HAVERHILL — One of the longest-running events in the area will take place late Sunday morning in downtown Haverhill.

The Bobby Bell Road Race is indeed a running event. It's a five-mile race that draws runners of all ages and abilities from many miles around.

The restaurants that have sprung up along lower Washington Street in recent years bring many people to Haverhill, but the Bobby Bell Road Race has been pacing the city's resurgence since 1987 and has sprinted to the forefront of New England road races.

Originally, the competition was organized as a mirror image of the Bonnie Bell Road Race, which takes place in Boston the day after and permits only female runners. The Bobby Bell Road Race, which is always run the day before Columbus Day, was initially restricted to men but has admitted both genders for many years.

Now, just as relatively new restaurants such as George's at the Vault, Keon's Bistro and The Tap attract diners to downtown Haverhill and the shoe factories-turned-apartments net new residents, the Bobby Bell Road Race has become a destination for men and women with a different kind of appetite. Often wearing stopwatches and heart monitors, they are driven by the desire to win the whole thing, place first in one of the many categories, finish ahead of a rival — these things are almost always friendly rivalries — surpass a particular time — or "just finish this darn race."

The Bobby Bell is very popular among runners. Not only does it offer the best chance to walk, run or hobble away with a trophy — they have a category for "heavyweight seniors," age 40-plus, weight 190-plus, for example — the food after the race is plentiful. After all, the race starts and ends at the Lasting Room, 122 Washington St.

Also, just about every runner can get a T-shirt, even if he or she registers at the last minute.

The T-shirts are long gone before the starting gun at most other road races.

While the eateries provide jobs and revenue for the city, this long-running race pumps up a number of charitable causes, including scholarships. The Joyce Moriarty Memorial Fitness Walk, named for a Haverhill High School teacher who died several years ago, takes place right along with the race.

Last year's race drew 314 runners and 42 walkers, a record turnout, chief organizer David LaBrode said. He thinks "there's a possibility" the race will stride ahead of those numbers Sunday morning.

The final breakdown of last year's race proceeds follows:

$4,000 to the Sapienza Scholarship Fund

$1,235 to the Joyce Moriarty Scholarship Fund

$400 to Haverhill's Brightside

$350 to the Haverhill auxiliary police and DARE summer program

$125 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

The Sapienza scholarship is named in honor of Tony Sapienza, a Haverhill High School math teacher and coach who was an outstanding distance runner. During its first year, the Bobby Bell Road Race contributed $200 to the Sapienza Scholarship Fund.

"I have been promoting the downtown for 23 years," LaBrode said. "Many events have come and gone that promote downtown Haverhill, but for 23 years one has remained a constant, and that would be the Bobby Bell."

For more information about the race or to register, call 978-373-3408 or visit www.coolrunning.com/major/09/bbell.

"We loving having the race here and we look forward to this Sunday," said Michael Willett, vice president of operations at the Lasting Room, which has hosted the Bobby Bell for 22 years.

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