Here we are, Monday morning and still no results from Friday’s Danvers Kiwanis 5 Miler. There were a few problems with timing and a stray walker or two mixing in with the runners. Results should be posted on coolrunning soon.
Until those pesky results are posted, we can enjoy the story of a first place finish by Annie Rose Willis. Great job Annie!
Annie Rose Willis after her first place victory
Norton, Willis take top spots
By Joe Jasinski
STAFF WRITER
DANVERS — Four-hundred runners stood in 77-degree humidity at the intersection of Cabot Road and Exeter Street, eager to take that first step.
At 6:32 p.m., longtime race chairman Wayne Comeau sounded an air horn, commencing the 25th Danvers Kiwanis Five Mile Road Race.
Less than 25 minutes later, Harry Norton (24:53) completed the course first overall. Twenty-nine seconds later, Dan Vassallo (25:22) finished in second.
The two, both first-time runners in the Kiwanis race, ran stride-for-stride for the first two miles before Norton (a 2008 Dartmouth graduate) pulled ahead. The two have been competing against each other since the Cape Ann League; Norton went to North Reading High and Vassallo (a 2007 Colby graduate) attended Wilmington.
It was a familiar finish.
“Too many times to count,” Norton said when asked how many times he’s faced Vassallo.
“I think I beat you once,” Vassallo joked.
Vassallo finished 24th overall in the 2008 Boston Marathon. Norton, a British citizen, will return home to compete in a British national competition later this summer.
With a time of 32:20, Annie Rose Willis placed first in the women’s division. A Danvers native, Willis ran track at Bishop Fenwick and is now the track coach at Holten Richmond Middle School in Danvers.
“Seeing people I knew everywhere while I was running was awesome,” Willis said. “A lot of my students are running in this race, too.”
Less than 24 hours earlier, Willis ran in the Fiesta Five Road Race (5K) in Gloucester. She was the third women to finish (19:38) and placed 35th overall. After running in the Kiwanis race for the first time last night, Willis will be back next year to defend her women’s crown, she said.
A Danvers winner encapsulates the spirit of the race, which has regained popularity since becoming affiliated with the annual Danvers Family Festival, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
“It’s a Danvers thing,” Comeau said.
The chairman has been involved with the race for some 27 years, even before the Kiwanis Club began heading up the operation in 1984. When the race’s attendance began declining in its middle years (with sometimes only 150-200 runners), Comeau was one of the few who continued volunteering. Without his continued engagement, the race could not have experienced the resuscitation is has, Kiwanis Club Treasurer Alan Hartnett said. (Hartnett has been involved with the race since 1990.)
The club raised an estimated $3,000 from this year’s races, which also includes a two-mile walk. Money raised will go toward the seven community involvement-based scholarships the Kiwanis Club gives to high school students.
Thank you Tim