If you're a race director, is 144 a good number for you? Is that up to your expectations for solid community support?

If your organizing a race in Plainville, Rehoboth or Norton, 144 finishers is a great turnout. The only races in Plainville and Rehoboth last year drew 77 and 47 runners respectively. Norton? Well, you can't calculate a percent increase if you have no participants and no race. Maybe Norton will have a race in 2008. For Wrentham, Norfolk and Seekonk, 144 would probably be up to expectations or better.

Foxboro would scoff at 144.

Two hundred finishers for a Foxboro race would be regarded as a disappointment. When you host the two largest races in the area, the Foxboro Against Diabetes 5K (700 finishers) and the Old Fashioned 10 Miler (400 plus), low triple digits is unacceptable. When it comes to community support, Foxboro can bring it.

Mansfield has the Billy Kelly races and the up-and-coming Mansfield High School Boosters 5K, so 144 would be categorized, in MCAS speak, as 'needs improvement.' Now for Attleboro, the largest town in the area; actually a metropolis with a population of 42,068, 144 would seem to be one digit short of a good turnout. However, if one looks at the results of the races held in 2007, the largest turnout of the five Attleboro races was ...144.

It seems almost a lifetime ago, six years to be exact, that the Ro-Jack's Five Mile had 1,000 runners cross the finish line on the Attleboro High School track. Now 144 is all that the city can muster for one race. The volunteers at the Ro-Jack's races used to exceed that. We're not speaking of transient 5K's here either. The Run For Humanity 5K, the Attleboro 5K and 10K, the Rome Blvd. 5 Mile and the Sensata 5K are all established events that should be an integral part of the Attleboro's health and recreation regime. The numbers say that they are not.

At a time when obesity stalks our nation, these races should be promoted and patronized by city businesses and municipal officials as a path to wellness. Anybody look at health insurance costs lately? Last fall, there was a great commotion made by city officials about encouraging people to walk. Now they're espousing a Step Challenge. When are we going to hear about real exercise? Cardio, aerobic, sweat rolling in your eyes exercise. Municipal officials need to get behind these races in order to show that there's substance behind the rhetoric. Maybe even a couple of them could show up and ...gasp! ...run the race?!

Attleboro runners are not immune to criticism because their lack of support is why 144 is a big number. Last year, the Sensata 5K had only 39 Attleboro residents in their race and Rome Blvd. had 34. Out of a population of 42,068? That percentage rounds to zero. The same day that the Rome Blvd. was held last September, the Foxboro Y 5K outdrew Rome Blvd. by over 100 people. Who's your daddy?

Okay, enough procrastination ...so which of the 2007 Attleboro races topped the list with 144?

It was Jim Whelan's Run For Humanity 5K, which will be held this Saturday. I'm sure that Whelan, as race director, would like to have more than 144 finishers at his race to support his passion for drumming up funds for the homeless. In its 16th year, his numbers have fluctuated between 80 and 180 but he tries very hard and there's no doubt about his commitment.

The race, because of its early spring date, has attracted some very fine runners over the years who come to the LaSallette Shrine to test their March fitness. Last year, Whitinsville Paul Reilly smoked the field with a 16:04 effort and B.A.A. studette Heidi Westerling took out a strong women's field in 17:20. Last year's fourth place finisher, Attleboro's Chris Elgar, had a prime vantage point to observe the RFH 5K phenomena.

"You look at this race and there are always a couple of people every year that are highly competitive," he said at last year's race. "My assumption is that they're looking at this as a nice easy early season tester and people like me are left way behind, wondering, 'I thought this would be an easy local race!' The guy that won it, if he had to, could have run infinitely quicker. I think it's neat for a local race to attract some random studs. I'd love to be able to make them sweat a little bit but that's not happening."

Reilly said that he'll be back to defend on Saturday and Westerling? She's running the women's Olympic Trials Marathon in Boston next month and living in New Hampshire now, so she's taking a pass. But I have little doubt that a strong competitor will step up for the women's title.

The real question is, will Attleboro runners step up? Or will we be talking about 144 and Attleboro again in 2009? Footnotes

Dead & Deferred Race Society - the Rehoboth Police 5K won't be held this spring; race director Pete Withers held out the prospect that the race may be pushed back into the fall but it won't happen in its usual mid May time slot ...the Bristol 10 Mile also is calling its quits; the race which had several iterations, from a Friday night in June to a Saturday morning in June to a Saturday afternoon in November, was held for over 30 years ...the Bradley Hospital 5K, held last April in East Providence is also gone ...if you're running the Boston Marathon, the University of Chicago wants to talk to you. The Graduate School of business is conducting a study on the relationship between marathon performance and satisfaction; check out http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/marathon/ to register ... the biggest local crowd of runners in 12 years will running Boston this year; 121 to date.

ROB ROSE is a running correspondent for the Sun Chronicle and can be reached be e-mail at LSXPLRER@comcast.net