Pace Setter : May 2024

Local Boston Marathon Finishers

This year marked the 128th Boston Marathon. There were nearly 70 individuals from the greater Capital Region that finished this year’s race. There were many more runners who had some form of connection to the area whether they have competed in local races or previously lived in the region. Below are just a few of the runners from the HMRRC that shared their perspective from the race.

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Martha DeGrazia of Slingerlands completed her 20th Boston Marathon this year. Martha noted: I participated in the Boston Marathon this past Monday. As always it is the greatest marathon of all that I have experienced.  Boston is all about the runners and not commercially making money or catering to a few elite runners.  The spectators and volunteers are everywhere, enthusiastic, and totally helpful. Even middle and end of pack runners are received so graciously.  After running Boston 20 times my goals have changed. I now run to experience the privilege of being qualified, do my best and strive to finish feeling totally fine!   With so many new potential dangers and obstacles, Boston continues to deliver a high quality world class event. That is why I continue to return. It is about the event, the running community and history not about just one of us.

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Club member Greg Ethier finished this year’s Boston Marathon in 3:14:05. It was Greg’s second Boston Marathon finish. Greg said: The Boston Marathon is truly an amazing and unique experience. This was my 32nd marathon and 2nd Boston. I was able to knock close to four minutes off my time from when I initially ran this course in 2019 despite the much warmer temperatures this year. This past October I ran a 2:59:57 at MHRM and used that for my qualifying time. With that, I was fortunate to get into Wave one which meant an earlier starting time. However, none of us were beating the heat as the temps climbed rather quickly. That said, the Boston hills plus the warmer temps will only make the MHRM this fall that much better!

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Dave Troischt of Mechanicville completed his 7th consecutive Boston Marathon this year in 3:34:18. This was the hottest Boston Marathon that Dave has run so far. And unfortunately, Dave was not racing this year due to some injuries that set back his training. Congrats on finishing, Dave!

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Local Dan Larson, of Queensbury, completed his 54th at the 2024 Boston Marathon. Here are some of Dan’s thoughts about the 2024 Boston Marathon: The first comment about this year is that it felt really hot. 72° and full sunshine is something we’re not accustomed to at this time of year. I did almost all of my training on cross country skis. The crowds were huge, but as I walked by the medical tent after the race, it was obvious that the heat had taken its toll.

My first Boston Marathon was in 1970 when I was 18 and a freshman at Yale. The night before I slept on a frat house floor at Tufts. It reeked  of stale beer. It was a long slog to get to the start, taking a bus to Harvard Square, taking the T to Park Street and then transferring the T to Prudential. After that, the long bus ride out to the start. I can’t remember how many runners there were, perhaps about 1000 or fewer? We all crowded into the Hopkinton high school gym where they bizarrely attempted to do medical clearance exams. 

It was a cold, rainy day, about 40°, Ron Hill set  a new course record. I went with two other underachieving distance runners at Yale. We weren’t good enough for the coach to worry about us. By the time we got to my senior year, and I was getting better on the track team, the coach took me aside. He warned me that I would “goof up” my track season. He did not use such polite terms, but he was right.

I have started every Boston Marathon since 1970. I went to medical school in Albany from 1973-77. That is where I discovered HMRRC, under the leadership of Paul Rosenberg. I had a DNF in 1975 when I had been sick for the entire week before the race. Even then, I probably could’ve finished under 3 1/2 hours, but I was too proud to run so slowly. How I regret the hubris of youth! It has been a long haul and a mostly marvelous journey. As you can imagine it takes an incredibly supportive wife to keep doing this.

Dan was previously profiled in the April 2017 issue of the Adirondack Sports and Fitness newsletter. Read more about Dr. Larson’s history at Boston: https://www.adksports.com/2017-04-athlete-profile

Dr. Larson’s impressive history of finishes at the Boston Marathon:

Dr. Larson kisses his wife, Victoria Wirth, at 12.7 miles:

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Megan James is a local physical therapist. And although Megan has completed Boston in the past, this year, Megan was on medical staff, so it was a bit of a different perspective than usual (Thank you for volunteering to help on the medical staff, Megan!). Megan noted her experience this year at Boston: As part of the medical team, I spent all day in a tent beyond the finish line. We managed a lot of heat cramps & dehydration, and fortunately no one from our section had to be transported to the hospital. We all cheered when people who had been in the tent for a long time were able to walk out! It was fun to talk to people from around the world and hear about their races. It was also a unique experience to work so closely as a medical team -- truly multidisciplinary!

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Local Boston Marathon Finishers:

(These are finishers who reside in a city that is part of the greater Capital Region):

Bib #	Name	Age	Gender	City	State	Time	Overall Place	Gender Place	Division Place
735	Thomas O'Grady	38	M	Slingerlands	NY	2:39:09	396	370	323
3557	Lucas Carter	29	M	Schenectady	NY	2:49:42	1243	1189	953
4379	Jackson Cowin	19	M	Delmar	NY	2:50:25	1318	1262	1011
D5	Shaun and Shamus Evans		M	Middle Grove	NY	2:55:35	Duo 2	Duo 2	Duo 2
1255	Brian Glikes	34	M	Albany	NY	2:56:36	2151	2037	1540
1098	Zareh Baghdassarian	32	M	Saratoga Springs	NY	2:58:43	2573	2420	1750
6489	Bradley Lewis	37	M	Troy	NY	3:00:44	2988	2784	1932
15097	Karina Bolton	26	F	Menands	NY	3:04:55	3670	299	253
709	Austin Turner	27	M	Menands	NY	3:04:55	3671	3364	2213
4564	Jonathan Peffley	35	M	Halfmoon	NY	3:07:38	4172	3747	2365
8308	Steven Tinkler	58	M	Clifton Park	NY	3:07:59	4233	3794	63
5091	Thomas Gabriel	36	M	Niskayuna	NY	3:08:00	4235	3796	2381
9481	Joshua Farrell	48	M	Albany	NY	3:09:25	4520	4014	464
7208	Wei Ma	46	M	Clifton Park	NY	3:10:03	4638	4105	482
6413	Jonathan Louden	39	M	Clifton Park	NY	3:11:03	4823	4242	2563
8092	Patric Brew	55	M	Kinderhook	NY	3:13:11	5269	4559	91
15334	Mary Panepento	24	F	Albany	NY	3:13:15	5283	703	575
7411	Greg Ethier	50	M	Ballston Lake	NY	3:14:05	5470	4704	318
4428	Andrew Balogh	24	M	Averill Park	NY	3:14:32	5589	4784	2729
8021	Zhaolin Cheng	49	M	Albany	NY	3:15:07	5715	4871	677
9000	Meg Versteegen	45	F	Schenectady	NY	3:15:56	5883	888	46
13067	Amanda Aussems	30	F	Slingerlands	NY	3:16:30	6019	934	750
4834	Adnan Ahmad	26	M	Delmar	NY	3:17:57	6371	5291	2875
16360	Louise Xie	24	F	Glenmont	NY	3:20:49	7086	1343	1056
12863	Alison Heaphy	57	F	Troy	NY	3:21:50	7336	1445	6
11337	Kimberly Milton	42	F	Clifton Park	NY	3:22:58	7637	1583	207
16310	Dalia Levy	20	F	Albany	NY	3:25:03	8192	1826	1395
7878	Larry Clevenger	62	M	Saratoga Springs	NY	3:28:49	9228	6908	104
11297	Esther Karfunkel	40	F	Lawrence	NY	3:29:18	9357	2352	355
2555	Alejandro Gauna	41	M	Delmar	NY	3:30:14	9615	7123	1331
5353	David Troischt	57	M	Mechanicville	NY	3:34:18	10596	7588	473
8491	Christopher Scoville	44	M	Kinderhook	NY	3:36:07	11010	7784	1402
14588	Morgan Mueller	31	F	Queensbury	NY	3:41:55	12408	3949	2443
14072	Gretchen Klingbeil	46	F	Ballston Lake	NY	3:43:40	12821	4180	574
26156	Jesse Lane	35	M	Saratoga Springs	NY	3:44:04	12907	8652	3552
15319	Molly Kane	23	F	Rensselaer	NY	3:45:05	13163	4361	2592
18106	Karen Dolge	53	F	Valatie	NY	3:47:06	13596	4591	279
2967	Michael Ventimiglia	29	M	Queensbury	NY	3:47:16	13642	8992	3604
14357	Christopher Fess	52	M	Clifton Park	NY	3:47:34	13721	9030	1182
22336	Lauren Hamilton	59	F	Schenectady	NY	3:48:06	13855	4737	125
16219	Lauren Zielinski	32	F	Albany	NY	3:49:15	14098	4865	2729
18817	Michelle Hughes	53	F	Clifton Park	NY	3:50:23	14335	4994	342
19380	Melissa Pecora	43	F	Gansevoort	NY	3:50:29	14355	5002	894
18079	Randal Bushart	56	M	Selkirk	NY	3:50:59	14452	9358	818
19469	Alyssa Risko	58	F	Schenectady	NY	3:51:35	14570	5125	161
15019	Lauren Scarupa	32	F	Albany	NY	3:51:58	14646	5174	2824
21379	Jaime Farone	47	F	Saratoga Springs	NY	3:52:10	14696	5196	838
20032	Colleen Brackett	63	F	Albany	NY	3:52:15	14719	5212	51
21327	Brian Coyne	61	M	Albany	NY	4:01:11	16398	10230	552
18915	Jennifer Adams	41	F	Selkirk	NY	4:01:17	16419	6144	1092
10823	Jesse Waldmann	52	M	Glens Falls	NY	4:02:05	16523	10288	1389
21752	Stephanie Monteau	50	F	East Greenbush	NY	4:02:55	16671	6284	565
17226	Alexis Disilvestro	40	F	Schodack Landing	NY	4:12:14	17977	7003	1199
7721	Tj Sherwin	37	M	Albany	NY	4:13:25	18148	11021	3954
18563	Kari Deer	45	F	Slingerlands	NY	4:18:20	18761	7408	1346
4262	John Deer	41	M	Slingerlands	NY	4:18:20	18762	11315	1720
23468	Jim Waterhouse	70	M	Valatie	NY	4:19:10	18858	11367	54
22892	Nancy Richman	55	F	Albany	NY	4:20:33	19018	7526	491
22219	Vicki Dingman	53	F	Clifton Park	NY	4:21:53	19170	7615	798
5107	Kyle Mahoney	42	M	Ballston Lake	NY	4:25:34	19600	11732	1751
26956	Dirk Manhin	44	M	Saratoga Springs	NY	4:29:53	20070	11946	1771
14537	David Grout	56	M	Valatie	NY	4:34:28	20518	12146	1254
23759	Martha Degrazia	73	F	Slingerlands	NY	4:38:46	20907	8522	15
15749	Daniel Larson	72	M	Queensbury	NY	4:45:35	21529	12615	99
27280	Lynn Hansen	50	F	Averill Park	NY	4:47:33	21690	8937	962
24150	Sheridan Miller	26	F	Albany	NY	4:51:50	22065	9126	3922
25356	Leigh Anne Clevenger	62	F	Saratoga Springs	NY	4:57:48	22572	9373	432
23352	Joe Aliberti	74	M	Voorheesville	NY	5:18:41	23759	13743	147
23381	Kim Law	66	F	East Greenbush	NY	5:37:27	24598	10410	184