Last October Kirt Joseph, once a tremendous runner at Grady High School in Brooklyn, put in an exhibition by competing in two road races in a close span.
First he won the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza 10K, took a brief rest after his vctory, and traveled a few miles from Brooklyn to Greenpoint, Queens for another race, a shorter 5K one.
Doubling proved to be a tremendous success for the Trinidad native, who now resides in Brooklyn.
He won the 3.1 mile Get to the Point race in Greenpoint, making his performance worth while last year. He thus made it two for two in one day or in a short period of time.
Last Sunday, on a great day weather wise for a such an event, Joseph tried to duplicate his performance by doing the same thing, for the longer event started at 10:00 a.m.. He won the 6.2 mile race in 34:39.74, and rested only a short time and had to make time to get to the starting line in Greenpoint by 1:00 p.m.
This time the two races took a little ‘out of him’ as he was clocked in 16:55 for ninth place overall in the age group race. In his 30-39 category, he finished fourth.
When asked about his second race of the day, Joseph said, “Tough. The competition was a little too strong for me. We had a lot of good runners this year out here.”
In the Bed-Stuy race, Gideon Mornix also of Brooklyn covered the course in 34:41.18, one place ahead of Garland Days, who was timed in 35:03.78. Rounding out the top five were Ricardo Bailey (35:18.3) and Dave Wurtz (35:56.9).
The remainder of the top 10 included Damion Walker (37:29.24), Bernardo Hernandez (37:34.46), Anthony Watson (37:36.11), Amado Lawson (38:04.84) and Rusty Singletary (38:26.14).
The female winner was Rebecca Gorges, whose 39:08.24 earned her 12th place overall in a race that had about 450 finishers, including walkers.
Meanwhile, Pavel Marosin captured the Greenpoint race in 15:54.
The weather was just ideal for the annual races. Some entrants from both races used them as a tune-up or as a practice run for the upcoming New York City Marathon which takes place on Nov. 7.
And the 39-yer-old Joseph once again will be one of the entrants in the huge City Marathon field. His goal is to run a 2:35 for the 27-mile grind.
“I have a lot of problems with the New York City Marathon,” Joseph said. “After mile 20 I would struggle a lot.
“Running is in my blood.. I love running and I love this race. I also love the Get ToThe Point race. This is the second year I’ve run the Bed-Stuy race. They (the directors) changed the course around a little bit…”
Meanwhile, another runner originally from Trinidad, now also residing in Brooklyn, Mornix, is not a marathoner, but will try to train for this long distance race so that he could enter into it next fall. Mornix formerly ran 5Ks to half marathons and competed in triathlons in Trinidad.
“We ran on a hard course with a lot of turns,” said Mornix, who competed in this Bed-Stuy race for his third time.
Mornix took the early lead with Joseph and Days for the first half mile and then slowed down a little bit. After the fourth mile Joseph soon surged into first place and maintained his lead.
Watson, like Joseph, is training for the New York City Marathon. The Bed-Stuy Restoration race was part of a training race for him. Watson, also satisfied with his time, is a veteran at this Bed-Stuy race, for he made 16 appearances in such an event. He is the coach of the Prospect Park Track Club.
Originally from Jamaica, West Indies, Watson always was a runner. He has been at this sport for 36 years.
“We had one of the biggest turnouts that we’ve ever had in our last nine years,” Colvin Grannum, in his ninth year as president of the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, said. “Years ago we had close to 1000 entrants. We’re very pleased. We ran on a nice course on a beautiful day. We had a number of clubs in our race.”
And the directors of the Get To The Point race were also satisfied with the turnout, which had automatic timing for its first time.
This means that last Sunday alone almost 1000 athletes turned out for the running activity in Brooklyn and Queens.
