The high humidity in and around Verona Park didn’t hold back the runners in Verona UNICO‘s 40th Labor Day 5K race this morning.
The top men’s finisher was Damian Alvarado of Belleville in 16:07.92. The top women’s finisher was Cassandra Raia of Spotswood, N.J. in 20:30.24.
The top three Verona men’s finishers were Ian MacKenzie in 19:04.9, Jamie Moreng in 19:09.04 and Kevin Hunt in 19:55.8. The top three Verona women’s finishers were Connie Allen in 21:24.24, Emily Petermann in 24:23.37 and Ninni McGrath in 25:15.68.
And in this year’s Town Council rivalry, Township Attorney Brian Aloia finished just ahead of Councilman Jack McEvoy, in 25:10.79 to McEvoy’s 25:13.1. Councilwoman Cynthia Holland ran the race in 28:49.63. Last year, McEvoy edged out Aloia.
The oldest runner this year was 83-year-old Sachiko Kawamura of Wyckoff, N.J., who finished in 55:06.28. The youngest was a 6-year-old girl from Maplewood, who turned in a time of 46:40.86.
The Labor Day Classic is the biggest annual fundraiser for Verona UNICO, an Italian-American community service organization, and helps fund its scholarships for high school seniors. You can explore the results for all 474 runners here.
