By The TimesLedger
Coming off two age group victories last weekend, Julio Aguirre, a member of the College Point Road Runners Track Club, is entered into the 23rd annual Queens Half-Marathon, Saturday morning April 14. The gun goes off at 8 a.m. adjacent to McNeil Park in College Point.
The 54-year-old covered the 10K Aspire Run in Plainview in 38:19 and the 5K Eugene McCarthy Memorial Run in Prospect Park in 18:36. In both races he won his age group.
The resident of Corona competed in the Queens Half seven times with his best performance 1:21 three years ago. His best time for any 13.1 mile event is 1:14:40 at the Staten Island Half Marathon two years ago. Last year he was timed in 1:22 for the Queens Half.
Originally from Ecuador, Aguirre, 55, came to this borough in 1977. He practices two hours a day at Flushing Meadows Park. Aguirre took first place overall last year in the MAC point championships with 1,200 points. He wants to win first place in New York and Long Island this year.
“My goal at Queens this week is to do a 1:23 and get first in my age group,” he said. “When I step to the line my strategy will be just to run.”
Aguirre is one of over 2,000 runners who have entered the competition, conducted by the New York Road Runners and College Point Road Runners clubs.
“Last year we had 2,641 starters for this half-marathon,” a spokesman for the NYRRC said “We are expecting for over 2,500 entries.”
Many of the top athletes enter the week of the race . For further information call 762-1519.
