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Weather Gone Wild at Bikini Run

"The wind began to switch the house to pitch
And suddenly the hinges started to unhitch"

The calm before the storm. photo Yankee Timing

Last night I experienced one of the wildest scenes I've ever witnessed at a road race. Just minutes after 110 bathing suit clad runners took off for a 3.1-mile journey around beautiful Lake Quannapowitt the wind picked up to hurricane force and the heavens opened dumping torrential rains. It resembled the opening scene of the Wizard of Oz.

The wind packed such a force that it leveled the entire finish line area - clock, finish line stanchions, everything went flying. The rain was coming down so hard that finish line volunteers were forced into their automobiles to escape the downpour. Within minutes the power went out.

Meanwhile out around Lake Quannapowitt runners were dodging falling tree limbs and running through 6-inch deep puddles against a ferocious wind and rain. No doubt the weather was a major factor with everyone's time. By the time race winners Barry Petzold (19:02) of Arlington and Marybeth Inman (19:57) of Wakefield reached the finish the storm had reached its peak and it would quickly fizzle out. However most of the damage had already been done.

"Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true"

As if on queue a huge rainbow appeared over the lake as the last few finishers trickled across the finish line. To everyone's relief all runners arrived safely at the finish. Unfortunately the power outage put a damper (no pun intended) on the after race festivities. Due to the power outage the pool had to be closed and the DJ was unable to play tunes.

The staff at the Lord Wakefield did a good job dishing out salads, hotdogs and hamburgers despite being handicapped by the lack of power. A big congratulations goes out the members of the Mystic Runners who manned their posts under very adverse conditions. One thing is for sure, the 2007 edition of the Bikini Run is a race the participants will not forget soon.