There’s something wonderful about the Team Champs 5 Miler. It's athleticism meets comradeship. It’s considered the most competitive race of the New York season (let’s not forget that points are worth double for the 2025 NYRR Club Points Series), but it’s also a celebration of team spirit. And guess what: our team scored high in both categories.
You could spot the 107 Flyers, wearing our beautiful red, white and black singlets, who were among 5,163 finishers of this exciting race. More Flyers were in the park to partake in this event, either to cheer on their teammates, to capture their images in action (notably, our ubiquitous Richard Brounstein), to set up the post-run festivities, or just to join the club’s annual photo celebration. And talking about athleticism, we clearly outdid ourselves: four Flyers finished in the top three places of their age groups (Albert Pedemonte, Joe Kelly, Brad Goz and Florence Clarke; there are formally no awards in the Team Champs), and four age-division teams (the 60+ and 70+ Women Teams, as well as the 60+ and 70+ Men Teams) were on the podium. Not to be overlooked, several team members set a PR. Four of them are mentioned below.
Albert Pedemonte led the team with a result of 28:23 (pace 5:41), which raises the question: does Albert have superhuman powers? Albert was first in his age group and scored an AGP of 83.49% in the process. Albert was also first in the Flyers 40+ Men Team. Abe Lee, also an incredibly fast teammate, took the second place for the team. Abe finished in 30:18 (6:04), and his AGP was 77.58%. Abe was also second in the Flyers 40+ Men Team. Our fantastic Joe Kelly finished third for the team in 31:40 (pace 6:20), he was first in his age group and scored a sky-rocketing AGP of 86.86%. Joe was also first in the Flyers 50+ and 60+ Men Teams, and third in the Flyers 40+ Men Team. One second behind Joe (or 45 years behind him, depending on how you look at it), Hengzhi Zhu was fourth for the team with a time of 31:41 (pace 6:21). This was Hengzhi’s first race with our team: a big welcome to our new superfast runner. Axel Anderegg-Durwood came in fifth in 32:36 (pace 6:31). The following 5 Flyers also scored points for the open team: Stephen Hellner (32:59, pace 6:36, also fourth in the Flyers 40+ Men Team), Tim Decker (33:09, pace 6:38, AGP 76.47%, also second in the Flyers 50+ Men Team, and fifth in the Flyers 40+ Men Team), Clément Bernard (33:50, pace 6:46, 10th AG place, AGP 80.54%, also second in the Flyers 60+ Men Team, and third in the Flyers 50+ Men Team), Francesco Presutti (33:57, pace 6:48, AGP 79.52%, also third in the Flyers 60+ Men Team), and Luís Gonzalez (34:12, pace 6:51). The Open Men Team came in 24th (and 7th among the Open B teams), and is 8th in the Open Men B standings.
In other news regarding the men’s team, our legendary Brad Goz was second in his age group with a time of 40:08 (pace 8:02, AGP 72.81%). Brad was also first in the Flyers 70+ Men Team.
The women’s top runner was Deike Peters, who finished with a time of 35:36 (pace 7:08, 8th AG place, AGP 82.34%). This is Deike’s second race under our flag after she joined in May, and we’re happy to have her run in our team when she visits from the West Coast where she is based. Deike did an 18-mile trail run in the Palisades yesterday (“but slow”, she pointed out). We don’t want to know how much faster Deike would have been today without her slow trail run in the Palisades. Deike was also first in the Flyers 40+ and 50+ Women Teams. Lisa Schwartz finished second in 35:44 (pace 7:09, 9th AG place, AGP 82.02%). Lisa has been struggling with an injury, and this was the first race she was allowed to push since she got injured. “Considering the heat,” she told me after the race, “I think it wasn’t too far off what I might have raced if I didn’t have this issue.” We welcome the good news and her very powerful performance of today. Lisa was also second in the Flyers 40+ and 50+ Women Teams. Stephanie Tang came in third for the team with a time of 36:08 (pace 7:14, AGP 70.88%). Stephanie did a 1:38 PR! Congrats to her: Stephanie never disappoints! She was also third in the Flyers 40+ Women Team. Amanda Schachter was the fourth runner on the women’s team. She finished in 37:59 (pace 7:36, AGP 75.37%). Amanda was also third in the Flyers 50+ Women Team and fourth in the Flyers 40+ Women Team. Arlyn Apollo took the fifth place with a time of 38:18 (pace 7:40, AGP 74.77%). She was also fifth in the Flyers 40+ Women Team. The following 5 Flyers also scored points for the open team: Florence Clarke (38:27, pace 7:42, 3rd in her age group, with an amazing AGP of 82.14%!!! She was also first in the Flyers 60+ Women Team), Ayumi Arafune (40:00, pace 8:00, AGP 72.41%), Yumi Morishige (40:05, pace 8:01, AGP 75.84%), Denise Iannizzotto (40:10, pace 8:02, 7th AG place, AGP 79.64%, also second in the Flyers 60+ Women Team) and Lisa Konorty (41:47, pace 8:22, 9th AG place, AGP 76.55%, also third in the Flyers 60+ Women Team). The Open Women Team came 20th (and 4th among the Open B teams), and is 3th in the Open B club standings.
A beautiful thing about the Team Champs is that during the post-race festivities we get to talk to people we hardly ever run across in our running routine. We catch up with old friends and make new friends. Sometimes, we discover remarkable stories about our teammates. We are not New York’s most friendly running club for no reason after all. There are too many heroes and too many stories your blog race reporter could talk about in today’s report. As a notoriously unredeemable morning runner, I thought the post-race get-together was my chance to get to know three evening runners who all did remarkably well - and all did a PR today! I spoke to them at length after the race. They are Axel Anderegg-Durwood, Luís Gonzalez and Yacine Amrani (34:16, pace 6:52, AGP 70.87%).
Axel Anderegg-Durwood is the youngest of the three: he is 22. He joined the Flyers thanks to his mom, Margit.
“She got me into running,” he said, “and then I was looking for a group. She’s a part of the Flyers and got me to join them. I was a Division I rower for 3 years in college and I loved it. I graduated last spring and was looking for a new athletic pursuit. My mom had run the NYC Marathon a year before and loved it, so I decided to train with her for the 2024 NYC Marathon (my first ever marathon). I severely underestimated the amount of training required to race a good marathon, but it was a fun time and a good learning experience.” Axel is very happy with how his race went today. “I’ve never raced a 5-miler before,” he said, “so I didn’t really know how to pace it. I decided to go off of a combination of how I felt and what I thought I should be able to do based on my races at other NYRR 4M events. I ended up racing at an average pace very close to what I’ve previously held for the 4M races, so I’m very happy with that progress!” Technically, being this his first 5M, Axel did a PR. Congrats!
Luís Gonzalez is 32 and has a special role in the Flyers.
“I was entrusted by the Flyers leadership to bring in younger team members,” he told me with a mischievous look. (It is indeed also thanks to Luís’s special mission that the Flyers are making a headway towards our club’s rejuvenation). That’s obviously not the only reason why Luís joined the team in 2024. “The Flyers leadership encouraged me to join the Flyers because they’re a great bunch to run with,” he added. “I joined about a year ago and have been around ever since. I am a regular at the Thursdays Night Fun (TNF) run… come join us! That is where I met Guy and other Flyers that welcomed me with open arms.” Luís did a PR today too (and his fastest pace in a NYRR race over the mile distance), and he told me he’s very happy about it. “I started running in 2019 and trained for my first marathon with Team for Kids. I’ve done the NYCM 3 times and last year my sister and I ran with our mom and finished together. I’ve done other marathons too — I received my six star this year in London!”
Yacine Amrani is a former competitive swimmer and running has been part of his life back when he was a teenager.
“My first race was when I was 15,” he told me. “I used to train in my 20s as part of my triathlon routine, with a half-marathon under 1h28mn. I got back seriously into running in 2013 after I tore my ACL in late 2011. I could not recover my muscle strength, so I decided to train and get ready for a marathon, taking the opposite route of people who sustain a knee injury. I am getting ready for my 8th NYC marathon. I hope to hit the 3h10/12mn mark!” Yacine ran the Flyers’ long runs for a number of years, until he decided to join our team in 2024. “It was a cost-efficient approach,” he said, “but I also found that the NYF had a nice crowd and atmosphere to it after those post-race events, making the decision even easier.”
Moving on to our teams, congrats to the four teams that won an award:
• The 60+ Women Team, including Florence, Denise and Lisa, won gold and is still second in the club standings.
• The 60+ Men Team, including John, Francesco and Clément, won silver, and is still leading in the club standings, but its lead is unfortunately much less comfortable.
• The 70+ Women Team, including Christy Putnam (49:26, pace 9:53, 4th AG place, AGP 74.44%), Teresa Gancayco (50:30, pace 10:06, 5th AG place, AGP 71.76%) and Barbara Paer (53:48, pace 10:46, 8th AG place), won silver, and is still second in the club standings.
• The 70+ Men Team, including Brad, David Gaines (43:35, pace 8:43, 8th AG place), and David Dempsey (44:17, pace 8:52 AGP 70.91%), won bronze and moved up to third place in the club standings.
The other age-division teams did very well too: the 40+ Women Team, including Deike, Lisa Schwartz, Stephanie, Amanda and Arlyn, finished 5th and is now tied for 11th place in the club standings; the 50+ Women Team, including Deike, Lisa Schwartz and Amanda, finished 6th and is still in 4th place in the club standings; the 50+ Men Team, including Joe, Tim and Clément, finished 10th and is in 8th place in the club standings; and the 40+ Men Team, including Albert, Abe, Joe, Stephen and Tim finished 14th and is now tied for 14th place in the club standings.
Kudos also to the other 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:
• John Ellis: 35:45, pace 7:09, 9th AG place, AGP 79.19%
• Clay Bracken: 36:09, pace 7:14, AGP 73.99%
• Vincenzo Pascale: 36:31, pace 7:19, AGP 72.58%
• Kevin Lanning: 38:23, pace 7:41, AGP 73.76%
• Neil Tipograph: 38:24, pace 7:41, AGP 73.72%
• James Tinko: 39:21, pace 7:53, AGP 71.25%
• Emily Altman: 44:09, pace 8:50, AGP 72.45%
• Nina Zoe Parks-Taylor: 44:22, pace 8:53, AGP 76.08%
• Mindy Statter: 46:03, pace 9:13, AGP 74.33%
• Maura Holland: 46:05, pace 9:13, AGP 70.34%
• Delton Mace: 48:35, pace 9:43, 6th AG place
• Mindi Adler: 1:12:01, pace 14:25, 10th AG place
The team’s full results can be found here:
https://results.nyrr.org/event/25CHAMPS5M/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/1Mi5dTBw9Oofj9wqoyQ2ZPlW0TWxqli1d/edit
Last but not least, thanks to our dedicated team who helped with the setting up of the post-race festivities and those who brought drinks and food and otherwise served in a volunteer capacity (Lis Shlansky, Chris Long, Erenea Saludares, Rich Bornstein, John McCreesh, Parmila Philips, Ed Altman, Ed O'Donnell, Deb Saat, Richard Brounstein, Ashley Phelps, Barbara and Andrew Paer, Ken Auslander, Teresa Gancayco, and any others who may have helped out). Wasn’t the food delicious?
Well done, runners!
-Francesco Presutti, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter, #NYRRstaff