No doubt about it: Jenny Simpson is the Queen of the Fifth Avenue Mile.
She used her tactical smarts once again to outfox a talented field and make the run from 80th Street to 60th Street in Manhattan in 4:18.8 to win her seventh Fifth Avenue Mile – and sixth in a row – over American Colleen Quigley by about a second.
The course was cool and rainy, but Simpson managed. “It’s kind of slick,” she told NBC after the race, “so I wanted to play into that apprehension and take it out hard and say, if you want to run this race, you’ve got to come with me. We’re going to risk it all, life and limb. Colleen was a really formidable opponent today. I saved a little for her.”
In the men’s race, defending champ (and three-time winner) Nick Willis (NZL) almost won a fourth title, but was beaten to the line by Britain’s Jake Wightman. Even with the tough conditions, the event was a historic success, with a record 7,704 total finishers in the many divisions. Summaries:
Fifth Avenue Mile
New York, New York (USA) ~ 9 September 2018
(Full results here)
Men: 1. Jake Wightman (GBR), 3:53.5; 2. Nick Willis (NZL), 3:54; 3. Neil Gourley (GBR), 3:56; 4. Eric Avila (USA), 3:56; 5. Sam McEntee (AUS), 3:56.
Women: 1. Jenny Simpson (USA), 4:18.8; 2. Colleen Quigley (USA), 4:20; 3. Melissa Courtney (GBR), 4:21; 4. Emma Coburn (USA), 4:21; 5. Alexa Efraimson (USA), 4:21.
