COVENTRY — A couple hundred runners, bikers and walkers took to the backroads of Orleans County last Saturday for the 13th Annual Fly to Pie, raising $2,842 for The Halo Foundation, which supports local cancer patients and their families.
The October 4th event featured four distance options — marathon, half marathon, 17 miles and 10 kilometers — at the height of fall foliage on mostly dirt roads through the Northeast Kingdom. The race donates 20 percent of all adult registration fees to The Halo Foundation.
Participants ranged in age from 3 to 77, including four youth from Island Pond, ages 3 to 5, who rode the 10-kilometer course with training wheels. About 40 youth participated, along with 10 septuagenarians, including two 77-year-olds.
The longer distances started at the Northeast Kingdom International Airport in Coventry, while the 10-kilometer race began at Irasburg Common. All distances finished at Parker Pie in West Glover.
Eric LiPPuma, 32, of Richmond won the marathon run in 2:49:00, while Alyssa Anderson, 49, of Claremont, New Hampshire, finished first among women in 3:32:07. Anderson’s Upper Valley Running Club team, including Sean Meissner and Jim Westrich, won the run team challenge with a collective time of 11:09:55.
Christopher McKenna, 32, of Quechee won the marathon bike in 1:26:25, while his mother, Jennifer McKenna, 61, of East Burke, finished first among women in 2:03:15. Riding for Team Bob with teammate Tim Chabot, 46, of Lyndonville, they won the bike team challenge with a collective time of 5:22:59.
In the 10-kilometer run, James Reynolds, 14, of Craftsbury won outright with a time of 52:53, while Danica Rolfe, 49, finished first among women in 53:51.
Evelyn Patch, 12, of Craftsbury Academy claimed first place overall in the 10-kilometer bike with a time of 45:44. Among males, Sylvan Von Fulden won in 46:06, also from Craftsbury Academy.
Craftsbury Academy won both youth 10-kilometer run and bike team challenges, earning six free slots at next year’s Dandelion Run on May 23, 2026. Central Vermont Runners covered youth fees for Craftsbury Academy participants.
Teams participating included Upper Valley Running Club, Team Bob, Wintergreen Wanderers, Prestige Worldwide and Craftsbury Academy. About half the participants came from Craftsbury and the Burke area, with another third from the rest of Vermont. Other participants came from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Wisconsin, Texas and Colorado.
