Attending my first Overlook Medical Center Event, I had only a few expectations – seeing a 71 year old woman run a 5K at a pace of 13:38 was definitely not one of them!
I am an intern at Overlook and on Tuesday, June 26, I was fortunate enough to be involved in my first 5K race in Summit, NJ. The race benefited the Summit Police Athletic League (PAL), a non-profit charitable organization for Summit’s youth, and the Atlantic Neuroscience Institute Brain Aneurysm Fund. Hoards of people gathered to witness the start of the race featuring over 300 runners taking off from the Summit Village Green. Prior to the race, the community spirit was filled with happy families while physical therapists stretched the runners, children played in moon bounces, and the local residents enjoyed music and food. Manhattan Bagel provided great sandwiches for everyone and the DJ played loud, hip music to keep the runners amped before the race. All the runners received a bright orange Overlook Medical Center running shirt before lining up for the 7:00 PM start where Mayor Ellen Dickson began the race in a yellow JMK-provided Fiat!
The runners ranged in age from young teens running as a soccer club to Jane Simpson, a 71 year old Wayne, NJ resident! Children in the 1-14 age group were running side-by-side with residents in the 40-49 age group! By 8:00 PM, the final runners sprinted to the finish line, where awards were presented to the first, second and third place winners of each age group. Here are the results:
Age Group 1-14 year old males:
- First place: Ryan Blume, Summit 19:00
- Second place: Ryan Siegel, Westfield 19:27
- Third place: Will Delaney, Summit 19:32
Age Group 1-14 year old females:
- First place: Danielle Coyne, Scotch Plains 28:03
- Second place: Isabelle Fagan 28:21
- Third place: Sara Ma, Summit 29:20
Age Group 15-19 year old males:
- First place: Ryan Ledger, Garwood 17:21
- Second place: Sam Porter, Summit 18:44
- Third place: Tom Huckfeldt, Summit 18:51
Age Group 15-19 year old females:
- First place: Katherine Watson, Summit 19:02
- Second place: Laura Young, Berkeley Heights 21:51
- Third place: Jessica Martins, Summit 22:07
Age Group 20-29 year old males:
- First place: Mark Del Manaco, Scotch Plains 16:33
- Second place: Brian Mahoney, Clifton 16:50
- Third place: Troy Pittenger, Springfield 18:58
Age Group 20-29 year old females:
- First place: Jessica Barr, Cranford 19:58
- Second place: Emily Tato, Chatham 21:06
- Third place: Leanna Powers, Athens 21:43
Age Group 30-39 year old males:
- First place: Jacob Hawkins, Mountainside 20:22
- Second place: John Campbell, Summit 20:53
- Third place: Nickolas Delikaris, Summit 21:36
Age Group 30-39 year old females:
- First place: Claire Tafelski, Westfield 21:12
- Second place: Marlena Mclean, Bedminster 22:51
- Third place: Elaine Yu, Summit 23:06
Age Group 40-49 year old males:
- First place: Christopher Blume, Summit 17:39
- Second place: Juan Venegas, Summit 19:12
- Third place: Daniel O’Sullivan, Summit 20:21
Age Group 40-49 year old females:
- First place: Debby Hall, Westfield 21:35
- Second place: Larie Zimmermann, New Providence 22:54
- Third place: Laura Carney, Cranford 23:04
Age Group 50-59 year old males:
- First place: Andrew Porter, Summit 21:38
- Second place: Matthew Rea 24:03
- Third place: Daniel Fitpatrick, Summit 24:18
Age Group 50-59 year old females:
- First place: Mary Casale, Chatham 25:36
- Second place: Majorie Porter, Summit 28:27
- Third place: Ellen Balestriere, Scotch Plains 31:04
Age group 60-69 year old males:
- First place: Fabio Rico, Summit 21:41
- Second place: Marty Slvtzky, Glen Gardner 27:57
- Third place: Dennis Manion, Summit 28:30
Age group 60-69 year old females:
- First place: Barbara Colrick, Short Hills 28:54
- Second place: Nancy Heide, Berkeley Heights 41:55
- Third place: Roseann Monto, Union 44:10
Age group 70-79 year old females:
- First place: Jane Simpson, Wayne 42:17
As a new intern working at Overlook Medical Center, I am very thankful for the staff and all the participants for making my first event enjoyable and successful. It showed me that hard work and planning can be extremely influential within a community. I loved seeing residents from the surrounding areas join and intermingle with one another. Overlook Medical Center is very proud of the runners and thanks all of the sponsors. We will be hoping for an even better outcome in the future years to come!
Jessica Sales, of Short Hills, is a sophomore at Tulane University.