Sports

Runners Tear One Mile up Great Blue Hill

Why have a select group of area runners showed up for two years to run one mile up Great Blue Hill in muggy heat?

For Matthew Bent, a regular runner of 5K and 10K races, it is because the Blue Hills Blaster presents a unique set of circumstances.

"The ability to run in 100-degree heat up a mountain," Bent said, "with no glory and no beer at the end."

Bent and his wife Nicole, of West Roxbury, were among the few dozen runners who turned out Thursday evening for the race, from the Trailside Museum parking lot in Milton to the Blue Hills Observatory.

It was nearly as hot last year, the inaugural race, when about 25 people ran and the winner finished the completely uphill event in 7 minutes and 9 seconds, said Michael Amarello, who with his wife Virginia run 3C Race Productions.

"This is probably the toughest one-mile race in New England," Amarello said.

3C Race Productions, based in Merrimack, NH, hosts races throughout the region and donates 20 percent of race proceeds to local causes. Last year, the Blue Hills Blaster, one of the company's smaller events, contributed $200 to the observatory.

Amarello, a runner himself for the past 35 years, said he and his wife came up with the Blue Hills Blaster because "it sounded crazy."

This year's winner was off the pace set last year by just two seconds. Eric Greenspan of Canton finished the uphill sprint in 7 minutes and 11 seconds.


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