V-Day at Bradford, MA Race

Dan Verrington (#328) leads the pack. photo Dave Camire

Bradford, Massachusetts - It was V-day in Bradford, Massachusetts on Saturday - Valentines, Verrington and Victory! For the third consecutive year, Bradford's own Dan Verrington took top honors in the Valentine's 5-miler. Verrington was able hold off the challenge of ace master runner Craig Fram to take a 23 second victory. "I just got ahead of him by 100 meters and we stayed in that position the whole way," Verrington explained following the race.

Verrington is in training for the Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon in Virginia Beach on March 18 with hopes of an Olympic qualifying time. Based on today's performance it looks like he is on target. In the last three years, starting with 1998, his finishing times have improved each year - 25:44, 25:38 and 25:27.

"Never the bride, always the bride's maid," is how Craig Fram must feel. In the last three years, the talented Plaistow, NH runner has placed second twice and third once. Last year's third place finish was remarkable considering he was suffering from a bad chest cold.

Westford's Kara Molloy captured the women's race for the second consecutive year. Molloy's 29:40 placed her well ahead of second place finisher Julie Kelley (31:06) from Bradford. After her victory, Molloy commented that she was relieved that "Susanna [Landreth] decided to run the other race." However her biggest concern was how her dad Richard ran in the accompanying 6K. They were both entered in the Father/Daughter team division. Winners are determined by cumulative time of runners in each race. Team Molloy was successful beating out team Verrington by 4 minutes.

Lexington's Paul Hammond (27:35) and Portsmouth NH's Janet Parkinson (47:45) won the masters'division. David Lamoureux (Newburyport, 32:05) and Wendy Burbank (Boxford, 39:14) captured the senior titles. Eldon Burkinshaw (Londonderry, NH 35:37) and Eleanor Whitney (Hampton, NH 49:27) captured the veteran's divisions. John Di Commandrea (Revere, 43:13) and for the fifth consecutive year Louise Rossetti (Saugus, 1:08:55) won the over seventy age division.

Susanna Landreth photo Dave Camire

Worcester's John Donovan seemed to have an easy time of winning the 6K race with a time of 21:04. Following Donovan in second place was Newburyport's Susanna Landreth with a time of 22:08. If Landreth had decided to run the 5-miler it would have been an interesting competition between her and Molloy. However in the 6K she had little competition from other women, and for that matter men, runners.

The masters division was won by Andrew Ober (Boxford, 26:24) and Bonnie Ricardelli (Dunstable, 29:02). Martyn Richards (Georgetown, 23:58) and Heidy McGaffigan (Milford, 27:11) captured the seniors division. Haverhill's George Dirago (26:23) to the veteran's title while Ken Folsom (30:28) of Salem, NH won the over seventy title.

According to race director John Burke 554 entered the race. This is down slightly from last year, which could be attributed to the very cold (22-degree) weather.