Record number participate in Main Street Mile

As some 700 people gathered in downtown Westminster to run in the Main Street Mile Wednesday, 6-year-old Nicholas Boyle enjoyed the rush of being in a crowd.

"It was like being in a stampede of people," Boyle of Finksburg said. "It got me excited."

Boyle, along with 8-year-old brother Casey and mother Audrey, decided to run together in the race.

Sticking together, however, wasn't easy, Audrey Boyle said.

"I really slowed them down," she laughed. "I don't run at all."

Sponsored by the Westminster Road Runners Club, the Main Street Mile offers a chance for serious runners and families to run a downhill, one-mile course.

For 24 years, organizers have closed portions of Main Street for the runners, then serve them ice cream once it's over.

Wednesday's run had the largest attendance in the event's history, said Beth Weisenborn of the Westminster Road Runners Club.

Although Weisenborn attributes the turnout to warm weather, she said this year the club also asked schools to encourage kids to run in the event.

In fact, the club said it would donate $25 to the school that sends the most number of students to the race, Weisenborn said.

"It's a great family event, and it's a distance most younger kids can complete," Weisenborn said.

Abigail Shuey's gym teacher at Sandymount Elementary School encouraged her to participate in the event, she said.

"We've been practicing running at school," the 7-year-old Finksburg resident said. "But running one mile got me tired."

Shuey finished the race in more than 12 minutes with her dad walking with her. She sat after the race and talked about how much she wanted to eat ice cream.

No school encouraged Greg Hodgkinson of Columbia and his 13-year-old son Neil, 11-year-old daughter Amanda and niece Sarah Mero, 19, to run in the race.

Instead, they signed up for the Main Street mile to compete against each other, trying to break their personal bests in a one-mile run.

All of them, in fact, finished the race in just more than 6 minutes.

"I'm the slowpoke in the group," Greg Hodgkinson said. "I like competing with them, though, and trying to keep up."

Reach staff writer Marisa Navarro at 410-857-7876 or mnavarro@lcniofmd.com.