Saturday morning saw the return of the SebastianStrong 5k Run/Walk event held at the Curtiss Mansion. It was an absolutely gorgeous Miami Springs morning with a wonderful crowd of participants helping to raise money for the SebastianStrong Foundation.
SebastianStrong 5k Opening Ceremonies
In case you’re not familiar, the SebastianStrong Foundation was created by Rose and Oscar Ortiz after the loss of their son, Sebastian Ortiz, to childhood cancer. Since then, the couple has dedicated their lives to funding research and care for the families who are fighting childhood cancer. And as Oscar said in his pre-race greeting, to find hope for families that desperately need it.
The SebastianStrong Story
As part of their efforts, the Ortiz family created the SebastianStrong Foundation 5k. A race to help raise funds for researchers helping to cure children with cancer and support families desperately seeking hope.
The SebastianStrong 5k Race
Saturday morning was an absolutely gorgeous day with a stunning sunrise greeting the participants and organizers on the grounds of the beautiful Curtiss Mansion.
Of course, this was the first SebastianStrong 5k since 2019 as the race had been paused due to the pandemic. So it was great to see so many people at the race either volunteering or participating in the event.
Miami Springs Mayor Maria Mitchell was present and participating in the Opening Greetings for the crowd. You can see Mayor Mitchell below with Oscar Ortiz (Sebastian’s Father) from the SebastianStrong Foundation.
Rose Ortiz (Sebastian’s Mother) was also present here with some of the human and. K-9 race participants.
Before the race kicked off, there was the pre-race stretch and warm up.
Then, Oscar Ortiz, Mayor Maria Mitchell, and Dr. David Loeb provided their inspiring Opening Remarks before kicking off the race.
Ready, set, go! Then the race was off!
The crowd of nearly 300 participants took off towards Fairway Drive where they then headed west to wrap around the Miami Springs Golf Course.
Miami Springs Police were present throughout the race providing support and keeping the route safe and free of cars.
The course then took a right hand turn north onto Eldron Drive and then followed the bike path along the Golf Course parallel to the Curtiss Parkway. At Deer Run, the course shifts to the Curtiss Parkway median and follows Sebastian Ortiz Way. Sebastian Ortiz was an avid runner and this section of Curtiss Parkway was named in his memory.
The route then makes a left hand turn at the Circle and headed west along the business district of Westward Drive. Then, the route makes a right hand turn at Esplanade and heads towards Miami Springs Elementary. There’s a quick U-Turn and the race heads south on Esplanade Towards Deer Run. At Deer Run the race headed back east and towards the Curtiss Mansion for the finish line.
WINNERS!
The winners of the 5K Race were brothers Donato Scarcello and Anthony Scarcello of Virginia Gardens. Donato (19 years old) had a chip time of 17 minutes and 25.72 seconds. Anthony (15 years old) had a chip time of 17 minutes and 26.96 seconds.
As you can see, the brothers came through the finish line at the same exact time. Even their strides were in sync. (Special thanks to volunteer photographer, Natalia Suarez, for capturing this shot.) It looks like one was ahead of the other at the start causing the one second separation in chip times.
Not all the winners were in their teens. Caryn Lubetsky (51 years old) of Miami Shores had the best time for the women with a time of 21 minutes and 55.85 seconds. That’s a blistering pace of 7 minutes and 4 seconds per mile. Amazing!
Post Race
After the race, the participants cooled off with some bottled water and replenished with fresh fruits and bagels. Participants connected with friends and family after the race and shared race times and the overall joy of participating in the race.
Here we connected with Miami Springs City Councilman Water Fajet and his son Nicolas.
Oscar Ortiz with members of the Sebastian Strong Medical Advisory Board, Dr. Ranjith Muraleedharan and Dr. David Loeb.
Below we met with Circuit Court Judge candidate Ariel Rodriguez and his son.
Proud dad on the left with his son, Nestor M. Suarez, and Miami Springs resident Lester Guido on the right.
Yours truly connected with Village of Virginia Gardens Mayor, Spencer Deno.
Donate to SebastianStrong Foundation
Folks, if you missed out on participating in the SebastianStrong 5k Race, you can still help the cause to support groundbreaking research to help kids beat cancer. Just visit www.SebastianStrong.org to donate.
SebastianStrong 5k Race Photos
We hope you enjoy the photo gallery featuring over 300 photos from Saturday’s beautiful SebastianStrong 5k Race. (See race times below the photo gallery.)
