This past Saturday marked the 51st running of the John & Jessie Kelley 11.6 mile run in New London, CT. With a 9:00 am start time, it took race winner Everett Hackett of West Hartford, CT only 59:36 to cross the finish line, a terrific time on the course that begins and ends at Ocean Beach Park. The winner on the female side was Krisztina Dearborn, who ran an impressive 1:10:25. Dearborn hails from New Britain, CT. Michael Leduc of New London, CT, who won the previous four contests, finished fourth overall with a time of 1:03:50. Laura Brustolon, another four-time champion out of Mystic, CT, finished 17th overall, and third among women, with a time of 1:11:56. In total, there were 455 runners competing on a cool, cloudy morning at the beach. For a complete listing of results from this year’s race, please visit http://www.coolrunning.com/results/13/ct/Aug3_JohnJe_set1.shtml .
This is the second John and Jessie Kelley race to be run without either of its founders. Jessie Kelley passed away in June of 2003, and her husband John passed away in August of 2011, shortly after the race bearing his and his wife’s name. John Kelley won the Boston Marathon in 1957, and was a CT racing legend. This New London race continues to be ran in his and his wife’s honor, free of charge to participating runners, all of whom are rewarded following the race with delicious clam chowder, water, and other amenities. In addition, all runners are allowed to enjoy the beach for the day free of charge. It is a generous act of kindness by those that put on the race, particularly the timing company SNERRO LLC, which was founded in support of the Kelley Race. You can visit www.snerro.com for more information on them. For an interesting article on the life of John and Jessie Kelley, visit http://www.theday.com/article/20110822/NWS01/308229967/1070/FRONTPAGE .
