Islanders star in 5K, men end in photo finish

In Saturday’s 14th annual 5K Run/Walk for breast cancer awareness and treatment, a real race developed among the men after the winner had finished and was receiving congratulations.

Benjamin Segal of New York City crossed the finish line at the eastern end of Crescent Beach with a time of 18:54 minutes for the 3.1 mile race — more than 30 seconds ahead of Madison Rademacher of Brooklyn. Bob Kujawski finished a strong third about 10 seconds after Mr. Rademacher.

But it was the battle down the stretch for fourth and fifth place pitting Islanders Dan Fokine, 32, and Chris Doyle, 15 — attending high school at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania — that had race fans cheering every stride separated at the finish by an eyelash of 3/10 of a second.

For the first Shelter Island woman who crossed the finish line, there was also a well-fought contest for first in the female division, with Tara Wilson coming in second by 17 seconds to Raquel Miller of New York City.

Dan had run cross-country at Shelter Island High School and still holds the school record for the 800 yards. His school track coach Cliff Clark said after the race that he was known as a formidable finisher with an outstanding kick. For the 5K Saturday, Dan was unsure if he still had that notable home stretch sprint. Life had interrupted putting in miles on the road. Work demands a lot of his time, “and now I have a little son,” Dan said.

Tara, 27, who was also a runner in high school, said she was up for the challenge of her hometown race. She had been rehabbing a bulging disc in her back and had started a serious regimen of cross training, adding hot yoga to her routines and was feeling stronger every day leading up to Saturday.

Running in a few organized races up-Island, Tara had developed a strategy of checking out the competition during warm-ups before races.  “I’ll look at a person’s body type and match them up with mine,” she said. “When the race starts I’ll stick to a group or one person and get on their pace.”

At the start of the race near the top of Goat Hill on West Neck Road, both Dan, Chris and Tara broke from the pack quickly on the course that cuts down Stearns Point Road, bends around Rocky Point Avenue, turns north up Nostrand Parkway and finishes on Shore Road.

Chris was leading the race for almost the first two miles and then was passed by three runners. At Behringer Lane there was no more pack, Dan said. “It was linear, just a straight line of three or four guys,” he added.

Hitting Shore Road Dan was about 20 yards behind Chris down the stretch when he started his kick. “I like to run to win,” he said. “Even though it’s a race for a good cause, it’s still a race.”

Chris hadn’t been aware of Dan chasing him until the crowd alerted him. “I heard someone yell, ‘Great kick,’ and I knew I had to go into the ‘dark zone,’” Chris said, using an expression his cross country coach uses. “It means that even though you’re in tremendous pain, you have to keep going.”

With ten yards to go Dan pulled even with Chris, but the younger runner had one last burst — all of 3/10 of a second worth to claim fourth place in a dazzling finish.

Back at the start of the race, Tara had chosen Raquel Miller, the eventual women’s winner, to run with, but after a mile or so, “I broke out and pulled ahead of her and was running with four guys and no other women,” she said.

But then she heard something in the cool morning. “I heard her breathing behind me,” Tara said, noting that in a road race the sound of men’s and women’s breathing is different.

“She passed me on Shore Road on the straight there,” she said. “I faltered a little at the end.”

But the Islander is proud of her accomplishment.

The race itself, and the cause it supports, was also a point of pride for Ms. Wilson. “After I finished I was thinking how much the race has grown,” she said. “Seeing all the people in the community was very powerful.”