Pazyra deserves a lot of the credit

TOWN CRIER- WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2008

Road race brings out hundreds of runners

By MIKE GIANNATTASIO
Sports Correspondent

The number one person who deserves credit for setting up the Wilmington Half Marathon/5K road race is the Head Director Tom Pazyra. Pazyra started the event four years ago in honor of Wilmingtons’ 275th Birthday and the races have continued as an annual tradition ever since.

“For the birthday year, a special 275th committee was formed with the goal of running events throughout the entire year,” said Pazyra. “As a runner, I thought it would be a great idea to have a race that could be run throughout the town of Wilmington. The half marathon accomplished this. The first year was such a great success that we decided to continue.”

Pazyra thought that the road races were terrific this year, as many people showed up and had a great time.

“It was a wonderful event,” said Payzra. “I was very concerned with the weather,
never expecting over 350 people to show up, including 170 half marathoners. I think the weather had an impact on the number of walkers we had. The runners will run in anything and actually the rain is preferred by some. I was pleasantly surprised and I want to thank everyone who participated being runners, walkers, and volunteers on such a rainy day.”

This year’s event featured the new addition of the 5K road race, and Payzra said it was a huge success.

“The idea came from (assistant directors) Laura Ahern and Denise Gentile, and we drew more people because of it“ said Payzra. “It appeals to more people since the half marathon can be too much for some. Plus, the 5K is open to walkers which expands our range.”

Approximately 170 participants ran in the half marathon on Sunday and the remainder of the 315 participants were a combination of 5K runners and walkers.

One of these people was Jim Quadros of Lowell, who finished first in the 5K road race with a time of 17:20.6.

“I think it was a very well run event,” said Quadros, who ran in the event because he thought it was a great cause. “I think the course was very nice.”

Payzra added that the race committee has already started planning for next year’s event in hopes of making it another successful day.

“The planning is ongoing throughout the year, but we start the moment the last race ends,” said Payzra. “We always come up with ideas to improve on race day, so we start as soon as it is over.”

There are several people who deserve appreciation for setting up Sunday’s road race. The Town Crier will post a list of the volunteers and sponsors who made the event a success in next week’s newspaper.