4 days ago
His great-grandfather ran the Falmouth Road Race nearly 30 times. On Sunday, James Janulewicz will run it in his memory.
This year, on the same day that his great-grandfather entered the hospital, James received a message from his father, Neil.
'He just texted me that we had got the numbers,' said James. 'I was pretty excited about that.'
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Lynch, a 1950 Boston Latin graduate, ran Falmouth until 2004, collecting his race T-shirts and having them made into a quilt, and is now honored with a brick on the course. He died June 17 at age 92.
John "Bump" Lynch had his Falmouth Road Race T-shirts made into a quilt that hung in his home.
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'He beamed with pride when he talked about James running Falmouth during his last weeks,' Neil Janulewicz said, 'and told my wife and I on one of our visits that he would be cheering James on 'wherever he was.' '
For the Janulewicz family, summer revolves around Falmouth — a tradition that spans generations.
Lynch's sister lived in Falmouth, and each summer the family visited for the race. Eventually, he and his wife began renting a house for the month of August.
'As far back as I can remember, every summer we would go to her house and get up crazy early to go watch the race,' Neil said. 'It was tradition.'
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John "Bump" Lynch ran his first Falmouth Road Race in 1978, and his last in 2004.
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The migration to Falmouth each August is not unique to their family. The Falmouth Road Race is an institution, one of the most iconic and popular races in the state.
More than 11,000 people are expected to run this year, with around 100 elite athletes competing for prize money, including former Boston Marathon winner Edna Kiplagat, who won Falmouth in 2021, and four-time Olympic medalist Vivian Cheruiyot, who will make her debut. Also debuting is 2021 Olympic steeplechase silver medalist Courtney Frerichs.
Started in 1973, the race has raised millions of dollars for nonprofits and the town of Falmouth.
'Last year over $7 million was raised by all these nonprofits through our race,' said Scott Ghelfi, president of Falmouth Road Race Inc.
The Falmouth Road Race, shown here in 2018, will feature more than 100 elite runners and 11,000 participants overall.
Merrily Cassidy
Spectators return year after year, lining the streets, holding signs, and cheering on friends and family as they traverse the 7-mile course from Woods Hole, past Nobska Lighthouse, and along the water to the finish at Falmouth Heights Beach.
'There's a lot of stories that families bought a home in Falmouth because they love the race so much,' said Ghelfi. 'They always want to have a place to come back to so that they can run the race.'
Nearly 50 years after his great-grandfather's first Falmouth run, James will finally run the race himself.
He has been training every day, running 40 or 50 miles a week, even on his recent family vacation to Italy. He's pushing for the fourth or fifth spot on the cross-country team this year, and is aiming for a 4:30 mile time.
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James Janulewicz is a rising junior on the BC High cross-country team.
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Lynch always supported James as a runner, offering advice before races and meets. At Lynch's funeral, a priest close to the family spoke about how excited Lynch was for James to run Falmouth.
'He's quiet,' Neil said of James, 'but James running is a big deal. Running was a really big part of my grandfather's life.'
Race weekend kicks off with a track festival Friday featuring elite high school milers. Saturday features a kids' track event and mascot race.
The general field of runners start at 9:04 a.m. from Woods Hole, with the wheelchair division and elite runners starting between 8:40 and 9 a.m.
This year marks the 50th running of the wheelchair event, and the first race under new executive director Megan Faulkner, a Falmouth native who first joined the race management team as the health & fitness expo manager in 2012.
The race will also celebrate Dr. John Jardine's 25th year as medical director.
James and Neil will be running with 'Team Lynch' T-shirts, a tradition started years ago. On the back of Neil's shirt are two words: 'Love, Bump.'
'I'm kind of excited,' James said. 'Just to represent everyone in the family.'
The Falmouth Road Race was an integral part of John "Bump" Lynch's life.
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Toby Moses can be reached at
