Photo: Nine-year-old Gillian Palmer runs across the finish line with David Palmer in 35 minutes and 50 seconds in the 14th annual Brendan’s Home Run 5K.

While the steady warm rain may have kept the total number of runners at the 14th annual Brandan’s Home Run 5K race down from previous years – 301 runners finished the race Sunday, June 21, as opposed to nearly 425 last year – it also helped those running the Father’s Day tradition set fast times.

Leading the way was the shirtless Zack Schwartz, a 26-year-old former Brandeis cross-country and track racer, who stormed over the 3.1 mile course in 14 minutes and 44 seconds, smashing the course record of 14:59 set by Ryan McCalmon in  2012. Also breaking the old record was Eric Speakman, the 24-year-old 2015 Stony Brook University graduate, who followed Schwartz by eight seconds.

“This is my best race by far,” said Schwartz, who works at MIT and “am trying to run as much as I can.”

The woman’s race nearly duplicated the men’s as 37-year-old Northbridge-resident Stephanie Reilly finished in 17:22, within five seconds of breaking the women’s record of 17:17 set in 2013 by the woman came in second in Monday’s race, Karen Roa, 24, who finished in 17:48.

Complete race results can be found here.

And while the race – sponsored by Belmont Savings Bank, Fitness Together, and Belmont Dental Group – featured those running in the front of the pack, those participating were enjoying the inclement weather leaving them drenched and dodging puddles as they race by themselves or with friends and family.

The real winner of Sunday’s race was The Brendan Grant Foundation, dedicated to enhancing youth development, and has been instrumental in the support of key initiatives that perpetuate the best core values of healthy parent-child relationships.