NEWBURYPORT — Due to mild running temperatures and increased interest at Tuesday night's Yankee Homecoming road races, this year's event may have seen more families run together than ever before.

Mother-father combinations could be seen pushing strollers, grandparents could be seen escorting their grandchildren, and brothers and sisters could be spotted adjusting to their sibling's pace.

Perhaps no family had a better Yankee Homecoming story than the McManamy family of Newburyport. Martha and John McManamy met for the first time at the Yankee Homecoming Race of 1987. Three years later they were married. On Tuesday, they celebrated the 20th anniversary of their first encounter by running the 5K with their 15-year-old son, Evan, their 10-year-old daughter, Laura, and their 10-year-old son, Conor.

"When my husband and I met 20 years ago, we ran the 10-mile race," Martha McManamy said. "At that point, we were in good enough shape to run and talk. He was living in Portsmouth, I was in Boston, but we happened to both end up in Newburyport. We've been married 17 years. It's pretty cool."

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Robert Rose, 70, of Hampton, N.H., completed the 5K next to his granddaughter, Maggie Lawler, 12, in 51:18 — a time 29 seconds slower than the winner of the 10-mile race, Alene Reta. Although the pair finished as two of the last 10 finishers in a field of 1,420, Rose couldn't have been more proud of his granddaughter's effort. They wore shirts honoring Robert's wife, who died of cancer in 2006.

"My wife died a year-and-a-half ago, and we'll run the race for her every year until I can't do it anymore," Rose said. "Look for us next year because we're going to be flying."

Rose has six children — all of whom have spouses — and 18 grandchildren. Fifteen of the 18 grandchildren ran this year.

"We're hoping one year, we'll all do it," Rose said.

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Justin Jewett, 10, of Salisbury, temporarily gave his mother, Lisa, a scare when they were split up during the race. The mother was comforted when she learned her son disappeared during the race due to his urge to run faster. He completed the course in 24:29 — 3:30 ahead of his mother.

"My mom's looking for me, but I wanted to run a lot faster," Justin said. "I just hope I'm not in trouble."

Justin didn't appear to be when they were reunited minutes later.



Newburyport's entire Mackie family of four participated in the 5K with 9-year-old Kristen Mackie crossing the line first in 28:52. She took the lead from her mom, Susan (28:58), on her favorite part of the course — Oakland Hill. Kristen's younger sister, Alex, 10, hung with her father, Ken, and finished in 29:34.

When asked about her favorite part of the race, two-time race veteran Alex beamed, "The finish."

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Russell Seguin, facility manager for the Hope Community Church, took a new title for the 10-mile race: hose manager. The Newburyport native gave runners a cooling shower as they prepared for the final leg of the race coming down Toppans Street.

"Our favorite part of the race is giving," said Seguin as he fielded a round of thank yous from runners. "It's really an honor to be here."

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Newburyport's Jonathan Woodman has seen his share of Yankee Homecoming road races.

"I've seen them all probably from the beginning," he said. "Usually there's an enormous turnout, but this 5K crowd is huge. It's great to see all the support for the whole event. Tonight there's a group running for Nicole Knight, who died of cancer two years ago, and she has friends running for her. So it's great to see that kind of support from the city."

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The event's primary sponsors were the Lions Club of Newburyport and Provident Bank.