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Norwalk, Wilton Runners Pace Mother's Day Field

NORWALK, Conn. – Familiar faces on the Fairfield County running scene grabbed the top hardware at Sunday’s Mother’s Day 10-kilometer road race in Norwalk.

Norwalk’s Eneas Freyre, who won the Greenwich biathlon just a week earlier, and former champion Mary Zengo of Wilton raced to easy victories in the race at Calf Pasture Beach. Nearly 400 runners entered the race and enjoyed ideal conditions with warm temperatures and only a hint of a breeze. The race is sponsored by Lightfoot Running Club. A 5k walk to benefit the Norwalk Senior Center was also part of the race.

Freyre ran 33:20 to win the men’s race, followed by Tim Milenkevich of Ansonia in 33:57 and Greg Pelican of Bethel in 36:55. Zengo ran 38:29, followed by Florence Chretin of South Salem, N.Y., in 39:41 and Tara Allen of Greenwich in 40:59.

Freyre, a national champion in his age group in the duathlon, finished second in the Westport Minute Man 10k on April 29, and then won in Greenwich. He is preparing for a long course duathlon in June.

“I was tired going into the day,” said Freyre, who commended the Norwalk Recreation and Parks Department for improvements  to buildings at Calf Pasture. “The race is close to home and I thought it’d be a good one to run. Tim is a good pace setter and it was good to run with him.”

Zengo’s victory is the latest chapter in her comeback from a horrific skiing injury suffered in late 2009. She tore her meniscus and ACL and has been slowly making her way back. Zengo, who won the race in 2008 and 2009, finished third last year. Sunday’s winning time was an improvement by 3:11 from last and exactly one minute from her victory in 2009.

“It’s good to be back,’’ said Zengo, 46, who has been running the event since the mid-1980s and has earned numerous trophies in the race. “I’ve been doing this since before I had kids. Don Capone always puts on a good race and there’s always good competition here.”

Zengo also made it wins on consecutive weekends, as she finished second overall in the Fred Weisberg Memorial Law Day 5k last Sunday in Darien.

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