by Nancy Beal

Evan Merchant, the Beals Island high school junior who outpaced more than 100 runners to win the Bay of Fundy 10-kilometer race in Lubec, was a month from finishing the fourth grade in 2010 when he entered his first road race. It wasn’t billed as a race, but rather the tenth annual Walk for Life, a fundraiser for a cancer support group started by one of his neighbors. Although the other participants walked the course from Addison’s town hall to Route 1 and back, Merchant and a school friend elected to run it.