Connect with us

Running

All quiet on the Town Green with Lobster Loop race cancelled

Runners take off at the start of the 2016 Canton Lobster Loop road race. Simsbury’s Solomon Davis (237) beat Kyle Heubner (91) to become the youngest winner in race history.

CANTON, August 16, 2020 – As it is on most Sunday mornings, it was quiet on the Canton Town Green along Route 44 this morning.

This was supposed to be the annual running of the 29th annual Lobster Loop road race by the Canton Middle School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) cancelled the 5K (3.1 miles) race in June due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We did not feel in current economic times that we could ask our sponsors for donations,” the PTO said in a Facebook post in June. “We did consider a virtual race, but for the same reasons, did not feel comfortable asking for donations from the community.”

The PTO, which serves students in grades 7-8 at Canton Middle School, hopes to hold the race again in 2021.

Recent Lobster Loop champions

Year: Overall winner Time Women’s winner (Overall place) Time
2019: Tyler Hinrichs, Avon 17:13 Julia Caputo, Canton (18) 19:50
2018: Matt DeMarco, Canton 17:44 Ashleigh Stephan, Avon (20) 21:02
2017: Max Sparks, Canton 16:26 Sara Leavens, Avon (13) 19:50
2016: Solomon Davis, Simsbury 16:35 Sara Leavens, Avon (18) 20:32
2015: Dean Yost, Canton 16:34 Jillian Sullivan, W. Hartford (19) 19:13
2014: Marc Robaczynski, Avon 16:03 Sammi Glass, Goshen (6) 17:44
2013: Chris Chisholm, Farmington 16:38 Sammi Glass, Goshen (8) 17:33
2012: Mike LeDuc, Canton 16:20 Anne Marie Tuxbury, N. Hartford (14) 18:42
2011: Mike LeDuc, Canton 15:36y Mary-Lynn Currier, Canton (25) 18:19y
2010: Marc Robacyznski, N. Hartford 15:41 Mary-Lynn Currier, Canton (14) 18:26

y-modified course due to construction on Dyer Avenue. Does not count toward race records.
Race records: Marc Robacyznski, 15:27, 1997; Kate Patten, New Hartford, 17:29, 2002

 

 

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

More in Running