There are at least two things that made this morning’s Queens 10K unique. The low temperatures at the start were unprecedented for this race since it was moved from April to June – and turned from a half-marathon into a 10K in the process. And then there was the moment when Flyer Nancy Batterman started singing 🎶the national anthem and runners in the corrals went quiet like magic, enthralled and energized by her beautiful voice. This is her second singing of the national anthem before a NYRR race, and once again she made us all very proud!
With 11,340 finishers, today’s race is one of the largest on the NYRR calendar. It is the fourth club points race of the season, and it doubles up as the fourth Flyers points race. The course in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park is flat but is notorious for its many sharp turns. Among the 89 Flyers who showed up and completed it, we are proud to celebrate 5 awards: 3 individual awards (Francesco Presutti, Mindy Statter and Deb Saat), and 2 team awards (both the 60+ Women and Men Teams). More details below!
As always, please tell us if you set a PR in todays’ race so we can celebrate your PR with you! 🎉🎉🎉
And here are the results:
🏆🏆Two runners were tied for first place in the team: both Zac Charlton and Francesco Presutti finished in 39:53 (6:26). Yours truly won his age group, scored an AGP of 83.11% and broke the previous Flyers Hall of Fame record of 40:41 for the distance for the 60+ runners that he had set on this same course last year.
This duo was followed by Codjo Ahouandjinou who finished third for the team in 40:32 (pace 6:32, and a big 1:27 PR!);
Tim Decker who did 41:26 (pace 6:41, AGP 75%); and Edvard Major, who ran in 41:34 (pace 6:42);
Thanks to our fastest 5 runners, the Open Men B Team came 5th among the Open B teams (25th overall) and is now 5th in the club standings, up from 6th.
Denise Iannizzotto, for her part, led the women’s team with a time of 46:41 (pace 7:31, 4th place, AGP 83.01%). Denise is a first-class runner, and a very modest one too for that matter.
“I still can’t believe I am a runner,” she told me after her run today. “My first running encounter was at 38 years old. I never thought I would be a successful runner. I did work hard to achieve goals such as Boston qualifying. I never had any intentions of running until a friend said: ‘Are you crazy?’ I ran my first Boston in 2008 and have continued each year.”
In case you missed it, Denise ran a spectacular Mini 10K last weekend and was out again this morning to run in Queens.
“It was a great day,” she said, before adding: “I left my house at 5 to be there. I am not a morning person!” Even if she was slower than in the Mini 10K, Denise is happy. “The pressure to perform well is never easy for me,” she said. “The course is challenging because there are lots of turns to navigate and the runners are very close all during the race.”
Denise is a long-time Flyer.
“Being a Flyer has helped me in many ways,” she said. “The team support is really what motivates me the most. MTP has helped me with the competitive part of racing. I much prefer to run with friends and talk. My proudest moment was crossing the finish line with my daughter at the NYC Marathon. It was an incredible experience to help her achieve her goal. I hope this has helped. I would also like to add that I LOVE BEING A FLYER!!!!”
Melida Barbosa came second in the women’s team with a time of 48:27 (pace 7:48, AGP 79.32%);
Jillian Hobson was third for the team with 49:11 (pace 7:55, a big 0:57 PR!);
Yumi Morishige came fourth with 49:33 (pace 7:59, AGP 74.43%); and Genevieve Boutin was fifth with 49:39 (pace 8:00).
The Open Women A Team placed 25th and is now 11th in the club standings.
Congrats to the two award winners in the women’s team: Mindy Statter won her age group in 53:36 (pace 8:38, AGP 77.22%), and Deb Saat won the second-place award in the same age group with a time of 53:46 (pace 8:40, AGP 76.98%, and a 4-second PR!).
Two teams won an award today:
The 60+ Men Team, including Francesco, John Whitefield (41:52, pace 6:45, AGP 79.92%) and Dave Kleckner (46.34, pace 7:30, AGP 70.53%), came second and is still second in the club standings.
The 60+ Women Team, including Denise, Lisa Konorty (51:35, pace 8:19, AGP 75.13%) and Mindy won the third place, and is now tied for first place.
Congrats to both teams! 👏👏
Kudos also to the following teams:
The 40+ Men Team, including Francesco, Codjo and Tim, placed 17th, scored one point and is still tied for 9th in the club standings.
The 40+ Women Team, including Denise, Melida and Yumi finished 15th and is now tied for 11th in the club standings, down from 10th.
The 50+ Men Team, including Francesco, Tim and John came 8th and is now 8th in the club standings, down from 6th.
The 50+ Women Team, including Denise, Yumi and Lisa, came 7th and moved to 6th place in the club standings, down from 4th.
The 70+ Men Team, including Ricky Lam (56:34, pace 9:07), Stephen Moore (57:31, pace 9:16) and Delton Mace (59:49, pace 9:38, 8th AG place), came 5th and is now 5th in the club standings (the team was previously tied for 4th).
The 70+ Women Team, represented by Mindy Adler (1:30:38, pace 14:36) and Karen Kenney (1:42:01, pace 16:25), 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 two Flyers, in addition to those mentioned above, who scored an AGP of 70% or above: 👏👏
Sebastian Lieng: 42:23, pace 6:50, AGP 71.55%
Nina Zoe Parks-Taylor: 55:41, pace 8:58, AGP 73.32%
The team’s full results can be found https://results.nyrr.org/event/23QUEENS/teams/NYF.
As mentioned above, this race counts also for the 2023 Flyers awards 🥇🥈🥉 We will no longer attach an updated member standings. A point tracking spreadsheet will soon be available on the Flyers’ website.
Well done, Flyers!
-Francesco P, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter, #NYRRStaff