The 22nd annual Police Officer Gabriel Vitale 5K Memorial Run will be contested Saturday at 9:30 a.m. in College Point.
The start of the 3.1-mile race will be near 119th Street and Poppenhusen Avenue outside MacNeil Park. The course takes the runners through the College Point scenic residential neighborhood and park and ends within the park itself. There will be splits at each mile.
With the race’s new date in the spring rather than in September, race director Leo Nicholas and his staff expect a large turnout of runners and are hoping to get some top-name athletes. Although the registration is slow, a lot of top athletes make up their minds during the week of the race.
In addition to the 5K, there will be a half-mile race for children 12 and under. This race will start at 10:30 a.m.
The race is named for Vitale, who was killed in the line of duty while apprehending a burglar in December 1980. He was assigned to the 109th Precinct in Flushing.
A Perpetual Memorial Cup, donated by the Vitale family, will be presented to the first-place police team representing the winning precinct.
A team is comprised of three members from one precinct.
Proceeds from the age group race will benefit the College Point Road Runners Club age group program.
The upcoming race is the third leg of the first Queens Grand Pit Series. The last two races are the Quantum Feet 5K in Fresh Meadows on Sunday, June 8, and the Hellgate 5K in Astoria on Saturday, June 14.
For further information and/or applications on the Vitale race, call 718-762-1519 or 718-424-2478, or sign up before 9 a.m. on race day.
Runners shouldn’t forget about the College Point Road Runners Club 5K Summer Series of three races, the first one starting Friday evening, June 13, at Flushing Meadow Park.
For further information on the Grand Prix, call 718-454-3338.
In other running news, two Queens residents recently cracked the top 10 in the 25th Annual Long Beach 10-mile road race.
While 37-year-old Guillermo Fuentes of Fresh Meadows surged to the front after the first mile and won the race along the flat course in 58:16, 51-year-old Ted Truet of Glen Oaks was clocked in at 1:04.12 for 10th-place overall and first place in his 50 to 54 age group in a field of 375 finishers.
