With all eyes on the big race tomorrow, it is all too easy to neglect the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K - and it would be such a huge mistake! It is not by chance that the race is part of the TCS New York City Marathon weekend festivities. It draws scores of international runners and visitors, who are in the city for the big race. 40 Flyers were among them, and - believe it or not - a few of them will run again tomorrow!
This run's special appeal comes from its unique course: how many races start in front of the United Nations and take runners to the marathon finish line in Central Park?
"It felt like the world came together and was united through this wonderful sport," Codjo Ahouandjinou told us after the race. Codjo finished second on the Flyers' team. "I will do it again next year," he added. Codjo, originally from Benin, West Africa joined the Flyers in 2020 during Covid. "I am so proud of being part of the Flyers!" he told us. "I was looking for a way to escape Covid isolation and a friend of mine, Toby Kovacs, suggested I come along with him and run with the Flyers. I had been running solo since my 20s in a very spotty way. The Flyers gave me the consistency I was looking for!"
This is only Codjo's third NYRR race, and it is his 5K PR (congrats!), for which he is grateful to the experienced runners in the team, who have been giving him advice and encouragement along the way. "Having done Cat Hill repeats with the 6am Tuesday group run helped a lot to feel good in my legs," he said. "I have never run a 5k that fast."
Tim Decker led the Flyers team with an incredibly fast 19:01 (pace 6:08) and was 7th in his age group, with an AGP of 80.17%. Codjo came second, as mentioned, with a time of 21:03 (pace 6:47). and Kazuhiro Shimbo finished third with 21:49 (pace 7:02).
Vanessa Koury led the women's team with a fast 24:26 (pace 7:52, AGP 72:38%), followed by Lisa Konorty (24:30, pace 7:53, AGP 74.8%), and Genevieve Boutin (25:19, pace 8:09).
Congrats to our top runners!
Kudos also to the other runners who scored an AGP of 70% or above, and/or finished in the top 10 of their age groups: Dave Kleckner(21:55, pace 7:04, AGP 72.54%), Brad Goz (24:29, pace 7:53, 9th AG, AGP 70.42%), Elaine Rosen (27:50, pace 8:58, AGP 70.04%), and Richard Garland (a.k.a. Papa Bear), running strong at 80 years young (1:11:43, pace 23:05, 6th AG)!
The team’s full results can be found here: https://results.nyrr.org/event/22DASH/teams/NYF
Well done, Flyers!
-Francesco P, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter, #NYRRstaff