New course record at the Flower City Half Marathon

ROCHESTER — This past Sunday, Niagara’s half marathon took place and Kip Tisia had a memorable day.
Tisia, of Cleveland, NY won the 2013 USATF Niagara Association Half Marathon Champion by crushing the field.

Tisia finished with a time of 1:04:58, which was a new course record as the Flower City Half Marathon hosted the Championships. Tisia lead early hitting the first mile in 5 minutes along with Tim Chichester of Mount Morris, NY, Jared Burdick of Manilus, NY , and Patrick Geoghegan of Syracuse, NY. Tisia soon took control of the race, running away from the rest of the field. Tisia came across the 5km mark at 15:20 and the 10km mark in 30:15.

Tisia talked about how he handled his pace during the race.
“I would’ve loved to hammer down the last 5k and see how fast I can go, but it’s a hard course even though I know it,” Tisia said. “I am front runner and running alone is just like running in front of a pack of good guys.”

Tim Chichester, from Livingston County, finished 2nd overall with a time of 1:08:32, followed by Jared Burdick with a time of 1:09:00. Patrick Geoghegan finished 4th with a time of 1:09:51 and rounding out the top 5 for USATF Niagara results was William Way of Ithaca, NY, who finished 6th overall with a time of 1:10:22. Derrick Jones of Henrietta, NY won the masters title with a time of 1:13:34.

In the women’s race Lynn Youngman of Scottsville, NY defended her USATF Niagara Half Marathon title by running a 1:19:34. Youngman won the 2012 USATF Niagara Half Marathon title at the Empire State Half Marathon last year. Karen Simmonds-Brady of Auburn, NY finished 2nd with a time of 1:20:02, Karen Blodgett of Fairport, NY was 3rd with a time of 1:22:03, Dana Buchanan of Rochester, NY finished 4th with a time of 1:22:39. Trisha Byler was 5th for Niagara with a time of 1:25:02. The Women’s Masters Title was captured by Robin Merrill-Lorenzo of Rochester, NY. 
Merrill-Lorenzo finished with a time of 1:34:43.

Youngman said the run and victory had an emotional meaning to her.

“With the events that occurred recently in Boston, it’s been emotional because I graduated from Boston College. I ran with everyone connected to Boston in mind today,” Youngman said. “I’m better at the longer races. I felt good late in the race and Karen Simmonds-Brady was out in front of me and I realized if I catch her I can win this.”