Two Hundred and Eighty-Nine Participants Ran Main Street This Year
Everyone was keeping a watchful eye on the track of Hurricane Earl just a couple of days before the 6th annual Main Street Mile in Farmingdale, but the weather could not have been better for this great event which was held on Saturday, Sept. 4, producing two record breaking performances for both the men’s and women’s races. This Labor Day tradition has grown every year since the first race in 2005. The event was presented by Runner’s Edge, Croxley Ale House, B103 Radio, and Dr. Larry Lembo. The co-race directors were the team of: Runner’s Edge owner, Bob Cook; Mark Leff of Cisco Systems; Mindy Davidson of the Greater Long Island Running Club and BOCES; Eric Bressler of Wikham, Bressler, Gordon and Geasa; and Craig Gluf of Henry Schein. Proceeds exceeding $5,000 from the Main Street Mile were donated to support the Companions in Courage Foundation (CiC), founded by former New York Islander and Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine, who also participated in the event. The race finished in front of the Farmingdale Firehouse and Village Hall, with the post race awards ceremony taking place at the Gazebo on the Village Green. There were 289 participants in the race, 37 of them from Farmingdale and many from surrounding local towns such as Massapequa and Seaford, and as far away as Maryland and Charlotte, North Carolina.
The event has strong local representation with other sponsors that include Dr. Larry Lembo, a Farmingdale-based chiropractor; Croxley Ale House, Carter, DeLuca, Farrell and Schmidt of Melville, Cisco Systems, B103 Radio, PC Richard and Son, The Library Café of Farmingdale; Wikham, Bressler, Gordon and Geasa of Melville; Anheuser Busch; the Farmingdale Observer; Dr. Joseph Ciaccio, DDS of Hewlett; Babylon Bike Shop, Mejias, Milgrim and Alvarado, Long Island Triathlon Coach; Dave and Busters of Farmingdale; Bill Romas, LMT; The Greater Long Island Running Club, and Jeffery Frey of SBRLI.com (who generously donated his time to be the race photographer). There was also a kids’ fun run where the young-er participants run a quarter-mile up and down Main Street and received medals and free ice cream from Bollingers on Main Street.
“It was wonderful to see a community come together to help children in need. There aren’t too many times where elite runners setting course records compete in the same event with three generations of family members all smiling and laughing at the finish line. I can’t thank the race committee and the sponsors enough for making me proud to be a Long Islander.” said Pat LaFontaine, former NY Islander and Hockey Hall of Famer, and founder of CiC.
Legislator Joseph Belesi, and Mayor George Starkie and members of the board of trustees were in attendance, in addition to former NY Islander Steve Webb.
“It is an honor and privilege to be the host village for such a great and worthy event; we on the board get a small glimpse of the huge task involved putting on the race,” said Mayor George “Butch” Starkie. “Incredible amount of man-hours go into the planning and logistics to run a race this size; the icing on the cake is the money raised all goes to Pat LaFontaine’s Companions in Courage foundation to help kids in hospitals cope with their illness.”
The race was followed by a special fundraising event at Croxley Ale House, who generously donated their space with complimentary food and soft drink for all the participants. The festivities also included a raffle with prizes that included a high definition TV from PC Richard, and Nintendo Wii from Dave and Busters of Farmingdale, and Flip Video Camera from Cisco Systems. The master-of-ceremonies for the post-party was Frank Brinka of B103 Radio, from Wiseman and Frank in the Morning.
The Main Street Mile once again produced two course records for both the men and women. The men’s open division (under 40 years of age) was won by 33-year-old Sean Brosnan of Wantagh who set a new course record in a time of 4:09. Chris Mammone of Massapequa, the 2008 and 2009 champion, followed him with 4:19. Matt Walsh of Wantagh took third in a time of 4:23.
In the men’s masters division, the 2009 defending champion Carlos Castro of Levittown in a time of 4:50 came in first, followed by John Daly of Massapequa in 4:58 and Peter Hogarty of Wantagh in 5:00 flat.
In the women’s open division, defending champion Leonora Petrina of Bayport broke her own course record set last year with spectacular performance in a remarkable time of 4:37, beating out Tanya Zeferjahn of Charlotte, NC in 4:57, and 2008 defending champion Lesley Higgins of NYC in 4:58.
In the women’s masters division, Suzann Cuccia won in a time of 5:44, followed by Jill Skelly in 5:49 and Mary Lenzi of Hauppauge in 5:58 finishing third.
The two top Farmingdale participants were Franklin Diaz finishing in 4:46 for the men, and Linda Daily in 6:51 for the women.
There were also great performances from some of the younger participants, including Alex Priestly of Farmingdale in 6:58, Will Marino in 6:58 and Thomas Augeri in 7:00 for the boys. For the younger girls Ellie Kavanagh in 6:37, Anna Kavanagh in 6:59, and Grace Mohlin of Massapequa in 8:57.
Farmingdale residents fared well in the race as well. Aside from the great performance already noted, other notable performances amongst the men included David Borg in 4:56, Jonathan Licandro in 5:01, Chris Daily in 5:05, Joseph Picini in 5:21, Alex Molina in 5:30, Christopher Kunzman in 5:39, Matt Oppedisano in 5:57, Robert Halinar in 6:05, William Coleman in 6:17, Linda Daily in 6:51; Christina Diaz 6:55, Ryan Kunzman in 6:57, Noelle Cutter in 7:17, Nicolas Rutig in 7:20, Steven Kirk in 7:21, Sean Kastner in 7:25, Lisa Garry in 7:55, Geza Feld in 8:15, Chris Oppedisano in 8:20, Walter Buser in 8:25, Michelle Dillon in 9:25, Joan Ackerman in 9:25, and Peter Johnson in 10:01.
Massapequa residents also fared well in the race. In addition to John Daly’s 4:58 performances, Chris Horace ran a 5:05, Lauren Cavaro 5:17, Michelle Grieco 5:26, Glenn Morse 6:29, Richard Augeri 7:01, John Stauber 7:12, Robert Catinella 7:13, Anita Von Himmel 7:51, Warren Drezen 7:52, Norman Hershkowitz 8:50, Grace Mohlin 8:57 followed by her mother Brenda Mohlin in 9:01, Janet Love in 10:34 and Ruth Maller in 12:57.
The race’s oldest finishers were 86-year-old George Dennis of Muttontown in 13:49, and 91-year-old Bill Benson, finishing with a great effort of 13:21.
Pat LaFontaine finished the mile himself as he does every year in a time of 7:17.
Once again, this year’s race was run in memory of John McManus, a longtime member of the Long Island running community who passed away in 2007. The last race he ever participated in was the 2006 Main Street Mile.
