Oz Pearlman and James Loeffel, who did not run on Sunday, each claimed that morning to have won the 2022 Firecracker 8K, but this year there was no doubt, as James’s twin 22-year-old brother, John, bested a field of 250 in 25 minutes and 13.51 seconds, comfortably ahead of Sergey Avrimenko, 38, the runner-up, who crossed the finish line at Southampton’s Lake Agawam park in 25:54.86.
“It was no contest this year,” Pearlman, 40, who finished fourth in 27:09.82, behind Loeffel, Avrimenko, and 39-year-old Jeffrey Ares (27:03.81), said once he’d crossed the line.
Asked afterward when he had made his move in the 4.96-mile race, John Loeffel, a New York City Police Academy trainee and former all-conference runner at Seton Hall — said he had led wire to wire, right from the beginning.
Avrimenko, a frequent road race winner here, who is transitioning from 5Ks to 10Ks, said he was pleased with his time.
The women’s winner — and 11th over all — in 31:39.17, was Katie Fitzpatrick, 30, of Marin County, Calif., whose parents, Tim, 62, and Diana, 65, also in the field that morning, still run swiftly. Tim Fitzpatrick was the 33rd finisher, in 36:30.80, running at a 7:21-per-mile pace. Diana Fitzpatrick, who oversees the Western States (100-mile) Endurance Run, which she said is the oldest ultra in North America, placed 42nd in 37:32.49. That works out to a 7:33-per-mile pace. Katie Fitzpatrick runs with the Impala women’s racing team in San Francisco.
For the rest of their two-week stay here, “you can find us at Indian Wells,” Tim Fitzpatrick said.
Tara Farrell, 44, of East Quogue, and Heather Wright, 49, of Westhampton Beach, were the second and third-place women — Farrell in 34:03.69 and Wright in 34:03.83. And Farrell’s 12-year-old daughter, Clare, a Westhampton Beach eighth grader who has already seen some varsity action with Westhampton’s longtime varsity girls coach, John Broich, ran away with Sunday’s 3-miler in 22:08.86, besting her nearest competitor, Edward Eng, 41, by more than two minutes.
Asked how long Clare had been running, her mother said, “Since she was in my belly.”
Tara Farrell runs the 4.6 miles between her house and her place of work with Southampton’s Department of Public Safety in Hampton Bays daily.
It rained during the race, but presumably none of the runners cared, for it cooled things down.
Other 8K finishers with local connections were: Eric Perez (31:52.08), Brady Yusko (32:08.59), Matthew Zappoli (33:50.12), Andrea Hernandez (40:49.96), Paul Maidment (43:34.26), David Pitches (45:48.97), Arthur Nealon (48:59.94), and Laurie Wiltshire (54:43.42).