Yule Light Up The Night – As night time fell in Loudon, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway hundreds of runners and walkers put turned on the lights on their hats and ran and walked through the Gift Of Lights at the second annual Yule Light Up the Night two mile race. At the front of the pack it was more like Feliz Navidad than Merry Christmas as Nacho Hernando finished first in nine minutes, five seconds. Finishing second was Laconia’s Sam Wood, the 2013 winner. On the women’s side Sam’s wife, Abby Wood, won for the second year in a row, finishing in 10:49.

This was the final race in 2014 for Millennium Running and throughout the night MR owner John Mortimer couldn’t thank participants enough for the support the local running community has show Millennium

There were 1,124 runners and walkers who finished the race. The amount of Christmas lights on the course is unknown but there were a lot!!

Results: http://www.millenniumrunning.com/results-yule-light-up-the-night/14465

Elsewhere Around The State…(and this week, around Massachusetts)

Jingle Bell Run For Arthritis, Portsmouth- Two runners who have had exceptional years at New Hampshire road races were the winners of the Jingle Bell Run For Arthritis, Portsmouth 5K. Dover’s Nathan Huppe and Newfield’s Melissa Murray were top male and female and for each it was the tenth win of the year.

Results: http://www.millenniumrunning.com/results-jingle-bell-run-portsmouth-2/14507

Santa’s Toy Trot, Merrimac, Mass.- A number of New Hampshire runners turned in strong performances at the Santa’s Toy Trot 2, 4, and 6 mile races. Concord’s Dave Audet won the 4 mile race, while Portsmouth’s Paul Bouchard and Dover’s Matt Cirinna finished second and third in the 2 mile event. Littleton’s Brent Trail finished second in the 6 mile race.

Results: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/14/ma/Dec14_20thAn_set1.shtml

Marathon Sports Somerville Jingle Bell Run 5K, Somerville, Mass.- Rye’s Steven Hennigar finished 17^th at the race, out of 5,242 finishers.

Results: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/14/ma/Dec14_Marath_set1.shtml

Looking ahead

Millennium Mile, Londonderry, January 1– http://www.millenniumrunning.com/millenniummile

Snow Globe Trotter For Habitat, Concord, December 20

Trivia Question of the Week

Post your guesses in the comments below.

What year was the Millennium Mile started?

Last week’s question:

What was the original name of the Bill Luti 5 Miler?

When the race started in 1968, and the race organizer was Concord H.S. coach Bill Luti, it was called the Concord Five Miler. To honor Coach Luti the name was changed in 1984.

About Andy Schachat:
Andy has been involved in the New Hampshire road race/triathlon community for well over 20 years. As a runner Andy has three Boston Marathons to his credit. Behind the scenes Andy has reported on New Hampshire road races and triathlons for various publications and has covered races for radio stations and newspapers. Perhaps he is best known as the “voice” of New Hampshire races having been the announcer at hundreds of Granite State events. Andy is also the found of the New Hampshire Road Race Hall of Fame.