Promises kept at 5K Run/Walk

Waiting just a bit nervously on West Neck Road Saturday morning before the 14th annual Shelter Island 5K Run/Walk, Islander Judy Christrup was keeping a couple of promises to herself.

One was to get healthier, which she’d done with discipline and some help from a phone app, “From couch to 5K in three months.”

“I started in July, so I made it,” Ms. Christrup said.

The other promise kept was to be with her community to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to support all those who survived cancer or were in treatment, and to remember those who have passed away from the disease.

The event raised more than $30,000. All proceeds from race entry fees, sales of clothing and 5K memorabilia went to the North Fork Breast Health Coalition and the Coalition for Women’s Cancers at Southampton Hospital. A raffle benefited Lucia’s Angels, a foundation committed to helping women and families on the East End with late-stage women’s cancers with special emphasis on helping  Shelter Island women.

Ms. Christrup was one of nearly 800 people — and at least twice that number cheering them on — who were on the 5K Run/Walk course. The racers were from every age group, from infants pushed in strollers to men and women in their 80s, making their way from the start line in a long loop to Shore Road and finishing at the eastern end of Crescent Beach.

The parking lot of the Sunset Beach Motel was transformed into a festival for the racers and their friends and families before, during and after the race, with a pre-race stretch clinic and post- race massages, an award ceremony and a barbecue.

Although there was some serious athletic  competition the event on a mild autumn day was more about celebration, community and fundraising for a good cause.

Only partly tongue-in-cheek, Islander Bill Lehr said the post-race barbecue was why he was at the top of Goat Hill ready to compete. A legendary wheelchair athlete, he has competed in all 14 runnings of the 5K. Along with is 9-year-old son, Will, who was running the 5K for the first time, Mr. Lehr was motivated “by all that good food at the finish line.”

He then added that it was a race he loved to be part of  “to support women battling cancer.”

Told he was the only wheelchair racer, Mr. Lehr said, with a smile, that he was confident “I’ll sweep the division.”

As race announcer Dr. Frank Adipietro amplified voice cut through the buzz of conversations of racers trekking up Goat Hill to the start line, his wife, race director Mary Ellen Adipietro, said simply that the 5K was an event that had become more essential with each running.

“There’s a greater and greater need, year after year,” She said.

Towny Montant, organizer of the “Real Men Wear Pink” event and one of the Island’s leading advocates for breast cancer awareness, said after he had finished the race, “If this race saves one life, if one person gets screened, that’s what it’s all about.”

Judy Christrup was walking off her race near the finish line, exhilarated by the experience. “We all know someone who has suffered,” she said.

Two promises kept before the race, she made another one at the finish— to be back next year for the 2014 5K.

Highlights of the day included:

• Top Team pledges were from Team Flamingo

• Top  individual pledge was Linda Zavatto with $4,685

•  Top breast cancer survivor among runners was Anmarie Seddido

•  Top breast cancer survivor among walkers was Louise Clark

• There was a Team Cronin, honoring Ann Cronin, a 10-year member of the 5K committee and recently diagnosed with breast cancer

• A team Gibbs, honoring Ginny Gibbs, a long-time math teacher at Shelter Island School who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.