Bed-Stuy race a great success

A 64-year-old athlete wound up among the top 10 finishers in the 33rd annual Bed-Stuy Restoration Corp. run through the streets of Bedford Stuyvesant on a sunny, cool, and delightful Sunday morning to highlight some of the action in the event. Originally from Guyana, Ranville Gravesande turned in a decent performance in winning his 60–64 age group division and finished 10th overall in a time of 39:23.

“We ran on a nice course,” said Gravesande, who made his debut in competing in this race. “It was a beautiful venue and the course was fast. I knew that I could compete with the younger guys.”

The weather was just perfect for running and for some of the long distance athletes, they are getting ready for a half marathon or marathon.

After attending high school in Guyana, Gravesande started to compete in road races and always ran the 5K races ‘back home.’

In last week’s race, he just ran with the guys, as he explained after the race.

After he started to compete in long distance races, he took the half marathon and marathon to his liking and ran twice in the New York City Marathon. His best time in this race was 3:29:00. He won his age category of the Philadelphia Marathon in 3:12:00.

For the immediate future he will not be competing in the New York City Marathon.

“I don’t like this event,” he said. (“We don’t gain anything much out of it). Instead I’ll be running in the Philadelphia Half Marathon in November.”

His best time in a half marathon is 1:27:00 in Staten Island. His best time for a 10K is 40 minutes, and he broke it last week in the Brooklyn race.

A former member of the Shore Athletic Club based in New Jersey, now competing for the Socal Club, based in California, he is residing in Union, New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Abiyat Endale became the overall winner of the 6.2-mile event in 30:55 for the men and for the females it was Elodie Pinot who came first in 40:28. Overall she finished in 13th position.

“The time was a little slower than it was last year,” said Endale, who defended his title that he took in 2013 and is a member of the Westchester Track Club, coached by Mike Barnow. He ran ‘by himself’ for almost the entire distance.

Everybody had a great time competing in the age group run that once again was a marked success as it is almost every year. It drew almost 500 entries from the met area.

“We ran on a flat course for most part with great conditions,” said third place finisher Andy Hsueh, who was timed in 34:52, one place behind runner-up Julius Mutekanga, who timed in at 34:38.

Everybody had a great time competing in the age group run, including the athletes competing on a bicycle, and the kids in the fun run both of which preceded the main 10K.

“This race has been changing but once again it is growing,” said its director Gabriel Jones, whose grand daughter Bre Jones, won the fun run. “We had about 500 runners registered in the race.”

Rounding out the top five athletes included David Aim, who covered the course in 36:40, for fourth place, and Abel Perez who ran a 36:57 for fifth spot. Rounding out the top three in the female division were Megan Sullivan, whose 42:29 placed her 29th overall and Ellis O’Neill, who was right behind her in a time of 42:45.

“We had a Brooklyn race (and plenty of awards),” added a spokesman from the race committee, who, along with the runners, expect to return next year.