The annual Clam Festival 5 mile road race was this morning in Yarmouth, Maine. The temperatures were not nearly as high as they were in years past, but the high humidity made the race tough for the 932 finishers this year.
Despite the lack of some of the annual favorites in the race, there was a very deep field this year which led to an exciting finish. Jon Wilson went out hard but spent the majority of the race near the middle to back of the lead pack. He retook control on the trails and in the park as he came into the last mile of the race, however, and made it look easy as cruised in 12 seconds ahead of everybody else in 25:44. A total of 12 people ran under 27 minutes.
Kristin Barry had a little less competition near the end, finishing the race in 27:59. She was followed by Sheri Piers in 28:31.
It was interesting watching the race from behind the finish line this year, as this is a race that I have run every year since moving to Maine. It is generally one of the hotter races each year, falling as it does near the end of July, and it certainly led to some of the sweatiest chip bands that I’ve ever had to remove from runner’s legs.
I quickly stopped congratulating people on how they ran and instead just pointed them straight to the water once I had gotten their chips off. That was about the extent to what some of the people were able to understand. One of the runners put a whole in his singlet in an effort to take it off and thought he was supposed to turn in his bib number instead of his timing chip!
(Full Results – Photos: Fun Run (a) – Fun Run (b) – CD 1 – CD 2 – CD 3 – CD 4 – Awards – Finish Line)
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