Monday May 28, 2012

LENOX -- Andrew Peters of Boston headed the field in Sunday's Memorial Day Marathon, which began and ended at Tanglewood.

Peters, 24, covered the course in 3:05:38.

The first Berkshire finisher was Pittsfield's Douglas McAvoy, 28, who covered the course in 3:29:28.

The marathon was one of four races held on Sunday. There was also a half-marathon, a 5K and a 10K. On Saturday, the organizers also scheduled a 15K Trail Race and a Kids Run sponsored by Berkshire Bank.

"We wanted to make it more of a weekend event and have always thought a trail race would be fantastic in the Berkshires," said Matt Linick, one of the event organizers.

A portion of the proceeds for the event went to benefit the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, a national fund that supports the families of soldiers wounded in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. To date, the fund has raised about $120 million for those families.

Locally, as of last year, the local races have raised more than $30,000 for the fund, said Linick. That total does not include money raised this year.

A total of 976 athletes participated in the weekend event, according to organizers. This included 139 runners in the marathon, 299 in the half-marathon, 246 in the five kilometer run, 185 in the 10 kilometer run and 107 in the Trail Run.

This is a slight uptick from last year's races, when 946 ran in various weekend races.

Kris Kolewe, 22, of Chatham, N.Y., won the 5K run

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in 19:16. The first Berkshire finisher was Albert Najimy of Pittsfield, 44, who was third in 20:59. Laura Najimy of Pittsfield (fifth, 21:12) was the first woman to finish the 5K.

The winner of the 10K run was Steve Morell, 48, of Houston, Texas in 40:11. The top Berkshire finisher was Dale Armstrong, 37, of Lenox, who was eighth in 44:46.

Kevin Collins, 41, of Liverpool, N.Y., won the half-marathon in 1:11:24. Robert Cuthbert, 23, of Pittsfield was the top county finisher in 1:27:25, good for fourth place.

On Saturday, Dave Sorenson, 25, of New York City won the Trail Run in 1:08:49. The top local finisher was 13-year-old Phillippe Mortellitti of Lenox, who was 12th in 1:27:35.

The top local female finisher in the marathon was Sheffield's Allison Lassoe, 49.

Other local marathon finishers included Mark Seltzer, 33, Stockbridge, 50th in 4:27:31; Frank Sowensky, 42, of Pittsfield, 56th in 4:30:35; Benjamin Griffin, 25, of Pittsfield, 107th in 5:28:09; Anthony Andrews, 51, of Pittsfield, 118th in 5:43:14 and Emilie Jarrett, 47, of Richmond, 125th in 6:03:15.

To reach Derek Gentile:
dgentile@berkshireeagle.com,
(413) 496-6251.
On Twitter: @derekgentile.