Green brothers and Delia Hayes first Shelter Islanders across the finish line in 10K: Bill Lehr Island wheelchair champ

He didn’t really start to feel it until about 4 miles into the 6.2 mile race, Joshua Green said.

“The conditions were pretty good, cool, a little humid,” he added. “But at about the halfway point I realized that I hadn’t really trained for the 10K.”

No matter. Joshua, 23, was the first Islander across the finish line for his hometown’s greatest sporting event, the 44th Shelter Island 10K.

He finished 6th overall out of the 709 registered runners on Saturday evening with a time of 32 minutes and 47 seconds. Right behind him was his brother Jason, 20.

The first Island woman across the line was Delia Hayes, 26, who finished in a time of 42.57.

The Green brothers and Delia are familiar presences at finish lines on Shelter Island. Last October, in the Island’s 5K race, Joshua was the first overall to break the tape, and Delia was the first woman across the line.

On Monday, Joshua said he and his brother were still a “little beat up” after the Saturday run. Both young men work for South Ferry, and Joshua coaches the Shelter Island School junior high cross country and track teams.

Sunday they took the day off from training, and went to Manhattan for a day of relaxing. “Eating good food and shopping. We got new shoes,” Joshua said. The brothers are training to compete in the famed Fifth Avenue Mile in Manhattan in September and the Island’s 5K in October.

Hayes said early this week that she was still feeling the effects of her race. “I haven’t run in a few days, but I’m O.K.,” she said. She ran alone, and didn’t start her kick until about a mile to go. It was her second fastest time for a 10K.

She was surprised she was the first Island woman to finish. “I didn’t know until my Aunt Susie told me later on,” Hayes said.

Wheelchair racer Bill Lehr, one of the most revered Island athletes of all time, finished second to his longtime rival and friend Peter Hawkins of Melville. Hawkins posted a time of 36:21, to Lehr’s 38:33. The third wheelchair competitor, Norbert Holo, 25, of Williston Park, who was in his third Island 10K, finished with a time of 57:39.35.

“Someday I’m going to beat this guy,” Lehr said with a wide smile, pointing at his rival next to him, moments after they crossed the finish line. He’d come closer than ever to besting Hawkins over a series of 10Ks, he said, which Lehr has raced more than 20 times.

He’d kept pace with Hawkins until around Cobbetts Lane leading to the Village of Dering Harbor. “That’s where Pete pulled ahead,” he said.

Asked about the weather during the race, Hawkins said he found it entertaining. “Coming into the final stretch I heard the thunder and I had to laugh,” he said. “What a great way to finish the Shelter Island 10K.”