Muschiano, DeCastro win Franklin Farm 5K
By ERIC BENEVIDES, Valley Breeze
CUMBERLAND – She knew that time wasn’t on her side, but when Kim Chula-Maguire set the wheels into motion to return the Franklin Farm 5K to the back roads of Cumberland, one of her goals was to surpass the number of runners and walkers that took part in the inaugural race in 2019.
Last Saturday morning, Chula-Maguire, with the help of her 11-month-old running club, the Ravenous Runners, proudly saw 275 people sign up for the race and 215 pin their bibs to their clothing and tour the 3.1 miles.
And several participants from Cumberland and Lincoln were among the field, including the overall winner, Cumberland’s Mike Muschiano, whose time of 16:34 was nearly two minutes faster than the runner-up finisher, and the top female finisher, Lincoln’s Alicia DeCastro, whose time of 20:26 was also good for 11th place overall.
Speaking of DeCastro, who is the owner of Fundati Coffee in Lincoln, she found out about it through the Ravenous Runners, who train at Lincoln Woods on Saturday mornings and often frequent her shop after their workouts.
“And the only reason I knew about this race was because I go to Fundati and Alicia told me, ‘Hey, there’s a 5K coming up. Why don’t you run it?” said Muschiano.
A veteran long distance runner who has ran in four of the last six Boston Marathons and will run in the Amica Newport Marathon on Columbus Day weekend, Muschiano seldom runs in races shorter than a 10K, but he couldn’t resist taking a short drive to Franklin Farm for the community event.
“The 5Ks are the most uncomfortable for me,” he said with a laugh. “They’re like a three-mile panic run. But it was fun. (The course) was hilly, but I’m used to it. I train on Mendon Road, Nate Whipple (Highway), and Diamond Hill (Road), so this was second nature to me over here. It’s a beautiful area, and my family lives not too far from here.”
Muschiano, who is a member of the Rhode Runner running club, and his wife, Kristin, welcomed the birth of their son last year, “and we pretty much locked it down for a year,” he admitted. “We were running time trials by ourselves for a while, and we just got back into racing.”
It was awfully tough to tell that Muschiano, who placed third at the Jamestown Half Marathon a weeknd earlier in a time of 1:19.07, was coming off a layoff in last weekend’s race. He broke out to a quick lead and never looked back, as he topped two Cumberland runners, Bryan McNamara, who took second place in 18:26, and Chad Greene of the Wampanoag Road Runners, who finished third in 18:43.
While six of the top eight finishers hailed from Cumberland – Chip Redihan (5th place, 19:11), Chris Bianchi (6th, 19:37), and Ryan Rei (8th, 19:52) also finished the race in under 20 minutes, the top six female finishers were either from Cumberland or Lincoln.
DeCastro, whose running resume includes her time with the La Salle Academy and Elon University running programs, also took the women’s title with ease: Cumberland teenager Mary Daley took second place (and 15th overall) in 21:55, Cumberland’s Samantha Baker was the next finisher (and 21st overall) in 22:56, and Lincoln’s Jennifer Gilson was eight seconds behind Baker in 22nd place.
“This race was great,” added DeCastro, who was six days removed from running in the Maine Coast Half Marathon and finishing that race in 1:36:06. “I haven’t really run many road races in Rhode Island, so it was so awesome to do this, especially being connected to the Ravenous Runners. I was really proud of them for putting on (the race).
“I had to come run it just for fun,” she continued, and added with a laugh. “I haven’t been really training, but I think all the time on my feet might have served me well.”
While Muschiano and DeCastro were the race’s top finishers, the event’s winners were the non-profit Northern R.I. Food Pantry and the town’s historic Metcalf-Franklin Farm, which received the proceeds.
