Cool Running :: Yankee Homecoming Road Race Crispell Race Results

Yankee Homecoming Race: A True Classic

I'm sure the word "classic" gets used a little too frequently when it comes to describing anything over thirty years old ... but let me tell you right up front, at 38 years young, this 10 Mile race is an absolute classic. For starts, it runs through the beautiful seacoast town of Newburyport, MA. and it seems that every other person who lives in Newburyport has either run in the race, worked as a volunteer for the race, or provides incredible fan support along the course. This support includes numerous "unofficial" water stops, orange slice giveaways, cool spray from hand held hoses or hoses supported from ladders, and of course, the all important cheers of "Come on ... you're almost there ... you can make it ... hang in there ... etc. etc."

But the race is also a classic for a lot of other reasons as well ... take the distance for example. How many 10 milers are left in a racing scene that is overwhelmed with 5K's or 5 milers? As a good friend said to me, "10 miles is the perfect racing distance ... it's too hard for the 5ker's but it doesn't destroy you like the marathon." Add to the distance the sheer pleasure of a beautiful course with just enough of a hill or two to make it fair, and you're well on your way to establishing a "classic" ... but there is another factor as well ... and that is the sheer timing of the race ... 6:30 P.M. in the middle of the summer ... the day is just beginning to cool down and the inevitable seabreeze has just started to kick in ... I'm telling you, this has got to be one of the best races in the United States!

I also love the finish ... right up the local high school's driveway and into the stadium ... every race ought to be so fortunate to have a such a finish.

There is also another wonderful touch ... the volunteer work of the Lions Club. Only at a Lion's sponsored race would you be served as many hotdogs as you can wolf down ... For someone like myself who doesn't eat yogurt, that's an incredible plus!!!!

The Yankee Homecoming Race has become a sort of reunion for most of the serious local runners of New England ... it's almost like a "who's who" of the New England racing scene. But what a joyous scene that infield is after the race. It certainly beats any family reunion I've ever been too ... but come to think of it, those people really are my "family" ... and what a riotous, wonderful, joyful family it is!

Put it on your racing schedule if you've never run in it and be prepared for the magic that this race brings summer after summer to the runners of New England.