Mystic — Officials from the Mystic Rotary approached town resident Jim Roy about holding a half-marathon in town as a fundraiser for their club. Roy, in turn, contacted Beth Shluger of the Hartford Marathon Foundation, which conducts more than 30 races per year.

“Like you have the perfect storm, this is the perfect team,” Roy said. “I said 'great idea,' but it's going to be a professionally run event. … We brought the local running community, the local flavor, the local excitement.”

“I've wanted to put on a race in Mystic for about 20 years,” said Shluger, who lives in Waterford. “I used to live in Mystic, I got married in Mystic. When Jim called, I was in my car on my way down here in about 15 minutes.”

Roy, the chairman of the John Kelley Memorial Fund which raised money for the bronze statue of Kelley, the late former Boston Marathon champion who hailed from Mystic, took to social media to advertise the race.

The Hartford Marathon Foundation also brought its considerable following.

The result was a sold-out inaugural event Sunday: the Mystic Half-Marathon & 10K, beginning in front of Olde Mistick Village and ending at the Mystic Aquarium, traveling across the drawbridge in downtown and along scenic River Road. Portions of Route 27 were closed for about 15 minutes around 7 a.m. to allow for the start of the race.

Chris Zablocki, 26, originally of Essex, was the first winner in the 1,200-person half-marathon field, finishing in 1 hour, 7 minutes, 58 seconds, while Sybil Shapiro, 37, of Clinton took the women's race in 1:24:24. Shapiro was sixth overall.

Also in the top five were Sam Alexander of Waterford, second in 1:10:32; Williams Sanders of Wethersfield, third; Mark Olivier of North Stonington, fourth; and David Billing of New York, fifth.

Steve Sergeant of Andover, Mass., was the 10K winner in 37:15 and Susan Hammond of Pawcatuck won the women's division of that event, with 600 runners, in 43:04.

Funny enough, Zablocki was one of the few people who didn't come for the celebration of Mystic.

Currently residing in Cupecoy, Saint Martin, in the Caribbean, where he attends medical school, Zablocki was in town for a friend's wedding and continues to train to try to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon. He has run six marathons so far this year.

“I keep missing it by a minute or two,” said Zablocki, a graduate of Xavier High School and Dartmouth University. “(Running Mystic) is good practice to help me stay focused. It's nice and flat to get things rolling, then there's some shade. I ran out of gas the last three miles, but it was downhill.”

Shapiro, meanwhile, is a self-described huge fan of the Hartford Marathon Foundation and its races.

“The HMF always has so much water, so many fans. The fans were incredible, everybody cheering out there. I called them and said, 'Please, can I get in?'” Shapiro said. “I have, like, the last number.”

Sergeant, who ran in high school under the legendary Kelley, who coached at Fitch, came back after receiving an email from Roy. Hammond, who hasn't raced in about two and a half years, keeping up with her sons' burgeoning sports careers, said she tried to sign up for the half-marathon only to find out it was sold out. She said she was trying to be a “positive role model” for her boys, who are beginning to be interested in cross country.

Also running the half-marathon was 1968 Boston Marathon winner, Amby Burfoot, who recently moved back to his hometown of Mystic.

“It was great fun. From what I saw, everybody in the race had a good, good time,” Burfoot said. “I think it's the beginning of something big. Every community needs a big, annual running festival. This, clearly, is going to be the big, annual festival.”

Burfoot said it was a tribute to the Mystic running community of 30 years ago.

“Only 30 years ago there were only 10 of us,” he said with a laugh.

Roy, whose house is on the course, helped design the 13.1-mile trek, along with HMF's Josh Miller. He said more than $30,000 was raised, which will go to the rotary to distribute to charity.

“I didn't run very fast, but it was great seeing all my friends and family out there,” said Roy, who ran the half-marathon. “It exceeds expectations. It has been a great day. The feeling's just a very, very good feeling. … It's like a parade.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com

Twitter: @vickieattheday