suns along the Mohawk

It only took about eleven minutes for the entire complement of runners from the 2022 Stockade-athon to run pass me on Washington Avenue in the Stockade and turn onto Front Street. As they swarmed by, I frantically tried to snap useful photographs.

Once the first burst of lead runners passed me, I had almost no control over who or what I captured digitally with my Canon SX60. Afterwards, I learned I was taking about 14 shots a minute, almost at random, hoping to make a few winners for this website. To the right is my first photo of the Lead Escort Car and lead runners on Washington Avenue, near Union Street. (Lou Serafini, BIB #1 was in the lead) Immediately below is the smiling last Washington Avenue runner, Meleah Wright (BIB 1107), making the turn onto Front Street, at about 8:50 AM. [Meleah passed more than 200 runners before she finished the Race.]

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The race is “about” the speed and fitness of the leaders, and the perseverance of each runner; they come in every age, size and gender category, and the “noncontenders” get most of the focus here. I apologize to all the racers who I missed or whose images were too unfocused (my fault, of course) to be used. Thanks for your patience, and thank you to the runners and organizers of the 2022 Stockade-athon, which was sponsored by MVP Health Care, FleetFeet, and the Capital Region YMCA. They will have the official Results later today. Their Runner Look-Up lets you easily find the results for an individual runner by last name or BIB number. [And, see the 30-photos taken by the Gazette’s Ken Hudy along the entire race course.]

• If you are anxious to see more Stockade-athon runners in the eponymous Stockade neighborhood, we’ve been covering the Stockade-athon here at Suns Along the Mohawk since 2009, and you can find links to each year’s posting on our Stockade-athon Category Page.

FOLLOW-UP: TOP THREE WINNERS in the Male and Female Divisions (click here for complete results list for 1009 runners who finished the Race):

MALE DIVISION: First, Louis Serafinia; Second, Sam Morse; Third, Scott Mindel [three familiar Stockade-athon names]

FEMALE DIVISION: First, Karen Bertasso Hughes; Second, Rachel Peterson; Third, Diane Ryan

HEADING FOR FRONT STREET

Like last year, Niskayuna grad Lou Serafini was in the lead as the Race entered the Stockade on Washington Avenue  Lou kept his lead and was the overall winner in 2021. He has a nice lead below, as he ran past Union St.

. . followup: LOUIS SERAFINI eventually reached the finish line first, as he did last year. .

• Apology to some fast runners and to readers: Rushing to get out of the way and to find a better location for shooting the flood of runners about to stream by me, I missed capturing a quality shot of the next group of leading runners, especially the half dozen “non-Serafini Leaders”.

Monday Follow-up: This image was taken 17 seconds after Lou Serafini’s photo, as they were passing the same tree. It isn’t crisp or worthy, but I’m posting it, because the runners deserve to be acknowledged, even if you need to squint. Click on it for a larger version:

  The BIB numers are barely legible, but [Left to Right] BIB 20 is Aidean Canavan, who finished 9th; BIB 319 is Ben Fazio (7th); BIB 4 is Charles Ragone (4th); BIB 14 is Steve Soprano (6th); and BIB 13 is Mark Mindel (r4d)

What follows are images shown in about the order they were taken; the first image was taken about 25 seconds after the Serafini shot above. CLICK on an image for the larger, full version.

This next group included the first female runner in the Stockade, KAREN BERTASSO HUGHES (BIB 5).

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                          . . followup: Karen was first to the finish line in the Women’s Division . .

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This mosaic tile display shows runners making the turn from Washington Avenue to Front Street. [click on an image for a larger version.]

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Here’s a Slideshow of two dozen images I hope you’ll linger over (and maybe see yourself or a loved one). I’ve included some photos that would normally hit the editing floor as not focused enough (viz., a bit blurry), because I enjoyed seeing the runners in a picture, and unfocused is better than no picture.

• For a larger version of an image in the Slideshow, pause the image, right-click on it, and choose Open Image in New Tab”.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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The last segment of runners showed many emotions.

Bill Quertes, BIB 819, leads the last small group of runners

Meleah Wright heads up Front Street

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 . . [L] 80-year-old Raymond Lee, Jr, looked ready for the challenge, with many kilometers ahead of him.

. . . And, our corner Officer gave one last smile while pointing up Front Street for me. I then headed inside (I live at that corner) for coffee and a long day and night selecting and editing photographs.

If, like me, you prefer Stockade-athons (and photo shoots) with lots of sunshine and bright colors, check out our coverage of the 2017 Stockade-athon, which included a golden glow for the lead runners and everyone behind them.