Sports

The Results Are In: 2012 Chilly Chili Run is One For The Record Books [Photos]

The annual New Year's Day race draws a historic number of participants, including North Branford and Northford runners and walkers.

Hundreds of runners and walkers of all ages, including four from North Branford and three from Northford, gathered this morning at the  for the annual New Year's Day Chilly Chili race and fitness walk.

Mild temperatures and bright skies were welcome news to an historic number of participants. The previous record of 555 participants was easily broke by the 687 runners/walkers who registered for the Jan. 1 race.

As walkers and runners arrived, local Chilly Chili legend  chatted it up while volunteers helped with last-minute registrations. Doc reportedly fell during the race after crossing Orange Center Road near Porter Lane and .

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His daughter later told Patch that Doc spent the night at the hospital as a precaution and he needs new glasses — his broke in the fall, causing a cut that required stitches. 

Matt Klein, 17, of Trumbull, was the winner, crossing the finish line with a time of 16:05. Kate Blake, 34, of Dedham, Massachusetts, was the first female finisher with a time of 20:29, good for 36th place overall.

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Jason Conforte, a 16-year-old and star, took 14th place overall with a time of 19:11.  

Other competitors in the 5K included Rul Vitorino, 25 of Northford, who took 226th (26:55); Christopher Green, 42, of North Branford, who finished in 338th (30:15); and Frank Murphy, 59, of Northford, who was 355th (30:53).

North Branford's Paula Hiltz, 44, seven-year-old Julie Green and six-year-old Shannon Green participated in the two-mile fitness walk.

Full results can be found on the Hi-TEK Racing website. 

jlgdesigns, once again offers hundreds of race photos for the runners to download free of charge, visit his site and see if you can find a picture of yourself. — Thanks for doing this, the athletes appreciate your generosity.

Screen Shots of the Winners names, bib numbers, times and finishing status are in with the photographs. If you cannot see all of the photos, download Google Chrome as a browser and you will not have that problem. 


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