Snowstorm Classic #13 - 5K
Febuary 25th, 2006

 

             Chris Hamel and Sidney Ledendre Win Finale

              Pedro the Goat DNF , Yukon Jack Triumphs

            The 26th annual Snowstorm Classics came to a successful conclusion with Chris Hamel joining the Hall of Fame, Sidney Letendre setting a new age record while winning her 8th lifetime  race, four runners completing a perfect season, and Yukon Jack defeating Pedro the goat.  More on that later.

Led by Chris Hamel, Tim Dannay and the Ryan Palmison, the college crowd was out in force for the 5K season finale, but Aaron Kincaid of the Hudson Mohawk Road Runners Club (Albany, New York) wasn’t a bit intimidated by the youngsters.  All were seeking their first Snowstorm Classic title.  The students bolted up the hill into the lead at the sound of the Sacramento cowbell, with the Empire State ace right along side.  As the kilometers clicked by the runners began separating until finally Springfield College’s Chris Hamel forged into the lead.  Chased by the others until the finish line, he clocked a respectable 17:43 victory to become the 90th member of the Harriers’ winter Hall of Fame.  Aaron crossed next in 17:54, Ryan took 3rd in 18:06 while Tim was the first junior (under 20) in 18:13.

In the other age divisions, Art Reilly (19:00) edged Harrier Billy Rowe (19:05) to win the  masters (over 40) division, CMSer Frank Rucki took another senior (over 50) title in 19:21 and George Walker was the first veteran (over 60) male in 23:42.

Sidney Letendre held off Kelly Joyce to capture the women’s crown in 19:53 thereby earning a multitude of honors. The Central Mass Strider gained her 8th lifetime Snowstorm Classic title while also setting a new age record for 51 year old women , toppling the standard of 21:33 established by teammate Mary Ryczek eight years ago.  Sidney now owns five age records on the 5K course.   Kelly’s challenge earned her 2nd in a season pr of 20:15 while Harrier teammate Rogina Modestow was 3rd in 21:41.  Hartford Track Club’s Lyn Walker concluded a stellar season with a 23:26 veteran’s title while 7 year old Julie Carroll outran five grownups to win junior honors for the Harriers in 35:24. 

A wildly anticipated match race between Yukon Jack, a Siberian Husky and Pedro, a rather large goat, ended badly for Pedro.  The race was apparently prompted by the rivalry between the University of Connecticut (Huskies) and the University of Rhode Island (Rams).  Pedro made the classic rookie mistake of going out too fast and was forced to stop just past the one mile mark, breathing noisily and unable to continue…a classic DNF.   Meanwhile Yukon Jack who had been trained all season by Tom DeLuca, scampered  across the finish line in 24:26, obviously enjoying the cold 22 degree temperature.   Club president Peter Stasz stated that Pedro would have been disqualified in any event.  “While I’m honored that someone named a goat after me, I still can’t overlook the fact that Pedro cut several runners off at the top of the hill” he declared “as international rules require a full stride lead before cutting in.” 

       Finally, four runners earned the prestigious Harrier iron foot award (as well as a few valuable Fast Feet bucks) for completing all thirteen Snowstorm Classics this season.  Neither rain, nor snow, nor ice, cold, wind……could deter these runners from their appointed 5K’s and 10K’s.   Joe LaValle is a first time recipient, while Brian Goddu not only ran but volunteered at registration, helped with results, etc.  EORC’s Tony Lucia repeated the feat from last year as did that venerable SMACer Bruce Kurtz, who has now completed 117 consecutive Snowstorm Classics! 

Results
 1    17:43	Chris Hamel             22M     --- 
 2    17:54	Aaron Kincaid           32M     HMRRC
 3    18:06	Ryan Palmison           21M     --- 
 4    18:13	Tim Dannay              19M     ---
 5    18:30	Nate McMahan            21M     ---
 6    18:38 	Kevin Cox               21M     ---
 7    19:00 	Art Reilly              45M     ---
 8    19:05	Billy Rowe              44M	GSH	    
 9    19:06	Tim Allard              19M     ---  
10    19:10	Corey Mott              20M 	---
11    19:21	Frank Rucki             56M 	CMS
12    19:22	John Freeman            21M 	---
13    19:53	Sidney Letendre         51F 	CMS
14    19:58 	John Bigos              52M	GSH 
15    20:15	Kelly Joyce             38F  	GSH 
16    20:19	Tim Brown               53M     GSH
17    21:07  	Fernando Gonzalez       44M 	GSH
18    21:23 	Jim Sullivan            41M 	GSH
19    21:23     Steve Lombardo          37M	GSH  
20    21:37	Mike Lynch              51M 	---
21    21:41	Rogina Modestow         45F	GSH    
22    21:53	Tom Ripke               41M	GSH 
23    22:13	Jim Smith               42M 	---
24    22:21	Tim Londo               40M 	GSH
25    22:28	Cara Reilly             21F 	---
26    23:09    	Willie O'Neill          48M 	GSH
27    23:11	Rich Clark           	52M 	GSH
28    23:17 	Kathy Lynch             43F  	GSH   
29    23:22	Israel Schepps          47M  	GSH    
30    23:26	Lyn Walker              65F 	HTC
31    23:28	Joe LaValle             27M 	---
32    23:38	Steve O'Neil            54M 	GSH
33    23:42 	George Walker           62M  	HTC    
34    23:52	Brian Goddu             56M 	GSH
35    23:55	Richard Alexandre       40M  	---
36    24:02	Betty Quinn             55F 	---
37    24:26	Tom DeLuca              50M 	GSH
38    24:27	Bill Terry              42M 	---
39    24:28	Doug Guertin            42M 	GSH
40    25:02	Steve Sheffield    	55M 	GSH
41    25:05	Deborah Williams        35F 	EORC
42    25:23	Patrick Gaughan         31M  	---
43    25:28	Carlene Kincaid         51F 	---
44    25:32 	Betty Toms Matthews     53F 	GSH
45    25:36	Jim Gurzenski           50M 	GSH
46    26:26 	John Dent               52M 	EORC
47    26:36	Rebecca Besaw           31F 	---
48    26:38	Dick Barker             64M 	GSH
49    26:51	Amy Veres               29F 	GSH
50    26:53	Kelly Sullivan          40F 	GSH
51    26:54	Mary Misiaszek          40F 	GSH
52    27:15	Peter Stasz             58M 	GSH
53    27:22	Erv Landry              66M 	GSH
54    27:46	Sarah Elliott           35F 	---
55    27:50	Beth Rice               44F 	GSH
56    28:05	Tyler Keefe             14M  	---
57    28:06	Ryan Sokolowski         13M 	---
58    28:23	Nikki Bigos             35F 	---
59    28:26 	Kris Valentini          35F 	EORC
60    28:41	Steve Penna             50M 	EORC
61    28:57	Lisa Lachapelle         40F 	---
62    29:19 	Tony Lucia              68M 	EORC
63    29:42	Peter Vangsness         54M  	GSH
64    31:04	Kara Herman             36F 	EORC
65    31:05	Bob Massaro             62M 	EORC
66    31:14	Catherine Connery       41F  	---
67    31:28	Gail Richardson         37F 	EORC
68    31:29	Kris Kozuch             48F 	EORC
69    33:22	Corey Vincent           19M 	---
70    35:24	Julie Carroll            7F 	GSH
71    35:28	Ed Carroll              40M 	GSH
72    41:35	Jan Komaiszko           50M 	GSH
73    44:34	Bruce Kurtz             69M 	SMAC
74    45:14	Mary Sanderson          28F 	---
75    45:15 	Mike Desroches          32M 	---