The Wakefield Lake Run is simple: the runner who completes the most laps around Lake Quannapowitt in 24 hours wins. All right, let's throw in rainshowers and flooding, lightning, darkness, (and frogs and locusts?)... and NOW you've got a race!

John Carey won the men's ultra with a total distance of 117.9 miles, and reclaimed the title he'd won in 1998. Lisa Mentzer placed 5th in the women's ultra, completing 73.6 miles in her first 24-hour race.

Kudos also go to John Kinnee of Orchard Hills Athletic Club, who placed 2nd in the 26.2-mile "fun run" with a time of 3:07:30 and qualified for the Boston Marathon. (Your roving reporter completed the first 20 miles of the fun run, before going home to bed.)

Ultra - Men
      TIME    LAPS MILES  
 1  23:47:50   37  117.9  John Carey       40 Millbury, MA
 2  23:49:40   36  114.7  Mark Bell        35 Concord,  MA
 3  23:34:00   35  111.5  Ray Zirblis      47 Northfield, VT
 4  23:35:30   33  105.2  Ed Finnegan      44 West Haven, CT
 5  21:01:30   28   89.4  Mark Dutton      40 Denville, NJ
 6  21:41:00   26   83.1  Patrick Heaney   30 East Hartford, CT
 7  22:17:00   26   83.1  Richard Fedion   67 N. Conway, NH
 8  22:29:30   26   83.1  Thomas Lanata    36 Boston, MA
 9  23:42:50   26   83.1  Bob Sitler       42 Lynchburg, VA
10  22:22:50   25   79.9  Newton Baker     59 Montpelier, VY

Ultra - Women
      TIME    LAPS MILES   
 1  23:10:10   35  111.5  Alicia Barahona  48 White Plains, NY
 2  23:28:10   33  105.2  JodyLynn Reicher 38 Midland Park, NJ
 3  22:46:10   26   83.1  Junko Leerink    42 Greenwich, CT
 4  23:18:20   25   79.9  Michelle Wolfe   50 Niantic, CT
 5  18:22:50   23   73.6  Lisa Mentzer     32 Millbury, MA
 6  22:58:10   20   64.1  Susan Gordon     45 Charlestown, RI