A large contingent of athletes from Oyster Bay, East Norwich, Bayville, Mill Neck, Locust Valley and nearby communities successfully completed the 27th annual Carter, DeLuca, Farrell & Schmidt Ho Ho Ho Holiday 5 Kilometer Run through the streets of Bethpage on Dec. 20.
Leading the way for the locals was 43-year-old Daniel Valderrama of Oyster Bay, who scored in 20th place overall and second in the 40-44 age group with an impressive time of 18 minutes, 25 seconds.
Other local runners winning awards in the Ho Ho Ho Run were Kelly Pickard of Oyster Bay, who earned the second place award in the women’s 55-59 age group with a time of 22:12, and Joanne Gallo of Oyster Bay, who took first place honors among the women in the 65-69 age group with a time of 26:23.
Overall, 1,166 athletes enjoyed the new fast, flat, one loop course. The run was coordinated by the Greater Long Island Running Club, with Ric DiVeglio serving once again as the director of the event.
As always, the big emphasis of the morning was not only on the elite athletes, but on families, with lots of mother-daughter, mother-son, father-daughter and father-son duos making their way through the new course, and lots of youngsters participating in the free Fun Run, once again coordinated by Amy Goldstein, that preceded the 5K main event. Again as always, costumes were the order of the day, led by the We Are Athletes Team winning the costume contest once again, and lots and lots of Santas, elves, reindeer and other denizens of the holiday season adding to the festivities.
“We very much appreciate the continuing support of Nassau County Legislator Rose Marie Walker,” noted DiVeglio. “Rose almost never misses one of our events in the Town of Oyster Bay, and she was on hand to send the Fun Run youngsters on their way this year. Thank you, Rose!”
Proceeds of the run will once again be turned over to the Dominican Sisters in support of The Opening Word, an education program that enables poor and uneducated Long Island immigrant women the tools they need to become productive members of society. In addition, thanks to the generosity of race participants, more than a thousand toys were collected for distribution to needy Long Island children by the John Theissen Foundation.
