Freshman Pedals to Slow Victory in Wellesley Race

Freshman Chris Chase battled gusty headwinds and heavy automobile traffic to win the annual Harvard-Wellesley bicycle race Sunday.

Chase's time was a relatively slow 36:32. The record for the 12.4-mile course is 29 minutes. Starting out six minutes behind touring bikes and two minutes behind the tandems. Chase, peddling in the standard division, had outdistanced nearly the entire field of 26 by the halfway point.

Padriac and Harry Spence, pedalling a tandem racer, zipped across the finish line 17 seconds ahead of freshman Chase to receive a laurel wreath and a kiss each from Debby Hall, equipment director for the Wellesley Outing Club, which, along with the Harvard Outing Club, sponsored the affair.

The Spences' bicycle-built-for-two was ineligible for the first prize -- a sleek Allegro touring bike donated by the Bicycle Exchange. The only other tandem entered in the special cycle category puffed acriss the line a half hour later, in last place.

In the racing bike class, freshman Rob Kirshner won in 38:44. Dan Hooper, a junior, was second in 38:15.

Junior Chris Hallowell set the pace for touring cycles with a time of 47:35. Dennis McCullough was next in 49:15.

Near the Newton line, a 70-year-old Cambridge foot specialist slipped into the race from a side road and finished with a recorded time of 50 minutes. "Some Harvard cop told me about the race this morning," he said at the finish line. "He dared me to enter, so of course I had to."