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Health & Fitness

9th Annual Main Street Mile a huge success!

9th Annual Main Street Mile Sets Records for Participants and Fundraising –

Over $10,000 raised for CiC Foundation

The 9th annual Main Street Mile and Fundraiser for Companions in Courage Foundation (CIC) was held in Farmingdale on August  31. It has become a Labor Day weekend tradition to support the great work done by Hockey Hall of Famer and former NY Islander and Ranger Pat LaFontaine’s foundation. The weather was warm and a bit humid for this great event, which produced records for both participants and funds raised to benefit CiC. This year, the event was presented by Bob Cook, owner of the Runners Edge, the Melville based law firm of Carter, Deluca, Farrell and Schmidt, Cisco Systems, Farmingdale Chiropractor Dr. Larry Lembo,  Croxley Ale House and B103 Radio.  A new sponsor, the Bulldog Law Group of East Islip, NY was the sponsor for the post race fundraiser for CiC which was held at Croxley’s.  The co-race directors were the team of Bob Cook, owner of the Runners Edge,  Mark Leff of Cisco Systems, Mindy Davidson of the Greater Long Island Running Club and BOCES, Eric Bressler of Wikham, Bressler, Gordon and Geasa, and Craig Gluf of Henry Schein.

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Proceeds from the Main Street Mile support the Companions in Courage Foundation (CiC), founded by former New York Islander and Hockey Hall of Famer Pat LaFontaine, who participated in the event.  Proceeds from this year’s event exceeded a record $10,000,  which was contributed to CiC. The race finished in front of the Farmingdale Firehouse and Village Hall, with the post race awards ceremony taking place at the Gazebo on the Village Green. There were a record 429 participants in the race, 33 of them from Farmingdale and many from surrounding local towns such as Massapequa and Seaford, and as far away as Orlando, Florida and Phoenix, Arizona!

The event has strong local representation with other sponsors that include The Library Café of Farmingdale; Wikham, Bressler, Gordon and Geasa of Melville, NY; Anheuser Busch; Dr. Jospeh Ciaccio, DDS of Hewlett, NY; Babylon Bike Shop, Dave and Busters of Farmingdale; Bill Romas, LMT; The Greater Long Island Running Club, Island Photography, Joel Harris Photography of Mineola (who donated time to do photography at the post race fundraiser), Cara Cara Mexican Grill, the Farmingdale Flower Shop, Gino’s Pizzeria, Polar USA (who very generously donated  heart rate monitors to the raffle), All Round Foods, Adidas (who generously donated 2 pairs of Adidas Boost running shoes for the raffle), Palmers American Grill, and Bottles on Broadway in Massapequa. There was also a kid’s fun run where the younger participants run a quarter-mile up and down Main Street and received medals and free ice cream from McDonalds’s on Route 109 in Farmingdale.

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“It’s always an honor to see the Long Island community come together to help those in need. Thanks to a lot of hard work by the committee members, the Main Street Mile has become a great way for families to celebrate the start of the Labor Day weekend and to make a difference in the lives of sick kids in children’s hospitals. As one mom said to me, ‘Kids in hospitals never have a holiday…’ The Main Street Mile helps ensure that 50,000 hospitalized kids per year can stay connected to their friends and families every day.” said Pat LaFontaine, former NY Islander and Hockey Hall of Famer, and founder of CiC.

Dignitaries in attendance included New York State Assemblyman Joseph Saladino, Nassau County Legislators Joseph Belesi, Rose Marie Walker and Michael Venditto, Farmingdale Village Trustee William Barrett, Farmingdale Village Administrator Brian Harty, and Pat LaFontaine, former NY Islander and National Hockey League Hall of Famer.

The race was followed by a special fundraising event at Croxley Ale House, who generously donated their space with complimentary food and soft drink for all the participants. The festivities also included a raffle with prizes that included a Fuji Road Bike donated by Babylon Bike, an Apple IPad, $100 gift certificate from Staples, and many other great prizes and gifts. The MC for the event was Frank Brinka of B103 Radio, from Wiseman and Frank in the Morning.  The Main Street Mile once again produced great performances for both the men and women. The men's open division (under 40 years of age) was won for the second straight year by 25 year old Ryan Zillman of Wantagh in a time of 4:16. He was followed by Joseph Greico of Massapequa in 4:20, and Alex Saavedra of Holbrook in 4:22.  

In the men’s master’s division, Boyd Carrington of Amityville finished won in a time of 4:24, followed in second by Alan Wells who traveled all the way from Orlando Florida in 4:25, and Gerry O’Hara of East Rockaway in 4:28.

 

In the women's open division, Katie McGrath of Oakdale won in 5:13, followed in second by Tara Wilson of West Islip in 5;19, and Shari Klarfeld of Plainview finishing third in 5:23.

 

In the women's masters division, Laura Brown of West Hampton won it in 5:33, followed by Jill Skelly of Baldwin in 5:37 and Karen Conkling of Massapequa in 5:49. finishing 3rd.

 

There were also great performances from some of the younger participants, including 13 year old Leonardo Cuozzo of Bellmore in 5:43, 14 year old James Dooley of Massapequa in 5:57, and 10 year old Jacki Amato of East Quoge in 6:43. And how about 7 year old sisters Marissa and Megan McDougall – who both finished in 8:13 and 9:25 respectively.

 

There were 33 Farmingdale residents who participated and fared well in the race –Chris Daily in 5:07, Michael Fernandez in 5:08, Danny Dmuchowski in 5:10, Joe Morris in 5:20, Tom Heinson in 5:51, Frank Delguecio in 5:53, Noelle Cutter in 5:59, Joe Santos in 6:01, Bill Coleman in 6:08, Paul Ercolano in 6:12, Angela Bruccich in 6:31, Emily Sterber in 6:33, Christopher Maro in 6:41, Amanda Saeed in 6:49, Aidan Sewell in 7:10, Jessica Delguecio in 7:25, Michael Hoffman in 7:35, Hubert Keen in 7:39, Walter Buser in 7:44, Anthony Diaz in 7:51, Daniel Mebert in 8:19, Susan Paraspolo in 8:35, Ariana Diaz in 8:43, Sanije Tabares in 8:52, Marguerite Macanone in 8:54, Jessica Lynch in 9:30, Janet Dawson in 9:57, Mindy Comike in 9:57, Joseph Diurno in 10;02, Regina Farlese in 10:29, Carleen Maro in 10:53, Frederick Benlein in 12:49, and Allison Davis in 12:53.

Massapequa was represented by 27 participants – Joseph Greico in 4:20, Chris Mammone in 4:27, Kevin Galente in 4:43, Paul Lagumina in 5:05, John Mckeon in 5:32, Karen Conkling in 5:49, James Dooley in 5:57, Richard Augeri in 5:58, Thomas Augeri in 5:59, Monica Enright in 6:18, Frank Borgi in 6:18, Kaitlyn Beleckas in 6:25, John McKeon in 7:13, Michael Ponzio in 7:19, Janine Esposito in 7:26, Emily Mohlin in 7:35, Grace Mohlin in 8:11,Grace Giovanelli in 8:23, Brenda Mohlin in 8:34, Warren Drezen in 8:43, Joanne Garcia in 8:52, John Mohlin in 9:09, Shannon Dooley in 9:35, Janet Love in 10:13, Loretta Short in 10:24, Shirley Dooley in 11:07, and Jim Dooley in 11:20.

There was one notable out of town participant Mary LaFontaine of Phoenix, Arizona, cousin of Pat LaFontaine, who finished in 17:54, traveled in just to do the Main Street Mile.  

The race's oldest finishers were 81 year old Howard Pivnick of Merrick who finished in 10:36,  84 year old Odd Sangesland of Plainview who finished in 12:59,  84 year old Ruth Maller of Massapequa in 15:09, and once again, an amazing inspirational performance from 94 year old Bill Benson of Valley Stream, finishing with a great effort of 15:18.

There were also many participants from the RunStart program, which is sponsored by the Greater Long Island Running Club and Runners Edge to help introduce new runners how to train, with the Main Street Mile being one of the races the members of this program trained to take part in.

Once again, this year’s race was once again run in memory of John McManus, a long time member of the Long Island running community who passed away in 2007. The last race he ever participated in was the 2006 Main Street Mile.

Proceeds from the race go towards LaFontaine's non-profit organization Companions in Courage (CiC). As seen at www.cic16.org, CiC's raises funds to build interactive playrooms in children's hospitals throughout North America. Through innovative communications tools, these playrooms are meant to replace the isolation of a hospital with a connection to family, friends and celebrities during their hospital stay. This effort paves the way for their motto, "No child in the fight for life or health should ever have to go it alone."

The rooms, dubbed “the Lion's Den”, have state-of-the-art technology from Cisco Systems, and Microsoft. Patients receive a "smart" card when they check into the hospital, identifying them as members of a special community with unique privileges. The key is an ID device that allows each child to personalize their experience within the Lion's Den room with activities such as web surfing, video game playing and video-conferencing. Lion’s Den playrooms in the NY area include one at Huntington Hospital, Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital at Columbia Presbyterian in NYC, Maria Fareri Chidren’s Hospital in Valhalla, NY, Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC, and the most recent one being at Cohen’s Children’s Hospital in New Hyde Park.

“We really enjoyed the event, Pat was a very gracious host, and it’s our pleasure to support his work for such a great cause” said Ned Meagher, Partner in the Melville base law firm of Carter, Deluca, Farrell and Schmidt, one of the major sponsors of the event.

“We are very appreciative for the support and generosity we received from our sponsors and participants.” said co-race director Mark Leff of Cisco Systems. “The proceeds from this event will go a long way towards helping children and their families in their time of need given the great work done by CiC”  This is inclusive of a CiC and Cisco initiative known as “Connected Kids”, a way to bring athletes and, celebrities closer to children in these hospitals via WebEx video conference.  Past visits have included Heisman Trophy winner and now Washington Redskin QB Robert Griffin III. Many other such events are currently being planned with well known athletes and celebrities moving forward.

Leff also noted that in addition to the facilities of the Lion’s Den and the Xbox Kiosks, CiC will partner up with Cisco again in December to bring Santa Claus into various CiC supported hospitals throughout the country via WebEx video conference, including the newest facility now open at Cohen’s Children’s Hospital in New Hyde Park. “We call it the Santa Connection, it has become a regular event at hospitals all over the US and Canada that has gone phenomenally well over the last 6 years. Numerous children get personal visits from Santa via WebEx video conferencing, then get a gift. These children could not stop smiling and were happy at a time their parents said they needed it most. Supporting these type of efforts is where the proceeds go, once again we can’t thank everyone enough. We also deeply appreciate the generosity of all our sponsors and supporters including Croxley’s and B103 Radio. I also want to call out the incredible support we got from the Village of Farmingdale, it was really appreciated.”

For more information on Companions in Courage visit their website at http://www.cic16.org.

For more information on the Main Street Mile, visit their Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MainStreetMileFarmingdaleCiC  – its loaded with great information, and tons of photos from the race and the post race fundraiser!

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