Coaches

The Harriers are coached by a veteran and accomplished group of runners. The coaching staff, led by Head Coach Scott Bartucca, collectively designs and executes the Harrier Training Plan (available to all dues paying members), leads workouts, and holds an annual coaching clinic. Our coaches are certified by organizations including Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) and USA Track & Field (USATF). As a group, they have more than five combined decades of experience racing competitively in road racing (both short and long distance), cross country, and track.

**Scott Bartucca | Head Coach**

A runner for over 20 years and former “fastest base runner” in little league, Scott Bartucca joined the Harriers in 2008 and has served the team as a coach since 2011. He has coaching certifications from RRCA (level 2) and USATF, and broad experience in developing and implementing group and individual training plans for a variety of racing goals. Though starting out as a high school sprinter and hurdler, Scott has since become an experienced racer at the full spectrum of distances from 1 mile up to the marathon, with 30 marathons, including 6 Boston marathon finishes, an ultra, and over 40 half marathons to his credit. In addition to the Harriers, Scott has also led runs for Asics and coached the ASCPA and Doctors Without Borders NYC marathon charity teams. When not running, you can probably find him baking, playing the oboe, or buying cat t-shirts.

John Lynch

John grew up competing in track and field, focusing on the 400, 800, and High Jump. After getting out of shape in college and the few years following, he decided to take running back up. Despite starting off every run as a sprint and getting winded easily, he was quickly drawn to long-distance running and how it facilitated personal improvement and adventure (especially once he learned how to pace!). Then, after moving to NYC from St. Louis in 2019, he joined the Harriers, learned proper training structure, and his love for running expanded. In addition to traditional road racing events, John is a proponent of community track and short to mid-distance races. He enjoys competing and training for a variety of races across the spectrum, from the 800 all the way up to the 50k. When he isn’t running, he is likely swimming, biking, shooting hoops, reading, or consuming some kind of hot sauce.

Ryan Matisko

Ryan took up distance running shortly after moving to NYC, going from occasional 5k’s to Marathons over the last five years. Over that time, Ryan has earned his Doctorate of Physical Therapy, became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and an RRCA Level 1 run coach to help others not only fall in love with running but keep them injury-free throughout the process. If Ryan isn’t at Finish Line PT or coaching Wednesday morning speed workouts, you can find him spending time with friends, family and reading up on or watching the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Kristin Lunghamer

Born and raised outside of Detroit, Kristin was a fair-weathered
runner during Michigan summers until she ran her first half marathon
in Detroit in 2015. After going from a max of 6 miles to 13.1, she ran
another half before moving to New York City and running the marathon in the fall of 2016, which led her to qualifying for the Chicago and Boston marathons in 2017 and 2019. Finally in the summer of 2019, she thought she'd check out the Harrier's for a sweltering workout at the East River track and a cold beer at a local bar and the rest is history! Now with 8 marathons under her belt, most recently New York City and Berlin, training and running marathons is one of her greatest joys, especially with this team. She loves her frequent runs over the Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges in the morning and Central Park at the Wednesday evening workouts and on weekends. When she's not trying to plan a brewery run, she still loves to grab beers with friends, seek out live music, and cook dinner with her sisters at her apartment in Brooklyn.

Liz George

Liz’s relationship with distance running started whilst charity fundraising for ‘just one’ marathon in 2015. Inevitably she got the bug, and several marathons later she continues to chase that PR high. Originally from the U.K., she joined the Harriers in 2023 after moving to NYC from London as a way to meet a community in the city and get a touch faster at running in the process. Having never run at high school or college (or joined any running group before the Harriers), she aims to encourage runners coming to the sport later in life and all those who aren’t sure they’re ‘good enough’ to join a running club (you are!). When not running, you’ll find her lawyering, cooking or travelling around the US in search of tasty local beers.

Ethan Seltzer

Ethan's affinity for running began in middle school when he joined the cross country team; a decision motivated strictly by social reasons and not intended to develop into a lifelong hobby. Through high school he continued to explore distance running by participating in several half marathons despite the track coaches' attempts to convince him that running in small ovals would be more fun. After forgoing traditional coaching and joining a self-coached running club in college, Ethan was excited to join the Harriers in 2021 to take advantage of NYC's social running community coupled with a balanced training plan and guided coaching. He has completed 15+ marathons as well as several ultra-relays, and has led pace groups in several marathons and half marathons. When not running, he enjoys spending time in the lab, playing with dogs, and exploring everything NYC has to offer.

Eduardo Brandao

Eduardo started running in 2004 right before moving to NYC from Brazil just to keep busy while preparing for the move, that was love at first sight, or should we say first run. After taking a little break for his Masters Degree, he started running again in 2009 with a goal of running the NYC marathon. While completing the 9+1 in 2010 he ran his first marathon in Maine following a running magazine’s training plan. In 2011 he joined the Harriers looking for a more structured training plan for the NYC marathon and never looked back. Many years later, going from a 3:48 marathon finisher to sub-3 finish in his late 40’s, completing 14 marathons, a couple ultras and many shorter races he enjoys those long meditative runs and can be found run commuting everywhere he can. When he is not running, he spends his time reading, writing software on his computer and in the summer, enjoying the parks around the city.

Board

The Harriers are governed by a Board of Directors composed of seven members who manage the operational, financial, and planning elements of the team. Board responsibilities include publishing the weekly newsletter, coordinating team social events such as First Thursday happy hours, and planning the annual Harrier Holiday and Summer parties. Board members are elected each year in February and hold one or two-year terms. Any member in good standing is eligible to self-nominate and run for an open board position.