The Staten Island Runner

Staten Island Athletic Club's
3 Mile Fun Run

January 13, 2001

Rich Orazem got the hat trick, winning his third consecutive race over the treacherously icy 3-mile fun run course in an outstanding time of 17:55. Orazem is probably in the best shape of any Island road runner at this time of the year, as his winning time would probably translate into the 17:00 range under more ideal conditions. New Dorp freshman Chris Strumolo showed he is a developing talent to watch in clocking 18:44 for second place. Strumolo should crack the 18:00 barrier as soon as the conditions improve, which will position him well when he begins running the 5k HS XC course later this year. Strumolo tried to take the pace out, but was passed by a determined Orazem after about 300 yards. Orazem held a 19 second lead at the half-way point and pulled away from there to win easily. If he continues his mastery of slippery winter conditions, Orazem will soon prove to be the second coming of "Vanilla Ice".

A battle for third place seemed to be developing, as four runners reached the half-way point together, but Al Garcia (19:47) ended any thoughts of a fantastic finish by running the last 1.5 miles in 9:27 to pull away from David Panza (20:23) who thought better of trying to be a hero under the icy conditions. Anthony Skomina (21:12) took fifth place for the second week in a row. Thirty-three year-old Sean Gatling (21:46) and fifty-four year-old Dan Pettigrew (21:49) ganged up on the much younger sixteen year-old Justin Berg (21:47) in a close finish for places 6, 7, and 8. Never trust anyone over thirty.

Ruth Fairbrother won the women's race in 33:00 by outdistancing fun run regular Marie Garone in a wire-to-wire triumph.

While the course was about 25% covered with ice, should the forecast hold true, next week might promise to be the first clean fun run in a few weeks. Despite the ice, none of the runners fell, though in a bit of poetic justice, a park's department sanitation truck skidded into a snow bank at the top of the fun run hill and got stuck. In the very unofficial, and perhaps illegal, team category (which included an unusual 4-man roster just for today), SIAC edged the New Dorp Track Club 16-30. Score one for the geriatric crowd.