by Joanne O'Connell
10/5/2015

In the slide show above, see most everyone who participated in Tim's Trot for 2015. Thanks to Andrea Murphy of Holliston for contributing all the photos in the slide show.

On September 26, The Timothy O'Connell Foundation hosted its fifth annual Tim's Trot, a 1.9 mile walk-run that each year draws growing numbers of runners and walkers of all ages,  This year, according to volunteers manning the registration booths, more than 675 men, women and children participated.  Donning the now familiar blue tee shirt emblazoned with an orange "7" and the names and logos of local merchants and families who sponsor the event, runners, walkers and more than a few parents pushing baby carriages or walking dogs set out under sunny skies from Holliston High School along a route snaking along Hollis, Washington, Prospect Streets and Marked Tree Road.

In a short address to the crowd before the starter's gun was fired, Kevin O'Connell, a trustee of the Foundation and the father of Timothy O'Connell, the boy in whose honor and memory the Foundation was founded in 2008 following his death that year from leukemia, thanked the gathered athletes.  Mr. O'Connell noted that the support of not only race participants but also scores of volunteers and sponsors enabled the Foundation to raise over $18,000 from this year's Trot.  He also mentioned that since its inception, the Foundation has raised and donated nearly $400,000 in scholarships, gifts to pediatric cancer-related causes such as The Jimmy Fund, Childrens' Hospital, Make A Wish and Camp Sunshine, and research grants to, among others, the University of Minnesota's Timothy O'Connell Fund for the Study of Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

The winners of this year's Trot were Chris Teague (men) and Sophia Engel (women), and multiple medals were given to winners of various age groups.

After the race, Joanne O'Connell, another trustee of the Foundation and Timothy's mother, thanked the crowd again for attending.  "This is for Tim," said Mrs. O'Connell, "and for all kids and families affected by cancer.  Your support of the Foundation is making a real difference in people's lives."