Heartbreaker Louis Serafini came away with the win at the 14th Annual Harpoon Brewery 5 Miler on Sunday in Southie. The popular event drew over 4,300 runners, despite the heat. But the heat was just another excuse to partake in the post-race Harpoon beer now, wasn’t it?
From ‘Love Is a Battlefield’ to ‘Beer, Guts and Coconuts’, the team names made for an even more exiting element at the already very colorful event. But more on the teams in a little bit.
As we already covered in an interview published yesterday, Serafini ran away with the race in speedy 24:28. Said Louis:
“It was a fairly relaxed effort. I just wanted to go out there and have some fun. Recovery from Boston has been excellent – It’s a been a process but each step has gone well.”
In second was Jeff Ragazzini from the aforementioned ”Love Is a Battlefield’ in 25:52. The Salon workers started rolling in after that: Ryan McCalmon and Eric Mendoza in 25:58 and 26:00, respectively. In fifth was the one and only Dr. Ian Nurse in 26:09. He might’ve run faster had he not stopped to perform some graston on a couple of runners.
Ian was competing for Long Thaw IPA, which was also the team that his wife Amanda was running for. Amanda ended up winning in 28:49 and was 13th overall. Not a bad showing for Long Thaw IPA! From Amanda, on the race and her winnings:
“We got a case of beer for winning and I got ANOTHER case of beer for being the Fastest Friend of Harpoon! A laurel wreath and a great Harpoon Stein to drink out of smile emoticon I felt good – I hadn’t run in the Summer Series Run on Thursday that I normally do, so I wasn’t sure what to expect out of this race, but I maintained a lead for the whole race. It was super hot though! Something we all aren’t quite use to yet!”
Next up was Alysse Rocco in 29:14, representing the Pool-Noodles. Third for the ladies was Erin Chin 29:41 Duxbury Bayside Runners (not a very exciting name), then Lauren Sischo in 29:50 for Lovers and Friends. Now there’s an exciting name! But which is it, lover or friends? Can it really be both without tearing apart the team?
Back to the team names, because we really need to focus on that here. Nancy’s Nail Salon seemed to rock the field, but it looks like they didn’t win. Here’s the roster that we found in the results:
Ryan McCalmon (3rd, 25:58)
Eric Mendoza (4th, 26:00)
Paul Ryan (10th, 28:05)
Henry Scollard (15th, 28:55)
Brendan Prindiville (101st, 31:58)
Impressive, right? You probably recognize some of these big names as runners for other high profiles clubs. We’ll let you piece that puzzle together as we don’t want to blow up their spot here. When I reached out for a comment regarding the story behind the team, master pedicurist Paul Ryan responded with:
“No deal with the team, just a bunch of like minded nail salon employees on our day off from the nail salon.”
Fair enough. Glad to see they are keeping shape while also making sure the nails of Bostonians remain fabulous. But was this the first time? Again, Ryan responded:
“No sir – this was our third year. As a treat for the female customers of the salon nancy has one of us go shirtless for a team photo. As always this gets framed and put on the wall. She insists.”
The team photo from this year:
From the treat himself, Ryan McCalmon: “Naturally I was the treat this year. Not sure why last year was so hairless. Ted Breen was the standard by which all treats are judged,” which is a great way to work that 2014 pic into the article.
As you can see from the pic, Brennan Bonner (7th, 27:36) is clearly a Salon worker but he’s not listed as such in the results. Wonder if that was something that impacted the final standings?