The list is current through December 24, 2003. During the year, 130 local road races were recorded and of those 90 were 5K runs. 18,820 total 5K road race performances were evaluated. The performances were sorted in ascending order by time. Finishing places and difficulty of courses were not considered. Only an individual's single best time recorded during the year is considered for inclusion in the list. Ties in time are sorted in race date order and then by last name.

Four 5K races were intentionally not included: Glen Iris was deemed not local, and DePalma, The Variety Kid's at Mulligan's, and the Niagara Falls YMCA 5K were known to be short courses this year only - and had to be excluded.

Several local runners have recorded stellar performances out of town this year, including at 5K races in nearby Rochester. For consistency, even the Rochester races have not been included.

Mistakes, omissions and duplicates are likely since both the creation of the list and much of the original race results generation was done manually. For these reasons all runners are encouraged to report any missing results, or data errors. Time permitting, we'll follow up for you.

Congratulations to all runners who qualified for the 2003 top 500 list - and to those who came close.   It is remarkable how many exceptionally fit athletes this area has.