We all know Skunk is special—it’s not just another race. It’s when we poke our collective heads out of winter hibernation, grumble about the weather, and get out there to run, volunteer, and hang out with friends we don’t see as often as we’d like. Sure, Skunk is a race (and results are up), but it’s equally an excuse for the local running community to reconnect. A number of people made a point of telling me how much they appreciated Skunk coming back after our two-year pandemic hiatus.
So from that perspective, FLRC would like to thank everyone who made Skunk possible this year:
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First and most important, thanks to race directors Vinny and Nichole Cappadora, who picked up the baton and made the entire event happen.
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Second, thanks to everyone who signed up for Skunk, especially those who braved the early morning rain to run in what turned out to be entirely reasonable conditions (before it rained again and then snowed—never a dull meteorological moment here in Ithaca). Can’t have a race without runners!
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Third, thanks to super volunteers Mickie Sanders-Jauquet, Joel Cisne, Alan Lockett, Tonya Engst, and Sandy Gregorich, who helped out hugely in advance of the race with food, safety, transportation, race promotion, and Cornell Athletics.
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Fourth, thanks to Cornell Unversity in general for hosting Skunk, plus Cornell Athletics, the Cornell Police Department, the Varna Volunteer Fire Department, the Ham Radio Club, Leone Timing, the Finger Lakes Running Company, Bangs Ambulance, Dryden Ambulance, and the Town of Dryden and Town of Ithaca for providing the infrastructural support necessary for such a large event. Super special thanks to Diane Kubarek and her intrepid bagpipers at the Stevenson/Dodge intersection! Apologies if I’ve missed any other groups.
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Fifth, thanks to all the people who volunteered their time before, during, and after the race, including at least: Mark Booth, Casey Carlstrom, Penny Ciccone, Joel Cisne, Heather Cobb, James Dean, Sarah Dellett, Jason Demarest, Kerry Demarest, Katie Durrant, Makoto Endo, Adam Engst, Tonya Engst, Charlie Fay, Steve Folsom, Carl Franck, Zsofia Franck, Laurel Gilmer, Ian Golden, Maren Golden, Nora Golden, Sherry Golden, Samantha Guggenmos, Ana Haff, Kristina Harrison, Tom Hartshorne, Ithaca Hash House Harriers, Alex Kleinerman, Jesse Koennecke, Jami Landry, Steven Lee, Jane Leff, Alan Lockett, Stacie Mann, Paul Maza, Gary McCheyne, Mario Medina, Patrick Milano, Megan Powers, Aaron Proujansky, Bruce Roebal, Steve Ryan, Mickie Sanders-Jauquet, Steve Savage, Isabelle Schweitzer, Anne Shakespeare, Kirk Smith, Ruth Sproul, Sheila Squier, Frances Steen, StS, Bob Swizdor, Bob Talda, and Mark Wells. If you jumped in on the spot to help where help was needed such that your name wasn’t on the Volunteer Sheet, extra thanks to you!
Here’s looking forward to Skunk in 2023! Now go sign up for the FLRC Challenge, which starts April 16th.
–Adam Engst, FLRC President
PS: If you have any great photos of you and your friends from Skunk, please upload them to our shared photo album, soon to be populated with professional photos as well. And feel free to post any funny Skunk stories or race reports here too!
It’ll be great to catch up more with you in the future. 
Thanks again to all of you for pulling this together.
We love that kind of enthusiasm!
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