George Yiannelis of Medford ran third for the first 4.8 miles of the Feaster Five 5-mile road race Thanksgiving morning before overtaking the two leaders on the final turn onto York Street and sprinting to his second consecutive first-place finish in the event.
His time of 24:07 edged Dave Dunham (24:08), and Joe Rocha (24:10) of Peabody, who traded the lead back and forth for the entire race with Yiannelis only a step back.
"With about a mile to go I started to fall behind a little," Yiannelis said after his win. "I started feeling tired," and by the railroad bridge on Haverhill Street "I was like 40-50 yards behind. I said, 'I can't leave the race without giving it my best effort.' I had to get myself together and get back up. I started kicking with a half a mile to go - and it wasn't 'til the bottom of the hill that I caught up with the guys."
"We turned the corner and he just blasted right by," Dunham said. "It's tough to change gears when someone like that goes right by you."
The winning time was well short of the race's best finish of 23:52, set by Chris Teague in 1992, but this is a different course. Yiannelis beat his own winning time of 24:18 from last year on the same course.
Joan Benoit Samuelson, Olympic gold medalist in the marathon and former Boston Marathon winner, took first for the women in 27:39, 17 seconds ahead of Kara Molloy of Lowell (27:56), and Julie Peterson of Beverly (28:21). Terrianne McGettrick, 31, of Andover, was fifth woman and 92nd overall. Bill Rogers, 47, four-time Boston Marathon winner, won the master's race in 25:42, ahead of John Goodwin, 40, of Andover (26:28), and Jack Fultz, 47, another former Boston Marathon winner (27:37).
Susan Maslowski, 43, of Billerica was the first woman master in 33:18 followed by Ann Silck, 41, of Winthrop (33:36), and Margot Remington-Oman, 48, of Andover (34:01).
Other notable finishes by locals included: Dan Verrington, supervisor of Spring Grove Cemetery, 7th in 24:54; Andy Chiaraluce, 11, of Andover, (32:25) first in the 12-and-under age group followed by John Gillespie, 10, of North Andover, third in 41:36; Bill Marlow, 51, of Andover (29:25), first in the 50-59 age group; Jean O'Malley, 41, of Andover, fourth in the master's division with 35:06, followed by Ann Kucharski, 43, of North Andover in 35:37; Max Dawson, 20, of Andover, finished 77th overall in a time of 29:14. Brian White, 26, of Haverhill, the only wheelchair participant completing the 8k, finished in 29:05.
The 8k had 3,970 finishers.
Michael Cronin, 34, of Ipswich, took the 5k race in 16:41, just ahead of David Irving of Salisbury (16:53), and Kevin Andriolo of Tewksbury (17:13). Ben Pease, 21, of Andover, was fifth in 17:33.
Mary Donahue, 29, of Ayer, was the first woman, (18:20), in the 5k race for the second year in a row, besting Gina Rocha of Peabody (18:52), and Jennifer Rosman of West Newton (19:41). Donahue easily beat her own winning time of 19:05 from last year.
"I was with somebody else - we broke off - we raced until about two then I broke away," Cronin said after the race. "Once I broke I made sure I put the hammer down."
Cronin runs for Saucony, one of the sponsors of the race. "It's always nice to run a race that you're sponsoring and win," he said. Other notable finished by locals included: Mike DiMauro, 28, of North Andover, finished first in the 20-29 age group in 17:49; Jack Norton, manager of Athlete's Corner sporting goods store on Main Street, was first male master in 18:05; John Golden, 29, of North Andover, was second in the 50-59 age group in 19:46; Nuala Boness, of Andover was first woman in the 50-59 age group in 25:56, and Jackie Kovacs of Andover was third in 29:12; Luziana Gardener of Andover was first in the 60-69 age group with 25:19.
A total of 7,820 runners, walkers and rollers registered for this year's Feaster Five. That included 4,950 in the five- mile race, 2,301 in the 5k race and 569 in the Kids 1k.
The weather cooperated for the most part, starting out cool but above freezing with clearing skies for the start. But the wind picked up and it cooled down noticeably by the time the five-mile finishers crossed the line. No numbers were available this week as to how much money the race raised for Lazarus House.
And Mr. McGillivray is predicting a bright future for the race, and for Marshalls' continued support of it.
"I feel somewhat confident that it will continue with their being the title sponsor," he said.
"At this level now, I would be surprised if it didn't continue. It's reached such a stature now in the community that I think everybody wants it to continue. It's not just a race. It's a happening. It's a tradition. It's a fund-raiser for charity."
The race was filmed by ESPN and will be shown on the cable station's Running and Racing show Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 3:30 p.m.