Tune This!

That's right Hellgaters, the annual NYRR 18 mile, ING NYC Marathon Torture... oops! I mean, Tune-Up race got underway at 7am on Sunday, September 28, 2008. It proved to be another battle of human versus humidity in what has been a long and soggy marathon training season. Despite the desperate atmospheric conditions, our own Hellgaters pushed themselves to the limit and hopefully recognized the extra fitness they gained by finishing during an unforgiving huricane season.

Seventeen (plus Diego who is missing from the Hellgate results page) of our team completed 3 whole loops of Central Park. This is some feat! Please note racers surged up and down Harlem Hill 3 times, rolled over the West Side's Larry, Moe, and Curly 3 times, and last but not least clawed up the infamous Cat Hill 3 times. All finishes were battles hard won and well deserved. And once again teammates posted some amazing times that earned them age place awards!

1. Phenominal Phil - 8th overall and 3rd place age group
2. Kwick Kaufmann (a.k.a. Ben) - 21st overall and 3rd place age group
3. The Andrei Express - 27th overall and 6th place age group
4. Jim-Running-Away-Ryan - 9th place age group
5. Swift Soula - 8th place age group

Check out all the AMAZING results at the NYRR website!

Conquer Yonkers!

The rally cry for the weekend was "Conquer Yonkers!" And Hans and Aurelio did just that! Hans, known to many in the club as the perpetual runner, defeats marathon and ultramarathon distances around the world. For some reason he seems to return to the Yonkers Marathon nearly every year. Maybe it's the pull of the race track or the challenge in the hills, but no matter what keeps him running Yonkers, he always posts an amazing, awe-inspiring time!

Aurelio is also known throughout the club as a tough competitor who not only pushes himself, but gently (and sometimes not so gently) pushes the rest of along no matter what our goals or times. We also know that Aurelio has been in the hunt for the elusive sub-3 hour marathon! We all had faith that the day would come when he would acheive his goal. Yonkers proved to be his marathon!

Congratulations to Hans and Aurelio for placing 6th and 7th overall at the 2008 Yonkers Marathon! Hans also placed 1st in his age group with a time of 2:51:11. Aurelio placed 2nd in his age group with a time he has waited for of 2:55:27! Check out all the marathon results!

We also have to mention the Yonkers Half Marathon as well! Ximena and Fernando ran strong into 1:41 and 1:43 times in the half. Great work! (A link to the half results will be posted as soon as they are found - the flrrt.com website is not giving up any Yonkers results right now.)

Kings of Queens

Hellgate sure knows how to tell everyone who's boss in the home borough! Our own Phenomenal Phil coasted in at College Point this weekend to become the 30th Annual Queens Half Marathon Overall Winner! His amazing 1:13:26 was over 2 minutes ahead of the 2nd place runner! Congratulations, Phil! Well done!

We also have some other winners on the team! Ben posted a solid 2nd place age group award with an incredible time of 1:19:34 followed by Andrei who steamrolled into a 6th place age group award at 1:22:13! Then with the help of Diego and Fernando the men's team placed 3rd overall! In total 12 men participated Sunday and ran strong!

On the ladies' side, Yvonne ran/swam through the 87% humidity to cross as the first female Hellgater in her comeback half marathon race! This new mama is gunning for the Philadelphia marathon, and it appears her training is on target! Following Yvonne was Diana, Chiemi, LuAnn, Rafaella, and Jaime who all overcame the miserable weather for the Ladies' team! Well run gals!

And on a bittersweet note, Diana ran her until-she-returns-race with Hellgate, and despite fighting an illness, she ran in a commendable and memorable race. Good luck with your travels, Diana! Hellgate can't wait to have you back in another year or 2!! We'll miss you!

For all results please see the NYRR website and check out the cool video which follows the winner in his Hellgate singlet, Phil, throughout the race (in addition to a few quick peaks of other Hellgaters). See if you can find all the Hellgaters in the NYRR photos too!

Great job everyone!

Running Hot Again

Hellgate Road Runners left their marks on the pavement at the 2008 Club Team Championships! Congratulations to another fabulous year of team running. It was a bit warm and sunny, but that didn’t stop more than 36* racers from showing up to represent Hellgate!

Men’s Results

Women’s Results

The Men’s and Women’s teams both came in 15th amongst a tough and competitive field. The 40+ Men placed 12th, and the 40+ Women darted into 11th place. We fielded 50+ teams as well in both genders; the men scooped up 17th, while the women coasted into an amazing 8th place!

Thanks to the abundant HRR spectators that pushed everyone through that final turn! Check out the race videos and keep your eyes peeled for Andrei, Ben, & Jack, and Beverly and Meggie!

*The author knows of at least 3 individuals that ran for the team that NYRR has not accounted for in our results list. Therefore we have unofficially topped last year’s record number of participants! Great job HRR!

Joe Kleinerman 10K

CONGRATULATIONS HELLGATE!

On a chilly and cool morning the Hellgate Road Runners gathered in huge numbers for an awesome showing at the New York Road Runners final club points race of 2007 - The Joe Kleinerman 10K.

36 Hellgaters raced through the 6.2 mile course in Central Park while others shouted and cheered from the sidelines.

This powerful showing launched the Women's Team into 11th place in the Open Division! And according to the final statistics provided by NYRR the Hellgate Men's team surpassed the New York Fliers by two points to take 2nd Place in the Men's B Division. Well done everyone!

Here are the race results:

NAME	FINISH TIME	PACE
Phillip Sneller	36:25	5:52
Kevin Starkes	36:27	5:52
Andrei Volik	36:28	5:52
Mike Bishop	38:09	6:09
Aurelio Dimas	38:39	6:14
Jeff Leiter	39:03	6:17
Marc Shupp	40:26	6:31
Eddie Roberts	41:08	6:38
Josh Morphew	42:03	6:46
Kate Sunbury	42:39	6:52
Maritza Bishop	43:42	7:02
Eamonn Keane	44:01	7:05
Mike Morrissey	44:02	7:06
Timothy Cavaretta	44:10	7:07
Beverly Paulis	44:28	7:10
Suzanne Hughes	44:59	7:15
Don Guyton	45:00	7:15
Ximena Rosas	46:03	7:25
Cinthya Sandoval	47:18	7:37
Diana Pittet	47:27	7:39
Jovana Granzan	48:02	7:44
Adrian Longo	48:39	7:50
Demetrius Kalogeropoulos	48:56	7:53
Tony Victorio	49:41	8:00
Brion Cobb	50:31	8:08
LuAnn Mestre	51:23	8:17
Bethany Hetrick	52:44	8:30
Jay Gottfried	53:00	8:32
Nazly Jordan	54:34	8:48
Sally Mahon	55:22	8:55
Raul Araque	55:51	9:00
Martha Lamothe	58:44	9:28
Irene Gavras-Petrakis	59:19	9:34
Ljubomir Granzan	1:02:07	10:01
Molly Biechele	1:08:54	11:06
Kaitlin McGrath	1:08:54	11:06

Running Scared

Muwahahahahahahahahhaaaaa!

Ghastly turnout this weekend. Congrats to all the creepy Poland Spring runners! Best costume award goes to the tres amigos. Check out the ghoulish results on the NYRR site!

Club Team Championships

Saturday August 18th, what a perfect morning for the Club Team Champs, it was positively chilly when the majority of Hellgaters arrived bright and early in Central Park.

The girls race started an hour after the men’s start but the Hellgate women were out in force to cheer on the guys! And yes, the guys stuck around after their race to cheer on the girls. Special thanks to injured Hellgaters Janine, Bex and Matt for your unwavering support and enthusiastic encouragement!

This was Hellgates biggest turnout for a race, which thrilled coach Jared and along with Jared the team captains want to thank the 37 members, comprising of 20 men and 17 women who gave it their all on the 5 mile course for Team Hellgate! Check the NYRR website for both the men’s and women’s results.

-by Suzanne Hughes

Photos by Jared Mestre

NYC Half Marathon

The Hellgate Road Runners took the Nike New York City Half Marathon by storm!

With 8 team members posting tremendous running achievements and a whooping 14 volunteering along the course Hellgate truly runs this race!

Congratulations to:

• Benjamin Kaufmann with a finish time of 1:16:33
• Phillip Sneller with a finish time of 1:18:54
• Brian Danielian with a finish time of 1:36:30
• Kenneth Dowd with a finish time of 1:37:58
• Jay Gottfried with a finish time of 1:53:14
• Angela Taylor with a finish time of 2:00:03
• Francis Muldoon with a finish time of 2:13:43
• Jennifer Rozmus with a finish time of 2:40:07

Special thanks to the following individuals for making the 4:30AM call time to volunteer!

• Alan Wagman
• Barry Horowitz
• Bex Parson
• Eamonn Keane
• Elizabeth Campos
• Jaime Sperling
• Janine Leveque
• Jessica Moeller
• Josh Morphew
• Jovana Granzan
• LuAnn Mestre
• Sally Mahon
• Suzanne Hughes
• Tony Victorio

Kudos also to Beverly and Kevin for being Nike pace leaders!

Great work Hellgate!

RUN... Swim and Bike Too!

Hellgate sure “TRI’d” hard last weekend in 4 multi-sport event and one classic Race for Central Park 4 miler. As usual there were stellar performances had by all Hellgate participants. First off on Saturday, July 21, NYRR held its annual Run for Central Park. Following not too far behind the 2nd place finisher and adopted Hellgater, Mustafa, were Nick, Bex, Ljubomir, Jovana, Amye, and Andrew. See the NYRR site for their impressive race results!

Now for the multi-sport events on Sunday, July 22nd! First off was Chip’s FIRST triathlon! The newlywed crossed rivers to West Windsor, NJ, to compete in the NJS Sprint Triathlon. The 500m swim, 13.5 mile bike with tricky turn arounds and hills, and the 5k run couldn’t wear Chip out! He finished in a remarkable 1:17:36; his splits were 9:59, T1 4:38, 40:38, T2 2:34, and 20:00! Chip said that he learned a lot that will help him improve his transition times as well as working out details like catching your breath on the bike. He also said “coming out of the water was the most surreal, exciting experience; one of the highlights of the day for me.” He also had an edge in the 5k being a runner first, passing “a ton of people” to help him finish 27th over all! Not too shabby, Chip!

Next on the lineup for Sunday was the Long Beach Biathlon! Mary went back to try and hold her title as No. 1 female finisher. This year it was not to be however. Not that Hellgaters like excuses, but an 18 mile run the day before might have tuckered her out a bit. Mary still managed to navigate this 5k run followed by a ¼ ocean swim in 3rd place overall and 1st in her age group! Levi also participated and put in a valiant effort as usual! A bit of drifting kept him from catching our fearless captain, Suzanne, however!

Suzanne woke up early that day with intentions of cheering Mary and Levi in Long Beach, but somehow her bathing suit and sneakers followed her to Long Beach! Suzanne did her first biathlon on a whim – breast stroking her way to a 5th place in her age group!

The popular NYC Triathlon was also held this beautiful Sunday morning! Raul made his way through the Olympic length course with his usual smiles and ease that we all strive to imitate! He finished with a fantastic 2:53:34! Way to go! One of the many Hellgate couples competed too and proved their mettle yet again. Patricia and Brian put down great times for the 1.5k swim (in the Hudson River), 40k mile bike (up the West Side Highway, and 10k run (through Central Park). Patricia finished in 2:50:00 flat. The Hellgate Blog thinks there is a story behind Brian’s 2 hour penalty! Fantastic showing guys! Check out www.nyctri.com for more info and registration for 2008 opens on Nov. 1st!

And FINALLY, but most definitely NOT least: The Lake Placid Ironman! Competitors have to sign up a year in advance and spend those 12 months training! They complete 2.4 miles of open water swim, 112 miles of biking in the Adirondacks, and finally a 26.2 miles run, (yes, a full marathon). One of Hellgate’s own signed up, trained up, showed up, and raced 140.6 miles. Congratulations to Joel Rosenstraus, Ironman. He staved off injuries and doctor’s warnings to muster the guts and muscle to cross that finish line in 13:19:12. Check out his splits on the Ironman webpage. Congratulations Joel! Rest up!

-by Jessica Moeller

Hellgate Takes the Tin: 70.3 Miles Later

Five Hellgaters crossed the finish line of the 2007 Tupper Lake Tinman Triathlon which consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, & 13.1 mile run.

Eamonn and Josh made the 6 hour drive up through the Adirondacks to compete in their first Tinman, while Janine, Joel, and Raul (and his friend Nicholas, honorary Hellgater) returned to remind Tupper Lake just what these Queens residents could do! Standing on the side lines for moral support were Salena, Nazly, and Jessica.

Eamonn is known for his determination and dig deep strength as well for his enjoyment of beer, but did his stamina and grit get him through the 70.3 miles of his first Tinman Tri?

"Having arrived the day before the event to pick up our numbers, Josh and I stared at the swim course and noticed that we couldn't see the turnaround point. This made me a little bit nervous, and I was wondering what the hell I had signed up for.

The morning of the race, the strategy was simply not to drown, and then take the race from there. So after 50 minutes of splashing and a lot of drinking of lake water, the first event was complete. The bike course was described as “rolling hills”; this was a bit of an understatement since we were in the Adirondack Mountains!!! Over 3 hours later, at a reasonable pace of 18 mph, the bike course was complete. The run was a challenging course and having spent 4 hours already at the swim and bike, a PR was not going to be in the cards! But I was able to maintain an even pace of 9 minutes per mile (with frequent breaks at each water station). At 1 hour and 57 minutes and some seconds, the Tinman was complete.

Overall the experience, although very challenging, was a good one. Special thanks have to go out to our teammates and our supporters for the cheering through a very tough day." – Eamonn

Now, just why would someone take on a Tinman having NEVER competed triathlon before?

"With 4 marathons under my belt I really wanted a big athletic challenge before our first baby is born this autumn -- and Tinman was just that!

All through my training I was pretty intimidated by the prospect of racing 70.3 miles. When I first saw the swim course my fears were absolutely confirmed.

Having the support, training companionship and advise of the other Hellgater's was invaluable. Tinman was one of the hardest and most rewarding experiences of my life." – Josh

Please check out Josh’s blog for his more in depth race report! So, the first timers came in at 6:04 and 5:45; not too shabby! Could the course get the better of the Tupper Lake veterans? Could they get to the course? Janine’s race report sums it up nicely!

"The ride up Tupper Lake was a crawl, and 8 hours later it was a total nightmare. Joel was doing 80mph in a 40mph zone. We barely made it to the carboload dinner and picking up our race packets. After I got my blood circulating in my legs after the drive, we relaxed to eat dinner. After chilling for a bit at the expo, it was about 9pm. We decided it's time to check into the motel. Back in the car for a 20 minute drive!

We arrived at Long Lake Motel. I went to the front desk to get the key. Joel said you go check out the room and I'll start unloading the car. Well, I came back to Joel and found Jessica, Eamonn, Josh, and Salena along side him. I was fit to be tide with the room accommodations and made it known in front of everyone. I stormed to the front desk; there were no other rooms, so we had no choice but to stay in this shack. My night's sleep was a horror, but thank God for Jared's philopshy (get a good night’s sleep 2 nights before a race because the night before you will not sleep). He was right, and the night was LONG!!

At the sound of the alarm, we got ready, and we were on our way to Tupper Lake. The morning had a nice chill which felt great. My thought was "Yes! I won't be running in 90 degrees this year!" We arrived and went to get body marked and our chips put on. We went back to the car to get our bikes, and then we headed to the transition area. I had a great spot, and poor Joel was in the old man's land. I met my neighbors, Coleen and Tish. They were very chatty which was fine since it relaxed me. They asked me "what is my time today?" I told them "I'm going to enjoy the race, and I want to feel good." (My inner soul had one set time and that was a 6:30, but no pressure.)

I was waiting in my corral with Raul to start the swim. I did feel butterflies but felt pretty relaxed for the most part. We were next to enter the lake, and as I turned the corner, there's Nazly. It was so amazing to see her, then I saw Jessica and Salena further down. I felt great and no sign of anxiety. The horn went off and there I went... I started nice and slow and then hammered away. My poor shoulders did NOT like it very much, but I told them I have a race to do. The navigation going out was great, and I hit every buoy, but when we turned around the sun was glaring. It was very hard to navigate, but I said all I have to do is follow the people in front (hoping they were going the right way). I saw the end and said "Yeah! Finally." I exited out of the lake and made my way to my bike.

I zipped out of my wetsuit and made my way to start my bike. The thought entered "Oh boy, I'll be out here for 3:30 hours or so. I better make the best of it! Visualize that I am on a nice long bike ride with my friends!" I made sure I fueled every hour by eating a cliff bar (thanks, Bex!). Some of these hills were never-ending, but I thought positive all the way through. I approached the end of my bike ride and saw Jessica on her bike cheering and then saw Nazly at the transitiion area. As I got off the saddle I couldn't believe the pain; it's indescribable, but she said "Hey! You are a runner; this is where you got it, girl!" Thanks, Nazly; I'm glad you had faith in me, but the thought of running 13.1 miles did not register well yet.

So I start the run and to my surprise I felt decent but did experience a nagging numbness in my foot. At the first mile I had to stop because the pain in my foot was unbearable. I stopped several other times to loosen my laces and massage my foot to get circulation flowing. I finally decided that I have to put the numbness on a back burner and run this race, so that is what I did. I was passing everyone a long the way. It's like they were running in place! There was not one person that passed me. The mile markers were few and far between. I hit mile 2, then 5, and at one point I had to ask what mile mark I was at. Then I saw mile 6; the next mile marker was 8 then mile marker 9, but after 9 I never saw another mile marker! Then to see Jess directing us, I was very surprised to see her. I asked one volunteer what mile again, and she said I'm finishing mile 11. That mile 11 felt long then at the next water station I asked what mile only to hear that I have one more mile left! Not that I would have been able to gauge my pace after biking 56 miles, but the unknown helped me mentally.

I looked at my watch to see the time and that I had one more mile left, I cranked it up a bit. Realization was beginning to set in. I was so excited to see by my watch that I was going to finish around 6:20! And that I did (exactly 6:20:34)!

As I approached the finish line, I hear the cheers from Joel and my teammates. It was such a great feeling and what a sigh of relief. I made my way to Joel & my teammates, and we all were hugging each other. I kept on screaming “I shaved off 40 minutes from last year!” YES! YES! YES! I still can't believe it!" – Janine

Joel finished up with an amazing time of 5:35:53 and Raul rounded out the Hellgate finishers with a solid time of 7:07:13! (By the way Raul looked so refreshed after the race! It goes to show what great shape he’s in!) for more see the Tinman results:

Now, will the fabulous 5 return next year and with more recruits?

Hellgate Dominates at Need For Speed

El Mustafa plus Bishop plus Bishop plus Moeller plus Volik plus Hughes plus Wizeman plus Paulis plus Starkes equals…victory.

“A great team effort”—that’s how team captain, Maritza Bishop puts it. She was of course describing the Hellgate victory at the competitive and rapidly growing Need for Speed Relay—a 50+ mile, 9 person relay, run from the Northern most section of Westchester all the way to the Long Island Sound in New Rochelle. The annual event is sponsored by Avon and endorsed by Joe Torre, the manager of the New York Yankees. The event raises thousands of dollars to help prevent domestic violence, but once the gun goes off, it is a race that is all about winning.

Commenting on the team’s dramatic come from behind win, the confident captain noted that, “in order to win an event like this you need a solid team 1 through 9. This year I wanted to win the whole event and not just co-ed. I knew it would be tough with so many all-male teams but I felt we could go the distance with the 9 talented runners on Team Hellgate. Naturally, there are stand-outs and to win you need the superstars, but to make it work you need solid runners who can give a solid performance. Going into it I knew we would be the team to beat but we just had to prove it. And we did.”

The race had a staggered start with six heats, so the more competitive teams started later than the lower seeded squads. Since Team Hellgate was in the fastest heat, they started as much as an hour and 15 minutes behind other teams. So in order to cross the line first, they had an enormous amount of ground to make up. But the combination of superstar and steady performances necessary to pull it off were plentiful and ultimately the team was able to make up the entire stagger.

The team proved to be steady because no Hellgate runner finished less than 24th in their segment out of the 130+ competitors in each stage and almost every Hellgater placed in the top ten percent of their respective heats. But perhaps more impressive were those standout moments. 1st leg winner El Mustafa, beat the next best runner in his segment by over 2 and ½ minutes—an astounding feat considering the depth of talent in that heat. 2nd stage standout, Mike Bishop, tackled one of the most challenging and competitive legs in the relay, a course lined with rocky trails and unmarked paths, and helped push the team closer to the front of the pack. The Hellgate ladies stayed competitive and kept the team in a secure position before Andrei Volik took the fifth leg, winning that leg overall and getting the team within real striking distance. It was at that point when Captain Maritza felt that victory was in sight. “We began the race 1 hour and 15 minutes behind the first wave, but by the time Matt (Wizeman) finished his leg we were in 1st place overall!” But perhaps the most exciting leg of the relay was the final stage, where Kevin Starkes, who began the leg over three minutes off the pace, managed to take both his heat and bring home the gold for team Hellgate.

Hellgate’s 12 second margin of victory was particularly sweet, since they were the only co-ed squad on the podium. Sweeter still was the fact that they were able to avenge the team that was the overall winner last year when Hellgate took first in the co-ed division but was third overall.

-by Maritza Bishop and Matthew Wizeman

Triple Events Score BIG for Hellgate

Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20, proved big for the Hellgate squad.

Event 1: Healthy Kidney 10k

First off was the Healthy Kidney 10k on Saturday in Central Park! We had a great representation of the team's speed for this club points race without a few of our ringers! Several members found the day a challenge, but others flew! Janine suspected a distance pr while Nick and Bex ran their first club points race with pride! Ezra flashed his smile and speed while he's not whizzing around writing about cool places.

Jeff pulled a Mike Morrisey/Tony move by crossing over the start mats as the officials were picking them; he had a great run despite not being captured by the chips. Find out who else ran great and for all race results here.

Event 2: Queens Biathlon

Sunday at 8 am sharp, the annual Queens Biathlon was off in Alley Pond Park with the first of two 3 mile runs. Everyone made it back to the transition area with lightening speed to head out for the grueling 18 mile bike followed by, yes, another 3 mile run! Hellgate tore up the Bi with 13 participating.

Age group awards go to Mike Bishop, 3rd place, Joel 2nd place, and Alan, 3rd place. On the ladies' side Mary and Janine placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in their age group. It was a good day for all, some did their first biathlons (see Josh's blog for his unbelievable race story), others were testing the waters in preparation for future summer bis and triathlons! Click here for the full race results!

Event 3: Forest Park 4 Miler

While the Biathletes were happily exhausted, the annual Forest Park 4 miler began. This race has an amazing track finish which has proven advantageous for the Hellgate Team in the past. Will the new track bring another successful year? Of course! It was a beautiful morning deeper in Queens with Jared, LuAnn, and new poppa, Matt, cheering on the sidelines as Nick finish 13th and 3rd in his age group followed by Jeff in 20th place. Then Suzanne coasted in to finish 2nd overall for the women (1st in her age group) closely followed by Bex in 3rd place overall (1st in her age group too!). Don, Beverly, and Mike Morrisey finished within 7 seconds of each other! Nine teammates in total completed the grueling 4 miles with ease - Results. Great job!

-by Jessica Moeller

Photos by Jared Mestre

Mothers Day 10 Miler

Congratulations to all the Hellgate women (and men!) for competing in the NYJL Mothers Day 10 and 4 Miler!

Women's results can be found here.
Men's results can be found here.

all photos by Jared Mestre: