A picture perfect evening greeted a small but enthusiastic crowd to Bayville’s West Harbor Beach on Aug. 6 for the first evening of the Bayville 5 Kilometer Run.
Coming in first was 19-year-old Bayville star Gregory Caso, who now does most of his running at Bucknell University and won a relatively easy victory in 19:17, 23 seconds in front 16-year-old Patrick Halpin of Locust Valley. Veteran runner Kevin Mercier of Oyster Bay was third overall and took top honors in the 40-44 age group.
Lauren Dorsky of Huntington, on the comeback trail after suffering an injury in the Boston marathon in April, was the first woman and fourth finisher overall with a time of 21:10, and Erzsebet Argyelan of Bayville was the second woman to cross the finish line, earning first place honors in the women’s 35-39 age group.
Among the finishers was Bayville Mayor Paul Rupp, who crossed the finish line in 44:49.
Twelve-year-old Joey Halpin of Locust Valley and his sister Jenna took top honors in the male and female 12 and under age groups respectively, and their 16-year-old brother Patrick won the 13 to 19 age group, as did Morgan Follett of Bayville among the women. Other local first place age group award winners were Ian Bryan Natividad of East Norwich (20-24 age group), Courtney Morgan of Locust Valley (women’s 20-24 age group), David Rupp of Bayville (25-29 age group), Tamas Nagy of Bayville (30-34 age group), Fred Roerden of Oyster Bay (50-54 age group), Pam Dougherty of Bayville (women’s 55-59 age group), Susan Fiorillo of Bayville (women’s 60-64 age group) and Joanne Gallo of Oyster Bay (women’s 65-69 age group).
The course remains one of the fastest five kilometer courses on Long Island, even though this year a couple of turns were added in the first quarter mile of the course.
There were some anxious moments when one of the participants passed out on the course, but quick work by some of the other runners and the Nassau County Police essentially saved the woman’s life.
First time race director Melissa Sheehan did an excellent job of putting things together, notwithstanding the personal tragedy that she suffered only a couple of weeks prior to the race.
