Long Beach's Cristin Delaney-Guille wins Suffolk Marathon

Cristin Delaney-Guille hung a right off Montauk Highway on this sunny Sunday morning and soon was running through the tape at the finish line inside Gardiner County Park. She raised her arms, the blonde hair flapping behind and the winning smile flashing across her face.

This was a familiar face winning the women’s title at this race — the Suffolk County Marathon.

It marked her second victorious 26.2-mile journey from the train station in Babylon to this park in Bay Shore in three years.

The Long Beach resident took the lead early on but ran behind her personal-record clocking of 2 hours, 59 minutes and 44 seconds established here in 2024. She crossed this time after 3:07:31.52, which was 20th overall.

But this day wasn’t about her time, even though Delaney-Guille still finished nearly nine minutes ahead of runner-up Tsvetelina Cacioppo, a Middle Village resident who came in at 3:16:33.64.

“This is not a particularly fast one for me, but I’m a little bit banged up and I just wanted to go for it today, and I could not be happier to have finished it,” Delaney-Guille said.

“Winning is just the cherry on top of finishing this because I keep asking my body to do really hard things and when it cooperates, I’m just over the moon.”

The temperature was running in the 40s, and that made her happy as well.

“You can’t ask for better weather,” she said. “Little breeze, but this is like a ‘no excuses’ kind of day. Really good weather for running.”

She couldn’t beat the scenic route, either, taking the bridge with the rest of the field over Great South Bay.

“The Verrazzano’s got nothing on our bridge,” she said, laughing. “That is really the best part of running this race. It’s just beautiful. You’re out in the wide open. The boats would honk their horns at you.”

Delaney-Guille, who grew up in Floral Park, is approaching the 30-marathon mark. This was her third win. The other victory happened at the Long Island Marathon in 2024.

Her roots for traveling long distances in running shoes stem from the birth of her now 19-year-old daughter, Olivia.

“When I wanted to get back into shape after I had my daughter, I hopped in a local 4-mile race,” Delaney-Guille said. “And after that, it was like, ‘All right, how much longer and harder can I run?’ ”

So she ran a marathon later that year for the first time, about 18 years ago.

“And I just fell in love with distance running,” she said. “I love the training for marathons. The marathon itself is a scary thing, but I’d rather run a marathon than a 5K.”

Her next distance run is just two Sundays away — the New York City Marathon.

“I’m 45 right now, so I think I’m just trying to hold on to a decent time like today,” Delaney-Guille said about her goals in the sport. “I don’t know if any PRs are in my future. … Whatever happens, happens.”

Kristen Molloy claimed the women’s half marathon title that was part of the Suffolk County Marathon event. It was her first time running it here. The 40-year-old lawyer from Merrick posted a time of 1:26:57.48.

“It means a lot,” Molloy said. “It was a great race. Great to win on Long Island. I’m from Long Island. It’s such a beautiful fall day. The energy on the bridge was so much fun, and I really had a great time.”

Freeport’s Ashley Gomes was the top women’s finisher in Saturday’s 5K at 23:59.62.

Tara Wilson won the women’s title at the Shelter Island 5K Saturday, then was the women’s winner in Sunday’s 10K at this Suffolk County gathering. The 40-year-old Riverhead resident, who’s originally from Shelter Island, ran 43:47.64, and that time stood fifth overall.

“I’m into doubleheaders, man,” Wilson said. “It’s super cool.”