Glen Head resident Jessica Donohue, 22, scored as the first woman overall in the 30th annual Carter, DeLuca, Farrell & Schmidt Ho Ho Ho 5 Kilometer Run held last month. Donohue crossed the finish line at the John F. Kennedy Middle School in Bethpage in 19 minutes, 10 seconds, a 14 second margin over Katie McGrath of Oakdale.
Donohue, a 2013 graduate of North Shore High School, starred with the cross country team at SUNY Albany.
In December of 2016, the snow and ice forced the last minute cancellation of the run. In December of 2017, although the conditions were very much less than perfect, nearly 800 runners and walkers covered the 3.107 miles through the streets of Bethpage, including lots of Santas, snowmen, elves and other denizens of the holiday season.
“Thanks to Race Director Ric DiVeglio, for still another outstanding job of putting all the pieces together,” said Mike Polansky of the Greater Long Island Running Club, which hosted the event.
The Melville Intellectual Property law firm of Carter, DeLuca, Farrell & Schmidt supported the event as the title sponsor once again, and Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW, Steel Equities and Gold Coast Studios reenlisted as the presenting sponsors. The club extends its gratitude to All Round Foods for donating a great array of baked goods for the post-run festivities, and for the donation of hot chocolate for the runners by Woodbury Country Deli.
“The Greater Long Island Running Club was thrilled to have the running community’s own Nassau County Legislator Rose Marie Walker on hand to help get things started,” said Polansky.
The charitable beneficiary of the run was once again the Dominican Sisters in support of The Opening Word, an education program that enables poor and uneducated Long Island immigrant women to learn the English language and other tools they need to become productive members of American society.
“In addition, thanks to the generosity of race participants, we were able to turn over hundreds of toys to the John Theissen Foundation for distribution to needy Long Island children,” said Polansky.
“Our congratulations to Jessica Donohue for an amazing performance, and our thanks to everyone who helped close out the 2017 Long Island racing year in style on Dec. 16,” said DiVeglio. “We look forward to seeing you all again at our 31st annual holiday excursion through the streets of Bethpage on Dec. 15, 2018.”
—Submitted by the
Greater Long Island Running Club
