AVON, October 5 – Simsbury’s Phil Roucoulet won the first-ever Avon Volunteer Fire Department 5K road race on Saturday. The race began and ended at Pine Grove School – running a similar course as the Avon Road Race did for 13 years from 2005-18.
Roucoulet beat a pair of runners from Torrington to win the race that had 138 runners complete the course. Torrington’s Marco Sarmiento (20:05) and Torrington High boys basketball coach Eric Gamari was third in 20:12.
The top woman in the race was an 11-year-old runner. C. Murphy won the race with a time of 23:15, good enough for 13th place. Windsor Locks’ Amanda White (19th overall) was second in 24:08 with Naugatuck’s Katey Bartuth (24) finishing third in 25:22.
The top runners from Avon were David Cappello, who was seventh in the overall race with a time of 21:13, and Kelly McPherson, who was the sixth woman and 29th overall runner in the race with a time of 26:10.
2018 Avon Volunteer Fire Department 5K Road Race
At Avon (Pine Grove School)
Overall results – 1. Phil Roucoulet, Simsbury, 19:30 for 3.1 miles, 2. Marcos Sarmiento, Torrington, 20:05, 3. Eric Gamari, Torrington, 20:12, 4. Alex Rizzo, Farmington, 20:16, 5. Tom Starodaj, New Britain, 20:27, 6. Brian Mattiello, Torringotn, 20:45, 7. David Cappello, Avon, 21:13, 8. Christian Becker, Avon, 21:37, 9. Adam Osmond, Wallingford, 21:48, 10. Brett Collings, New York, 22:09
Top women’s results: 1. C. Murphy (13th overall), Southbury 23:15, 2. Amanda White (19) Windsor Locks 24:08, 3. Katey Baruth (24), Naugatuck, 25:22; 4. Erin Dow (27), Westfield, Mass., 25:50; 5. Suzette Reading (28), Columbia, 25:52, 6. Kelly McPherson (29), Avon, 26:10, 7. Lee Falk (30), Bristol, 26:18; 8. Katherine Matousek (31), Avon 26:43, 9. Amanda Jaggen Jasenski (36), Avon, 26:49, 10. Stacy Levy (39), Wilton, 27:08
138 runners finished the race
Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.
