Victoria Crisp, a 71-year-old woman from Nashville, Tenn., was among the hundreds who showed up to run in Sunday’s Syracuse Festival of Races despite the less than cooperative weather.

 

Sure, it’s cold and raining, but nothing short of a hurricane is going to keep us off those streets, Crisp said. 

The morning of races kicked off with the men’s 5K at 8:50 a.m. After 15 minutes and 26 seconds of soldiering through the wind and rain, Mark Andrews broke the finish line tape to enthusiastic applause. For his persistence and speed, the 40-year-old Rochester, N.Y., athlete will receive the $250 John Trowse Memorial Award. 

 

Exactly one hour after the men’s 5K began, the women’s 5K starting gun sent hundreds of runners into the USA Track and Field-certified course. At the end of the race, Stephanie Herbst-Lucke, a 45-year-old Atlanta, Ga., native and former University of Wisconsin runner, claimed victory with a time of 16:37. She not only won the Women’s 5K in the Syracuse Festival of Races, but also nabbed the record for fastest 5K time in the 45-49 age group, breaking the previous record by two seconds.

 

Sascha Scott, assistant professor of art history at Syracuse University, also participated in the women’s 5K. She came in sixth overall, but came in first place in her 35-39 age group with a time of 17:52.  

 

The Syracuse Festival of Races isnít just about the record-setters and semi-professional runners. It’s also about the everyday individual who decided to step out and exercise like 7-year-old Sean Cahill, who finished at the 30-minute mark, or 56-year-old Christine Kennedy, who crossed the finish line just under 19 minutes. This year, the event had its youngest competitor ever: 5-year-old Amanda Aitken, who crossed the line with a time of 37:44.  

 

Following the men’s and women’s 5K main events, the MVP Health Care 3K Fun and Fitness Run kicked off, bringing large numbers of competitors from both races out into the street, ready to finish out the day with a casual fun run alongside their families.  

 

Several dozen who chose to stay after the races treated themselves to free food and drinks, including freshly made salads, Pom Wonderful juice and Subway subs. A Tops tent provided Vitamin Water, yogurt, bananas and crumb cake.  

 

At the end of the day, the 19th annual Syracuse Festival of Races got people moving, raised money for many good nonprofit causes and provided families with a morning full of fun, everything it was designed to do. But race director Dave Oja is already putting an eye toward the future.

 

Next year is an early Columbus Day, so we’ll see you all on September 30th, he said.

 

jwcampbe@syr.edu