MRC Racing Series

The Melrose YMCA Spooky Sprint has been a popular race with Melrose Running Club members for years.

It starts across the street from where the club meets and many runners come out for the 5K run with their kids.

This year the MRC had 38 runners, which may be an all time high.

MRC at the Melrose YMCA Spooky Sprint

The top Melrose Running Club finisher was Charlotte Tysall at 18:52! She was the second place women’s finisher over all, and came in 9th place over all.

Nicola Tysall came in first in her age group at 24:08! Nicola ran with her mother who also came in at 24:08.

Kate Sikkema came in second in her age group at 24:54, but she had her dad Mike to hold her back! After the race Mike said that Kate had improved her finish by more than a minute over last year’s finish.

Cynthia Berger came in second in her age group at 24:11 and Judy Dolan placed second in her age group at 29:47.

Ed Bradford came in first in his age group at 19:10! Ed was the top men’s finisher for the MRC and came  in 11th place over all.

Running Melrose YMCA Spooky Sprint

Many of us have run this course many times, but it is still challenging. The race starts on East Foster Street next to the YMCA. All the way up Foster it is up hill until we turn right onto Lebanon Street.

Lebanon rolls a little bit and then goes down hill as we approach the right onto Sylvan Street. Sylvan has another hill and then we run through the gravel parking lot behind the ball fields and track.

When I first started running on the gravel it felt odd and it seemed difficult to solidly land my feet. About half way across the parking lot it suddenly felt natural.

At the end of the lot we ran across the wet grass to Woodside Road. Woodside winds behind the care takers home and has a bit more hill. On this road at about 1.6 miles they had the water stop. It was a cool day and few people seemed to be stopping.

We ran Woodside out to Main Street and took a right. The road seemed closed or at least patrolled, so some of us ran on the side of the street.

As we approached the intersection with Sylvan Street I remembered that this race had a few turns before the finish.

There were police at the Sylvan and Wyoming Street intersections. The smaller streets were not controlled. As we approached Grove Street it became apparent the the street was open to traffic and many people ran on the sidewalk.

The crowd of runners was pretty thin as we ran up Grove. At the corner of Dell Ave we took a left and a small crowd cheered us on. I could hear someone close behind me on Dell Ave so I kept pushing.

As we turned left onto Foster I heard steps getting closer. I kept pushing but three or four people younger than I passed by quickly.

I had a good run and felt comfortable and in control the entire race.

People were hanging out after the race. I quickly headed for the donut table and picked up half of a chocolate glazed donut. It’s better to grab a donut from the back of the rack and before the kids get there!

I watched one little boy touch three or four donuts like he was buying fruit. He settled on the fifth half jelly donut he touched, which looked just like the other four. But what do I know?

These cup cakes looked really good. But I had a donut and was able to resist.

There are a lot of photos on Facebook. The photos posted here are from Rob Busby and the YMCA’s photographer.

Full Results

For a cool and rainy day we had a pretty good MRC turn out.

We had six runners and four volunteers show up for this Wakefield race.

When I arrived at Lake Q around 7AM it was spitting rain and I kept looking for some blue sky. It never arrived! The DJ completely enclosed his pop-up tent with blue tarps, and I thought he was over-doing it!

It continued to alternate between drizzle and light rain for the rest of the morning.

A Thank You from Hallmark Health

A huge thank you to all who volunteered, participated, or sponsored Hallmark Health’s Stride for Healthy Communities. Despite the rain, hundreds participated or cheered friends and family members on Saturday, September 30, 2017. A special thanks to the Melrose Running Club, our partner in making this race a big success.

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and participants we were able to raise over $40,000 from the event! Proceeds will be used to benefit Hallmark Health family health services such as CPR training for high school students, diabetes education and nutritional support and other initiatives to keep our communities healthy.

The fundraising was truly amazing. All club members should be proud to be associated with an event that will do so much good in our communities.

Hallmark Health Stride for Healthy Communities

Close to 200 runners had signed up for the race, but the rain kept the number of runners to 103. It’s never easy to predict the weather, regardless of the time of year. As we know from our own club races, a nice day can really help draw additional runners.

The Melrose Running Club did quite well in this small field.

Charlotte Tysall was the first place woman at 21:36! And 4th place finisher overall.

Lisa Tysall placed second in her age group at 23:34! And 8th place overall!

I placed 3rd in my age group at 30:34. I was running the Smutteynose Rockfest Half Marathon on Sunday so I had to take it easy. I had no expectation of winning anything.

Simon Tysall came in first in his age group at 26:59!

Thuy Dang and Stephanie Lawson also ran well.

I don’t think we had any new recruits for the club. But we were there to support Hallmark Health and their effort to produce a local race that is accessible to many.

While the fundraising effort was remarkable, let’s hope for better weather next year!

FULL RESULTS

PHOTOS 

Run Well my Friends,

Andy