Kent Pumpkin Run Draws an Eclectic Crowd
By Wendy Carlson
Photographs by Wendy Carlson
If you scanned the crowd at the Kent Pumpkin Run last year, you might have spied the ecstatic ’70s fitness guru Richard Simmons among the colorful crowd of runners. Okay, so it was his doppelgänger, Nathan Samuel of New Milford, who ran the course wearing a tank top, a red bandana, and “shorty” shorts, with several leotard-clad female joggers in tow.
But real celebs including Kevin Bacon, Saturday Night Live’s Dana Carvey and Ted Danson have competed in the annual 5-miler. One year, Seth MacFarlane, a Kent native and creator of the television series “Family Guy,” designed the race T-shirt.
On October 27, the Kent Pumpkin Run will mark its 48th year, falling as it always has on the Sunday before Halloween. The traditional firing of the miniature cannon signals the start of the race. Runners stream out of Kent Green and go up along Cobble Road, before reaching a long downhill on Cobble Mountain and returning to the start.
It’s been a town wide event since the first year when the Kent Lions Club launched the race, and 113 runners toed the line. Through the years, race numbers increased but eventually began to falter. Then, more than a dozen years ago, the Kent Chamber of Commerce took over the event, and its members decided to hire a race director and “go all in,” according to race coordinator Dave Dunleavy.
“The result was 653 runners in 2010,” he said. “The number of registrants hit 938 a few years later. Although numbers have not reached those historic highs since, entries have typically been in the 450 to 500 range.
“The only year the race wasn’t held in person was 2020, the dreaded year of COVID, when the event was held ‘virtually.’”
Otherwise, the race is on, come hell or high water. Serious runners vie to beat the course records. In 2016, Hirut Angola set the women’s record with a time of 28:25. In 2012, Abdelhadi El Mouaziz set the overall course record with a time of 23:56:22.
But what makes the race special is not who zips across the finish line first; it’s the camaraderie, community support and, of course, the costumes, which make the race fun to watch. There are prizes for the fastest runner in multiple age groups and an award for best costume (which “Richard Simmons” and his entourage won last year).
Past memorable costumes included a posse of Mutant Ninja Turtles, and a six-pack of runners dressed as bottles, who ran while holding up their sides of the carton.
One year, Santa Claus was guiding his running herd of reindeer up Cobble Road when he nearly collided with a live deer that shot across the racecourse.
Robin and Rob Giese of Harwinton, who dressed as Wednesday and Uncle Fester from the Addams Family last year, look forward to designing their costumes. As for the unpredictable weather, Robin shrugged, “Even in a downpour, it is still a great race on a beautiful course,” she said.—www.kentpumpkinrun.com
