Worcester Firefighters 6K, post-race barbecue are indeed back in season
Rain or shine, the Worcester Firefighters 6K is back in June for the first time in three years, booked for the first Sunday of the month at Institute Park.
And fortunately, the event has successfully dodged the drops in its 20 previous races. Plenty warm, sure, at times maybe even hot. But the rain neither dampened the field on the figure-8 course nor compromised the post-race barbecue since the inaugural race in 2000. The only precipitation has emanated from the mist machine behind the finish line, provided by the Sutton Fire Department for the past several years.
“Every year, I’m hoping for good weather,” said race director Pat Chviruk, a lieutenant with the Worcester Fire Department. “Last year, we had a nice day in October.”
The WFD6K resumed last fall after COVID-19 forced cancellation of the 2020 event and postponed the ’21 race. The enthusiasm was there in October for a successful return, with between 700 and 800 registering, but the Central Mass. running community has longed for a return to the race’s traditional weekend.
“It’s good to be back in June,” Chviruk said. “Everyone knows that’s where our race is at.”
This year’s WFD 6K, set for June 5, falls a week before the Worcester Tercentennial 5K, which runs through downtown on the following Saturday. In an effort to motivate participants to take in both, as opposed to one or the other, the events forged a “loose partnership,” as Chviruk puts it. As mentioned in this space two weeks ago, the websites of both races are offering registrations for both, with the one online processing fee providing savings.
“Three hundred years, that should be a great event,” said Chviruk, who worked with Tercentennial race director Charlie Breagy to provide the deal. Breagy continues to chip in to help at the WFD 6K as he has since the event’s early days.
Plenty of familiar faces keep coming back for the Worcester Firefighters 6K, originally started after the loss of the six city firefighters in the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse blaze on Dec. 3, 1999. What once was an event to raise funds for a firefighters’ memorial transitioned to a powerful tradition benefiting most worthy charities.
“And it’s a thank you to the community,” Chviruk said. “The city of Worcester may be the second-largest in New England, but it still has a small-town feel to it. Race day is a thank you to the people city, for their generosity over the years.”
Race officials are anticipating a fine turnout.
“We hope for 700 to 800 and plan for 1,000,” Chviruk said. “Firefighters always like to cook more than they need.”
Also back for the first time in three years is the post-race barbecue, with Pepe’s Beer Garden also on board, providing an afternoon complete with live music, beverages, clowns, moonwalk, massages — a fun-filled event for the entire family.
“Hot dogs, pizza, burgers — all fare runners love to pound down after a run,” Chviruk said with a chuckle.
Proceeds from the race’s entry fees will benefit NEADS, which provides service dogs for the deaf and disabled, the Genesis Club, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and On-Site Academy. The WFD 6K has raised more than $650,000 since the race premiered.
“There’s a good amount of people who come just for the T-shirts and offer the donation,” Chviruk said. “We had a higher percentage of those people last year.”
On the front of this year’s T-shirt includes No. 267, honoring the life of Worcester Police Officer Enmanuel Familia, who drowned last June 4 while trying to rescue a youth in Green Hill Pond. Fire department personnel were on the scene trying to save Familia.
“267 is how they remember Manny,” Chviruk said.
For those who don’t register online by June 3, Central Mass Striders volunteers will be on hand to sign up more runners and walkers. Registrations will be accepted during race number and T-shirt pickup from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. June 4 at Sneakerama (12 Lake Ave.) and on race day from 9-11 a.m. at Institute Park.
The race begins at 11:30 a.m., preceded by a moving memorial ceremony, including a performance by the Worcester Firefighter Pipes and Drums. The course, which starts and finishes under two aerial ladder trucks draping the American flag, runs past the Grove Street Fire Station and downtown Worcester.
“No other road race has a bridge of ladder trucks at the start,” Chviruk said.
The lone interruptions to the WFD 6K came in 2010, when the race took a year off as organizers acted to ease the burden on race sponsors, and in 2020, when all races were shut down by the pandemic.
“I’m in year five as race director,” Chviruk said, “and I’ve said I was trying to beat Franco.” Lt. John Franco was the founding director of the race and remains an ever helpful presence for the event.
Chviruk notes he has a hearty group of volunteers with the race, many current firefighters. “The day we don’t have any runners and volunteers don’t show up, that’s when we’ll stop doing it,” he said.
For more information and/or to register, visit www.wfd6k.com.
Our milers are more than keeping pace
The times keep falling for Central Mass. scholastic milers Marcus Reilly and Aidan Ross, and they impressed in the Big Apple last weekend.
Reilly, a Northbridge High sophomore representing Edge Elite Track Club, finished fourth in the mile in 4:08.46 at the Trials of Miles NYC on May 20 at Icahn Stadium in Staten Island, and Ross, the Uxbridge High junior standout, was sixth in 4:10.69.
Both were personal bests outdoors, and Ross' performance is now recognized as a Spartans school record. Reilly, who ran a 4:07 and change during this past indoor season, lost to Ross in last fall's Division 3 state championship cross-country meet.
Reilly and Ross were the only runners among the top eight finishers who were not high school seniors.
—Contact John Conceison at john.conceison@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @ConceisonJohn.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester Firefighters 6K, post-race barbecue are indeed back in season
