McNellie's Pub Run

Thanks for signing up for the 19th Annual McNellie’s Pub Run! Hard to believe it’s been 19 fun years
already. The idea for the Pub Run was hatched in late 2005, less than one year after the Pub
opened, when Elliot and Meg Nelson and Lori and I met for a lunch at the Pub downtown. Of
course, it included a beer. I had seen other Pub type races in New England, and they tended to be
the odd distance of 4 miles. So that’s how the distance was arrived at. Anything other than a 5k was my thinking.
As we enjoyed our lunch and perhaps a second beer, I presented an idea – to make this thing
interesting we really need to have beer(s) during the race. Elliot of course thought that was a great
idea. He figured he could get Guinness to sponsor the beer. And so, the Guinness Challenge was
born! That first year, we had 381 finishers! Since that time the race has grown to over 1500 annual racers.   We opened Fleet Feet Blue Dome in 2010,
joining McNellie’s and several other McNellie’s Group establishments as downtown continued to revitalize.

- Tim Dreiling