Dave Larkin made a triumphant, improbable return to a popular Jersey Shore race on Saturday. Five years after collapsing and nearly dying near the finish line of the Avon 5K Run/Walk , Larkin finished the 3.1-mile course in Avon by the Sea in just under 52 minutes.
Larkin and several participants were wearing “Team Dave” t-shirts featuring a lightning bolt, referencing the multiple, life-saving shocks administered by an automated external defibrillator to save his life. That was followed by quadruple heart bypass surgery. “The whole thing was just an experience of gratitude,” Larkin, 65, said following his finish.
Larkin said he mostly walked but did some running while pushing a wheelchair occupied by Sharon Lopez McDonald, a longtime friend. They both attended Morristown High School in the 1970s and she said had planned to run her first 5K race to celebrate his recovery until breaking her ankle last week while on a cruise with her husband. “I was so happy to share it with him,” she said.
Dave Larkin pushing Sharon Lopez McDonald, who recently broke her ankle, in a wheelchair during the Avon 5K Run/Walk in Avon by the Sea, New Jersey, on Saturday, June 1, 2024. Jim Lowney | For NJ Advance Media Previously a resident of Avon by the Sea, Larkin moved two years ago to Eagle, Colorado, where he works as the chief building official for Eagle County. He decided to fly back to New Jersey to mark a milestone in his recovery, on the fifth anniversary of the 2019 race.
Lark.
