141 runners race through Wareham for Oyster Festival 5K

Apr 29, 2014

Though the cooler conditions Sunday weren’t ideal for the Oyster Festival, they were almost perfect for the 141 runners who took part in the Wareham Oyster Festival 5K.

The race started on Main Street near the Fire Department and went up onto parts of Park Street and Gibbs Avenue before turning onto a stretch along High Street. From High Street, racers raced up Route 6 and onto Viking Drive, where the course looped around the cul-de-sac in front of Wareham High School and then continued onto Kennedy Lane before a right turn onto Church Avenue. After a longer stretch running southeast down Church Ave, runners hung a left onto Warr Avenue before turning back onto Main Street, where the 5K ended in front of The Jug Shop.

“It was great—it was nice and flat,” said Kristin Burgess of Buzzards Bay, who was the first woman to finish at 20:12. “It was fast.”

Joshua Flaherty, 10, of Wareham, who was listed as the winner for the 15-and-under category with a time of 26:52, said that he’d been running since the start of the school year and that he enjoyed this race in his hometown.

“It was good, but it was a little hilly,” he said.

Though opinions slightly differed on the hilliness of the course, overall, it seemed that people enjoyed the race, and several of the racers and spectators hung around long enough to partake in some of the festivities surrounding the Oyster Festival.

The Men’s Overall winner was Chris Dacey at 17:35. Doug Knapp took first in the 60-69 age category, while Bill Masterson took the 70-and-over category at 27:31.

Other notables in the Women’s Division include: Megan Shay, who took the 15-and-under division at 25:46; Anne Shoemaker, who won the 60-69 group at 28:57; and Mary Bruce was the top finisher in the 70-plus category at 31:19.

Wareham Week’s own Bill Whelan took fourth overall at 19:03.