By Larry Kelley
Special to the Times
There were success stories on many levels, ranging from the unlikely athletic path of the winner to comebacks of heart attack survivors to 13-year-old twin sisters finishing in the same order of their birth, at the Niantic Bay Half Marathon and 5K races at Rocky Neck State Park Sept. 21.
The 13.1-mile half marathon, the USA Track and Field state championship, drew 480 competitors. This was the second year of the half marathon set-up after the contraction of the Mystic Places Marathon, held here from 2001 to 2006. A scheduling conflict—the CVS 5K national championship in Providence was held the same day—took some elite runners away from the half marathon field.
But that didn’t stop 33-year-old winner Dean Charette of Stamford from calling his victory “the highlight of my running career.”
Charette covered the mostly flat course in 1:11.15 for a mile pace of 5:27. Not bad for an athlete who didn’t take up running until ending a competitive swimming career in college.
“I had a very personal goal this season to make a mental and physical commitment to push myself to the limit,” Charette said. “I’ve never won a race of this magnitude.”
The Niantic Bay Half Marathon did not offer the amount of prize money ($3,000 to the winner) that the Mystic Places Marathon did, thus there was an absence of elite runners from foreign distance running power territories such as Kenya, Ethiopia, and eastern Europe.
“You never know if you have a chance to win until you look around and see which Kenyans show up,” Charette said. “I’ve done a lot more training and pushed myself leading up to this, because I want to run my second marathon in Indianapolis. This was a good tuneup, because the logistics of the race are similar to a marathon, such as starting in a large group, grabbing water along the run, etc.”
Charette ran step for step in the first half of the half marathon with Ledyard’s Jeff Wadecki, a 25-year-old who has accelerated his long distance running after not competing in college. Wadecki was second in 1:12.18.
“I was shooting to average 5:25 a mile and didn’t make that (5:32),” Wadecki said. “I heard it was going to be a flat course, but there were gentle hills in the second half of the run. I wanted to run faster, but my quads tightened up.”
Wadecki, an All-ECC indoor track 1,000-meter runner in high school, thought the field was depleted a bit because of the 5K national championship in Providence. His friend, Mark Olivier of Groton, finished 21st in the nation in the CVS race in 14:49.
“It’s been a good year for me,” Wadecki said. “I’ve trained harder and it’s paying off. I won the Guilford 10-miler the same day as the Kelley Race in August and did well in a New Haven 20K (27th place) on Labor Day. I’m looking to run a marathon soon, but it’s a work in progress.”
Melissa Perkins-Banas of Norwich was the first female, 16th overall finisher, in a time of 1:25.33. Other locals of note included Stan Mickus of Mystic (17th, 1:25.27), Bob Stack of Gales Ferry (27th, 1:28.43), and Heather Bessette of Stonington (30th, 1:29.27).
The half marathon and 5K offered a new wrinkle in Connecticut racing—a state-of-the-art timing system. Each runner was given a disposable plastic tag to fasten to a sneaker. The tag also offers runners a more streamlined race experience than the traditional chip system. The disposable tag timing system was developed by Chronotrack Systems. This device was used successfully in the Los Angeles Marathon, San Francisco Marathon, and New York Nike Human Race.
“This system will be the wave of the future in five years,” said race organizer John Bysiewicz of JB Sports. “The results were slow, about 1 1/2 hours after the race, because we had an issue with the timer, who hadn’t worked with this system before. It’s a learning curve.”
It was a Chamber of Commerce postcard day on the last day of summer Sept. 21—70 degrees and rising and brilliantly sunny at race time. Nearly 700 total participants and twice as many spectators basked in the beautiful weather and were treated to an upbeat atmosphere of road running, live music, food concessions, and a health expo.
“It’s a beautiful venue,” Bysiewicz said. “You can’t get any better than running a race on a 70-degree day at Rocky Neck. It’s a great place to stage this because there’s plenty of room for tents and flat open space for bands. It was a little warm for the runners, but all in all a great day.”
Health was a theme of the exposition next to the finish line. About 20 Lawrence & Memorial Hospital masseuses provided free massages to runners. The Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut Health Care Council displayed a fitness expo booth offering health screenings for blood pressure and cholesterol.
The vast majority of 5K participants were recreational participants, including a number of speed walkers. Matt Molsky of New Haven won the 5K in 16:05, more than three minutes ahead of the next competitor. Dave Jacobs, 63, of Niantic was third overall. Thirteen-year-old twins Sarah Beland and Katie Beland were 1-2 in the female 5K division, fifth and sixth overall. Sarah, born 20 seconds earlier, finished one second ahead of Katie in 20:54.
“Sarah was born first and pretty much finishes first in races,” her father said.
For two 5K runners, the ability to compete in the race made them feel like champions. Donna Formica, 55, the wife of East Lyme First Selectman Paul Formica, finished 203rd among 250 competitors in 34:31. She suffered a heart attack in 2006.
“I thought I was healthy, but I had a cauterization and phasospasms in my arteries when power walking,” Donna said. “As part of therapy in rehab class, I started walking slowly telephone pole to telephone pole. That became two telephone poles and before not too long I was jogging. In the last six months, I’ve started to run.
“I didn’t set out to run the entire 5K here, but when you are exposed to a race such as this, you get inspired by a little competition,” she added.
Ron Siena, 61, of Northfield power-walked the 5K and finished 225th in 45:27. He underwent quadruple bypass surgery in April and suffered a collapsed lung in May.
“This is my big second chance,” Siena said. “I was not allowed to run today, but it felt good to force march the whole race. I almost became a victim of my job, stressing out for 12 hours a day, carrying the beeper and cell phone on me at all times. Today, if I wake up in bed, spread my arms out and don’t hit wood, it’s a good day.”
Overall, the half marathon and 5K continues to be a good day for fall racing in East Lyme, continuing a 28-year tradition that started with the East Lyme Marathon from 1981 to 2000 and the Mystic Places Marathon earlier this decade.
“This is a great event for the community and for people’s health,” Paul Formica said. “It brings people to town to see what we have to offer. Rocky Neck is a beautiful beach and park, and this event draws hundreds to the area to eat and shop afterward, which is the goal of the Chamber of Commerce. I’m sure a lot of runners and their families do come back.”