Fram, 48, who has set several U.S. masters records on the track, placed first among 5,470 masters at Sunday's Chicago Marathon, with a time of 2:30:56. Of the 40,000 runners in the race, he came in 129th overall and he defeated his nearest masters competitor by more than two minutes.

Fram was in second place at the halfway mark (13.1 miles) despite a 1:14:06, and was still in the runner-up spot at 35K (21.7 miles), but he put on a surge that wiped out his competition. He not only had the fastest time by far in the 45-49 division, but also of all runners 40-44.

"It's a tremendous accomplishment, just unbelievable to run so well against guys 40 and 41-years-old," said Whirlaway coach Dave Kazanjian. "He just ran a great race in tough conditions."

Although he fell short of breaking the American masters marathon record (2:26), Fram's time was superb considering a stiff wind that lowered the wind chill to 28 degrees. The last three miles finished into the wind.

Fram's performance paced a team title for Whirlaway for the second straight year, this time capturing the coed crown (top two men and two women).

Dan Princic, 26, of Tewksbury, had the fastest time of the Whirlaway runners, a 2:28:32, to finish 109th overall, while Haverhill's Chris Mahoney recorded a 2:33:33. Both were personal-best times.

For the Whirlaway women, Tammie Robie was 63rd with a fine time of 2:51:32, a personal-best time by 21 minutes, and North Andover's Julie Garvin recorded a personal-best 3:01:14. Andover's Lisa Solomon ran a 3:18:12.

Whirlaway will close its New England Grand Prix series this weekend at the Cape Cod Marathon. Whirlaway, with the seventh and last race to go, leads in the men's open division as well as the men's and women's masters divisions.

Individually, Fram has already wrapped up the masters crown. Thus, he can recover from his superb performance in Chicago, which is just as well. The day after the race, he left for China on a two-week business trip.