Staten Island Athletic Club's
3 Mile Fun Run
August 12, 2001
The fourth race in the 25th Anniversary Fun Run Hall of Fame Series featured a repeat of last week’s Hazy Hot and Humid conditions, and perhaps was even more uncomfortable. The runners must be getting used to the conditions, as plenty of fast times were recorded (or written down in pencil, as it were). Greg Mason, a former HS star, took an easy victory, recording a 16:40 (in pencil on the clipboard, now that I think about it, this week we had a pen). Kendra Kollar, a relative unknown at the fun runs took first for the women in a fast 19:23.
Another aggressive start produced a large lead pack. Were they throwing caution to the wind, given the humidity (which hit 100% by 10am)? Mason was the class of the field and ran to an uncontested victory. Luis Oyola, who trailed the pack early, rallied in the middle to catch Anthony Pitarresi midway. But Pitarresi, who was battling Oyola for second place in the series as well as today’s race, pulled away to take second in 17:08 to Oyola ’s 17:28. Both were great times given those three H’s I talked about earlier. Shaun Roth (17:36), A-Born Etchison (17:47), Brian Auer (17:52) and Scott LaMorte (18:05), who made up the rest of that lead pack, took places four to seven. After a brief intermission second pack members Steve Lauria (18:36), Keith Gill (18:53, a 2001 best) and Tim McCauley (19:04) closed out the top ten.
Kendra Kollar took the women’s race with nearly a one-minute cushion. Gail Marino (20:31) edged this week’s Hall of Fame inductee Grace DePompo (20:42) for second place. Consistent Barbara North (21:36) took fourth and has now run all four series races within a five second range. I don’t now if that’s very impressive or like watching re-runs on TV, I’ll vote for impressive. Karen McNamara ( 22:07), Sara Gardner (22:41), Lisa Fagnani (23:58 a 2001 best), Fran Messina (23:59), Kathy Turscelli (25:34) and Gabriella Annetta (25:44) closed out the top ten of a very deep women’s field.
This week, we honored Bob Orazem and Grace DePompo with induction into the Fun Run Hall of Fame. Bob still holds four Staten Island running records that he set in the 1980s. If you are wondering why the records lasted so long, take a look at the home page link to the records and check out how fast he ran during that era. Not too many runners can even come close to those times today! In addition to his success in competition, Bob has been one of the greatest supporters of the Staten Island running scene, and donated about a million hours of his time to the cause, recently heading the indoor track effort. Bob’s wife Grace proved herself to be the top Island woman at least twice with her two Triple Crown victories. She wins the Police/Fire 5 miler year after year. She was well on her way to the millenium challenge victory last year before injury ended the quest. Some have also said (now this isn’t me talking) that she deserves numerous awards just for putting up with Bob all these years.
August 25th will be the finale to the series. We will have a full breakfast in the picnic area at the top of cardiac hill along with music and the Awards ceremony, where trophies will go to the top finishers in the series. Check out the web site for more information.
Results Place Name Sex Time Pace 1 Greg Mason M 0:16:40 0:05:33 2 Anthony Pitarresi M 0:17:08 0:05:43 3 Luis Oyola M 0:17:28 0:05:49 4 Shaun Roth M 0:17:36 0:05:52 5 A-Born Etchison M 0:17:47 0:05:56 6 Brian Auer M 0:17:52 0:05:57 7 Scott LaMorte M 0:18:05 0:06:02 8 Steve Lauria M 0:18:36 0:06:12 9 Kieth Gill M 0:18:52 0:06:17 10 Tim McCauley M 0:19:04 0:06:21 11 Lassana Moore M 0:19:05 0:06:22 12 Steve Woitkowski M 0:19:07 0:06:22 13 Bob Orazem M 0:19:18 0:06:26 14 Kendra Kollar F 0:19:23 0:06:28 15 Fred Rigolini M 0:19:26 0:06:29 16 Chris Strumolo M 0:19:30 0:06:30 17 Gene Galasso M 0:19:33 0:06:31 18 Gail Marino F 0:20:31 0:06:50 19 Grace DePompo F 0:20:42 0:06:54 20 Stephen McNamara M 0:20:48 0:06:56 21 Sidney Martinez M 0:21:11 0:07:04 22 Carl Fiorillo M 0:21:26 0:07:09 23 Barbara North F 0:21:36 0:07:12 24 Paul Buckheit M 0:21:43 0:07:14 25 Al Niles M 0:22:07 0:07:22 26 Karen McNamara F 0:22:07 0:07:22 27 Alan Fairbrother M 0:22:33 0:07:31 28 Sara Gardner F 0:22:41 0:07:34 29 Mike McCool M 0:23:28 0:07:49 30 John W. Ladley M 0:23:29 0:07:50 31 Lisa Fagnani F 0:23:58 0:07:59 32 Fran Messina F 0:23:59 0:08:00 33 Paul Forster M 0:24:04 0:08:01 34 Nick Martino M 0:24:05 0:08:02 35 Trevor George M 0:24:58 0:08:19 36 Tony Celentano M 0:25:16 0:08:25 37 Joe Feldstein M 0:25:20 0:08:27 38 Kathy Truscelli F 0:25:34 0:08:31 39 Sam Carollo M 0:25:40 0:08:33 40 Gabriella Annetta F 0:25:44 0:08:35 41 William Richter M 0:25:56 0:08:39 42 Angela Conte F 0:26:05 0:08:42 43 Andrea Dorman F 0:26:06 0:08:42 44 Ruth Fairbrother F 0:26:17 0:08:46 45 Maureen Noland F 0:26:17 0:08:46 46 Johnathan Swifty M 0:27:47 0:09:16 47 Karie Gonzalez F 0:28:04 0:09:21 48 Kathy Roppolo-O'Hara F 0:28:11 0:09:24 49 Lisa Rigolini F 0:29:17 0:09:46 50 Kathy Lewis F 0:29:58 0:09:59