Lynn Woods holds extra-long race

LYNN – Ryan Hayes of Woburn had one simple request before getting interviewed after winning the ‘extra-long’ run of 10.8 miles in the Lynn Woods Summer Cross Country Races on Wednesday.Hayes, 33, asked if he could get “one more cup” before talking about his win. That was a reasonable request, given that temperatures soared into the mid-90s on race day. Yet Hayes, who finished in an unofficial time of 1:14:30, said that overall, the hot weather “wasn’t bad.”He added, “I had two waters stashed along the route.”Race organizer Bill Mullen estimated a field of 20 runners started the race, originally slated for 11 to 12 miles before Mother Nature intervened. Despite the shorter distance, the elements still made themselves felt.”Everyone that I saw who finished was very spent and very dehydrated,” Mullen said. “They were OK (after drinking water).”He added that he saw “a little bit of cramping, but they were walking it off.”Starting from the Great Woods Road entrance, the race incorporated two loops, one a 4-miler with its midpoint at the Penny Bridge.As participants for the other three races of the evening – a 6.8-miler, a 2.49-miler and a 1.59-mile kids race – watched, some of the ‘extra-long’ race runners could be seen looping back towards the Great Woods Road parking lot, where people offered water and encouragement.Hayes is a Lynn Woods veteran, having run the Woods last fall in the Steel Tower race. He described the terrain yesterday as “pretty tough,” noting, “There are a lot of rolling hills.”Hayes also mentioned an act of sportsmanship by one of his competitors in the first half of the race that helped him get through that terrain.”I actually got lost,” Hayes said. “He caught up and I asked which way to go. He told me.” After that, Hayes said, he was running by himself.Hayes is no stranger to either hill running or hot weather.A frequent runner at Horn Pond in Woburn, he said, “There are a lot of nice trails and hills.”On Patriots Day, when thousands of runners sweltered in the sun for the Boston Marathon, Hayes ran a 3-miler in Lexington.”It was pretty hot out,” he recalled. “I ran in the heat all the time.”Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].