In the early 70s, Malcolm Maidwell was a partner with Peter Spronk in a small boat building company on the beach in Simpson Bay. "We had a commission from a Belgium/Canadian man to build two 48-foot sailing catamarans." During the building period, their customer would pay them regular visits to see the progress on his boats. He was an ardent amateur wrestler and was training for a place on the Canadian Olympic team. He used to run early every morning up and down the length of the Simpson Bay Beach to keep fit. "I joined him one morning and I was hooked. Running became more than just a health regimen, and soon after I started timing myself and going for longer distances," Malcolm said reminiscing about what would be the spark of St. Maarten Road Runners 25 years ago.

It seemed in those early days that the only "road runners" to be seen on the Dutch side were the occasional tourists and Malcolm. "In fact, a sad thing happened one early morning when a late night reveller driving home hit and killed a bearded runner. Friends phoned my wife Liz to sympathize, as I had had a beard. But the poor victim turned out to be a tourist."

In November 1984, the French side had a small running club under the management of Romero Hyman who organised one of the first races in the Lowlands. Maidwell entered the race and met the only other Dutch side participant, a young, tall Dutch guy, who had just moved to St. Maarten from Curaçao. After the race, they introduced themselves and Dr. Frits Bus and Malcolm formed a lasting friendship. "Together, we decided that it was time to form a Dutch side running club, and after a few months going through all the legal ramifications, the St. Maarten Road Runners Club became an active association."

The Road Runners' first sponsor was Pelican Resort which was also their meeting place two to three times a week for training and après running beers. In those days the traffic was not a problem so runners who worked in Philipsburg, Marigot or Beacon Hill could all be at Pelican for 5:15pm so the run training groups were much larger. Prior to the club's first anniversary, four runners took part in the New York Marathon. The team comprised Malcolm, Frits, Dennis Berridge and Earl Bothwell. "After that we had more runners competing in New York for the following three years. Enthusiasm was very high and New York became the highlight of the running year," Malcolm said.

One of the Road Runners' first international races was a 10K sponsored by the Wang Business Systems. The race started in Pointe Blanche with a loop and then progressed on the main road past Philipsburg, over Cay Hill to finish at the Oasis. The Oasis was a small hotel and favourite watering hole situated under some gigantic coconut palms where Ocean Explorer now is on Kim Sha Beach. One of the more than 70 runners at the start line was then Lt. Governor Ralph Richardson, who was a keen competitor. Parliamentarian Claude Wathey fired the starting pistol and the race was on. And the Road Runners are still full speed ahead 25 years later!