Staten Island Athletic Club's
3 Mile Fun Run
July 7, 2001
Al Garcia and Alma Ramos Repeat in Second Series Fun Run
The five race fun run series to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the weekly Fun Run is taking us “back in time” to the early years of the fun run. Today’s race took us all the way back to one month ago when Alma Ramos and Al Garcia won the Fun Run Championships. Both made it two series wins in a row with today’s race. It’s also fitting that both are long-time fun runners with decades of wins between them.
Fifty-two official runners set out on a picture perfect day, a welcome relief from the high humidity of Wednesday’s Pepper Martin Run (I told you Mother Nature prefers the fun runs). Luis Oyola, Anthony Pitarresi and Scott LaMorte held the early lead through a 5:40 first mile. Garcia, meanwhile, was rating off the trio, which became a duo after LaMorte fell off the pace. Garcia eventually timed his move and passed Oyola and Pitarresi on his way to a nice winning margin and a 16:55 time. Pitaressi caught Oyola on the last hill, taking second in 17:18, just ahead of Oyola’s 17:22. Pitarresi has improved steadily all year, especially after my April 21st article when I said to expect “more improvement soon” after he ran an 18:38. The former Farrell star has now moved into the Staten Island elite crowd and will get even better before the year is out.
Scott LaMorte registered a sub-18:00 performance with his 17:54, fourth place finish. Dave Michaels, who like Pitarresi, is improving rapidly with his best times still ahead, rallied to pass Dave Panza and Steve Lauria in the last mile, taking fifth in 18:08. Panza (18:10) and Lauria (18:28) took sixth and seventh with solid runs of their own.
Pete Ballentine a former St. Peter’s runner from the late 1970’s, took eighth in 19:20, followed by Keith Gill (19:24), Gene Galasso (19:26), Steve Woitkowski (19:28), and Joe Quinn (19:37). Jeff Benjamin, who was inducted into the Fun Run Hall of Fame today, was escorted to the finish line by his entorage of Justin Berg, Dave Amarasena, Chris Strumolo and Scott Hall, all clocking 19:44. Jeff, the current track coach at New Dorp HS, was honored for his superb performances at the fun runs over the years and his dedicated service to the fun run and running community.
Déjà vu number two occurred in the women’s race (for those new to the sport, it’s really the same race as the men’s race, it’s just the race within the race, and gets us home quicker than having two races). Alma Ramos had no trouble winning but couldn’t quite duplicate her 19:59 time from last month, recording a time of 20:00 (though 19:59 sounds so much faster). Not to be upstaged, was Gail Marino, our female inductee into the Fun Run Hall of Fame, who was second in 20:50. Gail has been a fixture at Island road races for years and has excelled at distances from our 3 mile fun run up to a Marathon and beyond to Ultra distances. I can’t think of another Island athlete who has shown that type of versatility and handled the dedicated training for so many years without letting up.
Fifty year old Barbara North was the third female in 21:32, bettering her master’s winning time at the Fun Run Championships by 3 seconds. Karen McNamara took fourth in 22:29 with Fran Messina locking up fifth in 23:04. Rounding out the top ten women were Maggie Maglione (24:02), Lisa Fagnani (24:10), Gabriella Annette (24:54), Barbara Jane Vaccaro (25:20), Dorothy Vogt (25:25) and Maureen Noland (25:25). Okay, that’s really eleven, but the tie for tenth messed everything up.
Special thanks to Mark Vogt for putting on a great event today, complete with music, apples, oranges, donuts and awards. The next race in the series, on July 21, will be hard pressed to match Mark’s bash. More special thanks to Debra Mahr who was the person who talked Salem Evangelical Free Church into opening up their bathroom for the Pepper Martin Run. Thanks also to the church staff for putting up signs and giving out drinks.
We will post the series standings around mid-week.
Results Place Name Sex Time Pace 1 Al Garcia M 0:16:55 0:05:38 2 Anthony Pitarresi M 0:17:18 0:05:46 3 Luis Oyola M 0:17:22 0:05:47 4 Scott LaMorte M 0:17:54 0:05:58 5 Dave Michaels M 0:18:08 0:06:03 6 Dave Panza M 0:18:10 0:06:03 7 Steve Lauria M 0:18:28 0:06:09 8 Pete Ballentine M 0:19:20 0:06:27 9 Keith Gill M 0:19:24 0:06:28 10 Gene Galasso M 0:19:26 0:06:29 11 Steve Woitkowski M 0:19:28 0:06:29 12 Joseph Quinn M 0:19:37 0:06:32 13 Jeff Benjamin M 0:19:44 0:06:35 14 Chris Strumolo M 0:19:44 0:06:35 15 Justin Berg M 0:19:44 0:06:35 16 Dave Amarasena M 0:19:44 0:06:35 17 Scott Hall M 0:19:44 0:06:35 18 Alma Ramos F 0:20:00 0:06:40 19 Dan Pettegrew M 0:20:02 0:06:41 20 Brian Foster M 0:20:30 0:06:50 21 Gail Marino F 0:20:50 0:06:57 22 Matt Moog M 0:21:14 0:07:05 23 Stephen McNamara M 0:21:18 0:07:06 24 Barbara North F 0:21:32 0:07:11 25 Anthony Battista M 0:21:38 0:07:13 26 Al Niles M 0:22:07 0:07:22 27 Karen McNamara F 0:22:29 0:07:30 28 Fran Messina F 0:23:04 0:07:41 29 Alen Fairbrother M 0:23:16 0:07:45 30 Bill Rivers M 0:23:47 0:07:56 31 Maggie Maglione F 0:24:02 0:08:01 32 Lisa Fagnani F 0:24:10 0:08:03 33 Gabriella Annette F 0:24:54 0:08:18 34 Elliot Fox M 0:25:04 0:08:21 35 Craig Cosenza M 0:25:16 0:08:25 36 Fred Rigolini M 0:25:18 0:08:26 37 Barbara Jane Vaccaro F 0:25:20 0:08:27 38 Carl Fiorillo M 0:25:20 0:08:27 39 Joe Vaccaro M 0:25:21 0:08:27 40 Dorothy Vogt F 0:25:25 0:08:28 41 Maureen Noland F 0:25:25 0:08:28 42 Alex Liberatore M 0:25:38 0:08:33 43 Al Flint M 0:26:30 0:08:50 44 Trevor George M 0:26:30 0:08:50 45 Rich Ruberto M 0:26:37 0:08:52 46 Tony Celentano M 0:27:38 0:09:13 47 Ruth Fairbrother F 0:27:55 0:09:18 48 Kathlyne Ropollo-O'Hara F 0:28:20 0:09:27 49 Lisa Rigolini F 0:28:47 0:09:36 50 Bill Hibert M 0:29:45 0:09:55 51 Katherine Lewis F 0:30:02 0:10:01 52 Youree Garcia F 0:37:10 0:12:23