Rain stopped just before the start of the annual road race Saturday. Benjamin Bosworth, 22, was the fastest runner of the day. Sheridan Wilbur won the women's division for the fourth year in a row.
For 40 years, Hugh Weisman has been measuring Middle Road, spray painting markers, ordering T-shirts, collecting prizes and organizing the Chilmark Road Race.
Two course records were broken, but the Chilmark Road Race on Saturday was more a celebration of community and health than a contest.
Many of the fastest runners turned around after the finished the five-kilometer route and walked back up Middle Road to cheer on their slower comrades. Neighbors along the race route came out to the end of their driveways and others say on their lawns to greet the runners. Even a cow looked on, half amused, at the sweaty commotion in the road.
The sun made a rare appearance, an Oak Bluffs man blazed to a course record and a jumbo lobster stuffed the consequences Saturday at the 19th annual running of the Chilmark Road Race.
Art Smith, 28, of East Chop and Cambridge ignored soaring summer temperatures en route to winning the five-kilometer (3.1-mile) race down Middle Road by a wide margin in a record 14 minutes, 38 seconds.
It was Mr. Smith’s second straight victory at Chilmark and - as is the custom - received to cash prize, but instead a large, Island-caught lobster.
A mammoth, six-pound lobster was released on Saturday, after Craig Gemmell of Hyannis Port won the 20th running of the Chilmark Road Race.
Mr. Gemmell’s 16:04 finish in the 3.1-mile race earned him the day’s largest lobster. While he said he enjoys an occasional crustacean, Mr. Gemmell, a biology teacher, said he could not comfortably feed on such a large old lobster.
It was a Saturday in September, and somehow Hugh Weisman persuaded Priscilla Cohn and Morgan Shipway to enter his race down Middle Road. They weren’t competitive runners, but this was just five kilometers. Do it and spend the day recovering at Lucy Vincent Beach.
Over 1,000 runners will toe the starting line next Saturday for the annual Chilmark Road Race, a running event that grows in popularity every year.
Ten years ago, the Chilmark Road Race was small. Barely two hundred showed up for the inaugural run. But even this number was more than organizers expected, as they busily hand printed extra numbers and apologized for running out of T-shirts. The race was still a resounding success, and has grown in size every year since.
The First Annual Chilmark Road Race is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Saturday morning rain or shine. At least 200 runners of all ages are expected to participate in the five kilometer run (3.05 miles) along Middle Road. One hundred and fifty entries have already been received and processed, and at least 50 more are expected by race time.
