Brooklyn was the place to be this Saturday morning! 146 Flyers ran on the iconic tour through the Borough of Kings, from Prospect Park to the Coney Island Boardwalk (⚠️although I am told that 32 of those who ran under Flyers’ colors today have not yet renewed their membership. Please renew as soon as possible).
146 is more than in any half marathon since the 2019 Brooklyn Half. 25,389 runners finished the race. Many Flyers did not see a drop of rain during the run, as the weather held up until past 9am. Others were unfortunately still on the road when it started pouring down. But I have no doubt it was a blast for all! Congratulations to the entire team!
We are celebrating many PRs 🎉(we spotted 13 so far) and 6 awards 🏆today! Our team won two individual awards (Denise Iannizzotto and Francesco Presutti), and four team awards (the 60+ and 50+ Women Teams and the 70+ and 60+ Men Teams). Details below. Special congrats to all runners who set a PR and to the award winners!
Of course, the party would not be the same without the generous support of our non-running teammates, amongst them our legendary 🌟Richard Brounstein 📸, who was stationed once again at mile 12.5 together with Kristel McKanna, and captured photos of countless Flyers in their final mile; our cheering station, composed of Wendy Mitchell, Stuart Lieblich and Kin Ng, who for his part also took beautiful pictures of his fellow teammates; and Speed Pass lead coach Amy Sitar🏃♀️, who cheered on Flyers from mile 12. Thanks go also to Brad Goz, a finisher himself, who took countless photos of his fellow teammates before and after the run, including at the post-race meetup at Ruby's!
Many of us know Richard. He has been a Flyer for 26 years. Since he stopped running races (though he was quick to point out to me that he “may come back… give me time!”), he has been covering this race as the Flyers’ photographer for many years. I asked him about his attachment to the race and what brings him back in his new role year after year.
The Brooklyn Half has always been a favorite half marathon for Richard.
“I ran the Brooklyn Half Marathon for the first time back in 1998,” he told me. “I got my PR of 1:35 in 1998! Back then, we started on Coney Island and finished in Prospect Park. I’m glad we finish in Coney Island now. Coney Island is a nice place to hang out after a race. After I photograph the runners, we can all get together on the boardwalk. On nicer (non-rainy) days, Flyers sometimes would go to the beach and jump in the water at least up to their feet (the water is cold). Hey, you’re already dirty and sweaty so you should enjoy yourself.”
Richard loves coming out to cheer and photograph Flyers.
“Being out there taking pictures means I can still be a part of it,” he said. “I love that I have a great camera with an awesome telephoto lens that lets me take amazing photos given that I really don’t know much about photography. I know how to go to B&H Photo and ask them what I need to take great pictures of runners in a crowd when I will get less than a second of line-of-sight.”
I asked Richard to share with us his unique perspective of watching up close all the Flyers parade in front of him.
“By mile 12,” he replied, “runners are often tired and sweaty, and some don’t have the will or energy to smile and wave no matter how much you encourage them. Some Flyers love the camera, look for it and pose like crazy (you know who you are). Some won’t look up no matter how much you scream their name or “Go Flyers”. This year, it was rainy after a few hours. Those in wave #2 looked a bit water-logged by mile 12. Some runners remained happy. Others, not so much. Hey, the weather was nice and cool, right!”
And here are some of the team’s most impressive results:
On the men's side:
🥇New Flyer Albert Pedemonte led the team with a mind-blowing time of 1:18:26 (pace 5:59). He finished 6th in his age group and scored an AGP% of 80.63%. This is also a PR for Albert!
The team’s runner-up was Abe Lee, who finished with an incredible time 1:23:59 (pace 6:25, AGP 74.67%).
This fast duo was followed by Francesco Presutti, who finished third for the team in 1:27:00 (pace 6:39, 2nd AG place, AGP 83.2%) and broke the previous 🌟Flyers Hall of Fame record🌟of 1:28:44 for the half-marathon distance for the 60+ runners, which he himself had set in the Fred Lebow Half Marathon on January 22, 2023.
Codjo Ahouandjinou, who did 1:28:49 (pace 6:47, and a massive 5:22 PR!) and Zac Charlton who finished in 128:51 (pace 6:47).
Thanks to the points earned by our fastest 5 runners, the Open Men B Team came 7th and are now tied for 6th place in the club standings, down from 5th place.
On the women's side:
Marcy Withington led the women’s team with a time of 1:35:04 (pace 7:16, 6th place, AGP 80.48%). Marcy ‘s spectacular result marked her return to NYRR racing after an absence of over a year.
Silke Eiserbeck, also in her first 2022 NYRR race, came second in the team with a fiercely fast time of 1:37:38 (pace 7:27, AGP 79.32%).
Stephanie Tang was third for the team with 1:38:29 (pace 7:31, a big 0:57 PR!).
Laura Sackler came fourth with a PR of 1:39:46 (pace 7:37, AGP 73.11%) and Denise Iannizzotto was fifth with 1:40:18 (pace 7:39, 2nd AG place, AGP 83.4%). The Open Women A Team scored one point and is now tied for 11th place in the club standings.
We are happy to honor the many Flyers who set a Half Marathon PR 🥳 in today's race. Below are those we are aware of, in addition to Albert, Codjo Stephanie and Laura as mentioned above
- Ley Alejaldre Biel: 1:46:15 (2:37 PR)
- Chris Moy: 1:56:14 (2:05 PR)
- Carla Miragliotta 1:58:01 (0:04 PR)
- Jennifer Salant: 2:03:19 (3:08 PR)
- Kristin Siegle: 2:04:13 (1:28 PR)
- Rebecca Gotlieb (new flyer, not currently listed on NYRR) 2:04:50 (5.30 PR)
- Amber Briggs (in transition from another club): 2:05:19 (1:40 PR)
- Lis Shlansky: 2:09:42 (0:46 PR)
- Vivian Moy: 2:24 (12:19 PR)
Please raise your hand if you set a PR and we missed you! ✋🏼✋🏾
Four teams won an award today:
• The 60+ Women Team, including Denise, Lisa Konorty (1:55:20, pace 8:48, AGP 72:53%) and Deb Saat (1:58:27, pace 9:03, 6th AG place, AGP 75.67%), won first place, and now leads the club standings, up from third place. 🏆
• The 50+ Women Team, including Marcy, Silke and Denise, came second and moved to fourth place in the club standings, up from seventh.
• The 70+ Men Team including Delton Mace (2:21:25, pace 10:48, 9th AG place), Ricky Lam (2:24:40, pace 11:03) and Sidney Stein (2:29:42, pace 11:26), came second and is now tied for fourth in the club standings (the team was previously tied for first).
• The 60+ Men Team, including Francesco, Dave Kleckner (1:40:36, pace 7:41, AGP 71:27) and Neil Tipograph (1:45:59, pace 8:06, AGP 71.75%), came third and moved down to second in the club standings (the team was previously tied for first).
Congrats to all teams! 🎉
Kudos also to the following teams:
• The 40+ Women Team, including Stephanie, Laura and Sheila Barrett (1:41:01, pace 7:43, AGP 69.92%), finished 8th and is still tied for 10th in the club standings.
• The 50+ Men Team, including Francesco, James Dunham (1:29:28, pace 6:50, AGP 74.44%), and Tim Decker 1:35:02, pace 7:15, AGP 71.35%), scored one point and is still 6th in the club standings.
• The 40+ Men Team, including Albert, Abe and Francesco scored one point and is now tied for 9th in the club standings.
• The 70+ Women Team, represented by Anky Lam (2:31:29, pace 11:34), did not have a minimum of three runners and did not score points, but is still 3rd in the club standings.
And finally, as always, kudos to the other Flyers, in addition to those mentioned above, who scored an AGP of 70% or above:
• Vincenzo Pascale: 1:41:16, pace 7:44, AGP 70.13%
• Hiromi Nobata: 1:45:23, pace 8:03, AGP 77.31%
• Yumi Morishige: 1:47:56, pace 8:14, AGP 72.66%
• Jeanhie Han: 1:48:20, pace 8:16, AGP 71.49%
• Jennifer Coyne: 1:48:22, pace 8:16, AGP 73.28%
• Mindy Statter: 2:02:20, pace 9:20, AGP 73.27%
• Nina Zoe Parks-Taylor: 2:04:48, pace 9:32, AGP 70.8%
The team’s full results can be found here: https://results.nyrr.org/event/23BKH/teams/NYF
Finally, this race counts also for the 2023 Flyers awards.🏆
You will find attached the current member standings after today’s race, as prepared by David Gaines. Please note that this point tracking spreadsheet is only a draft, it is provisional and will be reviewed and possibly adjusted by the Awards Committee (including as regards the situation of those who have not yet renewed their memberships).
Well done, Flyers!
-Francesco P, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter, #NYRR Staff