CORNING, N.Y. (WENY) -- The cold weather and early morning hours did not stop ambitious runners from lacing up their shoes and hitting the course on Saturday for the 43rd Annual Wineglass Marathon. While the running community spans worldwide, runners in the Twin Tiers showcased their close knit and supportive nature all throughout the race.
"This is my eighth marathon and I'm trying to run two marathons a year. We live in New York City, so it's very close. It's like weekend related. It's in our heart. We love the nature around here, we love the people, we love the company, we love to have fun," said Luba Kavaleuskaya, who ran the full marathon.
Over 6,000 runners participated in this year's race weekend and collected their medals at the finish line. Kavaleuskaya said she convinced one of her friends to start running marathons with her to experience that encouraging small town feeling.
"I did first in a small town because I didn't know if I was going to make it to the finish line, and then I got lucky to participate in Europe marathon which was a totally different experience. It was an animal," said Renata Pirog, who ran the full marathon. "And, I fell in love with the small town marathons. So I researched and I came up with the Wineglass and I love the wine. So why not do it together?"
Not only is the Wineglass Marathon a way to come together, it's also a way to support the community. After the race, Wineglass donates a large sum of money to several local non-profits. Some say the support starts in the race and expands out from there.
"So I started with a pacer who was like 'Hey, if you want to finish at this time, start with me.' So, I started with him. It was super fun. He was talking the whole time telling jokes, and about halfway through I was like, 'Okay, I can give this a little more.' So I started pushing and it was awesome to see the encouragement from even people that I was passing or people who just had a walk for a second people like keep going, keep going, you got this. It was super fun. I met a few people along the way too, so it was really great," said WENY's Kurt Martone, who ran the half marathon.
In this years race, the male full marathon winner was Roger Hopper, with a time of 2:22:45. The female full marathon winner was Diane Neubauer, who broke the marathon record for women today with a time of 2:42:44. Neubauer said it was a tough race but she had some advice that helped her push through and believes it can help others too.
"Well, I repeated this to myself a lot, you can do hard things. You're stronger than you think you are," said Neubauer.
All results from this weekend's races can be found here. The charities Wineglass supports can be found here.