Historic finish for first female winner at Marion Village 5K

Jun 27, 2022

MARION – Cheers erupted from the crowd of bystanders at the Marion Village 5K on Saturday, June 25, as the record-breaking champion rounded the corner toward the finish line.

“It’s our first ever female winner,” cheered race director Chris Adams as he sped ahead of the crowd on his bike.

Kim Bolick, 29, was focused until the moment she crossed the finish line with a time of 18 minutes, 14 seconds. Then she grabbed some water and immediately headed back to the corner to cheer on her fellow runners.

Bolick has run in the Marion Village 5K for “the past four or five years,” she said. She lives in Watertown, but considers herself to be from Marion, as her parents live there and she grew up around the area.

“It feels really good,” she said about her big finish. She also added that it was great to be back, since the race had been canceled the past two years due to the pandemic.

Hailey Desmarais, 16, from Assonet, the second female finisher, who placed 15th overall, came up to congratulate Bolick. “You led the race,” she said, “it was amazing.”

Bolick shared some of her tips for running faster.

“Run slow to run fast,” she said, “and take your easy days easy.”

In second place, the fastest male runner was Will Vrattos, 17, with a time of 18 minutes and 53 seconds.

There were 142 participants in the race this year, which Adams remarked was smaller than usual, likely because they were “just getting back” after the two-year break.

This year’s top finishers were:

  1. Kim Bolick, 18:14
  2. Will Vrattos, 18:53
  3. Samuel Shrestha, 19:00
  4. Nathan Branco, 19:29
  5. Nathaniel Wentworth, 19:33
  6. Adam Montross, 19:33
  7. Peter Danzell, 19:37
  8. Nic Huaco, 19:43
  9. Matthew Sukeforth, 19:44
  10. Michael Norton, 20:02