By STEVE MAZZONE

Sports Writer 

BLACKSTONE -- There were a couple of times in his younger years when Harry Carter could have gotten hooked into running; both times he never caught the bug.

The first occurred while serving two years in the Army during the mid-1950s for the Queens Royal Regime. In a five-mile cross-country race, the London native finished second out of more than 60 of his fellow soldiers.

“I didn’t really give a damn because I wasn’t a runner,” Carter said. “I didn’t want to really be there. I wasn’t a lifelong soldier so everything was like a chore. You couldn’t wait to get back to a normal routine.”

It wasn’t long after that makeshift race, about five years later when he was in his early thirties, that Carter demonstrated his fleet feet once again when he was challenged to an endurance test by a buddy of his from the Army. The challenge was a race to a nearby pub in England, a distance of 11 miles.

“He dropped out about two to three miles into the run and I went on to win the silly three-dollar bet, which was about one pound,” Carter said. “I continued to run with a bunch of friends, who decided to go with me just for some companionship. I finished the run at the pub and was more apt to get rid of that one to. I just kept going for that pint of beer at the end of it. It was the best pint of beer I’ve ever tasted. I was so dry after that run.”

It was until more than three decades later, a few years short of being eligible to collect his first social security check, when he was finally bitten by the running bug. Now, 11 years after running his first “official” road race, it’s hard to stop, or even catch Carter for that matter.

At the “young” age of 71, the Blackstone resident is one of the top distance runners in the country for his age category (70-79). In the March-April edition of Running Times magazine, Carter was ranked second nationwide for 2007. Ironically, the runner ahead of him lives just an hour away from his home – Cape Cod’s Billy Riley.

“He’s the one guy I haven’t beaten,” Carter said.

Other than Riley, who is a veteran runner and frequent divisional winner of the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon, there aren’t too many runners that have been able to outdistance Carter. In 15 races this year, the 5-foot-4, 139-pound runner, a member of the Rhode Island Rhode Runners (RIRR), is undefeated against senior competition in races ranging from five kilometers (3.1 miles) to the half marathon. He fell short just three times in 39 races last year, which included finishing eighth against international competition at the London Marathon. It’s been a similar scenario in previous years, too.

Next on the agenda for Carter, who looks at least 20 years younger than his actual age with his fit and trim physique, is the granddaddy of all marathons. On April 21, the diminutive runner will join the throng of participants that will toe the starting line for the 112th annual Boston Marathon.

In typical fashion, he’s not just looking to finish the 26.2-mile trek, his 10th attempt at the distance. Carter’s hoping to average about 7:30-per mile pace for the grueling race.

“I’m going to try and run 3:30 (three hours, 30 minutes),” he said. “I don’t know if I can make it, but I’m going to give it a shot. As long as I am not too much off, I’ll be happy.”

Based on his past history, Carter’s goal for Boston doesn’t seem too far-fetched. Although he’s “slowed” somewhat over the last few years, he’s still running strong and finishing respectfully among the overall field in most road races. Carter generally runs in the 21-minute range for 5K and at last month’s New Bedford Half Marathon placed 609th out of the 1,644 participants with a quality time of 1:40:47. 

Although Carter was an active person while growing up in England, the idea of repeatedly putting one foot in front of the other in a relatively, fast motion never entered his mind.  He was more likely to go for a hike up a mountain or play other sports with his friends than run from Point A to Point B. Again, his first taste at running occurred while serving time in the Army down in the Far East during his two-year stint, and later in his little competition against his buddy, but he never got that urge until later on.

“At the same time, my hobby in London was ballroom dancing,” he said. “I actually danced for medals.”

A tool-maker by trade, Carter immigrated to the United States in the mid-1960s with his wife of 44 years, Margaret, when he landed a job at the former Taft-Pierce Tool Manufacturing in Woonsocket. Before retiring a few years ago, he worked at several other places in the tool-making business, including the PolyTop Corporation in Lincoln and Tech Industries in Woonsocket. It was at Tech Industries where running and competing first caught his attention when he was persuaded to run by one of his fellow co-workers and an avid runner, Dick Godin.

Since coming to the states, Carter’s sport of choice primarily was skiing.

“Basically, on a bet, I went out and ran around Lincoln Woods at his persuasion,” he said. “He didn’t believe that I ran so I went out with him and his wife Vivian, who was very good runner. She was popular on the running circuit before she had to retire because of arthritis. He said, ‘I’m going to take you to a race.’”

That race turned out to be a five-miler in Framingham where Carter, at age 58, finished the distance a shade over 38 minutes.  With the competiveness and comradeship of the event, Carter was instantly hooked.

After he finished the race, Godin made a comment that pretty much was right on target.

“He said, ‘That was good. Bloody-O, you’re going to clean up when you’re 60 was his passing remark,” Carter recalled. “I just laughed at that. As it turned out, it seemed to work out pretty much as he said.”

Since his initial race in Framingham, Carter has competed a few hundred times over various distances and often comes home with some kind of hardware in his age category. Carter’s first venture into the marathon came at age 60 when he competed in the now-defunct R.I. Marathon. He finished the race in a time of 3:25. He realized that day that a marathon is slightly different than most other races he had run.

“I was running with another first-time guy from my running club so we were good company,” he said. “We flew out of the gate very inexperienced and we clocked our first mile at 7:15. We hastily slowed down and tried to run a more even pace…We just trudged along. The worse part was the final miles of the course. It was great up until the 18th mile, and then it really sucked.”

Carter’s time at the R.I. Marathon qualified him for the 101st Boston Marathon where he first experienced the tradition and the challenge of the historic race and its infamous Heartbreak Hill. Carter, who trains about 60 miles per week, makes it a point to run at least one marathon a year. He has competed at Boston several times and has returned to his hometown three times to take part in the prestigious Flora London Marathon. In the 2006 race, at age 69, he placed third in the 65-69 division, finishing with a time of 3:28:53. That time also placed him 43rd among runners 60 years and older.

Carter competed in London last year, a race he didn’t fare quite as well as he would have liked. In hot and humid conditions, he placed eighth out of 113 runners in the 70-74 division with a time of 4:10.

“I actually held the lead at the 10K-mark and dropped back to second at the halfway mark,” he said. “From then on, it became increasingly worse as the cramps started to set in. I started paying badly. Before I got into the 18th or 19th mile, I was staggering a lot and had to stop (frequently). By the time I got to the last four miles, I actually collapsed on the ground. I also collapsed across the finish line and spent at least in hour in the medical tent where they revived me with water and other fluids…It took me two hours before I could hobble to the train station to get home.”

Carter admits he would have preferred competing in the dismal conditions of Boston last year where runners had to brave cold and chilly condition with a steady rainfall.

“Crazy Englishman, people call me,” he said. “I’m the only guy that runs in the depths of winter stripped down to the bare skivvies – singlet and shorts. Nowadays, I subscribe to a pair of gloves, which I tuck into my shorts after I’ve gotten warmed up. I wear no hat, but I do wear gloves when it’s actually cold out there.”

With the international field that Boston attracts, Carter doesn’t expect to capture his division or even place among the top three. He’s just hoping to run consistent over the 26-mile race that stretches from Hopkinton to Copley Square. Regardless, he’s knows he’ll enjoy the traditional Patriots Day event.

“I love two marathons – London and Boston,” he said. “They both feature the most wonderful crowd support.”

After Boston, Carter will resume his steady road racing schedule where he averages nearly a race per week.  During the weekend of April 5-6, he competed in back-to-back races, taking first in his age category at the Boston Tune Up 15K in Upton, Mass., finishing in 1:09:15. The following day, he was first again in the Officer Thomas J. Giunta Memorial 5K in Fall River, where he cruised the course in 21:30.

As to when, or if, he’ll ever slow down.

“I’ve been out at these major marathons and I see people running at 90,” he said. “I can’t predict how long I’m going to go, but I certainly don’t have a goal to end it. I’ll just keep going. I’ll try the 75-80 division and maybe the 80-85 division and so on until I feel I don’t want to do it anymore. I have no plans to stop.”