EDWARDSVILLE - Zach Boyle of Chesterfield, Mo., was the men's winner of the Downtown Dash foot race, a two-lap run around the bicycle race course, at the BuseyBank Edwardsville Rotary Criterium Saturday evening, coming in with a time of 6:53, three seconds ahead of runner-up Caleb Grinter of Marine.

Boyle won the race for the second consecutive time, having won it in 2019 but not being able to race in 2020, as the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Boyle, along with the other runners, were very happy and grateful to be back at it for the 2021 edition.

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"Yeah, it's great," Boyle said in an interview shortly after the race. "This is an awesome race, the whole community comes out. It's awesome to have in-person racing again after such a long hiatus with virtual races, so it's just awesome to see everybody come out, the atmosphere's awesome. Yeah, it's a great event."

The conditions were warm and somewhat humid for the race, but Boyle felt very good after the event.

"I feel pretty good," Boyle said. "It's a little humid out, but you can't pick the day, so I was just happy to come out and had some runners that pushed along the course, so yeah, feeling tired but I'm feeling good."

Boyle had no specific strategy for the race but just wanted to come out and go hard for the entire time as he continues to work towards running longer-distance races.

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"Just wanted to go hard," Boyle said. "I have been training for much longer distances, so this is my second workout of the day. So I've done some morning work, and I'm just kind of coming back, trying to get in some more intensity. So it's just to go out and kind of push and see what happens."

The loss of training time and competitive races due to the pandemic did hurt many runners, and Boyle and his fellow runners are making the best of the situation.

"Yeah, I mean, it's unfortunate," Boyle said. "It kind of is what it is, you've just got to make the best of it, so I think you'll see a lot of runners come out maybe in better shape, maybe not having the opportunity to race as much, having a better opportunity to train. So I think you'll see a lot of people anxious to get back, excited to get back, and wanting to put in some good work leading up to it and try to set some fast times."

Of course, Boyle and the other runners feel great to be back at racing and fed off the fans' energy and support during the run.

"Yeah, absolutely," Boyle said. "You can tell from the spectators, I think they're happy to be back, they're happy to have an event and the athletes just feed off that. So having them there on the sidelines is huge for us as the athletes."

And the community support that events like the Criterium enjoy is very important for the athletes, the fans, and the businesses that support the races.

"Oh, absolutely," Boyle said. "All the businesses and restaurants and entertainments that are out here supporting it makes an event like this possible, for sure. Just thank you to the Edwardsville community for putting this on and for making it happen."

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