3 records tumble at fundraising run event
First, second male finishers, top relay team set marks
Some run for fun. Others crave the competition. Some do it for the exercise.
Two of the Lehigh Valley’s top distance runners of the 21st century ran Sunday’s St. Luke’s Via Marathon for all of the above reasons.
Colin Abert, a 2015 Easton graduate, and Trevor (Van Ackeren) Conde, a 2008 Liberty graduate, headlined a relay team that set a course record. The Aardvark Sports Shop “Dream Team” of Abert, Conde, Alex Fitch, Alex Price and Andy Wells ran the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 16 minutes and 33 seconds.
A total of 638 runners and 100 relay teams completed the annual marathon, which begins at J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, travels through the streets of Bethlehem and ends on Larry Holmes Drive in Easton.
The goal for the team of Abert, Conde, Fitch, Price and Wells wasn’t necessarily to establish a course record. It was simply to run fast.
“We all know each other from the shop at Aardvark, either working there or as customers,”
said Conde, whose collegiate career included stints at Princeton University and the University of Texas.
“We like to run the relay, and this year especially, we have lots of talented runners who work at the store with Colin, myself and with Fitch being home from college,” he said. “When we planned to run it this year, we didn’t just want to do it. We wanted to run pretty fast.”
The objective, according to Conde, was to finish in fewer than 2 hours and 19 minutes — the Olympic Trials qualifying time for individuals.
“We talked about entering a lightning-fast team,” said Abert, who this spring finished up his four years at Penn State University. “We really wanted to bring together some of the best runners to ever come through the Lehigh Valley. So it was exciting to get out there and run fast together.”
Conde started, running about 6.2 miles before Price took over for the next about 5.8 miles. They were followed by Fitch (4.6 miles), Abert (5.8 miles) and finally Wells, who handled the last 3.6 miles.
This local race was likely Abert’s last for a while. The multiple-time Morning Call cross-country runner of the year begins his professional career for Team USA-Minnesota this month.
Conde and Price, meanwhile, both are prepping for another marathon.
Price, a Pocono Mountain East grad, plans to race in the Chicago Marathon in October, while Conde, a social studies teacher and assistant cross-country and boys basketball coach at Liberty, expects to run the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in November.
Fitch is a senior cross-country and track athlete at Misericordia University.
“Today was an incredible experience,” Abert said. “There were a ton of people running the half-marathon who were in front of me and they were all cheering. I tried to give them the thumb’s up and say thanks.
“It was awesome to see everyone out there cheering and volunteering. We have such a great culture in the Lehigh Valley running community and I’m glad to be a part of it,” he said.
The relay record was one of three race records established at this year’s running extravaganza.
Sean Grossman of Deer Park, New York, the men’s marathon winner, finished in 2:28:15. Half-marathon champ Johnny Hogue of Bethlehem prevailed in 1:10:44. Those times were new marks.
The overall individual winners were first-time marathoners from New York.
Grossman, 23, led the men, while 22-year-old Delia Hayes of Bronxville took the women’s title in 2:57:53.
“I said starting out my freshmen year at Boston College,” Hayes said, “that I wanted to run the Boston Marathon the year after I graduated. I knew this was a good qualifier and I’ve spent my summer training. I’m a little surprised I won but I’m extremely happy.”
Sunday’s marathon highlighted the three-day event, which benefits Via of the Lehigh Valley, a nonprofit organization that provides services for adults and children with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities.
There was also a 5K and a kids run.