The Staten Island Runner

With the fun run field somewhat thinned-out due to Sunday’s Scotts’s Race, the door was open for a dark horse to steal the show. Instead, Chris Fekete, no stranger to the winner’s circle, got on his horse in the last mile to overcome a determined Eugene Borukhov and win the race in 18:14. Theresa Sorrentino, a frequent top-3 finisher lately, trotted home in 23:17 to lead the fillies.

OK, enough of this horse-stuff.

With the best race weather of the year and temperatures rising through the 50’s, an enthusiastic lead pack bounded toward the maze of bridges. Borukhov eventually took on the front-runner role, and held a seven second lead on Fekete at the halfway point. Last week, Fekete picked it up at this point after Mark Vogt almost caught him (there’s nothing like the sight of a gray-haired masters runner closing in, to motivate a 23-year-old to kick it up a notch). This week, Fekete decided that 16-year-old Borukhov, just didn’t have the experience, and moved ahead in the last mile for a close two-second victory. Borukhov settled for second in 18:16. Dave Panza was apparently spurred on (oops, I promised no more horse-stuff) by Anthony Pitarresi’s challenge and battled him to the tape. Panza prevailed in 18:35, while Pitarresi gladly accepted his fourth-place 18:38, as it was his best time of the year by 25 seconds. Pitarresi is a former Farrell runner from the mid-1980s who only started his comeback in December, so expect more improvement soon. He was warned by other “comeback” runners that any remnants of your HS running abilities desert you forever at age 35, so at 33 he has two more years to use it or lose it.

Sean Gatling closed out the top 5 with his second sub 20:00 fun run of the year, stopping the clock in 19:59. This confused the other runners who were still out on the course and expected to see their own time at the finish. Just kidding, the clock kept ticking. In a rare four way photo finish, Andy Burek, John Wowk, Fred Rigolini and Carl Fiorillo each recorded identical 25:20 times. The photo will have to be analyzed for some time to determine the actual places. If anyone would like to volunteer for this task, please contact the web site, it’s too gruesome for me.

Considerably easier on the eyes, Theresa Sorrentino outlasted Lisa Fagnani (24:35) in the women’s race. Theresa has been close to breaking the 23:00 barrier of late, but took the 23:17 victory as an ample prize for the day. Fagnani, a relative newcomer, ran her fastest time of the year. Ruth Fairbrother closed out the top 3 with a 25:43.

With the nice weather finally upon us, expect bigger crowds and faster times to follow. I even hear some finish-line Gatorade is on it’s way.

RESULTS

Place Name Sex Time

1 Chris Fekete M 18:14
2 Eugene Borukhov M 18:16
3 David Panza M 18:35
4 Anthony Pitarresi M 18:38
5 Sean Gatling M 19:59
6 Raffaele Bevilacqua M 20:19
7 Scott Hall M 21:00
8 John Kane M 22:05
9 Sidney Martinez M 22:06
10 Keith Gill M 22:07
11 Bill Rivers M 22:35
12 Theresa Sorrentino F 23:17
13 Stephen Ruberto M 24:29
14 Lisa Fagnani F 24:35
15 Alex Olaskiewicz M 25:09
16 Paul Forster M 25:16
17 Fred Rigolini M 25:20
17 Carl Fiorillo M 25:20
17 John Wowk M 25:20
17 Andy Burek M 25:20
21 Craig Posenza M 25:37
22 Ruth Fairbrother F 25:43
23 Richard Ruberto M 27:10