COOL RUNNING

Everett Hackett, Sydney Devore lead the way in 57th rendition of race

New London — Maybe it's Ocean Beach's charm. Or the John and Jessie Kelley Half Marathon's user friendly entry fee of zero dollars, zero cents. But they came from as far away as Belgium and Singapore to partake of the race's 57th rendition Saturday morning.

Fittingly, Sydney Devore, the women's champion, a first-time winner, came here specifically for this race from Grosse Pointe, Mich.

"One of my runners said she found this really cool race outside Hartford," said Devore, a running coach with the Michigan-based the Hansons-Brooks Original Distance Project. "My aunt lives near Hartford so I thought I would come to support her. Then I learned there's no entry fee and decided to sign up."

Devore, 11th overall, joined the rest of the field in finishing behind overall champion Everett Hackett of West Hartford, who finished in 1:08.39, running alone most of the face.

Nick Aguila of Lee, N.H. was second in 1:11.03, followed by Grant O'Connor (West Hartford, 1:13.00); Nick Orlando (Milton, Mass., 1:15.37); Scott Bushey (Hebron, 1:16.03; Zachary Magin (West Hartford, 1:16.06); Trey Cormier (West Hartford, 1:17.57);

Christopher Helminski (Glastonbury, 1:18.22); Lucas Pick (Hillsborough, N.J., 1:21.52) and Patrick Daley (West Hartford, 1:22.25).

Jeff Wadecki of Ledyard was the top local finisher at 13th overall.

This was Devore's first race in eight months.

She's been recovering from a fractured heel bone.

"I was not in shape," she said. "I can't even believe this. I wanted to stop every single mile and walk back. It was so hard. I underestimated this a lot. It was gorgeous. I couldn't believe how many people were standing out there in the heat cheering us on. I was shocked. To have that many people ... I've never seen anything like this race."

Race director Way Hedding, plenty happy to see more than 1,000 runners registered, knew what he was doing when he gave Hackett the bib with the number '1' on it.

"He got that for a reason," Hedding said with a wry grin.

Hackett coaches cross country at Hall High School in West Hartford under Mystic native Jeff Billing.

"I'm training for the Hartford Marathon," Hackett said, "doing these races to work on the speed part of it. It means a lot. I coach at Hall and a bunch of the kids and alumni run this race every year. A great race to run." m.dimauro@theday.com

DANA JENSEN/THE DAY Everett Hackett of West Hartford runs through a sprinkler placed by a resident in Waterford along the route of the Saturday’s Ocean Beach/ John & Jessie Kelley Half Marathon. Hackett cruised to an easy victory. Visit www.theday.com to view a photo gallery.

DANA JENSEN/THE DAY Women’s winner Sydney Devore of Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. crosses the finish of the Ocean Beach/ John & Jessie Kelley Half Marathon on Saturday at Ocean Beach Park in New London.