Lynnfield July 11

10
WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 JULY 12, 2018
L eft, S haw n W allace, p ushing his son Brennen, w as the ove rall w inner. K elly C arter of W indham , N .H ., w as the w om en’ s w inner.
PHOTOS | SPENSER HASAK
Waltham’s Wallace strolls to win in 5K
By A nne Marie Tobin
LY NNF I ELD — I t was only
a matter of time before someone
finally broke through and did
something that had never been
done before in the Lynnfield
Athletic Association F ourth of
July 5K road race.
That “something’” was winning
the race while pushing a
baby stroller. That “someone”
who did it was Waltham’s
Shawn Wallace, who accomplished
the feat Wednesday at
the 51st annual event, finishing
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PHOTO | ANNE MARIE TOBIN
The C rosbie fam ily of L ynnfield w as on hand to
cheer dad, Sam , on. F rom left are H annah, Sarah,
H ailey and “F enw ay” t he fam ily dog.
in 16: 44 all the while pushing
his 13-month-old son Brennen
in a 25-plus-pound stroller.
He finished 14 seconds ahead
of runner-up D an O’F lynn of
I pswich.
“I t was hot, but thankfully a
lot of the course is in the shade,”
said Wallace, whose older
brother is Lynnfield High cross
country and track coach Bill
Wallace ( who finished second
in the men’s age 40-49 division
and 23rd overall in 21: 06) .
“He ( O’F lynn) is a good
runner, but I caught him with
about a half mile to go,” Shawn
Wallace said. “I grew up running
this race, but it’s still tough
to try to train for a race like this
with a stroller. Running with
my son definitely propelled me
along the way.”
This isn’t the first time
Wallace has run the race in
tandem. I n 2014, he bolted
down the home stretch and
came within three seconds of
overtaking winner Tom O’Shea.
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PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
Patrolm an Patrick C urran leads the runners at the
start of last W ednesday’ s race.
PHOTO | SPENSER HASAK
Runners set off on Sum m er Street for the 51s t
A nnual L ynnfield A thletic A ssociation 4t h of Ju ly
road race.
That time, however, involved
a little more effort as he was
pushing his 5 1/ 2-year-old son,
Owen.
“I was pushing a lot more
weight then,” he said. “The
hardest part of it is you can’t
use your arms so it’s definitely
harder.”
Lynnfield’s top finisher was
13-year-old Nathan Lopez , who
took advantage of his baseball
team’s Little League D istrict 16
holiday break to compete. He
won the male 11-14 division
and placed fourth overall in
17: 52.
Lynnfield’s top female performer
was Amy Lamarche,
who won the female 50-59 division
and placed 50th overall
in 23: 07.
Other Lynnfield age group
winners were: Luke Vaccaro,
men’s 1-10 ( 30: 07) ; K ellie
Burke, female 30-39 ( 23: 35) ;
John Langton, male 50-59
( 21: 27) ; and Chuck Moccia,
male 60-69 ( 24: 32) .
Lynnfield School Committee
member Richard Sjoberg was
one of several participants to
compete in the new virtual race.
“I t’s a great way to support
the cause and I even posted
several pictures on F acebook,”
Sjoberg said smiling. “I t’s been
a great day all around.”
Sjoberg’s wife, Maria, competed
in the actual race.
“I started training three days
ago,” she laughed. “But I finished,
so I ’m happy about that.”
Race organiz er Andrea
Braconnier said this was one of
the best turnouts she has seen.
“We had 361 participants and
I think that could be the most
runners we have ever had,”
she said. “I t was hot, but we
had plenty of hoses and water
stations throughout the course,
so we didn’t really have any
problems.”
Proceeds from this year event
will benefit the new Lynnfield
Middle School track facility
currently under construction.