Newton runner wins Chilmark Road Race

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David Melly of Newton was first to the tape, more than a minute ahead of the field in the Chilmark Road Race. — Photo by Ralph Stewart

Eighteen-year-old David Melly of Newton won the annual Chilmark Road Race leading 1,469 others who completed the 5K course to the finish line.

David’s winning time of 16:21 was an impressive one minute and six seconds better than Jake Quagliaroli, 33, of Fishers, Indiana, who was second, three seconds ahead of Mathew Wikstrom, 32, a New Yorker.

The rest of the top ten were: (4) Keegan Skidmore, 28, Brighton; 17:33 (5) Peter Knight, 45. Bloomfield, Conn., 17:37; (6) Matthew Sohn, 37, Pacific Palisades, 17:45; (7) Elijah Fossas, 15, Dudley, 18:02 ; (8) Cooper Chapman, 16, Chilmark, 18:08; (9) Michael Schroeder, 16, West Tisbury, 18:08; (10) Jeremy Alley-Tarter, 15, Oak Bluffs, 18:09.

The first women finishers were (1) Marian Bihrle, 27, Boston, 18:41. She was 16th overall, and Erin Merritt, 27, New York, N.Y., 18:55. She was 19th.

By our count, 331 of the runners registered as Vineyarders: 18 from Aquinnah, 22 from Oak Bluffs, 40 from West Tisbury, 49 from Edgartown, 55 from Vineyard Haven and a whopping 147 from Chilmark.

Winners in the several age categories were 1-8: Joel Megan of Chatham and Evan Lee of Coral Gables, Fla, 9-11: Casey O’Brien of Aquinnah and George Goodhart of London; 12-16: Catie Skinner of Philadelphia and Elijah Fossas of Dudley; 17-29: Marian Bihrle of Boston and David Melly of Newton; 30-39 Sarah Harris of Bennington, Vt. And Jake Quagliaroli of Fishers, Indiana; 40-49: Nuenna Lynch of NY and Peter Knight of Bloomfield, Conn.; 50-59: Joan Miller of Chestnut Hill and Al Woods of Arlington; 60-69: Susan Mitchell-Hardt of Concord and Walt Looney of Edgartown; 70-79: Sally Solmssen of Chilmark and Jerry Canff of Chilmark; 80-89: Susan Wilson of Princeton, N.J. and Jessie Awenda of Chilmark.