Solar, Enjoyable and a Report Run at Killingworth Road Race

By Clark Judge

(August 24, 2025) — On another day, it may need been a detailed name as to which was the larger story on the Annual Killingworth Road Race on August 23, 2025 — the climate or Ben Szuhaj. But this was not another day.

Granted, it appeared extra like mid-to-late September, with temperatures within the excessive 60s for the 8:30 a.m. begin and, in contrast to earlier years, no humidity. But as welcome because the situations have been for the 170 runners, they may not surpass what Szuhaj achieved.

He not solely gained the race, he broke the file for the four-mile course, set simply two years in the past.

His 20:55.8 end (photograph above) bettered the earlier mark of 21:13 by 17 seconds, with Szuhaj averaging 5:14 per mile. Moreover, he was thus far forward of the sphere that he completed a whopping six minutes forward of second-place finisher Brandon Shatraw of Higganum (26:54) and practically eight minutes in entrance of the ladies’s champion, 22-year-old Kaila Lujambio of Coventry (28:37.6).

But Szuhaj conquered greater than the sphere. He additionally beat a steep hill that’s three miles into the run and so intimidating that some runners — together with the ladies’s winner — stopped to stroll elements or all of it.

“I knew about the record,” stated the 28-year-old Szuhaj, a 2019 graduate of Dartmouth College, “and I actually wished to beat it. There have been some moments of doubt, although. I received to the (two-mile) turnaround, and I used to be below 10 minutes. I used to be manner below the course file, however, clearly, it had been downhill.

“Then, when I’d gotten to a half-mile to go, the seconds were slipping away. I was pretty much right on the course record, so I knew I had to kick it in. I also knew that if I could get to the crest (of Wolf Hollow Road) averaging the course record, I could pick it up a bit.”

And he did, ending greater than a mile forward of his closest competitor — or thus far forward that one spectator questioned if he was actually one of many rivals or simply somebody out for a Saturday morning run. He was each. A marketing consultant from Washington, D.C. who’s run a 29:48 10K and 49:31 for 10 miles, Szuhaj and his girlfriend, Sophie, have been on their option to go to her mother and father on Cape Cod once they determined to cease within the space and keep in a single day, not leaving till Szuhaj accomplished the Killingworth highway run the next morning.

“Selfishly,” he stated, “I would’ve liked to go a bit faster. But I will take under 21 minutes, that’s for sure. I was gassed afterward, and I think it was the hill and a lot of rest-stop food (on the day before the race) that was responsible. So, I wasn’t feeling my most prime going up the hill.”

Really? When race organizers first appeared for Szuhaj previous to the post-race awards ceremony, they couldn’t discover him. It seems he’d gone out for a two-mile cool-down jog, working it as he had the race — alone.

Lujambio’s end (photograph above) was equally spectacular. She was eighth total, holding off Sara Zuba, 42, of New Haven, who was solely 12 seconds behind (28:49.4), and two locations behind her 24-year-old brother, Julen (28:23.2). But that’s not all. Four members of the Lujambio household have been within the high 35, with father Julio ending 31^st total in 33:19.8 and mom Carolina 35^th total in 34:13.2, whereas her grandparents — each from Argentina — stood and watched close to the end line.

“That makes this very meaningful,” stated Kaila. “With all my family here, it’s really special.”

Lujambio, who simply accomplished her first yr of dental college on the University of Connecticut, is coaching for her first half-marathon and conceded she was “a little bit surprised” by the victory — particularly when the demoralizing hill on Wolf Hollow Road compelled her to cease.

“I did walk sometimes, like 10 seconds, but then I kept going,” she stated. “When I was running I kept thinking, ‘I’ve got to keep going,’ especially when I turned around and I saw (Zuba) was close. I just told myself, ‘Just keep going, Kaila. You got it.’ ”

And she did.

WEATHER NOT THE ONLY CHANGE

When highway race organizers moved this yr’s race from the primary weekend of August again three weeks, they hoped for cooler climate … and so they received their want. But it was greater than the race situations that modified. So did the variety of entrants, with 182 signed up and 170 who ran — a subject that approximated the 2022 file turnout of 190 and, as common, included a big group (suppose roughly 60) from the Run 169 Towns Society.

It additionally included WTNH-TV Channel 8 meteorologist Gil Simmons, a race common who participated in what he estimated was his twelfth or thirteenth Killingworth highway run. So, who, he was requested, deserved credit score for the race day’s unseasonable climate — Simmons or Mother Nature?

“Me, of course,” he stated, laughing. “I take the credit. Trust me, I don’t want to be blamed when it’s bad. So I’ll take this.”

FIRST ONE IN

She wasn’t first throughout the end line, however Sherri Condon was first to look on the day of the race, exhibiting up at 7:10 a.m. for the 8:30 begin. A member of the Run 169 Towns Society, Condon drove in from Middletown to accompany pal Kelly Pabilonia, additionally a member of the 169ers.

“I love this race,” stated Condon, who’s run it earlier than.

Pabilonia had not. She arrived after driving two-and-half hours Saturday morning from Yarmouth, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod.

“I got up at 4 o clock,” she stated. “And I’m driving back afterward.”

So what lured her to the race?

“I need this town.” She stated. “This is 164. So I’m getting very shut (to 169). My mates suppose I’m nuts. They use the phrase ‘insane.’ “

And her husband?

“He’s still in bed,” she stated.

A DOG”S LIFE

Not all members ran on two legs. Two canines joined their homeowners, too, together with two-year-old Poppy, a golden retriever/nice Pyrenees combine that ran with Colebrook’s Denise McLaughlin (photograph beneath).

“She led the way,” stated McLaughlin. “She goes out fast.”

McLaughlin is one other member of the Run 169 Towns Society. In truth, she’s on her second tour of 169 cities, qualifying her as one of many Society’s “queens.” And Poppy? She’s a member of the 169ers, too. True story.

“I slowed her down,” stated McLaughlin. “This is town 31 for her and the longest she’s run. But she got plenty of water and liked the bananas at the end.”

NEVER TOO YOUNG

Entrants ranged from 9 to 75 years younger, with Clinton’s Mason Beeker the one one in single digits. He ran together with his father, Jason, and completed 90^th in 40:52.8.

“The hardest part was the hill,” he stated in a well-recognized chorus. “We walked and ran it.”

“But,” stated his Dad, “he pushed it at the end.”

A fifth grader at Clinton’s Eliot Middle School, Mason stated his pursuits embrace working and mountaineering — each of which he does together with his father at Chatfield Hollow State Park. But this highway race in Killingworth was Mason’s first ever … and possibly not his final.

“He stated, ‘I want to do it,’ “ stated his father, “and I stated, ’Why not?’ “

Good query.

Photos by Clark Judge