Remembering a friend with ‘One More Lap’ on the Litchfield Hills Road Race weekend
There were certain road races that Tony Cistulli loved and would not miss, no matter what.
One was the Litchfield Hills Road Race.
Last June the race’s usual boisterous atmosphere was missing due to COVID-19 concerns when it was in its planning stages.
It began in the morning instead of the traditional 1 p.m. start and did not start and finish on the Town Green. There were no parties and no throngs of onlookers cheering the runners up the Gallows Lane hill or down Main Street to the finish line.
That did not deter Cistulli. Nor did the fact that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer the year before.
He still signed up for all his favorite races last summer despite the fact he couldn’t train for any of them. He was ready to simply experience them.
When I arrived at Litchfield last June to write a race story, I was planning to run alone. Then I spotted Tony and we ran and walked the bucolic 7.1-mile course together, slowly and memorably.
Cistulli, of New Hartford, ran 17 miles at the Anchor Down Ultramarathon in Rhode Island last August, missing out on a finisher’s medal by one 2 ½-mile lap. When the race director found out, he sent Tony a medal.
He finished the Hogsback
Half Marathon in Colebrook, another favorite, on Sept. 25. It would be his last race.
The week before Christmas he had complications resulting from the cancer, which led to sepsis. With his immune system racked by chemotherapy, he had no chance. Tony died two days after Christmas. He was 57.
Litchfield is back Sunday in its full glory — the cannon blast at the 1 p.m. start, an elite field, parties along the course and a totally different vibe than last year.
No doubt Tony would have loved it.
“Fun day ahead here in Litchfield,” Tony wrote on his Face
were off and running from there. Top-seeded Cromwell won its first state softball title, defeating Shoreline opponent North Branford, the 15th seed, for the third time this season, 3-0, Saturday afternoon.
Kenney struck out 11 and allowed one hit, a bunt single, and was named the game’s MVP.
“I’ve never pitched in a state championship before, definitely not in front of this many people,” Kenney said. “I was really nervous in the beginning but then I realized my teammates have my back and I can’t do it all by myself, I have to trust them and I did and it got better from there.”
Junior Malena Signorello hit a two-run home run over the left field fence in the fourth inning and Wiatrak, a sophomore, hit a solo home run to left, her first of the season, in the sixth inning to provide plenty of support for Kenney.
Cromwell had beaten North Branford twice, 2-0 early in the season and 4-0 on May 20. The Thunderbirds had lost to Seymour in the Class M final last year.
North Branford got on first when Lauren Ackerman walked and Lexi Falcioni hit a sacrifice bunt to move her over. Ackerman tried for third but Signorello threw her out, to left fielder Grace McFarlin, who was covering third, for the double play.
After that, Kenney only gave up a bunt single to Ackerman in the
fourth inning.
“She settled down,” Morello said. “She dominated. That’s three times now against a very good team, she has shut them out. That’s impressive.”
Kenney struck out the side in the second and the last out, in the top of the seventh, was a strikeout. She jumped up and down and ran to her catcher and hugged her.
“It’s amazing,” Kenney said. “It means so much. I’m so grateful to be with this team and that we have the opportunity to do what we love.
“We had to have an extra hunger — like we might not get another chance at this again. We had to leave it all on the field.”