SALEM ― For the first time since 2019, more than a thousand runners of different abilities gathered in Salem on Sunday to participate in the Wicked Half Marathon, as well as the 10k and 20k Black Cat races.
“To get this many runners is pretty spectacular,” said Ashley Steeves, race director. “For a lot of these runners, this could be the first time racing since 2019, which is pretty cool.”
Usually, only the Wicked Half Marathon happens in September in Salem, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic the organizers had to reschedule the Black Cat races from March. In 2020, the races were held virtually.
“It brought a much larger crowd than we are used to having, but everything went super successful. It was really nice to have this size of an audience,” said Steeves.
Many runners were from Massachusetts and other New England states, but many others traveled from all over the country, from states like Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
The races started at 7 a.m. in Salem on Memorial Drive near Dead Horse Beach and went around the Marblehead Neck along Ocean Avenue to Harbor Avenue.
Salem races are not all competitive. They welcome a crowd of novice runners to semi-pros to elite runners. The Wicked Half Marathon is a USA Track & Field-certified course but it is not a qualifier for any other half-marathon or marathon.
About 50 volunteers helped run the event, some of them from the Salem High School football team and Plummer Youth Promise (former Plummer House for Boys), who were among the beneficiaries of the event. Two other beneficiaries were Salem Children’s Charity and the Allie Castner Scholarship Foundation from Marblehead.
Tache Real Estate has been the title sponsor of the Wicked Half Marathon for many years. Organizers also thanked the city of Salem and the town of Marblehead for their support.
Annika Hildebrandt, a 22-year-old software developer, was the womens’ half marathon winner, with a time of 1:22:26.
“I was just coming to have a good time. It is a great race and it is nice out,” said Hildebrandt, who currently lives in Cambridge.
Hildebrandt added that she ran in college and that her family is from Salem and Marblehead so she figured that she’d come out, run the race, and then go over to spend time with them afterwards.
Hildebrandt said she will continue running and will participate in the Harvard College Marathon in October.
By 9 a.m., the runners who finished earlier were resting on the lawn, snacking on bananas and pretzels, drinking water, and cheering on others arriving at the finish line.
Debra Johnson, 62, from Georgetown, was the first among women over 60 years old to finish the Black Cat 20-mile race, with a time 3:01:34.
Johnson started running when she was 40 years old. She said she has two sons and a busy life schedule.
“It was the easiest thing; I just had to put a pair of sneakers on and come out of the door after I dropped them off at school,” said Johnson. “And I just never looked back.”
Right now, Johnson is training for the Boston Marathon, which she has run more than 15 times. Overall, she has done more than 20 marathons in her running career.
Johnson usually runs for a cause or a small charity. This time, she was running in the memory of a student named Bradley from the Perkins School for the Blind.
“Life is so short and there are so many people who can’t [run the race] ,” said Johnson. “It is nice to get out there and do something that makes you feel good.”
