5 Towns unite at 5K run to support Israeli vets

They lined up in their blue race shirts on a chilly Sunday, the sky sapphire blue with a few white fluffy clouds, a perfect day for a run/walk in North Woodmere Park. The more serious runners were in front, stretching, warming up, the rest were milling around, chatting with friends and neighbors.

At the sound of the horn they were off, coursing through the curving streets of North Woodmere, sneakers pounding the pavement, some running, some walking briskly. And at the end, the two winners were Dmitriy Krasney, 30, of Far Rockaway, who also won in 2012, coming in at a time of 18 minutes and 38 seconds and Stephanie Greenberg, 20, of Cedarhurst with a time of 21 minutes 13 seconds.

There were other winners based on age category. The most notable was a racing pair, Irene Hizme of Oceanside, 76, a survivor of Auschwitz and Mengele’s infamous twin experiments, and Yair Saperstein, 23, of Lawrence, a student at Albert Einstein School of Medicine, who pushed Hizme in a wheelchair to achieve a winning time in her age group coming in at first place in 30 minutes 27 seconds.

“I support the FIDV,” she said after the race. “I’m a Holocaust survivor and (Monday) is Yom Hashoah. We have a country that the IDF is protecting like we didn’t when I was a child.”

About 450 participated in the race, less than last year, noted Dr. Isaac Seinuk of North Woodmere, race director and an FIDV board member, likely because it immediately followed Passover.

“The 5 Towns 5K is an established community event that brings us all together in support of a very important cause,” he said. “Some years we will have more participants. Other years we will have less. But even with the fewer participants this year we still grossed over $25000 for disabled Israeli veterans and Beit Halochem.”