Happy New Year and L'Shana Tova to all our teammates who are observing Rosh Hashanah!đđŻ
Every time we run the Bronx 10 Mile, we are transported back in time with our imagination to the days when NYRR was founded in 1958. They had about 40 members, who met to run at Macombs Dam Park in the Bronx. Running has changed quite a bit since those days. 11,877 runners finished todayâs race, and 123 Flyers were among them.
Todayâs race, the fourth event of our Five-Borough Series races, unfolded mostly along the Grand Concourse, the boulevard in the Bronx associated with architectural elegance and style. What a treat it is to run against this unique setting. This yearâs course measurement was flawless (some may still remember that last yearâs course was a bit longer than 10 miles due to a measurement error) and the weather cooperated too! In other words: it was a perfect day!đ
Letâs start with our honor list. We are happy to celebrate many PRs (we spotted 12 so far, details below), 1 Hall of Fame record, and 5 awards! The Flyers won two individual awards (Francesco Presutti and Deb Saat), and three team awards (the 60+ Women Team and the 70+ and 60+ Men Teams). Congrats to all runners who set a PR, to the award winners and to the entire team! đ
The team was led once again by our supersonic teammate Abe Lee đ, who finished the race with an extraordinary time of 1:03:15 (pace 6:20, AGP 75.49% and 53-second PR!). Abe was followed by Francesco Presutti, who finished in 1:05:28 (pace 6:33, AGP 83.35%) and placed second in his age group.đđĽFrancesco also broke the Flyersâ Hall of Fame 60+ record of 1:05:58 for the 10-mile distance, which he had set last year in the Bronx 10 Mile. Zac Charlton was only 1 second behind and took the thirdâs team place đĽ, with a finish time of 1:05:29 (pace 6:33). Tim Decker finished fourth in the team in 1:06:36 (pace 6:40, AGP 77.5%). Edvard Major took the fifth place with a time of 1:07:27 (pace 6:45). Our open men team was 31st today and is still 5th in the Open Men B standings.
Stephanie Tang đĽwas the fastest finisher in the womenâs team. She crossed the finish line with a time of 1:15:33 (pace 7:34, 29-second PR!). Arlyn Apollo came second đĽ in the womenâs team in 1:16:09 (pace 7:37, AGP 74.27%). Kristel McKanna was third đĽ for the team with 1:17:09 (pace 7:43, AGP 72.45%). Melida Barbosa came fourth with 1:17:09 (pace 7:43, 4:06 PR!). Geneviève Boutin was fifth with 1:17:32 (pace 7:46, AGP 70.48% and a 2:59 PR!). The open women team was 18th and is now 12th in the Open Women A standings. Deb Saat won her age groupâs third place award đđĽ with a time of 1:27:19 (pace 8:44, AGP 77.48%).
I spoke to Geneviève after the race. She recalled when she joined the Flyers over 10 years ago. She was training for her first marathon.
âBack then,â she told me, âI was new to New York, so I really appreciated discovering new routes, like the 3 Bridges Run, and meeting fantastic people. The supported long runs were essential to my training.â A few years passed, and Geneviève was deployed to the Middle East for over 5 years. âSince I came back,â she said, âI still proudly list the Flyers as my club on NYRR though I am more of a solo runner now.â Next week, Geneviève will be in Montreal cheering on her son who at age 19 will run his third marathon. Then, on October 1, she will try to BQđŚ at "marathon du petit train du Nord", also in Canada. But at the end of the day, all roads take to the New York City Marathon. âI look forward to be hanging out with the Flyers on the Staten Island ferry in November!â she told me enthusiastically.
After the decision of NYRR to exclude the Fifth Avenue Mile from the Club Points Series, this has become the 7th of the 10 club points races.
Three teams won an award today đ
⢠The 60+ Men Team, including Francesco, JĂŠrĂ´me BĂŠrard (1:07:46, pace 6:47, 5th AG place, AGP 8.53%, 5:32 PR!), and John Whitfield (1:08:46, 6:53, 7th AG place, AGP 80.12%) won the AG team award. Our three team members all finished in the top ten of their age group and scored an AGP higher than 80%. This award is pushing the team 3 points closer to the top in the club standings. With 3 more races to go, and a 24-point lead over the 3rd team, the teamâs chances to win the seasonâs 2nd place appear solid. However, it wonât be easy to close the 16-point gap with the frontrunners.
⢠The 60+ Women Team, including Lisa Konorty (1:24:55, pace 8:30, 8th AG place, AGP 74.46%), Deb and Mindy Statter (1:30:53, pace 9:06, 7th AG place, AGP 74.44%), won the second-place award. Like their male counterparts, our three team members all finished in the top team of their age group. The teamâs situation is similar to the menâs team. They are 2nd in the club standings, with 23 points ahead of the third team and 16 points behind the frontrunners, and they have very strong chances of winning the seasonâs 2nd place.
⢠The 70+ Men Team, including David Dempsey (1:29:40, pace 8:59), Rick Lam (1:33:59, pace 9:24), and Delton Mace (1:42:14, pace 10:14, 6th AG place) won the second-place award too, and is still 5th in the club standings.
Go teams!
Kudos also to the following teams:
⢠The 40+ Men Team (Abe, Francesco and Tim) finished 19th and is now 10th in the club standings.
⢠The 40+ Women Team (Stephanie, Arlyn and Kristel) finished 14th and is now 9th in the club standings.
⢠The 50+ Men Team (Francesco, Tim and JÊrôme) finished 9th and is still 6th in the club standings.
⢠The 50+ Women Team (Arlyn, Kristel and Jeahnie Hahn, (1:18:48, pace 7:53, 10th AG place, AGP 75.31% and 1:28 PR!) finished 5th and is still 5th in the club standings.
⢠The 70+ Women Team, represented by Mindy Adler, 2:31:04, pace 15:07, and Karen Kenney, 3:18:55, pace 19:48, did not have a minimum of three runners and did not score points, but is still 3rd in the club standings.
Honors go also to all the other Flyers who scored an AGP of 70% or above:
⢠Sebastian Lieng: 1:09:22, pace 6:57, AGP 71.83%
⢠Clay Bracken: 1:16:34, pace 7:40, AGP 70.6%
⢠Neil Tipograph: 1:17:21, pace 7:45, AGP 74.08%
⢠Colm Banfield: 1:17:52, pace 7:48, AGP 70.75%
⢠Yumi Morishige: 1:19:29, pace 7:57, AGP 75.58%
⢠Guy Simoneau: 1:22:29, pace 8:15, AGP 70.17%
⢠Brad Goz: 1:23:55, pace 8:24, AGP 70.39% and
⢠Nina Zoe Parks-Taylor: 1:32:50, pace 9:17, AGP 71.87%
In addition to the PRs mentioned above (Abe, JÊrôme, Sebastian, Stephanie, Geneviève, Neil, Melida, Jeanhie), we have also spotted the PRs set by Codjo Ahouandjinou (10:11 PR), Ley Alejaldre Biel (6:05 PR), Jen Salant (12:40 PR), and Vivian Duran-Moy (14:51 PR).
Any more PR's? Please let us know!
The teamâs full results can be found at: https://results.nyrr.org/event/23BX10M/teams/NYF
Finally, this race counts also for the 2023 Flyers awards. As always, David Gainesâs points tracker is available online: https://nyflyers.org/2023-flyers-age-group-results/
Well done, Flyers!
-Francesco P, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter, #NYRRStaff