By Paul Vozzella
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
Winter was lingering on Sunday morning, but that did not stop citizens from rocketing around town. The 4th annual Needham Boosters Club Rocket Run was a success as close to 200 Needhamites made their way through the streets to participate in the 5 kilometer run and 1 mile walk.
The Needham Boosters Club set out with a goal of raising $14,000, and with its hard work, the team managed to escalate over the monetary target.
“We really made it a priority this year to get all of the booster reps – we have about 40 plus booster reps – to have each of them get at least one sponsor and we got pretty close,” said booster club president Rob Ticktin. “The sponsorships alone almost got us to that number and then all the registrations and signups are like gravy.”
After finding fundraising success in previous years, the club wanted to set their goals higher and were still able to hit the mark for Needham’s student-athletes.
With the event taking place at the end of March, the weather does not like to cooperate. Despite the harsh winds and freezing temperature, it wasn’t the worst the town has seen for the race. Ticktin reminisced on last year’s race that was held in not only freezing weather, but with rain showers looming over the town. The race’s turnout this year was better as a result.
Ticktin’s team put together prizes for top finishers in the race, including a first place trophy and hats for the top youth and high school boy and girl, as well as the top man and woman.
Local residents Jack Burns and Nikki Osier finished first in the adult category. Leo Winston and Delia Rouche were first to cross the finish line for the high school category, while youth runners Sam Damiano and Phoebe Seidel finished at the top of the leaderboard in their respective category.
The race started at Needham High School on Webster Street and continued down Brookline Avenue. It proceeded to loop onto Greendale Avenue and High Street and ultimately finished back at NHS.
