The weather and the surroundings were nothing short of magnificent, and Derry’s Caryn Pepin got plenty done in the 2014 Mack’s Apples Run for the Apples 5K Cross-Country Race in Londonderry Sunday, Aug. 24.
The 23-year-old Greater Derry Track Club (GDTC) member – whose club co-sponsors and directs the race each August – was the first Derry resident to finish the race, the second female, and the first runner from the women’s 17-39-year-old division to sprint across the finish line.
The event was won by Woburn, Mass., resident Mike Dimauro in 17 minutes and 5 seconds, with Londonderry teen Kalin Gregoire snagging her third consecutive female title in placing seventh overall in 20:15.
Pepin finished six spots behind Gregoire – in 13th place overall – in 21:46, nearly in lock-step with fellow Derry resident and current GDTC president Jim Peters. Peters won his 50-59-year-old age division with his time of 21:46.
Other top finishers from Derry included Sharon Dirusso (second among the 40-49 women), Kathleen Butterfield (third in that division), Deb Kennedy (third in the women’s 50-59 class), and Ian Derego (second among the 60-99 males).
The number of finishers of the 2014 race – which sends runners racing through Mack’s picturesque apple orchards – was down to a modest 60 on the warm and sunny day. But the competition was still quite strong, and there were competitors from throughout the local area as well as the Bay State, New York, and Pennsylvania.
