YMCA 5-Miler celebrates 30 years
The YMCA 5-Mile Run entered into its third decade July 22 as nearly 200 runners set out on an early morning run through Henlopen Acres and North Shores.
Running in his first ever 5-mile race, 16-year-old Daniel Neiswender of Lebanon, Pa., cruised in at a brisk 29:01 to take the crown. Seaford resident Pete Rosembert finished just four seconds behind.
As a cross country runner for Cedar Crest High School, Neiswender said, he is used to running the traditional 5K races. But with the YMCA race coinciding with his family's vacation, he thought he'd give it a try.
“We just got here and we're staying for a week,” he said. “My whole family runs and we decided that we would try something different and saw there was a five miler down here and thought it would be beautiful.”
Neiswender was turned onto running by his former gym coach Rob Bare. Neiswender was a gymnast for six years, and Bare helped him get into the Hershey Track and Field program, which he participated in from third to seventh grade.
His passion for running not only kept him in great physical condition, but it also motivated his parents to get into the sport as well. Neiswender's mother, Gretchen, also participated in the race, finishing in a time of 50:07.
“My parents saw how much fun I was having and how good of shape it kept me in,” he said. “Their diet plans didn't really work, so they figured they'd try something different, try running.”
Neiswender described the course as his favorite run so far because of its quiet and laid back nature going through two of Rehoboth Beach's neighboring communities. The 8-kilometer course took runners from Deauville Beach on Ocean Drive up into Henlopen Acres back down Ocean Drive into North Shores before returning to the starting point.
The race is the oldest Race Director Tim Bamforth organizes, but not the longest running in the area. That honor belongs to the Gary P. Lister Bottle and Cork 10-Miler, which will celebrate its 36th year in Dewey Beach Sept. 8. Bamforth said he ran in the YMCA race three or four times before taking over as director in 1990. Many others have participated in the race many times over the last 30 years, including Jack Vassalotti, also known as Nike Jack. Vassalotti ran in the very first YMCA 5-Miler in 1983 and again this year. The 60-year-old finished this year's race in 49:08.
