The Willow Street AC Cleans Up at the 40th Annual Bridge of Flowers Road Race

by Brad Lewis

8/11/2018, Shelburne Falls, MA

This year, the BOF race was reduced from a 10k to an 8k version. In addition, prize money was added in a couple areas and Willow Street was able to take home some prizes. The ARE Racing team and Adirondack Athletic Club also took home a couple team awards as well!

The course is considered particularly hard with the third mile practically running up a mountain. I remember personally walking this portion in 2010. It is also a good couple hours to get there from the Albany area. Those who do make the trek get a great race with great competition. This year BOF was a Northeast event this year with 3 different USATF regions competing against each other for the championship cup. These regions included Adirondack, CT and New England USATF associations.

The Victorious Stockmans

Vince Juliano compiled some individual results from local runners in this Facebook post:

“Our (ADK association) athletes did remarkably well, with the following runners winning their respective age-groups;

80+ Anny and Wade Stockman

70-79 F: Susan Wong - 48:08

65-69 F: Martha Degrazia 42:38

60-64M: Tom Dalton-33:16

55-59M: Derrick Staley- 32:47

55-59F: Colleen Brackett- 37:45

50-54F: Lori Kingsley - 35:41

In addition, Karen Bertasso a former two time BOF champion, placed a fine 4th in the open division clocking 30:32 for an impressive 6:09 pace. Diane Knobloch also ran a terrific race to place 11th female overall averaging 6:45 per mile pace. Other ADK association runners who placed second in their respective age-groups were Karen Provencher 63, Ryan Mitchell 52, and Beth Irwin.

14. (Bob Irwin's daughter!)

Congratulations to all who made the trip to one of the finest New England classic races, now entering its 5th decade. This race is the ultimate challenge as most flatlanders underestimate the difficulty of this course ... until they run it! Then it kind of sticks in your memory for a long time!

The team awards were as follows:

USATF FEMALE OPEN CLUB TEAM RESULTS