Running notebook: Off to Utica

Plenty of runners are off to Utica for Sunday's annual running of the Boilermaker. It's one of the best 15-kilometer races in the country, and always draws a huge crowd. I'll have more on it in Sunday's running column.

The weekend actually started tonight, with the Old Home Days 5K in Williamsville. Ted Sullivan always does a nice job with that one.

The Tuscarora Nation 10K will be held on Saturday morning, as will the Tom Drake Memorial 5K in Mayville. Also on Saturday morning, Wilson will host the Padre's Cup, as Pastor Gary of Hamburg continues to try to reach his goal of staging a race every single weekend of the year. Well, maybe not, but he's personally keeping the calendar busy.

Finally on Sunday morning, there's the Run for Rover at LaSalle Park in Buffalo. The 5K race is followed by a walk for dogs and their escorts, which is always one of the cutest events of the year.

Full details are at buffalorunners.com, and you can find the latest standings for the News' Runner of the Year series as well. Those standings will also be in Sunday's newspaper; the men's overall race is as close as I've ever seen it.

By the way, Bob Dimmig of the Lancaster Striders has posted a video of the July 4 race in Lancaster. You can see it here.

--- Budd Bailey