A record field of 1,266 runners and walkers crossed the finish line on Saturday morning, Dec. 21 at the 26th annual Carter, DeLuca, Farrell & Schmidt Ho Ho Ho 5 Kilometer Run, which started and finished at the John F. Kennedy Middle School in Bethpage.
Mark Valentino of Smithtown and Nick DiBenedetto of Wantagh went stride for stride for the entire race, with Valentino repeating his 2012 win by edging out DiBenedetto at the finish line by less than a second. Katie McGrath of Oakdale had a much easier time of it, winning the women’s division by 42 seconds over Lauren Jasinski of Plainview.
Top local finishers were Tim Mahony of Syosset, who scored in 11th place overall and third in the 15 to 19 age group, and Lauren Jasinski of Plainview, who finished as the second woman overall and first woman in the 35 to 39 age group.
Other locals winning awards in this year’s Ho Ho Ho Run were Shari Klarfeld of Plainview (4th woman overall, 1st 30-34 age group), Georgia Belle Cagna of Plainview (2nd woman 10 and under age group), Gina Ferraro of Syosset (2nd woman 35-39 age group), Patty Santella of Syosset (3rd woman 45-49 age group), Kim Solomine of Syosset (2nd woman 55-59 age group), Janet Healy of Syosset (1st woman 60-64 age group), Pamela Lee of Syosset (2nd woman 60-64 age group), Constance Sehlmeyer of Syosset (1st woman 65-69 age group), Howard Kestenbaum of Plainview (2nd 80-84 age group), and Bert Jablon of Syosset (1st 85-89 age group).
The charitable beneficiary of the Run was once again The Opening Word, a program run by the Dominican Sisters to teach English and other skills to poor uneducated immigrant women.
The Run was managed by the Greater Long Island Running Club, with GLIRC’s Ric DiVeglio serving as the Run Director. The key sponsors were the leading Long Island Intellectual Property law firm of Carter, DeLuca, Farrell & Schmidt, and local 338 RWDSU/UFCW.
