The Percy Sutton Harlem 5K is one of those races where we’re better off not looking at the elevation profile, because those two bumps in the middle of the race look VERY scary. Whoever has done this race before doesn’t need to be reminded that this is possibly the hilliest race on the NYRR calendar. Which brings me to one of my favorite things of this race: asking runners to rank the two hills on the course. Which one is the worse of the two? Most people say #2 – that terrifying two-block steep climb before runners make a left turn and enter the City College campus. A few people I spoke to are more intimidated by the gentler, longer uphill stretch in the first part of the course. During my survey today, I’ve discovered a new interesting perspective.
“The worst hill of all is actually the third hill that comes after Citi College”, Fréderic Véron told me after the race. Oh yes, apparently there’s a third hill. Fréderic knows a thing or two about this race, which he has run a couple of times before. “Because when you reach that point in the race,” he explained, “you don’t expect yet another hill!”
There you go: that is the killer hill of the race. Over to you, Flyers: which is the worst hill of this race?
Granted, we runners like being challenged. And we love running this race despite the hills. Who would want to miss a race in one of New York’s most beautiful, vibrant and colorful neighborhoods after all? Where else could we hear a solo brass rendition of the national anthem before the start? Not surprisingly, as many as 44 Flyers were among the 5,200 runners who made the trip to Harlem today for this race, which happens to be the 6th race in the 2025 NYRR Club Points Series.
6 Flyers made the podium of their age groups today: Lisa Schwartz, Christy Putnam, Delton Mace and Fran Breslauer brought home the gold; and Florence Clarke and Barbara Paer won bronze. [UPDATED on August 12 and on 16, 2025]. All the women teams (Open B, 40+, 50+, 60+ and 70+), and two of the men’s age-division teams (60+ and 70+) were on the podium too. Remarkably, halfway through the club points series, the 60+ Men Team has a comfortable lead in the club standings: will our 60+ men win again the season like last year? Regardless, all our teams – in all age divisions – are so impressive! Who ever said the Flyers are not a competitive running club?
Axel Anderegg-Durwood led the team, after his outstanding performance at the Team Champs 5M two weeks ago. Axel finished in 19:30 (pace 6:17). Luís Gonzalez and Frédéric Véron were tied for second place. They both finished in 20:07 (pace 6:29). Frédéric finished 8th in his age group, scored an AGP of 78.08%, and was also first in the Flyers 40+ and 50+ Men Teams. Our top 3 runners, Axel, Luís and Frédéric, all set a PR today, despite the extremely challenging course! Francesco Presutti was fourth for the team with a time of 20:38 (pace 6:39, 8th AG place, AGP 80.19%). Yours truly was also first in the Flyers 60+ Men Team, and second in the Flyers 40+ and 50+ Men Teams. Clément Bernard came in fifth in 20:47 (pace 6:42, 9th AG place, AGP 80.32%). Clément was also second in the Flyers 60+ Men Team, and third in the Flyers 40+ and 50+ Men Teams. The Open Men Team came in 25th (and 8th among the Open B teams), and is 8th in the Open Men B standings.
Also in the men’s team, Delton Mace won his age group with a time of 29:17 (pace 9:26, AGP 83.49%), and was third in the Flyers 70+ Men Team, and Jim Timko was initially declared third in his age group with a time of 23:30 (pace 7:34, AGP 73.03%), but his ranking was subsequently changed to fourth after the reinstatement of the winner of his age group, who had been previously omitted because of a technical glitch [UPDATED on August 12, 2025]. Jim was third in the Flyers 60+ Men Team.
The women’s top runner was Lisa Schwartz, who finished with a time of 21:08 (6:49) and won her age group. Lisa is on a roll! Her AGP was an awe-inspiring 86.19%. Lisa was also first in the Flyers 40+ and 50+ Women Teams. Katie Wilson-Milne finished second for the team in 21:12 (pace 6:50, 4th AG place, AGP 74.55%). Katie was also second in the Flyers 40+ Women Team. Florence Clarke came in third for the team with a time of 23:41 (pace 7:38). Florence won again her age group’s third-place award, just like in the Team Champs 5M, and scored an AGP of 82.88%. Florence was also first in the Flyers 60+ Women Team, second in the 50+ Women Team and third in the Flyers 40+ Women Team. Lisa Konorty was the fourth runner on the women’s team. She finished in 24:35 (pace 7:55, AGP 80.92%). Lisa was also second in the Flyers 60+ Women Team, and third in the Flyers 50+ Women Team. Denise Iannizzotto took the fifth place with a time of 25:16 (pace 8:08, 8th AG place, AGP 78.73%). She was also third in the Flyers 60+ Women Team. The Open Women Team came 6th (and first among the Open B teams!), and is still 3th in the Open B club standings. As a reminder, at the end of the year, the top two teams in the Open B divisions will move up to the Open A division.
Also in the women’s team, Christy Putnam and our legendary Fran Breslauer won their age groups. Christy (29:16, pace 9:26, AGP 78.17%) was first in the Flyers 70+ Women Team and Fran (34:44, pace 1111, AGP 83.49%) was second. Barbara Paer won the third-place award in her age group (32:44, pace 10:33). Christy and Barbara's ranking improved following a correction by NYRR of the official results [UPDATED on August 16, 2025].
Moving on to our teams, congrats to the six age-division teams (including all the women’s teams) that won an award:
• The 60+ Women Team, including Florence, Lisa Konorty and Denise, won gold again and is still second in the club standings (but would jump to first place if the current lowest two scores for each club are dropped, as per the rules).
• The 40+ Women Team, including Lisa Schwartz, Katie and Florence, won silver and has now moved up to 3rd place in the club standings
• The 60+ Men Team, including Francesco, Clément and Jim, also won silver again, and is still ahead in the club standings, now again with a comfortable lead.
• The 70+ Women Team, including Christy, Barbara and Fran won silver, and is still second in the club standings.
• The 50+ Women Team, including Lisa Schwartz, Florence and Lisa Konorty, won the third-place award and is still third in the club standings.
• The 70+ Men Team, including Stephen Moore (26:42, pace 8:36, 6th AG place), Stephen Frith (28:13, pace 9:05, 9th AG place), and Delton, also won the third-place award and is still third in the club standings.
The other two age-division teams did well too: the 50+ Men Team, including Frédéric, Francesco and Clément, finished 6th and is still in 8th place in the club standings; and the 40+ Men Team, including the same trio of Flyers, finished 19th and is still tied for 14th place in the club standings.
Kudos also to the other 4 Flyers, in addition to those mentioned above, who finished in the top 10 places of their age groups and/or scored an AGP of 70% or above. They are:
• Kent Blocher: 23:52, pace 7:41, 5th AG place, AGP 71.89%
• Deb Saat: 28:09, pace 9:04, 7th AG place, AGP 75.59%
• Howard Tanz: 35:39, pace 11:29, 6th AG place
• Karen Kenney: 53:30, pace 17:14, 9th AG place
The team’s full results can be found here:
https://results.nyrr.org/event/25HARLEM/teams/NYF
As a reminder, this race counts also for the 2025 Flyers awards. The current member standings are on the Flyers’ website at Age Group Results
Well done, runners!
-Francesco Presutti, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter, #NYRRstaff
[NB: The information on the award winners in this report has been updated on August 12 and 16, 2025, following corrections by NYRR of the official results]