Gary's Bio

Gary Allen, DOB 01/29/1957, is the founder and race director for the highly acclaimed Mount Desert Island Marathon, the Maine edge said, "It took one guy with a crazy idea to start an event that is making a positive difference for Mount Desert Island and the entire state of Maine."

He is one of a very exclusive group who have recorded sub 3 hour marathons in five consecutive decades. He has run over 100,000 lifetime miles. He is ranked in the top 10 for the longest time span between first and last sub 3 hour marathons.

In 2005 he founded the New Years Boston Marathon and ran the first 10 years consecutively.
Gary has competed in 24 editions of the Boston Marathon and in 18 New York City Marathons, his personal bests on these demanding courses are 2:40:04 and 2:39:20 respectively. He has been called the Master of the (Boston) Marathon.

The 1968 winner of the Boston Marathon, Amby Burfoot called Gary The Master of the Marathon.

His profile was recently featured in Maine Magazine.

He has competed in 101 career marathons finishing 68 of them under 3 hours.

Gary has also competed in 11 Ultra marathons. (distances greater than 26.2 miles.)
Gary's running has been featured in numerous news reports over the years as seen here and here. FAB running interviewed Gary here.

He is a co-founder of Crow Athletics running club which now has members all over the USA and abroad.

He is the founder and co-director of the Great Cranberry Island Ultra Marathon, named the 'Best Race Ever' by Runner's World Magazine. This event will host the US National Ultra Marathon Championships in 2013.

Gary is an accomplished motivational speaker and coach, his families roots date back to the first settlers on a Great Cranberry a small offshore Maine island. In January 2013 Gary ran 705.2 miles from the summit of Maine's Cadillac Mountain to Washington DC for charity.
The December 2013 edition of Running Times Magazine featured this article about Gary's motivation and passion for running.