CORTLAND — The Cortland YMCA will be hosting the Viking 5K in honor of late fire department captain Michael “Buzzy” Andersen for the second year in a row. The YMCA and Andersen’s family hope to make this memorial run an annual event.
This year’s Viking 5K will take place June 14 at the Cortland Fire Department on Court Street. The race will start at 10 a.m., but participants are encouraged to show up to the starting line as early as 9 a.m. to mingle and prepare for the event.
Cortland YMCA manager Gina Cusano-McLaughlin works with Anderson’s family and the Cortland Fire Department to make this run happen in Andersen’s memory. Andersen was a firefighter with the Cortland Fire Department for 22 years, and he died in February 2024 after battling stage 4 lung cancer. The cancer was a result of his service in the fire department and exposure to volatile smoke over the years, so part of the money raised from this run will go to awareness groups for firefighters.
“We will take 20% of all the sponsorship and donated money and donate it to the Fire Fighter Cancer Foundation,” Cusano-McLaughlin said. “They help with medical bills that families might be straddled with after firefighters pass away from cancer and help firefighters who are still alive to receive support for any cancer diagnosis that they may have.”
The race course is modeled after the Cortland Pumpkin Run, a race Andersen helped organize over the years through his athletic lifestyle. Though some routes through the city have changed and the course isn’t an exact copy, it’s very close to the original route Andersen mapped for the Cortland Pumpkin Run.
“The idea when it was created last year is that this memorial run would essentially follow the same path that Mike had created when the YMCA used to host a pumpkin run,” Cusano-McLaughlin said. “That run happened so long ago that part of SUNY Cortland has changed and roads that we used to run on are no longer roads. So this course that we’re doing is the best that we can do to relive the memory.”
Because Andersen spent so much of his life committed to the Cortland Fire Department, it has provided support for the run in the form of hosting the start and finish line and providing the electricity for the timing mechanism for racers. The YMCA also provides incentives for first responders to join in teams of four and has a special medal for the fastest time out of these teams of firefighters and police officers.
The race will be followed by an after-party celebration at Cortland Beer Company across the street from the finish line at the fire department. Cortland Beer Company has also sponsored the race and donated some prizes for raffle baskets to allow the YMCA to raise more money through this race.
Outside of the 20% donation to the Fire Fighter Cancer Foundation, the YMCA will take the donations and proceeds from race registration to add to their Membership for All scholarship fund to give assistance to those who need help paying for membership fees. This is where most of the money from the Cortland YMCA Race Series goes.
“We as the YMCA take all the funds that we raised for our race series and we put them back into our programs to offset the cost of membership,” Cusano-McLaughlin said. “That way, people who are not able to cover the full cost of programs for their children, themselves or other membership services can get financial support.”
Other funds and sponsorship covers the cost of the race shirts and the timing bibs. Pre-registration for the race is still open on the website at cortlandymca.org for $30 and will close at noon June 13. Registration on the morning of the race will also be available at the starting point between 9 and 9:45 a.m.
