Jingle All the Way 5K draws a crowd

Seaford race benefitted Wantagh foundation

Posted

As the second verse of “Run Run Rudolph,” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, started to play, a clamor of elves, snowmen, over a dozen Santa Clauses and some festive runners with bells on their feet prepared themselves at the starting line of the Jingle All the Way 5K last Sunday at Cedar Creek Park in Seaford.

This year, over 800 people registered for the event, an annual race organized by the Baldwin-based Race Awesome. It began at 9 a.m., shortly after the Kids Run Run Rudolph 1K.

“The course is well-marked,” Race Director Corey Roberts reminded the runners. “Please pay attention to the markers and do not go off course.”

After a countdown from five, the racers took off, creating a blur of red, white and green, as cheerleader, Sarah Greller of Levittown, jumped around in a full-body inflatable gingerbread man suit.

For the eigth consecutive year, the holiday-themed race benefited Wantagh-based nonprofit the John Theissen Children’s Foundation. Participants were encouraged to bring unwrapped children’s toys to the race. Later this month, the foundation will donate the toys to sick and underprilvedged children in need, as part of its 30th annual Toy & Fund Holiday Drive.

“Race Awesome was looking for a foundation to work with,” Roberts explained, “and John [Theissen is] local, we’re local, and the race is right down the road from him. It was the perfect match.”

Foundation CEO John Theissen called the race a “community tradition” — which is certainly the case for Catherine Clancy-Dumont, of Wantagh, and her dog, Jameson, who have taken part in the race every year. “Jameson and I go walking and running all the time,” Clancy-Dumont, who works for Race Awesome, said. “He helps me train for my races, but for years he never got to actually race. So when Corey started this race, I came down and asked if we could run in the back, and we’ve been doing it ever since.” The duo sported matching Santa Claus costumes.

Race Awesome, launched in 2014, produces 16 events across Long Island and New Jersey each year, Roberts said. It has organized the Long Island and Suffolk County marathons in years past.

“I feel great,” East Meadow resident Anthony Faltorusso, one of the fastest competitors, said just after he crossed the finish line, sporting a red outfit and a Santa Claus beard. He said he had taken part in the 2021 Long Island Half Marathon at Eisenhower Park.

After the runners finished, they were invited to reward themselves with free snacks and drinks, enter raffle contests and even roast marshmallows on sticks.

The race has grown over the years: The inaugural edition had 140 registrants, and didn’t offer post-race snacks. “It’s turned into a big party now,” Roberts said with a laugh.

But the number of children in need has grown, too. Theissen said that his organization aims to collect at least 80,000 toys during this year’s drive to meet the demand. Two years ago, the organization broke its own donation record after it collected and distributed 103,000 gifts.

“The 5K is just a great way to donate to our holiday drive, which literally started on my parents’ lawn in 1992,” Theissen said. That year, he collected and distributed toys to children at three local hospitals. 

In September 1988, when Theissen was a 17-year-old senior at MacArthur High School in Levittown, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After a procedure that December, he spent much of the holiday season recovering in the oncology unit at Schneider Children’s Hospital – now Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park – he has told the Herald. He met many children who were sick, which inspired him to launch the foundation four years later.

“It’s really all for the kids,” Theissen said.

The Seaford race serves as a marker of sorts for the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, Roberts said, the holiday run went on, but attendance was limited to 300 people. Groups of 50 runners maintained social distance and took off from the starting line in staggered waves. “We had to get creative,” he said.

This year, Roberts was thrilled that the race could be rolled out in mostly full force. “It’s just like we’re kind of back to normal,” he said. “Fingers crossed, we’ll stay that way.”