Thursday, September 27, 2007

A Royal Race

A sunny Sunday morning in September felt like a perfect day for the annual Queens Half Marathon. Busses arrived from Manhattan carrying hopefuls; carloads of "locals" jammed College Point Avenue hunting for rockstar parking near the start. The Hellgate team was in good spirits. Everyone exuded relaxation. This was our Boro.

When the gun went off at 7 a.m., we had overheard everyone talking about the new course. In years passed this race was a 2 loop route, but this year NYRR developed 1 long path with tons of turns and bends throught the streets of College Point, Malba, and Whitestone, Queens. This did not daunt the Hellgate squad.

Aurelio lead the team with a fantastic finishing of 1:22:58 (a week after putting up a 1:21:53 at Yonkers). We can also welcome back Andrei to a more regular NY running scene (he and Heather have moved back to Astoria). Big congraulations are in order for Mary (1:35:14) and Suzanne (1:37:00) who reigned their age groups by placing 2nd and 3rd. Please note that this was a personal record for Suzanne by over a minute! Ken pulled a Mike M. by showing up after the mats were pulled; that didn't slow him down! He whizzed by this blogger at about mile 11 - he caught a good portion of the race field! Jenn and Jamie ran a part of the race together epitomizing team work!

Everyone did spectacular and please find all the results on the NYRR website. Congratulations to all!


Sunday, September 23, 2007

Bonkers for Yonkers!

Alright, alright, alright! Let's get this blog back on track - or the road!

September 16th brought the annual Yonkers Marathon and Half Marathon. Two Hellgaters laced up their running shoes and tore up the challenging and hilly (didn't I say challenging already?) course! Congratulations are in order for Aurelio and Ximena for yet another fan-tabulous performance from this dynamic duo! Aurelio coasted in at 1:21:53 easily capturing 21st place overall and 3rd in his age group! Ximena proved what a Queens girl can do to those Yonkers' hills finishing at 1:40:13 earning her a 60th spot overall and 2nd in her age group!

Also a side note: Ximena has been sneaking around Long Island and New Jersey all summer long with her sister, Kattia, running local races with much success! Keep up the good work ladies! And keep us posted with your most recent races!