Lyons and Cyr Victorious in Attleboro

Rosemarie Lyons photo Herb Ryan

Attleboro, MA - A pre-race prediction became reality at yesterday's TI-Dana Farber Uptown 5K in Attleboro. Standing at the start line and softly eliciting the words, "I really want it. This is my mother's race.", Rosemarie Lyons of Wareham, last year's TI-Dana Farber women's winner, then went out and defended her title by taking the women's race in 20:17. The men's race went to Sturdy Runaway Jim Cyr of Pawtucket, who comfortably outdistanced Wampanoag Larry O'Toole of Attleboro and the other 281 runners to win in 16:35.

Lyons, who placed third at the Attleboro Y 10 K earlier this month, holds the TI race in high esteem. "This race is important to me.", she stated. "It's Dana-Farber and my mom died of cancer three years ago and this race is special to me. Of all the races that I run, this is the one that I dedicate to my mother. I wear a guardian angel pin and that's my mother always with me. She's in my heart, she's in my race."

Lyons was in control for the majority of the race, with no competition until near the finish when a fast approaching Robyn Couturier of Barrington, RI surfaced to give chase. "The only time I felt there were any females was when we were coming back into TI.", she observed. ""You can hear, you know when there's a girl behind you; they breath different." At the three mile mark, with Couturier closing within ten yards, Lyons made her move. "I could feel her." Lyons said. "My sister-in-law was screaming, 'Hurry, she's near you.'. That's when I took off and said, 'This one's mine.' Couturier, a former North Attleboro resident, finished second in 20:28 with Heather Johnson, this year's Attleboro Y 5K winner, of North Attleboro in at third in 20:40.

Jim Cyr photo Herb Ryan

The men's race began with O'Toole, Dan O'Connell of Bradford, Ma, and Otilio Trejo of Pawtucket moving into a lead pack. Cyr, a junior at Tolman High School and member of the Sturdy Runaways running club, was lagging behind assessing the race. "The older guys were in the front pushing it.", he stated. "I just wanted to feel out the race early; just stay behind them, then pick it up gradually as I went along." Cyr emerged into the lead pack shortly before the first mile and continued to run abreast with O'Connell and O'Toole as they all went through the first mile in 5:17. Midway through the second mile, Cyr opened a crack of a lead, a mere five yards as they turned onto Rt. 123. O'Connell fell off the pace and Cyr continued to expand the lead over O'Toole as he went through two miles in 10:40. "I took over at a mile and a half." Cyr said. "Then I hit the two mile and some one on the side of the road told me I was all alone. It made me confident. I knew I could win it after that." Cyr, the winner of March's Run for Humanity 5K, went unchallenged through the last mile, his lead growing as O'Toole faded from sight. Although his time was well off his personal best of 15:49, he was sanguine about his performance. "I felt good the whole way.", he reflected. "I wanted to win, but I didn't think I was going to. That's a good hard race." O'Toole placed second in 17:01 with O'Connell, a former Attleboro resident, taking third in 17:18.

The Doran clan of North Attleboro was in control of the one mile fun run. Fifteen year old Kyle Doran won the race in 5:21. Sister Shannon, placing ninth overall, repeated her victory from a year ago, winning the female division in 6:27.

The race was held in memory of former TI employee John Hannigan, whose death from cancer two years ago galvanized the TI employees to hold the event for Dana-Farber.

© Cool Sports 1999