Francis Maineri: A fourth name to run the Winni-Loop

To The Daily Sun,

Congratulations to Nathan Lamarre for his great endurance accomplishment in completing the Winni-Loop, 62 miles around Lake Winnipesaukee. His is a fourth name to the list of runners that have completed this grueling run — one Dan Whittemore, formerly of Alexandria and now living in Hawaii. Dan completed this feat four times back in the early 2000s as part of the annual Lake Winnipesaukee Relay (all teams had 10 members, and Dan received permission from relay organizers to run it solo).

Dan was an ultra marathoner having competed throughout the United States and as far away as Africa on multiple occasions. These running races were anywhere from 50 to 100-plus miles. On occasion, he would leave on Friday after work, fly to a race venue in Colorado or other faraway state, complete the ultra race and then jump on a red-eye return flight to be back at work on Monday morning.

I know that on one race in Africa, sorry I don’t recall which country, he stayed with a local family while there and this developed into a lasting friendship. They invited him back as their guest several times thereafter. I was fortunate to have run with Dan when he lived in New Hampshire and miss hearing of his ultra marathon experiences.

Francis Maineri

New Hampton