ROCKLAND – Two groups of runners high-tailed a neighborhood of Rockland, Sunday, Aug. 5, during the annual Lobster Festival road races.

5K (3.1 miles) runners burst from an invisible start line under the traffic lights at Park and Main streets, hot on the heels of the 10K (6.2 miles) runners who started, simultaneously, several yards ahead.

Clear blue skies, sun and shade accumulated into decent running conditions along Main Street, Broadway, and Pleasant Street for the hundreds of competitors pounding the pavement. 

A couple of slight snafus required quick, easy adjustments by race officials as the city awakened.

In the midst of the race, one pack of 5K runners was redirected to the east entrance of Pleasant Street, closest to the harbor, allegedly by a police officer, even when competitors before them had raced correctly to the Broadway entrance. As a result, for a brief time, racers were finishing from two directions, causing an onslaught of congestion within the in the Trackside Station parking lot finish area.

Also at issue was the lack of barriers to vehicles at both ends of Pleasant Street. Even after seeing the racers, and despite the large crowd of people in the roadway at the finish, several drivers still proceeded along the route. And then, when a barrier was erected at the intersection where 10K runners rejoined the 5K finishers, several drivers simply drove around that barrier.

In the end, however, runners are runners. And all were able to finish what they’d started.

Click here for more 2018 Lobster Festival race pictures

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com