Five Countries Represented in the 2013 Kessler Foundation Wheelchair 10K
On Memorial Day, racers from all over the world competed in the 13th Annual Kessler Foundation Wheelchair 10K—the wheelchair division of the Fred d’Elia Ridgewood Run. Racers competed for a total purse of $10,000. Twenty-eight racers represented five countries, including Nigeria, Spain, Columbia, Costa Rica and the United States.
Laurens Molina, from Costa Rica, won the Men’s Open division with a time of 23.46 minutes. Molina competed in the 2012 London Paralympics and is striving to secure a world title. Tony Noguiera, from N.J., came in with a time of 24.06 minutes for a close second place. He is one of the original members of the WheelBlazers—an adult wheelchair racing team sponsored by Kessler Foundation.
Four-time Paralympian Jessica Galli, from Ga., clinched the Women’s Open division in 31 minutes. The 2013 race marked her eleventh victory in her 12 years of competing in the Kessler Foundation Wheelchair 10K. A native of N.J., she always enjoys coming back to her home state to compete.
Santiago Sanz, from Spain, won the Quad Men division for the fourth consecutive year with a time of 24.46 minutes. This time beat the Quad course record he set last year by a one-hundredth of a second. Also in the Quad division was Gianfranco Iannotta who, despite getting a flat tire, went on to finish the race. Iannotta is a member of the North Jersey Navigators, an adaptive sports team for junior athletes with disabilities sponsored, in part, by Kessler Foundation.
Ramiro Bermudez, from Texas, clinched the Male Masters division for the second year in a row as he completed the 10K in 24.20 minutes. While the Masters division is for athletes who are 40 years of age or older, Bermudez and Grant Berthiaume, from Ariz., both 53, competed with the Masters racers and came in first and second place respectively.
Gary Brendel, from Mass., won the Grandmasters division—for racers age 50 and over—in 25.04 minutes. This marked the second consecutive year that he clinched a title. Of the 28 competitors, Brendel had the sixth best time.
Nishan Patel, from N.J., won the E*Athlete Male division—for racers between 19 and 21 years old—with a time of 38.25 minutes.
Jerson Calderone, from N.J., completed the course in 28.37 minutes to win the Male Junior division for athletes under 19 years of age. Calderone also competes for the North Jersey Navigators.
To help people with disabilities recover from Hurricane Sandy, a portion of the racers' registration fee was donated to Kessler Foundation’s Hurricane Sandy Emergency Fund.
The Kessler Foundation Wheelchair 10K was the first wheelchair race in N.J. and is now one of the largest integrated races in the country as runners and wheelchair athletes compete on the same course at the same time. Like Kessler Foundation on Facebook to see the 2013 Wheelchair 10K photos. Watch a slideshow of the race.
