by Kathleen Pulek

Middletowns historic
Main Street, voted the most
romantic Main Street in the
U.S by the National Trust
for Historic Preservation,
became a hive of activity as
a colorful swarm of nearly
1,700 runners took part in
the inaugural Harvard Pil-
grim Middletown Half Mar-
athon and Legends 4-Mile
on Sunday, April 6.
Supporting sponsors
Middlesex Hospital, NoRA
Cupcake Company, Eli Can-
nons Tap Room, Mondo,
Chabaso Bakery, Empower
Leadership Sports and Ad-
venture Center, Wesleyan
University and Dunkin
Donuts joined title spon-
sor Harvard Pilgrim Health
Care in staging the event
that started and ended on
Main Street and wound its
way through the picturesque
Wesleyan campus.
The races also pro-
duced a bounty of non-
perishable donations for the
events charity partner, The
Amazing Grace Food Pan-
try, which serves over 1,000
households each month.
Amazing Grace is one
of our programs and were
always in need of food do-
nations, stated Ron Krom,
executive director of St.
Vincent DePaul Middle-
town. We received just shy
of 1,000 pounds of food and
$42 in the race day donation
jar. Thats an exceptional
amount of food. We were
surprised and excited by the
donations. It was a win-win
for everybody.
We can purchase only
so much through the Con-
necticut Food Banks sys-
tem, Krom continued. We
do as much as we can, but
that doesnt come close to
meeting the need for the
food necessary to oper-
ate each month. We serve
people with very limited
resources--lower income
families, the working poor
and the elderly living on
xed incomes.
We have a hard time
keeping food on the shelves
or at least a substantial
choice of foods on the
shelves this time of year. We
start to get low on things in
March and April and that
runs all the way through to
September. Food drives like
this give an extra boost to
the pantry.
Christy Billings, a tech-
nology assistant at the Rus-
sell Library brought some
non-perishables for the
Food Pantry. We also collect
items on a monthly basis
at the library to support the
Food Pantry. Its a beauti-
ful day and a great day for
a run. Its also awesome to
see people supporting such a
Middletowns Community Newspaper
Volume 13, Number 5
May 2014
Wicked Shows in Hartford
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Feature
READ
INSIDE
MORE
Chronicles Automotive
Victory for Hometown Driver
Logano wins at Texas Motor
Speedway.
Page 21
A Cleaner Future
The Wesleyan University Science
Center hosts workshops and con-
ference on climate change.
Page 8
Page 27
Continued on page 7
Half Marathon Benets Amazing Grace
The eld of runners work their way up Court Street at the start of the race. Photo: Dave Burnham.
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good cause.
Mini cupcakes from
NoRA Cupcake Company
made the post-race street
party a little sweeter.
We chose to be a
sponsor of the Harvard Pil-
grim Middletown Half and
Legends 4-Mile because I
thought it was such a great
event for Middletown, said
NorRA owner Carrie Carel-
la. We have such a beauti-
ful downtown and Im so
proud to have a business on
Main Street that I wanted to
participate somehow.
Mayor Dan Drew be-
gan the days festivities,
welcoming runners and
spectators before introduc-
ing racing legends Bill Rod-
gers, Amby Burfoot and Jeff
Galloway.
Rodgers, ranked as
1977s top marathon runner
in the world, is best known
for winning the Boston
Marathon four times, in-
cluding three-straight times
from 1978-80. Burfoot laid
claim to the 1968 Boston
Marathon title and amassed
nine Manchester Road Race
crowns. Galloway, a life-
time runner and All-Amer-
ican collegiate athlete, was
a member of the 1972 U.S.
Olympic Team in the 10,000
meters.
The event also drew
strong support from town
residents, including the Lei-
sener and Tortora families.
Jan Leisener and daughter
Lena cheered on mom, Lisa,
who nished 48th overall
in the half marathon with
a time of 1:48.18. Son Eric
proved to be an accom-
plished runner, winning
the kids half mile race and
proudly sporting his medal.
Were very proud to
be having a race here. My
husband did the half mara-
thon and I did the four-mile.
We were really interested in
doing the race because these
are the roads we run on all
the time. This is great, said
Jennifer Tortora.
I hope they keep do-
ing this every year. The
more races in Middletown,
the better, added Michael
Tortora, the safety and secu-
rity director for Connecticut
Childrens Medical Center.
Erin Shaw of Harwin-
ton and Tina Rogers of New
Hartford were delighted to
spend time in Middletown
on a beautiful day.
Were very active. We
like to do a lot of the Hart-
ford Marathon Foundation
races and a lot of half mara-
thons. We liked the location
of todays course and all of
the restaurants in downtown
Middletown, said Shaw.
Weve been running
buddies for four years.
Weve had some great pizza
at Mondo and we like Eli
Cannons, too, added Rog-
ers.
Middletowns Rob
Weston topped the eld
of four-milers in a time of
21:22. Jess Wojnicki, an
All-State runner out of Im-
maculate High School in
Danbury, was the rst fe-
male nisher in a time of
25:38.
William Sanders of
Wetherseld ran a time of
1:09.49 to best the eld
of Half Marathon runners.
Clintons Sybil Shapiro
earned the top female nish
and sixth-place overall in
1:21.30.
Harvard Pilgrim
Health Care is a non-prot
organization that takes be-
ing rooted in the community
very seriously, according
to Senior Director of Sales
for Connecticut Kathy Ku-
kowski. Ninety-eight per-
cent of the employees at
Harvard Pilgrim have vol-
unteered within their local
communities.
We wanted to begin
getting to know the com-
munities within Connecticut
and we started here in the
heart of Middletown. The
town has been so welcom-
ing. This inaugural event
drew mass participation.
We had anticipated about
a thousand runners and we
had over 1,700. We had
beautiful weather and the
day went awlessly. This is
just the beginning. Well do
it again next year and this
event will continue to grow.
Bill Rodgers and Amby
Burfoot have already com-
mitted to coming back next
year, said the Southington
resident.
We chose Amazing
Grace Food Pantry because
they support the needy in
town in such a way that we
thought we could make a
huge impact by partnering
with them, said Kukowski.
I did the Legends Run.
My husband and I ended up
having my two nieces do
the race with us. We pulled
them in a wagon, she said.
We were the last ones to
nish but we had so much
fun. We had a great view of
the beautiful array of colors
from everybodys T-shirts
as they went up the hill be-
cause we were at the back of
the eld.
The Chronicle - May 2014 7
Chronicled
Harvard Pilgrim Half and Legends Four-Mile (Cont.)
Runners head south on Main Street to the nish line. Photo: Dave Burnham.
Eric Leisener holds the medal he won as the top nisher in the kids
half mile. Photo: Dave Burnham.
Jess Wojnicki (Bethel) nished rst among female four-milers in 25:38.
Photo: Dave Burnham.
Rob Weston (Middletown) wins the four-mile with a time of 21:22. Photo:
Dave Burnham.
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