Summer Sizzler #1 - 8K
April 19, 2002

Lombardi and Goyette But No Barney

     Ron Lombardi and Candy Goyette opened the 2002 Summer Sizzler season with wins at the traditional Barney Day Race. Warm, muggy weather convinced a tired (from the Boston Marathon) Everett Barney to skip this year's event. 
     Fresh off a taxing season of number crunching, Ron won his 7th Summer Sizzler with a convincing wire to wire gallop around Forest Park. Fellow Harrier Steve Byrne (29:25) held 2nd over master and senior leader Frank Rucki (29:56).
     The reverse strategy worked in the women's division as Candy let Betsy Duquette open a sizeable lead during the first half of the race, then gradually closed the gap, taking the lead in the last mile and cruising to a 28 second victory. Betsy's efforts did not go unrewarded, however,  as her 35:49 clocking broke Harrier Nancy Lund's record for 47 year old women (41:05) by over five minutes. Nine year old Shannon Johnson placed third in 58:10 while completing her longest race and becoming the youngest girl to ever finish the 8K course.
     After the race, amid much fanfare, the Fast Feet Contest drawing was held for a trip to either the men's or women's USATF National 5K Championships. The lucky winner was Sue Grant who also wins an extra $50 cash for correctly naming the male runner with the most Summer Sizzler victories: Celio Hernandez with 41½ total (including ties). The answer for the woman with the most Summer Sizzler victories: Dawn Roberts with 33. The complete list of previous winners has now been posted, check out the Summer Sizzler Hall of Fame Second prize, a pair of running shoes, went to Suzanne Cirillo.
     The series now reverts back to Wednesday evenings, at 6:30 p.m., on the challenging
Harrier cross country course on April 24th.

Results 
 1  27:54  Ron       Lombardi   38M  GSH
 2  29:25  Steve     Byrne      34M  GSH
 3  29:56  Frank     Rucki      52M  CMS
 4  30:13  Tim       Brown      49M  ---
 5  31:49  Brent     Coon       36M  GSH
 6  33:51  Herschel  Bloome     36M  ---
 7  33:52  Charlie   Shaw       39M  ---
 8  34:34  David     Greene     30M  ---
 9  35:08  Joe       Fois       27M  GSH
10  35:12  Tim       Londo      36M  GSH
11  35:21  Candy     Goyette    27F  ---
12  35:49  Betsy     Duquette   47F  GSH
13  35:51  John      Kovalsky   34M  ---
14  36:21  John      Pashko     50M  GSH
15  36:40  Kevin     Young      49M  GSH
16  38:09  Bruce     Rockwell   58M  GSH
17  38:18  Doug      Bielefeld  42M  GSH
18  39:07  Bob       Massaro    58M  EORC
19  39:34  Pete      Stasz      54M  GSH
20  41:27  Ed        Dwyer      36M  GSH
21  41:33  Mike      Butler     29M  ---
22  47:43  Dick      Osgood     64M  GSH
23  58:10  Shannon   Johnson     9F  GSH
24  58:10  James     Johnson    37M  GSH