Race Recap and Race Director’s Prize - 2026
I think my shoes will still be squishing a week from now, and all the stuff hauled back to Paine to Pain Global HQ might take a month to dry out.
But it was worth it, no? We started with a drizzle that slowly increased to a good, consistent drenching. If you were fast, you had a comfortable ride over those 13 miles of trail. But those further back faced a solid soaking as the closing miles of trails turned to mud. But I didn’t see much complaining at the finish, and our no-show rate was just the same as it is when we have sunny skies. Trail runners seem to be made of different stuff.
What I saw from the finish line was nothing less than thrilling. On the men’s side, we crowned Jonthomas Bierman of Mamaroneck as Champion with a 1:17:24. But that’s only a small part of his 12-year journey to finish tape glory, because J.T. first ran this race as a 12-year-old. And when he came back and crushed the course as a 13-year-old I wrote this in my 2016 recap as I discussed some of the shining lights of the day:
One of those lights was a bottle rocket of a kid, Jonthomas Bierman, who was not only running P2P for the second time despite being just 13 years old, but managed to scalp a full eight minutes off last year's maiden voyage by running 1:33 and coming in 25th overall. Methinks our front runners had best be worried if J.T. Firecracker keeps coming back, for this princeling of the trails may one day snatch that laurel wreath (if we actually used laurel wreaths).
If I had such prescience in the stock market I’d be a billionaire.
Following Bierman to the tape just 13 seconds later was newcomer Matt Jacob, and just 16 seconds behind him was 2024 Champion Mark Feigen. As with all of our champs, Bierman not only took home his engraved P2P tankard, but he comes back as my guest for as long as I remain Race Director.
The women’s side was no less thrilling, with four previous champions in the mix! Breaking the tape was 2021 Champion (and 2024 runner-up) Jeanne Mack of Brooklyn in a stunning 1:30:18. Taking second spot on the podium (if we had an actual podium) was 2015 champ (and 2023 age group winner) Laura Coogan. Rounding out this extraordinary group was three-time winner (2019, 2022, 2023) Joelle Reeves. And that, my friends, is a whole lot of talent. And tankards. (Tankards, unlike trophies, are actually useable.)
Before I get to the costume contest and the Race Director’s Recap, let me remind you that the reason we can put on a top quality event at such a cheap price is for a few reasons: We don't just have best the volunteers, but we we all do it for free. This is what the volunteers do to make it happen, much of which is unseen by the athlete. Money is used for things like shirts, medals, police, permits, toilets, food, insurance, bibs, timing, etc.
We get tremendous community support, some of which comes in the form of donations from runners, and some in the form of cash or services provided by: Merrill, Audi of New Rochelle, DataKey Consulting/Career Launch, Westchester Road Runner (logistics - 18 years in a row!), Montefiore New Rochelle Hospital, Empress Ambulance, Echo Design Lab (the shirts/medals!), Artie Tobia (tunes!), New York on Foot (our website!), Athletic Brewing, NeverStopMoving 365, and other local benefactors listed/linked on the bottom of home page that you should
Now you know that we also had a costume contest. Why? Because sometimes we do things just for fun. We don't really need another reason. And this winner was a close call at the start line, but a winner was easy by the finish. Runner-up is John Cannistraci, dressed as the American flag, a most appropriate costume as we celebrated the 250th year of Thomas Paine going viral with Common Sense. But.
But, Andres Matamoros didn't just wear the always-comical banana suit, he did it while being heavily rained upon. He was probably carrying more extra weight in that soggy suit then 10 other runners combined. And that weight carries weight with this RD.
Matamoros did it for the laughs. Given that I’ve run many a turkey trot in turkey suits, I get it. He checked not just one box with me, but two. So he comes back as my guest for a future P2P.
Finally, we come to the issue of the Race Director’s Prize. This is given out under my all-encompassing powers as Grand Poobah with no one to stop me as I sometimes just make stuff up [insert all-powerful, maniacal laugh].
First created on a whim when a runner turned a cartwheeled down the homestretch, and then awarded to runners who stopped to help others in need, or volunteers who took personal risks to protect runners, or for any other reason I make up on the spot, the recipient of the prize is limited only by the imagination of friends who make suggestions to me. This year, was a close call.
My first impulse was to give it to Eugene Shats. He unknowingly became our 10,000th runner to cross our finish line. Not bad for a little local trail race that has grown due to word of mouth. And when I say word of mouth, I mean the things that you, dear reader, have been saying to others that causes them to come run here. His award would, in essence, be symbolic of that word of mouth that you have all so graciously spread.
But. A symbolic word of mouth about how the race reputation has spread is one thing. What does the real McCoy look like? John Elton, a regular of this race, didn’t just bring his three daughters to race, but convinced his friends Mark and Susan Anderson of Cape Town, South Africa to come in to run. And they did.
What exact words did Elton use? I can’t say for sure. But I am both honored and humbled that he thought the race was worthy of such treatment. Elton returns as my guest next year.
Race photos are here. [Link coming soon]
Race Reviews for 2026 are here. [Link soon, currently compiling comments as I find them.]