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Fun Run Championships, the Untold Story.

What the Advance didn't want you to know! So by now anyone who forked over a buck-fifty this Sunday knows how Al Garcia ran a smart race early, pushed the pace in the middle and went on to victory. We also know that Alma Ramos coasted to an easy win on the women's side. The listing of the top 25 male and female finishers made it seem like such a competitive and well run event. But what really went on this Saturday……….and who is to blame.

For starters, the starters were a little slow on the gun, which caused the clock to read seven seconds too fast. We will correct this error by starting the clock one second early for each of the next seven fun runs. All official times were correct. A chain reaction trip at the start nearly took out half of the top ten runners. Once underway, however, the race was certainly one to remember. Aside from the winners some runners had stellar performances. Luis Oyola set his fun run PR with a 17:04 (oh to have those seven seconds back). A-borne Etchison broke 17:50 and Dave Panza broke 18:00 for the first time this year, with Mark Vogt and Sidney Martinez equaling the 18:00 target with 2001 PRs. Anthony Pitaressi also set a year 2001 PR as did Fred Rigolini.

Lissy Binder had her best fun run of the year with a 20:56 as did Barbara North in 21:35 and Rita Dougherty in 22:22. Fran Messina returned to action with a 23:20 and so did Dorothy Vogt with a 25:25.

But the highlight of the day was third annual javelin competition, held only after each participant was adequately intoxicated. Since this was taking too long, it was decided that all participants should drink during the entire competition, or at least until somebody got seriously injured. Chris Fekete unleashed a throw of 121 feet on the first attempt of the competition, and while there was some good drama (and hysterics), this throw was enough for the win. Luis "El Matador" OyoYoYo (115') Matt Ryan (105' 3"), and Steve McNamara (105' 1") tried gallantly to surpass Fekete's mark, but none could measure up, so to speak. With the win in hand, Fekete used his last throw to go for the record (whatever that is) and gave the crowd something to talk about on the way home, with a 135' 2" fling. Honorable mentions go to Fred Rigolini for the best break dance to avoid the foul line and to Alex Liberator for the best intentional face-first flop over the foul line. Justin Re also gets kudos for using his head and the entire field is commended for not spearing 5-year-old Liam Vogt, who was one of the few people brave enough (or gullible enough) to be a javelin catcher.

The women's competition was so close that all six were within 10 feet of each other after two rounds. Defending champion Karen McNamara held a narrow lead going into the final round, which stood up after Annette Gabriella (33' 1") and Rita Dougherty (33' 7") were unable to break McNamara's 39' 3" toss from round two. Not to be outdone by Fekete's encore, McNamara went for the record (again, we use this term loosely since we just haven't got a clue) and unleashed a 44' throw. Alma Ramos had the best rendition of triple jump (maybe that will be next year), while Lisa Mangus came close to her husband Tommy's winning measurement from 1999, falling a mere 100 feet short.

The most interesting observation of the day was that both the Men's and Women's winners in the race finished last in the javelin. Are they just one-sport wonders, or did the rest of the javelin field take it easy in the race to save themselves for the real competition? Perhaps next year we should combine the results of both for the Staten Island biathlon. Or add the drinking part for a triathlon. If that happens my money is on Luis.

JAVELIN RESULTS

Place Name		Round 1		Round 2		Round 3
MEN			
1. Chris Fekete		121'		116'		135' 2"
2. Luis Oyola		115'		91' 6"		92' 6"
3. Matt Ryan		90' 3"		105' 3"		Foul
4. Steve McNamara	99'		105'		105' 1"
5. Tommy Mangus		95' 7"		Wandered away	
6. Fred Rigolini	Foul		81' 9"	
7. Bob Roberts		73'		71'	
8. John Wowk		Foul		71' 7"	
9. Tim McCauley		70' 8"		61' 1"	
10. Mike Fassrainer	64' 4"		69' 9"	
11. Alex Liberatore	69' 8"		Foul	
12. Joe Vaccaro	Foul 	65'	
13. Steve Lauria	Foul		64' 4"	
14. Darryl Peterson	64' 3"		45'	
15. Rich Orazem		59' 3"		63' 7"	
16. Danny Quilty	59' 3"		Went home	
17. Bernie Wright	Not paying attention	57'	
18. Mike Roberts	44' 2"		52'	
19. Al Niles		Foul		50' 9"	
20. Scott LaPiedra, Jr.	48' 3"		48' 8"	
21. Mike G		47' 3"		48' 4"	
22. Joe Kearns		44' 9"		44' 3"	
23. Justin Re		Foul		39' 9"	
24. Scott LaMorte	36' 4"		39' 2"	
25. David Caputo	31' 4"		Foul	
26. Al Garcia		Foul		Went home	
			
WOMEN			
1. Karen McNamara	22' 2"		39' 3"		44'
2. Rita Dougherty	28' 9"		33' 7"		22'
3. Gabriella Annette	31' 4"		33' 1"		30' 6"
4. Lisa Mangus		16' 6"		29' 9"	
5. Barbara Vaccaro	29' 2"		21' 8"	
6. Alma Ramos		21' 4"		26' 7"