Organizers prep for Guilford race

If you’re looking for a race that has a little bit of everything, then the Race to End Domestic Violence 12K and 5K just might be the race for you.

The 11th annual event, which has become a tradition the first weekend of October in Guilford, will be held Saturday, Oct. 6, at 9 a.m. at Piscataquis Community Middle School.

The race, which members of the Foxcroft Academy football and cross country teams traditionally run, benefits Womancare, a community-based organization based in Dover-Foxcroft which works to end domestic violence.

More than $11,000 was raised last year, which speaks volumes about the racing community’s support for the cause.

“It’s really become a great community event, it’s just a great celebration of everybody’s effort,” said Womancare resource development coordinator Cynthia Freeman Cyr, who is organizing the race this year.

In addition to a fun, challenging course, which includes woods trails and crosses over Lowe’s Covered Bridge at the halfway point, the event features a delicious pancake breakfast, awards and a chance to support a wonderful cause.

“The most important thing to Womancare is that we have a big turnout not only for fundraising, but to make a statement about domestic violence and take a stand against it,” she said.

The 12K (7.6 miles) is the 10th race in the Sub 5 Track Club’s race series. Club member Chris Almy of Charleston, who Freeman Cyr said founded the event, encourages local runners to run the race each year.

“We’re really lucky to have him in our area,” Freeman Cyr said. “Chris has been just a mainstay, he has really just made that connection for us with Sub 5 and throughout the state.”

A year ago, the race attracted local runners such as Erik McCarthy, Ryan King, Chris Jones, Lara Rand, Kathleen Bell, Jim Newett and Judd Esty-Kendall.

The pancake breakfast will be held from 8-11 a.m. in the school cafeteria, and the cost is $5 per person or $12 per family.

Registration on race day starts at 8 in the school lobby. The fee is $15. The first 75 registrants will receive a T-shirt.

If you don’t plan on running, Womancare could certainly use volunteers. Anyone interested can contact them at 564-8165 during normal business hours, or you can email Freeman Cyr at cindy@wmncare.org.

And the one lucky guy is….

Hundreds of New England’s finest female runners will take to the roads of York on Sept. 23rd for the first annual Maine Coast Half-Marathon, where they’ll be joined by “one lucky guy.”

That lucky guy is Eric Vermilya of New Haven, Conn., who was chosen to be in the all-female field via a lottery in which he was selected from hundreds of runners.

The inaugural event is sponsored by the York Parks and Recreation Department, and race time is 9 a.m. Walkers start at 8:30.

It’s not too late to sign up. Online registration closes Sept. 21 at 7 a.m., and the fee is $40. Runners can register by logging onto www.coolrunning.com or www.mainetrackclub.com.

The polls are in

One week of high school cross country racing is in the books, and some local KVAC and PVC teams had good first meets, and earned solid positions in the first Maine Track and Cross Country Association coaches poll of the fall.

Ellsworth Invitational boys champ Caribou captured the eighth spot in the boys’ poll, in which KVAC power Lewiston took the top spot. Brewer, who won a five-team meet at Bangor in its KVAC debut, cracked the 10th position.

Brewer’s girls won handily in the same meet, and are ranked fifth in the poll. The Witches are one of only three Eastern Maine teams to crack the top 10 along with Brunswick (2nd) and Mount Ararat of Topsham (9th).

The Witches face the Dragons in a six-team meet Friday at Lawrence in Fairfield.

Ryan McLaughlin can be reached at 1-800-310-8600 or bdnsports@bangordailynews.net.