Rich on Running: 39th Stew Chase has all the ingredients for success

It may seem hard to realize given the recent snow-covered streets, but it wasn’t that long ago that the streets were much more manageable for the 39th running of the Great Stew Chase 15K.”It was a pretty good day,” organizer Roger Perham said. “Overcast, mid-30s or so. It was a good day to run.”These days, it’s hard to spot many runners out there ? but on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 3, almost 300 of them lined up for the Stew Chase (292 registrants, of whom 265 finished).”It was about the same as last year,” Perham said.While others may have been preparing their Super Bowl parties to watch the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers that day, the running community was out in force at the Knights of Columbus on Lynnfield Street.”They don’t rent (the Knights of Columbus) out on Super Bowl Sunday,” Perham said. “You don’t have to rush out. It’s not set up for a reception.”Area running clubs were well represented, including the Greater Boston Track Club and the Wicked Running Club.”People get the word around,” Perham said.Winner Jason Porter, 43, of Bedford crossed the finish line in 54:05. Dave Dunham, 48, of Bradford was just eight seconds behind at 54:13.”The winner was in the master’s group, 40-45, and second place was in the 45-49 group, which is pretty good,” Perham said.Volunteers from a variety of groups assisted with different aspects of the race. Wicked Running Club members helped with registration, North Shore Striders members covered the Centennial Park area, while “local friends in Lynn” staffed the Lynn corners, Perham said, with Lynn Police and Traffic Control personnel also helping out in the latter department.Peabody Police personnel covered the corners in Peabody, while the Wyoma and Shoe City Lions prepared and presented the namesake stew.”We had a lot of good volunteers, as in the past,” Perham said.For the curious, the stew consists of 40 lbs. of stewed beef, carrots, onions, turnips, potatoes, tomato soup, “and some onions,” Perham said. “Don’t forget the onions.”In just a few months, the main course will shift from stew to pasta as runners prepare for the Boston Marathon. Those runners will include quite a few Stew Chase veterans.”I think most people run (the Stew Chase) to get ready for the Boston Marathon,” Perham said. “They use it as a long training run.”The race used to be even longer ? 9.7 miles as opposed to 9.3.”It went through Vinnin Square,” Perham recalled. “We were tying up traffic pretty good. The Swampscott Police Department said, ‘You’ve got to change the course.'”While the weather has changed course in recent weeks, it seems that when spring finally does come back for good and the Marathon kicks off, the Stew Chase will have provided marathoners with good preparation once more.Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].