LYNN — There’s some nostalgia mixed into the Lynn Woods Running Series, as the most recent long race featured runners challenging for the loops of the third documented high school course in Lynn Woods history.
The first cross country course ran in “The Woods,” circa 1968, was also the first high school course. The Lynn Woods Running Series uses 90 percent of that course, according to organizer Joe Abelon, and it’s known as the Goat Path course.
“Tom McDermott and Jeff Cook provided interesting observations related to this topic,” Abelon said. “In at least 1974 or 1975, the city cross country meet extended the original Goat Path course from 2.5 to 2.8 miles . . . running straight up to the steel tower. That course is also part of the series and referred to as the Goat to Steel Tower course.”
That said, there was one negative quality with the two original courses: They were out-and-back courses, meaning spectators, most often, were only able to view the start and finish of the course.
This inspired McDermott, Abelon, as well as Paul and Dan Quinn to design a spectator-friendly course in 1978.
The ABCD course, named after its four loops, is one mile from the start of all current races in the series.
“This year, Jeff Cook, former Lynn Tech runner, for some unknown reason, offered his creativity and suggested he could create a Long course that would incorporate the four loops. To pull off this race, he would need volunteers to be placed at strategic locations on the four loops to assist runners in managing the ABCD portion of the overall race – and he found them. They all had mastered the loops of the course while competing or coaching: Lynn English cross country runners John McKenna, Mike Heditneme, and Rob Sheehan, as well as Cook and McDermott.”
Cook and Ed Zipper mark the course.
Lynn’s Rafael Villatoro (31:41) took overall honors in the latest edition, followed by Melrose’s Adam Cook (34:38) and Nicholas Fusco (34:42). The most recent female winner of this resurrected course was Wilmington’s Vicky McDermott (41:19), followed by Marblehead’s Tova Kaplan (43:13).
The short course of the day, Goat Path, was won by Nahant’s Dave Foster (14:54) with Lynn’s Algenys Velez (15:15) and Angel Rivera (15:16) close behind. The first female was Lynn’s Leila Jolibois (15:11), who placed second overall, followed by Salem’s Carolyn Velez (15:24).
Youngsters took the top two places in the kids’ race. Lynnfield’s Parker Beal, 6, ran the race in 14:26 to narrowly edge Lynn’s Patrick Conlon, 8, who finished in 14:38. The female winner was Lynn’s Avery Macario, 11, in 15:12, followed by Lynn 15-year-old Astrid Reye (15:20).
The youngest finisher was 3-year-old Lincoln Xaltipa, of Lynn.
For full results, visit www.lwrun.org
