By Rich Tinger and Steve Borton

On Sunday, April 22, 2012 we had outstanding attendance for the 23rd annual George Wodicka Hook Mountain Half Marathon and 5K run & Third Annual Walk to Remember. This day will probably always be remembered! We had 875 registered runners and more than 350 walkers, breaking the race records of 775 registered entrants and 250 walkers. We also were very lucky that the expected heavy rain did not begin until after the completion of the event and the temperatures were cool for the runners.

Jon Lindenauer of New Paltz, N.Y., won the half marathon, with a commanding lead, in a time of 1:13:09 and Michael Essig of Brooklyn won the 5K in 18:13. Lauren Cullen of North Tarrytown led the women half-marathoners in a time of 1:33:09 and Kristin Vespa of Ossining won the women’s 5K in 19:06.

Tolun Tuglu of Nyack received the Adi Steingraber award as the first Rockland finisher, in a time of 1:30:05. Great job Tolun!

Devin McGlade, also of Nyack, received the award for the first female Rockland finisher in a time of 1:37:23. Congratulations Devin!

Again the members of the Tri-Life NYC multi-sport team biked 36 miles round-trip from New York to participate in the race, and many of their members won age-group awards. They are training for the Lake Placid Triathlon.

We had some great sponsors and plenty of food and refreshments.
We would especially like to thank the volunteers from United Hospice of Rockland and the Rockland Road Runners for making the race an annual success. This year we raised a record gross total of more than $82,000 for United Hospice of Rockland, and an estimated net total of $29,000, also a record. We are sure that
George Wodicka would be very proud.

The “Walk to Remember” was very inspirational and brought many more participants both running and walking! Brian King’s “Be Specific” team raised the most money – more than $3,600 – and won the prestigious Avanti Cup!

We would also like to thank those individuals who are always there when you need them: Ken Kinsley, our volunteer coordinator, Marie Killeen, Bernie Casserly, Enilda Indyk, Kathy Daly, Larry Wolf, Fred Turk, Alison Luscher, Jack Ingrassia, Al Acunto, Sue Theise, Amy Stern, Laurie Bandremer, Lanie Etkind, Lisa Denburg, all the volunteers from Hospice, Youth for Hospice, students from around the county, and Rockland Road Runners volunteers. Ken did a super job with the volunteers and the overall race coordination!

Our lead sponsors were Avanti Health Care Services, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Edward & Raselle Fisher, Stop & Shop of New City, The Rand Family and AMA Labratories, Inc..

We had the most successful event ever! What a great day!

Thank you to everyone for making this event a most memorable experience.

1 Comment

  • Stephen Miller Posted May 9, 2012 7:51 am

    It was astonishing, Steve, how you found that dry window between the weekend rain storms so that you could hold a dry event. The wind even slacked a bit as the runners headed back up the river to the hook.

    Big thanks to the volunteers who came out and stayed out to supply drinks and encouragement to tail-enders like me.

Add Comment

facebook
twitter
youtube
instagramm
flickr