The Women Open’s Team had quite the day, with 4 girls under the 3 hour barrier! If you include our Master’s superstar Paige Yellen, we had 5 women under 3! These quick times contributed to a 4th place overall finish and was accompanied by many PRs and smiles on what was just the perfect fall marathon day.
Manon Blackman led the orange charge with big PR of over 5 minutes, finishing in 2:55:44! It also garnered a club record for the 20-24 age group time in the NYCM. She said, “The marathon was probably the most painful race I’ve ever run, but one of the most rewarding. It was amazing to run next to my teammates for a good portion of the race and see so many others cheering us on! The last 5 miles there were many times I thought about quitting and giving up, but pulled everything I had for a 5.5 minute PR coming in at 2:55:44. I’m so happy that I had such a spectacular first NYC!”
Following closely behind with another PR – in a time of 2:55:07 – was Alysia Dusseau. Her time was also good enough to grab the fastest club NYCM time in the 35-39 age group. Alysia noted, “Super excited for having almost a 3 minute PR and I had negative splits (1:28 & 1:27)…was great weather, awesome volunteers, amazing cheers along the course and the best teammates to run the race with!!”
Mary Kate Bida continued the sub 3 charge with a 2:58:35 and good enough for 10th in her age group for all 20-24 women! In her own words “Another amazing experience at the NYCM, second time and first as part of the CPTC squad. Excited to walk away with a :15 second PR. The energy, the team spirit, makes this race always such a magical one!”
Jenny Donnelly made a strong statement with her first race with CPTC, rounding out the Sub 3 studs in 2:59:18! We are so glad to have her join and look forward to more speedy races from her. Her thoughts of the race couldn’t be said better than from herself! “This was my first race wearing the CPTC orange and it really felt special to be out there in it! I was nervous going into this because I had set a big goal of breaking 3 hours, which would be a 8+ min PR off my 3:08. I found myself anxious the first 8 miles (I even put on a podcast for a few miles to calm my nerves!) but then saw my family and CPTC morning crew’ers at mile 8 and the nerves went away. Went through the half at 1:29:15 and then focused on getting over the bridge and celebrating down first ave. Once I got to mile 20, I knew I would see more friends / family / teammates up the hill and then it was the park (!), where we had spent so many early morning hours training! The last 5k through the park was the highlight of the race for me – seeing so many familiar faces in my favorite place to run + visualizing that 2:XX clock allowed me to find a final kick. I ended up getting the sub 3 in 2:59:18 – definitely my most fun race to date!”
Nicole Green flirted with the sub 3 barrier and ran a PR in the process, “Such a fun race. Great to be back in NYC. Nice catching up with Alyssa for the first half. PR 3:00:33!”
Adding to the PR list was Meredith in 3:18:22. “I don’t think you could have asked for a better marathon Sunday — the weather, the impressive field of American Women, and the fans made for the perfect NYC day. I ran 3:18:22, a 19 second PR and more than 20 minutes faster than my first NYC marathon. For the first time I was able to get past those mental blocks that kept telling me I was tired and just have fun. All of the CPTCers and “Go Canada” cheers I heard along the way really helped too. This will be a hard one to top!”
Dani Sturtz ran her 9th NYC Marathon despite a knee injury midway in the training build-up. “What a great day it was! I didn’t run the time I was training for, but after finding out a few weeks ago I have a lateral meniscus tear I was so grateful to be running the marathon. The best part is that I ran pain free! I had so much fun running through the streets of NYC, sharing some miles with CPTC teammates, and seeing family, friends, & the CPTC cheer squad along the course. I had a big old smile on my face that stayed on for pretty much most of the race. The lack of training from the last month caught up with me around mile 20 and I slowed down a little, but I never gave up. Crossing the finish line was a huge victory and I’m proud of my determination.”
Congratulations to all our fast NYC Marathon finishers!
| Manon Blackman | 2:55:44 |
| Alysia Dusseau | 2:56:07 |
| Mary Kate Bida | 2:58:35 |
| Jennifer Donnelly | 2:59:18 |
| Nicole Green | 3:00:33 |
| Caroline Day | 3:01:05 |
| Jessica Nachman | 3:10:27 |
| Zoe Gaston | 3:18:21 |
| Meredith Kennedy | 3:18:22 |
| Theresa Tufaro | 3:25:51 |
| Dani Sturtz | 3:40:36 |
| Debbie Lee | 4:17:38 |
| Anna Fyodorova | 4:25:15 |