Autumnfest Kids Challenge a huge success

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Jared Downing, 9, of Woonsocket, gets out front early in the 250' crawl run, foot and bike race for youngsters during the Autumnfest Kids Challenge in WW II Veterans Memorial Park Saturday morning. (Photo/Ernest A. Brown)

With forty three local kids signed up before the day began, Autumnfest Kids Challenge 2012 organizer Nancy Phillips wasn't expecting much of a challenge. Boy was she surprised when by 10:00 a.m. parents and their children were lining up by the dozens for races that were expected to start by 11:00 a.m. Phillips and her staff of volunteers, which included Woonsocket Call publisher Mary Lynn Bosiak as well as staff members Diane Ames, Denise Benjamin and Diane Bessette, stepped it up a notch or two, signed up the athletes, fitted them with new shirts, and sent them off to their designated waiting areas. The races started promptly on time, and there were plenty of winners, in many different age groups, to keep most of the competitors happy.