Earlier Chatham Harbor Run ‘Good Way To Start’ Sunday Morning

CHATHAM – Both the male and female winners at the 44th Chatham Harbor Run had similar reasons for what brought them to the annual 10-kilometer event Sunday: they were in town, happened to see the event was going on and decided to give it a go and hop in.

Adam Ward, 24, was on vacation from his home in Ireland. He led the field with a 35:24 time. 

“It was fun,” he said. “It’s definitely a good way to start your Sunday morning.”

Elizabeth Hilfrank, meanwhile, was in town from Boston for a long weekend. She was the female winner with a 40:37 time.

“I have never done this race before, so I didn’t realize how hilly it was going to be, but for every up, there’s a down,” said Hilfrank, 29.

Hilfrank ran the Boston Marathon in April, she said, so she put the course into the “perspective of mini-Heartbreak Hills.” 

“I haven’t raced since the marathon, so I was just kind of using this to kickstart training again,” she said.

Ward said the course was “very difficult.”

For the first time, the race, organized by the Cape Cod Athletic Club, began at 8 a.m. The time change moved the race out of the late morning-early afternoon heat and into a part of the day with quieter traffic. Race director Howard Tansey said the new start time was met with a good response from runners. 

The run, which started and ended at Monomoy Regional Middle School, also included a new team relay event. 

Brian Lowry, 58, and Jamie Veara, 57, were the inaugural winners of the team relay version of the race, which split the race into two 5-kilometer legs. The duo out of Dennis Port finished in 43:38.

“Today was just the perfect conditions to run, and I think this idea of a relay hopefully catches on,” Veara said.

More than 260 runners in addition to 10 relay teams participated in the race, which raises money for Monomoy Dollars for Scholars and the Cape Cod Athletic Club scholarship fund. There were 320 total registrants. Race finishers received Chatham Harbor Run medals bearing a white and blue design of two runners in front of a lighthouse.

The hope is for the team relay to gain popularity for next year, according to Tansey.

“I think it will take off,” he said.

Runners were treated to rather desirable cloudy weather, as the temperature sat in the mid 60s with a little bit of wind and a touch of rain.

“Overcast and earlier, it makes all the difference in the world,” Veara said. “It makes all the difference in the world.”