2010 Westfield Pizza Run Review

There is a well known adage that states that there is a story for every finisher in a race. The 2153 men, women and children who braved 90 degree heat and high humidity to finish the ninth annual Westfield Downtown 5K and Pizza Extravaganza on Wednesday July 21 produced a variety of compelling stories.

The Winner

19 year old George Galasso of Holmdel needed a fast tempo run to augment his summer training so the Princeton University student hopped on the parkway for the 25 mile trip north and accomplished his running goal. His 15:48.30 time was easily enough to out run recent Union Catholic graduate DJ Thornton of Rahway, who ran for The Running Company. Galasso, who ran 9:15 for 3200 meters as a 2009 senior at Holmdel High and 8:35 this past winter as a Princeton freshman, was wary of Thornton’s finishing speed and tried to mitigate his kick by taking the race out hard from the beginning. Taking the lead in the first 400, Galasso was able to maintain a steady 5:05 pace that would not allow any other runners to catch him.

“I was hoping someone would try and catch up to me, but I was happy with the performance. It was very hot out there, but it has been that way for weeks, so I was used to it,” said Galasso.

“It’s really a great race to have in the middle of the week in the middle of summer. If it fits my schedule, I would like to come back next year and try to defend next year,” added Galasso.

The Coach

There are not many coaches who can outrun all the members of a top ten cross country team, but former Westfield star Chris Tafelski is not your ordinary coach. Tafelski,30, of Garwood, is an assistant to veteran Jack Martin and although he finished fifth in 16:37:47, he seemed more excited by the performance of the teenagers who will make up the bulk of next year’s Blue Devil squad.

The top three town finishers were rising seniors Andrew Kirna and Zach Lizmi and junior John Kirna who ran together, all finishing within a second of each other in 17:11.99,17:12.05 and 17:12.17 respectively. Junior Evan Tarlow was a minute behind in 18:11, just edging top Cranford finisher Eddie Baker.

“They have been working really hard as a group all summer and this has been an extremely challenging summer to train in,” said Tafelski, who has also benefited from staying healthy in his training.

“I have been getting my workouts in but it is only a matter of time before those kids beat me. They are very excited about this fall and their results are fantastic for the middle of summer.”

The new girl in town

The first question asked to 20 year old Elisabeth Stocking, the top Westfield female finisher, running 20:29 was how come she didn’t run for the top rated Westfield cross country team. Her replay was that she went to high school in Singapore and the family just moved to Westfield last year. Stocking was not that avid a runner until she moved stateside.

“I am just starting to get into running. It is exciting to be the first town finisher,” said Stocking, who edged her 16 year old brother Teddy, who ran 21;17.

Their father Carl,49 also ran the race and finished in 24:19.

The perennial

Don Hessemer of Fanwood was a little disappointed with his time of 25:12.23that was two minutes slower than his 2009 effort.

“I just couldn’t get going tonight. Maybe it’s just old age,” said Hessemer 54,who has competed in all nine years of the race.

“I have been doing some encouraging track workouts and I thought I could at least get under eight minutes a mile but a lot of other runners had a rough night out there, too. The air was stifling, but the pizza was good and it’s always great seeing old friends”

The Mayor

“It was great night for Westfield and a fantastic chance for us to show off our beautiful town. I am sorry I had to miss this year for the first time,” said Mayor Andy Skibitsky.

“I am really proud of the all the Westfield people who helped to pull off such a fantastic event.”

As he has done the past few years, Skibitsky interviewed race participants for a television broadcast. He was also a proud father, with his sons Shane, 18, Troy, 16 and Chase,14 all finishing.

“It doesn’t get better for a father than this,” said Skibitsky.
The Running Store

It didn’t seem possible that The Westfield Running Company could be an even bigger part of the race than in previous years but their new and larger location on Quimby Street made it the place to congregate before and after the race. Owner Gene Mitchell, a four time winner and the course record holder, was out of town and unable to compete. Although they did not finish first, Running Company members were ubiquitous in the top 50 and would have easily won a team competition had there been one,


Cranford contingent

The race included a large Cranford contingent including Amy and John Montuori, who ran the race together. When asked what drew them to run the race, John was quick to answer “Pizza”. Margaret McHale of Cranford participated in the race for all nine years and said she was there “To keep the tradition going.” Athletic Director Marc Taglieri was at the race to support his wife Christine who ran 26:35.

A stirring battle for 72nd place was won by 14 year old Connor Mcmahon edging his 46 year old father Joseph by a second. The first Cranford female finisher at The Firecracker 4 Mile, Jessica Barr, topped the numerous Cranford women competing.


The race director

While some huge lightning bolts at 6:30 and a moderate rain may have scared some runners, Sherry Cronin Executive Director of the Downtown Westfield Corporation (DWC), who had the largest stake in the evening, was not worried.

“We had people who were totally on top of the radar and correctly predicted that we would have a clear window from race time through 8:30,” said Cronin.

“We have control about whether the race would be delayed and we would have pushed the start back if needed to ensure the safety of every runner.”

Entries swelled past 2500 and Cronin declared the online registration a success. “It really helped us out logistically to have running chips attached to the numbers. It made things much smoother for the volunteers.”

The huge turnout presented its own challenges. With such a large crowd in a constricted area, safety became a major consideration.

“We wanted to ensure that all of the runners are safe on the course and a
larger crowd means more volunteers and staff to monitor the race. We have
also communicated with the residents along the race route as we do every
year to ensure that they know when the race will occur in front of their
home,” said Cronin.

“The logistical issues are enormous for a race of that size, Everything is harder including setting up water stops, getting all runners to the start and making sure the registration lines move quickly .“

With another successful race behind her, Cronin looks forward to 2011.
“We will sit down and talk about what went right and what we can improve on. We are always tweaking to make it a better race.”

2010 Firecracker 4 Mile review

The 31st annual Firecracker Four Mile Run proved to be no dud as the beginnings of a vicious heat wave held off until after the race was completed and led to increased registration. A new champion was crowned as Kenyan Solomon Too clocked 20:42.37 to outrun 2009 winner Tim Morgan of South Plainfield and 1193 other finishers. The women also had a first time winner as 19 year old Dana Guglielmo of Basking Ridge ran 25:16.26 to outpace Jessica Barr of Cranford. While race time temperatures were well over 80 degrees the humidity was manageable and the runners were also abetted by plentiful water, provided by the race and residents who lived on the race path, many of whom sprayed runners with hoses.

“It was warm but not the oppressive heat we have had in the past and not as bad as we are supposed to get later this week,” said fifth year race director Mike Rokicki.

“We are able to handle any kind of weather and we made sure that there was plenty of water on the course.”

The weather proved no problem to Too, who has a personal best of 2:20.45 for the marathon and used the race as mid-summer training run. Too broke away from the pack early and ran averaged 5:10 per mile.

“The weather was good for me. I am used to hot weather,” said Too.

Morgan out ran the chase pack that included third place finisher Joe Jacobs of Bloomingdale and 2006 Cranford graduate Kevin Brown. “I am okay with the race I ran. He went out faster than I wanted to and never gave us a chance to catch him,” said Morgan, who although 26 has completed the last 11 Firecracker races.

“It was a tradition I started when I was in high school and it is a lot of fun to come back to this race every year. It is a well organized race and has good refreshments,” said the razor thin Morgan, while enjoying post race ice cream, that was available to all participants.

Brown finished fourth in 21:26 and was also the top Cranford finisher. The top 20 also included three current and former Cougar runners. Rising junior Elias Howard was 13th in 22:55, 2005 graduate Brian Mahoney was 16th in 23:05 and 2010 graduate Jeff Sun was 20th in 23:33.

Guglielmo, who just completed her freshman season at the University of Richmond, ran the race for the first time and came away impressed.

“It is a fast flat course with a lot of shade. I definitely hope to come back and run this race in the future,” said Guglielmo, whose father and younger brother also competed.

Unlike Too, Guglielmo ran the race with different male competitors and was not certain that she was first until being told by volunteers at the three mile mark. Guglielmo finished her first college season competing in the 3000 meter steeplechase for the first time.

“I love the event. I am still learning to hurdle and get through the water barriers but it is such a fun and challenging race,” said Guglielmo.

Barr, a 2003 Cranford High School graduate, is one of the top distance runners in the area and also won her age group at the Rutgers half marathon in April. Among the other Cranford residents to win their age group was the amazing Kathy Calabretta, who ran 31:35 to win 60-64.

But beyond the winners were runners like John and Amy Montuori of Cranford, who have made the race a staple of their Independence Day schedule.

“I was only able to do the one mile fun run because of an injury but I am so thrilled that John ran his best time for the race. We are so lucky to have such a good race in our town,” said Amy Montuori.

Other popular activities at the race included free popcorn, yogurt and Good Humor ice cream. After a frenzied start early in the day when he seemed to be holding three conversations at once, Rokicki settled in and after the race could enjoy what was another successful race.

“We will have a post race meeting in a few weeks to go over what we did right and what we can improve on for the future. This race is always a work in progress and we will look to make changes if needed.” said Rokicki.