Described as “27 Miles, 5 Legs, 2 States, 1 River”, the Mill Cities Relay is always a local club favorite to end the road racing season. Various New England Clubs are invited to participate in the relay starting in Nashua, NH and ending with a huge post-race celebration at the Claddagh Pub in Lawrence, MA. Each club will build teams of 5 athletes to run legs of 5.4, 4.75, 2.5, 9.4, and 4.75 miles respectively. For the race up front, Whirlaway packed in a course record-breaking squad of Brandon Newbould, Alex McGrath, Alex Hall, Jose Ortiz, and Jeff Welch who covered the layout in 2 hours, 20 minutes, 03 seconds. Cape Verde olympian and Brooks athlete Ruben Sanca was originally slated to cover that 9.4 mile leg, but had to withdraw due to illness. Though with Jose averaging 5’15 per mile over the distance, Ruben wasn’t needed to break the record. But we can only imagine what the time would have been if he was healthy! For the runner up, it came down to a team of Tufts University Alumni repping the Athletic Alliance Running Club (not the same guys who won it last year) and a team from Wicked Running club. At the start of the long leg, the AARC team had a pretty solid gap on the Wicked Young Guns, but with OTQ Marathoner Dan Vassallo covering the 9 miles for the Wicked, he was able to close it and then open up a pretty solid gap on them handing off to the final leg. But the Tufts Alumni team was able to take it down to a kick at the end, where the 4’08 mile speed of Connor Rose would prevail and get them the silver medal in 2:22:51. The Wicked Running team crossed the finish just 7 seconds behind for third.
Another record was broken as far as the team scoring went: The Gate City Striders rallied 34 teams to the line and took home their eighth straight title, which breaks the Greater Lowell Road Runners’ record of 7 they tied last year.
There were several divisions with men’s, women’s, and co-ed teams by which the top three from each won a brick. Here’s the podium list (and very creative team names):
Male Open (20-29) Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 WRT BRATS WRT 11 2:20:03 2 DEFENDING THE TITLE AARC 10 2:22:51 3 WICKED YOUNG GUNS WRC 9 2:22:58
Male Sub Masters (30-39) Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 SRR- BLOOD, SWEAT, AND BEERS SRR 11 2:33:26 2 NSYNC WCRC 10 2:43:07 3 DEVILS WENT DOWN TO LAWRENCE GCS 9 2:46:22
Male Masters Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 SRR-JOE O'LEARY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS SRR 13 2:34:46 2 WICKED PERSISTANT WRC 12 2:37:45 3 BRICK CHASERS GDTC 11 2:38:37
Male Seniors Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 50 ROCK GCS 12 2:44:53 2 SMOKING ACES WCRC 11 2:49:35 3 OLD FIT FARTS AARC 10 2:50:16
Male Veterans Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 THE BIONIC MEN WCRC 9 3:13:20 2 SWASHBUCKLERS WITH SWAGGER GLRR 8 3:15:56 3 I CAN'T REMEMBER AARC 7 3:25:41
Female Open (20-29) Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 FIVE ON FIRE GCS 10 2:50:08 2 WHIRLYGIRLS WRT 9 2:50:09 3 SRR- TAKIN' CARE OF BUSINESS SRR 8 2:56:51
Female Sub Masters (30-39) Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 SPICE GIRLS WCRC 10 3:11:38 2 SRR- KOPF-RIDOUT OVERDRIVE SRR 9 3:13:04 3 THE DASHING DIVAS GCS 8 3:23:28
Female Masters Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN WCRC 11 3:05:29 2 RUNNING FOR KATTALENA GCS 10 3:06:29 3 SRR- FASTER THAN YOUR BOYFRIEND SRR 9 3:11:20
Female Seniors Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 HOT FLASHES GDTC 10 3:13:27 2 THE BIONIC WOMEN WCRC 9 3:18:16 3 SENIOR CHICKS GLRR 8 3:24:56
Female Veterans Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 B THE UNTOUCHABLES WCRC 4 2:05:02 2 B WHIRLY VETS WRT 3 2:07:28 3 B THE MIGHTY HOOVER DAM NMC 2 2:29:21
Coed Open (20-29) Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 SRR- K.H. AND THE SUNSHINE BAND SRR 15 2:31:23 2 ANSWERING THE CAPTAINS CALL AARC 14 2:39:13 3 CHASING BRICKS WRT 13 2:41:34
Coed Sub Masters (30-39) Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 SRR- SIBLINGS, SPOUSES, AND KEITH SRR 14 2:47:41 2 COAST BUSTERS GLRR 13 2:49:44 3 I CAN'T FEEL MY FACE GCS 12 2:58:41
Coed Masters Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 SRR- TOM MORROW NEVER DIES SRR 14 2:51:09 2 DONE RIGHT GCS 13 2:53:07 3 MYSTIC COED MASTER 1 MR 12 2:59:25
Coed Seniors Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 CAP'N AND HIS OLD CREW AARC 12 2:55:26 2 SHAARP SHAMROCKS SRC 11 2:56:18 3 50 WAYS TO BE A RUNNER GCS 10 3:01:07
Coed Veterans Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 B ONE BEAUTY, TWO BEASTS NMC 7 2:03:49 2 B SUNSHINE STREAKERS GCS 6 2:06:31 3 B NOT OUR FIRST RODEO SQRR 5 2:13:13
Male Ancients Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 B 220 YEARS AND RUNNING GCS 4 2:15:08 2 B THE GEYSHERS GLRR 3 2:16:09 3 B DAYS OF THUNDER WCRC 2 2:33:31
Coed Ancients Place W Team Name Club Pts Time ===== = ================================================== ======= === ======= 1 B LEGENDS OF THE ROAD WCRC 1 2:46:27
Yankee Timing provided the full results. Check them out to see who ran on what team!
