Long Island Running Community Celebrates 27th Annual Bethpage Ocean To Sound Relay

Friday, 12 October 2012 08:09

The 27th anniversary of the Bethpage Ocean To Sound Relay marked another great day for local runners. With enthusiastic sponsor Bethpage Federal Credit Union, a record 144 teams enjoyed near perfect weather conditions to complete the course, and still another great post-race party (“the best post-race party in the Northeast”), it was an all round success.

Teams of eight runners each traversed a 50-mile course that started at Jones Beach State Park, wound its way through Wantagh, Seaford, Massapequa, Farmingdale, Old Bethpage, Plainview, Huntington and back west into Cold Spring Harbor, Syosset and Oyster Bay before ending at Fireman’s Field in Oyster Bay, adjacent to Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park.

Team Katie broke a five year string of overall wins by the Sayville Running Company’s Men’s Open Team. The two teams finished Leg Six together, but then Team Katie pulled ahead for a 4:29:04 win anchored by Will Boylan-Pett. The Northport Physical Therapy Team took top honors in the Women’s Open Division, with Heather Wright crossing the finish line in 5:36:20 to cement the NPT win, with the Sayville Running Company second. Sayville took top honors in the Coed Open Division with a 17-minute lead over The Runner’s Edge.

The Bellmore Striders edged out the Runner’s Edge by less than five minutes to win the men’s Masters Division, thanks to a strong performance by Boyd Carrington in the anchor leg. The Runner’s Edge Fab Abs scored a repeat victory among the Women’s Masters Teams, and the Lynbrook Runner’s stop scored first among the Mixed Masters teams. In the Senior Masters category, the New Hye Park Running Club won the men’s division, and the GLIRC Fast Feet Women scored first among the women.

In the new Super Seniors Division (age 60+), the Northport Running Club led among the men, and We Are Athletes earned the first place medals in the Women’s Division.

Broadridge finished nine minutes in front of Victors R Us to win the Corporate Division, with Spagnoli Physical Therapy finishing only 22 seconds behind Victors R Us.

In the closest battle for first place of the day, Team LIRA edged out the Last Minute Brew Crew by only 1:28 to win the Law Enforcement Division. Top honors in the special division for Bethpage employees went to the Bethpage Buns on the Run Team.

Five individuals successfully completed the entire 50-mile course as “ironmen,” led by amazing wheelchair athlete Peter Hakins, followed by Rudy Afanador, Riccardo De Gallo, Jay Masten and Philip Posa. Hawkins had successfully completed his first triathlon – the Runner’s Edge - Town of Oyster Bay Triathlon – only three weeks before his five-mile run.

Special thanks go out to Alan and Sharon End for 27 years of putting all the pieces together, to John Snitko of JMS Racing Services for the quick and accurate results, to all the outstanding men and women of the Nassau County Police Department, the Suffolk County Police Department, and the local auxiliary police forces for assuring the safety of all the runners, and to the Long Island Mobile Radio Operators for taking care of all communications needs.

An extra note of thanks goes out to caterer Sebastiano’s for the great food, to Moonstruck, the extremely talented band who once again gave everyone “happy feet,” and to Joe King, the always generous proprietor of Antun’s for making the services of the band available to event organizers—all of whom did their part to assure the success of what was a truly outstanding party.  Last, but very definitely not least, a hearty thank you goes out to coordinator of volunteers Mindy Davidson and all the volunteers who were a part of this special day.