06/14/2007
Race a tradition for two city firefighters
Brett Orzechowski , Register Staff
One lived on Townsend Avenue; the other lived on Lighthouse Road in New Haven. Tom Holman and Rick Conte met in between 30 years ago to run and have done so ever since albeit on different paths. Even as middle age settles in, neither one wants to let up before the other. They insist each race is not a competition. Longevity, though, is something different.

"We'll go as long as we can, but we're sort of in a pickle," Holman, 54, said. "He won't pack it in and hopefully I'll go as long as I can. But we're not as invincible as we once were. That's probably the toughest thing about all of this."

On Sunday, Holman and Conte plan to run in the 27th annual Branford Road Race, a Father's Day tradition that now attracts some of the top runners in the region for the 5-mile trek around the town on the Long Island Sound. They have run in every Branford race, a beginning-of-summer ritual for the two men. They have also run in every New Haven Road Race on Labor Day weekend to mark the end of the season.

They are not avid runners. They enter two races a year and finish each. Holman admits "I'm a little bit bigger than I should be for a runner" and Conte said even though he has avoided any serious injury in his life, he "now feels it every now and then."

Still, they run.

"You can spot a runner when you size up people before the race. You know who runs. We're not the guys people look at and think ?we're in trouble,'" the 53-year-old Conte said. "But we've never really been in trouble."

They befriended each another at Wilbur Cross High School in the late 1960s as recreational athletes. Holman still plays hockey. Conte has practiced martial arts. They have watched the running community sprout along with the Branford race. Holman remembers training for the race and not passing another runner for 15 minutes. Now he drives up Whitney Avenue and passes a runner every 15 seconds.

Both say there is no competition but they push each other. Holman is the deputy chief in the New Haven Fire Department. Conte joined 10 years ago at Holman's urging and remains a firefighter/EMT. Both agree Holman was the faster of the two in their younger years. Now, Holman concedes Conte has an edge.

Time is not kept. Finishing is the objective. Since they began running both races, Conte said 1 hour, 45 minutes has been the goal. Over the three decades, all his times have stayed within five minutes of that mark.

The races have held a significant meaning for both families as well. Holman's mother waited for him at the New Haven finish line every year until she passed in 2005. This year, Conte's wife and three children will run the race with him.

There has been only one near-miss over the years. Eight years ago, Holman's appendix burst three months before the Branford race but he recovered in time. Conte has never suffered any ailment around the races.

As both state the fact, both knock. Separate interviews. Same thought.

"When we ran up and down Townsend Avenue, I was always better at shorter distances and he always went longer," Holman said. "I hope that isn't the case now."

Brett Orzechowski may be reached at borzechowski@nhregister.com