Hmmm…. 35 degrees and heavy rain….. not the weather I had been hoping
for just two hours before the race. But still, it was better than
the 31 degrees and freezing rain that had been predicted the night
before.

The luck of the Irish came through somewhat, and by 10:00 AM the rain
had settled into a very light mist. Not the best running weather by
far, still 335 runners came out and had a good time running and a
great time partying afterwards at the 7th annual St Patrick's Day 4-
Miler.

Eric Davis, from Ithaca, and Murphee Hayes, of Marathon, were the
overall winners. Davis ran a 22:01 and Hayes a 23:50. Norwich's
Steven Spittler and Earl Steinbrecher of Wilseyville ran 2nd and 3rd
overall. Earl was the first place male master. Fern Beckhorn and
Gillian Sharp, both of Ithaca, ran 2nd and 3rd overall among the
women. Gillian also was 1st among the women's masters.

The Binghamton Fire Department won the Police/Fire Department Team
Challenge for the 2nd year in a row. The BFD beat out teams from the
Broome County Sheriff Department and the New York State Police. As
well as runners from those three departments, the Ithaca and Cortland
Fire Departments and the Binghamton Police Department also fielded
runners. Gillian Sharp was the fastest firefighter and Greg Derrick,
representing the NYSP, was the fastest police officer.

A big thanks goes out to all the TCRC and Universal volunteers who
help make this race possible. In no particular order except that my
wife goes first, Anne Reichert, Mike Zwick, Tom Hamlin (who gave up
running to fill in at the finish line), Dan Dougherty, Todd
Lemmiksoo, Tom Morrissey, John O'Neil, Ron Hulslander, Chuck Hein,
Chuck Barney, Diane Macko, Joe and Sue DiMattina, Rocky Martinez, Ron
Havens, Todd Votapka, Brendan Flynn, Lisa Mallery, Brenda Stevenson,
Dave Christian, Jay and Jason Danek, and Terry Donovan. A special
thanks to Steve Willett, who along with his son, brought his mobile
DJ equipment to the gym. It was great having music before and after
the race and nice having a sound system where you all could hear us.
Vince Kelley