March means the first club points race of the year. Yay! 69 Flyers were among the 4,607 runners who kicked off the points race series Sunday morning. March alas also means it’s still winter in New York. After a balmy week, runners bundled up for a chilly morning, with a 23F temperature and a 13 MPH wind at the start of the race.
The Washington Heights 5K is a cherished race that takes runners literally up and down along Fort Washington Avenue, and around a scenic loop within Fort Tryon Park. The team did incredibly well and won plenty of awards. Congrats to all Flyers!
Special honors go to the 2 age-group winners (Joe Kelly and Christy Putnam), and to the 60+ Men Team, which won the first-place in its age division, as well as to the other 3 runners (Nina Zoe Parks-Taylor, Brad Goz and Amanda Schachter) and 3 age-division teams (60+ Women, 70+ Men and Women Teams) that were on the podium. Kudos also to any Flyer out there who set a PR in this challenging race!
After the race, a number of finishers joined a “Friends and Food” get-together at a local eatery, while some others ran straight back home on a scenic jog along the Hudson River.
Below are the details of the team’s top runners’ results.
The team was led by legendary Joe Kelly, who finished in 19:24 (pace 6:15). Joe won his age group’s award, and scored an AGP of 86.46%, which earned him an epic 3rd age-graded place overall. Joe was also first in the Flyers 50+, 60+ and 40+ Men Teams. The Flyer runner-up, Jeff Gurwin, also broke 20 minutes and finished in 19:53 (pace 6:24). Jeff was also second in the 40+ Men Team. Paul Nap was the team’s third fastest runner with a time of 20:48 (6:42) and an AGP of 70.43%. Paul was also third in the 40+ Men Team. Francesco Presutti took the fourth place with a finish of 21:05 (pace 6:48, 8th AG place, AGP 76.42%). Francesco was also second in the Flyers 50+ and 60+ Men Teams. Terry White finished fifth in the team in 21:53 (pace 7:03). Our open men team was 27th and ranks 7th among the Open Men B teams.
In addition to Joe for his gold medal, honors go also to Brad Goz, who brought home his age group’s second place with a time of 24:42 (pace 7:57, AGP 71.37%).
Katie Wilson-Milne was the fastest finisher in the women’s team. She crossed the finish line with an impressive time of 20:36 (pace 6:38, 5th AG place, AGP 74.59%). She was also first in the 40+ Women Team. Katie is a relatively new member of the Flyers. I reached out to her after the race to learn more about her running background.
“I ran track in high school,” Katie told me, “and then I started running recreationally in college, which is when my runs got a bit longer. I ran my first marathon in law school and then running became the most consistent non-work activity in my life as I moved to New York (over 15 years ago).” Katie joined the Flyers when she was training for the NYC marathon in 2024. “It was my first marathon in 5 years after having my son,” she told me, “and I wanted to do a fun group long run over some bridges.” I also asked Katie if she was happy with her race. “Yes,” she replied, “given the hills and the cold, it went well. I am training for Boston at the moment and find it good to take a break and do something fast. And I got to run with my husband!”
The powerful Amanda Schachter came in second for the women’s team with an equally remarkable time of 21:49 (pace 7:03). Amanda won her age group’s third-place award, and scored an AGP 78.33%. She was also first in the Flyers 50+ Women Team and second in the 40+ Women Team. Emiko Fukagawa was third for the women’s team with a time of 22:47 (pace 7:20, 7th AG place, AGP 70.3%). She was also third in the Flyers 40+ Women Team. Denise Iannizzotto came in fourth with 24:45 (7:58, 5th AG place, AGP 76.82%). She was also first in the Flyers 60+ Women Team and second in the 50+ Women Team. Lisa Konorty was fifth with a 25:34 finish (pace 8:14, 8th AG place, AGP 74.35%). She was also second in the 60+ Women Team and third in the Flyers 50+ Women Team. Our open women team was 11th and ranks 2nd among the Open Women B teams.
In addition to Amanda for her bronze medal, honors go also to Christy Putnam, who won her age group in 31:37 (pace 10:11, AGP 68.7%) and Nina Zoe Parks-Taylor who brought home her age group’s second place with a time of 25:37 (pace 8:15, AGP 78.1%).
As mentioned above, four age-division teams were on the podium:
- The 60+ Men Team, led by Joe and including Francesco and Clément Bernard (21:56, pace 7:04, AGP 75.11%, won the age division and is therefore leading the club standings. (Clément was also third in the 50+ Men Team.)
- The 60+ Women Team, led by Denise and including Lisa and Nina, finished second and is therefore second in the club standings.
- The 70+ Women Team, led by Christy, and including Barbara Paer (34:35 pace 11:08, 5th AG place) and Mindi Adler (45:39, pace 14:42), finished third and is therefore third in the club standings.
- The 70+ Men Team, led by Brad and including Delton Mace (29:15, pace 9:25, 4th AG place) and Howard Tanz (34:06, pace 10:59, 7th AG place), also finished third and is therefore third in the club standings.
For the record, the 50+ Men Team finished fourth, the 40+ and 50+ Women Teams finished fifth, and the 40+ Mean Team finished 13th.
Honors go also to the other 3 Flyers who finished in the top 10 places of their age groups and/or scored an AGP of 70% or above:
• Clay Bracken: 22:21, pace 7:12, AGP 72.4%
• Neil Tipograph: 23:42, pace 7:40, AGP 71.79%
• Deb Saat: 27:36, pace 8:53, 5th AG place, AGP 72.5%
• Mindy Statter: 27:48, pace 8:57, 6th AG place, AGP 72.94%
The team’s full results can be found at: https://results.nyrr.org/event/25WASH/teams/NYF.
Finally, this race counts also for the 2025 Flyers awards. The current ranking is available online at https://bit.ly/2025Points.
Well done, Flyers!
-Francesco P, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter
#NYRRstaff
*Photo credit: Brad Goz 