Youness Benzaid, a cross-country runner at Bryant High School, captured the 10th Team Brickwell 5K road race on June 14, passing pacesetter Romario McDowell before the first mile of a hilly-as-advertised annual race at Kissena Park in Flushing.
Benzaid, finishing at 17:12.7, was joined by Bryant teammates Kevin Iboy, Andrew Bahr, Ricky Ibarra, Vijay Jajoria, and Siddartha Tamang, whose placements ranged from fifth (Bahr) to 26th.
“The race was good even though we ran over little hills,” said Benzaid, 16, whose long-range goal is to be an Olympic champion. “They were hard on me. But I kept going.”
“It’s a pretty challenging two-loop course, lots of little ups and downs,” agreed Brickwell Cycling and Multisport owner Andrew Motola, who followed the course with his bicycle to make sure that everyone was running safely.
Benzaid, who ran an 18:42 last year in the same race, put in about 75 miles a week on speed and long-distance work in Astoria Park. He easily defeated second-place Jaime Palacios, a Fresh Meadows marathoner timed at 17:43.2, and third-place Roldan Evaristo, an Astoria resident who came in at 18:23.5.
Palacios, 54, has run in the Brickwell race since its inception. He put in about 60 miles a week at Alley Pond Park and is currently gearing up for the New York City Marathon.
Una Broderick was the women’s winner, crossing the finish line at 19:12.7.
“We had some good runners and a good event,” Motola said. “The weather held up for us, which was surprising considering the weather we’ve had in the month of June.”
“We had good support from everybody and a good turnout,” race director Dominic Ortiz agreed. “And we had representation from all the clubs in Queens, as well as from Greater Long Island Running Club and Long Island Runners. “
Representatives from the Alley Pond Striders, Forest Park Runners, College Point Running Club and Hellgate Running Club were among those who showed up to tackle the course. Raffles and race hats helped punctuate the morning’s events, and approximately 200 entrants competed.
