Women’s run back for 39th year
Former, hopeful Olympians once again among field
ALBANY, N.Y. » The Freihofer’s Run for Women will run its annual 5K race for the 39th straight year Saturday at 9 a.m.
The race is moving to a new home this year in the heart of downtown Albany, starting next to the New York State Capitol building and City Hall on Washington Avenue.
The two top groups are the open elite athletes and the master athletes who will be running in the event.
Joan Benoit Samuelson, the first woman to earn an Olympic gold medal in the Marathon during the 1984 Olympics will once again be competing as a part of the masters athletes. She said the race is a great way to get people interested in running and helping people who want to get in shape.
“I think the Freihofer’s run for women is a celebration of sport and health and wellness,” Samuelson said. “Just celebrating each other’s dreams, aspirations and goals. It is a reunion of sorts for me because many of the women who are here inspired me in my early days of running and then there are the runners, who inspire the younger runners, who in turn inspire me today. It is a culminating celebration of everything that is good in our sport.”
Samuelson also finished first in the age 55-59 age group at the 2015 Boston Marathon where she set a U.S. age group record of 2:50:29. She has finished first at the Boston marathon two other times and once at the 1985 Chicago Marathon.
Some of the other top runners in the master’s program are Jen Rhines from Boston, a three- time Olympian at 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters and in marathon running and a 6-time USA team member at the IAAF World Championships, and Marisa Sutera Strange from Pleasant Valley, N.Y., who Freihofer’s Run masters division last year and finished
third in the 2017 USATF 8K masters Championships.
Among the elite athletes, some of the top runners are Sara Hall and Renee Metivier. Hannah Davidson, who is a Saratoga Springs native, was also supposed to compete, but had to pull out because of an injury.
Hall is a four-time qualifier in cross country for the World Championships, and most recently has finished seventh in the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, sixth in the Tokyo Marathon and fourth in the Barcelona Half Marathon. Metivier is a threetime USATF National Champion with wins in the 2010 3000 meter Indoor National, the 2012 20K Road National and the 2016 half marathon Trail National.
“I think it is a regional event that can catapult people into the national spotlight,” Samuelsson said. “A win here is very prestigious or even a top place finish and that would carry over far in today’s standing of the sport.”
Samuelson said that at the 5K is something she enjoys coming back to each year and is happy to show her support to Freihofer’s and the other women runner.
“I like to come back,” Samuelsson said. “I like to be part of this event because it is a women’s event and Freihofer’s has been a dedicated supporter of the event since its inception of the race. There aren’t too many of these types of races left. My hat’s off to Freihofer’s for being a part of this event and its success for so many years. There is always a runner of note who either wins or comes to the top of the field on a particular day and moves on to accomplish even bigger things.”