Glick conquers Ulster Run on heartfelt anniversary

Kingston’s Lisa Glick, the former president of the Onteora Runners Club, had a milestone accomplishment last Saturday as she spent nearly a full day in completing the Vermont 100k ultra trail run.

Glick, a veteran of number 50-mile races, pushed herself to the limit, all along being guided by her guardian angel, her brother, Joel Zucker.

With its strict 20-hour cutoff for finishers, Glick found the inspiration, the intestinal fortitude and the strength to cross the finish line at the race in 19 hours, 33 minutes.

“I had a lot of reasons for wanting to do this race,” Glick said. “Vermont’s is the oldest of its kind in the country, there is a horse race going on (along with a 100mile run) at the same time, the proceeds benefit the Vermont Adaptive Ski program and it fell on the same day of the Hardrock 100.”

The day also marked the date of her brother’s death as Joel passed away after completing the 100-mile Hardrock Run in Silverton, Colorado in 1998.

“It meant a lot to me to know that at the same time that I was running in Vermont, the Hardrock runners were going on their way,” Glick said. “I knew a race like this was really going to take me near the edge of my ability, but I had to do it.”

Glick said she is not a fast runner, and in fact, on many parts of the race she is hiking.

The Vermont races include a 9,000-foot elevation profile and begins in darkness before dawn.

Glick said the weather forecast called for rain and heat, but neither materialized as she made her way.

“It was a really hard race, but absolutely beautiful,” she said. “One of the things that helps is that they’ve done this race for so long, it’s like a well-oiled machine. The volunteers, even at the aid stations in the middle of the night, are so enthusiastic and helpful.”

Glick said it was around mile 51 where she had her “a-ha” moment as the cutoff times grew shorter.

“One of the volunteers said to me, Hey, it’s like a short half-marathon from here,” she said. “From that point on, I hammered it because I wanted it to be legal, less than 20 hours. It was a gift, a reset of how I had been thinking.”

Besides the spirit of her brother, companion Jim Porter paced her the final 10 miles of the race.

“They both inspired me to get it done and get to the finish line,” she said.

Glick added that the experience reinforced the notion of mind over matter in prevailing over a daunting task.

“You don’t realize how powerful your mind is,” she said. “It’s all about giving ourselves the right messages. You’ve got to think that you’re going to make it and you will.”

Dwyer-McNulty, Myers victorious at Rail Trail

Declan Dwyer-McNulty and Rachel Myers were the winners at the second race of the Kingston Summer Cross Country Series, held at the Route 209 Rail Trail in Hurley.

Dwyer-McNulty took overall honors in 26:32, with Justin MacDougall second in 30:07 and Art Driscoll third in 30:57.

Ryan McCann was fourth in 31:14, Tom deHaan was fifth in 31:28 and sixth went to Hunter Hapeman in 32:26.

Adam Beach (32:37), Simon Prindle (32:40), Chris Gallo (32:43) and Gary Longhi (33:06) completed the top 10.

Myers was 14th overall in 34:20, with Sheryl Wheeler second in 34:42 and Kellie Tyler third in 38:25.

Maura Sullivan was fourth in 38:49, Margaux Seche was fifth in 38:58 and in sixth, it was Felicia Ojarovsky in 40:35.

The ladies top 10 was completed by Rachel Schabot (40:44), Sheena Dwyer-McNulty (41:08), Rebecca MacDougall (42:21) and Nicole Reber (42:58).

Other top finishers were Kevin Lockett (33:07), Doug Needham (33:36), Keith Kortright (33:37), Steve Schindler (34:20), David Hanson (35:03), Patrick Sheeley (35:16), Jacob Anspach (35:34) and Wynter Kennedy (36:05).

Damien Rutkowski (3:48) and Abigal Brener (3:50) finished 1-2 in the kids half mile, while Lia MacDougall (7:07) and Joseph Nuzzo (7:11) took the top spots in the kids mile.

Race No. 3 was held on Wednesday at Coleman Catholic High, but those results were not available at press time.

The fourth race in the series is at Williams Lake in Rosendale on Wednesday.

Organizers are asking for donations of non-perishable food items for donation to local food pantries, all proceeds benefit the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) of Ulster County and that swimming in the lake is available after the run.

Celecki, Waligurski win at New Paltz Summer Series

Barrrett Celecki and former Onteora High standout Emily Waligurski were the winners at last Monday’s Blueberry Run at Minnewaska State Park, the second race in the New Paltz Summer Cross Country Series.

Celecki’s winning time was 23:48, followed by James McCowan in 23:57, Declan Dwyer-McNulty in 24:07 and Zachary Ropes in 24:09.

Waligurski was 21st overall and had a time of 27:55 for first in the women’s race.

Behind her were Caroline Timm in 28:06, Marisa Sutera Strange in 28:16 and Catherine Herne in 28:26.

Regulars among the local finishers included John Nolis (25:23), Ian Detweiler (26:41), Mike Siudy (27:36), Sean Lyons (28:25), Michael Hess (28:28), Jason Taylor (31:24), Steve Schindler (31:37), Isabelle Serrano (31:56), Ethan Burwell (32:59), Luke Taylor (32:47), Catherine Ferreri (33:03), Nathan Briggs (33:44), Emily Gildea (34:24) and David Seche (34:35).

The series continues on Monday with the 5-mile Undercliff/Overcliff at the Mohonk Preserve.

Please send all race results and information to runerichrun@gmail.com. Follow Eric Houghtaling on Twitter at http://twitter. com/runerichrun