Today’s report is different from the race reports you’ve been reading throughout the past 3 years – and not because it’s the last blog report of the season, as the Ted Corbitt 15K is the last club series race. In fact, this is yours truly’s last report. After more than 50 blog race reports – and as many post-race interviews with fellow Flyers – I am retiring from my race reporter duties. This report is a joint effort with the two new blog race reporters, Lis Shlansky and John Ellis. They compiled the bulk of the data while I was enjoying the sunshine of Spain – and running the Valencia Marathon in the process. Thanks to both for their help! I’ll miss writing race reports – it’s been a uniquely enriching experience to get to know so many fellow team mates – and I wish Lis and John best luck in their new endeavor.
And now back to the race! After some snow flurries, 4,121 finishers ran this popular race, which takes runners twice along Central Park’s aptly named Ted Corbitt Loop, in celebration of the legacy of running legend Ted Corbitt. 61 Flyers joined the race – and what a glorious day it was for our team, full of awards and PRs! Congrats to all the runners!
The big news from the weekend is that all of our 4 senior runners’ teams finished the year in the top three (though none has won the title, unlike last year when the 60+ Men Team won the club series). The results are being adjusted as we speak due to a number of technical errors, and therefore I am not providing the details of our age-division teams’ rankings for this race nor the final ranking for the year. But it is safe to say that thanks to their consistently strong performance throughout the year, the 60+ Women and Men teams and the 70+ Women Team were all runner up for the 2025 year, and the 70+ Men team (the only age-division team who won the weekend’s race) took third-place for the year. Congrats to all of them! (To be noted: this year, NYRR agreed with our interpretation of the club series rules, and by virtue of the principle that the final ranking is based on the best 9 races of the series, they deleted the points from only one additional club points race – and not two – after the cancelation of the Staten Island Half Marathon. They took the opposite interpretation in 2023 in a similar situation, and as a result our 60+ Men Team was deprived of a title win that year.)
Joe Kelly brought home the team’s fastest result. Joe finished in 1:00:50 (pace 6:32), and won his age group’s award. Joe scored an AGP of 87.29%, which earned him an incredible 5th place overall age-graded. Joe was the fastest runner also on our 40+, 50+ and 60+ Men Teams. Adam Pritchard came in second with a result of 1:04:53 (pace 6:58, AGP 74.25%). Adam was also second for the 40+ and 50+ Men Teams. Greg Flood was the team’s third fastest runner. He finished in 1:05:40 (pace 7:03). He was also the third fastest runner on our 40+ Men team. Clement Bernard finished fourth for the team in 1:07:07 (pace 7:13). He was also second on our 60+ Men Team and third on our 50+ Men team. John Whitfield took the fifth place with a time of 1:08:28 (pace 7:21). He was third on our 60+ Men team.
A second Flyer man won an award alongside Joe: Brad Goz (1:15:13, pace 8:05, 73.77%) won silver in his age group. Brad broke by 11 seconds the Hall of Fame record for the 70+ men on the 15K distance that he himself set in this same race last year. Brad is on fire!
Adam is a relatively new Flyer. After the race I talked (remotely) to him and asked him how joining the Flyers has changed his life as a runner. Here’s what he replied:
“I joined a couple of years ago thanks to the encouragement of Francesco P. and John W. who are such great ambassadors and cheerleaders for the team! I’ve loved meeting other members at various finish lines since then, and have been struck by the warmth and sense of community shared by everyone that I’ve met. Sure it’s about the races, but I can see there’s so much more to this great group, and I’ve loved seeing it and gradually becoming part of it myself too!”
I also asked Adam how he felt about the race.
“As someone only 3 years into my running journey,” he replied, “I am still pretty early in terms of mastering race strategy. I have found this annual 15k on the Central Park hills to be grueling; with its two loops, the course is a tough nut to crack! On the one hand it’s too long to push hard from the start, but on the other it’s too short to be overly controlled early on. In the end, I was happy with Saturday - I've had quite a busy racing year, and from the start line I felt a decent amount of accumulated fatigue in my legs and I knew before we hit Cat Hill for the first time that no PR’s were on the line!! That said, the conditions were very good so I decided to keep pushing but focus on enjoying the experience of my last race of 2025. I loved it!! And, as a finishing flourish, I had a new experience right before the end: someone tried to pass me in the last 20 yards and I wasn’t having any of it! In my sprint to stay ahead of them I also inadvertently passed the person who was in front of me, so was very grateful for that final piece of motivation to pick up a bonus place.”
Aya Leitz was the fastest runner on the women’s team. She led a trio of superfast Japanese team mates. She finished in the time of 1:03:48 (pace 6:51) and placing 5th in her AG with AGP of 80.12%. Aya just joined the Flyers this year! Aya was the fastest runner also on our 40+ Women Team. Emiko Fukagawa came in second on the women’s team with the very fast time of 1:09.25 (pace 7:27, 12th AG place, AGP 73.63%). Emiko came in second also on our 40+ Women Team. Yumi Morishige was third for the team with a time of 1:13:10 (pace 7:51, AGP 78.73%). Yumi came first on our 50+ Women team and third on our 40+ Women team. Florence Clarke came in fourth with 1:14:21 (pace 8:00). Florence came in first on our 60+ Women team and second in our 50+ Women Team. Denise Iannizzotto was fifth with 1:14:42 and bested last year by 2 seconds despite recovering from an injury (pace 8:01, 5th AG place, AGP 82.38%). Denise was also second in our 60+ Women Team and third in our 50+ Team.
As mentioned above, 3 age-division teams were on the podium:
- The 70+ Men’s Team, led by Brad, and including David Gaines (1:24:27, pace 9:04, 9th AG place, AGP 66:70%) and Delton Mace (1:36:21, pace 10:21, 4th AG place, AGP 65.17%), we anticipate will win their age group once the required race corrections are made.
- The 60+ Women Teams, led by Florence and including Denise and Nina Parks (1:23:56, pace 9:01, 4th AG place, AGP 76.42%; Nina was also third on our 60+ Women Team), won the age division’s second-place award.
- The 60+ Men’s Team, led by Joe, Clement and John Whitfield are expected to take third place (TBC) once the required race corrections are made.
Kudos also to the other age-division teams and the other Flyers, in addition to those mentioned above, who finished in the top 3 of the Flyers age-division teams, and/or in the top 10 places of their age groups and/or scored an AGP of 70% or above. They are:
• Clay Bracken: 1:09:29, pace 7:28, AGP 74.01%
• John Ellis: 1:14:32, pace 8:00, AGP 73.97%, 9th in AG
• Janet Stack: 1:22:12, pace 8:50, AGP 70.99%
• Deb Saat: 1:27:50, pace 9:26, AGP 74.09%
• Mindy Statter: 1:29:52, pace 9:39, AGP 73.47%
• Barbara Paer: 1:47:54, pace 11:35, 7th AG place; only 70+ Flyer woman (the team did not have the required 3 runners to score points)
The team’s full results can be found at: https://results.nyrr.org/event/25TC15K/teams/NYF
Finally, this race counts also for the 2025 Flyers awards. David Gaines’s final ranking (with the winners of each age group) is available online here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n9l36k92D05QnJm1teMjguEFzt13Fh0-/edit?gid=825167169#gid=825167169
Well done, Flyers!
-Francesco Presutti, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter
#NYRRstaff
Photo credit: Brad Goz