A group of dedicated Newtown residents walked the Boston Marathon® route on Sunday, September 16, with some 8,000 other volunteers hoping to raise more than $6 million for the Jimmy Fund.

The Boston Marathon® Jimmy Fund Walk gives participants the opportunity to follow the course of the 26.2-mile Boston Marathon in honor or memory of friends, family, co-workers, and patients facing all forms of cancer. It is the only event other than the Boston Marathon itself that is sanctioned by the Boston Athletic Association to use the historic route. Walkers choose from one of four route options designed for everyone from the marathon enthusiast to the youngest walker.

Beth Hegarty, Susan White, Deb Hoffman, Cori McNerney, Chris Lincoln, Wendy Knothe and Aggie Burns spent a little more than eight hours out on the streets before arriving at Copley Square and brought in more than $8,000 for the Fund.

“I am actually feeling terrific after walking 26.2 miles on Sunday,” wrote Sue White in an email note to friends and supporters. “The weather was awesome and we had the wind at our backs and finished in just eight hours – and this included stopping for lunch, coffee and a few bathroom breaks. I walked with six friends and together we raised about $7,000 thanks to many of you. We had matching neon green hats and we had written the names of people we were walking in honor or memory of their battles with cancer. We agreed that there were far too many names amongst our group alone. The good news was that many were cancer survivors!”

In the past 18 years, the Jimmy Fund Walk has contributed more than $45 million to support cancer research and care at Dana-Farber.

“The last mile of the walk is closed to all downtown Boston traffic as the parents and their children who are dealing with cancer join in the walk as a thank you to the marathoners,” Ms White wrote. “It is an incredible experience to see the number of young children fighting cancer. They are smiling and laughing and fighting for their lives and they all have these little t-shirts that say Thank You and you just want to kiss their little bald heads and cry. You are immediately humbled and thankful for your health and your children’s health.

“I lost it at the finish line,” she added, “as I was so pleased for our accomplishment but then I walked into a young man in a wheel chair who handed me my medal and said ‘Thank you’ and ‘Nice job!’ That moment cannot be put into words.”

People can still donate by logging on to Jimmyfund.org.

 

Rochester Marathon

The Newtown Bee was spotted in Rochester, New York, on Sunday, September 16.

It was gripped in the hand of Marsha “The Mayor” Moskowitz of Newtown who, along with three friends, participated in the third annual Rochester Marathon to benefit the Arthritis Foundation.

Moskowitz (owner/operator of Bus 30 in Newtown) took to the streets with Joe Petitti (it was his 31st marathon), Elsa Kay (former owner of the Little Llama Farm in Sandy Hook before relocating to North Carolina last year) and Karen Finlayson (former owner of Karen’s Fitness Studio before relocating to Fairport, New York last year).

Nearly 600 runners finished the race. Petitti was 386th overall at 4:21.51, Finlayson was 429th overall at 4:31.30 and Kay and Moskowitz were 545th and 546th overall, coming in together at 5:22.59.

King Of The Hill

More than 220 runners took to a USATF certified scenic course through Berkshire Corporate Park on Thursday, September 20, for the annual King of the Hill 5K road race.

There were nearly 20 local finishers of the 311 that crossed the line last week, led by Bruce Goulart, who came in 30th overall at 21:01. Geoff Nelson of New Fairfield was the overall winner at 15:57 and he was followed by Matt Cullen of Danbury at 16:43.

Cullen was the overall winner earlier this month at the second annual Newtown Road Race to benefit Newtown Youth & Family Services.

The results –

1. Geoff Nelson (New Fairfield) 15:57; 2. Matt Cullen (Danbury) 16:43; 3. Philip Richey (Danbury) 17:02; 4. Frank Tiroletto (Orange) 17:37; 5. Chris Deming (Danbury) 18:05; 6. Joe Cistulli (Sandy Hook) 18:29; 7. David Oelberg (Newtown 18:37; 8. Ken Devries (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) 18:41; 9. Andrew Schlemmer (Danbury) 19:01; 10. David Ort (Oxford) 19:12;

Local finishers –

30. Bruce Goulart 21:01; 38. Mike Beaudry 21:33; 40. Daniel Whitney 21:34; 55. Hugh Fullman 22:09; 58. Melissa Dunleavy 22:15; 65. Bill Begg 22:30; 73. Steve Meeker 22:45; 82. Ralph McIntosh 22:57; 96. Erin Begg 23:28; 104. John Maley 23:52; 107. Keith Cheh 24:07; 114. Leah Begg 24:46; 137. Tim Echeverria 25:51; 169. Karen Macknight 26:53; 174. Tracy Van Buskirk 27:16; 245. Dorothy Pepin-Perrotti 32:12; 247. Molly Begg 32:24; 275. Jose Mendez 36:24; 289. Tara Foster 39:57.