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Sports

More Than 100 Participate in Come on Over 5K

Cromwell High School junior wins event.

The eighth installment of the Come On Over 5K was the biggest to date.

Friday evening, under sunny skies, more than 100 runners convened outside Portland Town Hall, the start and finish line for the annual 3.1-mile race.

Scanning the sizeable crowd, Dave Kraszewski, one of the event’s founding fathers, said “this is awesome.”

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Funds raised via the Come On Over race will benefit the Portland Parks and Recreation Department and its summer camp scholarships.

Incoming Cromwell High School junior Louis Tobias bested the field Friday. The fleet-footed teenager completed the course in a time of 17:03.

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Tobias entered the race on a whim after his mother pointed it out to him – the morning of.

“I figured, why not come up here and get a good training run,” he said.

Tobias went out slow, intentionally, but finished fast. He used the hills to his advantage.

“There is no flat part," Tobias said. "It’s a challenging course, but if you know how to use it right, it’s good.”

Portland High School alumna Katie France, Class of 2010, described the course as “all downhill and then all up hill.”

France, who runs for Eastern Connecticut State University, was the second female to cross the finish line.

Although the Come On Over race is “not as competitive” as she’s used to, France was all business.

“I tried really hard here,” she said. “I wanted to break 21 minutes. I got 20:56.”

Tim Callahan, of Portland, was the second-place finisher (17:23). East Hampton’s Bill Lonsdale (17:28) rounded out the Top 3.

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