The 2015 edition of the Hop River 5K and 10K took place Aug 8th on a beautiful summer day.
Both races took place on the Hop River Rail Trail in the small New England town of Andover,
CT.
The races had staggered starts with the 10K starting first. The runners headed east on the trail,
going over bridges and through a culvert under route 6 before turning around in Columbia and
heading back, finishing at the Andover Senior Center.
Times were fast on this flat and shady course. Coming in first place was Bacon Academy runner
Jeffrey Noonan in a time of 36:17, followed by Michael Keenan of South Glastonbury in 36:51
and Nick Ferron from Storrs in 38:10. The top female finisher was Aimee Patel from Hamden in
42:15, followed by Kelly Labanara from Chaplin in 43:16 and Reagin Curran from New Haven in
44:05.
The 5K started five minutes later, also traveling east on the trail. Just past the one mile mark,
runners left the trail, circled around the Benjamin Franklin Plumbing property and under an old
railroad tressle before re-entering the trail and on to the finishline. The top three finishers were
Roberto Plutto in 17:07, Kevin Verge in 18:28, and Brian Murray in 18:58. On the women’s side
it was Suzanne Poidrier in 21:40, Marianella Chalfant in 23:41 and Mary Schollin 24:10. Area
running legend Irene Burke also completed the 5K at the age of 82.
This year, Yankee Restoration & Remodeling was the presenting sponsor. DuBois Automotive
and Benjamin Franklin Plumbing also sponsored. A total of $600 was donated to the Andover
Food Pantry as well as a car load of food. Organizers are already planning for the 2016 race,
which will be held on Aug. 13th.
Complete results can be found here.
For pictures check out our Flickr Page.
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