ALBANY -- Chuck Terry grew up in Albany watching Tom Dalton win the GHI Workforce Team Challenge year after year after year. Dalton won for the first time in 1982 and has broken the tape 14 times in the 3.5-mile race that winds through downtown Albany.
"Tom Dalton has the record," Terry said. "I've watched him win this race so many times and he's been one of my mentors, so it's one I've always wanted."
Terry, 24, a graduate of Christian Brothers Academy and SUNY Cortland, got his wish Thursday, though it will take more than a decade of winning if he wants to catch Dalton.
Wearing glasses, a thick beard and a gray tank top bearing the name of his company, New Visions of Albany, Terry set a blistering pace and won in 17 minutes, 15 seconds to lead a record field of about 6,500 runners and 369 teams up Madison Avenue, through Washington Park and back down Madison to finish near Empire State Plaza.
He finished 38 seconds ahead of last year's winner, Lou DiNuzzo, who finished second.
One person Terry did not beat was Dalton, who last won in 2005. Dalton, 48, finished 10th last year despite an abdominal injury that hindered his training, and did not run this year because of a knee injury.
Terry, a recreational therapist at New Visions, competed in the race for the first time. He laughed and raised his eyebrows when asked if he'd like to keep coming back to challenge his mentor's record.
"One down, 13 to go," Terry said.
"Right now all I'm thinking about is running the Vermont City Marathon in a few weeks," he added. "It's going to be my third marathon and (Thursday) was my last hard workout before then."
While Terry is looking forward to his next marathon, Eileen Combs is still coming down from the high of setting her personal record in winning the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon last month.
Combs, 29, an engineer for National Grid, won that race in 2 hours, 50 minutes -- three minutes off the Olympic Trials qualifying time. She has eased back into training since, mostly by riding her bicycle, but went all out Thursday, finishing in 20 minutes, 16 seconds to lead the women's field. Her time was a personal record for 3.5 miles.
"I work downtown so I run up Madison and through the park on my lunch break," Combs said. "I've also run Freihofer's (Run for Women) a bunch of times and that's almost the same course."
Combs didn't collect a check for Thursday's victory, but she did take home $3,000 for winning the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon. The prize money isn't going to waste.
"We're putting a new fence around the yard," Combs said.