9th Vision 5K Brings Visually Impaired and Sighted Runners Together in Competition
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
By: Marc Chalufour

Hundreds enjoy festive Father's Day of racing, food, and music; 2 national champions crowned

BOSTON – Nearly 600 runners and walkers took part in the 9th Vision 5K on a warm, sunny morning on the Boston College campus. Several hundred more joined for festivities that included kids’ events, live music, and a post-race BBQ. 

The Vision 5K course starts and finishes in the middle of Boston College’s tree-lined campus, and includes a loop of the Chestnut Hill Reservoir.  

Despite arriving from Mexico just the night before, Moises Beristain Gutierrez seized an early lead and pulled away from the field for a dominating victory, in a time of 17:11. Beristain Gutierrez is a regular at the Vision 5K. He’s now a three-time champion of the visually impaired division, and is twice the race’s overall champion. 

“I feel like I’m an ambassador to the visually impaired community,” Beristain Gutierrez said, through an interpreter, after the race. “It doesn’t matter if your vision is impaired—you can still do things that are very important, like this race. It is possible to run in a race—and win it.” 

Payson Warlick (Somerville, MA) edged the top visually impaired finisher, Jennifer Herring (Hamilton, NJ) by just 18 seconds to win the women’s title. Herring was competing in the Vision 5K for the first time, but she’s familiar with the area. She’s finished the Boston Marathon seven times, with her best time, 3:26:04, coming in 2006.  

“It’s wonderful,” Herring said after receiving her medal. “I know how hard it is to train if you can’t see. It’s so special that they recognize the visually impaired here.” As for where her USABA 5K national title ranks among her accomplishments? “It’s one of the best.” 

The Vision 5K boasts one of the most competitive visually impaired fields in the country each year. The race offers $8500 in prize money for the visually impaired division, including $900 for the top Americans, as the Vision 5K serves as the United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) national 5K championship. Men’s runner-up Kurt Fiene (Elmhurst, IL) joined Herring as newly-crowned national champions. 

In the Vision 5K’s most original division, more than two dozen sighted runners competed, with the help of guides, in the Blindfold Challenge. These top fund-raisers contributed to the event’s fundraising total of more than $150,000 for 2010. The race’s beneficiaries are The Carroll Center for the Blind, MAB Community Services, National Braille Press, and Perkins School for the Blind.