Peter Watson

Peter Watson as he nears the Wall near the finish line of the MWRR.
Peter Watson as he nears the Wall near the finish line of the MWRR.

Peter Watson – Peter, who passed away in 2012, ran the race 23 times from 1988-2011. He was the supreme organizer of Team Gloucester (TG), which annually accounts for an impressive number of runners in the field.  He created the Mt. Washington Practice Run in Rockport, where he lived, and he organized it year after year. He publicized the race every way possible, from the newspapers he published to the word-of-mouth network that extended from him to thousands of people in many directions, but especially around Cape Ann, Mass.  He dedicated large amounts of time and energy to promoting the race to all.  He inspired, encouraged and led Team Gloucester to form as an official club.  Each year he would email every runner he knew when the lottery would open.  To get more runners past the lottery he offered to provide volunteers.  Peter always organized and planned who would volunteer and supervised to make sure it was done well.  He kept detailed records of each TG member’s races up the Mountain and compared times to previous year.  He cajoled runners into competing on behalf of TG and generally orchestrated everything they did relative to the Mountain race.  He is the reason for the strong TG women’s presence at the mountain to this day.

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