What makes us proud to be Flyers? Could it be our great team spirit? Look at the amazing volunteers, led by Wendy Mitchell and Deb Saat, who came out in numbers to cheer the 58 Flyers in this morning’s race! But we are also a super fast team. Today, we were on the podium twice: our men's teams won both an individual and a team award (more below) in the 5th club points race of the season, which is probably the most competitive one of all - because today’s points count double. Yes, these are some of the reasons why we’re proud to be Flyers.
The Team Champs is indeed perfect for showcasing our team. Tim Decker, a long-time Flyer, knows a thing or two about today’s events. “The Club Team Championship and Flyer team picnic afterwards has always been such a popular tradition,” Tim told us. “It's the best opportunity to see the most Flyers in one place all summer.” Tim still remembers how the race was back in the mid-90s when he joined the team. “The race was smaller than it is nowadays,” he told us, “and there were far fewer teams and crews. One year (either '96 or '97), 1 out of every 11 runners in the race was a Flyer!”
In his third decade running this race under the Flyers’ colors, Tim is still doing great. In fact, he led the team in 31:43, finishing 10th in his age group, with a pace of 6:21, and an age-graded percentage of 77. 87%. John Whitfield came second in 32:22 (4th AG, 6:29, 81.87%). Deniz Saat came third for the team in 32:56 (6:36).
John also broke the Flyers' Hall of Fame record of 33:42 for the 5M distance, which he had just broken himself on May 29 of this year in Boston. See the list of records here: https://nyflyers.org/hall-of-fame/. John never ceases to amaze his teammates!
And now the awards:
- Delton Mace won his age group in 45:08 (9:02, 68.04%), and
- John led the 60+ men's team to a wonderful second place, with teammates Jerome Bernard (35:31, 73.93%) and Neil Tipograoh (38:07, 7:38, 72.15%).
Congrats to our amazing award winners!
It was a very good day for the women’ team too. Denise Iannizzotto led the team in 36:16 (5th AG, 7:16, and a super high AGP of 83.74%). Amanda Schachter came second for the team in 36:49 (7:22, 74.22%). Jeannie Hahn came third in 38:58 (7:48, 72:54%).
3 more Flyers finished in the top ten of their age groups: Steve Kasarsky (42:12, 6th AG), Jeanine Hartnett (55:45, 6th AG) and Hindy Schachter(1:18:16, 8th AG).
Kudos also to all the other fast runners who scored AGPs above 70%:
- Andreas Werder(39:36, 70.79%)
- Vanessa Koury (40:01, 73:18%)
- Hiromi Nobata (40:08, 73.83%)
- Brad Goz (40:15, 70.31%)
- Lisa Konorty (40:32, 74.93%)
- Deb Saat (45:48, 70.68%).
The team’s full results can be found here https://results.nyrr.org/event/22CHAMPS5M/teams/NYF
After today’s race, here’s where our teams are in the club standings:
- The 60+ men's team, the only one on the podium today, keeps its second place in the club standings.
- The 70+ women's team (no points today) moved down to second;
- The 60+ women's team came fourth and keeps its third position;
- The 50+ men's team came sixth and moved down to sixth;
- The open men B came sixth and keep their sixth position;
- The 70+ men’s team (no points today) moved down to sixth;
- The 40+ women's team (no points today) keeps its eleventh position;
- The open women A came tenth and moved down to eleventh;
- The 40+ men's team (no points today) moved down to twelfth position.
Well done, to all runners and teams!
-Francesco P, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter