VILLAGE OF MINOA – The 14th annual Lake Effect Half & Quarter Marathon took place in Minoa Saturday, Feb. 15, bringing out 389 runners from all over the state and even a couple in town from Belgium.
Spectators on the roadsides took pictures, handed out water and Gatorade, and cheered everybody on as the runners made their way through Minoa Farms and across the Main Street bridge before crossing the finish line at Lewis Park.
Bert Gallmon, the race director whose endurance event company Wolfpack Multisport oversees the yearly run, said about a hundred more people signed up on top of that turnout but were unable to make it due to the weather or other reasons.
Despite the day’s winter storm advisory and 26-degree cold, the event went on as planned, since as Gallmon said, “It’s called Lake Effect for a reason—if you sign up and think that we’re gonna cancel, you probably picked the wrong race.”
Though some wore shorts expecting their body temperatures to rise, most runners came slightly more bundled up with gloves, earmuffs and thermal socks for Saturday morning’s timed wintertime run.
Gallmon, whose company holds similar cold-weather races in Rochester and Buffalo, said most of the participants are used to running when it’s freezing out, with many treating the Lake Effect run as a “tune-up” or “primer” to gauge their readiness for other races happening in the warmer months.
Beyond testing stamina and being a quality workout for the participants, the combined 13.1-mile and 6.5-mile runs benefit Make-A-Wish Central New York, the local nonprofit chapter based in East Syracuse that grants life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
Doing their part to make a difference for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Lake Effect event’s title sponsor Raymour & Flanigan pledged to match the amount of donations raised by the races dollar for dollar up to the $5,000 mark.
Gallmon said altogether that total was getting up to somewhere around $15,000 on the day. He added that the average funding benchmark for fulfilling a wish is about $10,000.
He also said this 40th year of Make-A-Wish Central New York was made even more special because a former wish kid from 15 years ago was brought in to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” ahead of the Lake Effect run.
Gallmon said he enjoys having Lewis Park and its pole barn as the home base for the annual run and that he appreciates how welcoming and patient the Minoa community is on race day.
“We’re always grateful to the residents for letting us borrow the roads for three to four hours,” he said. “It’s not convenient for everyone, but we make it work and hopefully we don’t impact them so much.”
The event, which is usually held on the Saturday before Presidents Day leading into the school winter break, had Tops, USA Racing, the Village of Minoa municipal body, Trappers II Pizza & Pub, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, Jersey Mike’s Subs, Dunkin’ Donuts and Tempo Scrunchie Co. as additional sponsors.
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