The Frosty Runner Road Race, an annual long-distance run at Old Colony, matched its billing in its 12th year.
More than 280 participants came to the high school on Saturday, January 25 to complete the 10.5-mile or 5-kilometer circuit through a mid-20-degree chill. “Definitely lived up to the name of the frosty runner,” Robert Norcott, the 10.5-mile men’s winner, said. “Think we’re all a little bit cold, little bit fatigued, but what a great day in January to get a good race in.”
Norcott, 43, finished in 1:03:45. It was his first time running the Frosty Runner Road Race. “I just love to compete,” he said. “I love running with somebody that’s either chasing me or I’m chasing them.”
With a cold wind across the route’s hills and flat surfaces, Norcott, of Berkley, said the run was “very challenging.” It was also his first time running a race that was specifically 10.5 miles long. “That .5 you really feel at the end,” Norcott said. “It really tests your kick.”
Linda Spooner, 50, finished the 10.5-mile race first among women, in 1:10:49. She is a multi-time winner of the yearly winter run through the streets of Rochester. “It’s really everything somebody wants in a race,” Spooner, of Sturbridge, said. “I love it.”
The event also includes a 5-kilometer route. New Bedford resident Corey Hebert, a multi-time winner, placed first among men with a time of 17:32. The cold made the run more difficult than last year, Hebert, 31, said. It makes breathing harder, and muscles have to be warm to run efficiently. “Once you’re in the race, it’s not too bad, but on a cold, cold day like this, it can get to you a little bit,” he said.
Westport resident Mary Cass, a previous winner, placed first for women with a 20:29 time. “It takes a hardcore runner to run on a day like today,” Cass, 63, said.
Bethany Botelho first organized the Frosty Runner Road Race at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School in 2012. “It was really just kind of a local race, and it’s wild to see how much it’s branched out,” Botelho, a vocational director at the school, said.
The event primarily serves as a fundraiser for Old Colony’s cross-country team. Old Colony staff and faculty volunteer for the event, according to Botelho. “I like that it supports the school here, and that’s one reason why I do it,” Cass said.
Winner of the men’s 5K section, Hebert, said he loves the run because it’s a local road race that supports a local school.
Winner of the women’s 10.5, Spooner, said the event is a “great cause” that, with little racing happening in the winter, “comes at such a good time.”
“It’s everything you want, and I’ll try to do it every single year,” she said. “It’s just so great.”
By Erez Ben-Akiva