The Staten Island Runner

Staten Island Athletic Club's
3 Mile Fun Run

September 1, 2001

With fall approaching, the Fun Run took on a discernable glow of maroon and gold, however, it had nothing to do with the leaves changing color. An army of young Farrell Lions were on hand to help honor their coach, Tom Cuffe, who was inducted into the Fun Run Hall of Fame today. Veteran A-Born Etchison had to hold off one of those Lions, Joseph Annarumma, before securing his first fun run win of the year in 17:44. Alma Ramos, who was grateful that Farrell is an all male school, had no such challenge from any young upstarts, and cruised to victory in the women’s race in 21:10.

Etchison broke from the pack by the first bridge, shaking off Luis Oyola and a few determined underclassmen. After registering 5:45 for both the first and second miles, the consistent Etchison maintained his lead to close out his 2001 best in style with a victory. Annarumma, however, tried to make a race of it at the end, closing to within six seconds of the winner, taking second with a 17:50. Luis Oyola had a rare 18:00+ race, running 18:11 for third place. Mark Vogt (18:21) returned to form in forth, passing Farrell’s second man Graig Russo (18:26) down the stretch. Don’t let that gray hair fool ya, Mark (and a few of us forty-somethings) can still kick it in. If you don’t believe me just check out the over the hill gang running for the 8:15 AM ferry as the doors are closing. We can turn it on when it counts!

The high school pair of Jonathan Perina (18:49) and Dave Amarasena (18:54) held off the kick of 37 year old Steve Woitkowski (18:56), despite Woitkowski’s first sub 19:00 fun run of the year. If Woitkowski were late for work, maybe things would have been different. Eugene Borukhov (18:59) was ninth and Matt Guido (19:14), despite nearly making a Luis Oyola wrong turn at the end, took tenth.

Alma Ramos eased through a 21:10 for yet another win in the women’s race. With a number of big races coming up, many runners backed off a bit. Alma mixed up her pacing with three minutes of alternating hard/easy running. Kathy Truscelli was second in 25:30 and Ruth Faitbrother sans Fido was third in 26:10. Lisa Rigolini (28:29) and Marie Garone (37:50) closed out the top five.

Prior to today’s race Tom Cuffe was honored with induction into the Fun Run Hall of Fame. Tom was a star for Monsignor Farrell in the mid 1970s, going undefeated in his Freshman year XC season and only lost one race to a Freshman on the track. He achieved All American status in the 3000 meter steeplechase. He ran for the famous Greenery racing team with a string of sub 25:00 five milers. A consistent sub 15:00 fun runner, he sports a 14:29 PR, very close to the course record. Now the coach of the Farrell Lions, he led them to the Triple Crown last year. His excellence in running and dedicated service to both the high school and road racing communities are highly commended.

The course was re-measured after the race. This was the third measurement over the past 3 months and all three confirm that the course is ACCURATE. Despite the widespread belief by many (myself included) that the course is 3.05 miles, all 3 measurements confirmed the 3.00 mile distance. The second mile, however, was about 100 feet short, with the third 85 feet long, hence that bad third mile split. The first mile was about 15 feet long. Kudos to Bob Orazem for not bowing to the pressure to shorten the course. We will move the markers for the next fun run on September 15. There will be no fun run next week due to the Marty Celic run, which starts at 10:00 AM. Check in will be at the Cargo Café at 120 Bay Street on Thursday Sept. 6 from 6pm to 10pm.