For years, the Minute Man Race has been a late-April Westport fixture.
When the Westport Young Woman’s League ran the first one — way back in 1978, during the Carter administration — it was ahead of its time.
It’s still here. The 38th annual Minute Man Race — actually, a 10K, 5K walk (untimed) and Kids’ Fun Run — is set for this Sunday (May 1), at the traditional starting and ending point: Compo Beach.
The starter’s gun goes off every year, rain or shine. The race is still on this year, despite construction of a new walkway at Compo, and renovation of the parking lot.
A typical Minute Man race.
The Minute Man Race is one of the Young Woman’s League’s biggest fundraisers of the year. Last year, participants helped fund over $75,000, which the League distributed to 31 charities — all in lower Fairfield County.
Westport racers are a hardy bunch. A couple of sawhorses won’t stop them!
(To register for Sunday’s Minute Man Race, click here. Online registration is open until Thursday, April 28 at 6 p.m. In-person registration takes place at Performance Physical Therapy, 333 Post Road East, on Saturday, April 30 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., or at the Compo Beach pavilion on race day, Sunday May 1, from 7 to 8 a.m. — provided the cap of 1,500 participants has not been reached.)
I ran in that first race. It was great. Hardly big by today’s standards, but a well run, home town “Rite of Spring” event. Garner a new T-shirt, pin your number on, wait around for the start, run your heart out — or run-walk and enjoy the scenery and your follow runners — finish, and wait in line until the volunteers wrote your number and finish order down. The two names I remember as among the fastest are Ramsey Merriss and Miggs Burroughs! And me, I was happy to get near 7:00 minutes per mile. Middle of the pack, but pure enjoyment!