On May 11th, 1974, 2 runners gathered o the shores of Lake Waramaug, secluded in the foothills of western Connecticut, to begin, what would become, a historic day in the history of ultra-running.  Along with a 50 mile race, for the first time ever on an American road, a 100KM race was to be held.

But to know how these runners found themselves at Waramaug we need to look back several years to the sleepy town of Bethel, CT.  ON a typical fall day in 1967, the Bethel high school cross country team has finished their daily run of 3 0r 4 miles.  While the rest of the team is showering or heading home, two of the runners sneak away for a 15 mile training run, a distance unheard of for high schoolers in those days!

But for Dean Perry and Clayton "Jack" Bristol, the long runs were nothing but fun.  "Some people thought we were training strangely," Dean recalls.  "But Jack and I had a little joke between us; that we were on the cutting edge of reality.:  Little did they know!

After high school and a state championship, Dean and Jack went their separate ways  Dean off to Central Connecticut State University while Jack headed west to Wesleyan, in Ohio.

By 1972, bother were back in Bethel.  Jack had already run several ultras, but Dean had slipped away from running for a bit.  But when Frank Shorter won the gold in Munich in '72, Dean became re-inspired. So much so, in fact, with only four weeks training Dean completed 25 of a 50 mile race that he and Jack put on in Bethel in the winter of 1972.  A few months later, Dean ran a 2:49 at the Yonkers, NY marathon.  "After Yonkers, I knew I could run an ultra", Dean recalls.  Jack had been running high mileage for many years and with Deans new enthusiasm for running ultras, a new chemistry was forming between them.

On an Autumn day in the fall of 973, Jack and Dean were running some miles at on of their favorite training spots, the 7.6 mile loop that encircles Lake Waramaug, in New Preston, T.  Mostly flat, with a few gentle slopes and little traffic, Waramaug was (and still is) a great place to train.  On that fall day, Jack and Dean realized they had found the perfect place to hold an Ultra.

Upon finishing their run, they shared their idea for an ultra with Deans future wife Suzanne, who lived on the lake, and she immediately thought of involving the INN ON LAKE WARAMAUG as a sponsor.  The Inn's owner, the late Richard Coombs, embraced the idea and agreed to sponsor the races, and thefoundation for the first Lake Waramaug Ultra-marathon had been laid. (for more click on history button)