Gary Allen

Gary Allen (born 1957) is an American long-distance runner, race director and entrepreneur. He is the founder and director of the Mount Desert Island Marathon, and was the co-founder and director of the Great Cranberry Island 50K Ultra Marathon. He is the founder and race director of the Millinocket Marathon & Half. Early life and education Allen was born in Atwater, California, and raised on Great Cranberry Island, a small, two-mile long island off the coast of Maine with a year-round population of under 40. A twelfth generation native of the island, his ancestors first settled there in the 1650s. He started running when he was 13, and was inspired to seriously pursue the sport after watching Frank Shorter win the marathon gold medal at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Career As runner Allen's first sub-3-hour marathon was at the Paul Bunyan Marathon in Bangor, Maine, on July 15, 1978, with a time of 2:52:41. He achieved his personal best time of 2:39:30 in 1984. In 2003, Allen broke the US Track and Field American masters long distance track running record for men ages 45–49, completing 20 miles in 2:08:41, besting the previous record of 2:09:14, set by Ted Corbitt in 1966.