David Raucci of Germantown, New York, became the youngest winner in the 21 year history of the Snowstorm Classics as the fourteen year old held off a fast closing Peter Fratini and all other challengers to post a remarkable 37:19 victory over the 10 kilometer course. The previous youngest was fifteen year old Mike Murphy who won the 5K race on January 14, 1984 in 18:22.
          Raucci and Fratini, together with sixteen year old Chris Rowley and veteran marathoner Celio Hernandez, broke away from the pack early and matched strides for nearly the first two miles before the two youngsters opened a gap on their elders. By the 5K mark Raucci had also opened some daylight on Rowley, and lengthened his lead over the next two miles before faltering a bit at the five mile mark. Fratini saw his chance and gave valiant chase over the final mile to make things interesting but at the finish line it was the determined fourteen year old with the historic win. Peter finished ten seconds later in 37:29 followed by Chris Rowley (37:44) and then Mr. Hernandez (38:07), who took masters’ honors over teammates David Wright (40:02) and George Baquis (40:23).
          Doug Blanchard set the only course record of the day as “the Champ” lowered his own record for seventy five year old men by another minute plus, down to a challenging 52:49. David Raucci narrowly missed one of the finest and oldest records on the course, the 36:51 standard for fourteen year olds set by the one and only Jonathan Corso in 1984. Incidentally, in that race Jon placed fifth as the winner was the legendary Steve Snover.
          Among the women, Mary Misiaszek added another win to her growing list with a leisurely 53:54 clocking while “resting” for tomorrow’s Amherst 10 Miler. Bobbi Smith (54:12) held off fellow GSHer Ellen Bellicchi (54:36) for the women’s masters’ and seniors’ crowns. 
          Mary was also one of only two runners to complete a perfect Snowstorm Classic season, finishing all thirteen of the Saturday races. The other?.….that venerable SMACer Bruce Kurtz, who now has a Snowstorm Classic record 54 consecutive finishes stretching back over the last five seasons.

 1  37:19  David Raucci       14M  ---
 2  37:29  Peter Fratini      35M  GSH
 3  37:44  Chris Rowley       16M  ---
 4  38:07  Celio Hernandez    47M  GSH
 5  40:02  David Wright       46M  GSH
 6  40:23  George Baquis      45M  GSH
 7  40:58  Brian Donovan      41M  HTC
 8  42:42  Arthur Roberts     56M  GSH
 9  42:51  Scott Chandler     43M  WVRR
10  42:55  Joe Raucci         16M  ---
11  43:15  Bill Romito        47M  GSH
12  43:20  Dan Laprade        38M  ---
13  43:26  Ramon Alicea       49M  GSH
14  43:40  Jim Snyder         48M  ---
15  44:20  Jesse Regnier      13M  FFTC
16  44:31  Jonathan Tetherly  56M  GSH
17  44:35  John Hunter        49M  EORC
18  44:49  Tom Regnier        40M  GSH
19  45:37  Bill Rowe          39M  ---
20  45:44  David Estabrook    15M  GSH
21  46:36  Andreas Stewart    14M  ---
22  47:34  John Bieter        38M  ---
23  48:17  Don Ryan           34M  ---
24  48:56  Jason Rubel        25M  ---
25  50:13  Al Cabot           45M  GSH
26  50:31  Alex Kubacki       34M  ---
27  50:39  Bill Thibault      43M  EORC
28  51:06  Tim Metoxen        55M  ---
29  52:01  John Pashko        49M  GSH
30  52:49  Doug Blanchard     75M  GSH
31  53:42  Doug Bielefeld     41M  GSH
32  53:54  Mary Misiaszek     35F  GSH
33  53:54  David Livingstone  48M  GSH
34  54:12  Bobbi Smith        51F  GSH
35  54:25  Don Grindle        45M  GSH
36  54:29  Ed Dwyer           35M  GSH
37  54:36  Ellen Bellicchi    50F  GSH
38  60:12  Dick Osgood        63M  GSH
39  61:30  Mike Passmore      52M  GSH
40  71:59  Katherine Lee      34F  GSH
41  72:13  Bruce Kurtz        64M  SMAC