Westfield’s Andrew Messer finishes the Run Westfield 5K run with a time of 15:20 to claim the 16th spot in his age class. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – The inaugural Run Westfield’s Flat Fast 5k road race appears to have legs.
The race included a purse of some $30,000, featured more than 2,000 runners, and brought a good, old fashioned block party to the Whip City Saturday promising many more years to come.
Simon Ndirangu, 27, of Nyack (N.Y.), won the race in 13:16. Ndirangu edged out Alistair Cragg (Providence, R.I.) and Amos Sang (Springfield, Mass.), who claimed second (13:24) and third (13:44).
Kimberly Smith, 31, of Providence (R.I.), was the first female to cross the finish line (14:48).
A trio of locals managed to crack the top 25.
Westfield’s John Messer, Jason Ayr, and Andrew Messer finished in 16th (14:43), 21st (15:13), and 23rd (15:20), respectively.
“The race was beyond what I ever thought,” Run Westfield race organizer Mike Tierney said. “The field was incredible. It was just a great experience.”
“To pull this off,” he added, “and have over 2,000 runners in our first year was a wonderful thing.”
Money from the walk went to support the Jose Torres Memorial Fund. Torres was a Westfield police officer who died in a construction accident while on duty.
