By Matt Stout
Staff Writer

Gordon Barnard of Goffstown closes in on the finish in the 27th Annual Goffstown Gallop on Saturday, June 24. Barnard, a former national bronze medalist in wind surfing, placed first among residents ages 70-79. (Goffstown News/Bruce Preston)

Gordon Barnard and Herb Hardman are convinced their paths have crossed before.

More than 50 years ago, they both ran the two-mile in college, Barnard for the University of New Hampshire track and field team and Hardman for the University of Rhode Island. They also ran cross country, and Barnard remembers running a race at Brown University where they may have ran together. Years later, both enlisted in the Air Force during the Korean War, but only Hardman was on active duty.

Time after time, destiny had the two men, now both 77, pegged for a meeting. Saturday, June 24, at a race where familiar faces are as common as running shoes, Barnard, a Goffstown resident, and Hardman, from New Boston, finally met ­ and acted like they’ve been running together for years.

“The race was fun for me because Gordon was here,” said Hardman, who with Barnard represented two of the oldest runners in the 27th annual Goffstown Gallop’s 128-athlete field.

“I’m lazy,” he continued, adding he planned to alternate walking and running the 5.2-mile course. “But I saw Gordon up ahead of me and I decided to try to stay with him.”

Hardman did, edging Goffstown’s fastest 70-plus resident by about 2 and 1/2 minutes.

But more than the times, the Gallop represents a chance for runners throughout the area to enjoy a run, see old friends and bask in the Cheers-like atmosphere where everyone knows someone else. Goffstown Parks and Recreation Director Dave French said he probably knows more than half the people who participated.

“It’s really like old home day,” said French. “I really wanted to keep this race a real family-like environment so you have moms and dads, sisters and daughters and sons running this together today. We just have a lot of people who come back year after year.”

Those people do so partly because the Gallop rarely changes. Starting along Mast Road, runners still grab a Popsicle stick as they cross the finish line to mark their place, and the scoring is done the same way it was 27 years ago ­ by hand, without a computer.

Though the race has never been postponed or cancelled, Gallop runners ­ much the same way they did Saturday ­ ran through the rain each of the first seven years.

They’ll take it considering the other option; scorching 93-degree heat greeted runners last year.

“It hasn’t really changed much in the last 20 years,” said 51-year-old Bedford resident Chris Jones, a six-time participant who finished second in his age group and 18th overall. “That’s what really keeps it going. You see the same core group coming back year after year, but you also see some new faces. I think the word gets around that it’s a good race.”

It’s also a good neighborhood race. In her first year running the route two years ago, Salem resident Keli Barry remembered people coming out of their houses to cheer her along. Mel Finley of Goffstown said she knows many residents who run the Gallop simply to improve their health. Plus, it’s “the only thing I’ll wake up early for.”

“It was perfect,” Finley said of Saturday’s light drizzle and 60-degree weather. “If it’s really hot, you feel like you’re going to be sick a bit earlier. So that didn’t happen until after I crossed the finish line.”

Meeting her there was Scott McGrath, who at 19 won his first Gallop with a time of 27:47.28. Behind him was Rochester’s Eric Couture ­ a four-time participant who’s won it the past three years and runs it with his father, David ­ and Dennis Ducharme of Candia, who finished third after taking a 15-year hiatus from the race.

Jim Clark was the top Goffstown runner, placing seventh with a time of 31.53.26, while Gretchen Andrus, a recent graduate of Bow High School who holds three school records for the track and field team, took first among the women with a time of 33:57.47, good for 16th overall.

Jossee Briscoe was Goffstown’s top female finisher with a time of 37:56.25. GHS alumna Nicki Ouellet, in 30th, and New Boston’s Jeanne Bisceglia, in 42nd, were the other top female runners.