Roughly 1,400 runners came out for the 46th annual Chilmark Road Race on Saturday.
Eighteen-year-old Charlie Ortmans, from Arlington, Va., took home first place this year with a time of 15:14.50 for the 5k race. It’s the second time that Ortmans has taken home the lobster from Larsen’s Fish Market; Ortmans won last year as well.
In the women’s heat, 39-year-old Mariah Johnson from Weston took first, with a time of 17:42.67. She placed 10th overall.
The highest ranking runner registered from the Vineyard was 18-year-old Jack Lionette from Chilmark, who finished in fourth overall with a time of 16:29.74.
“It went really well,” said race founder Hugh Weisman of Saturday’s event. He said the weather was good for August: a little humid, but not too hot.
The Chilmark Road Race, Weisman said, started as a grassroots race, and has grown to become one of the Island’s big events over the summer, with generations of families running year after year. Ever since it began some five decades ago, race organizers have given the top winners a lobster from Larsen’s.
Weisman thanked the many volunteers from the Chilmark Community Center that make the race possible year after year, as well as representatives of the Chilmark Store, the town’s fire department, EMTs, and the town.
“It’s a labor of love for a lot of people,” he said.
Full results of the race are available online at bit.ly/RSU_CholmarkRoadResults, which includes a video feed of each runner’s finish.
