Run honors ghosts of races past, present

Runners will get in the Halloween spirit with this afternoon's Gray Ghost 5K in Anoka.

By Paul Levy, Star Tribune

Last update: October 26, 2007 - 9:23 PM

Thirty years ago, as Anoka masters runner William Andberg shattered one world record after another, he was nicknamed "Bullet Bill" and "The Flying Finn." But after being seen running through an Anoka cemetery in a gray sweat suit, he will forever be known as the "Gray Ghost."

Andberg, a longtime Anoka veterinarian, took the cemetery route to avoid annoying dogs. But the two women who spotted him thought he was running in his underwear and called the police, according to his daughter, Wendy Andberg.

"They thought I was an escapee from the state hospital," Andberg was quoted after that 1971 run.

Andberg, 96, no longer runs through Anoka's cemeteries, but his legacy still runs strong. Today the self-proclaimed Halloween Capital of the World stages its annual Gray Ghost 5K Run, a three-decade-old tradition that Andberg helped start.

The race starts at 12:50 p.m. But runners may want to hurry to the registration site when it opens at 10 a.m. A record 1,300 runners already have preregistered for the 5K run and one-mile fitness walk and at least another 400 are expected to run.

"I think we've become the biggest race in the area on this weekend because, as the Halloween Capital of the World since 1920, we pretty much own this," said Peter Turok, president of the Anoka Chamber of Commerce.

The accompanying Halloween parade only adds to the race festivities. Among the costume-wearing runners in recent years was a centipede -- 30 runners in one costume, drifting side to side through the course.

A few years ago, costumed characters looking like George W. Bush and Al Gore ran through the course, literally slinging mud at one another, Turok said Friday.

But there are serious runners, too -- as one might expect of a race named after a man who has been inducted into three Halls of Fame. When he was 64, Andberg set world masters records in the 880-yard and 1,500-meter events and ran a mile in 5 minutes, 18.8 seconds -- a record for Minnesotans over age 60 that stood for 23 years.

When Andberg started the Gray Ghost 5K in the mid-1970s, he donated his own trophies, with new inscriptions for the winners in various age categories, his daughter said Friday.

Andberg still walks every day, his daughter said. Through last year, he has acted as the race's official starter and award giver, although it was not known Friday whether he would be participating in this year's event.

Paul Levy • 612-673-4419

Paul Levy • plevy@startribune.com