Staten Island Athletic Club's
3 Mile Fun Run
July 28, 2001
It's a good sign when we get 35 official runners (and at least a dozen more unofficial) at the fun run on an off week. After last week's huge 75 runner turnout for race #3 of the 25th Anniversary Hall of Fame Series, many runners were taking it easy, and hopefully plotting their strategy for race #4 of the series which will take place on August 11. Nonetheless, it was a quality field with six runners breaking 18:00, led by Dean Grusky who took the victory in 16:26. Alma Ramos once again won the women's race, this time with a slightly easier 20:49.
Al Garcia, who leads the series, had to settle for third place today, as Grusky and Tom Celic, made rare appearances at the fun run, both breaking 17:00. Grusky ended up with a solid winning margin, as Celic's 16:55 would have been good enough for a win on most days, but not today. Garcia's 17:15 was off his series times, but he is still the favorite to take top honors when we hand out the awards at the fifth race on August 25th. The veterans know how to turn it on when it counts. A-Born Etchison, who has been getting better and better all year, kicked it up another notch (sorry Emeril) with a strong 17:31 and yet another 2001 PR. Bam! I apologize to anyone who doesn't watch the food network, and therefore didn't get that last joke.
Scott LaMorte, who before the race threatened to do himself bodily harm if he didn't break 18:00, saved a manslaughter charge with his 17:45 fifth place finish. Luis Oyola closed out the sub-18:00 club with a 17:50, sixth place effort. If he didn't break 18:00 minutes he would have done bodily harm to Scott too, just kidding. This is still a no-contact sport. Brian Auer (18:10) and Dave Panza (18:18) ran well in places seven and eight, while Ian Gray (19:10) and Steve Woitkowski (19:18) both finished strong to close out the top ten.
Alma Ramos, who made it a point to list her age as 39 ¾, showed no signs of slowing down as she approaches the big four-oh, with her 20:49 win. Like Garcia, she is the strong favorite to win the fun run series and used today to sharpen up and take it a bit easy. Karen McNamara (24:58) and Sara Gardener (24:59) had a photo finish for second, though with both regularly running in the mid 22's, it might have been on of those, "you go ahead, no that's OK you go, no please you can take it", things. I know this is the fun run, but the crowd would like to see some serious injuries now and then. Perhaps Scott LaMorte has the right idea after all.
Next week's fun run will start a little late, perhaps 9:10am (I know, we usually don't get around to the starting line until then anyway). Louis Rodrigues, Mike Tobin and Agnes Oquendo will be setting off on their run to Miami that morning to raise money for breast cancer research, awareness and education. Please come out that morning to help cheer them on their way. Donation checks can be made payable to the American Cancer Society and mailed to Agnes at 121-3B Freedom Avenue, SI, NY 10314. For more information call Agnes at (718) 494-2734.
Results Place Name Sex Time Pace 1 Dean Grusky M 0:16:25 0:05:28 2 Tom Celic M 0:16:55 0:05:38 3 Alberto Garcia M 0:17:15 0:05:45 4 A-Born Etchison M 0:17:31 0:05:50 5 Scott LaMorte M 0:17:45 0:05:55 6 Luis Oyola M 0:17:50 0:05:57 7 Brain Auer M 0:18:10 0:06:03 8 Dave Panza M 0:18:18 0:06:06 9 Ian Gray M 0:19:10 0:06:23 10 Steve Woitkowski M 0:19:18 0:06:26 11 Steve Lauria M 0:19:26 0:06:29 12 Gene Galasso M 0:19:45 0:06:35 13 Scott Hall M 0:19:46 0:06:35 14 Alma Ramos F 0:20:49 0:06:56 15 Anthony Battista M 0:20:54 0:06:58 16 Ron Cohen M 0:21:00 0:07:00 17 Karl Hargett M 0:22:15 0:07:25 18 Sean Gatling M 0:22:17 0:07:26 19 Fred Rigolini M 0:22:50 0:07:37 20 Carl Fiorillo M 0:22:50 0:07:37 21 Andy Burek M 0:22:50 0:07:37 22 Eric Olsen M 0:22:52 0:07:37 23 Alan Fairbrother M 0:23:23 0:07:48 24 Dan Orlando M 0:23:50 0:07:57 25 Karen McNamara F 0:24:58 0:08:19 26 Sara Gardner F 0:24:59 0:08:20 27 Scott Brimmer M 0:25:17 0:08:26 28 Alex Liberatore M 0:25:40 0:08:33 29 Elliot Fox M 0:25:58 0:08:39 30 Paul Forster M 0:26:52 0:08:57 31 John Lilley M 0:26:56 0:08:59 32 Ruth Fairbrother F 0:27:10 0:09:03 33 Kathy O'Hara F 0:28:50 0:09:37 34 Joe Kearns M 0:29:11 0:09:44 35 Katherine Lewis F 0:29:11 0:09:44