With the fall ????marathon season in full swing, a number of Flyers were out of town this weekend -whether in Chicago, Mohawk, Hartford or elsewhere. For those who stayed local, the NYRR calendar had in store one of its crown jewels: The Staten Island Half, finally back after a three-year hiatus. The 63 Flyers who took the ferry???? to Staten Island were treated with chilly temperatures and a bright sunny sky. What a contrast with the nasty weather that got all running events canceled last weekend! The Staten Island Half is considered like a dress rehearsal for the big run on November 6. Could we please have the same weather conditions in 4 weeks?????
Our runners were not easily discouraged by the two hills on the course (remember that killer hill that takes runners under the Verrazzano Bridge?). In fact, we have plenty of reasons to celebrate today's run: many Flyers set PRs; many more guaranteed their entry to the NYC Half through the 4 out of 6 program; and - last but not least - 2 Individual Flyers and 3 teams won awards! (Incidentally, as a reminder, when you set a PR, we would like to hear it from you right after the race: please notify promptly one of the Blogkeepers: Dave at runnersarefunner@yahoo.com or Melissa at melissaslobin@icloud.com, so that we can include your PR in the race report and celebrate it with you!) ????
Abe Lee led the Flyers team with a blistering 1:23:46 (pace 6:24) and was 9th in his age group, with an AGP of 74.86%. This is a huge (8:21) PR for Abe, and he was understandably very happy. I talked to him over his run. "I ran Staten Island three times in the past few years," Abe said, "slower than I would have liked. Then I started training with the Flyers last year, and today I ran several minutes faster than ever before. Seems like joining this group of fun, dedicated and fast people was probably the right decision!" Jeffrey Tente came second with 1:24:25 (pace 6:27). Deniz Saat finished third with 1:27:57 (pace 6:43). Both Jeffrey and Deniz set PRs too! Delton Mace won a second-place age-group award with a time of 2:09:35 (pace 9:54).
Nicole Theodore led the women's team with an impressive 1:34:39 (pace 7:14), followed by Kristel McKanna(1:41:59, pace 7:47, AGP 71.52%), and Bethany Shaw (1:46:54, pace 8:10). Deb Saat won a third-place age-group award with a time of 1:56:55 (pace 8:56, AGP 75.58%) and set a PR too. What a day for the Saat: Mother-and-Son Team!
Congrats to our top runners and to the 2 award winners!
This was also the 9th club points race on the NYRR calendar, and 3 teams made it to the podium:
- The 60+ Women Team came first, thanks to the strong performance of Deb, Diane Klein(2:04:30, pace 9:30), and Mindy Statter (2:05:26, pace 9:35, AGP 70.45). The team is third in the club standings, way ahead of the fourth club, and 15 points behind the second club. With only 2 more club points races to go, the team is now certain to close the season on the podium.
- The 60+ Men Team, came third, thanks to the results of Jérôme Berard (1:34:48, pace 7:14, 5thAG,AGP 75.63%), Colm Banfield (1:47:41, pace 8:13), and Ken Auslander (1:58:23, pace 9:02). The team moved down from second to third in the club standings, but is way ahead of the fourth club, and only 1 point below the second club. Like for the women team, the team are a lock for the podium, but they are also still hopefuls for a second place. Let's see what happens in the next 2 more club points races!
- The 70+ Men Team, came first, thanks to the results of Delton, Ricky Lam (2:09:58, pace 9:55), and Felix Alicea (2:31:32 , pace 11:34). The team moved up from seventh to fifth place, but they are still. a good 26 points below the third club and the podium.
Congrats to all three teams!
As a reminder, the 70+ Women Team, who did not score any point this time around, still ranks third in the club standings, with two teams only one point below them.
Kudos also to one additional runner who scored an AGP of 70% or above, i.e. Tim Decker (1:31:21, pace 6:54, AGP 75.05%),
Kudos also to the additional runners who finished among the top ten of their age groups or scored an AGP of 70% or above: Tim Decker (1:31:21, pace 6:54, AGP 75.05%),Jérôme Berard (1:34:48, pace 7:14, 5th AG, AGP 75.63%) and Mindy Statter (2:05:26, pace 9:35, AGP 70.45%), and to all the Flyers who set a PR (in addition to those mentioned above, Kristin Siegle and many more)!
Rachel Duncan, deserves special mention, as she took up again the task of singing the national anthem right before the start of the race, this time in front of a crowd of 5,484 runners. Needless to say, her performance was superlative. ????
The team’s full results can be found here: https://results.nyrr.org/event/22SIHALF/teams/NYF
Well done, all Flyers! You are awesome!
-Francesco P, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter