The Staten Island Runner


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Staten Island Athletic Club's
3 Mile Fun Run

January 6, 2001

Rich Orazem made it two wins in a row with a true wire-to-wire victory in Saturday's fun run. With the course snow covered and sloppy, Orazem sprang from the starting line and immediately opened a 30-yard lead as the rest of the pack showed much more caution on the slippery course. At the halfway point, Orazem's lead was 36 seconds over Dave Panza, who has been making a habit of top-3 finishes lately. Mark Vogt was another 23 seconds behind Panza with Tom Beck in close pursuit. However, the only thing that changed in the last half of the race was the gap between each runner, all of which grew, making for some hum-drum, uninspirational finishes. No Kodak moments for this group.

Orazem won going away in 19:04 which was indeed inspiring given the conditions with Panza second in 20:16, Vogt third in 21:02 and Beck fourth in 21:40. Anthony Skomina rounded out the top five with a 22:36 clocking.

Fortunately the women's race produced a closer finish, but sportsmanship rather than competition was the theme as Camile Lazer graciously yielded to Angela Conte a few steps before the finish. The two toured the course together at a mild pace, saving their race mode for better days. Officially Conte posted the winning time of 31:07, though both should be thought of as co-winners this week.

Despite the slippery course, there were no reported wipe-outs and all runners made it to the finish line safely. It's a shame that some spectators only show up to these races to see a runner crash and burst into flames. Fortunately there were no accidents, nobody fell into the lake and the overflow crowd of five left the event content, knowing that no matter what the conditions are, the fun run will go on. Speaking of longevity, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the fun run and SIAC is considering some ways to commemorate this milestone. If you have any suggestions, please post them on the web site forum.

Place	Last Name	First Name	Time	Pace	
1 Orazem Rich 0:19:04 0:06:21 2 Panza David 0:20:16 0:06:45 3 Vogt Mark 0:21:02 0:07:01 4 Beck Tom 0:21:40 0:07:13 5 Skomina Anthony 0:22:36 0:07:32 6 Rigolini Fred 0:24:50 0:08:17 7 Wowk John 0:26:45 0:08:55 8 Fiorillo Carl 0:26:45 0:08:55 9 Wright Bernie 0:26:45 0:08:55 10 Ruberto Stephen 0:27:15 0:09:05 11 O'Brien Stephen 0:27:45 0:09:15 12 Feldstein Joe 0:27:45 0:09:15 13 Gill Keith 0:27:45 0:09:15 14 Peterson Gary 0:28:38 0:09:33 15 Conte Angela 0:31:07 0:10:22