Thomas Breen photos
Carlos Rojas (center, in white) after finishing Monday’s 5K. Below: Racers line up for 20K and Half Marathon.
Thirteen-year-old Fair Havener Carlos Rojas beat his past best 5K time by over two minutes Monday as he joined around 5,000 runners for the city’s annual Labor Day road race.
Rojas, a rising eighth grader at Conte West Hills Magnet School in Wooster Square, didn’t win the 5K portion of the 42nd annual New Haven Road Race.
But, in his third year participating, he did notch his personal best run time yet, crossing the Temple Street finish line just after the 19:21 mark, over two minutes better than his 21:24 finish time in 2018.
Crowds fill the Upper Green for Monday’s race.
“I feel like I got prepared much more better,” he said through sweat and a smile after finishing the race, arm in arm with a fellow runner as they made their way to a table topped with paper water cups.
To train, he said, “I ran more every day.” Six miles every day, to be precise, in the weeks and months leading up to the race. “I feel good,” he said.
That latter remark was a common refrain on the New Haven Green Monday morning as the nearly 5,000 registered runners and thousands more friends, family, and supporters who turned out marveled at the relatively cool temperatures and picture-perfect fall weather on hand for the races.
Michael Dolan (pictured), a local attorney and longtime New Haven Road Race runner serving his first year as the race’s president, praised the “ideal weather” for the day’s half-mile kid’s race, 5K, 20K, and Half Marathon competitions.
“A competitive race upfront,” he said when asked what he’d like to see from this year’s road race, the first under his watch. “With everybody staying healthy.”
The start of the kids race on Temple Street.
The kids’ race, the first of the morning, kicked off on Temple Street just north of Elm Street at 8:10.
Sitting patiently in rows in the middle of the street outside the downtown branch of the public library, the kids waited for Mayor Toni Harp, Dolan, and longtime road race organizer John Bysiewicz to call them to their feet.
“We’re not going to start off really fast,” Bysiewicz said. “We’re not going to push anybody. We’re going to make sure that we’re going to run a safe route. Rememeber, it’s half a mile. Have some fun. Work hard. But don’t push anybody.”
And 30 seconds later … the kids were off, sprinting up Temple Street, some hand in hand with their parents.
Back towards the Green, the adult runners started doing their final stretches, jogs, and other athletic preparations as the 5K, 20K, and Half Marathon start times inched closer.
“It’s a holiday weekend and we wanted to get out and have a little fun,” 48-year-old Mt. Vernon, NY-native Aurelio Dimas (pictured) said about why he and his family had made the trip up to New Haven for the day so that he could participate in the 20K race.
On Elm Street just west of Temple, racers from throughout the region and the country lined up just before 8:30 for the Half Marathon and 20K races, the latter being a USA Track & Field (USATF) National Championship race with nearly $40,000 in prize money available for the top finishers. The 5K runners took their own starts from further down Temple Street and from Chapel Street and Church Street.
With a “3 … 2 … 1 …” countdown from a representative from the Faxon Law Group, the chief sponsor of the race, the runners were off down Elm Street, cheering onlookers lining either side of the street and cameramen in bucket trucks snapping aerial shots of the nationally competitive event.
“This was great, the weather was perfect,” North Stonington native Diane Cain (pictured) said after finishing the 5K, her eighth time participating in the New Haven race.
David Adams (pictured), an 80-year-old retired psychology professor and former peace director with UNESCO, said he has been running in the New Haven Road Race since it began 42 years ago. And every year, including this one, he has run barefoot.
He picked up that technique from friend and accomplished runner Charley Robbins, who told him that the best way to protect his knees while running is to do so with no shoes on.
“Here I am at 80,” Adams said after finishing the 5K, “and I’m still going.”
Leonard Korir wins the 20K.
The top three male finishers for Monday’s 5K race were Matthew Farrell of Glastonbury (15:07), Andre Ivankovic of Brooklyn (15:42), and Azaan Dawson of New Haven (15:55). The top three female finishers were Emily Stark of New Haven (18:03), Sybil Shapiro of Vernon Rockvill (18:09), and Sara-Caitrin Mandelbu (19:34).
The top three male finishers for Monday’s 20K were Leonard Korir of Colorado Springs, Colorado (59:06), Nathan Martin of Jackson, Michigan (59:32), and Parker Stinson of Boulder, Colorado (59:41). The top three female finishers for the 20K were Sara Hall of Flagstaff, Arizona (1:06:47), Katy Jermann of Burnsville, Minnesota (1:08:39), and Karis Jochen of Boulder, Colorado (1:09:17).
The top three male finishers for the Half Marathon were Moath Alkhawaldeh of Amman, Jordan (1:08:48), Paul Thompson of Peekskill, New York (1:14:36), and Jacob Edwards of Morristown, New Jersey (1:15:04). The top three female finishers for the Half Marathon were Myriam Coulibaly of New York City (1:31:33), Suzanne Cover of New York City (1:31:41), and Nikki Schachman of New Haven (1:32:39).
Click on the Facebook Live videos below to watch parts of Monday’s races.