Fighting the beast of addiction with an uphill run

The weather was brisk on Sunday morning, Oct. 20, but that was perhaps appropriate weather for a 5k and 10k run/walk event.

About 32 competitors took off from Salisbury Town Hall at 10:15 a.m., for the first Beast, an event to raise funds to fight addiction and raise awareness. 

Athena Fliakos, organizer of the event, said the Beast was the first in what will be a series of art and adventure activities “whose fundraising efforts will provide the resources to beat the monstrous odds against the prevention of and recovery from addiction.”

She thanked Salisbury’s Rotary Club for underwriting the race and said that among the international club’s six priorities of social interest, one is disease prevention.

“ Every eight minutes, a person in the U.S. dies prematurely from overdose or accidents under the influence. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Twenty-five runners then took off up Factory Street toward Selleck Hill, on the 5k route. The first finisher was Simon Savoye with a time of 23 minutes and 46 seconds. 

The first female finisher was Samantha Bates with a time of 28 minutes and 4 seconds. 

Seven runners took on the more challenging 10k course. The first finisher was Eric Goldstein with a time of 47 minutes and 37 seconds. 

The first female finisher was Megan Thompson with a time of 56 minutes and 22 seconds.

After the runners and walkers had all left the starting point, Fliakos caught her breath and said, “I’m sort of exploding into a million pieces of love right now!”