Washington Heights 5K Race Recap
Neither cold temps nor errant dogs on the rolling hills course could stop nearly 5,000 runners, including 54 Harriers, from taking part in the first NYRR club points race of 2020: Washington Heights Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5K.
The Harriers had an impressive showing on this 30-degree morning, with both the men’s and women’s teams placing in the top 10.
Several Harriers also ran PRs, including Andy Schwehm, Kevin Hickman, Dan Goldstein, and Harriers president Margaret Aycock, who ran her fastest 5K since high school! “Finally being able to improve on that is extremely gratifying!” she says.
Steve Lamont caught on NYRR camera tearing down the final stretch of the course
New Harrier Andy Schwehm got some help during the race from team veteran Dan Goldstein. “Dan found me at the start and we really nicely paced each other through the hills,” he reports. Dan found running with Andy to be just as helpful: “Chasing one another back and forth across the hills was a fun challenge and kept me motivated the whole way through.” Andy adds he’s “incredibly happy” with the results and also credits “the amazing cheer squad” for the boost in the last mile.
Harriers coach Aaron Gaskins surprised himself by running his fastest 5K in at least a decade, saying “I guess I have a new race target for this fall!” Kevin Hickman pointed to the “solid workouts with the Wednesday night crew and the support of the cheer zone on that last mile” that helped him achieve his new PR.
Gerard Hoban also shouting out the Harrier coaches for his PR in this race, which was his first with the Harriers in almost two years due to injury. “So great to be back!” he says, noting the “intervals, tempo, and hill work made all the difference in being ready for this race” and adding how his “amazing teammates…inspire and push me every week.”
Others see their race results as setting a baseline for the season ahead. Longtime Harrier Vera Kuipers “finished happy with gas in the tank, so I consider this a solid start!”
That solid start also came with a moment of drama. At one point on the course, which runs up and down Fort Washington Avenue and loops around inside Fort Tryon Park, Vera was nearly tripped up by a woman and her tiny dog on a not-very-short leash. The woman yelled, “Coming through, coming through!” as she blithely made her way through the race crowd. An entire pack of runners had to swerve to avoid the pair. Fortunately, Vera didn’t witness any collisions, and there were no reports of any dogs or runners harmed in the race.
Scoring for the 9th place women’s team were Amrita Ramamurthy, Jordan Pearson, Katharina Wang, Hannah Graffeo, and Jen Muse. The 10th place men’s team had Jack Fitzhenry, David Kennedy, Rafael Rodriguez-Torres,Scott Bartucca, and Myles Fennon scoring. The Masters teams were led by top scorers Mirjam Lablans and Myles Fennon.
Masters Women Margaret Aycock, Mirjam Lablans and Ari Scott post race.
In addition, a number of Harriers placed in the top 10 of their age groups, including Amrita Ramamurthy, Myles Fennon, Mirjam Lablans, Susan Bayat, Diane Kenna, and Gerard Hoban.
As per tradition, the Harriers gathered at the Harriers favorite Le Cheile to celebrate with brews and brunch.
This was an exciting start to a new year with the Harriers, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of 2020 brings! We hope that includes more PRs – but fewer near-collisions with dogs.