One. Two. Three. One hundred. One thousand and thirty-nine.

The trickle of runners crossing the finish line becomes a wave as the first few runners are followed by the 1039-person mass that is the 41^st Annual Mattapoisett Road Race. The Road Race is a 5-mile race through the streets of Mattapoisett that benefits the athletes of Old Rochester Regional High School.

“I have 1039 people here from 26 states including Hawaii,” says Race Director Bill Tilden, a long-time participant and Athletic Director at O.R.R.  “I’ve been running this since I was a kid.  I love the course, I love the group that turns out. This race has raised $100,000 over 11 years for O.R.R. athletes.  Show me another event that can do that.”

“My family’s been coming down to Mattapoisett for the summer since the 1970s, we’ve never missed a summer,” says Kate Dawson Ayers, a Mattapoisett summer resident.  “I’ve been running this race probably since I was 13. Altogether we have around 15 members of our extended family in the race.”

The originally cloudy sky turns to sunny as the participants cross the finish line.  They come across the finish line with looks of relief, satisfaction, pain and a sputtering cough that only comes with running five miles.

“It was easier when I was 30 than it is now when I’m 44,” says Dave Chesney, a Mattapoisett-based doctor.

“He’s here looking to find new patients by the time they come across the finish line,” says Matt Costa, referring the Chesney.  “This was my first time running it, it was bad at the top of the hill near Ned’s Point.”

“It’s all been downhill since I was 16,” says Ayers.  “I’ve always hated mile four, I still hate mile four.”

“It’s five miles not five kilometers,” says Tilden. “41 years ago they did races in miles so we haven’t seen any reason to mess with the tradition.”

As the runners cross the finish line they are greeted with bottles of water, a hose spraying mist to cool them down and a massage table provided to participants all in addition to the cheering crowds.

The last runners come across the finish line and the award ceremony begins.  In first place overall is Johnathan Green of Berlin, Mass., who finished in 27:10.   Other notable participants are Alice Bins of Boston who finished in first place for women and Brendan Loftus, 49, a native of Ireland now living in Mattapoisett who took first place among town residents.

“My dad’s turning 50 this year and he’s been training really hard for this,” says Joy Loftus, 13, Brendan’s daughter.  “It’s probably the last year he’s going to really train for it, his last hurrah.”

Dan Briand, however, has all of them beat for pure stamina.  Briand ran in all 41 races.

“Dan wears whatever the number of years he’s up to is, this year he’s wearing 41,” says Tilden.