Harding wins 3.8-mile race, Fredericks takes women's division

The Westport Parks and Recreation department sponsored the third race of the 2010 Road Runners season with a 3.8-mile run which started and finished at Longshore Club Park last Saturday. Tom Harding of Westport won his first race of the season as he led 148 runners with a time of 20:51 but he didn't break Dave Peterson's course record (19:06), which was set in 1981. Prior to the start of the race, a moment of silence was observed to honor the memory of Irving Black, who passed away last week after a heroic struggle with cancer. Black was a long time high school track and field coach and official in Connecticut. He was also the President of Northeast Sports Timing.

Westporter Nadeem Ahmad (21:19) of Westport and Tom Parise (21:59) of Suffield placed second and third. Norwalk's Amy Fredericks (23:33) won the women's division and placed eighth overall. Liz Herbert (23:58) of Darien and Westport's Catherine Galin (26:05) were second and third in the women's division, 10th and 20th overall. Other Westport-Weston residents who finished in the top ten were David Allen (23:11), sixth; Paul Greenberg (23:18), seventh; and Roger Baxley (23:39), ninth.

The next scheduled Road Runners race will be held tomorrow at 8 a.m. with a 4.1-mile run starting at the Compo Beach Entrance Road main gate.

All interested persons are invited to participate in this popular summer program. Applications for and information about the Road Runners Program are available at the Recreation Offices at Longshore Club Park, at the start of each Saturday's race, or at the Program's Web site, westportroadrunners.org. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. at the wood Pavilion located next to the volleyball courts.

The fee for the program is $30 for Westport residents and $50 for non-residents.

In addition, participants have the option of paying a weekly fee of $5 (resident) or $8 (non-resident) per race fee instead of the program fee. All participants may park in the Compo Beach Parking Lot.

Complete results of Saturday's 3.8 mile race are attached or may be found at westportroadrunners.org.