Old Forge Marathon, Half Marathon, & 5k
Pictures by Confluence Running
September 11th, 2018 - (OLD FORGE, NY) – Runners and walkers raced in the Old Forge Half Marathon this past weekend located at the George T. Hiltebrant Recreation Center in Old Forge, New York. Old Forge Race Weekend includes a Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5k. Marathon and Half Marathon runners started at 8:30am and 5kers at 8:45am. The running race festival included about 700 runners between all the trail races.
The race had amazing weather. It was 55 degrees at the start and sunny, and 61 by 2pm. Beautiful weather for trail racing though was a dramatic change from last week’s 87 degrees. Runners had to be careful with their race plans. If they went out too hard, they had a false sense of security due to the cooler weather, especially out on the trails.
The Old Forge Race Festival Week is in its 4th year. The race started off as a Half Marathon and 5k. This is the second year for the Old Forge Marathon.
The Old Forge Half Marathon had people coming in from all over New York State to run in the races. There were runners from Utica, runners from Syracuse, runners from Binghamton, and even runners from the Hudson Valley.
Top prizes were given to 1st place participants in each age group and overall champions from each race. Joe Woodworth, owner of CNY Racing who designed and created the apparel for the race, won the 5k Masters award (and came in 1st Overall), in a time of 19:01. The open male winner of the Old Forge 5k was Chris McKenna with a time of 19:58. The open female winner was Jessica Brownsell in a 5k time of 23:08. Old Forge Half Marathon winners included Michael Polidori and Erin Macbeth.
Leone Timing, timing services from Syracuse New York, provided the timing services for the Old Forge Trail Races. They provided finishers with their times, overall places, age-group places, and paces.
Old Forge, New York is a small town in the Adirondacks in upstate, New York. Old Forge boasts Enchanted Forest and Water Safari Water Park. LocalADK, an Adirondack free publication from Lake Placid, NY, was present at the Old Forge Trail Races. They promote many of the events, photographers, and activities that occur in the Adirondacks.
Team Moxie Squared Racing showed up at the Old Forge Trail Races in force. Moxie Squared is a multi-sport team that encourages and competes all over the nation. They participate in road runs, trail races, triathlons, and hiking. Team member Joslyn MacDougall, and Old Forge’s Master of Ceremonies said, “We’re just a bunch of athletes who enjoy cheering for each other, pushing each other to their limits, beyond the limits to which we think we have, and doing it in a way that we can support each other, and get us through all goals.”
The Old Forge Half Marathon is the 3rd race in Willow Running’s 52.4 Challenge, a half marathon challenge to complete 4 half marathons in 2018. They include the Earth Day Half Marathon, Motezuma Half Marathon, Old Forge Half Marathon, and E-Race Cancer Half Marathon. E-Race is the final race in the challenge on October 21st, 2018 in Bridgeport, NY.
Included in the festivities was the band Undefeated from Lowville, New York.
Matthew Francis Gawors is a lifelong endurance athlete. He specialized in the 800m in High School and switched to marathons in college. In 2009, he switched over to competing primarily in Triathlons. His passion and goal is to support the Binghamton community by improving their physical, emotional, and financial health through physical fitness events and tourism. He owns the running special store, Confluence Running, has worked as the Director of Parks, Recreation, and Youth Services for Broome County, and currently is employed by Binghamton University as the Aquatics Director for Health and Wellness Studies.
Email: Matt.Gawors@gmail.com
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