All of the fun and festivities of the final night of the 43rd season of Greater Derry Track Club fun runs took place at the Londonderry High School track on the steamy evening of Monday, Aug. 6. And youthful runners from Londonderry and Derry in particular wound up being able to celebrate impressive top-three finishes for the campaign and the swag which went with them.
Champions in the various age divisions ended up collecting new backpacks to use during the upcoming 2018-19 school year, and other top placers got the chance to show off handsome ribbons which they received.
“Those were the final, final results,” said co-series director Colleen Falardeau. “We issue the prizes the kids won before the races begin on that final night.”
A huge, sky-scraping point of pride for everyone involved in the 2018 series – which had some 520 children participate – was the stellar total of 1,658 pounds of non-perishable food which was collected as registration fees from the participants and then split between the food pantries at the St. Jude Parish in Londonderry and St. Thomas Aquinas in Derry.
Locals who won their respective age group titles included Gemma Murray of Londonderry in the 9-year-old girls’ class, Eve Klok and Jonah Roberts of Derry in the 10-year-old divisions, Linsey Gregoire of Londonderry in the 11-year-old girls’ class, and Amelia Hernandez of Derry in the 13-year-old girls’ division.
Locals who snared second places included Josiah Del Signore of Londonderry in the boys’ 9 category; Sara Pearson and Elijah Roberts of Derry in the 10-year-old groupings; Lilliana Cawthorn of Londonderry and Jacob Hall from Derry in the 11-year-old classes; Michaela Horan of Londonderry in the 12-year-old girls’ class, and Nathan Pope from Londonderry wound up taking second in the 13-year-old boys’ class.
Overall third place finishers from the local towns included girl nines Addison Doyle of Londonderry and Camryn White from Derry (tied), Leah Griffin and Jaya Kelly of Londonderry in a tie among the girl 10’s (tied), Bryson Hooke of Derry among the boy 11’s, and Bailey Yager of Derry in the 12-year-old boys’ class.
The Greater Derry Track Club and its 2018 fun run series received vital sponsorship help from The Granite State Health and Fitness Foundation, The Derry Medical Center, Parkland Medical Center, Ford of Londonderry, Nutfield Eye Associates, Green Sprouts, and The Derry Recreation Department.