More than 2,400 Runners Set to Run for Pizza

What starts with a pistol and ends with eating a slice of pizza while out of breath? The Downtown Westfield 5K and Pizza Extravaganza.

On Wednesday evening, 2,475 runners from across the state will descend on downtown Westfield to compete in the 9th annual competitive road race. Everyone who pre-registered will receive a free slice of pizza at the end of the race.

The race starts at 7:00 p.m. at East Broad Street and Elm Street. Participants will run a loop through the downtown and several north side residential neighborhoods, and finish at Elm and Quimby. 

The finish line will also be the site of the awards ceremony, where the top three male and female finishers overall, the top three male and female finishers in each age group, and the top three Westfield finishers (both male and female) will be honored. For everyone who failed to place, there will still be pizza and partying, with live music by the Michael Craig Band, who play everything from Uncle Kracker to Elton John. So even if did not run like a rocket man, you can still move like a tiny dancer.

The Downtown Westfield 5K and Pizza Extravaganza began nine years ago as an idea by Alan Delrose and Megan Mehorter of the Downtown Westfield Corporation (DWC), the event's organizer and beneficiary. When Delrose started getting involved with the DWC, he thought the downtown would be perfect for a road race and party. Delrose, who used to race for fun, fondly remembered one competition which finished on a horse-racing track and ended with a party filled with food and music. Delrose figured he could do the same thing in Westfield - and he did. Since then, the race has only gotten bigger.

From the first race in 2001, the number of enrolled runners has more than doubled, a source of great pride for DWC's Executive Director Sherry Cronin.

"It's been a wonderful thing to see it grow," Cronin said. 

This year the run is also growing in sophistication with the introduction of the "d-tag," what Cronin called the "highest technology" available. The so-called "d-tag" attaches to the runner's bib and shoe sole and tracks the time from the starting line to the finishing line, a wired antidote to the runner's clump present at every road race's beginning.

But what Alan Derose is most delighted with isn't the race's growing sophistication or popularity – it's the joy. 

"This event is, by far, the best fun I've ever had at a road race," Derose said.