Hamptons Marathon Brings 1,400 Runners To The East End, Making It The Largest Road Race On The East End By Far This Year

The Hamptons Marathon and its parade of races made its much anticipated return to Southampton Village Saturday morning after having been canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With more than 1,400 runners competing in the three offerings — the marathon, half marathon and 5K — it was by far the biggest road race on the East End this year. That number was only slightly less than the 1,500 runners the race had in 2019. The large turnout bodes well not only for future Hamptons Marathon events, but other local races as well.

“Numbers were down, yes, but this is the first big endurance event on the East End and we were excited by the enthusiasm of the village, the runners and the volunteers, all of whom were grateful to be in person,” co-race organizer Diane Weinberger said. “We expect that number will return to pre-COVID levels as people get more comfortable gathering in large groups.”

As co-race organizer Amanda Moszkowski pointed out, registration and participation at road races across the country, including local races, have been considerably down this year, “as people are figuring out how to get comfortable with in-person events.”

“We were actually quite happy with our turnout, which was down slightly from 2019, and, in fact, we had more marathoners this year than in 2019. So, hopefully, the trend is there for increasing levels of comfort with these types of events going forward.”

Jordan Daniel, who now resides in Lake Grove but is a native of Westhampton Beach, having graduated from that school district in 2013, made his return to the Hamptons Marathon and won it in 2:29:12, a mile pace of 5:40. Daniel, 26, had won it in 2018, which, at the time, was his first ever marathon. Since then, he has run in multiple marathons, including New York City, which he intends to run next month.

“I ran this one as like a training run, so there were certain goals that I was trying to meet individually during the race, paces I was trying to hit,” he explained. “Luckily, I hit all of them. I was able to execute on the game plan and just enjoy the day. It was so beautiful out. This race always brings great energy. That’s one of the reasons why I came out to support.”

Daniel, who won the Shelter Island 10K this past summer, still has about a month or so to train for the New York City Marathon. He said he’ll compete in a 10K in Brooklyn as his final tuneup. Other than that, he’ll continue his first year doctoral studies at LIU Post to become a psychologist.

Daniel had a very respectable finish at the NYC Marathon in 2019, finishing in 2:26:26, which placed him 44th overall, 15th among Americans. He’s trying to improve his time and finish top 30.

Oz Pearlman, 39, of Brooklyn, who was another one of the top billed runners on Saturday, placed second behind Daniel in 2:36:35. Christopher Myers, 23, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, placed third in 2:42:01; Cole Fluehr, 24, of Forest Hills finished fourth in 2:47:03, and Jack Schrupp, 25, of Gilford, New Hampshire, rounded out the top overall finishers of the marathon, crossing the finish line in 2:49:36.

Sam Scaffidi, 31, of New York City, was this year’s female champion of the marathon, finishing in 3:13:10. Counting a 50K she ran for her 31st birthday in December, Scaffidi has now run in nine marathons, but Saturday was the first time she ran in the Hamptons Marathon, posting a personal best in the 26.2-mile distance.

Scaffidi is the head coach of Project Sweat Run Club based in New York City and is personally trained by McKirdy Trained, a high performance running group. By running and finishing the Hamptons Marathon, Scaffidi qualified for next year’s Boston Marathon.

“But don’t be surprised if you catch me in Southampton again,” she said. “I’m very grateful for everyone involved in putting on a safe and fun race this weekend.”

Jonah Hanig, 26, of New York City won this year’s half marathon in 1:13:24, a personal best. Like Daniel, Hanig, who ran cross country and track at Columbia University, is also training for the NYC Marathon.

Erik Engstrom, 23, of East Hampton, didn’t finish too far behind Hanig, crossing the finish line in 1:14:07. The 2016 East Hampton High School grad said Saturday’s race was his first official race since he graduated from the University of Massachusetts last year, where he was a part of the cross country and track teams.

“Me and my buddy Eric, we’ll run after work and stuff like that, but nothing far and nothing crazy,” he explained. “So we just signed up for this to see how it goes and it went okay. I wasn’t expected anything out of it, just said I’d run it. I didn’t know when I was going to hit a wall or what.”

Sergey Avramenko, 36, of Southampton, had done pretty well for himself recently in the local racing circuit, having won the Run For Hope and Ellen’s Run 5Ks in Southampton and the Over The Bridge 10K in Hampton Bays recently. He placed third in the half marathon in 1:14:15. Peter Bartlett, 34, of New York City, placed fourth in 1:20:26. Douglass Sigelbaum, 28, of New York City, finished fifth in 1:20:43.

Katie Rominger, 29, of Brooklyn, was the female champion of the half marathon, finishing in 1:26:10. This was the first time Rominger had competed in the Hamptons Half. She decided to run it to gauge her fitness level going into the Philadelphia Marathon next month.

“Feeling pretty confident now after my performance,” she said.

Rominger was a runner in high school in Brooklyn and then ran cross country and track for Middlebury College. She runs almost every day, she said, typically with her former Middlebury teammates who live nearby in Brooklyn.

Rominger said she could see herself returning to Southampton to defend her title.

“I would definitely run this race again — it was exactly what I was looking for: low key, beautiful weather, flat course.”

Colin Daly, 24, of River Edge, New Jersey, won the 5K in 16:33. Tara Farrell, 42, of East Quogue was the female champion of the 3.1-mile race in 21:33.

Full results can be found at areeventproductions.com.

Both Weinberger and Moszkowski thanked a number of supporters for getting the race to be in person once again. That included volunteers from SYS, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and its team of med school students, Southampton Village Volunteer Ambulance Corps, the Southampton School District and the Southampton cross country program, Project Most, Southampton Village Police Department and Southampton Village Mayor Jesse Warren and his office.

The Bridgehampton Half Marathon, which was canceled last year due to the pandemic, is expected to be back Weinberger said, tentatively scheduled for May 7, 2022, and she hinted that a new race, a half marathon, is in the works for next fall as well.

“We were thrilled to be back celebrating our runners crossing a real finish line after COVID caused the cancellation of both our 2020 races and the 2021 Bridgehampton Half,” Weinberger said.