Astoria’s Sneller wins half-marathon

Phil Sneller and Matt Dispensa, both from Queens, proved to be the class of the field of 4,371 entrants in the 30th annual Queens Half Marathon on Sunday morning September 14.
The 29-year-old Sneller, a resident of Astoria, pulled away about midway through the 13.1-mile race and covered the flat course in 1:13.26. The 21-year-old Dispensa, who is on the track team at Adelphi University, and a resident of College Point, placed a distant second in 1:15.33.
Shortly after the start of the race, Dispensa set the pace and held the lead, but toward the midway mark seemed that he just could not keep it up. Sneller, who was runner-up at the time, made up ground and for a short distance the duo battled together for the lead.
Between the sixth and seventh miles, Sneller put on a burst, Dispensa fell back, and never posed a threat. Sneller felt confident and easily coasted home to victory.
Other borough finishers in the top 35 included Jose Berrio Londono of College Point who finished fourth in 1:16.24, for fourth position in the age group race, Ben Kaufmann of Astoria who wound up ninth in 1:19.34, three places ahead of Elmhurst’s Albert Gomez (1:21.27, 12th place), Adam Kuklinski of Kew Gardens (1:21.42, 15), Andrei Volik of Astoria (1:22.13, 17), Dave Miles of Fresh Meadows (1:25.06, 33), and Juan Cardonoa of Middle Village (1:25.08, 35).
Meanwhile, the initial female to cross the finish line was Manhattan’s Beatriz Ivanova, whose 1:21.33 earned her 14th place overall in a race which attracted runners from mostly the tri-state area.
The highest placing female finisher from Queens was Long Island City’s Stephanie Hodge, whose 1:28.07 was good for 53rd overall.
Many of the entrants used this race as a tune-up for the New York City Marathon to be run on the first Sunday of November.
The weather was warm and muggy as well as partly cloudy. Moreover, the athletes usually enjoy competing in such a race early in the morning - it started at 7 a.m.
The Queens Half-Marathon is part of a Grand Prix series of one such race in each borough throughout the calendar year and conducted by the New York Road Runners Club with the help of the College Point Road Runners Club.
The competitors started outside of MacNeil Park. The course took them on the streets of College Point, Malba, Whitestone, and Beechhurst. It finished within the park itself.
One individual who enjoyed competing in the race was Jerry Ruiz, President of the Alley Pond Striders, who ran a 2:04.25 and said that this race is the most challenging of all the half marathon races.
“But it was the most fun,” Ruiz said. “Now I’ll be pointing toward the New York City Marathon.”
Some of the runners did not favor the fact that the course had too many turns.
“Too many turns and too many hills,” said South Ozone Park resident Jose Rivera, who was timed in 2:12. “Other than that the course was very hard. It was better the way they had it (two years ago when we ran on a two-loop course). Now it’s one loop.”
One runner who slowed down a bit toward the end was Lionel Ledesma of Elmhurst, who cramped up on his left leg at the 13th mile mark, but still finished in 2:34.
Ledesma had run this 13.1-mile distance before but not competitively.
The race was started by Senator Frank Padavan. The CPRRC helped the NYRRC in staging the event and supplied the many volunteers, who did a tremendous job.
The race once again proved to be a huge success. The College Point Road Runners Club used to conduct the event themselves, but in 2000, the NYRRC came aboard, and incorporated it into a Grand Prix.
“Despite the humid weather, we had a great turn out for the race, which we usually do,” according to the staff of the New York Road Runners Club.