Despite its club status, the Binghamton University Running Club — known as BURC — proved Saturday at the eighth annual BURC Open cross-country race that it can keep up with just about any pack. Club teams from University at Buffalo, Stony Brook University and Cornell University, as well as runners from the Southern Tier Running Club were represented. The race, which was listed on the National Intercollegiate Running Club Association (NIRCA) website, followed the same course as Division I races.
“I love the atmosphere of races and it’s always such a fun event,” said Bethany Brown, a member of the BURC and a junior majoring in psychology. “It’s nice to see so many club members come out together to race. I think it gives the club a good sense of pride to host other runners from around the state.”
The men ran 8,000 meters, while the women ran 5,000 meters. The course started behind the East Gym and followed Fuller Hollow Creek up into the Nature Preserve. The farthest point was at the intersection of West Access Road and Connector Road, near Mountainview College. The trail looped back around in the 8K, while the 5K goes straight back to the finish. The scenic route had moderate hills in the Preserve and behind Newing College’s dorms, but flattened out halfway through. The 5K was open to the public for a $5 entry fee.
Jigar Gosalia, the co-president of BURC and a junior majoring in integrative neuroscience, won the 8K race in a time of 26:52, leading the Binghamton men’s team to a first-place finish. To compare, in the 2013 America East cross country championship — held on the same course — Gosalia would have placed among the top 70 finishers in the entire conference.
Gosalia led the entire race and had a comfortable lead by the 5K mark.
“I felt smooth and in tone with my body from the get-go and decided to just go for it, and was fortunate to get a PR on this tough course,” he said. “And the best part was that I felt like I had so much more left in the tank to give throughout the whole race.”
Gosalia added that the team is looking to make a statement this season after blowing out last year’s champions from Cornell.
The top finisher for the Binghamton women was Camille Bouvet-Boisclair, a sophomore double-majoring in art and design and geography, who had a time of 21:59.
The team prizes were hand-painted pumpkins, while top individual finishers received a small trophy.
Buffalo and Cornell are regular competitors at the event, and in the past Syracuse University’s club team has raced. Kyle Loftus, vice president of the team and a junior double-majoring in biochemistry and economics, said that this was the biggest turnout they have had in the past several years, for both men’s and women’s races. In total, there were 68 runners in the 8K and 41 in the 5K. Stony Brook brought 13 runners, Cornell 21 and Buffalo 23. The Binghamton men had five runners finish in the top 10. As a team, the men finished first and the women second.
“We are very excited about our individual and team finishes,” Gosalia said. “We are all really looking forward to our upcoming races; this is our season.”