TOWN OF CHENANGO – A first-timer and a many-timer raced to top billing in Sunday’s 42nd running of the Forks XV on a sun-splashed afternoon that at long last suggested spring may indeed be upon us.
David Rappleyea’s 11th-hour decision to make the trek from suburban Rochester was rewarded with a first-place finish among male competitors, his 50-minute, 46-second clocking nearly two minutes clear of next-best. О, бухгалтерские семинары Киев , а также Харьком.
Casondra Hamilton covered the 15-kilometer course on which she trains with some regularity in 1:02:13 — good for a 41-second margin over the female runner-up — then was off to meet up with her pet Daschounds who’d made their bark known to competitors along the trail.
Rappleyea — «So, R-Apple-Yea» as he kindly and phonetically articulated — detoured considerably from his original game plan to debut in the Forks XV.
He’d intended to do the Spring Forward Distance Run, a 15K tester near his Henrietta residence. But via drive-by he’d determined the course to be too icy for his liking. And so, through a social-media recommendation from former Forks XV winner Fred Joslyn, the decision was made at 7:30 Saturday night to set out in the morning on a southeasterly path along with buddy Derrick Jones, who placed fifth.
«Drove 2 1-2 hours, hopped out of the car, signed up and raced,» said Rappleyea, 29, who works in the IT Department of the Fairport School District and coaches the Red Raiders’ track and cross country teams. He arrived at the race venue maybe 80 minutes before start time.
A pesky lower-leg ailment prompted cramping for a bit along the course, but that thankfully subsided and Rappleyea proceeded on in commanding fashion. Second place went to Jigar Gosalia of East Meadow in 52:43, half-a-minute faster than Jack Hillenbeand of Harpursville.
Rappleyea was a weekend removed from a fifth-place finish in the Syracuse Half Marathon, and Sunday’s mission was to get in «a hard effort» as part of training for the late-May Buffalo Marathon. As for the likelihood of a Forks XV return?
«I like it. It’s definitely a possibility,» he said. «But I would like to plan ahead next time.»
For Hamilton, a delightful 32-year-old Binghamton resident, winning a race she holds in especially high regard made the afternoon particularly gratifying.
«It’s a special race. It’s very much a runner’s race,» she said. «I think the people who come here are really just in it because they love to run. Last week at the half-marathon, they give out these super-fancy medals. I think maybe people are more into those races for the things they give away. Where everybody here, they come and pay $15 to register and just sort of grind out a hard, crazy run. This one’s sort of special.»
The half-marathon she referenced was conducted last weekend in Virginia Beach, and her 1:27:27 brought an eight-place age-group finish. That was no jog in the park, and so there was concern that the physical toll taken might negatively impact Sunday’s effort.
Not so much.
Most potentially problematic along the Forks XV course is a steep climb at about the 7 1-2 mile mark. However, «I’ve had lots of practice coming up that hill. Probably run up it 50 times in the last four months,» said Hamilton, who is in build-up mode for the Boston Marathon.
Down the road she is targeting something memorable in the Vestal XX, in which a string of near misses has grown mildly frustrating— «Second in that race every time I’ve run it. So I’m hoping,» she said.