HINGHAM, Mass. – Andrew Tidd squinted as he rounded the final turn and the finish line came into view. A steady rain blurred his vision, but through the drops he could see the race clock, the red arch and Race Directors Robert Jeffers and Matt Hoadley cheering him on.

Tidd pushed with every last ounce that he could muster and dashed across the finish line as the winner of the 50K at the third annual Womp Romp on Saturday, Oct. 21, at Wompatuck State Park.

It’s the third time Tidd has crossed the finish line at Womp Romp and the first time he’s done so before any other runner. In 2021 – the event’s inaugural year – he ran the 10-mile race and finished third. In 2022 – when Womp Romp added the 50K distance – he finished third in the ultra. This year he ascended to the top of the podium, running 10 minutes faster than a year ago and posting the second-best time in course history at 4:11:59.

After catching his breath and chatting with Jeffers and Hoadley for a few minutes, Tidd explained what has kept him coming back to Womp Romp each year.

“Just being here for the first race, it made me want to do it again,” Tidd said. “I think it’s those two race directors; that’s what I believe. I really like Matt and Robert; they’ve both been really kind to me. And Wompatuck is a special place. You would never know it’s here while driving around the south shore of Massachusetts.”

For Tidd, 37, of Plymouth, Mass., the race couldn’t have gone much better. He and 49-year-old Colby Jones of Richland, Wash., ran together for much of the first 10 1/2-mile loop, arriving at the aid station together around mile 7. Tidd was the first to depart the aid station, and he ran solo the rest of the way. Tidd’s lead gradually expanded during each of his next two trips through the course.

“The last lap was pretty rough, but overall I felt unexpectedly good,” Tidd said. “I think the overcast weather really helped me out.”

The race began with temperatures in the upper 50s and a light drizzle falling. Conditions were largely unchanged for the first four hours, but around noon the drizzle increased into a steady rain that accelerated into a heavy downpour at times by mid-afternoon. Tidd avoided the worst of it, finishing just as the intensity picked up.

While Tidd earned a victory in his third attempt on the Womp Romp course, fellow champion Clorice Reinhardt did so in her Womp Romp debut. Reinhardt, 28, of Westerly, R.I., finished second overall and first in the women’s field in 4:44:51. Reinhardt spent her entire day in the overall top 10 and steadily picked off other runners with each passing loop. She ultimately ascended to second place overall during her final lap and set a new women’s course record, breaking the previous mark by 20 minutes.

Tidd and Reinhardt were two of eight runners who finished in less than 5 hours. Jones was third overall and second in the men’s field in 4:49:52, followed by 33-year-old Hingham resident James Maynard in 4:52:42 who made his ultra debut on his local trails. Fresh off of winning the MetroWest Backyard Ultra in September and completing the Ghost Train 100-miler on Oct. 14-15, 41-year-old Jason Kaplan finished fifth overall in 4:56:13. Jonathan Pincince, 46, of Cranston, R.I., was sixth in 4:57:31; Hingham resident Drew Goldfarb, 35, was seventh in his ultra debut in 4:58:15; and 44-year-old Clark Magnan of Braintree, Mass., was eighth in 4:59:18. Magnan ran his first ultra at Womp Romp in 2022 and made this year’s race his second with a 22-minute improvement.

Anna Tomasulo, 38, of Cranston, R.I., and Karen Deyesso, 45, of Scarborough, Maine, joined Reinhardt on the women’s podium in 5:08:27 and 5:12:45, respectively. Elizabeth Allen, 42, of Providence, R.I., was fourth in 5:24:45 followed by Abby Postlewaite, 24, of Watertown, Mass., in 5:26:20.

Eighty-three runners completed the 50K within the nine-hour time limit.

While some of this year’s top performers were newcomers to the event, Womp Romp has introduced many new runners to the trails during the past three years. This year’s race was no different.

“We want to make it inclusive,” Hoadley said. “We want people to be able to do this. A lot of people don’t realize they can do hard things, that they can do what these other people are doing. That’s why we tried to design the course for it to accommodate everybody. It’s challenging but not super-difficult. We just want people to get on the trails and enjoy it. The whole reason behind this is to build a community.”

The community is clearly growing. There were dozens of repeat runners at this year’s Womp Romp, including some who ran their first trail race or first ultra at Womp Romp in 2021 or 2022 and returned to race again. In addition to the familiar faces, there were countless more first-time ultrarunners and first-time trail-runners at this year’s event.

Beyond the race itself, Jeffers and Hoadley work year-round to grow the community by leading group runs on the course as a way to bring people together, introduce new runners to the trails, and give back to a sport they love.

Womp Romp is simply the culmination of that effort.

“The sport is really community-oriented, and for me to see people come out year after year is awesome,” Hoadley said. “We’ll have 19-20 people at one of our group runs; to me that’s awesome. That’s what it’s about. We allow any paces at group runs because we want people to feel included. This community has given me so much and has brought the most wonderful people into my life that there’s no amount of money that … if we kept money from this race, there’s no amount of money that would ever match that. I just want people to feel what I feel.

“People like what we’re doing and the community that we’re building, and it makes me happy. Seeing other people really happy and achieving something they didn’t think was possible … that’s why we keep doing it. That’s why Rob and I want to keep doing it, because it’s a way to give back.”

Flanagan, Allison-Brown Victorious in 10-Mile Race

The 10-mile race was the first trail event for many of its participants, as well as an opportunity for seasoned veterans to push the pace in pursuit of fast times. At the front of the pack, the result was nearly a photo finish as 74 seconds separated the men’s and women’s winners and just 16 separated the top two men.

Josh Flanagan has a long list of impressive performances at races between 10K and half marathon in distance, nearly all of them top-10 finishes. The 10-miler proved to be the sweet spot for the 44-year-old from Alton, N.H., as he earned his first trail victory in 1:22:12. Moments after finishing, Flanagan looked back to see 40-year-old Samuel Taber of Pembroke, Mass., cross the line in second place in 1:22:28. Taber finished 12th overall in the 50K at last year’s Womp Romp. Shortly after, Jamie Allison-Brown joined them at the finish line in third place overall and as the women’s champion. Allison-Brown, 49, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., made her trail debut a victorious one in 1:23:26.

Brian Klein, 36, of Sudbury, Mass., rounded out the men’s podium and finished fourth overall in 1:23:55. Joining Allison-Brown on the women’s podium were Katie Lubitz, 39, of Cohasset, Mass., and Justine Bello, 39, of Washington, D.C., in 1:26:41 and 1:27:15, respectively. They were the seventh and eighth overall finishers.

There were 140 finishers of the 10-mile race, nearly all of them within four hours.