Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris
County, New Jersey
On Sunday, March 31, 2013
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2013
The second USATF – New Jersey Championship race of the
season is next Sunday, April 7th at the Indian Trails 15K in
Middletown. The race actually is run up
and over the roads of Navesink. Some of
the roads are unpaved, and all of the roads are hills. You will be either climbing or clinging. OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration but that
last hill coming off the peak with the breathtaking view of the Manhattan
Skyline might make you wish you had lifeline.
It’s a true swoosh down into the golf course for the run to
the finish.
The race is for the open men and women and wisely so as some
of the older masters runners would not appreciate the course. The open division team grand prix could get
very interesting this year. Only three
years back the Raritan Valley Road Runners were the dominant men’s and women’s teams. The Sneaker Factory teams were the
runners-up; placing second with both their men’s and women’s teams. The Clifton Road Runners were the third place
men’s team and the Fleet Feet Essex team was third on the women’s side.
In 2011 Raritan
Valley’s men’s team dropped to third, Sneaker Factory kept second, but the
newly minted Garden State Track Club team took first. The women’s side was unchanged from 2010.
Look what happened in 2012.
Garden State took first and third with their B team in the open men’s with
the Raritan Valley team back in Second place.
Garden State took first open women, Raritan Valley was pushed to second
and the Garmin Runners popped up in third.
The Sneaker Factory disappeared from the top three.
Thanks to a new rule enacted at the Long Distance Running
Committee meeting in February, only an A team will be awarded a title at the
end of the season, so what happened in 2012 will not happen again. The B team will be gone.
However, B and C teams can certainly be in the mix and they
have not only gotten into the mix, they are the story for the spring season. The Garden State teams already have put their
stamp on the open men’s competition, although not exactly as planned. As I wrote about in my column earlier this
month, at the Miles for Music 20K the Garden State A team finished with only
four scoring members as their fifth man was ineligible. Not only did the A team not score, but their
B team got beat by their C team. Raritan
Valley was third and Garmin runners were fourth. The Garmin open men’s team was
actually an M40 team but with enough talent to nearly beat the third place
Raritan Valley team. They were timed at
just 7 seconds back.
In 2012 the Garmin women’s team was third overall in the open
women’s team grand prix and first in the W40 division. At the Miles for Music 20K on the open women’s
side the Garden State A team placed first and the B team was third, with the
Garmin women splitting the two teams.
So where did those Garmin runners come from? Remember the Running Company? Yep, most of the runners on the Garmin team
once ran for the now disbanded Running Company team. Gary Rosenberg of Morristown gathered the orphaned
runners together to form the new Garmin team with a few additions, like Elena
Rozhko of Morristown for the women’s team.
The Garmin team scored in another way in 2013. They have recruited the Randolph based Geezers
who will make up their M50 and M60 teams.
As I said, it will be an interesting season.
MORRIS ARE EVENTS NEXT WEEK
There are many races other than the championship next
weekend and some in the Morris County area.
The Green Village Fire Department is hosting a 5K on Sunday April 7th. There is also an event at the College of St.
Elizabeth in Morristown on Sunday. The
Denim Day 5K is a walk and non-competitive run, despite the running figures on
the race’s logo. It will not be
officially timed.
##
A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and
biathlon events.
Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.
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