Kelly LaBare - A Celebration of Life - 2018 - Livestream w/ Commentary

Commentary By Steve Esposito 

August 5th, 2018 - [Town of Dickinson] - Welcome to the 21st annual Kelly LaBare 5k.  We have a star studded lineup here with a lot of local athletes, some out-of-towners and it's looking like it's going to be a great race. 

Pretty aggressive start as it always is.  Got some great front runners up top here: Lucas Sutton, John Salva, Noah Fairly, Vince Patrino just to name a few.

Nice lead pack here up front.

Looks like there’s a contigent from Union Endicott cross country in the mix.

Lucas Sutton up front running I believe for Geneseo in College Susquehanna Valley High School.

Noah Fairly right behind him, I know he ran for Binghamton High [School], not sure if he’s still there or not.

John Salva pushing up here in the red, number 142.  With Vince Patrino, Mike Kent right behind those guys.

Just about 400m into the 21st annual Kelly LaBare 5k. 

Lucas Sutton still holding strong upfront, number 185.

John Salva and Noah Fairly looking real comfortable right on his heels.

Vince Petrino and Mike Kent behind looking real great.

Mike’s had a great year so far.  Vince had a nice run at the Montrose, the 10000m and [10K] 4th of July.

A little far back here to see what's going on with the women's field but we'll find out in time.

Right around half a mile here.  Doesn't appear to be as robust of a field as it has been in past years but still a good time nonetheless.  The bunch of great local guys here grinding it out.  

Lucas Sutton up front still maintaining a great lead.  John Salva behind him with Noah Fairly.  John's been running really really well the past year and a half or so.  I haven't seen much from Noah but he looks fantastic as of right now.

What you see here now, strung out here from the main pack of the race. Looks like we're focused just on the leaders.  Coming up on the first mile here real quick.  Still a great pack hear from these three.  All look comfortable. Coming right up here on mile one.  Right around 5:20 here for the first mile for these guys.  Another fast 2 miles to go hear this is a blazing fast course.  It looks like a great day to weather is beautiful it's dried up a little bit hasn’t rained as much the past day or so.  The conditions look fantastic.  

Still this lead three here.  Vince Patrino and the gentleman in the blue shorts down there, I’m not sure what his name is, and Mike Kent bringing up the rear behind us.  Behind those guys.

Letting these guys go past here.  Great lead pack going.  Vince Patrino coming up number 4.  Mike Kent number 2.  Looking good Mike.   Some more runners here coming down here coming through.  Going to name off some runners.  Some Binghamton University Running Club Members.  Union Endicott Cross Country [UEXC] condigent coming through.

Some of our first females Bethany Brown and also Kathy Grassgrouper.  Bethany Brown look to be number one and Kathy glass grouper appeared to be about number three.  There was another female in there I didn’t catch her face.

Some more runners coming through.  Everyone looks fantastic.  Local legend number 22 Gary Fancher coming through. 

Getting ready  here to have the leaders coming through. 

Emily Guenther.  Trish Spring. Brittany.  Vince Fox. Kevin Nelson.  Great to see a lot of people from the community coming out, enjoying a good day.

Grant Briggs number 16.

Nick Gillotte number 69.

Dale Lobdell coming through here number 103.

Mark Mushalla, 221. 

Switch focus here back to the leaders coming down the hill.  About a quarter mile or less over 2 miles, so we’re in the last mile of the race here.  Here are our lead bikers (Ben Snodgrass).

Here they come now, coming down the hill.  Looks like Noah Fairly up front, followed by John Salva, and Lucas Sutton right behind. Looks like the lead pack has finally strung out a bit and it’s going to be a pretty painful last mile looks like.

Noah looks real strong now.  And John’s trying to break up and get up next to him. Looks like Vince Patrino coming in way back behind Lucas Sutton.  A solid one, two, three, four.

John Salva, number two man here, fighting real tough and he is as gritty as they come real good shape so we’ll see how this unfolds.

Noah looking really relaxed right now, nice stride.

John Salva looking like he’s closing the gap here.  This would be a nice finish here.

Kelly LaBare 5k, Binghamton area’s premier 5k road race.

John Salva pulling up here, John Salva pulling away.  John Salva’s taking the lead.  Winning this would be a fantastic achievement and addition to anyone’s local running resume.  And John Salva just took the lead. Working really hard.  Noah fading back. But looks like Noah’s still in it.  John Salva looking real good right now.  Coming around, probably the last, half mile to 600 meters or so around the pond. 

John’s been known for his late race surges that can break many people, and he certainly proved that he could do that right here today but I’m not going to count out Noah at this point, checking his watch.

John working hard here up front, number 142. Formally Susquehanna Valley High School, went on to run at Broome Community College (SUNY Broome) under Tom Carter.  You can see the grit in his face he wants it for sure.  As I’ve said before this is a great race to win. 

Noah holding strong here in second. Lucas Sutton coming up behind him.  Coming around the last turn here with just about 200m to go.  Looking to be a tough pace here for these guys.  15:43 three mile split for John Salva, that’s on pace for approximately a 16:10 5000m (5k) or there abouts which is a very very negative [split] race considering they went out in a 5:15.

John Salva is your 21st annual Kelly LaBare 5k winner.  Followed by Noah Fairly.  Lucas Sutton and Vince Patrino all running fantastically, great local guys.  Great finish.

It was a fun race.  It was fantastic.

Some more runners coming in here.

Gentleman in the blue shorts, not familiar with his name but he had a really strong finish here.  17:37

Mike Kent, phenomenal local master’s runner.

More finishers coming through here.  You can see the women’s field coming up here in the distance.

Not familiar with this young woman but she’s running very well here.  Number 182, Your winner on the 21st annual Kelly LaBare 5k.  Kathy Grassgrouper here coming up in second place, number 73 in the red and black singlet.  Coming to us from Susquehanna, Pennsylvania.  Third place, female Bethany Brown.

Thoughts on the race?

[Jordan Varano Race Director] It was a great race. I’m glad everyone had fun.  We had a real nice turnout.  We had a real nice top four men’s and women’s field.  All real close, within 20-30 seconds from the 1st to the 4th.  It’s nice to see some guys battling out there.  Overall a good morning. 

That concludes our livestream here of the race, and until next time.

 

About the Commentator: Steve Esposito is a phenomenal Binghamton area local runner who supports all the running activities in Broome County.  Notable race wins of his include the legendary Vestal XXk in Vestal, NY, a race known to many by the incredible course records set by Tom Carter.  Steve Esposito ran at Broome Community College Cross Country [SUNY Broome] under Tom Carter.

 

See Pictures from the 2017 Kelly LaBare 5k Run/Walk at the Spiedie Fest & Balloon Rally

August 10, 2018 — Matthew Gawors

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