Ken Balkey fondly recalls the local North Park race that qualified him to run the iconic Boston Marathon in 1977.
The First Annual Boston Marathon Qualifier Marathon, later known as The Spring Thaw, celebrated its 50th anniversary on Feb. 28, where Balkey served as honorary starter.
Even at age 75, the Churchill resident is still hitting the pavement. So joining the North Park race wasn’t a stretch.
“I’ve run so many loops around North Park, I could dream it if I had to,” said Balkey, who completed the 5-mile distance in the 70-plus age group.
It all started in the late 1970s when he and others were looking for a locally certified course to qualify for the Boston Marathon — set for April 20 this year.
“At that time, you had to show you could run a marathon under four hours. Boston said men had to run under three hours and women under three and a half hours,” Balkey said.
This wasn’t new for Balkey, who grew up on the North Side, as he already had run the renowned Boston race in 1968 when he was 17 and a senior at North Catholic High School, an all-boys school in Troy Hill.
He was on the track team in high school and at the University of Pittsburgh — and also ran the Boston Marathon as a college freshman.
Balkey, who was working at Westinghouse Nuclear Energy Group in Pittsburgh at the time, had a co-worker, Harvey Kucherer, who took on the task of measuring out a course around North Park Lake.
A marathon is roughly 26 miles or 385 yards. It’s 5 miles around North Park Lake so Kucherer had to extend one of the loops to pull in the additional distance, making it certifiably accurate.
This made Kucherer and another race aficionado, Tom Abbott, the official founders of the First Annual Boston Marathon Qualifier Marathon.
The race was held on Feb. 20 for Balkey and more than 20 other runners. However, in addition to running a marathon in Baltimore that December, Balkey had just donated blood, unaware of the toll it would take on his body.
Eighteen miles into the race, he crashed.
“There was no way I was going to break three hours. Here, I found out another runner got ill and couldn’t do the race sick. Harvey felt bad. He gave us a couple of weeks to run the race a second time,” he said.
Then on March 5, only six weeks out from the marathon, Balkey ran the race in two hours and 57 seconds.
Qualifying for the marathon in that short amount of time is cutting it close, he said.
For comparison, the qualifying window for this year’s 130th Boston Marathon opened Sept. 1, 2024, and stretched through Sept. 12, 2025, according to baa.org.
In 1977, the Boston Marathon was held on a Monday — April 18. It was sunny and warm in the upper 70s, not ideal for a race, Balkey said.
His wife, Ruth Anne, also qualified for the Boston Marathon. Being able to run with his wife made all the difference, Balkey said.
“The real joy is my wife and I both qualified. We were one of only three married couples in 1977. It was just a treat for us,” he said.
He and his wife also were members of the Pittsburgh-based Human Energy Running Club.
“To run with my wife is pretty special. She ran at her pace, and I ran at mine,” he said.
Ruth Anne completed the marathon in three hours and 27 minutes. Ken finished in three hours, four minutes and 10 seconds.
Their first child, a daughter, was born a year later.
“Completing the Boston race at the same time was an unexpected sense of accomplishment and a great way to enjoy the camaraderie of our running friends,” Ruth Anne said.
The Spring Thaw follows essentially the same course as that first race, evolving over the years into 5-, 10-, 15- or 20-mile distances on the 5-mile loop around North Park Lake.
Since its founding by Abbot and Kucherer, there have only been several race directors, including Mark Courtney, Kevin Smith and now Matt Imhof with GCXC, according to a history on the race at runsignup.com. At the time of its founding, it was the only local opportunity for marathon distance. The first event had 24 finishers and grew to nearly 200 by 2000.
Jim Turcol also directed the 1984 Spring Thaw marathon, according to Balkey.
“I am most thankful to all the race directors and those who have worked with them in hosting this special Spring Thaw running event. Without them, the race would not exist. It is an honor and a privilege for me to have known all of them,” he said.
Balkey has run The Spring Thaw about 20 times.
The Balkeys’ daughter, Karen, is a teacher in Longmont, Colo. Their son, Keith, who works as a director at Westinghouse Electric Co., also is an assistant track coach at Woodland Hills High School. Keith’s son, Lucas, is on the track team.
“When I was a boy, I just loved to go for a run. I’ve always enjoyed running. It makes you feel very much alive. Being able to do it allows me to do other activities,” Balkey said.
His recommendation is to run at the pace that works for each person.
“If you’re running to win medals, that’s great. I get satisfaction as long as I run an event. If I feel like I felt good in the race, that matters to me more than what my time was,” he said.
Balkey enjoyed telling his story at the 2026 Spring Thaw.
“I got to see a lot of people. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. They had everything so well organized. They make it so easy for everybody,” Balkey said.
The Spring Thaw is the longest continuously run race in Pennsylvania. Originally founded in 1977 as the First Annual Boston Marathon Qualifier Marathon, the event provided the region’s first local opportunity for athletes to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Now celebrating its 50th year, the race is managed by GCXC Race Timing Management and serves as the second leg of the GCXC Conquer the Cold Winter Challenge, according to runsignup.com.