Great Stew Chase to mark 40th anniversary

With the 40th annual Great Stew Chase 15K set for Sunday, organizer Roger Perham sounds hopeful the show will go on despite the recent snowfall.?Can?t let a little snow stop the parade,” he said. “Bring it on!”The race begins at 10 a.m. from Briarcliff Lodge. The course features “a good hill,” Perham said, estimating its length at between a quarter-mile to a half-mile. Runners will also pass the Peabody-Lynnfield YMCA and go into Centennial Park.The unusual distance of the race might just help runners preparing for an even longer distance: the Boston Marathon, less than three months away.?Many of them get ready for Boston,” Perham said of Stew Chase runners. “They come from all over Eastern Mass. From New Hampshire and Maine, we get a couple. Because of the distance, it?s an attraction.”The race began as a 9.7-miler, part of a series of winter races. Fred Brown, whom Perham described as “a guru of long-distance running in the area,” asked Perham to help out with a long race in Lynn.Originally, the course went through Marblehead and Swampscott, but the police told Perham he had to change the route. He did, but kept it a long-distance race.?I always felt there were enough short distances around to keep things going,” he said. “As a training run for the Boston Marathon, I always felt people appreciated it.”There is also, of course, the namesake stew of the race. For the curious, here is the recipe: “30 lbs. meat, 50 lbs. potatoes, carrots, 6 turnips, 6 large onions, 12 medium cans of tomato soup (and) 6 cans chickpeas,” Perham said.Registration opens at 8 a.m. on Sunday. Race-day registration costs $20, which includes chowder and stew. There is a separate fee for a T-shirt. People can make an extra contribution to the Wyoma Lions Club’s Journey for Sight, which benefits eye research. Last year, the race raised $185 for that cause.Good luck to everyone running on Sunday!