A number of awards were given to runners in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich area at the Oct. 18 Oyster Bay Town Supervisor’s 5 Kilometer Run, including 23-year-old Justin Nakrin of Oyster Bay, who finished in 12th place overall and second in the 20-24 age group, and 43-year-old Daniel Valderrama of Oyster Bay, who scored in 17th place overall and second in the 40-44 age group. Maggie Reid of Locust Valley earned first place honors in the 15-19 age group.
The indomitable 81-year-old Nina Jennings of Mill Neck was the oldest woman to finish the run, taking first place honors in the women’s 80-84 age group in 35 minutes, 11 seconds, a pace of 11:19 per mile. She was the fastest of all of the five finishers—male or female—who were 80 years old or more.
The winner, 24-year-old Dan Gargaro of Bay Shore, bided his time for the better part of the run, and took charge on East Main Street to score a nine second victory over 2011/2012/2013 winner Conor Shelley of Rockville Centre, with Angel Ortega of Hempstead third and course recordholder Chris Mammone of Massapequa fourth. Victoria Kornieva of the Bellmore Striders out kicked Kiera Harrison of Syosset for first place honors in the Women’s Division.
The field of 693 finishers exactly tied the record turnout set in 2013.
The runners started southbound on South Street, turned left up Berry Hill Road, turned left down Sandy Hill Road, left again onto East Main Street, and a final left turn into the Townsend Square Parking lot to the finish line.
Other runners from the local area who won awards included Bernadette Winnubst of Locust Valley, Marisa Ciminello of Bayville, Steven Quigly of Bayville, Kristen Aasheim of East Norwich, Lauren Suttenberg of East Norwich, Katherine Simon of Locust Valley, Devon Marmorale of East Norwich, Michael Leandou, Aubri Juhase of Oyster Bay, Jennifer Velasquez of Oyster Bay, Edward Madden of Oyster Bay, Susan Anderson of Syosset, Alicia Jackson of East Norwich, Vicki Genna of Oyster Bay, Patty Santella of Syosset, Kim Solomine of Syosset, Kelly Pickard of Oyster Bay, Pamela Lee of Syosset, Joanne Gallo of Oyster Bay, Melinda Ehrlich of East Norwich, Mark Walling of Oyster Bay, and Bert Jablon of Syosset.
Oyster Bay Town Councilman Chris Coschignano put together a team of family, friends and colleagues who raised more than $1,000 for ALS research through the run. Unfortunately, Coschignano himself was ill and unable to compete, but his wife and son and lots of other teammates carried the torch for him.
The team of Oyster Bay 5K sponsors include the law firm of Sahn, Ward, Coschignano & Baker, Pro Sports of Oyster Bay and Huntington, Long Island Challenge sponsor Runner’s Edge, All Round Foods and its ever generous CEO Glen Wolther, and Allan Sobel and the gang at South Shore Outdoor.
