Avramenko Returns To Win 27th Annual Ellen's Run, This Time Without Issue

There was no confusion at this year’s rendition of Ellen’s Run, Sergey Avramenko was the clear-cut winner.

At the end of last year’s 5K, Avramenko was following the pace car which crossed the finish line in the opposite direction it was supposed to. It cost the Belarus native a few seconds, but even with the mishap, Avramenko just beat out Southampton’s Billy Malone by a few seconds.

On Sunday morning, once again on the Southampton Intermediate School’s property, Avramenko, 37, crossed the finish line of the 27th annual version of the 3.1-mile race without issue, finishing in 16:46.98, a mile pace of 5:24. Jason Green, 19, of Shelter Island, came right in at 16:57.09, followed by Douglas Antaky, 16, of Smithtown, who finished in 17:03.14.

Jenny Grimshaw, 31, of San Francisco and Southampton, was the first female to cross the finish line, fourth overall, in 17:08.77. Karina Barambayeva, 27, of Southampton was the second female to finish in 21:16.44, followed by Fairf Walker, 11, of Southampton (22:15.45) and Andrea Schieck, 48, of West Sayville (22:27.44).

Full results can be found at elitefeats.com.

Avramenko appreciated the fact that there was no confusion at this year’s race, but that was the least of his worries coming into the day. About a year ago, Avramenko was dealing with a herniated disc that he didn’t know he had until after he ran in the Hamptons Half-Marathon, which even with the injury, he still finished in a personal best 1:14.15.

Following that race he took quite a bit of time off from running competitively because of the injury. It wasn’t until the Lt. Michael P. Murphy Run Around The Lake in Lake Ronkonkoma at the end of June when Avramenko finally got back into competitive races, and he did well, placing fourth overall in the 4-mile race.

Avaramenko then ran in Jordan’s Run in Sag Harbor at the end of July where another pace car mishap occurred, and then he finished third overall in the Race For Hope 5K in Southampton on August 7.

Sunday’s win was Avramenko’s first of 2022 and his first, he was happily ready to add, since getting married in March.

“For the whole winter I was abroad and trying to recover with training, working out, jogging, trying to take it easy,” he explained. “I did less running, more stretching and physical therapy. I have a phys ed degree so I know a little bit about the body and every year I learn something new about my body. So I was getting back in shape slowly, gradually. My mileage has been way lower — at this time last year I was training 75 miles, now I’m around 40 miles — but I’m not in a rush. I am 37 and still have my peak years ahead of me.”

Ellen’s Run was most likely one of the last of the summer for Avramenko, who was born in Russia, raised in Belarus and became an American citizen at 19. He is returning to Belarus to check in on his family there. While Belarus has not been affected physically by the war in Ukraine, it has been heavily sanctioned, and just like everywhere else in the world, has been hit hard by global inflation.

But the time off, he said, will allow his body to recover even more and he can come back ready to set a new PR in next year’s Hamptons Half-Marathon.

“I like to participate full throttle,” he said. “I won’t reach my PR this year in the Hamptons Half, so I’ll take an extra year to prepare.”

Grimshaw was happy with her victory. She had run in the race the past half dozen or so years, but this was her first time winning it. Grimshaw currently lives in San Francisco, but has family that resides in Southampton, including her mother, who is a breast cancer survivor. Grimshaw herself said she has the BRCA1 gene, so she has a higher risk of developing breast cancer, so the race is near and dear to her and her family.

Proceeds from the race — which hosted around 600 runners this year — benefit the Ellen Hermanson Foundation, which provides breast cancer education, support and research. After 13 years in East Hampton, Ellen’s Run was moved to Southampton in 2009 to coincide with the opening of the Ellen Hermanson Breast Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. Both the race and the center are named after race organizer Julie Ratner’s sister, Ellen Hermanson, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 1989. Hermanson, a journalist, sought to educate the public about the disease, the challenges its victims face, and resources that they and survivors could use. She died in April 1995 at age 42.

Through Ellen’s Run and other charitable events, Ratner is responsible for creating the breast cancer center at the hospital, funding both new equipment for early detection and Ellen’s Well, a program that Ratner started in 2000 that provides free psychological support to breast cancer patients and survivors.

Typically held right off the steps of Parrish Memorial Hall at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, Ellen’s Run was moved to the Southampton Intermediate School last year to keep the crowd of runners and walkers a safe distance from the hospital, organizers said last year. The plan was for Ellen’s Run to return to the hospital grounds this year if it was safe to do so. Race organizers couldn’t be reached for comment in time for the story.