Nick
had to work until his senior year in high school. He
then went out for track and in one short year had an
impressive record. He set the Westerly High School
Record for the mile at 4:35.08. They ran 12 dual meets
and finished a ½ point behind powerhouse Classical for
the state division championship.
After
high school he ran for an AAU club in the mile and 1500
meter. Although not his distance, he once ran the Boston
Marathon at 3:24:32. At Manchester, CT in 1987 he ran
26:25 for about a 4¾ mile race. He was running even with
a girl named Karen Smyers and finally pulled away from
her at the finish. Karen went on to become a world class
professional triathlete, winning the Hawaii Ironman and
the Triathlon World Championship.
Nick
ran other races such as the Lawrence Memorial and the
Elks, where his best overall finish was 4th. His PR's
include: 5K- 16:41, 4mile- 22:23, 5mile- 27:56, 10K-
34:55, and 15K- 54:55.
Nick
wanted to give something back to the sport so he help
establish SNERRO, Southern New England Road Race
Officials. He always works with Tom McCoy on the fun
runs and puts on the Nick Bottone, Sr. timed track mile.
He helps out with other local races such as the
Shoreline Biathlon and the beach run.
Nick
feels his best race was the Manchester race but he feels
his greatest victory came at the age of 52 when he
married his wife Barbara.
(written by Buddy Grills (July 2006))