The Labor Day Classic organized by the Verona Chapter of UNICO National and the Essex Running Club drew 808 racers, the largest participation ever, and 200 racers more than last year. Santi Condorelli, a member of UNICO and one of the race’s managers, told the Verona Town Council last night that, thanks to the presence of a record 30 sponsors, the event raised $11,500 for scholarships and charitable organizations.
Top finisher in the kids 1-mile run was Brian Wayne of Verona, followed by Thomas Duncan of Montclair in second and Garrett Percevault of Verona in third. There were 166 racers in the kids race alone and you can see all the results here.
In the 5K race, Ben Clarke of Morristown finished first with a time of 16:00.61. The top finishers for Verona were Nick Lukas in 5th with a time of 16:48.60 and Eddie Congdon in 12th at 17:56.86. Among the female racers, Faith Dismuke of Passaic finished first at 20:51.26. The top Verona finisher was again in 5th place, Desi Symons with a time of 21:08.95. Kelly Scully, who like Lukas and Congdon is on the Verona High School cross country team this fall, finished 6th among the women at 21:11.78. You can see all the 5K results here.
There were runners as young as seven and as old as 81 on the course, and several families turned out. Susan and Rudy Frizzi raced with all three of their daughters, Emilia, Giuliana and Clara, and Emilia turned in the 7th best time for female runners under age 14, with a 25:35.48 race. VHS soccer coach Wayne Looney got both the varsity and JV teams on the course: Varsity co-captains Carlos Vassallo and Colin Cummings had times of 25:31.08 and 26:25.60 respectively.
