But there is so much more to this place.

It is also home to the oldest running club on the North Shore. A club which has been a beacon for its sport the late 1970s.

"At the end of the day, it is about camaraderie and sharing a common bond," said Chris Kealey of Newburyport, who is the Winner's Circle Running Club's male team coordinator and director of the High Street Mile. "Runners are kind of a quirky bunch. We take our sport very seriously. (The Club) gives us the opportunity to share that enthusiasm."

Unless you are inside the running circles of the North Shore, what the WCRC means to the surrounding communities is immeasurable. The Club's members and board of directors are in the business of giving back to their sport and those in need.

Mike McCormick of Newburyport calls it the Club's "undefined but understood mission" of supporting charities and the running community.

"I'd say we raise about $25,000 a year, and 80 percent of that goes to charity and the rest to the club's expenses," said McCormick, the club's youth director and board member over the last 15 years. "We help numerous races throughout the area by providing free race timing and support."

At last Sunday's High Street Mile, one of WCRC's premier races, the number of people donning the club's t-shirts was well into double digits. But most of them weren't even running. They were volunteers.

The Mile, which benefited the cross country and track and field programs of the four river rival schools, is one of several races the club sponsors year round. And every race is devoted to a cause.

The club holds the Evelyn's Run for the Roses 5K For Women in May to benefit both the Newburyport Women's Crisis Center and A Safe Place, Inc., in Portsmouth. There is also Trav's Trail Run in late May, which supports the Travis Landreth Memorial Scholarship Fund.

This summer, McCormick started the River Rival Track and Field Grand Prix, a series of five meets in which Newburyport, Amesbury, Triton and Pentucket high schools compete against one another.

Six years ago, McCormick started the Hershey Track Program, which took place in June for children nine to 14. Sponsored by the Hershey corporation nationwide, each year winners advance to the state meet level and are then considered for the national meet in Hershey, PA. The WCRC has sent seven to the nationals in its six years.

Jerry Dufour, who along with his two brothers Roger and Ron, founded the Winner's Circle and started the running club in the late 1970s. Back then, the club wasn't much more than a get-together for a Saturday run.

Within a few years, the WCRC started to sponsor several races per year, and rather than running both the bar and the club simultaneously, the Dufours handed control of the club to its members, who eventually formed a board of directors and elected a president.

Dufour marvels at what the WCRC has become.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think the club would still be in existence today," he said. "I never anticipated that it would continue to grow. There is only a one-time fee, so you are a member for life. There are probably hundreds of members.

"They do a lot of good for the communities and for kids," added Dufour, who continues to run and videotape races that the Club organizes. "We're very proud of the Club. They still carry our name and it is good PR to be associated with them."

Timing is Everything

Last year, the WCRC allocated $2,000 toward a grant program in which river rival schools can apply for and receive money for new equipment and other expenses. For Joe Colbert, head cross country/track and field coach at Triton Regional High School, the grant could not have come at a better time.

Colbert is one of many Triton coaches frantically raising money to support his team after the school's athletic budget was voted down. The grant enabled Colbert to fund the Triton Triple Classic Track and Field Meet last spring, which included all four river rival schools as well as several others.

On Sept. 30, the WCRC is sponsoring the Run for the Vikings four-mile road race, which will benefit Triton Athletics.

"I don't think the Triple Classic would have taken place without (the Club)," Colbert said. "They have come through for me in a big way for our road race. They're not only hosting, but they are providing free timing and doing the mass mailings. Their help has been invaluable. Without them, we would still be looking for other ideas."

They Can Run Too

It is appropriate that the WCRC has thrived in road races geared for teams. For four straight years, the WCRC has won the Mill Cities Relay, a relay race from Nashua, NH to Lawrence, MA.

The WCRC did extremely well in almost all of the divisions in the Mount Washington Road Race in June. The open men placed fifth among 21 teams while the open women too seventh out of 19. The female master team placed third (among 11) while their male counterparts finished fifth (among 16).

Both the WCRC male and female senior teams, several of which also run on the master level, placed second.

"A lot of us were athletes in high school," Kealey explained. "We don't have a lot of opportunities to be athletes as adults. We have some unbelievable runners and some who just want to continue running. The beauty of the Club is that you don't have to be superactive."

Wile Watch

West Newbury's Chris Wile, running a marathon each month this year, took care of July and August in a span of four days. Wile ran the Wakefield Around The Lake Marathon on July 28 along with Sam Thompson (currently in the midst of running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days) posting a time of 4 hours and 16 minutes, braving very high humidity, darkness (it started at 8:00 p.m.) and a tumble which left him covered in mud.

"My body was telling me that it is time to take a break," Wile said. "Everything hurt, I had no energy and as hard as I tried to run, it just did not work. It was my slowest marathon ever."

After deliberation whether to continue his marathon-a-month quest, Wile regrouped and finished the New Hampshire Marathon course in Bristol, N.H., on Tuesday, Aug. 1 in 3:49.

"I was pleased that I had decided to push on and run this when it would have been easy to take the day off," Wile said. "I was pleased that the run had gone well and that my body worked so well for me this day. Now I'll have a few weeks to rest and recover before my next marathon."

Wile is slated to run the Clarence Demar Marathon on Sept. 24 in Keene, N.H. Thompson, has a website chronicling his quest of 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states. It is a must-read as the Mississippi native is raising funds and awareness for the rebuilding of communities along the Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. Log on to www.50in50in50.com.

In the notebook

Brooke Allen (Newburyport) won the 50-59 age group and place 14th overall at the Kingston (N.H.) Fireman's Road Race on Aug. 5. Allen, who posted a time of 36:14 for the five-mile course, was one of several locals in the race as Mike Dowd (Salisbury), 50, placed third in the group (26th overall) in 40:45 ... In the 5K, Eric L'Italien (Newburyport) placed 22nd overall and fifth among 13 in the 40-49 age group with a time of 24:09. Jim Chute, 38, of Merrimac placed fifth at the 14th Annual Thunder Chicken 5K Road Race in Portsmouth on Aug. 3, covering the course in 17:42. Christina Connolly (Newburyport) placed 115th overall (sixth of 10 in the 20-29 group) in 25:56 while Camila Connolly (Newburyport), 15, posted a time of 29:06 in the women's 5K. Beth Barnard (Georgetown), 47, placed ninth among 24 in the 40-49 group in 27:35 ... Christian Hobbs (Merrimac) finished 131st out of 241 at the Top Notch Triathlon in Franconia, N.H., in 43:46 on Aug. 5...Brian McDonnell (Newbury), 16, placed 156th in 57:30 while Kathleen May (Newbury), 47, took 221st in 57:24.