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TARRYTOWN, N.Y. Birger Ohlsson, a 43-year-old Mount Vernon resident, beat out the field and won the Tarrytown Trek 5K on Sunday morning with an overall best time of 16:44, but Ohlsson said this is only the beginning.
I think its going to be better, said Ohlsson, who is originally from Sweden. I just need to get used to getting into rhythm more and push more. So its going to get down to 15 (minutes) somewhere.
Ohlsson said it had been quite a while since his last race, but he is far from new to running 5Ks and marathons.
I used to run in the past, this is maybe 75 races that I've won so far in New England and New York throughout my career, he said. It was my first race in Tarrytown besides running some one mile races and my first race in three years.
The 5K through Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow was held to benefit the Tarrytown YMCA's Julian Geach Scholarship Fund.
Julian Geach was a child who did our summer camps and unfortunately passed away way too early, said Gerry Riera, who has been the CEO of the YMCA in Tarrytown since 2003. So we honor his memory every year with this scholarship. He enjoyed our camps and therefore we continue to send kids to camp in his honor and his memory.
Kristen Idalski, president of Rivertown Runners, which sponsored the race, said as an inaugural event, she was impressed with the turnout on Sunday.
This is our first time doing this so we thought it was a fantastic turnout, we had a tremendous amount of kids too, which is nice, she said. Our organization, we are a not-for-profit and our mission is really to make community run events and to support charitable organizations in that community. So in less than two years weve donated close to $40,000 to charity.
The 5K kicked off on West Elizabeth Street in Tarrytown, went through Sleepy Hollow and circled back before eventually ending on West Elizabeth Street.
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