Nearly 800 runners, walkers and wheelchair athletes were on hand at Great Neck South High School on November 9th for the inaugural Blazing Trails 4 Autism 4 Mile Run, and lots of athletes from Great Neck were among the top finishers that came home with awards.

Top Great Neck finishers were 15-year-old Daniel Siegel in fourth place overall and first in the 13-15 age group with a time of 23 minutes, 10 seconds, a pace of 5:48 per mile, followed by 39-year-old David Lipsius in 5th place overall and first in the 35-39 age group with a time of 23 minutes, 18 seconds, a pace of 5:50 per mile. The first female Great Neck resident to cross the finish line on the track at Great Neck South High School was 29-year-old Rita Siminkas, whose time of 28:52 earned her first place honors among the women in the 25-29 age group.

Other Great Neck athletes winning awards in the Blazing Trails 4 Autism 4 Mile Run were Jose Madingal (3rd 13-15), Brickwell's Cyclery-Multisport CEO Andrew Motola (3rd 40-44), Carmen Anderson (2nd woman 40-44), Sharon Levy (3rd woman 40-44), and Nella Carravetta (2nd woman 55-59).

The honorary event chair of the race was Great Neck Public Schools Superintendent Ronald Friedman, a participant in the Run, scoring in 43 minutes, 27 seconds.

The overall winner of the Run was 27-year-old Staten Island speedster Kevin Donofrio, who finished in 21:55, seven seconds in front of runner-up Franklin Diaz. Twenty-five-year-old Christine Williams of Bay Shore was an easy winner in the Women's Division, finishing in 25:01.

The entire net proceeds of the Run were dedicated to Eden II Programs/The Genesis School and their efforts to provide people with autism specialized community-based programs and other opportunities, with the goal of enabling them to achieve the highest possible quality of living across their lifespans.

The participants enjoyed an eclectic, traffic-free course entirely within the boundaries of the Great Neck South High School campus, hooded sweatshirts as giveaways, and an incredible post race raffle highlighted by a Cannondale 2009 CAAD 9 Road Bike.