6000 Women Compete in Boston Run

A roar went up among the entrants in yesterday's ten-kilometer Bonne Bell race as front-runner Patti Lyons-Catalano sped by on her return trip to the Boston Common.

Amid cries of "Get 'em Patti!" and "Looking Good," the runners momentarily forgot about their own races to cheer on Lyons-Catalano, who blazed home with a new American record of 32 minutes, 24 seconds.

Lyons-Catalano and the other runners also received support from the crowds of men clagging the roads and bridges of the 6.2 mile course. Members of the Boys Club of Boston dispensed cups of water at the seven waters stations, Massachusetts Institute of Technology students watched from the roofs of fraternities and serenaded the more than 6000 women with selections from Jackson Browne's album, "Running on Empty."

Forbidding gray skies, cutting winds and 50-degree temperatures did little to daunt the enthusiasm of the scantily-clad women who turned out in record numbers to run in the fourth Bonne Bell race.

The race began and finished on Boston Common, threading through Cambridge along the Charles and turning around at the Boston University Bridge.

Because applications rose from a few hundred four years ago to more than 7000 this year, Conventures, Inc.--the race director--had to turn away more than 1000 applicants and to introduce computer scoring at the finish line.

Like grocery store merchandise, each entrant had a bar code, which she tore off her race number, and handed to officials when she completed the course. A Honeywell computer then matched times, codes and names and issued a printout that was posted on Boston Common.

A computer analysis of the applicants showed that the average runner was 5 feet 4 inches, weighed 121.3 pounds, and was about 29 years old, The largest group of runners was the 25-29 age group (1760 runners), while the smallest was the over 60 group, with only 9 entrants.

Chiquita Banana, Pepsi and Columbo Yogurt, helped sponsor the race and gave out 11,000 bananas, 15,000 cups of Pepsi, and 11,000 cups of yogurt at the finish line.