Summer Sizzler #1 - 5K
April 19, 2003

Paul Fratini and Mary Ferraro are Barney Day Champs

    The annual Barney Day Race opened the 24th edition of the Harrier Summer Sizzler series on the 5K cross country course, and to everyone's surprise all the snow melted just in time. In fact it was a picture perfect April 19th, a fitting tribute to Everett Barney who bequeathed much of the Forest Park land to the City of Springfield in the early 20th century. 
    At the sound of the Sacramento cow bell, the runners broke for the woods, led by Harriers Paul Fratini and Ron Lombardi who quickly turned the race into a two man contest. Park renovations have improved the initial downhill, and although an early stretch of trail was soggy, most of the course was dry. The hills remain however, as Mr. Lombardi and Mr. Fratini raced up and down the challenging hill and dale. 
    17:51 later it was Paul Fratini crossing the finish line first, and, with the Barney Day crown, moving into 13th spot in the Summer Sizzler Hall of Fame. Ron took second several ticks back in 18:16 while Brent Coon (20:15) gave a demonstration of his track speed to young David Estabrook (20:16). Dan Clark of EORC ran 22:36 to capture both the masters and senior divisions in one fell swoop.
    The Champ didn't waste any time in claiming his annual age record. With a 31:43 clocking Doug Blanchard added the age 77 record to his collection which now totals 16, 13 of which are consecutive, and which account for an amazing 22% of all the men's age records.
     Mary Ferraro made her debut on the Harrier cross country course a memorable one as the twenty-six year old Springfield resident not only won her first Summer Sizzler in 20:58, but she broke the age record of 21:16 set by GSHer Peggy Holdash way back in 1988, fifteen years ago. Our newest club member trains on the Forest Park trails, so it was kind of like Brer Rabbit in the Briar Patch. Harrier masters Elizabeth Duquette (23:48) and Kathy Lynch (25:21) chased Mary around the park for second and third respectively.

Results 
 1  17:51  Paul       Fratini    38M  GSH
 2  18:16  Ron        Lombardi   39M  GSH
 3  20:15  Brent      Coon       37M  GSH
 4  20:16  David      Estabrook  17M  GSH
 5  20:33  Jason      Reed       24M  GSH
 6  20:37  Brent      Fisher     23M  ---
 7  20:58  Mary       Ferraro    26F  ---
 8  21:49  Jamie      Gaspari    27M  ---
 9  22:36  Dan        Clark      50M  EORC
10  23:00  Jay        Laliberte  42M  ---
11  23:08  Tom        Whelan     44M  GSH
12  23:14  Matt       Law        29M  ---
13  23:48  Elizabeth  Duquette   48F  GSH
14  24:14  Ruben      Rios       35M  GSH
15  24:35  Chris      Park       31M  ---
16  24:41  Doug       Cummings   41M  ---
17  24:44  Stephen    Penna      47M  EORC
18  25:11  Brian      Gibbons    33M  GSH
19  25:15  Kevin      Young      50M  GSH
20  25:21  Kathy      Lynch      41F  GSH
21  26:09  Don        Grant      60M  SMAC
22  27:08  Tom        Kelleher   54M  GSH
23  27:53  Peter      Stasz      55M  GSH
24  29:11  Jeff       Burgess    56M  GSH
25  29:51  Carl       Weber      42M  ---
26  29:57  Dominique  Laliberte  13F  ---
27  31:23  Kim        Tremble    31F  EORC
28  31:25  Mike       Butler     30M  EORC
29  31:43  Doug       Blanchard  77M  GSH
30  34:58  Sonia      Demaio     35F  ---
31  36:26  Marino     Biagini    32M  ---
32  39:48  Bruce      Kurtz      67M  SMAC