The best day of the year is behind us and aren’t we already dreaming of next year’s marathon? There’s nothing like this day, when the world’s greatest city fills with the world’s greatest runners and the loudest and most festive crowds. It was a beautiful, marathon-perfect sunny day. This was also a marathon of records: the number of finishers set a new world record, 59,232; Obiri broke the women’s course record; Kipruto won the men’s title with the closest men’s finish on record; and Hug extended his record number of men’s wheelchair division wins to seven.
On this day of glory and celebration, we are especially proud of our team: never since 2003 did the Flyers have as many as 180 finishers. Some of us were first-time marathoners, teammates like Gwen Park, Sarman Qadri, Adriana McCrindle, Stephen Lim and Kerry Miskovits. A good many of us are long-time participants and among them Francine Alfandary and Kristel McKanna joined the very exclusive “Streakers and 15+” club. A few us ran the marathon as part of a contingent of Abbott Age Group World Championships marathoners (Kelly Willis, Deike Peters, Jeff Gerbert, as well as yours truly). Also, we must pay tribute to a group of veteran runners who set a PR in what is considered one of the toughest marathon courses: runners like Albert Pedemont (1:29), Jeff Gurwin (0:28), Jeff Gerbert (3:14), Emiko Fukagawa (3:46), Yumi Morishige (0:18), David Horvilleur (0:48) and Peter Niemi (3:50). Last but not least, the 60+ Women Team won silver in this uber competitive race. The team is so proud of all of you. Congratulations, Flyers!
Like in the 2023 and 2024 marathons, our team was led by Albert Pedemont, who finished the run in the astounding time of 2:35:43 (a 5:57 pace), set a marathon PR, and scored an AGP percentage of 87.3%. Albert was first also in the Flyers 40+ Men Team. Another Flyer with superhuman powers, Joe Kelly, took the team’s second place. Joe finished with a time of 3:07:16 (7:09). Joe was second also in the Flyers 40+ Men Team, and he was first in the Flyers 50+ and 60+ Men Teams. A mere handful of seconds behind Joe, Jeff Gurwin finished third for the team: his time was 3:07:29 (7:10), and he set a marathon PR. Jeff was third also in the Flyers 40+ Men Team.
The NYC Marathon is the 10th club points race of the season. It is the only race of the series for which the open division team consists of only the top three runners. Our Open Men Team came in 59th and is still 9th in the Open Men B standings.
The women’s top runner was Marcy Withington, who finished in the spectacular time of 3:23:08 (7:45) and scored an AGP of 79.3%. Marcy was first also in the Flyers 40+ and 50+ Women Teams. Aya Leitz took second place for the team with a superfast time of 3:24:28 (7:48), and scored an AGP of 72.27%. Aya was second also in the Flyers 40+ Women Team. Kelly Willis came third for the team with the incredible time of 3:25:22 (7:50) and scored an AGP of 80.55%. Kelly was third also in the Flyers 40+ Women Team, and she was second in the 50+ Women Team.
The Open Women Team’s ranking is yet to be finalized.
I talked to Aya about the race.
“I was hoping for a bit more since my training had been going well,” she told me, “but given that I was still recovering from a sub-3:20 marathon just three weeks ago, I’ll take it! My NYCM PR is 3:09, so I may go after it again next year!” Aya joined the Flyers only in September, and this is the second NYRR race she is running under our flag. “I ran with a track club in NJ for years while racing in the USATF-NJ Grand Prix,” she said. “But now that I mostly race NYRR events and train in Central Park after work, I wanted to find a club in NYC. Yumi [Morishige] invited me to a Flyers group run, and I’m so glad I joined! I’m excited for what’s ahead. I love group runs! Whether it’s an easy pace, tempo, or intervals, it’s always more fun with a group. I’m looking forward to running with more Flyers soon!”
Moving on to our team performance, one age-division team was on the podium: the amazing 60+ Women Team won silver! The team was led by Susan Miller (3:42:08, pace 8:29, AGP 81.04%), and included Kim Hooper-Stanley (3:53:03, pace 8:53, AGP 76.2%, course PR!), and Florence Clarke (3:42:08, pace 8:54, AGP 75.03%). The team is now first in the club standings, but would fall 6 points behind its main competitors, if the current lowest two scores for each club are dropped, as per the rules). The next and final club points race will determine the winner of this division!
The other age-division teams had a good day too:
- The 70+ Men Team, led by Stephen Frith (5:10:52, pace 11:52), and including William Nealon (5:34:12, pace 12:45, AGP 75.93%), and Delton Mace (5:46:05, pace 13:12), came in 4th and has now moved up to second place in the club standings, but with only one club points race remaining on the calendar a season win is out of reach.
- The 60+ Men Team, including Joe, Francesco Presutti (3:25:03, pace 7:50, AGP 75.93%), and Clay Bracken (3:36:20, pace 8:16, AGP 71.23%), came in 5th, and is still first in the club standings (but would fall 6 points behind its main competitors, if the current lowest two scores for each club are dropped, as per the rules; the next and final club points race will determine the winner of this division!);
- The 50+ Women Team, including Marcy, Kelly and Deike Peters (3:25:36, pace 7:51, AGP 77.35%), finished 5th and is still 4th in the club standings;
- The 50+ Men Team, including Joe, Jeff Gerbert (3:14:09, pace 7:25, AGP 77%, PR!) and Adam Pritchard 3:21:44, pace 7:42, AGP 71.26%), finished 18th and is still in 9th place in the club standings;
- The 40+ Men Team, Albert, Joe and Jeff Gurwitz, finished 25th and is now tied for 15th place in the club standings.
- We only had two 70+ Women, Christy Putnam (5:41:01, pace 13:01) and Barbara Paer (6:38:08, pace 15:12), which is not enough to make a team. The 70+ Women Team is still second in the club standings, but with only one club points race remaining on the calendar the first place is out of reach.
- The ranking of the 40+ Women Team, including Marcy, Aya and Kelly, is yet to be finalized.
Congrats to all the teams!
Kudos also to the other Flyers, in addition to those mentioned above, who scored an AGP of 70% or above. They are:
• Emiko Fukagawa, 3:26:13, pace 7:52, AGP 71.65%, PR!
• Kristel McKanna, 3:33:35, pace 8:09, AGP 71.92%
• Yumi Morishige, 3:38:41, pace 8:21, AGP 75.65%, PR!
• Amanda Schachter: 3:39:34, pace 8:23, AGP 71.56%
• Ayumi Arafune: 3:46:57, pace 8:40, AGP 70.08%
• Kevin Lanning: 3:54:02, pace 8:56, AGP 70.95%
• Denise Iannizzotto: 4:10:51, pace 9:35, AGP 70.72%
The team’s full results can be found here: https://results.nyrr.org/event/M2025/teams/NYF
As a reminder, this race counts also for the 2025 Flyers awards. The current member standings are on the Flyers’ website at
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OFcDL6zzOBXu2Kqs64Ru96-AlFkmzffI/edit
Well done, runners!
-Francesco Presutti, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter, #NYRRstaff
photo source: NY Road Runners