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The Shuck and Run 5K in Wellfleet is a little-known race and that’s just the way Fleetians want it to be. Held at 9:00 AM on the Saturday morning of the Oyster Festival, it is mostly local runners. With the temperature slowly edging toward 50 degrees (unsuccessfully) there was a question of how many racers would turn out.

There were only a half dozen people around by 8:00 AM, but soon they started to drift in. Familiar faces broke into smiles as all the hard core locals started to appear.

The race is a fitting start to a weekend in which Wellfleet celebrates its' shell-fishing history with two gala days of music, crafts, oyster shucking and great food. The happy meetings of race morning were to be repeated over and over again over the next 30 hours. Wellfleet is, after all, a very happy and social town.

The normal pre-race routine of long warm-ups and "game faces" weren’t in evidence. No one was checking out the competition – because with few exceptions they all knew each other already. And if they didn’t it really didn’t matter because winning was secondary. Getting an early start on the day was the main order of business.

Just over 100 runners stepped to the line. The start is the same as the Fourth of July 5-miler with the exceptions that the group is smaller, there are fewer spectators and everyone was dressed warmer.

After leaving the parking lot and heading out toward Chequessett the course took an abrupt turn at the usual first water stop and headed toward town. Just barely over ½ mile and already the field was strung out.

Early morning rains had left puddles throughout the course. The running wasn’t crowded so only those who like wet feet had to go through the water. After cornering to the right at the library the course headed toward Main Street. Already blocked off for the festival, it was an eerie site to see runners plodding down the center line – by now strung out so far that some couldn’t see the runners ahead or behind.

After turning at the "Welcome to Wellfleet" boat it was a mad dash (or painful plod) down Commercial Street to the Harbor and back to the finish line at Mayo Beach. Many runners were waving and talking to people they knew, happy to have an excuse to be caught running on such a bad weather morning.

Joe Navas of N. Eastham and Dawn Varnum of Orleans were the overall winners. Even they had a chance to wave and smile as friends called out to them during the race. This is what local races are about. And in typical fashion the few tourist entries were cheered on as well.

Wellfleet also hosted a children’s race at 10:30AM and in stark contrast to the July race most of them were tightly bundled. Over thirty runners ranging in age from 4 – 14 completed the 1.5 mile course. The next generation of runners enjoyed their time to "shine in the sun".

The sun actually did come out later in the day to the delight of the festival goers.

Hours later most of the runners could be found milling around or working in the booths at the Oyster Festival, sampling the extensive selection of raw and cooked shellfish, reloading carbs, listening to live music and/or taking part in the oyster shucking contest. The event describes description! So if you are free the first weekend after Columbus Day you are invited down to join in the festival.