The annual New York Road Runners (NYRR) Queens 10K returns for the first time since 2019 to invite thousands to race throughout Flushing Meadows Corona Park this Father’s Day weekend.
On Saturday, June 18, starting at 7:45 a.m., runners will be embarking on a 10-kilometer run starting on Meridian Road and ending right near the Fountain of Planets.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NYRR halted all in-person races.
“After a three-year hiatus it’s an honor to return to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park for the NYRR Queens 10K, our premier event in the borough, with more than 10,000 runners and hundreds of kids in our Rising New York Road Runners youth races,” said Ted Metellus, NYRR vice president of events and race director.
In 2020, NYRR pivoted to virtual offerings, hosting the TCS New York City Marathon with 16,000 finishers from 108 countries.
“Our Queens community is strong, vibrant, and involved, especially in our year-round youth and community programming, so we are thrilled to be back racing and celebrating in full force,” Metellus said.
One family has been enjoying the NYRR race for six years. Floral Park resident Roy Menendez, 48, has been running the race since 2016. Menendez’s two sons joined him in 2018 after working their way up from the NYRR youth event two years prior.
“It’s always great to do activities together and I feel it’s an opportunity to instill healthy habits [and] setting and accomplishing goals,” Menendez said. “It’s going to be such an amazing weekend we are looking forward to running a major race in my backyard in Flushing Meadows Park.”
Menedez said that this race is special because it takes place where he grew up.
“As a kid, my parents would take us to Flushing Meadows Corona Park and I loved going there ever since,” Menendez said. “But running a race there brings back all of the awesome memories, and now of course creates new ones with my kids.”
