Walter's Run Fosters Neighborhood's Holiday Spirit

Santa Claus stood at the finish line of outside the Sunday morning, offering its finishers high-fives as they entered the chutes and began to cool down having completed the annual 5k.

The congratulations were for the runners, but they may have also gone out to race director Keith Shields; the 18th running of the race blew out last year's record of 362 registered racers (296 of whom showed up), drawing 430 this year (with 402 completing the dash). That sort of turnout amounts to around $9,000 for donation to the YMCA Reach Out Campaign, the Boston Globe's Globe Santa program, and the Walter Burgess Scholarship Fund, and that doesn't include the sale of raffle tickets. Last year, the race raised $7,500.

"It's really exciting," said Shields. "Its a testament to the number of people the race has been able to reach out to. It's really grown a lot."

Runners and administrators gathered in the gym at the , where Christmas music played, raffle tickets were sold, and coffee and food were up for offer. For the kids, tables were set up featuring face painting and balloon animals. As the race's 11 a.m. start time drew near the holiday cheer swept outside to a chilly but beautiful day, and after some of the runners removed their Santa hats, the race was on.

The race has always had a connection to the holidays, and was originally titled the Santa Scamper 5k for its first 10 years. It was re-named in 2004 in honor of Walter Burgess, a member of the Parkway Running Club who suddenly passed away in 2003 at the age of 40.

"I think [Burgess] would be excited to see how much the race has grown and how festive it is," Shields said.

"I think a lot of people are catching on that it's a holiday tradition," he added.

Girls on the Run, a non-profit that trains Boston area girls to run a 5k while instilling self-confidence and positive body image, returned to the race for the second straight year and accounted for 30 young runners. The run's charitable mission attracts the program, said coach Jen McNamara. Plus, she said, the girls loved the race last year. "We wanted to come back. Walter's Run was so good to us last year," she said.

Mark Mayall of Maynard won the race for the second straight year, with a finishing time of 17:18. Brookline's Melissa Henry (18:51) was the first female to finish at 10th overall. West Roxbury saw a second place finisher in Jack Sullivan, and was also represented in fifth and sixth places by Christopher Roussin and David Flynn respectively.

Raffle prizes included tickets to the Frozen Fenway hockey games set for January 14 (which includes  vs BC High), a poster of Fenway Park signed by Johnny Pesky, and a free one month membership to the . Sponsors included New Balance, Tarlow, Breed, Hart & Rogers law firm, , QT2 Systems, , , amongst others.

handed out water to runners at the race's one-mile mark.