July 17, 2009

A pair of former UMass Lowell stars stole the show at the 23rd annual Tony Sapienza Memorial Road Race Thursday in Haverhill.

Methuen's Kevin Alliette, 28, repeated as the champion with a time of 20:33 over the four-mile course.

"It was pretty hot and humid out here. It was a tough in the beginning with the hill in the first mile but, I kept working," said Alliette, a teacher and track coach at Methuen High.

Alliette won by a comfortable 23-second margin over Nashua's Jason DeDonato, a recent UMass Lowell grad.

Tammie (Brooks) Robie, 34, of Milford, N.H., won the women's race with a time of 23:25. Nobody could stay with Robie, who beat runner-up Nancy Corsaro, the well-known distance runner from Methuen, by nearly four minutes.

"The race was good. It was just really hot but there was a good breeze throughout," said Robie, who starred for the River Hawks and Tewksbury High. "I was going slow in the beginning and picked it up as the race went on. When the race was getting closer to the end I started testing my legs."

The race continues to attract a small (143 finishers) but dedicated field. Lou Peters, 84, of Methuen, ran for the 20th time.

"The race was tough for me," said Peters, who finished third in the 70-and-over division with a time of 49:54. "They did a beautiful job running it this year and I really liked the course."

Toni Donais, Sapienza's daughter, was pleased with the results.

"It was great seeing old runners still coming out and running this race again," said Donais, whose father was a champion runner and longtime Haverhill High teacher. "Some of the runners used to run with our dad back in the 1960s. We had wonderful local support with over 100 businesses help sponsor the race this year and we were able to give out 100 prizes this year."

Her sister, Joy Kessler, said, "I think we accomplished a lot this year with the race and I think our father would be very happy about how everything is going."