16 Photos
Nick Berglin leads a group of runners that also includes Mathew Sabolenko and Jack Stevens, over Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays for the Over the Bridge races on Saturday morning. DREW BUDD
Nick Berglin leads a group of runners that also includes Mathew Sabolenko and Jack Stevens, over Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays for the Over the Bridge races on Saturday morning. DREW BUDD
Runners head over Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays on Saturday morning. DREW BUDD
Matthew Kristan and the rest of the runners head over Ponquogue Bridge Saturday morning. DREW BUDD
Adam Rotberg, left, and Sasha Kemnitzer heading over the Ponquogue Bridge on Saturday morning. DREW BUDD
Runners head over Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays on Saturday morning. DREW BUDD
Sasha Kemnitzer was the female champion of Saturday morning's 5K. DREW BUDD
Isabelle Smith placed second among women in Saturday morning's 5K. DREW BUDD
Jennifer Smith placed third among women in Saturday morning's 5K. DREW BUDD
Sergey Avramenko was the overall champion of the 10K. DREW BUDD
Casey Lopez placed second in the 10K. DREW BUDD
Hanna Martel was the female champion of the 10K and placed third overall. DREW BUDD
David Markey placed third among male runners. DREW BUDD
Alyssa Bahel placed second among women in the 10K. DREW BUDD
Chris Lorenzini placed fourth among male runners in the 10K. DREW BUDD
Duretti Fufa placed fourth among women in the 10K. DREW BUDD
What a difference a year makes.
After last year’s 10K of the annual Over the Bridge pair of races in Hampton Bays was canceled due to flooding rains in the days prior to the race making it just a 5K for the first time in its 12-year existence, the 10K returned this past Saturday thanks to the continued near-perfect weather that has enveloped the Northeast over the past several weeks.
Sergey Avramenko, the 39-year-old native of Belarus who calls the East End home during the summer and who won the 5K last year, returned to win this year’s 10K in 34:42.24, a mile pace of 5:35, and 6 minutes or so ahead of second place Casey Lopez, 34, of Bellport. Hanna Martel, 29, of Hampton Bays won this year’s female champion of the 6.2-mile race that has become synonymous for its course that takes runners over Ponquogue Bridge. She crossed the finish line in 41:36.64.
David Markey, 33, of Eastport finished fourth overall in 42:01.62 while John Curbishley, 48, of Quogue finished fifth in 43:34.38. Alyssa Bahel, 26, of Sag Harbor and Chris Lorenzini, 40, also of Sag Harbor finished sixth and seventh overall in 44:05.04 and 44:10.48, respectively. Both Lorenzini and Bahel were the champions of the Mashashimuet Park Friends and Family 5K in Sag Harbor on September 8.
Duretti Fufa (44:30.43), 44, of New York City, Beatriz Acevedo (44:38.44), 45, of Flanders and Kevin Weldon (45:18.15), 45, of Medford rounded out the top 10 of the 10K on Saturday. Over 350 runners finished the pair of races.
Avramenko said he first ran the 10K of the race back in 2021 when he finished in 34:57. He said he wasn’t necessarily in 10K shape back then and was more built at that time for a 5K. Recovering from an injury that kept him out from running competitively for four and a half months, Avramenko said he started to train for longer distance races which has bore out in his time.
The races, hosted by the Hampton Bays Lions Club, did start 25 minutes or so later than expected with a number of people still being bussed to the starting lines on Dune Road. Avramenko said he didn’t really appreciate that since he saw the temperature go up about three degrees in that time span on what was a rather warm mid-September day.
“It’s a little bit unfair on the one hand. On the other hand, it’s an amateur competition. You have to just adjust and accept it,” he said.
Avramenko, who won Ellen’s Run in Southampton last month, said he’s just now starting to feel like he’s getting back to normal after his injury. He plans on running the Vin Zorbo 5K in Westhampton Beach this weekend to see where he is comparatively to when he ran the Joe Koziarz Memorial 5K in July, which was one of his first races back. After that, Avramenko said he pretty much plans on shutting things down before returning to his family back home in Belarus the first week in October. He wants to run the Hamptons Half Marathon, which is coming up on September 28, when he’s at full strength so he can run a personal best there. Maybe next year, he said.
“It was an intense summer,” he said. “I was waking up early some days to go on the track to avoid the heat. Now I’m harvesting as they say, picking up the food.”
Nick Berglin, 33, of Hampton Bays won the 5K in 17:32.67, a mile pace of 5:39. Mathew Sabolenko, 23, of East Patchogue finished second overall in 18:38.38 and Jack Stevens, 35, of Philadelphia placed third in 19:56.28.
The top three females of the 5K all came in consecutively starting with Sasha Kemnitzer, 45, of Port Jefferson who finished in 23:22.62. Then the mother-daughter duo of Isabelle and Jennifer Smith finished in 23:34.74 and 23:45.97, respectively. Belle Smith just wrapped up her time at Boston College where she was a two-time national champion on the women’s lacrosse team.
All race results cane be found at elitefeats.com.
The Lions Club contributes much of the proceeds from the races to the Smithtown Guide Dog Foundation and Canine Companions for Returning Veterans, in addition to funding scholarships for students in the Hampton Bays and Westhampton Beach school districts. Race proceeds have also helped fund local churches, the Dominican Sisters, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Little League, Maureen’s Haven and the St. Rosalie’s food pantry.
