By The TimesLedger
Jacobo Perez trailed for much of the first of two miles of the College Point Road Runners Track Club’s first of two summer 5K or 3.1-mile races over a two loop course in Flushing Meadows Corona Park this weekend. But made up for his slow start down the stretch.
The 26-year-old, a resident of Jackson Heights took the lead at the beginning of the second loop from Samir Halilovic, pulled away and held on to win in 16:17.
Halilovic held the lead from the beginning of the race, going out at a 5:08 clip for the first mile. But William Bedrock and Perez passed him before the early leader eventually passed Bedrock and settled for second. Halilovic, 18, of Ridgewood, finished second in 16:52, 10 seconds ahead of Bedrock.
Most of the 65 competitors didn’t mind the light rain because they often train through this type of weather conditions.
“The weather is fine and I like these conditions,” said Perez, who has been running for 12 years and originally hails from Mexico.
Meanwhile, Halilovic, who competed on the cross country and track teams at Grover Cleveland High School, is getting ready to go overseas, training in Bosnia, where he will be visiting his family and getting ready to continue his education and running at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
On the women’s side, Liz Murray, of Elmhurst, was first in 20:10, which earned her 18th place overall.
“This is our first Wednesday night race,” co-race director Keith Sullivan said. “Hopefully, the next one [July 17] will be better [in terms of entries].”
