John Loeffel Repeats as Firecracker 8K Champion

John Loeffel wasn’t planning on defending his title in the Firecracker 8K. Coming off a week in which he had already run 124 training miles in his continued pursuit to one day run the marathon in the Olympics, Loeffel was okay with sitting out the 33rd annual race in Southampton Village.

But sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning, something changed.

Loeffel, 23, who splits his time between Queens and Southampton, showed up to the starting line on Sunday morning and successfully defended his title, winning the race in 25:28.88, a mile pace of 5:08, slightly off from last year’s winning time of 25:13.51.

“I didn’t plan on racing this year just because I’ve been fully focused on the marathon,” he said. “Last year around this time, I was probably only 60- to 70-something miles into my training. I just wanted to use yesterday as a workout-type effort and keep my heart rate low, which was tough to do with it being so humid. But with the high mileage already under me, I wanted to see how my body would respond to something like this and it went well. It was a lot of fun.”

Loeffel said he pretty much led from start to finish and came in with the same strategy as last year, which was to keep things free and easy the first 5K of the race, then really turn things on the last 2 miles or so. His time reflected that, as he once again broke the 26-minute barrier. He was the first runner to finish under that mark last year for the first time since 2015, when Kevin Harvey did it. Larry Barthlow’s course record of 24:24 set during the second annual race in 1992 remains intact.

Jonny Wilson, 36, of Ridgewood, New Jersey, placed second overall in 26:22.12. Jeff Ares, 40, of New York City, who has run the Firecracker a bunch of times, and even won it in 2017, placed third in 28:06.32. Oz Pearlman, 41, of Southampton and New York City, who had won the race three consecutive times in 2019, 2021 and 2022, finished fourth overall in 28:35.97.

Aileen Barry, 42, who splits her time between Manhasset and Westhampton Beach, was this year’s women’s champion and fifth overall in 28:44.55. Last year’s female champion, Katie Fitzpatrick, did not return this year. Emma Gruber, 29, of San Francisco placed second among women in 33:30.28. Rita Greene Berry, 45, of Southampton, finished third in 34:13.52, Denise Garcia, 26, of Sag Harbor finished fourth in 35:39.87, and Allison Fisch, 46, of New York City rounded out the top five women, crossing the finish line in 36:17.80.

All results can be found at elitefeats.com.

Loeffel will continue to train for the marathon with an eye on the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. He graduated from Seton Hall University last year along with his brother James. Together, they ran cross country for four years. Loeffel also celebrated his first year as a New York Police Department officer last week. Having to work midnights has severely cut into his training time, he said, but he’s making it work as best he can.

Loeffel has run in two marathons since deciding to go into the distance last year. His first was the New York City Marathon in November, in which he finished 75th out of 51,348 participants in 2:33:13. In April, Loeffel improved on his time in the Jersey City Marathon, finishing in 2:29:44, which placed him 12th overall.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” he said. “It’s one of those distances that comes as you get older with more mileage. The hardest part is being patient with the distance. I’m still learning the proper fueling you need under you to do this type of distance. That’s another big challenge. The practice sessions are long as well. Getting to mile 20 is the easy part, but that last 10K when you don’t have any energy left is tough, especially without the proper fueling.”

Loeffel said he’s worked with a few coaches, but it’s tough finding the right fit, and someone who can work with his current schedule. After running the Jersey City Marathon, Loeffel said he went straight to work with little to no time for recovery.

“For right now, I’m just training. In two or three years, I’m hoping to have the Olympic standard by then,” he said. “I love coming out to this race. It’s always a nice turnout, and because it’s in July, it’s usually in a good part of my marathon training. I think I’ll try to run this every year and use it as a workout, put up a good time and win.”

Leo Hackett, 13, of Bridgehampton won this year’s 3-mile race in 22:16.03. He was followed by this year’s female champion, Kiera Cameron, 15, of Riverhead, who crossed the finish line in 22:26.73.

Between the 8K and 3-mile race, 354 runners ran on Sunday morning, which is the highest number of participants the race has seen since 2017, when 355 runners ran the 8K. This year’s race, as noted by race organizer James Grossi, began a half-hour earlier than previous years so there would be less disruption in the village.

“We also staggered the start lines for the 8K run and 3K walk that I think made it much easier to distinguish between the two as folks started coming across the line,” he said.

The Firecracker 8K is the primary fundraiser for the Southampton Rotary Scholarship and Endowment Fund, which provides local students with scholarships and supports other important community groups across Southampton Town, including local fire and ambulance squads, Little League and other youth groups, food banks and other nonprofits like the Ellen Hermanson Foundation for Breast Cancer and the Southampton Animal Shelter Foundation.