Cornwall Independence Day Committee July 4, 2011
GRAND MARSHAL
Aisling Cuffe
Aisling Cuffe
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GRAND MARSHAL
Aisling Cuffe
The young 2011 grand marshal of the Cornwall Independence Day Parade has her priorities straight.
When approached about serving as grand marshal, Aisling Marie Cuffe asked if she could still run in the Main Street Mile. And only when she was assured that she could compete in the race, which starts at 4:35 p.m., and get to the staging area in time for the start of the 5 p.m. parade, did she agree.
Aisling is a runner. Not just any runner: Aisling is the nation’s premiere long distance high school female runner.
And while she may not mind the attention as grand marshal on Monday, July 4, she would mind not being able compete in the race she has won the last three years. So, she’ll be running against herself, trying to improve her time, and set a new record.
Aisling is focused. She is driven. She is also happy. The smile adorning her freckled face is sweet, genuine, and constant.
“She has many gifts, “wrote Nate Getman in New England Runner, “but Aisling Cuffe is so clearly well served by her sense of joy. “ “Hers is an incandescent spirit that brightens the atmosphere for everyone around her,” said Leo Collins, who has covered Aisling’s races for three years for Youth Runner.
Aisling has competed in some 175 races during her high school career. The five-foot-four, one-hundred-pound runner has been at or near the top of every race she enters, all over the country and abroad. She says her best accomplishment was winning the Foot Locker Cross Country National Finals (5k) Dec. 11, 2010 in San Diego; it had been her goal for three years. She was named the Gatorade girls' cross-country runner of the year in February. Aisling has won two U.S. Junior National track titles and has a handful of state records and top national rankings. She has set many cross-country course records along the east coast.
Aisling has been an ambassador for Cornwall Central High School, the Town of Cornwall and the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson, where she lives. She was born in New York City and came to Cornwall-on-Hudson when she was five. She is an inspiration to young and old, with people all over the country rooting for her and over 2,000 fans following her career on Facebook, set up by a friend. “All this support makes me feel really happy to be living in my town,” she said in 2009. “I just feel so thankful for everything that everyone is doing for me. It’s nice to know that no matter where I go for a race, my community is rooting for me.” But it can be tough when meets limit her hanging out with friends.“I’m the friend that’s never there is the ongoing joke.” So, why does she run five miles a day throughout the running season? Why does she train two hours a day?
“Running makes you feel healthy. I never knew you could feel this fit. It makes me wonder why others don’t want to warm up or play a game.” Her high school coaches Dave Feuer and Brian Creeden have meant everything to her Aisling said. “They’ve changed my life. I wouldn’t be where I am without them.” “She is just really a student of the sport,” Feuer has said.”She knows what everybody is doing in her events, so she knows what she has to do to stay ahead. "We are talking about one of the greatest runners in American history.” Aisling likes where running has taken her. “I have a whole new personality. I have more people in my life. I’m confident, accomplished.” Her family is very supportive. One or the other if not both of her parents, Ronald Cuffe, a cardiologist, and Marie O’Hanrahan, a native of County Roscommon, Ireland, try to attend every race. Her brother Conor and her running sister Daraalso cheer her on. Her parents taught her not to do anything halfway. “I never want to settle for anything less than my best. It’s a waste not wanting to reach your potential.”
The 17-year-old senior has maintained an A average throughout high school and ranked third in her class. Interviewed several days before graduation, she said she already missed her high school. She will be off to Stanford University, a highly competitive academic university and one of the best running schools in the country, on an athletic scholarship in the fall. She’ll study mathematics and science.Some day she would like to represent the United States in the Olympics.
And so today the Cornwall community proudly salutes one of its greatest stars before she enters another galaxy.
- Brendan G. Coyne
Photo: Karen Kaiser-Sharp
Aisling Cuffe
The young 2011 grand marshal of the Cornwall Independence Day Parade has her priorities straight.
When approached about serving as grand marshal, Aisling Marie Cuffe asked if she could still run in the Main Street Mile. And only when she was assured that she could compete in the race, which starts at 4:35 p.m., and get to the staging area in time for the start of the 5 p.m. parade, did she agree.
Aisling is a runner. Not just any runner: Aisling is the nation’s premiere long distance high school female runner.
And while she may not mind the attention as grand marshal on Monday, July 4, she would mind not being able compete in the race she has won the last three years. So, she’ll be running against herself, trying to improve her time, and set a new record.
Aisling is focused. She is driven. She is also happy. The smile adorning her freckled face is sweet, genuine, and constant.
“She has many gifts, “wrote Nate Getman in New England Runner, “but Aisling Cuffe is so clearly well served by her sense of joy. “ “Hers is an incandescent spirit that brightens the atmosphere for everyone around her,” said Leo Collins, who has covered Aisling’s races for three years for Youth Runner.
Aisling has competed in some 175 races during her high school career. The five-foot-four, one-hundred-pound runner has been at or near the top of every race she enters, all over the country and abroad. She says her best accomplishment was winning the Foot Locker Cross Country National Finals (5k) Dec. 11, 2010 in San Diego; it had been her goal for three years. She was named the Gatorade girls' cross-country runner of the year in February. Aisling has won two U.S. Junior National track titles and has a handful of state records and top national rankings. She has set many cross-country course records along the east coast.
Aisling has been an ambassador for Cornwall Central High School, the Town of Cornwall and the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson, where she lives. She was born in New York City and came to Cornwall-on-Hudson when she was five. She is an inspiration to young and old, with people all over the country rooting for her and over 2,000 fans following her career on Facebook, set up by a friend. “All this support makes me feel really happy to be living in my town,” she said in 2009. “I just feel so thankful for everything that everyone is doing for me. It’s nice to know that no matter where I go for a race, my community is rooting for me.” But it can be tough when meets limit her hanging out with friends.“I’m the friend that’s never there is the ongoing joke.” So, why does she run five miles a day throughout the running season? Why does she train two hours a day?
“Running makes you feel healthy. I never knew you could feel this fit. It makes me wonder why others don’t want to warm up or play a game.” Her high school coaches Dave Feuer and Brian Creeden have meant everything to her Aisling said. “They’ve changed my life. I wouldn’t be where I am without them.” “She is just really a student of the sport,” Feuer has said.”She knows what everybody is doing in her events, so she knows what she has to do to stay ahead. "We are talking about one of the greatest runners in American history.” Aisling likes where running has taken her. “I have a whole new personality. I have more people in my life. I’m confident, accomplished.” Her family is very supportive. One or the other if not both of her parents, Ronald Cuffe, a cardiologist, and Marie O’Hanrahan, a native of County Roscommon, Ireland, try to attend every race. Her brother Conor and her running sister Daraalso cheer her on. Her parents taught her not to do anything halfway. “I never want to settle for anything less than my best. It’s a waste not wanting to reach your potential.”
The 17-year-old senior has maintained an A average throughout high school and ranked third in her class. Interviewed several days before graduation, she said she already missed her high school. She will be off to Stanford University, a highly competitive academic university and one of the best running schools in the country, on an athletic scholarship in the fall. She’ll study mathematics and science.Some day she would like to represent the United States in the Olympics.
And so today the Cornwall community proudly salutes one of its greatest stars before she enters another galaxy.
- Brendan G. Coyne
Photo: Karen Kaiser-Sharp
