Staten Island Athletic Club's
3 Mile Fun Run
June 2, 2001
On a day when the air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife, Luis “El Matador” Oyola, side-stepped the raindrops and sliced through the competition to win the fun run in a fine 17:34. Alma Ramos also overcame the conditions and a faulty car remote, to take the women’s race in 21:02.
Oyola battled Scott LaMorte through a 5:35 first mile, as Dave Panza trailed only 10 seconds behind. Oyola then shook LaMorte and used his strength to pull away, maintaining a 6-minute-mile pace to the finish. This left Panza to battle LaMorte, who admitted to feeling a bit run down on this day. Well, he was then literally run down by Panza at the half-way point. I wonder if he got the license plate number. Panza took second in 18:13 with LaMorte (18:31) holding off a closing Michael Perry (18:33) for third place. Bob Polchinski, though momentarily passed by tempo-running John Wowk and Steve Lauria, regrouped and pushed himself to his best fun run of the year by 37 seconds with a 19:15 in sixth place. Wowk (19:11) and Lauria (19:27) took places five and seven respectively. Scott Hall also ran a nice race with a 19:50 eighth-place performance. Gene Galasso (20:25) and Dave Down (20:40) returned to action in places nine and ten.
Alma Ramos, out for a strong tempo run, almost broke the 21:00 barrier with a 21:01. She would have pushed more up the last hill had she known her time, but that type of effort is better saved for a bigger race on a different day. Ramos’s quick time didn’t make for a fast getaway from the park, however, as a faulty car remote prompted a quick trip to radio shack with the fun run staff. Who needs triple A, when the fun run four is on the job. Sara Gardner was second in 23:21, not too far ahead of Karen McNamara who ran 23:55. Maggie Maglione (25:03) and Ruth Fairbrother (26:45) completed the top five females.
We apologize for not having the mile markers out, but they are made of wood and the last two rainy Saturdays would have made them as warped as my sense of humor. The official results for the last two weeks were also so wet that some names and times were illegible. This prompted us to convene in the men’s room where three sets of eyes analyzed each letter and number by holding the sheet up to the light and voting on what was the right result. We also discovered six hanging chads and a two-vote net gain for Al Gore. If any ofthe results are wrong, e-mail Richie Re on the web-site, or the Florida Supreme court. Al Gore is not allowed to e-mail Richie.
Don’t forget the Fun Run Championship next Saturday, June 9, at 10:00 am, at Clove Lakes. This will be the first of the five-race 25th Anniversary Fun Run Hall of Fame Series. There will be a free barbecue after the race, followed by the wildly popular, “get people drunk then make them throw a spear in a crowded park”, javelin competition. You won’t want to miss this. Monogrammed mugs go to all finishers and glassware will be awarded to the top men and women finishers. Fliers for both the Fun Run Championship and the Series are posted on the Web-site.
Results Place Name Sex Time Pace 1 Luis Oyola M 0:17:34 0:05:51 2 Dave Panza M 0:18:13 0:06:04 3 Scott LaMorte M 0:18:31 0:06:10 4 Michael Perry M 0:18:33 0:06:11 5 John Wowk M 0:19:11 0:06:24 6 Bob Polchinski M 0:19:15 0:06:25 7 Steve Lauria M 0:19:27 0:06:29 8 Scott Hall M 0:19:50 0:06:37 9 Gene Galasso M 0:20:25 0:06:48 10 Dave Down M 0:20:40 0:06:53 11 Alma Ramos F 0:21:01 0:07:00 12 Fred Rigolini M 0:21:26 0:07:09 13 Alan Fairbrother M 0:22:31 0:07:30 14 Sara Gardner F 0:23:21 0:07:47 15 Karen McNamara F 0:23:55 0:07:58 16 Bill Rivers M 0:24:12 0:08:04 17 Larry Araneo M 0:24:40 0:08:13 18 Jim Duffy M 0:24:42 0:08:14 19 Maggie Maglione F 0:25:05 0:08:22 20 Steve Corrigan M 0:26:26 0:08:49 21 Ruth Fairbrother F 0:26:45 0:08:55 22 Paul Forster M 0:26:53 0:08:58 23 John W. Ladley M 0:28:58 0:09:39 24 Lisa Rigolini F 0:29:41 0:09:54 25 Jonathan Swift M 0:29:56 0:09:59 26 Karie Gonzalez F 0:30:48 0:10:16