Ninth annual Robbie's Run draws crowd of more than 1,500

Despite temperatures that hovered in the high 40s and low 50s, and a steady, at times hard-blowing wind, the ninth annual Robbie’s Run went off without a hitch on April 27, drawing participants from across Long Island and beyond.

The 2014 Robbie’s Run was the among biggest ever, attracting 1,587 runners and walkers between its three races last Sunday and raising thousands of dollars for the nonprofit Robbie Levine Foundation, which purchases automated external defibrillators for local ball fields and funds cardiopulmonary resuscitation classes.

The event is organized each year by the foundation, which was begun by Jill and Craig Levine of Merrick in memory of their son, Robbie. He died suddenly on Sept. 27, 2005, when his heart stopped while he was running the bases during a Little League team practice.

Robbie’s Run annually includes a 5K race/walk, one-mile mini-run and kids’ half-mile fun run. The 5K, for which more than a thousand participants signed up this year, begins on the north end of Cammans Pond, beside Levy-Lakeside Elementary School, and winds through south Merrick streets. More than 150 volunteers helped run this year’s event.

Jill Levine said after Sunday, “Craig and I continue to be thrilled with the high turnout that Robbie’s Run brings from our own Merrick-Bellmore community as well as surrounding areas. It is so nice to see Merrick come together for our event, and we can’t thank all of the participants, volunteers and our neighbors enough. Through events like this, we are able to donate many life-saving AEDs to youth leagues and other places that our children play.”

For more, go to robbielevinefoundation.org.

For full race results, click here.

Top finishers in the Robbie’s Run 5K

And the winners of this year’s Robbie’s Run 5K were….

Female

First place: Grace Moore

Second Place: Danielle Wohlleben

Third Place: Cyd Greco

Male

First Place: Ryan Curran

Second Place: Anthony Bouchard

Third Place: Elijah Maduro