LYNN — There aren’t many local community sporting events that can say they’ve been around for half a century, but there are two such events in Lynn. One, the Lynn Woods Summer Cross Country Series, has been running in its 50th season since May and will finish up in September. The other — the Lynn Woods 10-Mile Relay — took place Wednesday evening.
It’s actually the 49th running of the Lynn Woods 10-Mile Relay according to event co-organizer Bill Mullen, as the event was skipped back in 1970. But nevertheless, the relay is a staple in not only the Lynn community, but in the entire Massachusetts running community. There were 87 teams who signed up for this year’s event, including teams from running clubs such as Greater Boston Track Club, Wicked Running Club (Salem), North Shore Striders (Beverly), Mystic Runners (MetroWest) and numerous others from all over Massachusetts.
“It’s very gratifying to see so many teams show up for an event like this,” said Mullen. “It can get a little crazy with this many people and this many moving parts, but every year we get it done and it goes off smoothly. Everyone just comes to have a great time.”
“To have 87 teams come out from all over the state is pretty impressive,” added co-organizer Joe Abelon. “A lot of these teams come back year after year because they have so much fun every time, and that’s great to see.”
One thing the organizers were worried about coming into the day was the threat of rain and thunderstorms, which pounded much of Northern Massachusetts early in the day. But, as the crew was setting up the tables in the hour before the event started, the skies cleared for a great evening of running.
“We were getting nervous there for a little while, especially when we heard there was a funnel cloud spotted up near Groveland earlier in the afternoon,” said Mullen. “It was raining on us pretty hard when we were setting things up, but eventually it cleared up really nicely.”
The relay was set up in classic style, with groups of runners taking off in stages and each running 2.5-mile portions of the 10-mile race. But the race has also evolved over the years, including slightly changing the route of the race to make room for the bigger crowds over the years.
“We actually had to adjust the route of the race after several years because we were getting pretty big and we needed to open up more parking in the lot,” Abelon said. “We ended up adjusting it and making up for the lost distance by pushing the trail out a little further, and it has worked out really well.”
There were prizes given out in 13 divisions ranging in age and ability from young children to seniors. Winners in each division were given hand-made wooden plaques and commemorative hooded sweatshirts as prizes.