Philadelphia Bar Association's 40th annual Run/Walk Runners start the 10K Race portion of the Philadelphia Bar Association's 40th annual Run/Walk on May 19. (Photo: Support Center for Child Advocates)

On May 19, the 40th annual Philadelphia Bar Association 5K Charity Run took place at Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. The 5K race was supplemented not only by a 5K walk and a Kid's Dash, but also by a 10K race, which was the only race that was run by the bar association for the first 15 years of the event. We could not have asked for a better day to bring back the 10K run. At the start of the race at 7:30 a.m., the temperature was 60 degrees. The 5K run and walk started 15 minutes later and both races ran well on the portion of Fairmount Park surrounding Memorial Hall. This 40th annual event, which benefits the Support Center for Child Advocates, also welcomed, at no charge, more than 600 children from the charity Students Run Philly Style.

In addition, children 10 years and under enjoyed a Kids' Dash sponsored by Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, under the organization of partner Marc Tepper.

There were 1,452 registered runners and walkers with approximately 1,050 timed finishers. In the 5K open competition, Joe Foley, age 32 of Philadelphia, finished first for males in a time of 16:26 and Emma Seifried placed first among females in a time of 19:24. In the 5K bar association competition, Joe Imperiale of Pepper Hamilton placed first for males overall in a time of 20:01 and Andrea Graf of Swartz Campbell placed first for females in a time of 21:32.

In the 10K open competition, Erik Weissmann of Philadelphia, a volunteer with Students Run Philly Style, placed first for males in a time of 37:08 and Chrissy Gaul placed first for females in a time of 47:10. The 10K bar competition was won by Andrew Doggett of Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld in a time of 40 and Tricia Kazinetz of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr in a time of 47:42.

Cozen O'Connor once again took first place in the Caesar Rivise 5K Legal Team Competition. The Cozen O'Connor team was led by first-place finishes, in their respective age groups, by Greg Fischer, Megan Feehan and Elliott Feldman. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius finished second in the 5K legal team competition with two first-place finishes in their respective age groups by Jennifer Hance and Jill Sterbakov and a second-place finish by Dylan Smith. Third place was taken by Goldberg Miller & Rubin, which also had two age-group winners, Ben Boyles and Jason Rubin. Pepper Hamilton finished fourth and Semanoff Ormsby Greenberg & Torchia finished fifth.

In the Caesar Rivise 10K Legal Team Competition, Morgan Lewis saw two of its teams tied for first place. Overall, Morgan Lewis was led by Will McEnroe who recorded the fastest time in the 10K legal competition, Ben Cardonick, Octavia Litvinov and Richard Kane, all of whom came in first place in their respective age group.

In the 5K corporate team competition, Association of Corporate Counsel Greater Philadelphia Chapter Team 1 finished first, and its Team 2 and Team 3 tied for third place. ACC was led by first-place finishes of Stephanie Hu, Kim Jessum and Richard Pasquier in their age groups. Capital Project Management Inc. finished in second with first-place finishes of Jesse Sloane and Joseph Hellebrand.

In the 10K corporate team competition, ACC Greater Philadelphia Chapter also finished first.

In the 5K open team competition, the Superior Court teams finished first and second. Peter Johnson of the Superior Court teams had the fastest time in the competition. In the 10K open competition, the winner was Firstrust Bank led by Kert Emperado, Gladys Becerra and Scott Cirella.

Special thanks to the vice chancellor of the bar, retired Judge Michael Snyder, who attended the race, and a huge congratulations to Jeffrey Kall, who completed the Bar Charity Run for the 40th time.

Once again, the race was supported by the Philadelphia Bar Association and was joined by the following corporate-level sponsors: Buchanan Ingersoll, Caesar Rivise, Firstrust Bank, Philadelphia Runner, The Legal Intelligencer, Veritext and USI Affinity.

In addition, to the corporate-level sponsors, the following law firms joined as a sponsor for the 40th annual Philadelphia Charity Run, which included Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Anapol Weiss, Cozen O'Connor, DLA Piper, Drinker Biddle & Reath, Fox Rothschild, Offit Kurman, Pepper Hamilton and Stevens & Lee/Griffin. Raynes Lawn & Hehmeyer was a legal supporter.

In addition to the revenue raised by the sponsors and supporters of the race, a most substantial contribution to the race was received from the volunteers that worked tirelessly from 5 a.m. through the end of the race to make the event a success, which was topped off with refreshments donated by Wawa, Firstrust and the sponsors of the race.

Co-director Eric Marzluf made his usual incredible contribution coordinating registration, number pickup, T-shirt handouts and refreshment pick-up. Tom Bell, who has been co-director and board member for the past 40 years, worked tirelessly getting the water tables out and handing out water. In addition, the following board members of the race committee also contributed: namely, Marc Tepper of Buchanan Ingersoll, who will succeed Marzluf and me as the director of the 2020 Philadelphia Bar Charity Run; Frank Cervone, Moira Mulroney and Mike Drzik from the Support Center for Child Advocates; Magdalena Lozada of Caesar Rivise, who oversaw the team competition and handled all of the secretarial work for the race; Todd Strauss of SVE Timing–Mid-Atlantic, who laid out the race courses and timed the event; Wendi Platt of Virgo III, who brings the bagels and other snacks every year for the volunteers; and Iesha Nelson of Students Run Philly Style and Ernie Holtzheimer, all of whom worked to make the run a success for the 40th time.

I want to thank everyone involved at the Philadelphia Bar Association and the Support Center for Child Advocates who allowed me the great pleasure and honor of being the director or co-director of this event for the past 40 years.

Manny D. Pokotilow is a co-director of the race and senior counsel with the intellectual property firm of Caesar Rivise.