Ronald Joseph of Rockaway Park finished in sixth placed overall but still went back home with a trophy in the Sean Ryan 5K road race in Long Beach, Long Island. The race was conducted by the City of Long Beach in conjunction with its sponsors.
The 30-year-old Joseph was indeed satisfied with his performance and covered the 3.1 mile course in 18:29 for second place in his 30-34 age bracket behind Ryan Jantszen, who ran 18:23, in the age group event. Brandon Abasolo, 22, was the overall winner in 16:22 in a field of 269 finishers not counting the wheelchair winner.
Joseph, who lived 22 years in Brooklyn, has been residing for the past eight years in the Rockaways. He never ran in high school while he attended Christ The King, as he concentrated more on his academics.
Ronald’s mother likewise was not an athlete in high school and the same goes go for his father. But Ron’s grand mother Lynette Joseph and his grand father Ronald on his father’s side, came to Brooklyn from Trinidad where they were born Ronald Sr. was the only one in the family who competed in sports in his younger days.
Joseph’s goal is to run a 17:59 for the 5K. In addition to the 5K, he runs at other distance races, as well. He runs a 10-miler in one hour and six minutes. He has also run a marathon.
“But I run mostly 5Ks,” he said, after his race in Long Beach. “I won’t say that this is my favorite distance. I would love to run the 100 and 200 meters. I’m more built to run the short distance races.”
Joseph’s personal best time is 18:21 for the 5K turned in at the Buckley’s to Kennedy’s race that had a new course because of the hurricane last May. Still, the course remained in the Rockaways and it drew a huge amount of entries.
“Living in Rockaway Park is much better than living in Brooklyn, for the (former) has he boardwalk and has the breeze to keep cool,” he said. Joseph competes for a running club called ‘We are Athletes,’ out of Farmingdale, Long Island.
However, none of his teammates were with him to cheer him or even ran in the recent event that ran throughout the city streets because the Boardwalk was still being re-built.
Rounding out the top five finishers in a race consisting mostly of Long Island residents were Gerry O’Hara who finished third in 16:56, Andrew Smith whose 17:48 was good for fourth place, and Ryan Jantzen.
