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Christmas Dash

Sandwich, MA, December 23, 2006

Six Survive the Soggies

In the thick of an early winter downpour, six hardy souls braved strong winds, heavy rains and deep puddles for a 5K at Sandy Neck Beach in Sandwich. A combination of road and beach running, those who start too fast pay the price over the last mile's deep sand, slippery rocks and twisting ramp. The lead "pack" of Ryan Gattoni, Geof Newton and Steve Wright stayed tight through the first two miles until Newton attacked on the beach road and took the lead. However a last-minute surge through the beach parking lot gave Ryan the overall win by 9 seconds. The sole female participant, Cheryl Keilty, posted a soggy 28:32. It was uniformly agreed that everyone would have been much drier had this been a swimming race. This pre-Christmas version of race director Kate Naples' popular Street N' Beach runs featured jingling bells and prize stockings for all runners. Scheduled for a return engagement on the 31st of December, let's hope for better weather for the "Last Run of '06."