398 hardy soles braved the inclement weather on Saturday morning, Feb. 11 at the Old Bethpage Restoration Village, and when the snowflakes had settled 22-year-old Bradley Raxenberg of Woodbury and 31-year-old Shari Klarfeld on Plainview emerged as the top male and female finishers overall. The OBVR 5-Kilometer Run was the kickoff event of the new RunNassau Series of races leading up to the Long island Marathon in May.
Raxenberg crossed the finish line of this not-so-easy course in 17 minutes, 30 seconds, nearly a full minute in front of runner-up John Theissen of Seaford. Klarfeld scored first among the women (beating all but the first three men in the process!) in 19:17.
Several Hicksville runners were quite prominent in the Old Bethpage 5 Kilometer Run. Although there were no local award winners, special congratulations go to Jill Loveland, whose 25:40 finish placed her fourth among the women in the 25-29 age group, and Anne Broderick, who was the fourth woman in the 45-49 age group to cross the finish line, scoring in 29:04.
“This is a great start for what we anticipate is going to grow into one of the biggest series of races on Long Island,” observed Greater Long Island President Mike Polansky. “We are grateful to Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano for his support in making this happen, and were thrilled to welcome County Legislator Rose Marie Walker to OBVR as our Official Starter.”
Run organizers also owe a vote of thanks to Bob Cook and the Runner’s Edge and Glen Wother and All Round Foods for their continued – and most welcome support!
The next race in the RunNassau series will be a four-miler at Nickerson Beach on Sunday morning, March 11. For more information contact the Greater Long island Running Club at 349-7646.
