Mashashimuet Park Friends and Family 5K Sees an Increase of Runners in its Second Year

Just prior to the start of the second annual Mashashimuet Park Friends and Family 5K, which was held at the Sag Harbor park on Sunday morning, those who attended last year’s inaugural race got to see what some of their registration fees went toward, with the ribbon cutting of the newly renovated grandstands that greet guests near the baseball field.

After all, the biggest benefactor of the race and the main reason it was started was so that the park could make such upgrades. The grandstands, which were built in 1908, got a complete overhaul from top to bottom, including a brand new coat of green paint.

After the ribbon cutting, and singing of the national anthem by 8-year-old Sadie Finelli, runners and walkers took to the starting line in the parking lot behind the baseball backstop. After all was said and done, over 275 people crossed the finish line, about an 80 percent increase from last year when 150 people finished the race.

Craig Berkoski, 41, of Sag Harbor returned this year after having placed third last year and was champion of the 3.1-mile race in 19:06.07. His buddy, Andrew Glueckert, 32, of Demorest, Georgia, placed a close second in 19:20.77. Hasnae Goulamzi, 22, of Morocco, was the female champion of this year’s race, third overall, in 19:34.66. Steven Sobey, 42, of Sag Harbor, placed fourth overall in 19:36.30 and Christian Deger, 27, of Sag Harbor, rounded out the top five, crossing the finish line in 19:49.32.

Full results can be found at elitefeats.com.

Berkoski said he did the race as part of his training for the upcoming Philadelphia Marathon, which is this November. He also appreciated the fact that the race encouraged families to run the race together — his 11-year-old daughter, Evie Rose Berkoski, also ran in the race.

“It’s good to support the local race community,” he said. Race organizers “are very encouraging of the kids to get involved, so I like that, too.

“It’s good, but it’s hot,” Berkoski added. “The humidity is like 96 percent, which always makes running a lot harder. It was a nice course. It’s laid out very well.”

Goulamzi, according to her coach and interpreter, Hicham El Mohtadi of Elmont, runs cross country professionally as part of the Moroccan national team and has competed internationally, in the World Cross Country Championships in Denmark, as well as additional competition in Jordan and Turkey. El Mohtadi said Goulamzi arrived in the U.S. for the first time on September 9, so this was her first race on American soil.

“I like it, it’s very beautiful,” Goulamzi said in her French Moroccan accent, adding that she thought the race was very organized.

El Mohtadi said that Goulamzi’s next race will most likely be a 5-mile run coming up in York, Pennsylvania, as she acclimates to American racing.

“It’s her first race here in the States, and the racing where we come from in Morocco is different,” he said. “A lot of the runners from Morocco and Europe, it takes them a lot, maybe three or four races, to get the rhythm and style of racing in the United States. I have brought many athletes from Morocco, Ethiopia, Kenya to the states and it takes them time. We’re happy with what she did today, and she is young.”

This year’s U.S.A. track and field certified course was revamped and had runners and walkers pass a number of landmarks that were special to the park’s creator, Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage. More music was added along the course with Sag Harbor’s Community Band playing at the John Jermain Memorial Library, Nancy Remkus playing behind the First Presbyterian (Old Whalers') Church of Sag Harbor, and the Schumacher Brothers, teachers at Pierson High School, also played music at the school and local musician Josh Brussel played at the grandstand..

While the plan is for the race committee to pick something different to renovate each year with funds from the race, it is not decided yet what the next project might be.