Extreme temperatures blanketed the Commonwealth for a three-day spell earlier this week.
But the heat wave finally broke on Thursday, and participants at the annual St. Peter’s Fiesta 5K Road Race were blessed with cool and comfortable running weather that evening in Gloucester.
Nearly 1,500 competitors and massive crowds of spectators turned out for the event, which kicks off the traditional celebratory weekend on “the island”.
It took winner Kevin James just under 16 minutes to cross the finish line and claim first place, a feat he accomplished in his first-ever year tackling the race.
“(My goal) was just to race and have fun,” admitted James, a 28-year-old who resides nearby in Salem. “I took a long time off from running and kind of got the itch and started back up again in the fall, so it was nice to get out here. It was a cool atmosphere for sure.”
James, who ran competitively at Syracuse University, clocked an official time of 15:57 — a far cry from his personal best time of 14:08, but still nearly 10 seconds better than second place finisher Willy Pierce (16:08). It was Pierce’s second straight year finishing as runner-up, while Nick Poulin (16:18) claimed third for the second consecutive year as well.
James said he stayed with the front of the pack early and often, but when the small lead group started to fall back, he kept on chugging to gain separation for good.
“A couple of guys went out pretty hard at the beginning so I was just following along for a bit. Then right around a mile they kind of hit the breaks and I felt fine so I just kept going at the same pace,” said James.
“I didn’t really have a time goal in mind; I don’t know how much faster I could’ve run. But just getting back out there and seeing where I’m at, that was great; it was fun.”
James was one of numerous runners representing Salem’s Notch Brewing Run Club — and it just so happens that two of his female counterparts in the club finished one-two on the women’s side.
Beverly’s Emma Spencer, 35, was the top female, crossing the finish line in 17:44 to finish 16th overall. Her teammate, Marblehead’s Ava Mahoney, was right behind her in 17:50 for 17th place.
Both Spencer and Mahoney were also running the Fiesta race for the first time and had tempered expectations coming in. Needless to say, they were extremely happy with their performances.
“I absolutely loved it,” said Spencer. “It was fun coming down the shoot with all those people (near the finish line).
“My goal was just to run really hard and compete,” she added, “and I had a bunch of my teammates around to run with. Some of us took the commuter rail in and called it the ‘Fiesta Express’. But I wasn’t really sure what to expect so this was awesome; great course.”
Mahoney was equally pleased, especially to compete alongside her extensive Notch Run Club contingent.
“It was actually my first race with Notch so it was a good start,” said Mahoney, a Marblehead High graduate who ran at Merrimack College. “It’s awesome to have a great group of people to train with, do workouts with. We have a group chat where we’re always linking to get long runs and easy runs done, so it’s just a great group of people working towards similar goals. It’s really awesome.”
Mahoney admits she was eying Spencer down the home stretch, but simply wasn’t able to close the gap. And that was just fine with her.
“We were together for a bit but then she was just so speedy so she beat me,” added Mahoney. “But it was just really cool to race with a teammate and work together like that.”
It’s still another year away, but James spoke for all three runners in saying he’d gladly come back and do it again next June.
“If I’m not traveling or doing anything else and I’m available I definitely would love to come up here again,” said James. “It’s fun to have a race 20 minutes away from home, so I enjoyed this a lot.”
Sports Editor Nick Giannino may be contacted at 978-675-2712 or ngiannino@northofboston.com.