Saturday Sports-Crammed
Saturday will be crammed sports-wise what with the fifth running of the Hamptons Marathon, a home rugby game, and a full schedule of East Hampton High School homecoming contests capped by a football game under the lights with Eastport-South Manor at 7 p.m.
Amanda Moszkowski, who shares the Hamptons Marathon race directing chores with Diane Weinberger, said earlier this week that “we closed out registration for the marathon and half-marathon at 2,500. There will be 2,000 in the half, 500 in the full, about the same proportion as last year. We’ve got two runners from Qatar, one from Australia, two from Belgium, one from Germany, one from Spain, and runners from 34 states.”
There will also be a 5K, which people can register for Saturday morning. There won’t be a mile race, however. “We hoped to get some elite local runners and it didn’t work out that way,” said Moszkowski.
Chris Koegel, the defending marathon champion, has pulled out because of an injury, though the women’s winner, Lisa Tecklenburg of Cincinnati, is expected to return. John Honerkamp, who won the half last year, will be running a marathon in Berlin Saturday. In the absence of Bridget McKenna, last year’s women’s winner in the half, “we’re looking for Barbara Gubbins to win it,” said Moszkowski.
The races are to start behind the Springs School at 8 a.m. The marathoners and half-marathoners divide at mile six, at the intersection of Stony Hill Road and Deep Lane near the Quail Hill farm in Amagansett. Marathoners and half-marathoners can be seen again at Marty’s Deli at Neck Path. Marty’s is at mile 10 of the half and at mile 23 of the marathon.
The race, now in its fifth year, benefits Project MOST, Southampton Hospital, and the East Hampton Day Care Learning Center. “In the past four years we’ve netted $175,000 for our beneficiaries,” said Moszkowski, who added that runners also raise money for charities of their own. “Last year,” she said, “Team in Training raised $600,000 for cancer research.”
As aforesaid, East Hampton High School’s homecoming schedule will be full Saturday, with a girls soccer game with Elwood-John Glenn and a boys volleyball game with Eastport-South Manor at 10 a.m., a field hockey game with Hampton Bays at 10:30, a girls volleyball game with Bayport-Blue Point at 1 p.m., a girls tennis match with McGann-Mercy and a girls swimming meet at the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter with Half Hollow Hills at 2, and a boys soccer game with Amityville at 3:30.
The Montauk Rugby Club is to play the Princeton Athletic Club in its Met Union Division II home opener at East Hampton’s Herrick Park at 1.
From 3:30 to 6:30, there will be a barbecue and community tailgate party with a rock-climbing wall, a bounce house, face painting and tattoos, and carnival games at the high school. The homecoming king and queen will be announced at halftime of the football game with Eastport-South Manor.