Published in The Boston Globe and on Boston.com on June 30, 2011
You can still find red-white-and-blue everything, parades, and of course, fireworks this Fourth of July. But you’re just as likely to find a road race.
Thanksgiving and Memorial Day have long had their running events, but as the cost of giant celebrations complete with fireworks has pushed some towns to cut back on the Fourth, communities are turning to road races.
“There’s literally dozens and dozens of Fourth of July road races through Massachusetts and New England,’’ said David McGillivary, director of the Boston Marathon and an organizer of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care 10K in Foxborough on Monday.
“Fourth of July tends to be a celebratory day, and people are in one of those social moods,’’ he said. “People want to be outside, not inside, it’s usually warm. . . . It’s typically a family day, people want to be with their families, and everyone can participate.’’
Around the South Shore, there are also runs of 5 kilometers to 5 miles in Dedham, Duxbury, Norwood, Norwell, Mattapoisett, and Hingham.
In Milton, meanwhile, the Kiwanis Club has organized relay races at Kelly Field.
In comparison, fireworks are going off in six towns south of Boston this season: Plymouth, Wareham, Weymouth, Hingham, Braintree, and Halifax.
According to McGillivary, the running culture has seen a change in the last 15 to 20 years. It’s no longer only for professional runners; it’s something people can do individually, as well as a community.
“The walls of intimidation have crumbled. They are seeing their friends and neighbors doing it, so they are getting off the couch and onto the road,’’ he said “There’s a level of gratification and they get hooked. It’s convenient, simple, inexpensive, [and has] significant benefits physically, mentally, emotionally.’’
Many of the races have a charitable aspect behind them as well. “Combining [personal] goals with a worthwhile cause, that combination has become explosive,’’ McGillivary said.
At 9 a.m., when the gun fires at Mattapoisett’s 41st annual Fourth of July Road Race, the community will come together to cheer on runners along the 5-mile course. The road race is Mattapoisett’s only celebration of the weekend.
“The reason I fell in love with this race, is because so much of the town does come out,’’ said runner and organizer Bill Tilden. “The people who organize it, to the people that run it, are all there to have a great time on the Fourth of July. . . . It’s a very big family event.’’
Last year, the race attracted over 1,000 runners; this year, organizers are hoping to break the 1,200 mark.
Forty-one years ago, the race started as 18 guys looking to run, Tilden said. As more people began to join them year after year, entrance fees were added and what was left over from race costs and T-shirt sales became scholarships for students graduating from Old Rochester Regional High School.
In the last 11 years, the race has given out roughly $100,000 in scholarships.
Tilden said nine scholarship recipients, who each will receive $1,000 from the money raised through registration and corporate sponsorships, have already been chosen for this year. He hopes to add a few more scholarships as last-minute registrations come in.
The Foxborough race is the second annual Harvard Pilgrim 10K, which starts at Patriot Place, goes through the town, and ends at the 50-yard line of Gillette Stadium.
McGillivary wants to see the 10K become a staple Fourth of July event in New England, much like the Peachtree Road Race every Independence Day in Atlanta, which draws 55,000 runners every year.
“A lot of races have a field-size limit due to a venue that can only hold so many people. The hope is here, we won’t have to [turn runners away] in the foreseeable future,’’ he said.
In Hingham, the Recreation Department is holding the town’s 53d run on Independence Day. As in Mattapoisett, Hingham’s runners are out to enjoy a day together and help out the town. The race raises money to provide scholarships for students at Hingham’s four elementary schools who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford summer camps, and to provide funding for the town’s holiday events throughout the year.
But unlike Mattapoisett, Hingham’s race is part of a full celebratory weekend. The town also has the more traditional trappings of fireworks over the harbor and a parade that dates back to the 19th century.
“The parade is like Thanksgiving in Hingham. Everyone comes home,’’ said MaryAnne Blackmer, cochairwoman of the Fourth of July Celebration.
The 5-miler takes runners on a tour of historic Hingham, starting at the middle school and wrapping around the town, eventually down historic Main Street where the Fire Department hangs a large American flag for runners to pass beneath.
“It’s really cool,’’ said Mark Thorell, with the Hingham Recreation Department. “It’s really patriotic.’’