Neither Wind Nor Hills Nor 26 Miles: Conroy is Belmont’s Swiftest Marathoner

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Photo: Charlie Conroy at Heartbreak Hill. (Courtesy photo)

The unofficial motto of the US Postal Service is “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

In a slightly modified version of the postman’s code, Belmont resident Charlie Conroy didn’t allow the wind, rain, hills (both going up and down) and miles of asphalt prevent him from being the swiftest Belmontian participating in the 119th Boston Athletic Association Marathon.

On Monday afternoon, April 20, Conroy mastering the historic 26.2 mile route in three hours, two minutes and 40 seconds, in chilly conditions with a strong head wind and rain.

“I was very pleased with my race; I ran a Boston personal best this year. Again, given the poor weather, that was especially rewarding,” said the Channing Road resident, well known as a leader of Belmont Second Soccer.

Becca Pizzi was the first Belmont female resident to cross the finish line on Boylston Street in 3:28:11.

Conroy said he was spurred on by the race by seeing family and friends along the route.

“My family were watching at the top of Heartbreak Hill [in Newton], so that was all I could think about as I ran through the Newton Hills. It was great to see them and know that it was mostly downhill from there. I also saw several other friends from Belmont in Wellesley and Newton, so that was just great to hear their cheers of support,” he said.

“Given the terrible weather, the crowds were less than in prior years but we’re still very noisy in their support. They make this race so special. So I would like to thank all of the residents of Belmont, who were cheering along the course, they helped every runner through the hard patches along the route,” he said.

Conroy wanted to congratulate all those running on Monday as undertaking a marathon, “a huge achievement regardless of time.”

“I have equal admiration for the 2:10 Marathon champ and the 5:30 marathon competitor. Both were able to train for and run 26.2 miles,” said Conroy.

The Belmont finishers include:

  1. Charlie Conroy, 3:02:40
  2. John Carey, 3:05:20
  3. Damien Pinault, 3:14:55
  4. Becca Pizzi, 3:28:11
  5. Christina Pickering, 3:35:12
  6. Virginia Cox, 3:35:53
  7. Laurent Canneva, 3:36:42
  8. Glenn Imboywa, 3:37:50
  9. Carolyn Mehaffey, 3:50: 19
  10. Satomi Kato, 3:56:07
  11. Kelly Fanning, 4:01:18
  12. Kimberly Usseglio, 4:06:09
  13. Emily Seaver, 4:06:57
  14. Paul Firth, 4:08:09
  15. Cara Brickley, 4:14:09
  16. Peter Arsenault, 4:18:07
  17. Stefanie Baker, 4:36:28
  18. Apo Ashjian, 4:38:35
  19. Sarkis Chekijian, 4:38:36
  20. James Winter, 4:47:22
  21. Kaleigh Connors, 4:54:22
  22. Stephen Najarian, 5:04:06
  23. Carrie Palmer, 5:05:40
  24. Julie Holt, 5:27:03
  25. Richard Horgan, 5:28:26
  26. Kai Saukkonen, 5:30:59

This (Short) Week: Mega Meeting on Minuteman Tuesday, Earth Day Talk Wednesday

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On the government side of “This Week”: 

  • The big four Belmont governmental bodies, the Board of Selectmen and the School, Capital Budget and Warrant committees, will conduct a joint meeting on Tuesday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Beech Street Center to discuss the latest update on the proposed building project for the Minuteman Regional Vocational High School in Lexington. 
  • The Belmont Board of Selectmen will hold a “quick” meeting before the Minuteman presentation on Tuesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. at the Beech Street Center to sign a proclamation on the centennial of the Armenian Genocide and approve water and sewer rates for the coming fiscal year. 
  • The Community Path Implementation Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday, April 23 at 6 p.m. in Town Hall to identify challenges facing each of the proposed path routes up for consideration. 

• There is no school this week due to Spring Recess. 

• US Rep. Katherine Clark will be holding office hours at noon on Tuesday, April 21 at the Beech Street Center. Her staff frequently bring coffee, so come by and chat.

• The Belmont Garden Club is holding a floral workshop on Wednesday, April 22, from 10 a.m. to noon in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library. 

• Celebrate Earth Day by attending a talk by Environmental Toxicologist Dr. Emily Monosson on “Evolution and Environmental Toxins” presented by Science for the Public on Wednesday, April 22, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room. Monosson, an adjunct professor of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, will speak on how the world is exposed to an unprecedented environmental challenge: try to adapt to countless toxins in air, water, soil and how environmental toxins affect evolutionary mechanisms.

• Fossils and dinosaurs will be front and center during a wonderful children’s program at the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room on Thursday, April 23 from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

• Robin Bromberg of the Alzheimer’s Association will speak at the Beech Street Center on Friday, April 24 at 1:15 p.m. to identify the 10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s Disease to help determine if it’s time to speak to your doctor for a diagnosis for yourself or someone you care about.

Belmont High Baseball Unbeaten at Break Thanks to Another Late Game Win

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Photo: Cal Christofori pitching in relief in the 7th inning during Belmont’s 6-3 victory over Arlington, April 17. 

Like students who waits until the last minute to complete their work, the Belmont High School Baseball team has been biding their time until the late innings to eek out a pair of victories.

After Belmont snuck by Stoneham, 8-6, on Tuesday, April 14, the team scored four runs in the penultimate at-bat to defeat Arlington, 6-3, on Friday, April 17, at Grant Field in Belmont.

The wins, along with a blow out of Watertown in the season opener, sends the Marauders into the spring break undefeated, sporting a 3-0 record overall and in the Middlesex League and providing the players some needed confidence.

“The thing we preached in the beginning of the year was mental toughness and they are buying into it,” said Belmont Head Coach Jim Brown.

“They were losing a couple of games and it’s not phasing them and they are getting the bats going as well,” Brown said.

Friday’s heroics came the arm and the bat of Robbie Montanaro who threw two shutout innings in relief of starter Cole Bartels and stroked a two-out, two-run single to score Bartels and catcher Cal Christofori to push Belmont ahead, 5-4, after trailing by a run entering the bottom of the fifth.

Centerfielder Nick Riley’s double sent Montanaro home for the final run in the four-run fifth. 

Riley scored the first run in the second inning, scoring on Bryan Goodwin double.

Monanaro’s run scoring hit was part of the first-baseman/pitcher’s three-RBI day, having scored Bartels in the third with a single.

Christofori moved from catching pitches to throwing them to earn the save hurling a one-hit final inning.

It will be a busy time after the spring recess when Belmont plays on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of next week.

“We have four games the week we get back so they have to be focused like they’ve been so far,” said Brown.

Trash/Recycling Delayed A Day by Patriots’ Day Holiday

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Photo: Collection delayed a day.

The scheduled curb-side pickup of trash and recycling in Belmont will be pushed back a day due to the Patriots’ Day holiday, Monday, April 20.

As a result, those households, apartments and businesses who have their garbage cans and recycling bins emptied on Monday of this week will need to wait until tomorrow, Tuesday, to drag it to the street.

Aftermath: One Store Gone, Others to Return after Belmont Street Blaze

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Photo: The day after a fire destroyed Jimmy’s Food Mart.

The acrid smell from a fire that destroyed a Belmont Street convenient store Saturday night, April 18, remained in the air Sunday morning as an emergency services business was preparing to board up the burned out structure.

The interior of Jimmy’s Food Mart, at 297 Belmont St., was black and scorched, the food and fixtures burned, illuminated by the sunlight coming through the collapsed roof, the result of a three-alarm fire that began in the back of the store around 7:30 p.m. 

The blaze – which sent flames high into the air at the corner of Belmont and School streets – brought fire equipment in from Watertown, Cambridge and Waltham resulting in closing the major thoroughfare. 

While Jimmy’s is considered a loss, owners of the half dozen small businesses came by to enter their offices and stores to view how much damage they sustained. While the fire was substantial, the fast work by fire fighters and the structure of the building prevented an ever greater loss.

“It doesn’t appear that bad because of the fire wall and how quick the [fire departments] fought the fire,” said one business owner who did not want to be identified.

Many of the store fronts had front doors open to begin the process of airing out their businesses and discover how much water damage they had sustained. Owners were approached by cleaning and information recovery firms to help in the process.

When asked if his firm could be up and running after utilities are back, the owner said “Yes, that’s a possibility.” 

[Update] BREAKING: Fire Destroys Jimmy’s Food Mart, Damages Block of Stores

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Photo: The fire at Jimmy’s Food Mart that occurred on Saturday, April 18. 

A three-alarm fire destroyed the convenient store Jimmy’s Food Mart and damaged a business block – including a new restaurant days away from opening – at the corner of Belmont and School streets on the Watertown line.

At this time, no one is thought to have been injured in the fire that occurred just after 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 18. 

Belmont Fire Department Fire Chief David Frizzell told the Belmontonian the department received a call reporting a fire in the store.

“When we arrived, there was heavy fire in the back of the market. We don’t know if the store was open but there was someone there,” Frizzell said.

The inferno and smoke could be seen blocks away as flames reached high into the twilight sky as dozens of firefighters battled the conflagration so it would not spread to an abutting residential building at the corner of Lewis Road. Bystanders flocked to the scene as sirens and a helicopter brought attention to the scene. 

The blaze halted traffic on the normally busy thoroughfare as fire equipment from neighboring communities – including Watertown, Cambridge and Waltham – lent mutual aid, sending vehicles and the MBTA 73 bus onto Fairview Avenue. In addition, electricity was cut off in the blocks near the fire. 

“A Watertown engine arrived when we did so we had help from the start,” said Frizzell.

It took about half-an-hour to knock down most of the flames.

“Jimmy’s is heavily damaged, the roof has come in and there’s heavy fire damage. It’s a loss,” he said.

Parmjit Singh, owner of Jimmy’s, located at 297 Belmont St., was watched from across the street as his business burned.

“I put all my dreams in this town,” Singh told the Belmontonian. “A lot of people supported us. Now my business, everything is gone.”

Singh and his wife and partner, Surinder Kaur Dhaliwal, bought the shuttered site of the former Shore Drug in 2013 and opened it as a convenience store in January 2014. The store is managed by their son and business partner, Jimmy Singh.

Since opening, neighborhood reaction has been overwhelmingly favorable, with residents commending the owners for operating a clean and inviting business. Earlier this year, the Belmont Board of Selectmen rejected a beer and wine license to Singh and Dhaliwal. 

“I was here until 10 a.m. when I went home to sleep. Then my wife called to say the business was on fire,” Singh said. He does not know what the future holds for Jimmy’s.

“I want to open. I need to open. But I don’t know right now,” he said.

The fire caused heavy smoke and water damage to the other retail establishments on the block, said Frizzell. The businesses including Shine on Salon, Parmagian & Marinelli Law Office, Dr. Edward J. Burns Optometrist, Hemmingway Tailoring-Alterations, and a new eatery, “Tony G’s Barbecue,” in the former location of Gustazo Cuban Restaurant at 289 Belmont St. It was reported to open soon with new furniture and fixtures already installed.  

The fire is currently under investigation by the Belmont Fire and Belmont Police departments as the Massachusetts Fire Marshall was also at the scene, said Frizzell.  

“We’ll be here for the rest of the night. There’s pockets of fire we still need to get to. There’s quite a bit of work ahead of us,” he said. 

Butler Reaches 150 Goals as Belmont Boys LAX (4-3) Down SpyPonders

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Photo: Trey Butler setting up to score his 149 goal in his high school career. 

Junior attack Trey Butler reached the 150 goal milestone as the Belmont High School Boys’ Lacrosse won its first Middlesex League match of the season, defeating Arlington High School, 17-11, in a chippy affair at Harris Field on Friday, April 18. 

“From freshman year, it’s been a team effort and it’s all part of the teammates passing me the ball and encouraging me every step of the way,” Butler told the Belmontonian after the game in which he scored four goals and two assists.

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“Last year there was a lot of pressure and it was hard not to get frustrated when things aren’t going your way,” said Butler, who is also a standout defender on the hockey team.

“But this year, we’ve been winning because everyone has been putting in a lot of work in the off season and it’s starting to pay off this year,” said Butler.

“Huge win of us,” said Belmont Head Coach Josh Streit after the win, lifting the program over .500 at 4-3. The SpyPonders drop to 2-4. 

“Arlington has been a rival for us in my tenure and they have played us very tough in the league so we knew this was a place for us to see to kind of see where we could stand and if we can make some noise,” said Streit. The win puts Belmont five victories from a return to the Eastern Mass. Div. 2 playoffs since 2011.

The match started off at a crawl, going more than half the first quarter before a pair of goals from junior Michael Cole (3 goals, 1 assist) and Butler’s first gave Belmont a 3-1 lead going to the second.

Goals by Cole, senior Samuel Bozkurtian (3 goals, 1 assist) and two from by Butler with outstanding defense from seniors Joseph Paolillo and Luke Paolcari along with junior Andrew Ballard allowed the Marauders to enter halftime with a 7-3 lead.

It was at 3:38 left in the third – in a half which saw a multitude of penalties calls – when Bozkurtian passed to Butler to the left of the goal, snapping the ball into the net to hit 150 goals as Belmont doubled its goals to take a 14-6 advantage into the final period.

After the game, Streit continued to speak highly of his team after a mid-week loss to Reading High, in which he discovered his team “could grind and have the grit to stay with everyone in the league.”  

Down 10-2 in the third quarter and unable to generate an offensive surge, the team “stood up for themselves”, grinding out four straight goals against the Rocket’s top squad, falling 12-8 but putting Reading on the back foot for the remainder of the game.

“We made people notice and they saw the heart of this team,” said Streit.

The squad’s next match will be against Dracut next Saturday. 

Belmont’s Fast Nobel Prize Winner Racing in Monday’s BAA Marathon

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Photo: The BAA Marathon.

It’s likely Wolfgang Ketterle will be the fastest Nobel Prize winner participating in Monday’s 119th Boston Athletic Association Marathon, but the 57-year-old academic could have another impressive distinction; first Belmontian to cross the finish line on Boston’s Boylston Street.

The MIT professor of physics, who with Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001 for their work on Bose–Einstein condensate, will be running with the low bib number 655.  Ketterle, who is a member of Somerville Road Runners, finished last year’s BAA race in 2 hours, 44 minutes and 6 seconds, good for 528th overall and third fastest runner in the 55-59 age group. 

“With science and running, you should never give up. You should challenge yourself and be willing to exhaust yourself. I like that, both in science and running,” Ketterle told Runner’s World when it profiled him in it’s “I’m a Runner” feature in 2009. 

In the past decade, the fastest Belmont master runner (those over 40 years old) was Robert Cipriano, who runs the marathon in the 2 hour, 40 minute range in his early 50s, but the long-time resident – and like Ketterle, a Somerville Road Runner – pulled up stakes to Brighton. 

In addition to Ketterle, 27 Belmont residents will hopefully be toeing the line in Hopkinton on what is likely a cool and cloudy day (although there will be a head wind). Find out if your neighbor will be racing (many for charity and causes) on Marathon Monday. 

Name, age, bib number 

  1. Peter Arsenault, 29, 28943
  2. Apo Ashjian, 58, 28793
  3. Stefanie Baker, 28, 31298
  4. Rachid Belhocine, 55, 11071
  5. Cara Brickley, 40, 29699
  6. Laurent Canneva, 37, 28397 (France)
  7. John Carey, 48, 5278
  8. Sarkis Chekijian, 41, 26400
  9. Kaleigh Connors, 24, 30565
  10. Charlie Conroy, 45, 2194
  11. Virginia Cox, 48, 23429
  12. Kelly Fanning, 37, 29181
  13. Paul Firth, 47, 30320
  14. Julie Holt, 33, 27895
  15. Richard Horgan, 61, 26017
  16. Glenn Imboywa, 28, 28713
  17. Satomi Kato, 49, 22623
  18. Wolfgang Ketterle, 57, 655
  19. Carolyn Mehaffey, 51, 24532
  20. Stephen Najarian, 59, 31462
  21. Carrie Palmer, 40, 25700
  22. Christina Pickering, 37, 16226
  23. Damien Pinault, 42, 8260
  24. Becca Pizzi, 35, 16965
  25. Kai Saukkonen, 52, 29973
  26. Emily Seaver, 30, 31440
  27. Kimberly Usseglio, 29, 27125
  28. James Winter, 43, 31342

This Weekend: Jazz Times Three on Saturday, See Cuba from Belmont

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Photo: Cuba From a Different Angle

• The John Arcaro Trio will be part of the Music on Saturday concert on Saturday, April 18, at 3 p.m. in the Assembly Room of the Belmont Public Library. Playing classic American jazz, John Arcaro is an internationally known pianist, recording artist, and clinician. Music on Saturday concerts are free to all thanks to the sponsorship of the Friends of the Belmont Public Library.

• The Belmont Gallery of Art explores the intimate lives of the Cuban people as well as the country’s architecture and geography with “Cuba From a Different Angle” by photographer and Harvard lecturer  Jonathan Hansen. The gallery – located on the third floor of the Homer Municipal Building, 219 Moore St., in the Town Hall complex – is open on Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Easier Than Ever to Drop off Household Hazardous Waste; First Collection Date Saturday

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Photo: Deposit hazardous waste drop off set for Saturday, April 18.

Half-used paint, mothballs, antifreeze and insecticides are just a few of the common household products that are classified as hazardous waste that most residents have in their homes or garages.

Belmont residents looking to clear their homes of these harmful chemicals as part of their spring cleaning will have an opportunity this Saturday, April 18 as Belmont residents can haul those materials to Lexington’s Minuteman Hazardous Products Facility site at no cost. 

And now it’s easier than ever to drop off the material; advanced registration is NO LONGER required; all Belmont residents need to bring is some state approved official identification (driver’s license) or proof of Belmont residency such as an utility bill to participate in a collection event. 

Here is a list of acceptable and unacceptable materials as well as a video on the do’s and don’t’s when heading off to the facility.