Northeast Delta Dental was proud to be the presenting sponsor of a series of road races so close to home to us here at our headquarters in Concord, New Hampshire. The Capital Area Race Series (C.A.R.S.) consisted of seven races around the Concord area spanning from March 30 to July 27. All of the money that was raised went back into the community supporting local causes including area youth running, Canterbury Shaker Village, The Canterbury Fund, Concord-Merrimack County SPCA, the NHTI Sports Management Club, Operation Santa Claus, and the Jen Kemp Scholarship Fund.
Since we are in the heart of the road race season and I was recovering from knee surgery, I wasn’t able to attend the whole series but, I was able to run in the Bill Luti 5 Miler, the sixth race in the series, at Memorial Field in Concord on July 20. This particular race is more than timing and statistics though, formerly known as the Concord 5 Miler, this race born and raised by Luti himself. At 46, “Coach Luti” created this road race as an opportunity to give his athletes a more difficult race to participate in and challenge their summer training. He will celebrate his 92nd birthday this fall and continues to attend the race each year to support the athletes.
An early morning thunderstorm on Saturday morning proved to be slightly problematic for the Bill Luti course. Although the storm kept temperatures down, it also knocked down some live power lines along the race route. There were some last minute changes to the course to avoid this hazard and all went smoothly from there. As always, it’s a pleasure to see all of the talent at these races, especially local talent! It was Jeffrey Viega (24:37) and Heidi Westover (28:52) that took the first place spots for men and women overall this year. I’d like to congratulate all of the runners that participated in the Bill Luti 5 Miler and all of the other races in the C.A.R.S. series!
