Western and Central New York’s best high school track and field athletes got together for a mega track meet at Hilton High School Saturday. It’s called “The Cadet Classic, Saturday Night Showdown.” 39 schools competed, including several defending state champions. But much of the attention centered around one unique event called, “The Glavin” YNN’s Geoff Redick has more on that race, and the man behind it.
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Life is often like a track meet. You work hard, run the race like you're told, but sometimes, you seem destined to finish last.
Mike Szczepanik, Hilton Track Coach said, "Great friend, you know, just a great guy to hang out with."
Life dealt just such a cruel twist, to Peter Glavin.
Donovan Glavin, Peter's Son said, "He was really fun, he was funny, he just pretty much did whatever I wanted to do. We'd go out in the yard and play catch with a baseball, or play basketball. We would just spend a lot of time together."
It was just a few short years ago, eighth-grader Donovan Glavin watched his father, Pete, withered by brain cancer.
Donovan said, "Once he died, that all, that all changed. You don't have him there."
Friends remember Pete Glavin as a fun-loving man with a lion's heart.
Mike Szczepanik, Hilton Track Coach said, "You would never know, I mean, you would never know he was this fierce competitor. He was the friendliest guy, but when you get him on the track or on a road race, he was just absolutely fierce."
But even fierceness couldn't cheat fate.
Szczepanik added, "I hadn't really seen him much after he had gotten sick, there was a road race that ended at Sunset House, which is where he spent the last days right at the finish line, you know, it just wasn't the Pete I knew. It's tough, you only see him a couple months ago, and he looked great, running, you know..."
It's been almost exactly two years since Peter Glavin died, but the fierce spirit now lives on in this. A race, called simply: "The Glavin."
Szczepanik, Hilton said, "Pete was instrumental in the Rochester running scene. He made a big boom in this Rochester area."
And "The Glavin" is just as big, 3,000 meters of pure distance running, the kind Peter loved most. His son Donovan doesn't run "The Glavin,” not yet, anyways. But he did set a personal record in the 2-mile Saturday.
Donovan said, "Set a P-R of 10:55 and came in twelfth."
Only in eighth grade, the sky's the limit for his running career. But Donovan has much higher aspirations.
Donovan added, "I just pretty much wanna hope that I'm the person he was one day."
Sometimes, in life -- you win.