Breaking personal records is a goal that every dedicated runner understands, and for Kevin Montalvo, the founder of Queens Distance Runners (QDR) and race director of the Queens Marathon, it’s a passion turned mission.
As the mastermind behind one of Queens’ most celebrated races, Montalvo has built a community where runners push their limits and celebrate their achievements together.
With his infectious smile and seemingly boundless energy, the Jackson Heights native would tell you that the Queens Marathon teaches the true meaning of resilience. Outside his M.P.S. tenure at CUNY City College and career as the Communications Manager for Jackson Heights Council Member Shekar Krishnan, Montalvo crafts a passion project influencing people to pound the pavement.
In an era when marathoning is in high demand, the Queens Marathon is a love letter to the running soul.
On a chilly mid-November morning near the Unisphere at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the stomping steps of sneakers trail to the start line. The clicking sounds of watches engulf the air. The runners stretch their joints and direct their gaze towards the flat course. Their noses crinkle and their hands rub together in anticipation.
It was a few short minutes before the 8 a.m. start time of the 9th Annual Queens Marathon.
What started as a low-key race for Queens locals has become the dark horse of the running world, growing in popularity with novice and seasoned runners. This year, the Half Marathon and 10K events accompanied the USATF-certified course to attract more public interest. The distance trifecta beckoned to committed runners across the urban landscape.
Akin to a father carefully watching his family, Montalvo studied the crowd of warriors with pleasing gratitude and prideful glee.
A week prior, he received word that the Queens Marathon surpassed a staggering number of 1,000 registrants for the first time in QDR history. Not bad for a Queens kid.
With a striking gleam in his eyes, Montalvo raised his megaphone and bellowed kind remarks to the runners, thanking them for their enduring support of the QDR brand—whether volunteering to marshal races, cleaning up parks post-race, or simply cheering on the runners. The fortified runners hooted and hollered in response. After wishing them luck on their respective races, Montalvo counted down.
“10! 9! 8! 7! 6!” Their voices steadily increased with power. “5! 4! 3! 2! 1!”
The megaphone emitted a siren sound, opening the floodgate of runners trotting down the road. These brave souls commenced their journeys through the looped course for purposes unique to their own.
Montalvo later described the memorable milestone on his Instagram: “A picture is worth a thousand words, but last Sunday was worth a thousand stories.”
Despite the amicable attitude of Montalvo, the 2015 birth of the Queens Marathon arrived from melancholic beginnings. His parents, hailing from Ecuador, separated when Montalvo was 9. He was left to his mother’s care and did his best to become involved in athletics.
“I’d always been encouraged by my father before the separation to participate in as many sports as possible. I tried to keep in that spirit. But unfortunately, once my parents became separated, I became unmotivated,” Montalvo recounted. He admitted to developing unhealthy eating habits as a coping mechanism.
Little did he know the unfortunate circumstances led to what he would become famous for. Montalvo fostered a close-knit connection with fellow runners to counter the emotional loss of his family. He is familiar with the adverse effects of loneliness, and he does not want anybody else to feel what he once felt.
“It’s not something that was a part of my upbringing, but I eventually ended up having a huge team that filled the void that I missed when I had a family and no longer had it,” Montalvo said. “So that’s one component that filled the gap that was missing when I was a kid.”
Both casual runners and community-run leaders are always impressed by Montalvo’s relentless will to ensure the Queens Marathon runs smoothly. As part of his race-organizing routine, he wakes up in the dead of night to assist the volunteers with setting up the course.
“I remember when they were putting on the marathon, and I volunteered to help with waterlogging [removing excess water from the course],” Samantha Chau, 36, the current QDR Captain, recalled from one of her initial experiences working with the Race Director. “I just thought to myself, ‘What kind of person wants to get up at 3 a.m. to set the course? And do all the stuff behind the scenes for others?’ You really have to love the sport… and I was really taken by that. And he was not getting paid to do this. This is pure passion. And to me, that struck a chord.”
In terms of his worldview, Montalvo is determined to bring diversity to the running scene, and where else better to do that than in the World’s Borough? He envisioned a running culture that was as widespread in Queens as it was in other parts of the city.
“He’s trying to make the world better by getting a closer community, especially around Queens. And the focus is on people who have largely been ignored,” Edwin Guzman, 36, QDR Co-Founder and one of Montalvo’s closest friends, asserted. “Road Runners [NYRR] and NYC Runs have a lot of races throughout New York City. They focus on Manhattan and Brooklyn. A lot of places have, for lack of a better word, generally richer neighborhoods with a white population. So trying to be diverse and inclusive means bringing all the races to Queens.”
Montalvo’s colorful spirit made him the most qualified individual to lead the team’s race operations.
Maria Wong, 36, QDR Co-Founder and Montalvo’s wife, believed her husband’s magnetism drove the Queens Marathon forward.
“Any time we go anywhere, his face is very recognizable. His energy is also what I think a lot of people get attracted to,” Wong expressed about her husband. “It’s very telling to see people get magnetically attracted to that energy. And he knows that. And he’s using it in a way to benefit Queens.”
Adrian Fernandez, 32, a three-time Queens Marathon finisher, felt motivated by Montalvo’s words of wisdom during their track workouts at Juniper Valley Park. “Kevin just makes you believe that you can do it. That’s what I always tell him. I didn’t believe I could run these times. He’s always like, ‘You can do it!’” said Fernandez. “He’s the one that’s going to help me get a sub three [sub three-hour marathon time] in the next year.”
Montalvo visualized a future rendition of the Queens Marathon as a jovial festivity where people come together in the name of running. “I see people taking vacations to come out to Queens. I see people enjoying a weeklong celebration of running. Not just in the races themselves but also taking part in our community group runs and enjoying our businesses,” Montalvo said.
The charismatic leader also revealed his dream marathon course once it hit the streets. It would start at the Queensboro Bridge “as a nod of respect to the New York City Marathon and having it go through a dozen or so neighborhoods and potentially finishing at the Rockaways,” he shared.
Montalvo is focused on exceeding 1,000 registrants in the March and December editions of the Queens Marathon in 2025. “I am planning on marketing the events with greater anticipation, allowing runners and members of the community that are not currently involved to sign up and train for our races,” Montalvo said. “I hope and expect to engage with run clubs and crews outside of Queens to drive up registrants from folks in the outer boroughs and beyond.”
Montalvo is a beacon of positivity to those who encounter him. His leadership abilities brought the idea of a local marathon to life. Because of his wholehearted appreciation for community building, Montalvo won the hearts of the public.
With the tenth anniversary of the Queens Marathon fast approaching, Montalvo wished to inspire the next field of marathoners-to-be with the same voracious approach that earned him the nickname “El Capitán.” The Race Director utilized his emotional experience with his family breaking apart into an engine of change for the borough. As Pitbull sings in the 2011 hit “Give Me Everything,” he turned his life from negative to positive.
For now, Montalvo will continue to deliver an upbeat message in the words that inspired a thousand runners: “Why not Queens? Why not us? Why not now?”