Excitement was in the air on Fifth Avenue this morning. 47 Flyers showed up to run the iconic Fifth Avenue Mile race, which typically draws runners from far and wide, making it one of the most competitive races of the season.
The mile is a tough distance. Who remembers Pat Duffy's racing strategy tip #1 in his 2013 blog piece? "This is not a sprint. Do not get suckered in to going out too fast (as many will)". Did anyone go out too fast this morning? Comments are welcome!
In the run-up to today's race, a question was running through my head: which one is tougher between the Fifth Avenue Mile, and the "other" notorious mile on Fifth Avenue most of us know from running the NYC Marathon? I'm thinking about the 20-block uphill stretch running from 110th Street to 90th Street, the point in the marathon when the course hits mile 23. Neil Tipograph had the answer for me. For him, it's a no-brainer: "for most of us that mile stretch in the marathon is the nail in the coffin," he told me after the run. In fact, Neil was very happy about his run today. He came just 4 seconds short of his lifetime PR on the mile (for those who don't know him, Neil is 65!).
Needless to mention, today we all did great, and the 60+ Women Team won a third-place award. Congrats to them!
Here are the actual results, and their impact on our teams' rankings in the club standings (today's race was indeed the 7th club points race in the NYRR season): The Open Men B Team finished 6th and kept its 5th position in the club standings. Abe Lee led the team with a blistering 5:03 (that's an AGP of 80.3%). The next 4 runners in the team finished all within 4 seconds: Tim Decker (5:35, AGP 78%), Brad Loe (5:36, AGP 72.99%), Francesco Presutti (also 5:36, 6th AG, AGP 81,57%) and Marc Bochner (5:39, 79.03%).
Francesco's result broke the 5:44 Flyers Hall of Fame record for the mile distance, set by John Whitfield as recently as August 7 in the Brooklyn Mile (see https://nyflyers.org/hall-of-fame/). The previous record of 5:50, set by Gary Smeal in the Fifth Avenue Mile on September 24, 2011, lasted almost 11 years!
The Open Women A Team finished 10th and moved from 11th to 12th position. Nicole Theodore led the team with a result of 6:17, followed, just one second behind, by Denise Iannizzotto (6:18, and a sky-high AGP of 82.59%), Kristel McKanna (6:23, AGP 72.73%), Leyre Alejaldre Biel (6:52) and Lisa Konorty (7:02, AGP 73.97%).
The 50+ Men Team (Tim, Francesco and Marc) finished 6th and moved from 5th to 6th position in the club standings.
The 50+ Women Team (Denise, Lisa and Dana Coleman, 7:22) finished 7th and moved from 4th to 5th position.
The 60+ Men Team (Francesco, Neil, 6:23 and AGP of 74.76%, and Delton Mace, 7:54, 6th AG) finished 8th and moved from 2nd to 3rd position.
The 60+ Women Team (Nina-Zoe Parks-Taylor, 7:32, AGP of 72.67%, Elaine Rosen, 7:43, AGP of 71.79% and Julie Cook, 8:05) finished 3rd and kept their 3rd position.
Kudos also to the 40+ Men Team (Abe, Tim and Brad) and 40+ Women Team (Denise, Kristel and Leyre), who scored one point, and to the 70+ Men Team (Delton and Felix Alicea, 8:28) and 70+ Women Team (Hindy Schachter, 12:37, 5th AG, and Karen Kenney, 14:10), who scored no points today - but mind you, the latter keeps its 2nd position in the club standings!
Congrats also to the following runners who scored an AGP of 70% or above: Gare Kane (5:50, AGP 72.75%), Vincenzo Pascale (5:51, AGP 76.88%), Sebastien Lieng (5:51, AGP of 71.91%).
The team’s full results can be found here: https://results.nyrr.org/event/22FAM/teams/NYF
Well done, Flyers!
-Francesco P, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter