competitors at the six-team Friar Invitational on Sept. 8, also won by Stony Brook, finishing the 6K course in 19:25.4, the Seawolves’ sixth-best runner and their top freshman at the meet.
“We’re excited to have Henry in our program,” said Ronan, a native of Ireland who finished third in the 1991 Boston Marathon at 2:11.27 and represented Ireland at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. “It's early days, but I like his attitude and his determination.”
Doubtless, there will be many more races along the picturesque course by the sea and many more stories. The Gartner family has totaled 427 miles of the Falmouth races so far and shows no signs of slowing down.
Bill Porter is a former sports editor of the Cape Cod Times.
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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: The Gartner family has collectively run Falmouth Road Race 61 times
