Noel Haynes turned in a successful performance in the Fifth Avenue Mile in Manhattan. Now he feels confident heading into the New York City Marathon to be held on Sunday, Nov. 6 starting in Staten Island and ending in Manhattan. Last November he ran the NYC Marathon in 3 hours 48 minutes.
“Now I’m training a little smarter than I did last year,” the 65-year-old Haynes said. “Since I had several injuries, including a bruised bone on his left heel. I haven’t been training during the past six weeks.”
At first Haynes, a native of Barbados, didn’t even think that he wound win the Fifth Avenue Mile when he entered into it. His division was one for men and women between ages 60 and 69, broken down two sections for scoring purposes. This was one of several races on the program, organized and conducted by the New York Road Runners Club. This card is one of the many highlights on the fall NYRRC schedule.
The overall victor of the race in this 60-69 bracket was Ronville Gravesande, who took the event with a 5:09 time. And the third overall male in the race belonged to Haynes, but he was the winner of the 65-69 bracket in 5:32, in a close finish at the end or around 62nd Street. Second place belonged to Harold Nolan, who was recorded in 5:28.
Haynes, who was satisfied with his clocking, hasn’t been training much and has a good kick during his competition. In the race, he stayed with his rivals and eventually increased the lead during the latter stages of the race.
A resident of the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, and a product of the Borough of Manhattan Community College, Haynes is capable of running any distance, including four miles. He recently turned in a 28 minute performance for this distance in Central Park, as part of his training for the New York City Marathon.
Haynes grew up in Barbados where he resided from 1946 until 1978. His main sport was table tennis, and he excelled at it in his native land. His specialty was the sprints in track. When he came to the United States he started to run just for the exercise and after a while he became a competitive runner.
“Now I have to increase my mileage slowly so I won’t get any injuries as I head into the New York City Marathon,” added Haynes, who does porter work and does elevator work for his profession. “I want to do at least three and a half hours, no longer than that.
“My strategy in the marathon is to get out at a 7:45 pace, hold on to it and see what happens.
