YMCA 5K provides holiday tradition for dozens

WARREN DILLAWAY
Star Beacon

July 05, 2008 12:01 am

— ASHTABULA — The YMCA 5k Run took on a national flavor Friday morning but a local boy came home with the big prize.
Danny Hare, a sophomore to be at Edgewood High School, won the 3.1 mile race by 12 seconds over Scott Hicks, 33, of North Palm Beach, Fla.
“I was just going to have fun,” Hare said while running a 17:20 over the streets of Ashtabula.
Hare found himself in front but began hearing footsteps late in the race. “The guy was coming for me from behind so I decided I better get going,” he said.
Hicks spent his running career at the University of Rhode Island concentrating on the 400 meter hurdles and the 800 meters. He said the 17:32 in ran Friday morning was a recent personal best.
Coming from Florida the weather was perfect for racing, Hicks said. “I like to take advantage of this cool weather,” he said.
It’s a small world in the holiday running world of Ashtabula. Hicks ran into a runner, at Friday’s race, that lives about 20 miles away from his home in Florida.
Emily Long, former Geneva High School girls cross country coach, kept the local flavor on the race by winning the womens race with a time of 23:06. She didn’t expect to win the race either.
“I didn’t think so. Not at all,” Long said. She said she really relaxed during the race and credited recent biking to her ability to run well.
Craig Reese, 10 time race champion, returned to Ashtabula from his home in Greenville, S.C. and finished third place over all in a time of 18:06. Reese ran for the University of Akron where he held the school’s steeplechase record when he graduated.
Reese said it was probably the 14th time he ran the event.
Larry Mozzocco, race director, said he was happy with the turnout of 63 people for the race. He said he enjoys watching people come back year after year to spend time with family and race through the streets of Ashtabula.

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