There were lots of Derry residents who traveled the short distance over to the Londonderry Athletic Field Association complex on Saturday night, July 15, to compete in the 2017 Boot Scootin’ Boogie 5K. The big race featured an absolutely astounding finish.
Directed by former Londonderry High School track and cross-country star John Mortimer’s Millenium Running, the event had some 1,013 finishers. But, the top three wound up being of primary interest thanks to their truly electrifying finish line drama.
Officially speaking, Aliaksandr Leuchanka from Lee was the winner, crossing the finish line in 16 minutes and 22.6 seconds. But Leuchanka was barely ahead of second and third place finishers Zach Switaj from Dover and Colton Ham of Dublin, who were neck and neck at the finish with matching times of 16:22.7 in a photo-finish.
Derry was represented by plenty of talented and determined competitors, among whom the top finisher was Justin Pino in the mens’ 30-to-39-year-old division. Pino placed a very strong 56th overall in 23:02.2.
Awards went to the top three overall men and women as well as the top three male and female age group winners.
The first female across the finish line was Lee resident Keely Maguire, who wound up a superb fifth overall in a time of 18:01.3.
Other Derry runners who finished among the top 300 line-crossers in the big race were John Digan (20-29 males), Matt Smith (20-29 males), Mark D’amico (40-49 males), Danielle Hart (30-39 females), and Marc LaPierre (20-29 males).
As with every Millennium Running event, that group donates funds back to community organizations and supports local groups and charities. To date, Millennium Running has donated over $400,000 to local charities and organizations.
In the case of The Boot Scootin’ Boogie 5K, the Londonderry Lions Club and New Horizons for New Hampshire were the 2017 recipients.