Congratulations to Katherine Cimonetti of Bayville and Danielle Messinger of Oyster Bay, who scored as the top two finishers in the March 6, Caumsett State Park 25-Kilometer Run. Katherine and Danielle ran most of the five 5-kilometer loops in tandem, finishing together as the overall women’s winners, both timed in 1:48:46., a pace of 7:01 per mile for more than 15.5 miles.
The Run served as the 2011 USA Track & Field – Long Island Association 25-Kilometer Championship.
The accompanying 50-Kilometer Run, won for the fourth straight year by Michael Wardian of Arlington, Virginia, served as the USA Track & Field National Championship.
The course consisted of 5 Kilometer loops through scenic Caumsett State Park, with a nice view of Long Island Sound at the halfway mark for those who have the time and inclination to look to their left for it. Conditions were far from ideal, with wind and rain, some of it quite heavy at times, being the order of the day – making all the great performances that were turned in even more impressive. A total of 91 runners successfully completed the 50K, and another 125 finished the accompanying 25K.
Unfortunately, New York State Parks officials declined to allow the Run to utilize the Winter Cottage at Caumsett as the “race Headquarters” as in prior years. Thanks go to New York State Assemblyman Charles Lavine for trying hard to turn around this curious decision, but in the end race officials rented a big tent which served as the gathering point for the runners.
Special congratulations and thanks go to the Greater Long Island Running Club Committee that made this event the success that it was: USATF-LI MUT Chair Carl Grossbard, Bob Sherman, Rich Innamorato, Fred von der Heydt, Nick Palazzo, Barry Aronowsky, and Linda Ottaviano, as well as to the Charles Cohn Foundation, the Melville Marriott and Wild by Nature of Huntington for their support.
