Paul Hammond began running at an early age. His family was always very running-oriented growing up. All he had to do was run a lot and do as many pushups and situps as he could every day. When Kenny returned from camp and Paul outkicked him to win the first race of the season things really heated up.
No longer did Kenny have to run around telephone poles waiting for him to catch up. In his senior year, Westbrook was the Class A state cross country champions, beating Cheverus.
He followed brother Kenny to Bates College where Coach Walter Slovenski had allowed him to run their cross country race his senior year of high school. With his mom and dad having gone there and with a tradition of strong distance runners under Coach Slovenski, Paul knew going to Bates would be challenging both academically and athletically. His freshman, sophomore, and junior year indoors he ran the following: Mile in He also ran the 3, meters his senior year in In outdoor track he ran: the steeplechase in Twice he earned all-American honors, once in the 3,meter steeplechase and once in the 5, meter run.
Paul won seven individual state meet championships. His favorite meet ever was the January 31, state meet when he out kicked Doug Ingersoll to win the mile and then kicked from way back to beat Bob Brown at the wire to win the 1, meters.
At a party that night his future wife finally decided that he might be more than just a dance partner for her and they started to date! Another memorable meet his senior year was one where he outkicked Todd Coffin, his main adversary for the past 25 years to win the New England Division III indoor 3, meters in Averaging miles a week in training, he ran his 5-K PR out kicking Doug Sweazy on the Bates indoor track to win the Demers Track classic 5, meters.
