Grumpy’s 5K runners hit muddy trails in Wareham
Nov 3, 2018
Andrew Sanford, 9, of Rehoboth, finishes the race in his socks after losing his shoes on a trail during Grumpy’s 5K. Photo by: Matthew Bernat
Christopher St. Jean of Francestown, New Hampshire, left, and Ben Stegeman of Florissant, Missouri wait for the race the start. Stegeman and St. Jean finished the race No. 1 and No. 2 overall, respectively. Photo by: Matthew Bernat
Dakota Matthews, 8, of Plainville wore bid No. 56 in a nod to her January visit to the Wareham Police Department. The stop was No. 56 as she plans on visiting 351 police departments across the state. Photo by: Matthew Bernat
Dakota Matthews with members of the Wareham Police Department that ran in Saturday’s race. Photo by: Matthew Bernat
Heavy rains and muddy trails didn’t stop the 169 runners who laced up for the annual Grumpy’s 5K Cranberry Harvest Race on Saturday.
Now in its seventh year, the race honors Robert “Grumpy” Conway, an A.D. Makepeace employee and naturalist who passed away in 2010. Proceeds benefit the Cranberry Educational Foundation's scholarship fund, which gives four scholarships a year to students studying agriculture or environmental issues. The 5K winds through trails near bogs at the cranberry grower’s headquarters on Tihonet Road. There were concerns the trails might be too slick, said organizers.
“I was holding my breath this morning,” said Claire Smith, Conway’s sister and Wareham Town Moderator. “We weren’t too concerned with the rain, but with the trail conditions.”
Officials checked the trails which seemed all right for the runners despite the mud.
This year, 10 Wareham Police officers hit the trail with Dakota Matthews, an 8-year-old girl from Plainville who has made it her mission to visit every police department in the state before her 13th birthday.
Matthews visited the department in January 2018, which marked number 56 on her list of 351. Dakota said one of the officers invited her and her mother, Cherie Boisvert, to participate in the race with other Wareham officers.
Boisvert said the pair competes in a 5K most weekends. Dakota said they were happy to come out and run with Wareham officers.
“They helped me out when we visited and now we can support them,” said Dakota.
So far, Dakota has visited 112 police departments. In honor of her Wareham visit, Dakota managed to get the No. 56 bib for Saturday’s race.
The top three female finishers were: Rebecca Cotugno of Dartmouth (21:48), Alison Carr of Norwell (22:58) and Alexa Potterton of Quincy (24:20).
The top three male finishers were: Ben Stegeman of Florissant, Missouri (18:18), Christopher St. Jean of Francestown, New Hampshire (20:11) and Collyn Bennett of Westport (21:14).
The top three finishes from Wareham were: Jackson Veugen (22:48), Roger Spring (23:21) and Michael Conner (25:26).
For complete race results, visit www.racewire.com
