Rochester keeps Metro 10 title in fourth event at Albion

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 August 2018 at 4:44 pm

Road work on Route 31 shifts start and finish to downtown Albion

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Members of the Rochester team check out the Metro 10 cup and go to get their victory glass after Rochester defeated Buffalo in today’s Metro 10 competition, which pits runners from the two communities. This year’s race also included a cycling component for the first time.

Rochester won 8 of the 10 categories to win the Metro 10 cup for the fourth straight year. The fourth annual event had more than 300 participants.

McKenzie Trotter of Barker is on the last leg of the 10-mile race on East Bank Street when her daughter, Tessa Seward, ran to see her.

The mother and daughter finished the race together.

The 177 runners who completed the 10-mile course are lined up on Main Street at about 8 a.m. today for the start of the Metro 10 race, which had runners pick a team – Rochester or Buffalo.

The course shifted from starting and ending by Bullard Park due to road construction on Route 31. The race instead started and ended in downtown Albion.

An additional 104 runners completed a 5-mile course. There were also walkers on the 5-mile course and for the first time the event included a 10-mile bike ride.

The Metro 10 uses a point system that includes overall average time for each metro in the 5 and 10 mile races, top male and women finishers in the 5- and 10-mile races, 5 mile walk winner and 5 mile average time for each metro.

Each person who completes either the 5 or 10 mile race gets a medal.

Brennan Root, 22, of Rush won the 10-miler in 56:31, a 5:39 pace per mile while Kristin Fitzsimmons, 31, of Penfield was the first woman to finish at 1:11:40, a 7:10 pace.

Corey Brown, 30, of Tonawanda won the 5 mile in 29:51, a 5:58 pace, while Kristina Martin, 26, of Holley was the first woman to finish in 32:56, a 6:35 pace.

Neil Weaver 24, of Pittsford receives a medal after finishing the 10-mile run in 1:34:46. Ed Spence, a volunteer with the Warrior House of WNY, presents the medal. The race proceeds go to the Warrior House in Shelby, which offers a hunting retreat to wounded veterans and children of veterans.

Before the run at 8 a.m., about 40 cyclists take off just after 7 in the morning for the first ever 10-mile bike race.

Jeff Casillo, left, and Erin Smith of Albion spearheaded the biking event. Casillo was the first overall finisher with Smith coming in third. They are pictured just before the start of the race.

Thom Jennings, the race director at left, congratulates Albion Mayor Eileen Banker, who completed the 10-mile bike ride. She is joined by Albion village trustees Gary Katsanis, back left, and Stan Farone, who also did the bike race.